A group of children were herding horses on the river beach, and more than a dozen horses, large and small, were eating dead grass on the river beach.
Two teenagers were training two big eagles to fly, but no matter how hard they drove them away, the two big eagles just jumped forward a few times, flapped their wings hurriedly a few times, and then turned back and tried to peck the teenagers. Of course,
, in exchange for being hit on the head with a stick, he could only continue to jump and flop around on the river beach.
Two wolf cubs were led by a few children and were running not far from the horses. A group of monkeys followed around, chasing and squeaking excitedly.
The third phase of the project planned next to the compound is in full swing, and dozens of people are busy digging trenches, moving stones, wood, and laying out mud bricks.
In addition, near the kiln and pond, someone is also building a large area with wooden stakes and railings, and a wild donkey and several wild sheep are tied inside.
In the pond, a large group of ducks and a few wild geese were swimming together, swimming in the water from time to time in search of fish, shrimps, snails and clams. The quacking of the geese sounded very lively.
The whole Ba people can see a prosperous and lively scene everywhere, but compared with before, there is a very depressing atmosphere.
Everyone is immersed in their work, and few people are talking or laughing.
Whether men, women or a group of prisoners undergoing labor camps, they were busy coming and going, but there was almost no communication, and no one was talking or laughing loudly.
This is something that has almost never happened since the Ba people moved down from the mountains.
Even my grandma, who always has a loud voice, hasn’t heard her unique voice for a long time.
The courtyard was quiet. Mother and a group of women were sitting in the open courtyard, busy spinning and weaving in the early winter sun.
In the room that was used as a classroom, Ye and several boys and girls from the Gonghuo Tribe were learning calculations, but they all looked listless, and there was nothing like the excitement of Xu Chen's classes in the past.
On the mountainside, in front of the Temple of the Mother Goddess, a girl wearing an exquisite long skirt and a blue-gray hood, holding a brilliant golden staff, was kneeling in front of the statue of the Goddess Goddess, murmuring softly in her mouth.
What are you praying for?
Several young women squatted behind her, looking at the pious and helpless expression on the face of the late mother goddess.
There has been no news since Xu Chen took the people away on a raft.
The moon is dark and full, and it is full and missing.
Counting the time, it has been almost a month since he left home, but no news has come back.
This made the entire tribe fearful and anxious.
The great witch would go up to the mountain almost every day and kneel in front of the Mother Goddess to pray for Xu Chen, hoping that the Mother Goddess would bless Xu Chen and bless him to be safe and return home soon.
"Tap tap tap tap..."
Outside the mouth of the valley, two fast horses broke through the tranquility of the river beach and the mouth of the valley, and galloped all the way into the valley.
"Drive~drive~~"
The wild horse sprayed strong white air from its mouth and nose, but the hunter on the horse was still holding the horse's belly and accelerating.
A group of children who were herding horses and wolves on the river beach first heard the sound of horse hooves. They stopped playing and looked towards the mouth of the valley. Soon, they saw the riders galloping towards them.
"Fengguiga~~"
The rider roared and headed straight for the compound, his excited voice echoing throughout the valley.
"Boom..."
A group of children abandoned the wild wolves and horses in excitement and ran straight to the valley entrance with screams. A group of monkeys also ran away rolling and crawling.
When the men and women who were busy working inside and outside the compound heard the hunter's call, they suddenly burst into cheers after a moment of silence. They dropped their tools, stones and wood and surrounded them.
As soon as the two hunters jumped off their horses at the gate of the compound, they were immediately surrounded by water. The first people who surrounded them were the men and prisoners who were building the dike and the third phase of the project in front of the compound, and then they were spinning and weaving in the yard.
The mother-in-law and a group of women, and then Ye rushed out with a few boys and girls.
"Chen Ga Na Ga?"
The mother bus hurriedly squeezed through the crowd, and excitedly grabbed the hunter who came back to report the news and asked.
"The mother is quacking, the wind is quacking, and the morning mo is quacking!"
