Chapter 227 Large-scale production and construction
In mid-December, Xu Chen summoned everyone in the tribe to carry out a large-scale burning operation in the valley.
This time the burning lasted for three full days.
First, the weeds in the two selected newly reclaimed areas were burned. In addition, it took two days to burn the large tracts of weeds on the river beach for seven or eight miles, from near the foot of the mountain to the mouth of the valley.
The north wind howls in the cold winter, mixed with fine particles of snow.
The wind helped the fire, and the long-dried thorns and weeds as tall as a person were turned into ashes in the raging flames. Thick smoke rose into the sky, filling the entire valley and dyeing half of the sky.
Such a huge amount of dust and smoke could be seen clearly even by the Wu people who were dozens of miles away. A group of hired workers who had participated in the burning of wasteland by the Ba people last year were extremely excited and shouted at the Ba people to start burning wasteland for farming. We also
The wasteland must be burned for cultivation.
Therefore, several tribal leaders who had decided to cling to the Ba tribe did not even ask for the consent of the Uzu chief. They each selected a piece of land in the valley and prepared to start burning the land.
Because Xu Chen has promised them that when the cold winter is over, someone from the Ba tribe will come to guide them in reclaiming wasteland and farming.
But the leaders of some remaining tribes and families gave up at a glance. This valley is a place where all the Uzbek people live together. How can you let you occupy it at will? You have taken all the good places. Where are we going to farm?
Therefore, due to the quarrel among these leaders, the leader of the Wu tribe had to convene a meeting with all tribal leaders to discuss. In addition, the little witch who had just returned from a trip to the Ba tribe also strongly supported the opening up of wasteland and farming, and said that this was what the great witch had always wanted to see during his lifetime.
After two days of quarreling, a group of leaders finally reached an agreement. With the coordination of the clan leader and the little witch, they each designated a large area for farming, and began to clear the fire zone, burn wasteland, and clear farmland under the command of a group of hired workers.
Regarding this issue related to the food security of the tribe, no matter whether they like or dislike Xu Chen and the Ba people, they must accept this reality.
The Ba people have used their harvest results last year to prove the effectiveness of farming, which is indeed worthy of vigorous promotion.
As for building houses, the Wu people are no longer able to plan and build them in a unified manner like small and medium-sized tribes such as the Ba, Cang, and Ji tribes.
Although all the Uzbek people and a group of tribal leaders who have seen the Ba compound want to live in such a house, the amount of work is indeed too large, and coupled with the painful experience of failed house repairs last year, some tribal leaders are still cautiously waiting and watching.
Currently, only four families plan to repair their houses.
A group of study workers who came back from Xu Chen's expedition have already built two lime kilns at the foot of the mountain and have produced a lot of lime.
In addition, the unfinished projects last year have been cleared up again, and the four families have decided to jointly redefine a large area to build houses on the original site. By then, the four courtyards will be connected together to form a huge courtyard.
At present, most of the new foundation has been laid, and a lot of wood, mud, bricks and stones have been prepared. The main construction labor force is a group of Gonghuo Tribe prisoners given to them by Xu Chen.
These people are all here for reform through labor, and they are not being used in vain.
And after using it, they discovered that it was really good to fight this way. They not only received a large amount of animal skins and property as compensation, but also had a group of obedient and strong labor force. They did not need to eat well, as long as they ensured that they did not starve to death or freeze to death.
Even if they don't have enough to eat, they can be allowed to hunt on their own. If they don't obey, they'll be beaten and they'll be obedient. It's a lot of fun.
Seeing these prisoners working conscientiously under the scolding and scolding every day, the construction of houses is getting longer and taller day by day, and a large area of houses slowly begins to take shape. Those tribal leaders who did not volunteer to assist the Cang people
Even the leader of the Wu tribe began to feel impatient and regretful.
At this time, they were a strong faction in the tribe and had a strong voice. However, after the rise of the Ba tribe, the death of the great witch, the defection of the witches, and the loss of the great witch inheritance, their status and influence in the tribe are rapidly fading, and
These families that were previously weak and followed Xu Chen are developing rapidly.
Once these courtyards are built at the foot of the mountain, they no longer need to quarrel with other tribes over the caves where they sleep. A large number of tribesmen will seek refuge with them, and the conflicts and divisions among the tribes will become more obvious.
Because recently, many members of their family have become dissatisfied, and it is normal to complain privately. Many elders even directly accused them, the tribal leaders, in person for not working hard for the development of the entire tribe, causing their family to miss the opportunity for development.
Faced with the complaints and accusations from the tribesmen, the tribe leaders and leaders could only swallow it in their stomachs.
It was too late to regret, and tribal division was inevitable. Many leaders and tribesmen no longer took the tribe leader’s words to heart. They went to the foot of the mountain with envy and jealousy every day to watch the houses being built and the lime kilns billowing with smoke, and they discussed them heatedly.
It's about new houses and courtyards, but it's the Ba people and Xu Chen who are talking more.
Even going into the mountains to dig and pick up copper ore that can replace pottery from the Ba people has become the exclusive right of a few families who support the Ba people. Other families have no way to get involved, because the valley with copper ore has been occupied.
Long led a group of strong hunters to completely occupy it. He led a group of tribal hunters back and forth in the valley for training every day while guarding the mining rights.
Seeing that every few days a group of hunters would take captives to the Ba tribe in exchange for a large amount of pottery and linen cloth, the other families could only watch with sadness and bitterness, their anger was useless, they could only sigh helplessly and watch.
Some are happy and some are sad.
