There are 18 ethnic groups in the entire island of Madagascar, each of which has obvious differences.

For example, the tribes on the east coast have black features on their faces and facial features, but their skin color is more like that of the yellow race, and some settlements also have Arab features. Their most formal garment is the Arabic robe, and there is even circumcision from the Green Religion.

Deng Youzhang's area belongs to the territory of the Sakarava people.

The Sakarava race is not the most populous, but it covers one-third of the island's area.

A few decades ago, the Sakarava people founded a state in the southwest, known as the Western Kingdom of Malaga. But the country has collapsed and split into two allied powers. Under these two powers, there are many small tribes.

After two months of exile on the island, everyone felt that there was no hope of returning to China, and they married local indigenous women one after another.

They dragged three guns from the ship, all of which were of the smallest caliber. Those with larger calibers can't move at all, so they can only stay on the seashore in the wind and sun.

Li Luosheng, the owner of incense, became a busy man, he moved the Mazu shrine to the village, and all the married people asked him to preside over the ceremony. Those brown-skinned indigenous women followed the worship of heaven and earth in a daze, only knowing that they were going to marry, but they did not know the meaning of such worship.

After another three months, the two sides continued to communicate and integrate, learning some everyday words from each other, but they still didn't know how to express more complex content.

One day, the surviving indigenous man found Deng Youzhang to talk about something.

The young man's name is Karrow, about 1.6 meters long: "Deng, go ......"

"Where?" Deng Youzhang asked.

Karrow pointed to Deng Youzhang's house, he went into the house and picked up one and put it down, and then picked it up and put it down: "Take it, go!" ”

Seeing that Deng Youzhang still didn't understand, Karrow became more and more anxious, pointed to the distance and said, "Let's go, over there." ”

Deng Youzhang stepped in that direction, but Karrow pulled him back. I went back to the house and picked up my things, and said, "Take it, go, over there." ”

It's not clear at all, neither in Chinese nor in the local dialect here can communicate this important information - migration!

The terrain here is a plateau, and above the plateau, there are many plains, hills and river valleys. The aborigines are semi-nomadic and semi-agrarian, living in one place for only one or two years.

They would move to fertile river valleys, burn wasteland for farming, and take their cattle and sheep with them to graze in the nearby meadows. In a year or two, or two or three years, the soil fertility is not enough, and you need to go to the next river valley to burn the wasteland.

The natives packed their things and prepared for a migration.

The wife wants to move inexplicably, but of course the Chinese husbands refuse, and almost every family is arguing in confusion.

There are only about two dozen surviving adult male natives. They can't survive Chinese men, this tribe, is already Chinese in charge.

A navy sergeant from Guangdong grabbed the soil in the field, found Deng Youzhang and said: "The locals don't know how to accumulate fertilizer, and the soil is not as good as a year. This is similar to the Guoshan Yao in Guangdong, where the place will be changed in two or three years, and then the land will be burned and farmed again. You have to teach them to accumulate fat, and the ground must be leveled, and the field is full of stones, like what is it? ”

"I see." Deng Youzhang nodded and said.

On the island of Madagascar, some tribes have already terraced their fields, while others are still cultivating slash-and-burn farming.

This river valley is not bad in Deng Youzhang's opinion, but after the migration, it has to work hard to open up the wasteland.

He gathered all the Chinese, assigned tasks, and then went home to bring his wife out. Some people not only marry wives, but even have cheap children.

The Chinese took the lead in clearing the stones in the fields, and the natives followed suit. In fact, they had been tidying up the fields for a long time, but there was no such large-scale collective labor. Even, the cow and sheep dung in the grassland was picked up and piled up one after another.

Large and small pieces of rubble were picked up from the fields and piled up in the village.

These pieces of rubble can be used to build walls.

The messy land was organized piece by piece, and Deng Youzhang even redistributed the land. After the land is regularized, the manure is sprinkled in the land to increase fertility, and it is mixed with a lot of plant ash.

After tossing and turning like this for more than a month, they organized to dig a diversion canal.

The amount of work is not large, mainly because the indigenous people do not. There are not even wooden barrels to carry water, clay pots are used to draw water, and rice is also grown with upland rice, and the yield of rice is much lower than that of rice.

In fact, it is not suitable for growing rice because of the low annual precipitation.

The further north you go, the worse it gets, and the savannah climate forces the natives to be nomadic.

However, Deng Youzhang and they are lucky, this is the junction of the savannah climate and the tropical plateau climate. The reason why the Sakarava people founded their country in the south was because the further south they went, the more suitable they were for sedentary farming. The best place to cultivate is the highlands in the middle of the island, where there is the kingdom of Merina, which later ruled the whole island for a time.

In my first year in Madagascar, I was basically engaged in infrastructure construction.

The land in the valley is leveled and cultivated with continuous fertilizer. Two aqueducts were also built, and the dry fields were converted into paddy fields, and even the rice seeds were replaced. The few paddies that have not been soaked in the sea have been moved here to breed, and the indigenous garbage rice seeds are no longer used.

