The road planning for the Gong Fire Basin is complete, and all that's left is to put it into practice.
But Xu Chen couldn't help much with the rest. He could only strengthen management and supervision through the hunter group, but the distance was too far and it was inconvenient to come and go. Basically, this kind of management could only be left to chance.
This is what is said about the mountains being high and the emperor being far away.
However, in order to stimulate the enthusiasm of these tribes for road construction, Xu Chen promised to rent a batch of hatchets, axes, copper saws, copper picks and other road construction tools to all tribes next month.
And he also said that as long as these roads are built, he will reward them according to the quality and speed of the completion of the project. If the project is completed well, these rented bronze tools will be given away for free, and the tribe that completes the fastest and best work will even get a carriage.
and wheelbarrow rewards.
Faced with such a generous gift from Xu Chen, all the tribes that the road planned passed through were extremely excited. The clan leaders patted their chests and said that they would gather enough people to speed up the road construction. Naturally, Xu Chen was pleased to say that he would do it again after the beginning of spring.
Come to inspect and cash out rewards based on completion.
Therefore, every time Xu Chen went to a certain place, these tribes immediately started to build roads enthusiastically.
Not to mention that they had seen the benefits of roads and the magic of horse-drawn carriages at the witchcraft conference.
Even if they could get a batch of bronze tools for free as long as they repaired it, they were already overjoyed.
You must know that bronzes are currently extremely scarce in various tribes. In addition to the tribal officers in charge of training hunters and the swords, daggers and other standard weapons equipped by outstanding hunters, each tribe also has very few production tools such as axes, hoes and picks that are most urgently needed.
In addition, the entire Gonghuo Alliance currently does not have a single vehicle.
Therefore, Xu Chen's promise of rewards greatly stimulated the enthusiasm and interest of each tribe in building roads. The tribes even compared the construction speed with each other, for fear that they would fall behind each other, and then the carriages, carts and wheelbarrows would be snatched away by other tribes.
As for the Gonghuo Tribe, the Thunder Tribe, and the Five Ghost Tribes, the five tribes gathered together were even more excited, because when Xu Chen left, he dropped a piece of good news like thunder for them.
Starting next year, the home venue of the Wu Zhu Conference will be moved to the Gonghuo Tribe.
This is both good news and pressure. To successfully hold the witchcraft conference, transportation is very important. If all the roads connecting all the tribes are really opened, then this place will become more prosperous and lively than the Ba tribe venue.
But if transportation is inconvenient, maybe many tribes will still clamor to go to the Ba tribe in the future.
After all, there is a temple there, a great witch, an old mother goddess, and the Eye of the God.
Holding a gathering among the Ba people will receive close care and blessing from the gods.
It will always be the most sacred place in the hearts of all tribes.
Therefore, just after Xu Chen left, the great witch of the Gonghuo tribe and the little witch of the Five Ghost tribe jointly issued an order calling on all tribes to start engaging in vigorous road construction campaigns.
…
When Xu Chen returned to the Cang clan, he found that they were very fast. Except for those who could not move, almost the entire clan was mobilizing to build roads.
Some women, children, the elderly and the weak were at the foot of the gentle river bank, cutting down thorn trees according to the marks left by Xu Chen's plan, and excavating mud and rocks to level the roadbed. In just half a month, they had almost reached the vicinity of the rocky valley.
Another group of young men and women who are tall and strong are digging river channels in the rocky valley to transfer boulders to build roadbeds. At the same time, they are collecting dry firewood and stacking them on the nearly three-meter-high cliff among the rocks to set up fires and burn them.
After a day and a night, water is poured in a clay pot while it is still hot. The effect of thermal expansion and contraction is used to destroy the rock structure of the mountain, and then the rock is knocked open.
Although this method is primitive and full of dangers, it is the simplest and most feasible method at the moment, and the cost is minimal. It only consumes manpower and time.
Winter happens to be the most leisure time for each tribe. As long as there is almost no shortage of food, only a small number of hunters need to be arranged to go out for hunting and fishing, and most people can devote themselves to building roads.
A group of tall and strong hunters, almost naked, were digging and pushing rocks in the river valley. They were shouting neat chants and gnashing their teeth as they used wooden poles to pry and roll rocks weighing several tons to the edge of the cliff.
