Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 40 Together
Beijiwu was carrying his things home when he saw a Hu (Central Asian) vendor selling green vegetables on the way.

"What are you selling?"

When Beijiwu saw the familiar vegetables, he stopped and casually asked a question.

Murong Hu, who was setting up a stall on the official road, saw Beiji Wu asking him questions and said with a smile, "I'm selling cucumbers, one coin each."

Hu Gua is the same as cucumber.

Arctic Martial raised his head and looked in front and behind him.

"I'm not buying." Arctic Martial left immediately.

After Murong Hu saw him leave, he continued to sit and rest, intending to leave later.

The official road is tens of thousands of meters long. On a hot day, carrying a load on your shoulders, you'll definitely need to rest. No one can walk all the way to the end in one go.

Now that it was broad daylight, on an official road, and the young man didn't seem like a bad person, Murong Hu didn't think too much about it.

A minute later, Beijiwu, who had already walked away, turned back.

Murong Hu fanned himself while squinting in the scorching sun as he looked at the boy who had returned.

Arctic Martial asked, "Will you still be here tomorrow?"

Murong Hu replied, "I'll have to sell it somewhere else tomorrow, maybe in the county, or maybe in the town ahead."

Beijiwu said, "Then I'll come back tomorrow to buy it."

Murong Hu laughed and said, "A few cucumbers are not worth it. If you want to eat them, I'll give you a few. Anyway, they're already ruined by the sun. I'll pick some fresh ones to sell in the city tomorrow. You can take a few of these to eat."

Beiji Wu squatted down, took twenty sticks, stood up and said, "Consider it a loan. My name is Beiji Wu, and I am the village chief of Beitian Village nearby. You can go to Beitian Village to find me, or wait for me here tomorrow. I will transport grain to Hutou Town to repay the grain tomorrow."

Murong Hu did not know Beijiwu, nor was he familiar with Beitian Village.

However, a few cucumbers are not expensive, and eating them all won't fill you up.

"Okay, just give me five catties of grain tomorrow."

Exchanging twenty cucumbers for five pounds of grain is clearly a bit expensive.

Beijiwu said, "Three jin."

Murong Hu didn't really understand pricing, but he figured he'd sell if he felt it was right. "Alright! You're a Han Chinese, right? Han Chinese keep their word!"

“I am a mountain farmer,” Beijiwu introduced his rare race again.

Murong Hu frowned. "What kind of tribe is the Mountain Farmers?"

Beijiwu replied, "The tribes in the mountains don't wear braids, they just cut their hair short. Both men and women wear trousers, not cumbersome robes, and they like to farm in the mountains."

Murong Hu stopped pursuing the matter of the mountain peasant tribe and said, "I am of the Xianbei ethnicity, my name is Murong Hu, and I live in Xinmolamu Village in the northwest."

Beijiwu smiled and said, "Okay, I'll give you food tomorrow. If you can't make a living in the mountains in the future, bring your family and come to our mountain farmer tribe for help."

Murong Hu stared at the man in disbelief, and the lowly figure subconsciously replied, "Oh, okay."

After paying his debts on credit, Beijiwu turned and walked away, leaving with a carefree air.

Murong Hu frowned deeply.

What the heck is the Mountain Farmers...? I've never heard of them before.

Murong Hu carefully considered the clans he knew.

Han Chinese, Xianbei, Turks, Yue people, Xiaoyue people, Persians, Uyghurs, Mongols, Shatuo people, Semu people...

Due to military needs, ethnic boundaries were relatively blurred in the Yinshan region where the Hu horses did not cross the Yinshan Mountains, and intermarriage among various ethnic groups was common.

Murong Hu had no hostility toward rare races he had never heard of before, and overall he had a pretty good impression of the Mountain Farmers.

Beijiwu walked back to Beitian Village.

Several elderly women from Beitian Village were having lunch with their children at the village entrance.

A group of people watched Arctic Martial return from the shade of a tree.

"Master Wu!"

Aunt Beigong greeted Beijiwu with a smile, "Have you eaten yet?"

Beijiwu shouted, "Go back now and get all the men in each household to the threshing ground for a meeting! Anyone who delays my business can forget about living in this village!"

Beijiwu shouted once and then went home.

When everyone saw that Beijiwu had returned home, they quickly got up from under the shade of the tree.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know, Da Wa, hurry back and call your father and grandfather to the drying ground."

"I have to go back and call for help." "I have to hurry back too."

Beijiwu is neither a bad person nor a good person in this village.

