There are tribes in the West and Xu Chen has also heard about them.
But in fact, the Gonghuo Tribe themselves don’t even know how big this tribe is and how many people there are.
Xu Chen was even more unclear.
The main reason is that the two tribes are too far apart, and I only occasionally get some sporadic information from the two small tribes. The two sides have no contact with each other, and there is no need for transactions and intermarriage. Therefore, for hundreds of thousands of years, the two sides have developed in isolation, and almost all
Still in a completely unfamiliar state.
It was also a sudden thought for the Cang clan to go looking for this tribe to trade.
Xu Chen led a team to set out in early October to explore both sides of the lower reaches of the Wulong River. In just half a month, he managed to defeat the Maotun and Yugong tribes, conquered seven or eight tribes on the other side, and brought back dozens of people from the Lei tribe.
, and also brought back magical rock salt and more than a hundred male and female captives, which made other tribes shocked and ready to take action.
The Cang and Ji tribes have all tasted the benefits of being captured, and all tribes have witnessed with their own eyes the rapid growth of the Ba and Lei tribes through plundering foreign populations.
This time they conquered the Yu Gong Clan, the Cang Clan, the Ji Clan, the Qia Clan, all missed the opportunity because they were far apart. While they were envious of the Lei Clan, the Gonghuo Clan and other tribes who had gained a lot of wealth and population, they also began to plan their own
separate expansion plans.
They didn't want to go to the southeast. After Xu Chen conquered the Five Ghosts all the way, he went further to the southeast to make a fortune.
So the three poor buddies of the Ji tribe, the Cang tribe and the Qia tribe, who were located on the western edge of the Gonghuo Basin, got together to discuss and decided to jointly send troops to conquer the mysterious tribe in the west.
They probably know some of the roads, and they have made a lot of preparations. They have no intention of attacking the opponent forcefully because their strength does not allow it. The three tribes only have 80 people together. The hunter team of the Cang Ji tribe is well-trained.
But the Qia people can only act as guides to make soy sauce.
Therefore, after they traveled all the way over the mountains and ridges to reach two tribes that were originally allies of the Gonghuo tribe, after inquiring, they found that the strength of the other tribe was far beyond their previous predictions, so the Qia tribe retreated and withdrew from this joint military operation in advance.
The hunter teams of the Cang and Ji tribes are all elites trained by Xu Chen himself. They have high combat effectiveness and strong discipline. In addition, several officers have also been influenced by Xu Chen's simple military knowledge. Although they have not retreated,
But they also felt that a strong attack might result in the annihilation of the whole army. They wanted to imitate Xu Chen's tower-stealing combat skills, but their strength did not allow it.
During the quarrel and discussion, ideological differences arose among a group of generals, and this ambitious plan of conquest was completely aborted.
But there is a saying that everyone has come. Although the opponent tribe has a large population and is very powerful, they are also very confident, that is, they are backed by the two major alliances of the Ba tribe and the Wu tribe, as well as the two super leaders Da Wu and Xu Chen.
Although they didn't dare to collide with each other in this situation, they could still communicate.
Because they knew that according to Xu Chen's character, this tribe would be conquered by the alliance sooner or later and become a member of the alliance. Moreover, according to Xu Chen's tactical characteristics of always requiring to know one's enemy and one's own friends, this time they carefully inquired about the opponent's strength and position through communication.
, next time you can drive forward under the leadership of Xu Chen and have another perfect tower-stealing operation.
So the Cang Clan and Ji Clan changed their aggressive demeanor, took out the pottery for marching tableware, and under the leadership of two small tribes that were former allies of the Gonghuo Tribe, went to contact this tribe called Youqiong.
Although the other party was a little nervous about the sudden visit of two well-equipped strange tribes, they didn't take it too seriously. After all, the combined force of the two tribes only had a total of sixty people, so it was not worth making a fuss about.
Moreover, some poor people also knew a little bit about a powerful tribe near the Gonghuo Basin in the southeast, but they were far away and had never interacted with each other. Therefore, in addition to being surprised by the exquisite and magical leather armor, weapons, flags and horns of the Cang Clan and the Ji Clan, they were also interested in
They were very interested in the pottery, rattan baskets and other items they brought, and expressed their willingness to exchange the best things with the Cang and Ji tribes.
However, although the poor tribe has a large population and a powerful witch in charge, they actually have the same virtues as the former Gonghuo tribe and the Wu tribe. Apart from animal skins, feathers, bones and teeth, there is nothing that interests the Ji tribe and the Cang tribe.
s things.
The two tribes picked through the messy goods brought out by the poor tribe, and except for some high-quality animal skins that they liked, they didn't want anything else. Now the poor tribe was not happy either.
A few of your people came here to trade and don’t want so many good things. So what do you want? Are you here to cause trouble?
As a result, the character of the primitive people was clearly revealed. One of the two parties wanted to change, but the other was unwilling to change. Hundreds of hunters from the poor tribe surrounded the Ji Cang tribe and piled up all kinds of animal skins and groceries without hesitation.
In front of them, he threatened that they would order these pottery baskets today, and they would have to change them if they wanted to, or if they didn't, they would have to change them.
The Cang Clan and the Ji Clan said that it was okay to fight, but they would never change these garbage.
