Wild 1979: From Fishing and Hunting to Becoming a Literary Master

Chapter 136 Business Opportunities

What should have been a small-scale winter Naadam festival turned into a disaster, first with the emergence of Chen Tuo, and then with the appearance of Guan Tianpeng.

Although it didn't really affect the atmosphere of the Naadam festival, no one could beat Chen Tuo, who was known for his powerful archery skills, in archery.

In the wrestling arena, even according to the wrestling style, Guan Tianpeng remains undefeated.

These two figures cast a shadow over the young herders who came, while the older herders, such as Qinggele, watched with smiles on their faces.

In the eyes of these veteran herders, entertainment on the grasslands is becoming less and less interesting, and the exhilarating experience of the past is gone.

In the 1950s, they often organized large-scale hunts involving thousands of people and dogs.

Hunting wolves was even more exhilarating.

As a result, the young herders nowadays only focus on their cattle and sheep, and their skills in horseback riding, archery, and wrestling are not as good as before.

While listening to the old herders chatting and taking notes, Chen Tuo was well aware of the situation.

The reason he and Guan Tianpeng were able to win was not because of anything else, but because they had fewer players and were less professional.

The Naadam festival at this winter pasture in Nantun is basically the same as the sports meet in a big village inside the Great Wall. What kind of masters could there be?

On a larger scale, it's just a township sports meet, so there won't be any outrageous experts.

When people gather together, the main purpose is trading, with entertainment as a secondary activity; it's just that there are a lot of men, and they're naturally competitive.

Having documented the material and heard the desolation of horseback archery on the grasslands, Chen Tuo found a new business opportunity.

He helps hunters continue their traditions, and then creates his own works. There will be an inevitable result: the Sinicization of the fishing and hunting traditions.

Cultural identity is key to ensuring the continuation and inheritance of traditions.

After learning Manchu and Mongolian scripts, Chen Tuo still preferred Chinese characters, but he couldn't say it outright.

Once something is passed down, it must be carried forward. Before coming to the grasslands, Chen Tuo's vision was still focused on physical objects.

The plan is to use hunting knives, hunting boots, hunting clothing, and related products such as leather boots, leather shoes, coats, leather jackets, butcher knives, and fruit knives as products.

After arriving on the grasslands, Chen Tuo discovered the decline of mounted archery and saw a business opportunity.

Continuing the tradition, building horse farms and archery ranges across the country is also a good idea to continue the fishing and hunting tradition.

During the period of rapid economic development in the 1980s and 90s, the acquisition of land for horse racing and the construction of horse farms and archery ranges may have even created a cultural trend of horseback archery.

With an idea in mind, Chen Tuo also began to consider whether the business opportunity could be put into practice.

The horses of the grasslands and the archers of various ethnic groups are readily available; what is lacking is simply the start-up capital to build the first batch of horse farms and archery ranges.

As I pondered these thoughts, the Naadam festival at the winter pastures came to an end.

Hulunbuir is also a forest area, so it naturally has no shortage of timber.

A large bonfire was set up.

Boiled beef, roasted mutton, and fragrant milk tea were arranged on leather trays and bowls, and Chen Tuo discovered several more business opportunities.

Wooden utensils are one item, and the meat-eating knife in the hands of the herdsmen is another.

Chen Tuo had thought about utilizing branches derived from wooden utensils when he was a sent-down youth.

Now, with the channels provided by Xiao Kai and Su Dao, trade flows south into the domestic market and north into border trade.

The Soren Merchant Guild is now only missing a main entity before it can truly begin production.

Chen Tuo had a clear idea of ​​what he needed to do with the Soren Merchant Guild; however, figuring out how to talk to Su Dao about it was a problem.

The group that came with Songling sat on raw hides that reeked of beef and mutton. Chen Tuo spoke to Su Dao:

"Uncle Su Dao, could you perhaps find some nicer kitchen knives for the herders to trade for? The kind that come with chopsticks..."

Upon hearing this, Su Dao, who was cutting beef with his hunting knife, immediately pulled out another Yakut hunting knife from his waist and replied:

"Chen Zhiqing, I still have some here."

