After camping, it's still summer. This is a valley, with a pleasant climate, and primeval forests on both sides, Chen Zhouquan organized people to cut down wood and set up camps by the river, but these camps were no different from their marching camps. Chen Zhouquan planned to settle down, of course he couldn't live in a wooden house forever, they wanted to live in a big house, so he immediately put his limited manpower into opening a kiln and burning bricks.

In terms of reclamation, they opened up a large field with the help of tools such as ploughing oxen and ploughshares, and they were not too tired, but the grass roots of the grassland were deeper, and the damage to the ploughshares was great, and after reclaiming more than 2,000 acres of land, there were no intact ploughshares, so they could only temporarily stop clearing the wasteland.

Most of the land opened up is planted with crops such as beans and wheat, because according to Xie Qinggao's investigation last year, it is believed that the climate of this generation is similar to that of Jiangsu, China, and it is suitable for planting wheat and rice, but the planting waterway needs to dig channels to divert water and drain water, which requires too much manpower, Chen Zhouquan decided to temporarily focus on wheat, and plant beans to solve the problem of forage for cattle and horses; In addition to these, they grow a lot of vegetables.

Everything seemed to be going so smoothly, which made Chen Zhouquan extremely satisfied, and the ambition that had endured setbacks gradually recovered, no longer relying on the support of a spirit of not admitting defeat, but really began to see the future.

But a heavy snowfall almost ruined it all.

This area belongs to the future Oregon of the United States, and it is not far from the sea, the climate here is not bad, there is no storm as Zhou Lang imagined, but the wind is not strong, but the snow is very heavy and thick. Because the rainfall here is quite large, the latitude is about the same as Beijing, but it is warmer than Shandong, close to the Pacific Ocean, and the Rocky Mountains in the east block the water vapor, and there is a lot of rainfall.

The heavy snow crushed many wooden houses, and Chen Zhouquan had to take people to repair them in the snow. This is not the most serious, the most serious is the continuous snowfall, which is half a month at a time. They are not afraid of low temperatures, and they are not afraid of humidity, but the combination of humidity and low temperatures makes the pioneers start to get sick. A disease is a large area, and at its worst, more than half of the people are bedridden.

The medicine they brought didn't work at all, and after a few Lang Zhong discussed, they waited for Xue to stop and venture into the mountains to find the local grassland, they suspected that Chinese medicine could not cure the disease here, but these doctors never returned. Chen Zhouquan looked for someone to search, but there was no trace, this is the original state of development, there are local creatures, and there are many wild beasts, no one knows what happened to a few doctors.

Chen Zhouquan was extremely remorseful, obviously he knew all this, but it was unavoidable, which gave him a sense of powerlessness, and the kind of fearless spirit that he was not afraid of the sky and the earth, not afraid of ghosts and not believing in evil since he decided to oppose the Qing Dynasty, could not boost his morale for the first time. His will began to be depressed, but fortunately Zhou Lang resolutely refused to give them alcohol, and they themselves did not become addicted to opium cigarettes, otherwise Chen Zhouquan might have ruined himself.

The long winter is over, and the only outdoor activity they have in the whole winter is to keep digging graves and burying people. Spring finally came, but good fortune did not come, and the flooding river flooded their camp. The river receded, and all the salvaged grain was damp and rotten, and the most dangerous thing was that almost all of their salt was swallowed up by the river.

The despair made all the rebels cry loudly, and Chen Zhouquan actually touched the handle of the knife several times, wanting to give himself a good time. His authority had fallen dramatically among the pioneers, and there were already people who had begun to openly ignore his authority, quarrel with him, and not be afraid of him at all, because those people were not even afraid of death. Fights and brawls became commonplace, and the bodies of those who died as a result of the brawls were often left unattended in the camp for days unattended.

When they opposed the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, they were a rabble, and when they were colonized and pioneered, they were still a rabble.

Crisis can test people the most, and crisis can also train people the most, Chen Zhouquan saw a few brothers who he didn't pay much attention to in the past, but they actually kept calm in this big crisis, and they have been silently cleaning up the mess in the chaotic camp. They dried the soaked grain and pulled the clumps of salt from the salt bags. Organize people to hunt, organize people to fish.

Slowly boiled until July.

The leader of the small group, who was still calm, found Chen Zhouquan.

"Big brother, it's time for Master Zhu's ship to come, we have to go to them to have a look. They still owe us food. ”

"You can take someone to see it."

Chen Zhouquan was depressed, and he didn't want to see anyone.

