xymnovel Chapter 2154 - 1562: How Is Nomadism Forged? (Part 2)
Chapter 2154 - 1562: How Is Nomadism Forged? (Part 2)
"Noble! The pasture where the tribe is grazing can’t compare to the upper reaches of the Great River to the west, nor to the Nenjiang Prairie to the south... This grassland is sheepgrass prairie, mostly covered with sedge, moss, and Chrysanthemum Grass, which cattle don’t like to eat at all, so how can it support cattle? Only the richest cow grass prairies can support cattle!""Moreover, the grazing cattle run all over the place, scattering about, much harder than herding sheep. Only a Great Tribe like the one you come from, covering a large stretch of prairie, can properly herd cattle... For us small tribes, if the cattle are lost, they’re gone for good, certainly stolen or killed by the bad seeds around us... That Forest Tribe in the North frequently sneaks into our pasture, a first-rate bunch of bad seeds! Noble, you must uphold justice..."
Ah Bo rambled on, mixing Jurchen Language with Mongolian, speaking fast and urgently, making it hard for Zuwaro to understand. He had to interrupt multiple times, asking carefully about many things, to finally understand the differences among cattle, sheep, and horses.
"Are you saying cattle and horses are large beasts, equal to six of the smaller sheep? How is that calculated? Oh! By the grass they eat. The grass consumed by six sheep equals that of one cow or horse... Among them, horses consume food, a losing investment. They are raised only for warfare, riding, and fighting with other tribes, and generally do not exceed fifteen percent. As for cattle, it depends; they are picky about grass and consume particularly large amounts of water."
"Like small tribes, their territories are poor, dry sheepgrass prairies, while Great Tribes can occupy rich, moist cow grass prairies? Besides, cattle easily scatter, with twenty head spreading all over, impossible for a herdsman to watch over? But even if there are twenty groups of twenty sheep, they will gather in a few clusters and are easy to manage... So small tribes have fewer pastures, poorer grass, and raise fewer cattle only for pulling carts during migrations... So that’s it!"
Zuwaro nodded softly, gaining for the first time a deep understanding of the nomadic tribes’ cattle, horses, and sheep. He then pondered for a while and asked again.
"Ah Bo, you say cow milk is scarce, with sheep milk being your main food source? Can you live just by drinking milk? ...You have so many sheep, don’t you eat mutton regularly?"
"Huh? Killing sheep to eat?! Noble, your words... You really are a noble who fell from the top tribe in the sky!... Sheep provide milk and sustain life; they must be carefully tended and served, not casually slaughtered! Ordinary tribespeople and Pastoral Slaves can slaughter two old sheep at winter’s end and enjoy two meals of mutton, thanks to the generosity of the tribe’s gentlemen."
Ah Bo was dumbfounded, shocked by the question from the Da’erhan noble. The question struck with the beauty of "Why not eat minced meat?" Although Ah Bo didn’t know this story, his expression remained equally incredulous.
"Longevity Heaven! Without encountering the terrible white disaster or disease disaster, what herdsman dares to indiscriminately kill sheep for eating regularly? Even ordinary noble gentlemen can’t afford it! Killing dozens of sheep all at once this time, as tribute to the noble’s team, makes the gentlemen too distressed to sleep... Uh, Noble! I didn’t say anything just now!"
Zuwaro widened his eyes, watching Ah Bo kneel with a "thud," showing contemplation. This River-side Tribe situation seems not as good as it appears? Could it be that these thousands of livestock can’t sustain a nomadic tribe of over four hundred people?
"Ah Bo, stand up! I heard nothing... But you must answer my question well! What do you eat daily, what are your food sources? Can you farm, fish, and hunt?"
"Ah... Reporting... Reporting to the Noble. No one in the tribe can farm, fishing and hunting will support a dozen or twenty people, but they’re unreliable... The tribe survives mainly on milk, cow’s milk or sheep’s milk. Hmm... Not drinking milk. Drinking too much fresh milk can make you sick or even die... It must be made into something sour. Milk products like curd, dried sour milk, yellow butter, milk blocks, milk skins... And yes! The sour horse milk, milk wine, and milk curd in meat soup you had yesterday! ... Oh, that soup smelled so good! I couldn’t help but drool while smelling it beside me..."
Ah Bo swallowed his saliva, growing intense cravings at the thought of mutton. His last taste of mutton was before the snow melted at the start of the year, when the Chieftain treated a frozen dead sheep, rewarding the meat bones for seven or eight family slaves to share.
Actually, an average tribesperson in the River-side Tribe owns sixteen sheep, with an annual slaughter rate of roughly twenty percent, naturally allowing for the replacement of three sheep. Those who eat three old sheep a year have Wulusi Warriors in their families, where the Chieftain doesn’t heavily impose tribute on their tents. As for the lower tribespeople and Agricultural Slaves, they hardly ever have the chance to eat meat. They must offer their sheep to the tribe’s Noble Chiefs and Warriors, to keep the tribe’s force ever strong.
"Tenggeri! How many sheep do you ask produce enough milk to sustain one person? It depends on who you’re talking about, a strong man or women and children..."
"Ah, let me count on my fingers... For a strong man, it probably takes twenty sheep, right? Two breeding rams among them, eighteen milk-producing ewes. Then among the eighteen ewes, maybe five to six out of ten will produce milk? Yes! Ewes certainly have those that produce milk and those that don’t, not all year-round. Having five to six out of ten produce milk is due to Longevity Heaven’s blessings!... If replaced by cows, with their long gestation periods, three out of ten producing milk would be considered fortunate!"