Shan Xiongxin did things quickly, and the matter of buying cattle soon became apparent. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info The servant of the single family came over and told Zhang Chao that the cow had been transferred and asked Zhang Chao to prepare to pick up the cow.

"How many?"

"According to Saburo, there are 100 big heifers, 3 big bulls, and 100 calves. In addition, there were thirty mules that Saburo requested, and they were all bought. ”

To Zhang Chao's surprise, the cattle bought by the single family were actually buffaloes instead of scalpers.

The buffalo has short legs and large hooves, is docile, easy to adjust, and is known for its resistance to roughness and hard work. Buffaloes are much larger than cattle, and adult buffaloes can generally grow to more than 1,000 catties. Buffalo are especially suitable for cultivating paddy fields, mainly in the south, but there are also many in the Hanzhong area of southern Shaanxi.

The Guanzhong area is still mainly cultivated with cattle, but this time the single family transferred a batch of buffaloes from Hanzhong, which is really surprising.

"Will the buffalo adapt to us too?" Zhang Chao asked suspiciously, Bashang is mostly dry land, and the winter is also cold.

"Yes, buffaloes are actually better than cattle, they have more strength, they have a gentle temper, they can adapt to very hot weather, and they can also adapt to the winter in Guanzhong."

Hanzhong and Guanzhong are only separated by a Qinling mountain range, and Zhang Chao feels that what he said seems to make sense.

"Buffalo feeding is similar to that of cattle in that they eat more, and when it is hot in summer, they have to be taken to a pond or ditch every day to soak in water."

"It's more expensive, isn't it?" An adult buffalo weighs thousands of pounds, nearly twice as big as a scalper, and is definitely more expensive.

"It's not much."

Cattle and buffaloes, as long as they can farm, they are good cattle.

Zhang Chao didn't really care what kind of cattle he bought, he also knew that after a long war in the north, the number of cattle had indeed decreased sharply, and now there was a great demand in various places. On the contrary, it was in the southeast, and after the end of the Sui Dynasty, it was relatively stable.

It is indeed not easy for Shan Xiongxin to mobilize so many buffaloes in such a short time.

Only arable land, buffalo is no worse than oxen, and even better. But buffalo also has some disadvantages, buffalo meat is not as delicious as yellow beef. Of course, in the era when cattle cannot be slaughtered privately, ordinary people will not kill cattle for meat. A buffalo can be tamed at the age of two, and as long as it is not sick, it can normally live to the age of eighteen, and by the age of fifteen, it can still farm well.

One thing where buffalo is inferior to cattle is that buffalo can't pull carts for ploughing the fields. Especially on those gravel roads, buffaloes are completely inferior to scalpers. The big hooves of the buffalo are more suitable for swamps and paddy fields, and no matter how deep the water fields, they can easily do as usual. Moreover, buffalo breeding is not as fast as that of cattle, which generally have one birth a year, while buffalo has two births in three years, and sometimes even three births in five years.

Anyway, Zhang Chao bought these cattle mainly for farming, and he didn't need to be used as transportation animals, so it didn't matter if he thought about it.

Zhang Chao not only asked Shan Xiongxin to help buy ploughing cattle this time, but also bought a batch of mules. There were thirty mules in this batch, but not all of them were needed by the Zhang family themselves.

Twenty of them were bought for the village soldiers.

A few days ago, the White Deer Riding House issued a notice. Let all the soldiers, each group of ten people, need to buy six mules, and donkeys will do. For this reason, the Cheqi Prefecture also gave each provincial soldier a subsidy of 5,000 yuan.

It turns out that the Weifu does not have this requirement, and the donkeys and horses are prepared if the conditions are good, and when there is a war, they will take mules and horses to conscript, carry heavy loads, and there is an allowance for mules and horses. But now the imperial court requires all the government soldiers to be purchased, but not everyone needs it, but according to the gang, a group of ten people must prepare six mules, and no mules and donkeys are fine.

This is also a burden for the government soldiers. Nowadays mules are still very expensive, even donkeys, not cheap. Fortunately, in the past two years, the government soldiers have always won the battle, and the rewards and spoils have also been divided a lot, and this year the world has been exempted from money and food for another year. The government soldiers still have some money in their hands, and there are more than 30 government soldiers in Zhangjiagou, which almost cost more than 20 mules.

Everyone asked Zhang Chao to help buy mules, and he agreed to come down, and asked Shan Xiongxin to help instead.

Zhang Chao bought a few more mules, which were for his own use, and he could use them for the mill in the future, and he could also ride them.

The next day, the men of the single family drove a large herd of oxen and mules over.

More than 200 cows and mules walked on the road, which was still very eye-catching, and even the people of several nearby villages followed the cattle to Zhangjiagou.

Many people have never even seen such a large buffalo, and they are quite curious to look at the buffalo with gray fur and two large curved horns.

Li Zheng stood at the entrance of the village with a smile, looking at the herd of cattle with black seedlings, constantly brushing his beard, and he couldn't take it back if he was very open. As one of the five Li Zheng who took turns to be in charge of Bailu Township, the Zhang family bought so many cattle at once, which was also a good thing for him.

The Zhang family bought cattle to feed the tenants. When the tenants have cattle, the harvest in the fields will be more stable, and the tax will be stable. Even on the imperial court's assessment table, the number of ploughing cattle and the number of people are also important indicators. When an official is in office, the population under his jurisdiction increases, which is meritorious, and if the number of ploughing cattle also increases a lot, it is also a good performance.