A hunter answered loudly, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
The mood around him instantly dropped, with disappointment evident on many people's faces. Even Ye, who had just rushed out of the courtyard gate, hesitated in his steps, and his anxious and expectant smile suddenly froze.
"The wind returns to Ga, but does morning moxi not return?"
Mother's frozen excited smile turned into even more nervousness and anxiety.
"Chen Ga conquered Mao Tun Ga Ga and Yu Gong Ga Ga on the other side of the river, captured their great shaman, and went far to the south to dig up Yan Ga... Now he went to Jia Ga..."
The two hunters are the tribe's hunting team. They are responsible for going out for hunting every day and also for inquiring about Xu Chen and others.
Although they only ran close to the Uzbek people every day and never heard any news about Xu Chen, this process was not interrupted for a day.
But today they finally got the good news.
Feng returned from the Gonghuo Clan with a large group of new male and female captives.
Not only did they bring back news about Xu Chen, but they also brought back even more sensational news about victory.
It turned out that Xu Chen was not far away from home now. On the other side of the river, which was half a day away downstream, he conquered a large tribal alliance, captured their great witch, captured a large number of men and women and sent them back to undergo labor reform, and also returned
I got an extremely magical salty stone. I will use this salty stone to cook vegetables, porridge, and barbecue, and I will no longer need to vomit blood and eat raw meat.
Under the excited explanations of the two hunters, the mood that had been slightly depressed suddenly surged again. The cheers and surprises became louder and louder. The scene was so lively and noisy that even the little witch and several women on the mountainside could listen.
Clearly.
"The Witch King Guiga!"
The little witch who was kowtowing suddenly stood up with a face full of joy, holding a thick and heavy scepter in one hand, holding her skirt in the other hand, and ran down the mountain. Her petite figure stumbled on the narrow mountain road steps, her cloak fluttering in the wind behind her.
Like a butterfly flying toward the light, it dances among the dense woods and rugged mountain roads, with a hint of overwhelming joy and excitement in its beauty.
Although what they were waiting for was not Xu Chen's return, the Ba people were still very excited and happy.
After waiting for more than 20 days in fear and suffering, I finally felt at ease.
And all the good news coming back now is that they conquered a huge tribe on the other side of the river not far downstream, captured hundreds of men and women, and discovered an ore called salt in the dense forest in the south, which can be used to cook vegetables and porridge.
It can be as salty as flesh and blood, and tastes extremely delicious.
The huge victory and harvest are worthy of cheering, but knowing that Xu Chen and everyone are safe now is the happiest thing for Mu Ba and others. Therefore, the atmosphere of the entire Ba clan has swept away the dullness of the recent period and instantly changed.
It has to be lively.
Two hunters rode back first to report the news. At this time, Feng and a group of hunters were escorting more than thirty young men and women and a group of hunters on horseback, laughing and talking loudly as they walked.
Ju Helong and others gathered around Feng, listening to his bragging about how he had killed everyone in the Maotun tribe, and how he had worked closely with Mo and others to mobilize the Gonghuo tribe and the Lei tribe's legions to jointly attack the Yugong tribe's glorious results.
Especially for the magical stone called salt brought back by the wind, I felt unparalleled excitement and excitement.
Even if they don't understand anything, they still know what the appearance of salt represents.
After knowing how to use fire, humans still retained the habit of chewing hair and drinking blood for a long time. This is because the human body has a strong demand for salty taste, and humans need the salt in blood and flesh to replenish the body.
The emergence of mineral salts will greatly make up for the lack of flesh and blood food. Even if you eat wheat, beans and other plant grains every day, you can still get the necessary salt for your body. As long as there are enough plant seeds, hunting will no longer be necessary, but will become a supplement.
.
When he came back, Feng followed Xu Chen's instructions and gave a few kilograms of rock salt to several tribes that had participated in the attack on the Yu Gong tribe, such as the Gonghuo tribe and the Lei tribe. In addition, on the way back, he gave a few kilograms of rock salt to the Qia tribe, the Cang tribe, and the Ji tribe.
