Although he was angry in his heart, Zhang Yue had already learned that joy and anger were invisible, so he casually found a topic and diverted from this matter.

Then he talked with the old man surnamed Lu.

For the visitors from Chang'an, the old man surnamed Lu has a good impression.

It's almost everything, it's endless.

Soon explained the situation to Zhang Yue.

It turned out that since Huo Qu's illness led Wuheng to return to the east, he ordered Wuheng's nine departments to guard the south of the curtain for Han Town.

Three of them moved to Saixia and became tribes bound between the passes of the Great Wall.

Attributed to Yanmen is the so-called clothing department in the past.

Now, however, the Clothing Department has disintegrated cleanly.

Large and small clans, each with their own affairs, scattered in the hundreds of miles of grasslands on both sides of this sentence note mountain range.

At the same time, he obeyed the guidance of Han officials, paid taxes and served on time.

At first, subduing the clans, it was almost to heaven.

Although the Han family made them pay taxes and serve in the army, they had various supportive policies, and the Han family even appointed officials to teach and guide the inner relocation clans to cultivate and graze.

Because it can be semi-agricultural and semi-nomadic, the annual output of the clans is several times that of the past.

At that time, every family had endless cheese to eat and endless fur to wear.

Even, there are many people who went to Chang'an to serve the Son of Heaven and became the glorious Wuheng Yicong.

But......

Gradually, things started to change over time.

Some clans that took the lead began to hold on to power.

They colluded with Yanmen officials to monopolize the passage to transport Wuheng Yicong to Chang'an.

The strong man in Wuheng appeared.

The Dugu clan, the Haolian clan and other internal migration clans have risen one after another, monopolizing all kinds of benefits and occupying the best pastures and pastures.

Then, the suppression and exploitation of other clans that were also Wuheng began.

Especially three years ago, Yanmen County was replaced by a new Taishouhouhou.

These heroes are becoming more and more unscrupulous and rampant.

Today, they are no longer satisfied with suppressing, exploiting and grabbing pastures.

They are now a nightmare for other clans.

That clan had a beautiful little lady, and once they learned about it, they would bring someone to the door, forcibly buy it, and then sell it to the inner county, and serve as the maid of the powerful nobles in various places.

The livestock raised by the clans and the crops they grow can be bought by these people at a very low price at any time.

And the government turned a deaf ear to this.

Even, it is forbidden for people of various clans to enter and exit the barriers.

Zhang Yue was really amazed to hear it, and at the same time, the alarm bell rang in his heart.

"Hao Lian clan? Dugu clan? Zhang Yue thought: "Hao Lian Bobo and the ancestor of the Dugu family? ”

That's interesting.

In particular, I think that in history, Hao Lian's vigorous Hu Xia and Tuoba's Northern Wei Dynasty both laid their foundations and grew up in this area.

It's even better!

What could be more wonderful than the current situation?

Before the stopper, the object of the sacrifice flag is already there!

"Thank you, old man, for solving my doubts......" Zhang Yue clapped his hands, and Guo Rong, who had been standing beside him, immediately stepped forward and waited respectfully: "Rong, go and get a few jars of special gifts for me......"

"No!" Guo Rong took the order, came to the accompanying ox cart, opened the covered straw and straw, exposed the wooden box inside, and then took a few ceramic clay pots the size of a wine jar from one box and brought them to Zhang Yue's side.

Zhang Yue took it, weighed it in his hand, and then asked Guo Rong to send it to the old man surnamed Lu: "It's just a small courtesy, it's not a respect, and I hope the old man won't dislike it!" ”

The old man surnamed Lu wanted to excuse himself, but when he saw that it was just some inconspicuous ceramic clay pots, he accepted them with a smile and said to Zhang Yue: "The nobles have come all the way, it is better to go to the old slave and rest for a while, the old slave ordered the nobleman to prepare the most sumptuous food and self-brewed milk wine for the nobleman......"

"Thank you, old man......" Zhang Yue said respectfully: "The younger generation is respectful, it is better to obey the fate......"

So, the old man surnamed Lu led Zhang Yue and his entourage, mightily, towards the village in front.

The village is not large, that is, dozens of families.

There are about hundreds of cows, sheep and dozens of horses.

Seeing the old man surnamed Lu, he took dozens of strangers into the village.

Many villagers were amazed and frightened.

Even the sons of the old man surnamed Lu were puzzled.

When they entered the village, they took advantage of the opportunity to drive the cattle and sheep into the pen, and they immediately pulled the old father and asked in a low voice: "Why did the adults bring these outsiders into the village, and now they are afraid that they will eat up the village's food for a month......