The Chinese were pleasantly surprised to find that there is no cold winter here, and as long as the river does not dry up, they can always grow rice, and they can achieve two to three crops a year.

There are also cultural people who have graduated from elementary school on the ship, and they have been recording dates.

But the Chinese calendar doesn't work here, it's all New Year, and the weather is not cold. Of course, it's not very hot, with temperatures ranging from 14 to 32 degrees throughout the year.

They also found that there is a significant rainy season here. The rainy season lasts for four months, and the amount of rainfall increases significantly, and it does not rain all day, which not only does not affect agricultural production, but is conducive to grain irrigation.

The local aborigines plant seedlings during the rainy season. They do not breed or plant rice, but they sow the rice seeds and wait for the rain to grow, and then the rice can be harvested at the end of the rainy season.

In the months when there is less rain, the natives waste two-thirds of their time instead of rice and cassava and other crops.

The years on the island are fleeting, and a year passes quickly.

No one had any hope of returning to China, and all of them married local women. Those who are conceited and have good physical strength and are able to support their families even married two wives and raised the children brought by their wives. Even the Persian slaves were given wives.

"Today is the day we have been on the island for a year!"

Deng Youzhang convened a meeting of all the members, and the natives also came to join in the fun, looking at them happily.

Deng Youzhang said: "Some people make their wives belly bigger, and they will give birth in two months...... Alas, don't laugh! Marrying a wife and having children is a matter of course. Here, over the age of twelve, there are 182 men and 247 women. There are no rules, but before the rules, you have to arrange your identity. Thanks to your brothers, I, Deng Someone, have appointed myself Governor and are in charge of all the affairs here. ”

"I will appoint Brother He Wenpeng as the commander-in-chief here, responsible for training and commanding the army. Appointed Li Luosheng brother as the chief steward here. Our village is officially named Datong Village, and it will be called Datong City in the future! ”

"Once the system is established, taxes must be collected, and grain will be collected according to the size of the acre. As for cattle and sheep, they are collected according to the number of livestock. The taxes collected are not mine, nor are they from any official. Let's build a warehouse, and in the future, if we want to fight a war, we want to engage in water conservancy, or disaster relief, all of which will be paid from the warehouse! Everyone is staring at the point, and whoever dares to be greedy for food will be thrown into the sea to feed the fish......"

After speaking, everyone applauded and cheered, mainly because the rice had just been harvested, and the grain was very abundant.

The natives were also completely convinced, and although they did not understand the behavior of outsiders, they did increase food production. They regard outsiders as sent by gods, and even actively learn to speak Chinese, believing that Han is a language of the gods.

This is followed by a celebration of Mazu and then to the east.

The natives already knew that Mazu was a great god and that the emperor was a son of the sky.

Toss until the evening, and go home to rest.

Deng Youzhang married two wives, one in his twenties, and two cheap children, and now he is four months pregnant. A teenager, the daughter of a dead patriarch, is a little beauty in addition to her darker complexion.

Anyway, there are more women than men, as long as the woman agrees, then take a concubine casually.

The task of the men, in addition to labor and training, is to make people quickly. Their numbers are too small, and they have to have more offspring in order to thrive here.

A few days later, the expedition returned.

Captain Guo Tong said: "Walking north, about twelve days away, there is an indigenous tribe there. We surveyed last year and found no human population, so we should have migrated here in the last six months. They farm badly, but there are a lot of cattle and sheep, and there are large areas of cattle and sheep on the grassland. ”

"Is there a horse?" Deng Youzhang asked.

Guo Tong shook his head: "There are no horses, only cattle and sheep." This tribe is very aggressive, and when they see us, they rush with spears. I was afraid of an accident, so I brought someone back. By the way, I also secretly observed that there are slaves in this tribe. Whether it is grazing or farming, many slaves are used. ”

"Grazing, keeping slaves, and migrating, it's similar to the Mongols, but they don't have war horses," Deng Youzhang said, "This kind of tribe can't be allowed to grow and grow, and you have to lead troops to fight it." Their slaves were rescued and brought back to the people. Grab a few more women and children, and we will grow our population. ”

Deng Youzhang is very adaptable, and he has completely changed his thinking, and many of the rules of the Datong Army cannot be wanted.

The whole island of Madagascar was in a primitive society and a slave society. The more powerful the clan or nation, the greater the number of slaves.

For example, the Merina Kingdom in the Central Plateau is currently the most powerful force on the island, adopting a three-level social structure of nobles, commoners, and slaves.

Deng Youzhang did not intend to raise slaves, but it was necessary to raid the population. Especially in the northern steppe areas, where there is not much grain to grow, the tribes there will invade. Then take the initiative to go out, reduce the enemy's population, and increase your own.

On the 382nd day of arriving in Madagascar, Deng Youzhang led an army of 100 and took the first step in their expansion.

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