"This is a great thing, now the company is seriously short of mules and horses, only when running long distances to pull heavy goods, willing to use two horses. If that happens, I'll apply to raise horses...... Come, you're driving today! By the way, why doesn't this kid know how to call people, it's rude! ”

But no matter how calm Mrs. Xiushan was, Hong Tao was already vigilant in his heart. Naturally, he didn't leak any water, and he also put on a posture that he didn't care too much, and hugged Ma Yu to the car and stuffed it over.

"Grandma Xiushan is good...... Drive! Drive! "As the saying goes, dragons give birth to dragons and phoenixes, and the sons of mice make holes. Ma Yu lives with a group of drivers, and he can't do it if he doesn't want to learn to drive.

This is not what Hong Tao asked, the pony basically took the child with him when he ran a short distance, and he was exposed to it and practiced for a few months, except that his strength was still small and he couldn't dance the whip, and his every move was no different from that of an adult coachman.

However, this child's personality is relatively withdrawn, and he rarely talks, and he is especially wary of strangers, and even a little excessive. No way, her previous memory was basically black, lacking sunlight, and it would take a long, long time to change this perception.

The pastoral area in the north of the city where Mrs. Xiushan is going is not under the jurisdiction of the Chengbei Security Zone in terms of administrative division, but directly under the Ministry of Agriculture. Its approximate location is near the Ming Tombs Reservoir and includes the surrounding hillsides and a small part of the Changping urban area.

If you want to ask why you chose this place as a pastoral area, there is no other purpose, just because there are mountains and rivers here, and the transportation is convenient. It has been 11 years since the end of the world, and although the global climate has not changed much all at once, God only needs to sneeze a small sneeze, and there will be a tornado on the earth for half a year.

Compared with the old world, the Ming Tombs Reservoir is more than ten times larger. It has been spreading westward along the Dongsha River, almost turning the north of Changping City into Zeguo, and there are dry reeds with no edge in sight.

Mrs. Xiushan said that in less than half a month, as long as the temperature rises a little more than five or six degrees, and lasts for two or three days, the reeds will sprout, and the shore, swamps, and wetlands will be dotted with tender green. In half a month, there will be a world of wildflowers, all kinds of colors and shapes, competing for beauty.

But it's also dangerous during the rainy season, as rainwater from nearby mountains can more than double the size of the reservoir even if the dam is flooding 24 hours a day. Once there is too much rain, the urban area of Changping in the south will become Zeguo.

But the more unfriendly nature is to humans, the more animals like it. After six or seven years of construction, this area has become the largest horse farm and livestock base in the East Asian Union.

Compared to the HR area, which has steeper mountains and denser forests, the mountains here are gentler and less forested, which is conducive to pasture growth. The verses of the wind blowing the grass and seeing the cattle and sheep do not need to be read outside the plug, and you can see it at any pasture in late summer and early autumn.

Of course, Hong Tao couldn't see it, and now the mountains were all dry yellow, and there were not many cattle and sheep, but there were many horses surrounded by wooden fences on a certain hillside. I saw a carriage coming, and a few horses ran with it.

"It's a good pasture over there, as long as you cut down the trees, build a few cabins, and fence a few miles, you can raise at least a hundred horses!" For this kind of scenery, Hong Tao felt more familiar than the high-rise buildings in the city, and immediately couldn't hold his mouth.

70 percent of his knowledge about herding comes from listening to Kerim and 30 percent from practice.

But this does not prevent an old lady from Japan, as long as she is not from Hokkaido, have you ever seen a grassland? Do you know what a herd of horses is? Listen honestly!

"I heard that the alliance has specially brought back a lot of horses from Xinjiang Province, and is also encouraging displaced people who can graze to contract mountain land. That's the pasture reserved for the future, and you're looking at it right. ”

Along the way, Mrs. Xiushan chatted a lot, from the company's business to the current situation of the security zone, to the alliance policy and several major events that have happened recently. The coverage is very wide and the level is also very deep, such as the alliance's plan for the future agriculture and animal husbandry, she actually knows.