"What do you know?" The old man surnamed Lu lowered his voice and scolded: "Do you really think I'm old and confused? ”

"Don't you look at the bearing, dress, and conversation of these nobles?"

"Can they be ordinary people? Especially that Zhang Gongzi, in front of an old man like me, is he humble and polite, this is the son-in-law of ordinary people? Look at his entourage, everyone has swords and narrow bows, and the tiger's mouth has calluses......"

"At least they are all the sons of the liehou of Chang'an, and they must be the sons of the liehou of real power!"

"If you are not a Chinese hero, you can't have this bearing!"

Young people were so trained by their old fathers that they couldn't speak.

When you think about it, it seems that this is really the case.

Not to mention, they have also met some aristocratic sons before.

But those people, when they see them, are like they are afraid of seeing terrible dirty things.

If you don't pay attention to avoid it, you may just be a whip in the face.

How can he be like that young man, even in the face of a humble Yidi attached people like himself, he is treated equally.

In the legend, only China's most outstanding talents have such a bearing!

It's just that......

Holding the crockpot in his hand, a young man looked at it for a moment in puzzlement, and said to himself: "I want to see what a great gift this Chinese hero is?" ”

So, he gently lifted the sealed lid.

Suddenly, a strong and strange fishy smell wafted away.

The young man covered his nose, resisted the discomfort in his heart, and looked into the crockpot.

However, I saw that inside the clay pot, there were many unknown white, gray and black objects.

These things look as if they have been dried in the sun, pickled and then put into these crockpots.

He gently twisted a small piece, put it to his nose and smelled it, the strange fishy smell immediately surrounded the end of his nose, making him almost nauseous, out of curiosity, he stretched out his tongue and licked it, and then looked at the people around him: "Salty?!" Salty !!! ”

When the old man surnamed Lu heard this, he immediately stepped forward, took the crockpot, looked at it carefully, and then took out a piece of shriveled meat or organ from what seemed to be an unknown creature, he picked it up and smelled it, and the fishy smell made him unbearable.

But......

He rubbed lightly against the edges of the shriveled lump, and the rough salt immediately fell on his hands.

He put his finger in his mouth and tasted it: "Salt!!" It's salt! ”

Father and son are incredible!

Salt, the most valuable resource of the grasslands.

There is hardly one of them!

It is not only people who need salt, but also livestock.

Without salt, people will lack strength, become sick, have muscle twitches, dizziness, and even die.

It's the same with livestock!

And under this stopper, all the salt needs to be purchased from those big clans, or purchased from the Han family merchant at a high price.

After thinking for a moment, the old man said, "We can't afford such a valuable gift!" ”

took these crockpots, immediately went forward, found the Zhang Yue who was in the village, looking around, and immediately bowed: "The son is generous, the old slave deserves it, and I beg the son to take back the ......"

As he spoke, he pushed the crockpots in front of him.

"My uncle doesn't have to be so ......" Zhang Yue still spoke softly, and said softly: "These things are my gift to thank my uncle for solving his doubts!" ”

"Once a gift has been given, there is no reason to take it back......

"Besides, although this thing is rare here, it is nothing in Chang'an, and it is ......"

Zhang Yue said with a smile: "These cans of gifts may be able to save my father-in-law's future daughter-in-law, grandson and even great-grandson......"

The old man surnamed Lu listened, looking at Zhang Yue with an incredulous face, not understanding what he was talking about.

Zhang Yue smiled, picked up a crockpot, and said, "Uncle, have you heard of science?" ”

The old man surnamed Lu shook his head in confusion and ignorance.

Not to mention science, he has never heard of Confucianism!

Zhang Yue looked around the entire village and said, "So, do you know why there are more men and fewer women in your village?" ”

Since entering this village, Zhang Yue has obviously found that the proportion of population in this village is very strange.

Of the ten people, at least six are men, and the remaining four are women.

Moreover, this proportion decreases with age.

Among children under the age of 10, the ratio of males to females is quite normal.

But beyond the age of 16, the ratio of males to females plummets.

And as a traverser, Zhang Yue knew that it was not just the Lu clan.

All nomads, fishermen and hunters have this problem.

This is not only based on immediate facts, but also on archaeological discoveries - the human skeletons found in the collective burial groups of all northern nomads unearthed by later archaeological discoveries are extremely unbalanced in the ratio of men to women.

Moreover, almost 40 percent of the female bones found died between the ages of 15 and 30.

In comparison, only 20% of adult male bones died in this age group.

In other words, the mortality rate of women of nomadic and fishing and hunting peoples is twice that of men!

This is still the data of archaeological finds, and there must be worse than this!