In this winter, which is far colder than last year, the six tribes of the alliance have all started large-scale production and construction.
Driven by the leadership of the Ba people and the teaching of advanced technology, although this cold winter was equally sad, it burst out with unprecedented vitality, revealing a booming and prosperous development situation.
…
Ba Valley.
After the burning, it snowed again.
After a large area of black ashes left after burning, the soil became moist and loose after experiencing an alternation of thermal expansion and contraction.
Under the leadership of Xu Chen, except for the main force who were building houses, the rest of the people were involved in large-scale farmland reclamation work.
With the experience of reclaiming land last year, it will be relatively easier to organize this year.
As the commander-in-chief of reclamation, Xu Chen first led people to roughly delineate a reclamation area in the selected burned area, and planned infrastructure such as field ridges, roads, and ditches according to local conditions.
Then Muba and Amu led the men and women of the two tribes respectively, and began to clear the stones and thorns inside, dig ditches and other tasks according to the plan.
Last year, one hundred acres of farmland were planted. Although a lot of manpower and material resources were invested, the harvest was still very gratifying. Therefore, Xu Chen's appetite increased a lot this year, and he planned another three hundred acres of farmland in one go, occupying an area of 100 acres.
The large area at the foot of the river is two to three miles long, occupying almost half of the area on one side of the river valley.
Moreover, the selected locations are all areas that were not flooded by the high water last summer, in order to avoid waterlogging and reduce production.
As for the drought, Xu Chen couldn't think too much about it at the moment, because if he wanted to build suitable irrigation ditches, he would need to carry out a large-scale water diversion plan for the entire valley.
Although he has some ideas, he doesn't have time to talk about it now, and he still doesn't have enough manpower.
The most convenient way to divert water among the valleys is the Wild Wolf Valley. It has high terrain and relatively abundant water resources. However, to build an irrigation ditch several miles long from the Wild Wolf Valley through several connected farmland areas, the amount of work is no more than building two.
The compound is small in size, and to ensure stable water supply, a diversion dam must be built at the entrance of Yelang Valley, which is also a big project.
Therefore, this matter can only be left to see the situation after spring plowing.
In fact, after a year of getting familiar with it, Xu Chen also had some general understanding of the climate environment of this primitive era. The overall climate was hot and humid, with abundant precipitation, flourishing plants, and the possibility of drought in spring and summer was very small.
In addition, the so-called crops at the moment are actually weeds, which are relatively strong in water, drought and insect resistance. Except for a batch with few seeds, their functions in other aspects are extremely strong and will not easily dry out or waterlogge in large areas.
At most, the abnormal climate causes fewer seeds.
Looking to the sky to harvest has been the main farming method of mankind for a long time, and it belongs to the empty-handed white wolf-style farming model.
For the construction of new farmland, both Muba and Amu, the new leader of the family, attach great importance to it. They get up early and come home late every day to lead the tribe to work hard. The men are responsible for clearing the roots of thorn trees and digging ditches with wooden pestles and stone hoes, while the women simply use wooden sticks to dig.
The stones were moved around and built into field ridges.
This is a very hard and tiring thing.
But everyone worked hard and worked hard without complaining.
Spring will begin in half a month.
It is necessary to complete the farmland clearing work before spring.
Xu Chen did not participate in the specific land reclamation work because he was preparing a test field.
If you want to get a good harvest from farming, in addition to God's blessing of good weather and good weather, you also need high-yielding seeds.
Looking to the sky to harvest is just a helpless move when manpower is insufficient, but within his ability, he can also work hard to increase food production by domesticating and improving seeds.
Of course, this process is more time and energy consuming.
But everything has a beginning. Since we have decided to lead these primitive tribes into the agricultural era, it is natural to arrange this matter as early as possible.
He certainly doesn't know how to use complex hybridization methods, but by carefully plowing the land, cleaning up weeds, selecting plump and large seeds as seeds, and continuously screening them year after year, he can also select and cultivate some relatively high-yielding plants from wild plants.
of crops.
Even if one mu of farmland only yields three to five kilograms more, four hundred acres of farmland can yield one to two thousand kilograms more grain, which is enough for a small tribe to survive the winter and spring safely.
The advantage of having more people is that they can work on a large scale, while the advantage of having fewer people is that they can make a living.
At present, most tribes are small family tribes with dozens of people. They cultivate two to three hundred acres of farmland and harvest thousands of kilograms of grain every year. They can eat for more than half a year, which will greatly improve the problem of food and clothing.
Although he is not Shennong or Yuan Shengren, he can still inherit the legacy of the two saints, return to this barbaric era and lead the human ancestors to fight against heaven and earth, and try to lead them to eat as much as possible.
Because only after he is full will he have extra energy to do things, and will he have hope of success in his kingly hegemony.
Just relying on plunder is not a long-term solution.
The Qin Empire, which swept through the six kingdoms and unified China, fell under the brutal plunder.
Because this method of relying on war to accumulate merit and plunder wealth will one day be unable to continue. When there is nothing to seize, it is just like a pyramid scheme. When it cannot deceive enough downlines, it will eventually cause a chain reaction and collapse.
.
What's more, what he is facing now are groups of primitive tribes who live in caves, eat raw flesh and blood, and have almost no property.
Apart from the population, they have nothing to rob.
Food is the most precious possession right now, and the problem is that every household is short of it.
Therefore, what he is facing is a situation of poverty and nothing. Even if he is an enemy, he must first teach them farming. Sheeping wool also requires sacrifice. He must first invest enough to cultivate a group of sheep, so that he can have the ability to gather sheep.