The Chishui River meanders through the green grassland, like a silver snake. After heavy rain, a section of it in the Tru Valley will turn red, hence the name Chishui.
At this time, the herdsmen who had just migrated to the pastures on the southern slope of the Tru Valley according to tradition had not recovered from the busyness of changing to new pastures. They were already panicked by the sudden arrival of Montenegrin armed forces.
Tru Valley Pasture is located more than fifty kilometers east of Chishui City.
Now in October, we have entered the long dry season, and all nomadic settlements are replacing new pastures.
The Tru Valley settlements, as they have traditionally done, migrated to their traditional winter grazing lands where water and grass were better and warmer during the dry season.
There are more than 500 households in the Tru tribe, with a population of nearly 5,000, but they are divided into more than a dozen small and large settlements. They move together. During the rainy season, they will go north to Maple Leaf Pasture, 200 miles away, and return to the Tru Valley during the long dry season. There are several settlements distributed within a radius of dozens of miles.
The grassland on the southern slope of the Tru Valley has the largest settlement, with a population of more than a hundred households and thousands of people. It is the chief clan and the "Katabu" family of the Tru tribe.
The so-called "Katabu" are the class in the tribe whose status is inferior to the nobles. Generally speaking, they bear less production tasks and more combat tasks. According to the understanding of the Central Asians, they are traditional warrior families.
Nearly four-fifths of the population of the remaining ten or so settlements is called "Kasaka", which is actually a slave household. These herdsmen do not have any means of production of their own. They only help the patriarch's family to graze and support the patriarch's family and the warrior family.
The Montenegrin armed forces who came to the Tru Valley are currently stationed in the Kasaka settlement on the edge, with dozens of households and a population of several hundred.
This Kasaka settlement is more than ten kilometers away from their main settlement on the south slope, but when the Montenegrin armed forces arrived, the entire Tru tribe's settlement got the message.
Two armored vehicles, a truck, a cavalry company from the Prairie Guard Regiment, and a cavalry squadron from the Chishui Public Security Inspection Brigade formed the force of the Montenegrin armed forces coming here to suppress the situation.
In fact, the Grassland Guard Regiment is the original Austrian-Vietnam Brigade. Now it has been transformed into two Grassland Guard Regiments. Each regiment has three to four thousand people. They are stationed in Chishui and Keri respectively. They have completely become the personal mercenaries of the Prince of Black Mountain Fort. , to help them maintain law and order on the prairie.
The public security inspection brigade is composed of local young men recruited. From a certain perspective, if the Montenegrins are regarded as invaders, the public security army is the recruited local puppet army.
…
The felt bags of the slave households in Kasaka are all in tatters. Of course, the felt bags are actually traditional buildings built thousands of years ago when there was snow season here. They are used to resist wind and cold. In fact, they are not suitable for today's climate. , even in winter, wooden houses and thatched houses are enough to keep out the cold. However, the current winter is indeed getting colder.
Lu Ming sat in front of a felt bag with wind chimes hanging on it. Generally speaking, hanging wind chimes represented happy events for this herdsman family.
It is true that the girl in this family is attracted by a "Katabu", and she will be sent there tomorrow to be a "Jita" for the "Katabu". According to Central Asian culture, she is a concubine, and, Their status is lower than that of the concubines of the Middle-earth people. Even if they give birth to children, they are still "Kasaka" and are not considered the children of the Katab warriors at all. When the "Jita" people grow old, they usually take their children with them. The slaves who were driven back to the Kasaka slave settlement were accustomed to it from the grassland tradition, and they did not think that the children born to "Jita" had any blood relationship with the Katab family.
From the grassland social class structure, this can prevent the upper class population from expanding indefinitely and causing the collapse of its support system.
From a biological perspective, it maintains the underlying genetic diversity and avoids the phenomenon of pure inbreeding.
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But from a civilized society, this custom would undoubtedly be considered absurd.
At this moment, Lu Ming looked at the girl in front of him, who was only in her teens, and shook his head inwardly. Her miserable life was destined to be that she would soon become a tool for the upper class to vent their sexual desires and a tool for the reproduction of human beings. He looked at her panic-stricken expression. It seemed that she was very scared and confused about the future.
The girl's grandfather and father were all terrified to stand in front of Lu Ming. The grandfather was probably in his fifties, but he was very old. The heavy and hard life left too many traces on him. His back was hunched over, his face Full of orange peels and coughing from time to time.
Strictly speaking, the girl's fathers are three, three brothers, who married one daughter-in-law, which is very common for Kasaka slave families.
Even in today's civilized society, there is no DNA test. In polygamous families in grassland tribes, it is even more difficult to tell which father the children are. They can only look at the appearance. If the difference in appearance is not obvious, it is a confusing situation.
"Are you really willing to send such a young daughter out to suffer?" Lu Ming looked at the three fathers.
Three brothers, the eldest is thirty-five years old and the youngest is twenty-seven years old. They are all swarthy men.
"She, she went to enjoy the food, which is better than what she eats at home!" The eldest brother was very surprised by what this high-ranking official from Central China said.
The three brothers who survived had four children, and his wife was pregnant again. Giving one away would also reduce the family's food burden.
Lu Ming looked at the second and third brothers. He could see that the youngest third brother's face was gloomy, and he looked at his daughter from time to time with some unbearable eyes.
Looking at the face, the girl seems to be more similar to the third child, especially the thin lips and cheekbones, which are almost carved from the same mold.
Lu Ming shook his head and stood up, took two steps to the side, and looked at Tuoba Khan who was standing in the shadow. Her face was covered with a thin white gauze, only revealing her deep black eyes.
"Do you think it's normal for this to continue forever? Madam Tuoba?"
Tuoba Lan didn't speak.
At this time, there was the sound of horse hooves, and a horse came running quickly. A man jumped off his horse a dozen steps away, walked up a few steps quickly and announced: "Sir, Matruh is here!"
Matru is the patriarch of the Tru tribe. No matter what his real name is, when he succeeds as the patriarch, he will be the Matru of this generation.
Lu Ming nodded: "Bring him here!" Looking at the Casaka Nuhu settlement, his eyes gradually became firm.
In fact, during this period of time, as the "invader", I was gradually confused about my actions here, and I had some doubts about whether I was in the right place. Perhaps when I first entered the grassland, I should have surrendered all the tribes and let the grassland operate according to the traditional structure. Is it right to go on in such a stable and orderly manner without wasting one's energy, let alone bleeding into a river?
But now, everything is relieved.
A few minutes later, Matruh hurriedly came to Lu Ming. He was a middle-aged man in his forties. His father died suddenly of illness last year. He inherited the family business and was a fat man in vain.
"You summon people from all settlements, and each household must have a representative. Go to Nanpo for a meeting in front of your settlement. I have something to say!" Lu Ming stared at him, "Before that, you, the Katabu household, surrender all weapons. , including bows, arrows and spears! Send them all here."
"Yes, yes..." Matruh smiled apologetically.
Lu Ming looked at him deeply: "I know that your department sometimes has to defend against wolves and ferocious beasts, so this is only a temporary measure."
"Don't worry, sir, I understand!" Matru said with a smile on his fat face.
Lu Ming nodded, looking at this guy who seemed harmless to humans and animals, and then caught a glimpse of his grandfather, eldest brother, and second brother, who were silent and fearful in front of Matruh, thoughtfully.