.
Although not too many stones have been transferred at the moment, it has made the narrow river valley look somewhat different.
These stones do not necessarily have to be transported to the shore and piled up to form a roadbed. After they are moved, the weight of the stones can be used to stabilize the feet and slow down the impact of the running water. As long as the water rises in summer and the feet are not washed away, even if the stones are used.
Mixed filling with stone and soil can also ensure stability.
Seeing Xu Chen riding back with a group of people, a group of Cang tribe hunters who were working immediately threw away the stones they were pushing, and gathered around excitedly to report, saying that they had found out about the strange tribe in the upper reaches of the Ji tribe.
situation.
Xu Chen was very surprised when he heard this. After asking a few questions carefully, he did not stop at Rock Valley and led a group of people on horseback to the Ji clan.
More than ten miles passed in an instant. After arriving at the Ji clan, several hunters from the Ji clan who were building roads upstream rushed back after hearing the news. They were extremely excited and began to report the inquiring information in detail.
In fact, it was not much different from Xu Chen's guess. There was indeed a tribe half a day's ride upstream, but this tribe seemed to be fighting. Although the cause of the battle and the specific situation of both sides were not known, it seemed that the casualties were not small.
Because according to the hunters who went to inquire, they had seen several human bones scattered by wild beasts and discarded sticks and spears nearby, and the situation was a bit confusing.
However, in order not to attract the attention of the strange tribe, the observing hunters only found the approximate location of the tribe's residence and did not make direct contact.
Although there was news, Xu Chen felt a little depressed again.
According to the Ji Clan's inquiries, this tribe does not look very big. It should be about the same size as the Ji Clan, with only about a hundred people. It is not cost-effective to mobilize a large number of troops to go to such a tribe.
This is because it will take at least three days to mobilize men and horses from each tribe, and it will take at least three days to prepare sufficient dry food and weapons. The round trip and the finishing process will take at least five or six days. The most important thing is that we still don’t know where the enemies fighting this tribe are.
, the number and strength are unclear.
According to Xu Chen's idea, he should either stay still or take down all the nearby tribes in one go.
It is best to find the tribe where they have witches and capture the witches.
But the current situation is unclear, and the local environment is completely unfamiliar. If there is a large tribe like the Uzbek in the area, and the terrain is not conducive to a horse raid, just using dozens of cavalry may cause casualties.
Although this possibility is very small, Xu Chen doesn't want to take this risk.
At the moment when each tribe is vigorously renovating transportation and accumulating strength for rapid development, casualties will also affect the morale of each tribe.
If you attack rashly with an unclear goal, it is better to let the Ji clan continue to investigate, or start direct contact with the tribes upstream, conduct some ordinary transactions and exchanges first, and wait until the situation is completely clear before making plans.
However, Xu Chen's thoughts were quickly interrupted.
Because with the sound of horse hooves galloping forward, a group of hunters wearing leather armor and carrying bows and arrows arrived again. The leader was Heng, an officer from the Cang tribe, accompanied by two officers from the Ji tribe and a group of sturdy hunters.
.
A group of people rushed into the courtyard and saw Xu Chen. They immediately shouted excitedly and surrounded them. They all said that they were ready. They would just wait for Xu Chen to come back and give orders and they would attack the tribe directly and wipe out the tribe in an instant.
.
Even Feng, who had been following Xu Chen, said that although the tribe was small, it was still meat, and taking it back would be very helpful in building roads.
Seeing everyone's fighting spirit, Xu Chen quickly changed his mind.
Since everyone wants to rob someone, then go ahead and rob them. Anyway, you will definitely not lose this battle, but you may encounter some troubles if the situation is unclear.
But think about this time last year, I took forty people across the Wulong River on a raft. Without knowing anything about it, I defeated the Yu Gong clan in seven or eight days. This time I led a group of pure cavalry.
He is stronger, so he shouldn't have any worries.
So Xu Chen was no longer confused, and asked the hunters of the Ji tribe to ride horses to each tribe to deliver the order, requiring the officers of each tribe to bring all the cavalry to the Ji tribe to meet up. They must arrive within three days and bring all the flags, otherwise the distribution of the spoils will be cancelled.