Although there were many people on the other side, the well-trained and disciplined hunters of the Ji Cang Clan did not show weakness. A conflict broke out while the two sides were shouting and shoving. Just when the two sides were about to fight, the other side's great witch appeared in time.
, stopped this war.
Some people on both sides were injured, but fortunately they were not serious.
The arriving shaman was very interested in pottery, rattan baskets and even the leather armor, flags and horns of the Ji Cang Clan. After detailed inquiries, he expressed that some poor people really wanted to get these things and hoped to complete the transaction. If the Ji Cang Cang Clan
If the tribe needs other things, they can also tell them, and the poor tribe can slowly look for them and prepare for the next transaction.
The great witch still had to give him face. After much thought, the Cang clan of the Ji clan thought that Xu Chen liked to collect various gems and ores, so they suggested that if there were poor clansmen who could come up with some rare colored stones, they could return them to them.
Some pottery and rattan baskets.
So the great witch asked the Youqiong tribe to find all the useful and unused stones collected in the tribe. After some selection, the Cang tribe of the Ji tribe left nearly half of the pottery and rattan baskets, and took the exchanged stones with them.
Some colorful gems, minerals, animal skins and other goods were returned.
It took more than ten days to go back and forth, but the harvest was very small and I was very angry.
The Cang Clan and Ji Clan were not convinced, but they also knew that the other party was really powerful and beyond the ability of the two small and medium-sized tribes to conquer them, so they sent all the ores they exchanged to the Thunder Clan, hoping that they would help transfer them to Xu Chen. In addition, each of them
I will come here around the beginning of the month, hoping to meet Xu Chen who has returned from exploration, and report to him about the situation of the poor people and the possibility of conquering the poor people.
There is a poor tribe closest to the Ji Cang Clan. When Xu Chen sends troops, the two tribes will definitely have the opportunity to participate in this war. If they win, they will also get a large number of prisoners and women.
Therefore, the two tribes were particularly proactive.
After listening to the Cang people's situation report, Xu Chen finally figured out the ins and outs of this cassiterite stone.
It was acquired by the Ji Clan of the Cang Clan from the Youqing Clan.
But minerals are not suitable for exchanging large quantities of items because the metal content is too low and transportation back and forth is very troublesome.
The best thing is to let the other tribe smelt it and then exchange it, just like copper ore and lead ore.
However, the other tribe is very powerful, unfamiliar, and far away, and communication is also difficult. It is not easy to get them to help smelt metal. Moreover, the other side does not know how to mine and smelt, and it is necessary to arrange for familiar craftsmen to go there.
Okay, so this matter can’t be rushed.
As for the conquest, Xu Chen passed it right away. It wasn’t that he couldn’t conquer it, but it was just that the time was not right now.
It is already December, and it is also the coldest time of the year, so it is not suitable for an expedition.
Moreover, various tribes are building large-scale houses to cultivate grain fields, and they must be completed before spring.
Especially for farmland farming, you must not miss any farming time, otherwise the harvest for the whole year will be delayed.
Therefore, December and January were the busiest months. Each tribe also lacked food and clothing and could not devote a lot of manpower and material resources to support his military operations.
And he didn't want the little financial resources and popularity that the tribes had just begun to accumulate to be completely consumed by his militarism, and they would continue to be poor next year.
Therefore, this war will not start in the short term. Even if it is to be fought, it will at least wait until the autumn and winter of next year.
But without fighting, he would never give up the tin he had obtained, and he would also have to get it as soon as possible.
Therefore, he summoned a group of hunter leaders from the Thunder Clan and the Gonghuo Clan for a meeting to plan the follow-up plan.
The arrangement is very simple. Each tribe selects some hunters to form a trading team, carrying pottery, fishing nets, hemp rope, rock salt and other goods unique to the Ba Alliance, and goes to conduct another trade with the poor tribes. The only goods traded are
tin.
However, it is easy to prepare pottery, rock salt and other goods, as the Thunder Clan has them, but if you want to directly exchange them for tin, you must first teach the poor people to build a smelting furnace and learn how to smelt.
However, the structures of earth kilns used for smelting metal and burning lime are very different.
However, in order for the poor tribes to smelt tin, it was necessary to arrange a craftsman who was proficient in smelting.
However, smelting metal and burning lime are very different. The Gonghuo Tribe could not find a suitable craftsman, so Xu Chen had to sigh and decided to work hard again.
I used to work hard walking around in the mountains, but I didn't expect that it would be so hard after crossing the mountains. I just came back from crossing the mountains and ridges, and I had to continue climbing again.
However, for the sake of the mine, Xu Chen decided to take action himself.
Not only is it a problem with the smelting furnace, but also it takes a lot of experience to distinguish the ore. Cassiterite has different colors due to impurities. This kind of pure cassiterite crystal with a yellowish-brown skin is rare in nature, and most of them are
Tin sand ore contains impurities after decomposition, so the main source of smelting metallic tin is tin sand, not this kind of cassiterite that already has the characteristics of gemstones.
After everything was arranged, Xu Chen once again led a team of thirty hunters to set off.
First, they took a bamboo raft up the Jicang River and reached the Qia tribe a hundred miles away. Then they abandoned the raft and walked. After gathering a few Qia tribe guides, they began to cross the mountains and head toward the west.