dkrc Chapter 131 The Value of Inheritance
Chapter 131 The Value of Inheritance
Su Dao didn't mention the competition or contest, and Chen Tuo didn't point it out either. They just listened to the bargaining in the arena and started learning Mongolian.
Most of the herders on the grasslands still speak Mandarin, and not many speak Mongolian.
Moreover, Chen Tuo couldn't understand much of the Mongolian they were speaking; he needed to think for a while before he could make out the gist of it.
The Mongolian and Manchu languages that Hu Yuling taught him were almost the same as Mandarin.
While others might understand the local dialect, Chen Tuo might not.
Listening to others' conversations and trying to understand their meaning based on the context is also a form of learning.
However, during the transaction, their conversation was very fast, which they felt made Chen Tuo's studies more difficult.
"Section Chief Xiao, could you get some beet pulp and sugar residue, and have Uncle Su take you to try it out?"
Experimenting with beet pulp as a feed formulation was the main purpose of Xiao Kai's trip.
When it comes to practical feeding experience, the herders on the grasslands clearly have a very high say.
Let them experiment, and they can come up with a preliminary feed formula in a short time.
The remaining task is for the sugar factory to contact the agricultural university to establish a dedicated research team to tackle the precise formulation of industrialized farming methods.
Chen Tuo and Xiao Kai's experiments mainly focused on determining that beet pulp, sugar residue, and molasses could be used as feed or supplementary feed for cattle, sheep, and horses.
"Chen, there are still ten barrels of alcohol weighing 500 jin each on the truck. Should we switch them?"
Before getting off the bus, Xiao Kai also offered a gift: 500 jin of alcohol, which was quite a good favor.
"Keep it! I still need it. Leave me some molasses and sugar residue too."
Chen Tuo plans to dilute the alcohol according to the recipe for fruit salad and sell it in border trade. This is considered an experiment by the Soren Merchant Guild.
In the recent transaction, Su Dao exchanged at least one hundred horses, worth over one hundred thousand yuan according to the Forestry Bureau's purchase price.
Whether it's the 500 jin of alcohol or the subsequent order of coarse tea, we now have the initial capital.
Alcohol is different from clothing, bedding, sugar residue, and molasses; like wine, it is a commodity.
There was no need for Chen Tuo to take advantage of such a small gain.
Su Dao and Xiao Kai took out the sugar residue, which the herders fed directly to the cattle, sheep, and horses in the stable.
Both beet pulp and sugar pulp have good palatability; the next few days will be crucial in observing the livestock's reaction to them.
The trading began early in the morning and ended around nine o'clock.
Su Dao traded for 150 horses, along with a large quantity of cattle, sheep, and horse hides. Judging from his appearance, this harvest far exceeded his expectations.
Under the unified purchase and sales system, neither the herders' own livestock nor their hides had formal sales channels on the grasslands.
The cattle, sheep, horses, and hides that the herders have accumulated can only be sold at markets like the Naadam festival in winter, where the prices are definitely much lower.
Besides livestock and hides, Chen Tuo also had Su Dao and Xiao Kai exchange sugar residue, molasses, and coarse salt for a large pile of leg bones and hooves of cattle, horses, and camels.
These bones and horns could be used as accessories for Evenki hunting knives, or transported directly back to Songling by train.
The cattle, sheep, and horses they acquired in the exchange needed to be ridden back to Songling by Su Dao, Morigen, Bailong, and Sumo.
Whether in Hulunbuir or Jagdaqi, it is difficult to sell livestock for high prices.
After sorting through the pelts he acquired, Xiao Kai would use his connections to exchange them for supplies needed by the hunters, as well as brick tea and tuocha.
Su Dao's own connections, compared to Xiao Kai's channels, resulted in a significant price difference.
With Xiao Kai involved, these hides can enter the supply system, and the price won't be much lower than the market price.
Su Dao's approach is unplanned, so the price will be at least halved.
After completing the transaction, and exchanging beet pulp and sugar residue for a considerable amount of hides, Su Dao's face flushed with excitement. He immediately wanted to split the profits, but was stopped.