The tribes along the way, such as the Wu tribe and the Wu tribe, also gave away one or two kilograms.
The appearance of salt caused a great sensation in these tribes, and they all asked where they could get more salt. However, Feng could not give a definite answer to this matter. He could only say that they would wait until Xu Chen came back, maybe in March.
You will get the answer when you go to the Ba people to participate in Mother's Day.
Regarding the fact that there was a huge tribe on the other side of the river half a day downstream, Long Heju and other hunter leaders who stayed at home were all regretful and regretful, saying that they had missed the opportunity to follow and kill everyone.
Because the Wu tribe did not participate in the battle to conquer the Yugong tribe, they had no way to obtain the right to allocate prisoners. They could only envy the Ba tribe for bringing back a large group of people to undergo labor reform.
In fact, most of the captives Xu Chen this time were assigned to several tribes in the Gonghuo Basin, such as the Gonghuo Tribe and the Lei Tribe, according to merit, because the development there required more manpower, and only a large enough population could gather in his town.
The construction plan can only be slowly launched.
His current focus is on transporting people to the Gonghuo Basin.
According to his plan, at least more than 2,000 people will gather near the Gonghuo tribe within three years, and the long-term plan will be at least tens of thousands.
If a city didn't even have tens of thousands of people, it would be too shabby.
However, this goal obviously has a long way to go.
At present, the three large tribal alliances on both sides of the Wulong River add up to only more than 4,000 people. The population he has transported to Gonghuo Basin currently adds up to only more than 200 people. The plan of 2,000 people is only one-tenth complete.
one.
Naturally, no one knows about Xu Chen's plan, it is his secret alone.
Mu Ba and others, while waiting anxiously, finally welcomed the returning Feng and other hunters on the river beach outside the mouth of the Ba Valley, as well as the captives and the rock salt and a large amount of goods they had brought back.
Xu Chen kept hugging people from the outside to the tribe, and the tribe's population grew stronger and stronger. Naturally, the mother was so happy that she couldn't open her mouth from ear to ear.
The more than thirty captives are all the strongest young men and women. Whether they are reformed through labor or join the tribe, they will bring a group of fresh blood and labor force to the development of the tribe and promote the construction and development of the Ba people.
With a bumper harvest this fall and sufficient food reserves, Muba no longer has to worry about not having enough food. Therefore, she no longer has the worry of looking for food all day long when the tribe first started building under the mountain two years ago.
Besides bringing back the latest news and population of Xu Chen, the salt was the most surprising thing for everyone.
According to Xu Chen's instructions, you can add an appropriate amount of food and porridge to enhance the flavor and freshness. He also asked the tribesmen not to eat flesh and blood again in the future. They must cook and roast the wild beasts and fish caught in winter.
, most of them need to be salted and then hung to dry or smoked for storage, so that they can be eaten slowly in spring when there is a shortage of food.
As for Xu Chen's arrangement, Muba and other women naturally all expressed that they would implement it seriously.
Although they still don't know the principle of pickling preserved fish and bacon, they all believe that Xu Chen's proposal will not cause any problems.
But this time Xu Chen asked the wind to bring back not only a group of prisoners and dozens of kilograms of rock salt, but also some exquisite feathers and various exquisite stones, animal teeth and other small gifts that he got on the road. Almost everyone, men, women, old and young,
Even if they didn't get a gift, Xu Chen asked Feng to give him a few crystal clear salt crystals as gifts.
The ones who received the most attention were undoubtedly Ye and the little witch. Both of them received several beautiful feathers, a small bag of pure salt crystals carefully selected by Xu Chen, and some beautiful stones.
Although these gifts were not particularly novel, they also made the two girls feel a strong sense of care and love. While their hearts were excited, they were even more concerned and worried about Xu Chen who was traveling far away.
And just a few days after Feng and others returned to the Ba tribe, when the entire tribe was still immersed in the excitement and joy, suddenly several more hunters from the Lei tribe and Gonghuo tribe arrived. This time they not only brought Xu Chen's updated
The news also brought a handwritten letter from Xu Chen.