Chapter 503 2. A Mountain of Grapes but No One Cares

Nagano Yoshimasa begged for help from the entire army camp and borrowed 3,000 kan of cash to send across the river. After taking the money, Takeda Harunobu and Oishi Ujiharu released the remaining Minowa people, and everyone was happy.

As for the matter of retreating from Matsuyama, since there were 500 foot soldiers in the city who were recruited by Musashi, they refused to follow Kawada Nagachika back to Echigo. After learning that Mushang opened the city, they made a fuss for a while.

In the end, they were all kept and transformed into foot soldiers of the Hojo clan, but it was just a day.

The remaining 1,300 people were stripped of all their armor and weapons, but were allowed to keep their personal belongings and ten days of food and leave the city. The food in the city that could feed 1,800 people for a year was also cheap for Oishi Ujiharu.

The two sides formally signed a contract on the floating bridge of the Tone River, swearing to Yumiya Hachiman Daimyojin and Amitabha Tathagata to defend their borders and not invade each other within a year.

Kodaira was so strong that he went to sign the seal, and it seemed that Takeda Harunobu saw the clue.

"Danzheng has worked hard for many years, so he should take care of himself."

"It's just a small matter to bother you, Your Highness."

These days, countless samurai have died in their thirties. Kobayakawa is twenty-nine this year, so it's logical that he has reached a certain point. In an era of lack of medical care and medicine, it's hard to say if he can't survive.

After the agreement was reached, both sides withdrew.

This time, in addition to the small load-bearing packs of thousands of people, our team also had ten yellow cattle "donated enthusiastically" by the people of Kitamushi. They were all the kindness of Uesugi Terutora and Nagano Yoshimasa, so they had to accept them.

"Father, do you raise cattle in your monastery?"

"Not only cattle, but also Andalusian horses, pigs, goats, and even a camel."

"Your monastery has a prosperous industry."

"That's right. Our monastery is a parish monastery authorized by His Holiness the Pope. His Majesty Alfonso also donated a huge vineyard, two mills, and a winemaking workshop."

"Does your monastery have dairy cows among its livestock?"

"Dairy cows? Yes, but we never drink milk. We only use it to make cheese and distribute it to believers in the poorhouse."

"You don't drink milk?"

"Of course not. Anyone who drinks milk will inevitably have diarrhea or even die."

"How could that be? Don't you drink fresh milk?"

"Fresh? Our monastery is on the mountain. It takes two hours to walk up the mountain. So even if there is milk, it is squeezed in the morning and delivered in the afternoon."

What the hell is fresh about it! No wonder everyone has diarrhea after drinking it, and even dies directly from diarrhea.

It takes less than two hours for milk to start to rot after bacteria grows from it. If you squeeze milk in the morning, deliver it in the afternoon, and drink it in the evening, it is definitely bad.

No wonder only poor farmers who raise cattle drink milk. Although the milk just squeezed has a little milk smell, it is really fresh at that time and will not upset your stomach if you drink it.

There is no problem with making cheese. The first step of making it is to boil it in a big pot. Isn’t pasteurization the high-temperature steaming and sterilization?

"Father, can you raise cattle?"

"No, I entered the monastery at the age of nine. I spent four years learning grammar, copying the Bible, and then learning Latin, Greek, French, and then mathematics, architecture, painting, and medicine."

"Who will deal with the livestock of the monastery?"

"The monastery has serfs. Don't you have farmers in your territory to farm and graze for you, sir?"

Father William looked at Xiao Pingtai with a confused look on his face. Farming and herding cattle are of course done by farmers. As a clergyman, he only needs to serve God the Father well. As a lord, Xiao Pingtai only needs to take care of the war, so why would he farm himself?

"Yes, yes, hehe." Xiao Pingtai smiled awkwardly and covered up.

The doctor said that he should have a cup of hot milk every morning and evening, so Xiao Pingtai thought that since he wanted to raise a cow, he couldn't just raise one cow, so he had to ask the experts for their opinions.

In addition, the impression of the European pastures and herds of white cows in later generations, the first reaction was to ask Father William from the Netherlands. As an intellectual of this era, he might know something.

Unfortunately, Xiao Pingtai thought too much.

However, raising cattle is not a big problem. Xiao Pingtai remembers very clearly that even Chinese dairy cows are bred by Holstein cows and yellow cattle. It has greatly increased milk production and inherited the characteristics of yellow cattle to tolerate roughage to a certain extent.

Yellow cattle are indeed easy to take care of, with almost no breeding problems. They can even gain weight by eating grass after the spring. There is definitely a reason why they are one of the largest livestock in East Asia.

But milk production? Xiao Pingtai asked the farmers who had raised cattle, but they couldn't tell. Anyway, not much, or even a little. It's okay to feed the calves and milk them occasionally, but it's a bit problematic to milk them every day.

Moreover, everyone uses cattle to work. They use them to plow the fields, pull carts, pull millstones, and even use them to make leather armor.

In the farming agricultural area, it is really rare to use cattle specifically for milk. It's even strange.

"Does the priest have any idea of ​​the milk production of this yellow cattle?"

"If the milk produced by the dairy cows in our monastery before can make 400 Parmesan cheeses every year, I don't know about the Japanese cows."

"Okay." Xiao Pingtai was a little helpless.

But if we analyze it roughly, the calf must produce at least two kilograms of milk a day during the lactation period, otherwise it will not be able to raise a calf. So let's assume that the lactation period is nine months, and more than 500 kilograms of milk should be enough. (In fact, modern cattle only produce 800-1000kg/year)

Of course, in the modern dairy industry, cows are selected for calves after giving birth, and males are killed and thrown away or disposed of. Females are kept, and a regular dairy cow produces more than 6,000 kg per year, and the most exaggerated breed can produce 10,000 kg per year, which can produce milk for feeding calves.

Raising cattle for milk is a losing business, and only wealthy people like Xiao Pingtai can use it for themselves.

"Danzheng, we can go to camp! The camp of the first-hand Ogasawara team has arrived!" Aji ran over to report.

"Okay! Let Hei Liu set up the camp."

Xiao Pingtai got off his horse. Ogasawara Nagamasa chose the leeward place below the hillside, and also sent a battalion to block the road and set up a fort on the road. The arrangement was good.

Handing Baidan to Chen San to feed, Xiao Pingtai leaned on a bamboo stick and went to the hillside to check. The grass and trees on the slope were extremely lush, and Qigui, who was clearing the way, was chopping with a knife to cut a path.

"Hey, there are grapes."

"What's so special about grapes? They are everywhere on the mountain. You can eat them in two months."

"I won't eat them. They are sour and bitter."

Grapes all over the mountain? Yes! In the era of Kai and Shinano, the mountains were full of grapes! I have been so busy, how could I have completely forgotten about this.