"I've heard of the Ili horses, but I don't know how they are compared to the Mongolian horses here. In fact, the company does not need too many good horses, and it would be best to cross more horses and mules. Hong Tao didn't deliberately not speak, but he didn't tell a few truths, even if he didn't make it up on purpose, he tried to be as superficial as possible, just talking about things, and resolutely not using his imagination.

"But once you become a herder, you can't join the company, which is also a means for the alliance to ensure the supply of basic necessities. If everyone goes to the company to make money, who will be willing to graze and grow food. ”

Mrs. Xiushan is not in a hurry, she continues to chat with each other, and from time to time she will make up for Hong Tao, and be a teacher in the details of the relevant alliance regulations.

"This rule makes sense, and nothing can be lacking without food and drink. In fact, it is a bit of a waste to raise so many horses, it is better to raise more cattle and sheep. ”

Before he left, the Renaissance Alliance basically did not worry about food and drink, and the labor force was not rich enough to carry out animal husbandry, let alone formulate rules conducive to the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. These must be the credit of the successors, and it is indeed necessary to praise them.

"Not just for meat and carts, all the horses here have to be selected by the army, and the rest are allowed to be used by the people. At present, the alliance is in dire need of war horses, and it may not be long before our army is about to march south. ”

Seeing that Hong Tao was not fooled again, Mrs. Xiushan once again threw out a more tempting topic, and then raised her eyelids slightly to stare at the man's face from behind the side to observe carefully.

“…… It's going to be war again! If it's broken, it's broken, and then the company's fleet will be requisitioned! "Huh...... Hong Tao simply turned his head and gave a straight face, except for his eyes covered by sunglasses, every cell was full of deep uneasiness and fear.

"Hehehe, it's still early, maybe...... Turn left ahead and follow the path, it's almost there, let me come down and walk, my waist is about to break! ”

Looking at this face that could really frighten a child in the middle of the night, Mrs. Xiushan didn't plan to test it any further. After a day of riding in the carriage, even if it was covered with soft cushions and could lie down, it was not very comfortable.

Even at the speed of walking, the last hill had been crossed before dark, and suddenly a handful of houses appeared on the opposite hillside, looking like a mushroom growing on the grassland.

It was the Japanese village ranch that Mrs. Hideyama was talking about, and it was run by two husband and wife. Two of the husbands are from rural Hokkaido, and they used to work as herders when they were young, but after escaping to the East Asian Union, they have no other skills and simply continue to contract ranches.

Later, he married a wife from Russia and South Korea, respectively, and transitioned from sheep and cattle to more lucrative horse breeding. Over the past few years, more than 70 Mongolian horses have been bred in the pasture, and the scale is not large or small.

For Mrs. Xiushan's arrival, the two old Japanese men were very happy, and they couldn't wait to start bowing a few hundred meters away. After entering the house, he immediately took out all the delicious food at home to entertain him, and together with Hong Tao, the coachman, he also followed suit, and ate a good meal.

During the dinner, everyone exchanged ideas in Chinese, and the topics included not only the current state of life, but also the suffering of the past and the memory of family members in the old world. When you are happy, you laugh, you cry in your grief, you sing and dance when you drink beautifully, and you fall asleep when you drink too much.

Hong Tao's alcohol consumption is very average, but he will not let a few old men and old ladies who are about the same age as Mrs. Xiushan fall down and always stay sober. When everyone went to sleep, they deliberately rode horses and held lanterns to go around the neighborhood to see if the fence was closed to prevent wolves or other animals from running in and sneaking in at night.

Will there be wolves in Changping District? The answer is yes, not just that, quite a lot. As long as it is dark, there will be a long howl in the mountains, and those who are not used to it will stay awake all night, always feeling that there is movement outside.

But it doesn't matter much, in addition to their spears, the herders here also have fierce dogs, helping to graze during the day and acting as sentries at night. As long as there is not a large group, generally speaking, wolves are reluctant to face the shepherd dog, the cost is too high, and once bitten is equivalent to death.

7017k