Li Zheng didn't think that he could be promoted and make a fortune, but if he did well in the assessment, it was still possible to be promoted to a county or something like that in the future.

"San Lang, you've really done a great thing. My family has lived well, and I haven't forgotten the township. With these cattle, farming next year will be much easier. ”

Zhang Chao just smiled.

Zhang Chao is not doing charity, buying cattle is a win-win situation.

The villagers planted his family's land, and with a stable cattle harvest, his rent was naturally secure. At the same time, Zhang Chao had already calculated that raising cattle was a very promising project, and with so many people helping him raise cattle for free, Zhang Chao was not happy.

As long as he doesn't suffer losses, Zhang Chao doesn't mind giving others some help and convenience. He knew that the cultivation of this age was very hard. Many people's plows are made of wood, and there are no cattle and horses, so they can only use people to plow on their backs, and the ploughing is very shallow, and sometimes they have to plow the land repeatedly, and the people who carry the plough are harder than pulling the fiber, after all, the fiber pulling is not all rapids and rapids.

It was a real face with his back to the loess and calluses on his shoulders.

There can be a cow, and even a strong laborer can be topped, or even more than that.

The big heifers are four or five years old, which is when they are at their strongest, and these buffaloes are at their strongest from four to twelve years old.

Huge physique, gray hair, a crescent white under the neck, two thick horns on the head of the cow.

The buffaloes were very tame and did not move when they stood there, and some of the more daring villagers stepped forward to pet the big buffalo with a light in their eyes, just as they did when they touched their daughter-in-law on their wedding night.

"What a strong cow, is this a buffalo?"

"Does this ox have great strength, does it pull a moving plow?"

Everyone couldn't help but ask all kinds of questions, they were so excited, they trembled with excitement at the thought that they could have such a huge cow in the future.

"This is the buffalo, which weighs a thousand pounds. Such a big cow, the strength is naturally very large, this buffalo bull can reach 600 catties, and the cow can also reach 500 catties. During the busy farming season, it can be cultivated for four hours a day as long as it is fed fodder. ”

Everyone was surprised to hear this number. Although many villagers do not have their own cattle, they will rent the landlord's cattle when they are too busy. The scalpers they rented in the past were not so capable.

"Only a big bulf has such strength."

The big bulf is the kind of big bull after castration, and after castration, the bull can increase in size a lot and become tame. Some big rhinos can grow to more than 1,000 catties, and their strength is incomparable.

However, the bullock is also more expensive.

"Is this cow really for us?" A villager was reluctant to let go when he touched the cow.

Ke Shan said on the side, "This cow was bought by San Lang, and now it is just put in your house to feed and take care of, and when the farm is busy, you can borrow it to plow the field, but it is not for you." ”

The villagers laughed.

"Fifth uncle, you put numbers on these horns, and we will draw lots in a while, and whoever draws which cow will adopt which."

Because they had signed an adoption contract with the tenants in advance, they all had a number of cattle to adopt, but in order to avoid everyone picking and choosing, Zhang Chao still planned to use the lottery method.

The number plate that has been written in advance is hung on each horn.

Zhang Chao took out a bamboo tube, which contained many bamboo skewers, and numbers were also written on the head. The side with the number on the head of the sign is placed in the barrel and shaken.

"Everyone comes and draws lots, one for each person."

"Which number is drawn, the cow corresponding to the number, is yours."

A big heifer with a heifer over a year old. After this pairing, each tenant household adopts two cows, one large and one small.

As for the three male buffaloes, they were left on the Zhuangzi to raise them by themselves. This is also for the purpose of breeding cattle in the future, which is a breeding cow and must be raised well.

At the beginning of the draw, everyone lined up, and their faces were full of excitement.

Especially the tenants of the original Zhao family, they didn't expect that they would be able to enjoy such benefits just after farming for the Zhang family. Looking at the sturdy cows, these people simply trembled with excitement.

If there is a cow, there will be a cow soon, and there will be its own cattle in the future, even if it is just to help the Zhang family raise cattle, but after all, this cow can be used in the future.

The first to draw lots was the old man Zhao from Zhao Zhuang, and his hand trembled and stretched out to the lottery holder.

Zhang Chao took the sign and glanced at it.

"Thirteenth."

Over there, Ke Shan smiled and said to Old Man Zhao, "Come with me." ”

Ke Shan took Old Man Zhao to find the No. 13 cow, and among a large number of cows, there was a gray-haired cow, and the horns of this cow were very long and curved. The horns of the buffalo are also an indicator of the age of the cow, and each year it grows, there is an extra section on the horn.

"Congratulations old man, this is a six-year-old cow, look at how big this head is, look at how big this belly is."

"This cow will be raised for me in the future?"

"Yes."

"Ouch, what a cow." Old Man Zhao felt that he couldn't get enough of it.

At this time, a person from the single family said, "This cow is already pregnant with cubs, and it will give birth next summer." ”

Buffalo breeding is generally longer than that of cattle, cattle can have one birth a year, but buffalo is often two births in three years, and some have three births in five years.

"San Lang is benevolent and righteous, after everyone brings the cattle back, they must be fed well." Ke Shan said and untied the cow rope and handed it over to Old Man Zhao. (To be continued.) )