The tribal village faces a small stream. It uses logs as thick as a bowl to build a fence as high as one person. The outside of the fence is covered with thorns, and a not very wide ditch is dug outside.
In terms of basic structure, this is the same as the Central Plains City, but it is a bit simpler due to production level restrictions. It is probably mainly used to defend against wild beasts.
The stockade was not big, less than one mile in diameter. When more than two hundred Song troops entered, it couldn't help but seem a little crowded.
The houses of the natives are mainly made of wood. First, many wooden piles are erected on the ground as the base frame, and then logs are used to pave a platform three or four feet above the ground. Then squatters are built on the platform, with herringbone roofs covered with thatch. , it is no problem to keep out the rain, but the walls leak wind everywhere.
This construction method is very common in hot and humid areas in the south and on islands. It is collectively called the dry-stall style, and is also known as fence dwellings and nest dwellings.
However, this squatter house of the Babuza people is still relatively primitive, and there are no room separations. Items are stored, food is cooked, and a large family eats and sleeps in it. There is no privacy.
The head of the family is a woman, and the house, property, and children all belong to her. Only the daughter has the right to inherit. Therefore, the form of marriage is that the man is married to the woman.
When a young man wants to get married, he will ask his mother or other women in the family to bring gifts to the woman's house to propose marriage. This gift is also the man's 'dowry'. If the woman's parents approve of the marriage, they will leave the gift, and then There is no wedding ceremony, and the man can spend the night at the woman's house that night.
When the boys in the family reach a certain age, they no longer stay at home, but live in public houses.
The public house is located in the center of the village, and is connected to a large area by many relatively spacious squatters. There is a large piece of flat land in front of the public house, which is usually used for gatherings and training.
Lin Yingjia, Zeng Ba and more than a dozen people were invited into the public house, while the other Song troops rested on the ground.
The largest room in the public house is where the elders hold meetings and where ancestors are enshrined.
Lin Yingjia saw some clay pots placed on the altar. Although he thought it was strange, he still bowed solemnly to these pots.
This move greatly increased the elders' favor and made them less repulsive.
It was already noon, which was not the time for the natives to eat. However, it is probably a common etiquette for all mankind to entertain guests with a banquet, so the entire village was opened.
Lin Yingjia felt that the distance between the two parties could be quickly shortened at the banquet, so he did not refuse, and Zeng Ba didn't mind.
Speaking of which, having to entertain more than two hundred guests is enough to make the already poor tribe even worse. Even if they are lucky enough to bring back a few hundred kilograms of fish, they still need to use a lot of savings. It can be said that they have exhausted all their savings.
The ingredients are quite abundant. The four sambar deer, a sika deer, a mountain qiang, a young wild boar, and some small prey that were hunted yesterday are considered delicacies to the people of Song Dynasty.
But the cooking method is disappointing. It is boiled in plain water in a clay pot or roasted on a fire. There is no seasoning, and at most it is sprinkled with gray-brown coarse salt.
Fresh prey and crops are fine, but the natives' method of preserving food is simple and crude. For example, fish is not processed at all. Even the fish scales and internal organs are marinated in pottery urns. After a period of time, it is difficult to separate them when taken out. Knowing clearly what is fish and what is maggots or worms, the smell is definitely not inferior to that of canned herring.
The tribe regarded this banquet as a major festival. Most people got busy and made food in the open air around the ground. For a while, the entire village was filled with smoke, and children were running around laughing.
The soldiers of the Song Army had been instructed in advance to try their best to establish good relations with the natives. When they saw the natives cooking food, they would step forward to help with a smile and take out the refined salt, spices, rice and dry food they carried with them. When they met children, they would Hand over candy bars and snacks.
At first, the natives were very fearful and wary of the Song soldiers. Soon, they could see natives and soldiers gesticulating and talking together. In fact, neither party could understand them, but the atmosphere was very harmonious.
Some half-year-old children even dared to touch the armor of the soldiers. In addition to keeping their weapons away from the natives, the soldiers were also happy to show off their own equipment. They even used steel knives to cut food, chop wood, or demonstrate bows. The crossbow caused the natives to scream in surprise.
After the banquet started, all the people from the tribe came to sit on the ground. However, the Song army generally gathered in one place and only selectively ate some of the food sent by the natives. Anyway, they brought their own marching cooking utensils and made their own meals.
