Qin Official

In mid-June of the 27th year of Qin Shihuang, on the south bank of the wide river, the black and white long-haired Qiang sheep were pushed to the ground by strong Qiang men. Their four hooves were tied tightly, and they were bleating in fear.

However, what greeted the flock of sheep was not sharp copper knives, but a group of Qiang women with disheveled hair. In their hands, they held bone wool combs to remove the long hair that was about to fall off the Qiang sheep one by one and put it in their leather pockets. , and then go to the river to wash up in the afternoon...

Qiang girls of different ages were doing the work they had to do twice a year, while looking at the Qin officials who were observing them from a distance, talking loudly without hesitation, and bursting into laughter from time to time.

"What are they talking about?"

Heifu summoned the cavalry commander Qiang Huang. His ancestors were also Qiang people. Although the accents of Beidi Qiang and Longxi Qiang were different, he could generally understand them.

"You really want to hear it, Chief Youshu?" Qiang Huang couldn't help laughing.

"Just say it."

Heifu sat outside the felt tent by the river, drinking the cheese juice that he had gradually become accustomed to. If you add some sugar, it tastes like sweet milk. No wonder the Yuezhi princes on the other side of the river like brown sugar so much.

"Then I'll tell you."

Qiang Huang said that those Qiang women were discussing that these black-faced Qin officials had been observing them for two days in a row. Could it be that they had taken a fancy to someone and wanted to sleep with her?

At this time, another older Qiang girl said mysteriously that maybe she was not interested in them, but in the sheep... Then she told a joke, saying that some Qin soldiers stationed at the border fortress were because of There are no women all year round, so they can only attack the ewes.

"puff."

This joke was so strong that Heifu spurted out a mouthful of buttermilk and even choked himself.

However, those Qiang women were right. He was indeed interested in their sheep and their wool...

In fact, a similar scene had been seen once a few days ago when Li Xin and Heifu led their troops to "Jishishan" in the upper reaches of Wuhansai to offer sacrifices to Qin Shihuang, the "source of the river" considered by the Central Plains people.

The so-called "Qiang" means "Xirong Shepherd". The ancient Qiang people are famous for their sheep herding. They have not only domesticated long-haired "Qiang sheep" (Ganjia Tibetan sheep) similar to later generations of sheep, but also developed More mature wool textile technology.

This kind of Qiang sheep, which may be black and white, or completely black, or completely white, grows long hair every autumn and winter, which will fade as the weather gets hotter in the following spring and summer.

According to this habit, Qiang women ream their hair twice in spring and summer. They use fine bamboo combs to comb out the coarse velvet that has been shed or will be shed from the Qiang sheep. After washing and loosening it with a bow string, they can rub it into coarse velvet. The wool is spun.

Think about it. Kudzu, hemp, and silk are grown in large quantities in the Central Plains and the South to make clothes. These are not available in the Qiang land. If you don't want to freeze, you can only get ideas from animal skins. The local altitude is high and the temperature is low. Animals are generally covered in thick down. In the early days, they might just skin them to keep out the cold. Gradually, the craft of wool weaving was also created. The thicker wool was woven into blankets and felts, and the finer wool was woven into blankets and felts. Woven into clothing to keep out the cold.

This kind of woolen cloth is also a specialty of the Qiang region. It is called "weaving skin" in "Yu Gong" and is paid tribute to Qin every year. But the Central Plains is not that cold. The nobles and common people wear Gema silk, but they despise the Qiang Rong's woolen clothes for being rough, and there is a sheep smell that is difficult to get rid of, just like the smell that can never be removed from the bodies of the Qiang women.

Heifu didn't mind it, so he exchanged a piece of brown sugar for a few woolen sweaters, which were quite similar to Tibetan robes. After wearing them, he found that even the worst woolen sweaters in later generations were finer and more comfortable than this.

It is not easy to wear, but the ability to withstand the cold should be no problem, otherwise thousands of Qiang people would have frozen to death in the terrible winter in Huangzhong, let alone migrate to the wider Qinghai-Tibet Plateau...

People in the Central Plains always think that Rongdi is cold-resistant. In fact, the main reason is that they wear thick clothes.

In addition to wool, yak hair called "yak" was also used by the Qiang people for weaving, and was also woven into a blanket called "yak" (máoji), which was imported to Xianyang as a tribute, but was only hung in the corner of the palace. Fresh, not much liked.

In this way, Heifu also became more convinced that "stones from other mountains can attack jade."

A ruler is longer than an inch, and not to mention Greece and Rome in the far west. Even our close neighbors, the Qiang people, seem to be lagging behind the Central Plains in every aspect, but there are still many things that the Central Plains can learn from.

Hei Fu wonders if there are similar technologies in the Xiongnu, Hexi, and Western Regions. Are there other sheep breeds? But just what he saw among the Qiang was enough to support his article "Shearing Wool for Clothes"!

