The horse-luring was a beautiful and difficult art, but it could also be turned into a superb martial art of luring and killing wolves. In order to change horses for others, groom horses, apply medicine, castrate horses, test horses, and tame live horses, the stable keeper almost couldn't leave the horse every day. From ancient times until now, the horse herders of the grassland people had practiced a special skill of lashing horses. They used a long lashing pole to look for an opportunity on the galloping horse's back. They leaned forward and shook the pole, throwing out a hollow rope to accurately wrap around the horse's neck. A good stable boy rarely missed. This skill was used to trap wolves. As long as the horse was fast, the distance between the horse and the wolf was short, or with the help of hunting dogs, it could also trap the wolf. Then he tightened the rope, turned the horse back, strangled the wolf to death, or let the hounds bite him to death. The grassland wolves were extremely afraid of horse poles during the day. When they saw a stable boy with a pole, they would turn around and escape or lie in the grass to hide. Chen Zhen often thought that wolves were afraid of fighting in the day and good at fighting in the night, which might have something to do with the horse pole. The history of the Mongolian Steppe Horse Rope was at least a few thousand years old. Such a long time was enough to change the habits of the Mongolian Steppe Wolves.
The horse-tying poles on the Elun Plains were the most beautiful and exquisite poles that Chen Zhen had ever seen. They were longer, more exquisite, and more practical than the horse-tying poles that he had seen in the newspapers and magazines. The horsekeeper of the Elun Grassland proudly said that the horse pole of Elun was the highest grade, the most powerful, and the most beautiful pole in Mongolia. The Elun Grassland was located in the northern part of the famous Maju River basin in Inner Mongolia. It was one of the main producing areas of the famous Mongolian warhorse, the Ujimqin horse (formerly known as the Turkic horse). Horses were the important partners and comrades that the Mongolians relied on for survival. Of course, the horsekeeper's pole could not be used to make do with it. Eren's horsekeeper's horse pole was strangely long and straight, smooth and smooth. Long---the poles were about five to seven meters long, and the extra long poles were mostly made of two birch poles wedged together. Chen Zhen had also seen a horse pole that was nearly nine meters long. The longer the pole, the easier it was to trap horses and wolves. Straight-straight like a long bamboo without a joint. In order to straighten it, the horse groom had to use a plane to carefully plane the twisted knots on the birch pole. If it really couldn't be straightened, he would put the pole on the ground and warm it with wet cow dung. When it was soft, he would slowly straighten it with a set of lever tools. The top of the long pole was also tied to a small pole that was one and a half meters long and as thick as a finger. The top of the small pole was braided with horse hair. The head of the pole was tightened, and the rope would not slip off. The rope of the horse pole was the toughest and most resistant rope on the grassland. It was not made of fine cowhide, but twisted out of catgut. The process was complicated. This was the only thing on the horse pole that could not be made by oneself. It had to be bought at the special counter of the supply and marketing cooperative. Finally, he had to use wool and fresh sheep dung to wipe the pole hard, painting the snow-white pole into the color of sheep dung. After the sheep dung dried, he used a soft cloth to polish it. The surface of the pole had a layer of dark and bright bronze color, and the long pole was like an unstoppable ancient metal weapon.
When the horsekeeper was riding a horse and holding the horse pole with one hand, the tip of the pole would naturally droop due to the weight of the rope, and the rope would also hang down like a floating noose. The entire pole would gently tremble with the rise and fall of the horse stance, like a living snake. Even the grassland wolves had seen the miserable state of a wolf that was strangled to death by a horse pole. Perhaps in the eyes of wolves, the horse pole was as terrifying as a long snake dragon god. During the daytime on the grassland, if you rode alone in the wilderness or deep mountains, as long as you held the horse pole, regardless of gender, age, it was like holding the Tengri talisman, you could pass through the world of wolves without hindrance.
Zhang Jiyuan had been a stable boy for a year, and his set skills had always been very poor. He often missed a few sets, and the pole horse under him refused to chase after him. He often couldn't change horses himself, so he had to get Ba Tu to change horses for him. Or he had managed to tie the horse, but he didn't sit on the horse's butt behind the saddle in time to support his body. As a result, he was often pulled off by the horse, and the horse dragged the pole away. In a short while, the horse pole that took a few days to make was stepped on by the horse. In order to practice the set technique, he often practiced the set in the flock of sheep. He chased the flock of sheep as if they had encountered a wolf, and chased the ewe until it almost miscarried. He only stopped after Old Man Billig had taught him a good lesson. Later, the old man asked him to start training from the back shaft of the oxcart. Only then did his set skills improve greatly. Recently, he could already help Chen Zhen and the other two change horses. This solved a big problem. Zhang Jiyuan rarely went home. It was already good enough for him to stay at home intermittently for a week a month. Every time he came back, he would fall asleep. After waking up, he would tell his companions many stories about people, horses, and wolves.