It’s not that I dislike it intentionally, but some don’t know what it is, and some really can’t accept it.
The natives didn't seem to be aware of Song Jun's dislike, or didn't care. They were very enthusiastic anyway, and they themselves ate happily, especially with the spices and seasonings of the Song people, which made them almost swallow their own tongues.
Most of the food sent to the public house was actually processed by Song Jun himself, and the utensils, bowls and chopsticks used were also specially brought.
Seeing this situation, the elders couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, but Wan Xing was very happy and kept saying something to other elders. It seemed that the food in Song Camp had completely conquered him.
After the elders tasted it for themselves, their expressions immediately changed. The unprecedented deliciousness made them suddenly abandon all thoughts and even forget to greet the guests. They all used both hands to eat and drink hungrily.
Looking at the performance of the elders, Lin Yingjia smiled with pride.
It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.
Once you have seen and enjoyed it, it will be difficult to go back to the past days. It is only a matter of time before these natives become naturalized in the Song Dynasty.
In a good mood, Lin Yingjia picked up the local wine and took a sip. It was sour, astringent and a little bitter. The wine taste was very light. I don't know if it was made from wild fruits or something. It might be the worst village wine in the Central Plains. It's ten times better than this.
Immediately, he asked someone to bring the wine and opened the wine jar. The mellow aroma touched the noses of all the elders, and they were even more addicted to it after they took their mouths.
Just a small cup made all the elders get excited, open their chat boxes, and talk loudly among themselves.
The interpreter sitting behind Lin Yingjia tried hard to analyze the content of their conversation, and then translated in a low voice.
"...They are very powerful and rich, and everything is much better than us..."
"It's probably not a bad thing to surrender to them. Then maybe we will live a better life in the future, and we can't resist at all..."
"Many, many full moons ago, the Hongya and Xila tribes in the south were no different from us. It was just that a group of overseas people came. They chose to submit and learned to make iron and better farming. Then the tribes became more and more popular. More, more and more powerful..."
"Yeah, if a group of overseas people hadn't come later, defeated them easily, and captured all the original overseas people, our tribe might have been annexed."
"Even now, the Hongya tribe and the Xila tribe are still the most powerful on the island, and those fierce mountain people don't dare to provoke them easily..."
"Those overseas people who came later had ships as big as mountains, weapons and clothes made of iron. They should be the ancestors of these Song people. But they looked down on the island at that time, so they didn't stay."
"I heard that the Song people live on the small island opposite the Hongya tribe. They plant dense and abundant crops. The Pabra tribe even went back to rob a lot of things and women before, but they didn't see how powerful those people were. ."
"Maybe the people on that small island are just small tribes that were expelled or separated. Now these must be big tribes. Fortunately, don't they mean that their big ships are bigger than our people?"
"There are more and more people in our tribe. It is difficult for this place to support so many people, but there is no other place to separate families. We have been troubled by this problem for a long time. Maybe we don't have to worry after we submit to the Song people. "
"That's right, the fish we brought back were only a small part of what the three Song people caught in one night. In the same area, the Song people could grow more food, so they had enough food without hunting. They It only took half a day to build a village that was much larger than our tribe, and it only took a few words to cut down a big tree... We had no other choice but to surrender. Only by taking the initiative could we gain more. What a benefit.”
"Fortunately, it makes sense. If these Song people come with malicious intentions, we will only die..."
After hearing this, Lin Yingjia felt confident. After discussing with Zeng Ba, he decided to strike while the iron was hot, otherwise he was worried that all the elders would get drunk after a while.
He told the native elders that after surrender, the tribe would be a village in the Song Dynasty, and its internal affairs would remain as before. The government would not interfere too much, and would be responsible for protecting the safety of the tribe.
The land reclaimed by the tribe will still be used by the tribe, and no taxes will be collected for the time being. However, the government will send people to teach them more advanced farming methods and give them improved seeds, farm tools, cattle, etc.
The government will also set up schools in the villages to teach Chinese language and writing as well as more advanced technologies in an effort to improve everyone's living standards.
In addition, the government will hire young men from the tribe to do work, and the rewards will definitely be more generous than when they hunt and fish. The tribe can also trade with the government for hunting, such as deer skin and antlers.
The reason why Lin Yingjia offered such generous conditions was that, firstly, it was worth a thousand gold worth of horse bones, and secondly, he was prepared to use implicit and gentle means to urge the natives to naturalize as soon as possible.