I can't even say that there has been a whole generation of women of childbearing age who died during their reproductive years.

Therefore, all the ethnic minorities in the north have a strange marriage system.

For example, the Xiongnu had a step-marriage that allowed younger brothers, sons, and nephews to inherit their older brothers/fathers/uncles.

The Qiang people are even more bizarre, their marriage system is called 'wife spare'.

Rao means tolerance, which means that he doesn't care how many men his woman has snapped with.

Brotherhood, father-son sharing, is the norm.

In later generations, there was still a system of walking marriages in China, and walking marriages were a variant of the wife-sparing system......

Therefore, the Han family doctor hated it.

Regard the Qiang people as the most vulgar and barbaric race!

But in reality?

The culprit of all this, in addition to the customs and natural environment of the northern ethnic minorities, the biggest factor is that their eating habits are different from those of the Zhuxia people.

Although the nomads who feed on milk are relatively sufficient in their daily diet, they are extremely lacking in trace elements!

In particular, zinc, manganese, iodine and other important trace elements that women need are almost zero.

Later generations of medicine have told people that pregnant women need to take more trace elements, especially zinc, manganese, iodine and other elements, to maintain pregnancy and production.

Otherwise, it's just a stillbirth.

Dystocia, postpartum hemorrhage, gestational hypertension, eclampsia......

Any one, once it happens, let alone before the United States, it is in the hospital of the later generations, it is all critical and critical, even if all means are used, it may not be rescued.

In addition, the nomadic and hunter-fishing peoples have poor sanitary conditions and extremely poor postpartum care......

The mortality rate of women of childbearing age, surpassing that of the agrarian Zhuxia people, is a matter of minutes.

Therefore, all the northern ethnic groups, including the Xiongnu, will persevere in going south at all costs.

Why?

Robbing money and food, but secondly, robbing the women of the Central Plains and maintaining the reproduction of the tribe is fundamental!

As a traverser, Zhang Yue certainly knows that what contains the most zinc, manganese, and iodine?

The answer, of course, is marine shellfish, especially the various shellfish in tidal flat geography.

These things are terrible in Qiluduo!

Therefore, when he decided to go to Lingju, Zhang Yue went to ask Sang Hongyang to help, and asked the Haiguan Yamen to prepare 3,000 stone of dried meat of various shellfish and small seafood on the tidal flats for him.

When he was about to come to Munan, he asked Sang Hongyang to transfer the relevant materials of 1,000 stones to the wolf Mengsai.

On the way here, he happened to meet Da Si Nong's transport convoy in Jinyang.

So, I took dozens of stones from it, put them in a clay pot, and brought them here for an experiment.

Obviously, Dasi Nong's Haiguan Yamen did not dry and prepare these materials very seriously.

Therefore, these dry goods are a little fishy, and because they are dried with seawater, they are all wrapped in a thick layer of sea salt.

But it doesn't matter, in this day and age, no one cares about the taste or texture.

Sea salt is even more unexpected.

Therefore, Zhang Yue is ready to add another 3,000 stone orders.

These things are naturally unknown to the old man surnamed Lu.

Therefore, he listened to Zhang Yue's question, his face was puzzled, but he couldn't help but jump in his heart.

Women of childbearing age, dying of pregnancy and childbirth, are not news in the Wuheng ministries.

Even after the internal migration, the mortality rate of women in each clan has decreased because of the relatively good environment.

But it's still a nightmare, a lingering curse.

Among the wives and concubines of the old man surnamed Lu, several died of pregnancy and dystocia.

Among his daughters-in-law, several people died because of this.

This is true throughout the clan.

Every time someone becomes pregnant, the whole clan is like a great enemy.

"Could it be...... What is hidden in this crockpot, can it protect people, mothers and children? The old man surnamed Lu asked almost tremblingly.

"Not necessarily," Zhang Yue chuckled and said, "But it can effectively reduce the chance ......of various pregnancy complications and dystocia......"

"Really?" At this moment, the old man surnamed Lu, those young people were incredible, looking at those crockpots with bright eyes, but they couldn't believe it in their hearts, because some of them even had two wives who died in childbirth......

Before Zhang Yue could answer, the entourage beside him had already jumped up.

"Naturally!"

"Who do you think is standing in front of you?" Tian Shui held his head high proudly, and was about to announce, but was glared at by Zhang Yue fiercely.

Tian Shui had no choice but to lower his head and said in his heart: "Standing in front of you and other Wu Heng Yidi, it is Dong Jiangdu's disciple, the enemy of typhoid fever, Chang'an Chiyou, the Han servant who has broken the halberd in his hand, and the envoy with full power!" ”