"Uncle Su Dao, Section Chief Xiao and I don't want the things we're exchanging. We need to use them for our hunting knives, boots, and gear."
When the topic of inherited items came up, Chen Tuo also mentioned the hunting outfit that he had modified again.
Several of the herdsmen were wearing short-sleeved jackets with a front opening. When Chen Tuo saw this, he simply changed his hunting vest into a short-sleeved one.
Besides the vest, Chen Tuo also remembered the Mongolian border guard robe he was wearing.
The front opening is drafty and unsuitable for the extreme cold of the Xingan Mountains.
A right-fastening, diagonal-fronted garment becomes a Mongolian robe.
Thinking of the stand-up collar and round collar of Tang Dynasty robes in movies and TV dramas, Chen Tuo wanted to create a round-necked leather robe with a right-fastening straight front.
The addition of a high collar made of fur adds both aesthetic appeal and warmth.
Besides using the bone horn as a hunting knife accessory, Chen Tuo also planned to have Xiao Kai find connections to make a batch of horn buckles and bone buckles.
With the Tang-style round collar, there naturally had to be a belt with a sash.
After going around in circles, the splendor of the Tang Dynasty still suited his aesthetic.
As for the hunters' traditions, they will be passed down as they are, with the only difference being the addition of the Shatuo and Liao-Jin dynasties.
Having blocked Su Dao's share, Chen Tuo turned to Xiao Kai and told him his thoughts.
There are factories and workshops producing bone and corner buckles on the grasslands, so Xiao Kai readily agreed.
Besides the buttons, Chen Tuo also directly mentioned the decorations on the sash.
These kinds of accessories are quite complicated to make; Xiao Kai needs to find cultural and historical experts to come up with the patterns before they can be made.
Whether it's bone buttons, corner buttons, or belt accessories, or the design and production of round-neck leather robes and short-sleeved jackets.
For Chen Tuo, Su Dao, and the hunters in the mountains, these were things that money couldn't buy.
But for Xiao Kai and his best buddies at the Hongguang Sugar Factory, these things were quite simple.
It's nothing more than taking the timber and sugar to people, and then waiting to receive the goods and documents.
Chen Tuo's repeated redesigns were not due to his fickleness, but rather a sign of desperation.
On the grasslands, there were livestock, hides, bones, and horns that were not subject to unified purchase and sale. Hunters like Su Dao profited from these, and Chen Tuo also had to make the most of them.
The traditions passed down verbally or in writing are most likely those that have already disappeared.
To maintain the vitality of tradition, we need to use our hands and wear our clothes.
The ability to pass on traditions depends on the fact that the tradition must have value.
A legacy without value will be slowly discarded and quickly disappear.
Round-necked leather robes and double-breasted leather jackets, modified into hunting attire, have a market and demand on the grasslands, which is the value passed down by the hunters.
It is passed down only in the towering mountains and in semi-primitive production and life.
No matter how systematic and detailed the hunting and fishing culture and shamanistic traditions of the hunters are, it is only a matter of time before they are lost.
Passing on the tradition to the grasslands and into the daily lives of people in Northeast China is the only way to truly make it a vibrant tradition.
A round-neck leather robe can be styled like a long leather jacket.
A hunting knife can be a regular knife or a butcher's knife.
When people wear coats or leather jackets, they say it's an Evenki fur robe.
He picked up a butcher knife and said it was an Evenki hunting knife.
Wouldn't that ensure the continuation of the tradition?
Similarly, Xiao Kai wants to achieve success in the fields of culture and tourism.
What we're going to present isn't some written record or historical anecdotes.
Rather, they are physical objects that can be traced back to historical records, regardless of whether these objects belong to the Evenki, Oroqen, Daur, Xibe, or Mongolian peoples.
As long as there are physical objects and records, that is true inheritance!
Enhancing the value of the heritage passed down by the hunters in the mountains is the starting point for Chen Tuo's frequent design modifications.
His idea was to first find or fabricate physical objects, and then supplement them with historical materials and living habits to organize and compile a systematic inheritance.
He believes that the true value of preserving tradition lies in integrating fishing and hunting traditions into people's lives now and in the future...