After the banquet, Hong Chengchou gave the big leader and the five elders, each with two fire folds and a jar of distilled wine, and the elder named Hucheng did not refuse.

Another morning, Wu Xiaozhi wandered outside for a long time with an interpreter, and finally "met" Chang Hucheng two miles away from the Buryats station.

Wu Xiaozhi grabbed Hu Cheng's hands as if he had met an old friend: "Great Elder Hu Cheng, I admire the Great Elder's fishing skills very much, are you free?" Show a hand to your brother? ”

Hu Cheng was a little displeased, but Wu Xiaozhi was the commander of the Ming army, and he was not easy to offend, "Another day, it's noon now, if I go back to eat, I won't have anything to eat if it's late." ”

"Great Elder, my brother is a person who is anxious, now my heart is like a cat scratching, if I don't learn some skills, my brother can't eat and sleep, my brother's admiration for the Great Elder is like this colored river, it is gushing ......"

"But now it's time for dinner." Hucheng shirked while looking in the direction of the Buryats station, as if his food was being coaxed by others.

"It's okay, if my brother wants to learn the fishing skills of the Great Elder, he has to pay some tuition, otherwise, at noon today, my brother and I will treat you and promise to let the Great Elder drink good distilled wine." Wu Xiaozhi is like kraft candy, he is going to stick to the tiger.

"Distilled spirits?" Hu Cheng's eyes lit up suddenly, and he sniffed with his nose, "You really have distilled spirits?" ”

"Of course, without distilled spirits, how can I afford to hire a great elder, brother? Great Elder, this way, please! ”

"That'...... Please! ”

Wu Xiaozhi was like a trick, and after a while, he conjured up a table of sumptuous dishes, but Hu Cheng didn't see the distilled spirit, and his eyes became unfocused, and he looked sleepy.

Wu Xiaozhi smiled secretly, and he clapped his palms: "Serve the wine." ”

The soldiers took a jar of two-pound distilled spirit, patted open the mud, and put it on the wooden table.

A strange smell of wine permeated almost the entire barracks.

Hu Cheng suddenly became sleepy, he unconsciously picked up his wine cup, and stretched out to Wu Xiaozhi as if asking for food.

Wu Xiaozhi slowly blew away the residual mud at the mouth of the altar, and then poured half a cup for Hu Cheng, "Great Elder, please!" ”

Seeing that there was only half a cup, Hu Cheng raised his neck, swallowed it in one gulp, and then smashed his lips, looking unsatisfied.

"The Great Elder drink slowly, this distilled liquor, drink it today." Wu Xiaozhi poured another half cup for Hu Cheng.

Hu Cheng was not polite, he drank the dry wine cup in one gulp, "How is this distilled liquor made?" ”

"Great Elder, this is the secret of the Han people, if I leak the secret, I will definitely be executed by the general, besides, if you master the technology of making distilled spirits, there will be no more than five people in the entire Ming Dynasty, and you will not make it in the next place." Wu Xiaozhi is basically telling the truth, the manufacturing technology of distilled spirits is just beginning, and there are really not many people who have mastered this technology, not to mention a soldier like Wu Xiaozhi, who is a winemaker in the Guannai, and he can't find a few people who can make distilled spirits with lanterns.

Hu Cheng was slightly disappointed, "You Han people, do you have a large amount of distilled spirit?" ”

Wu Xiaozhi squinted half a glass of distilled spirit, "That's not it, ordinary soldiers don't have it, because I am the regiment commander, I have some distilled spirits, and our army commanders are more." ”

Hu Cheng picked up his wine cup, as if he was reluctant to drink, "What do you need to get distilled liquor for a long time?" ”

"The Great Elder is my friend, and I naturally won't treat the Great Elder badly, but the distilled liquor is too precious, and the people of the Ming Dynasty want to get a jar of distilled liquor, not to mention that the Great Elder is ...... Hey, the production of distilled spirits is insufficient, and there is no way to do it. ”

Hu Cheng greedily drank two cups in a row, because he drank too violently, his cheeks were already slightly red, "Is there really no way?" ”

"No," Wu Xiaozhi shook his head regretfully, "unless the Great Elder ......"

"Unless what?" The tiger was like a drowning man, suddenly grabbed a piece of wood that had drifted out of nowhere, he straightened up, his slightly red eyeballs, and suddenly broke free from the restraint of his eyelids, as if he was about to fall out of his eye sockets.

"Unless the Great Elder can be naturalized as a Han Chinese," Wu Xiaozhi had already started the next sentence before Hu Cheng objected, "As a Great Elder, if you become a Han person, you should be able to become an official and distribute some distilled spirits, but the Great Elder will not be naturalized as a Han Chinese, hey, there is no way, I can only drink a meal once in a while, Great Elder, I finally met distilled spirits, I might as well drink enough today." ”

Hu Cheng took a sip of the distilled liquor in the wine cup, his anger began to thicken, red silk appeared on his eyeballs, and he didn't even know that a lump of eye feces had grown on the corner of his eye, "If I am willing to become a Han Chinese, what official position can I get?" And how much distilled spirits can you get? ”

"This--the Great Elder is really willing to naturalize as a Han Chinese?"

"Tell me about it first." The Great Elder's mind was still relatively clear.

"This brother really doesn't know, the brother is only leading the troops, if the great elder intends to become a Han Chinese, the brother can ask the military seat, everything here is the final word of the military seat."