In his memorial, he described what he saw and heard to Qin Shihuang, and proposed that Wushi Luo's caravan go deep into the Qiang, exchange all kinds of salt, sugar, and grain for a large number of male and female Qiang sheep, and bring them back to the pastures of border counties to raise.

They then used methods such as plundering, deception, and purchase to bring some Qiang women who were good at weaving wool into the country to teach wool weaving technology to the border people. They also had the East and West Weaving Workshops of Xianyang Shaofu renovated to improve efficiency.

Heifu still holds the position of "Shaofu Cheng", so this proposal was a matter of his job, so he wrote it without any hesitation.

"With the skills of ink masters and Shaofu weaving craftsmen, it shouldn't be difficult to copy this technology and even promote it."

It is quite comforting to think that soon I will be able to wear woolen clothes without odor in winter.

Before cotton spinning technology is discovered and promoted, woolen clothing should be the most suitable winter clothing. It is not the so-called "winter clothing" in the Central Plains, which is actually just two layers of burlap. It is also not like fur, which requires killing animals to obtain. Only wealthy aristocrats can afford to wear it. Wool can be continuously regenerated and is of high quality and not expensive.

After the sweaters are distributed to the soldiers in the border counties, the problem of keeping out the cold that troubles the garrison soldiers in Wuhansai can be successfully solved, and the "garrisoning" strategy can also be made more practical.

That’s why Heifu said in his memorial that if it could be extended to the entire north, it would make “all the poor people in the world happy!”

My body is warm, but I can't forget my head.

Touching his hair, Heifu had an idea. He thought of the dog-skin hat that the northeastern classmate in the dormitory brought when he was in the police academy in his previous life. Unfortunately, the school was in the south, and that guy only got a chance to wear it when it snowed once in three years. Go out...

Just do it, he quickly drew the appearance of a dog-skin hat with pen and ink on the paper he carried with him. Now, no more than in later generations, dog slaughter is common in the Central Plains. It is as popular as pork, especially in Yanzhao and Huaisi. So dog skin is not hard to come by.

It is quite touching to think that many years later, Qin soldiers wearing dog-skin hats and woolen coats would hold crossbows and guard the Great Wall in heavy snow, and even march towards the even colder old forests of Northeast China. …

At this time, Heifu did not expect that his painting would not matter. In later generations, this kind of hat, even if it was made of brown or yellow dog hair, would be called a "black dog hat" to commemorate its inventor.

After Hei Fu finished drawing the dog-skin hat, he put the drawing in his luggage so that everyone could pack up the camp and go to the river to meet Li Xin.

This inspection along the river to the east was Li Xin's suggestion. After offering sacrifices to the source of the Jishi Mountain, he wanted to come downstream to see the other side and where the future military front would be. So he left five hundred soldiers to build a mountain in Fuhan. Camping, clearing wasteland and opening up fields, the remaining five hundred cavalry galloped lightly.

The south bank of the river is a land of Rong and Qiang. It is divided into pieces and is not difficult to conquer. On the north bank is Hexi, the country of Yuezhi with hundreds of thousands of people who control strings and stretches for nearly a thousand miles.

Unfortunately, a long and towering mountain range blocked Li Xin's sight, preventing him from seeing the grasslands in Hexi and the nomadic camps of the Yuezhi people.

Li Xin was riding a white horse on the river bank, asking the guide and translator to question the local Qiang people.

"What is the name of this mountain?"

Li Xin pointed to the mountains on the north bank and asked the Qiang herdsmen.

After the Qiang herdsmen made gestures and gestures, the translator gave Li Xin's answer: "He said that the herdsmen on the north bank call it 'Gaolan'."

Li Xin remembered this name deeply in his heart, and Heifu also heard this and thought to himself, could this be the Lanzhou area in later generations?

After visiting the site in the past two days, Li Xin believed that this area is close to a big river and it is easy to open up land. Next year or the year after, an army can be sent to guard the fields on the south bank, and some Shandong immigrants from Guanzhong can be transferred here to build a city as a way to enter the Hexi region. stronghold.

Li Xin took off the jade necklace on his body, threw it into the river from a distance, and swore loudly: "Gaolan, Gaolan... Within three years, Xin will help this river! He will climb this mountain!"

Heifu stood behind Li Xin with a solemn face, but what he was thinking about was: "soup cake", the predecessor of ramen, has become popular among immigrants from Shandong in Weinan, and sesame cakes are also very popular, and will be spread with immigrants in the future. Coming here, could it be...that this is God's will?

This was the end point of Heifu and Li Xin's trip. On the next day, the two of them started to return to Didao with more than a thousand soldiers.

Heifu didn't know that although he was still in Longxi, the three memorials had been brought back to Xianyang by Qin Shihuang. Except for the high saddle and stirrup, which was a military secret and was implemented secretly without being revealed to anyone, the rest of the strategies for farming and sweating were The emperor issued a discussion to all officials, which actually triggered a great debate among the three schools of law, Confucianism and Mohism...