The elders heard that all this was beneficial and harmless to their families, and they were all drunk, so they all agreed without much thought and swore an oath in front of the ancestral spirits to submit to the Song Dynasty and never betray.
Immediately, Lin Yingjia named the tribe Lujia Village. The village chief was elected by the elders themselves, and he was lucky to be chosen in the end.
After everything was agreed upon, Lin Yingjia immediately sent a bunch of gifts.
Ten steel knives, spears, simple leather armors, bows and arrows each, three cows, porcelain, cloth, tea, salt and sugar, iron pots, sickles, hoes and other items made Lujia Village feel the benefits of submission at the first time.
Then he didn't stay much and returned to Lukang with thirty selected native teenagers.
Over the next month or so, with Lujia Village's example and assistance in communication, the other twenty-odd Babuza tribes also gradually surrendered.
Many of these tribes only had two to three hundred people, or even dozens or hundreds, and the total number was less than five thousand. So they merged in name and formed a total of ten nearby villages, and then moved together when the time was right.
On this basis, the first county in Liuqiu Prefecture was established on paper and was temporarily named Luding County. The person appointed as the county magistrate was another forty-year-old Jinshi Fu Yixin.
Fu Yixin, courtesy name Mengshi, was a native of Xianyou County, Xinghua Army. Perhaps he knew that he was a bit old for the throne and had to find another way if he wanted to make a difference, so he actively joined King Yan and did not hesitate to go to serve in wild lands.
After he became the county magistrate, he was also very dedicated. He traveled to various native villages all day long, working tirelessly to perfect and implement the naturalization policy, and even Zeng Ba was impressed by his hard work.
More than three months later, a wooden city three miles long and wide gradually took shape on the seaside. It was called Lukang Town. It was also the seat of Liuqiu Prefecture and Luding County, and the most basic roads were opened between it and the villages. .
After the port was built, it also had the ability to dock four 2,000-ton sea-going ships at the same time. The sea area near the port had good fishery resources, which provided a powerful food supplement for the pioneering team.
It is not easy to open up wasteland for farming, especially in the original forest area. After cutting down the trees, it will take a long time to treat the land. In the short term, it is estimated that only the areas reclaimed by the natives can be cultivated, but most of them also need to improve the soil quality through compost.
Therefore, for a long time, the food for the pioneering group still needed to be transported from the mainland.
Lin Yingjia, Zengba and others understood that their mission was to gain a foothold, so they were not radical. The main scope of their activities was still the original territory of the Babuza tribe, and they continued to send small teams to survey the surrounding areas.
With the assistance of the Babuza people, things went smoothly, but most of the surrounding tribes were resistant. The Song Army did not force this, and did not want to intensify the conflict for the time being. They just drew boundaries and agreed not to invade each other.
During this period, the Pabra tribe and the Babuza people on the north bank of Bird Creek had several conflicts. After being severely punished by the Song army, they did not dare to cross the river easily again.
Generally speaking, things were relatively calm before August, and all the affairs of the pioneering group were carried out in an orderly manner.
It was not until August that the situation gradually became tense, and the surrounding natives became eager to take action, often crossing the originally agreed boundaries and appearing in the territory of Luding County.
At first, although Lin Yingjia and Zeng Ba were very annoyed, they just ordered the Song army to expel the natives. However, the natives crossed the border more and more, and some Babuza people were attacked and killed, and their heads were cut off. .
So the patrol intensity of the Song army suddenly increased many times, but it was still unable to prevent the occurrence of headhunting incidents. Moreover, rumors spread among the Babuza people, saying that it was the Song people who caused the disaster, that the Song people were demons, and Liuqiu was a rogue. Liuqiu and the like for begging for help.
Moreover, the supplies that were supposed to be sent have also been delayed. The ships sent to Quanzhou three times in a row have never been seen. The same goes for the ships sent to Pinghu Island, with no news coming back.
There were very few large ships left on the island. After realizing something was wrong, they did not dare to send any more ships out to sea.
Unexpectedly, in late August, a group of pirates suddenly attacked Lugang. Although they did not land, they robbed all the ships in the port that could cross the sea, and most of the small fishing boats were also destroyed.
At this time, food was becoming increasingly scarce, and the soldiers and civilians of the pioneering regiment began to panic.