However, he had a good reputation in the village. Over the past year, he had won over more than twenty households with his words and actions.

Bei Jiwu walked home, where Xianglan and Jiangcao were sitting at the door eating. Upon seeing Bei Jiwu, they quickly got up.

"Sis! The master is back!"

"mother!"

Two little girls, carrying bowls of rice, greeted Beijiwu, and both curiously looked at the basket behind him.

Every time Arctic Wu returns, he usually brings back a lot of things.

They would bring back either food or meat.

This time, I didn't carry anything in my hands, and I didn't plan to share what was on my back.

Beijiwu walked into the courtyard, took off the basket on his back, and said, "I've already eaten. I had noodles at Wen Caizhu's house. From now on, make noodles for me from wheat flour. Make them now, I want to eat noodles tonight."

As soon as Li Hong came out, she heard Arctic Martial Arts' series of requests and said with a smile, "Okay! Yes, sir!"

Li Bing helped Beijiwu carry the basket, glanced at it, and asked, "What are all these things?"

"The cucumber, some writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and paints are all things I use."

Arctic Martial didn't want anyone to touch these things. "Keep them inside the house and don't touch them."

"Yes, sir." Li Bing obediently carried the basket into the house.

While gently breastfeeding the baby, Gao Conglian said softly, "Sir, please take off your clothes, I'll wash them for you."

Beijiwu walked to the shed and said, "Bring me some water to wash my face. I need to discuss something with the villagers later."

A group of women quickly cooperated in serving the male master.

When Beijiwu is not around, you have to do chores; when Beijiwu comes back, you have to take care of him first.

The farm work at home was also taken care of by a group of women, including building the house, doing farm work, and clearing weeds in the backyard.

After waiting for half an hour, Bei Jiwu went to the threshing ground to meet with more than forty men from the village.

Not only men, but women were also listening nearby, including mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law, and children. Almost all of the more than one hundred people in the village were here.

“In our village, taxes are paid according to the amount of land owned. Each person will receive half the grain from each mu of land. The amount of tax paid will be based on the amount of land owned. I will be in charge of tax payments and external affairs from now on.”

Aunt Beigong quickly said, "Half is too much!"

Beijiwu glanced at her and said, "It's already very little. From now on, every household will only need to pay this. There are no other miscellaneous taxes. In addition to paying taxes, I will use the grain I pay to buy salt, farm tools, oxen, and women to marry into the village."

"Whoever pays more taxes will receive more. It's about pooling money to buy cattle and farm tools, which we can then share and work together to cultivate more land. Otherwise, if you all rely on yourselves, it will be ages before you can buy cattle!"

"Anyone who objects can get out and go pay their taxes outside!"

After surveying the Arctic region, no one dared to voice any objections.

There are quite a few men in the village, but even forty-odd men might not be able to defeat Beijiwu alone.

What's even more alarming is that Arctic fighters brought weapons to their meetings, including a knife at their waist.

Kitada Negishi thought that Kitakyuu Takeshi was alright, much better than the military men outside.

"Alright! I'll do as Master Wu says!"

Seeing Kitada Negi nod, the others knew that the matter was settled.

At this moment, Beijiwu said, "I have found out that the mountain farmers pay less tax. No matter if we were Han, Hu, Xianbei or whatever before, we will all be unified as the mountain farmers from now on. I will be the chief of the mountain farmers from now on!"

Kitada couldn't accept this and objected, saying, "I won't change! What kind of mountain farmer is this? I've never even heard of him!"

Beijiwu cursed, "Anyone who doesn't dare can go and dig stones to build the city wall for the military settlement! They're arresting plain people to build the Great Wall outside. Mountain farmers just need to stay in the mountains and not go out. They don't need to go and die. Old man Beitian is willing to work. When the soldiers arrest people in the future, they'll send him out!"

Kitada Biao quickly said, "I'll change! I'll become a mountain farmer!"

When Aunt Beitian heard that people were to be arrested to work on the Great Wall, she quickly added, "My father is a Hu (non-Han Chinese), so he might be a mountain farmer! We'll change it!"

The bloodlines in the border regions have long been in disarray. After more than a hundred years of fighting and constant changes of power, most people simply don't care who they are.

Under pressure from the Arctic Warriors, the group had no choice but to migrate to this mountain farmer tribe they had never even heard of.

Beijiwu, holding a knife, gave a group of men in the village a neat, short haircut.

Starting this afternoon, the mountain farmers gradually began to develop some cultural traditions.

(End of this chapter)