But his subordinates insisted: "Big brother is laughing, this matter has to be done by the eldest brother, who will recognize it." ”

Chen Zhouquan has a little reason to do things, yes, he is a person recognized by Zhou Lang, but his subordinates are not. He went to get grain and grass from Zhu Li, but these subordinates couldn't. This is not worthy of his pride, he has no confidence in any pride now. He just needs to do things, he needs a reason to do things. These people were brought by him, and now all the living people are not ghosts, they are as thin as wood, and there is no hope in their eyes, they are all harmed by him.

Suddenly, Chen Zhouquan was tired of all this, and he felt that it seemed that it would be good to go back and be a rich man. He came up with an idea, gathered everyone together, and told them that Zhu Li's boat might be coming, and if he wanted to take a boat home, he would go with him to find Zhu Li.

The crowd began to agitate, and for the first time in months, there was life in their eyes, and they could go back, yes, and home. There are also parents, wives and children.

The mighty crowd followed their path, and the river brought them back to their starting point on the Columbia River.

Zhu Li's boat has not yet come, but the camp here is relatively better, although many of the people left by Zhu Li have also died of illness, but the camp is unharmed, everything is in order, these people have enough food, there are plenty of fish in the river, after spending the winter, they are burning bricks and building houses.

The contrast of all this made Chen Zhouquan silent, he had never looked down on Zhu Li, because Zhu Li was a pirate, in the chain of social discrimination, officials can discriminate against those who farm the land, those who farm the land look down on those who do small business, those who do small business look down on those who do thieves, and those who do thieves look down on those who do pirates.

Chen Zhouquan is a trader, and even if the worldview of the Heaven and Earth Society is not that of the peasants, it is also a small artisan and a small trader who keeps in touch with the peasants, and they are qualified to discriminate against these pirates. Unexpectedly, these pirates performed better than them, and their own men and horses were almost out of control, but Zhu Li's people persevered.

He also saw some wonders in Zhu Li's camp, and there were even Shengfan who came and went occasionally, and they actually started to do business with Shengfan.

This credit is not Zhu Li's, but the credit of Xie Qinggao, who has always stayed here. Xie Qinggao stayed here last year, and it wasn't because anyone forced him, but because he wanted to stay. He then became the highest official here, but he was not actually involved in the specific management.

As early as last year, when he had just gained a foothold, he continued to take people called small boats to continue to investigate along the river, drawing a map of the neighborhood on the one hand, and visiting a large number of Shengfan tribes on the other.

The Indians of Oregon were estimated to be between 100,000 and 180,000 people belonging to 125 tribes. The area of Oregon is the size of two and a half Jiangsu, and it can be said that more than 100,000 people are sprinkled on such a large land, and if it is not a large-scale search, the probability of encountering it is very low.

Xie Qinggao found that the shengfan here is more primitive than the shengfan in Taiwan, and many Shengfan women in Taiwan can weave coarse fabrics, but the shengfan here is wrapped in animal skins in winter, and it is simply red fruit in summer. They don't have a pot stove, and most of the cooked food they eat is grilled, and the meat is cooked in a stone pot. The vessels for things were either made of wood or stone. Xie Qinggao didn't know a word called primitive society, and he used ignorance to describe the state of existence of these beings.

Later American historians summarized the development of human culture in a sequence, and regarded the use of pottery as a demarcation mark of primitive society. It is believed that human beings must have lived in a village and reached a fairly advanced level of simple technology before they could make pottery.

According to this criterion, they believe that most of the North American Indians before the arrival of the white people came from the barbaric social stage, among them, such as the Suni, Aztecs, and Cholulans, all made a large number of pottery, which was quite elaborate and varied; Most of these Indians, who were in a middle-class barbaric society, lived in the Mexican region. The Iroquois, Chocta, and Cherokee people of North America, who made a small number of pottery and had a limited variety, were considered to be in a low-class barbaric society, and they were not completely sedentary, but lived a semi-village life.

There were also some Indians below the stage of barbarism, known as the Ignorance, who were the Athabascans, the California tribes, and the tribes of the Columbia River Valley, who did not know how to use pottery and did not live in a village, but rather a nomadic safari.

This statement may not be accurate, because before the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the nomadic tribes in the Heilongjiang region still mastered a series of more complex techniques such as making bows and arrows, but it is relatively accurate in the United States, and the Indians in the Columbia River Valley have really mastered very crude techniques.

But the people in this state of ignorance are not very aggressive, and they have begun to come into contact with the outside world, and Captain Cook once exchanged furs with the nomadic Indians when he was here on an expedition.

Xie Qinggao also exchanged some furs with the Indians, because these Indians only had these things in their hands to trade, and their output was very simple, and the prey would hardly leave anything except fur.

Xie Qinggao's purpose is, of course, not to do business, so most of the time, his trip to visit the Indians is a money-losing business, basically to give gifts.