Qualifications.
The hunters from the Ji and Cang tribes were a little unhappy. They clasped their fists and said, "Your Majesty the Witch King, there are not many people on the other side. There are more than ten horses from our two tribes, plus the people you brought, it is enough to kill them."
Xu Chen shook his head and said seriously: "We can't just deal with this small tribe, but we must kill their opponents all at once. This time we may even encounter a powerful tribe like the Wu tribe with hundreds of people and a powerful witch. We can't
Too careless, convey my order quickly without any mistakes. In addition, Feng also takes a few people back to deliver a batch of road construction tools, and brings two masons and fetch the drums by the way!"
"Follow the order!"
A group of people quickly clasped their fists and accepted the order. Then a group of people mounted their horses and dispersed. In groups of three or five, they went straight to each tribe to deliver the message.
In the following time, Xu Chen did not take any time off and began to ride on horseback to inspect the road that the Ji clan was building leading to the Muya clan.
The road between the Muya tribe and the Ji tribe is much more complicated than the road to the Ji tribe downstream. It is rarely on flat river beaches and most of them are on hillsides and woods, so it will be much slower to build. At the moment
Half a month has passed, and I have only repaired three or four miles.
Of course, there are relatively few people in the Ji clan. All the old women and children are mobilized, and only about fifty people can participate in road construction. In addition, the tools are relatively poor. Except for a small number of copper axes and hatchets, the rest are almost all
Stone knives, stone axes, and stone hoes and pickaxes are all good at dealing with thorns, trees, and sand. However, once you encounter a difficult place, your progress will be very slow.
Xu Chen had already anticipated these situations during the survey, so he decided to send a batch of idle road construction tools from the tribe and distribute them to the Muya, Ji and Cang tribes for use.
When they finish their work and go back, the Wu people will be able to smelt hundreds of kilograms of copper. Then they will forge a batch of tools and send them to the Gonghuo Alliance tribe to help them speed up road construction.
Building roads is different from building houses. Even if it rains a little, it won't have any impact. Therefore, it can be continued after spring. However, the farmland will be busy sowing seeds by then, which may delay more than half a month.
What's more, he plans to complete these roads in two to three years. What has been completed so far is only a road connecting several neighboring tribes within the area, and the real transportation has not been fully opened.
Next year, he will also mobilize two alliance tribes to carry out the second round of main road connection projects in the form of service. Roads between some remote tribes will also be gradually developed. Three years later, he will have roads between all tribes.
Connected, forming a basically formed transportation network.
After all the roads are opened, the next step is to use the trading town built near the Gonghuo Tribe to start building a royal city and temple, set up functional departments of the court and a royal city army independent of each tribe, split up large and medium-sized tribes, and use road nodes to cultivate
New rural towns will completely break away from the current ethnic scale and inheritance system.
Of course, all imagination is wonderful, but putting it into practice is not easy.
Just like building a road, although it sounds simple, without sharp enough and practical tools, it will be very difficult.
In addition, even if roads are built, if there are no carriages and no wealth for trading, it will be useless. Therefore, we must find ways to continuously increase the wealth of each tribe so that they can afford carriages, so as to stimulate the circulation of goods and the development of commerce.
Delivering it all by yourself is not a long-term solution.
Even if the Ba people are rich, they will be emptied out over time.
Therefore, we must also learn to make money, and the biggest way to make money is nothing more than taxation.
Therefore, establishing a court to govern the villages and towns of various tribes, and then legitimately starting to collect taxes is the cornerstone of maintaining Ba rule and the stability of the kingdom.
The biggest problem is just to think of an excuse to collect taxes.
After all, it's definitely not possible to forcefully ask for it. Although primitive people don't look very smart, they will definitely not take something from them.
Xu Chen feels a little troubled every time he thinks about this problem.
I don’t know when human taxation first started, but it was certainly not forced at first.
Perhaps... it comes from an ancient idea of tribute. Ordinary tribesmen contribute food to the leader, and the conquered contribute their wealth to the conqueror. When tribute becomes a habit, then it becomes an obligation, and then it becomes
It became a responsibility, and finally it became oppression and burden...
Now, Xu Chen has to face the problem of long-term development in the future.