The coachman's horse has many fast legs and is knowledgeable and knowledgeable. There were eight or nine horses that the animal husbandry team gave to the stables, and the raw horses in the herd could be ridden without an owner. The horsekeeper changed his horse almost every day, sometimes even twice a day. He never stashed his horse's power, and he galloped all the way to wherever he went. No matter which yurt the horsekeeper went to, there would be people begging him to change horses, to send a message, to bring things, to invite a doctor, and to tell him some gossip. The horse shepherd was also the one who received the most smiles from the girls, making those who only had four or five dedicated horses and were not well-informed envious to death. However, herding horses was the most difficult and dangerous job on the prairie. Without the qualities of a wolf or a soldier who was strong, bold, alert, intelligent, vigilant, and resistant to hunger, thirst, cold, and heat, the production team would not choose you as a stable boy. It would be lucky if one of the four was chosen, but the other three had no hope of becoming stables. Many of the wolf stories that Chen Zhen had collected were told to him by Zhang Jiyuan. Whenever Zhang Jiyuan came home to stay, Chen Zhen would treat him well. The two of them were very congenial on the topic of wolves. The stable boy was on the frontline of the battle against the wolves, and his attitude towards them was very contradictory. Chen Zhen, Zhang Jiyuan, and Yang Ke often chatted late into the night and sometimes argued endlessly. When Zhang Jiyuan returned to Ma Qun, he would always borrow one or two books from Chen Zhen and Yang Ke to relieve his boredom.
Liang Jianzhong worked as a cowherd and herded more than 140 cattle. Herding cows was the most comfortable job on the grasslands. The people on the grasslands said that even if the county magistrate gave them a cowherd, they wouldn't change it. The herd of cattle left early and returned late, recognizing their own grass and home. The calves were tied to the horse's mane rope on the ground in front of the house. The cow would come back on time to feed them. It was just that the bullocks were annoying. They would run wherever the grass was good and were too lazy to go home. The hardest job of the cowherd was to find cattle and drive them. However, when the cow became stubborn, no matter how hard it was beaten, it would stick to the cow's neck, tremble its eyelids, and stay on the ground. It made people want to bite the cow. The cowherd had the most free time. As a shepherd, if there was anything, he could ask the cowherd for help. Without cows in the yurts, there was no way to live. Driving, moving, milking, making milk, storing dry dung, peeling cowhide, eating beef, and doing leather work, these things related to the family could not be separated from the cow. A nation on horseback must have a home on the back of a cow. The cowherd, shepherd, and horse shepherd each had their own duties, just like a chain that was interconnected and indispensable.
Chen Zhen and Yang Ke managed a flock of sheep, which numbered more than 1700. Most of them were the famous Elun big-tailed sheep. Their tails were as big as a medium-sized washbasin, and their tails were translucent. They were fat but not greasy, and their meat was fresh and fragrant. According to Wuliji, the quality of the grass and the pastures in Elun were the best, so the sheep in Elun were also the best. In ancient times, it was a royal tribute sheep. It was a royal meat sheep that Kublai Khan personally ordered after he entered Beijing. Even now, the mutton used by the country's leaders in the Great Hall of the People to entertain the heads of Arab and Muslim countries was also the Eren big-tailed sheep. It was said that the heads of those countries often put aside national affairs to ask about the origin of the mutton. Chen Zhen often thought that the wolves of the Elun Grassland were unusually large and their brains worked faster than humans. It might also be related to the fact that they often ate the Elun Big Tail Sheep. Another type of sheep in the flock was the improved sheep from Xinjiang. It was a hybrid breed of local sheep and fine wool sheep from Xinjiang. Its wool quality was good and its yield was high. Its selling price was three or four times higher than local wool. However, the meat was loose and had no flavor. No herdsmen liked to eat it.
Then there were the goats, which were very few in number, only accounting for one-twentieth of the total number of sheep. Although goats gnawed on grass roots and destroyed pastures, goat hair was expensive. Moreover, most of the wethers among goats had horns and were bold enough to fight with wolves. Putting some goats in the flock of sheep could often block the sneak attacks of lone wolves. Therefore, the leader of the Mongolian sheep herd was usually a few dozen bighorn goats. The head sheep recognized the grass, recognized the family, and had their own opinions. When they walked to a place with good grass, they held their ground, and when they walked to a place with bad grass, they took big strides. Goats had another advantage over sheep. They would bleat whenever they were attacked by wolves, which served as an alarm. Unlike sheep, which were timid and stupid, they were so scared that they didn't make a sound even when their stomachs were bitten open by wolves. Chen Zhen discovered that the Mongol herdsmen were good at balancing and making use of the specialties of all living things in the grassland. They could adjust the proportion of contradictions to the golden ratio, which had the least harm and the greatest benefit.
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