Ever since sending his daughter Sumo to the Dobukur settlement, Su Dao has rarely addressed Chen Tuo as "brother," only calling him that a few times when he was drunk.

In his view, Chen Tuo slept with Su Mo and Bai Long last night, which means they have confirmed their relationship, but they just haven't found a more suitable way to address each other yet.

"Uncle Su, what I want are those kitchen knives they wear on their waists. When we get back, we'll make a batch ourselves and trade them for their cattle and sheep."

Chen Tuo didn't hide the fact that he was doing small business like trading a knife for a sheep, and he spoke about it directly.

Upon hearing this, Su Dao got up to change the knife, but Xiao Kai, who was eating his steak, whispered:

"Chen Zhiqing, knife factories in Hulunbuir, some knife factories in the province, and knife factories in southern Xinjiang all export table knives."

The business opportunities that Chen Tuo saw had already been seen in the grasslands during the Republic of China era.

Now, not only in grasslands, Heilongjiang Province, and southern Xinjiang, but also in many knife factories across the country, portable kitchen knives are produced for use in grasslands to generate foreign exchange.

Chen Tuo's idea was good, but there were too many pioneers along the way.

"Oh...that's perfect, we can use their process as a reference. Section Chief Xiao, can you get your hands on the process and equipment?"

"The process is simple; you can just ask the Light Industry Bureau for it. Sharpening knives mainly involves grinding wheels and blowers, and it's a small-scale business like a workshop."

Chen Tuo wanted to get the equipment for making knives, which Xiao Kai said was quite easy.

These days, there are no exclusive secret recipes. The Light Industry Bureau just gives them away whenever they want.

However, in Xiao Kai's view, the business of making knives in small workshops wouldn't be very profitable, even if it were.

"I need quite a bit of equipment. Can you get your hands on equipment that can grind blades to a mirror finish?"

When Xiao Kai mentioned "workshop," Chen Tuo knew that the two were not talking about the same thing.

Whether it's the various kinds of kitchen knives in the hands of the herdsmen or the Yakut knife in Sudao's hand.

Compared to the Sauron bow, which has a fixed shape and size, it lacks the word "standard".

Nowadays, let alone portable dining knives, even the bayonets given by Sun Changkui are crudely made.

Ten knives like that might not be enough to exchange for a single sheep.

But Chen Tuo was thinking about a fine knife that could be traded for a horse.

"Section Chief Xiao, besides the equipment, I also want to get a batch of cow horns and bones. Didn't you say there's a slaughterhouse in Hailar? Could we give that a try?"

Although he wanted to make high-quality knives, Chen Tuo did not want to be overly meticulous in terms of materials.

Branches from forest areas and hides, bones, and horns from pastoral areas are the raw materials he wants.

"You want beef bones? That's not easy, the bone glue factory is watching! How about beef hooves? There are plenty over there!"

Chen Tuo wanted the beef bones, but Xiao Kai looked hesitant.

The domestic chemical industry is lagging behind, and the tannins in Yakeshi and the bone glue from the grasslands are important raw materials for production.

It's a bit better around the grasslands, but in other parts of the province, restaurant and canteen bones are collected by designated units!

After the bones are boiled down to make collagen, the rest is made into bone meal, so not a single bit is wasted.

The reason why there are cow hooves in the slaughterhouse in Hailar is because they are too troublesome to clean.

Even so, bone glue factories and bone meal factories will still buy them up after the spring!

"Cow hooves and sheep hooves are fine, get a lot, ten or twenty tons, or we'll trade horses for them!"

Without giving Xiao Kai a chance to complain, Chen Tuo turned to Bai Long and asked:

"White Dragon, could you peel off the hide from the cow hooves, tan it, and make leather boots?"

Once he saw the business opportunity, Chen Tuo became as stingy as a miser, not wanting to let go of even the hides on cow hooves or sheep hooves.

"Sure, we can make deer hoof boots, and cow hooves too!"

When Bai Long mentioned deer hoof boots, Chen Tuo also thought of the wrestling boots worn by several herders...