"However, I am not a big leader, and I have no friendship with your military seat." Hu Cheng regretted it, at yesterday's banquet, he should not have resolutely opposed the matter of naturalization as a Han Chinese, he had just offended Hong Chengchou, and now he went to beg him again, it is estimated that there is no good fruit to eat.

Since the Great Leader and the Four Great Elders have agreed to naturalize as Han Chinese, he can't stop him alone, so why bother?

If there is a daughter like the big leader, Li Qianqian, he Hucheng will definitely give it to Hong Chengchou, but unfortunately, he Hucheng does not have such a blessing.

It's not that Hu Cheng doesn't have a daughter, he doesn't know if he has a daughter.

In the whole tribe, only the big chief has a fixed woman, and the rest of the people are all practicing the marriage system, the woman goes to the east house today, and the west house tomorrow, who knows whose child she gave birth to?

"Otherwise, brother, I'll probe the tone of the military seat first, maybe the military seat can reveal a thing or two-the great elder first tell me, how big an official you want to be, and how much distilled liquor you want to get." Wu Xiaozhi looked serious.

"Officer?" How does Hu Cheng know what official positions Daming has, even if Wu Xiaozhi said that he also understands, he is most concerned about distilled spirits, "What kind of official, just follow the military seat, I hope to get a jar of distilled liquor every day." ”

"It's impossible!" Wu Xiaozhi almost screamed, so frightened that Hu Cheng almost knocked over the wine cup, "Even if the big leader is naturalized as a Han Chinese, it is absolutely impossible to get one jar of distilled liquor every day, and two jars per month is against the sky." ”

"Only two altars?" Hu Cheng thought, how can two altars be enough, and it will be drunk in two days at most.

"The Great Elder doesn't know that if you become an official of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the fixed salary, you can also participate in the official banquet and drink at the official banquet, but there is no restriction."

"Official banquet? What is an official banquet? "The Great Elder obviously doesn't understand the meaning of the official banquet, the Buryats are still in the stage of fishing and hunting, and even the big chief has to fish and hunt every day, and being able to eat a full stomach is their greatest wish, how can there be any official banquet?

"It's the government to entertain guests," Wu Xiaozhi saw that Hu Cheng still didn't understand, so he had to explain further: "Just like a few days ago, the military seat invited the big leader and the five elders to a banquet, and the distilled liquor drunk at the banquet did not need to be taken out by the military seat privately, it was paid by the imperial court alone, and the imperial court would allocate as much as it was drunk." ”

"I see!" Hu Cheng somewhat understood, so he had to make a compromise, "Two altars are two altars, but the distilled liquor must be delivered on time." ”

"This, it should be no problem," Wu Xiaozhi thought, the imperial court did not stipulate a time to distribute distilled spirits, maybe once a month, or even once a year, how can you say that the imperial court does not issue it on time? "Great Elder, there is actually another way to get distilled spirits."

"What's the method?" Hearing that more distilled spirits could be obtained, Hu Cheng's eyes glowed red—the sunlight shone on the bloodshot of Hu Cheng's eyeballs, reflecting red light.

"Meritorious service, as long as the Great Elder has made meritorious service to the Great Ming, he will get an additional reward of distilled spirits, and at that time, the Great Elder will not only get more distilled spirits than other elders, but even compared with the Great Chief, it is not inferior."

"So what am I going to do?"

"I don't know yet, there are many ways to make meritorious contributions to the Great Ming, and when the Great Elder needs help, the Great Elder should not shirk - the Great Elder helps us, and we can help the Great Elder get more distilled spirits," Wu Xiaozhi lowered his voice, "Other elders will also make meritorious contributions to the Great Ming, if the credit is robbed by other elders, the Great Elder will not get additional distilled spirits." ”

"Okay, as soon as I say it, I will do my best to help Da Ming." The Great Elder stretched out his right palm.

"It's a deal." Wu Xiaozhi also stretched out his right hand and hit Hu Cheng's right palm hard.

When Hu Cheng went back, Wu Xiaozhi gave him two jars of distilled spirit, and Hu Cheng thanked him a thousand times.

The big leader and the five elders all agreed to naturalize as Han Chinese, and the rest of the tribe naturally had no right to object.

The first is to register the population, and all people, regardless of gender, old and young, must register with their Chinese names, and then let them remember the pronunciation of their Chinese names.

Hong Chengchou gave them the surnames Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Jiang, Shen, Han, and Yang.

The father of the big leader followed the surname of his daughter, Hong Chengchou gave him the name Li Zhuang, and the five elders also had their own names, the one called Hucheng was named Jiang Qing, and the other four elders were named Zhao Shi, Qian Yang, Sun Gu, and Yang Wei.

The next step was to start a family, which was the most difficult task, and the Buryats practiced a system of marriage, in which all but the chief did not have a fixed spouse, and men and women of appropriate age, if they looked at each other, lived together at night, and during the day returned to their respective groups, fishing, hunting and gathering.

There is no time limit for the marriage system, if you are together, you will get together, and if you are not together, you will be divided, and the short one will not be one night, and the long one may reach several years.

Once a woman wants to give birth to a child, she will return to her mother, and after the child is born, she will take care of it alone, and when the child grows old enough to eat, the tribe will give him a portion of food, and as for who the father of the child is, even the woman herself cannot figure it out, and no one has ever tried to figure out who the father of the child is.

The marriage system is very suitable for the current situation of the Buryats, who have no private property at all, except for the tools of labor, and cannot support their children, all the children are raised by the tribe, and the mother of the child takes care of them, and when the child reaches the age of seven or eight, he has to gather food with his mother.