Amid leisurely and busy work, half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
In late October, the Wu tribe sent thousands of kilograms of copper, which immediately relieved Xu Chen's urgent need, so he urged the smelting workshop to speed up the casting of a batch of road construction tools such as knives, axes, hoes and picks, and sent them to the Gonghuo tribe and the Bameng tribe respectively.
Along the way there were several tribes building roads.
With the investment in these tools, various tribes will be able to build roads much faster.
Although it is still not enough, with the commissioning of the new smelting plant of the Uzbek people and a new batch of men from the Pi and Dai people joining the mining and smelting work, the monthly copper output of the Uzbek people this winter will exceed one thousand kilograms.
The situation will also be greatly improved.
But now, the Uzbek people are also starting to run into trouble.
At the same time as this batch of copper was delivered, the chief of the Wu tribe and a group of leaders accompanied the little witch sister to the Ba tribe in person, begging the Ba tribe to provide some food.
Originally, according to the farmland harvest of the Uzbek tribe this year, nearly a thousand acres of wheat and beans could probably supply the entire tribe with food rations for at least three months, and there would be no problem in surviving the cold winter. However, large-scale road construction began in August, and then there was the expansion of smelting.
The scale of factories and mining is also large-scale, and roads leading to the Muya tribe are currently being built on a large scale. A large number of manpower have been recruited for various projects, which consumes a lot of money. At the same time, there is a serious shortage of manpower involved in hunting. In addition, they have just been replenished.
More than 30 young and middle-aged men of the Pi tribe underwent labor reform, and their food consumption further increased. In the early winter, the granary was almost empty.
Xu Chen had promised to help solve the food problem, but they were afraid that Xu Chen would go back on his promise, so a large group of middle-aged and elderly women accompanied their witches to form a group to put pressure on Xu Chen.
Although they have made huge profits from smelting copper, without food, not only their own people will starve to death in the winter, but also those foreigners may resist and cause trouble. What's more, the Pi and Dai tribes joining this time are not just labor reform in the past, but in the form of labor reform.
If you join as a laborer, you must not only ensure food and drink, but also pay some labor remuneration when the time comes, and you must not be as harsh and oppressive as you were with the captives of the Gonghuo Tribe and Yu Gong Tribe.
Naturally, Xu Chen would not shirk this request. After all, this was the promise he made when he asked the Uzbek tribe to expand the scale of smelting. He convened a group of Ba tribe leaders such as Da Wu and Mu Ba Amu to hold a meeting to discuss. The Pi tribe witches also joined the meeting to observe and learn how to deal with it.
Some political issues between tribes.
Solving the food crisis of the Uzbek people is a long-term process. It is not just a problem in winter. There will still be food shortages in spring. Therefore, all tribes must be mobilized to join in the process of providing food.
Although the Ba tribe currently has sufficient food, it is absolutely unable to feed and drink the more than 700 people of the two tribes.
Xu Chen has already thought of a solution, which is to spend money to trade with other nearby tribes.
Therefore, at the meeting, Xu Chen proposed that in the future, the copper smelted by the Uzbek people would no longer be directly traded into pottery, copperware, linen, vehicles, and other items, but would be exchanged for one coin per pound of copper, and these coins were common among all ethnic groups in the Bameng.
The Uzbek people can use these coins to exchange for any items they want, including animal skins, wheat beans, fish, pottery, copperware, salt, linen, armor, vehicles, and all other available production and living resources.
Even if they don't want to participate in road construction, they can use these copper coins to recruit foreigners to work instead of the Uzbek people.
Looking at these exquisitely crafted golden bronze wares with round square holes that Xu Chen took out, the leader of the Uzbek tribe, the little witch sister and others all looked at each other, holding them in their hands to watch and play with them over and over again. They felt very novel and at the same time nervous.
nervous.
This thing is indeed good-looking, but can it really be traded with other tribes for any items like a universal commodity? Can it even be used to let other tribes build roads on their behalf?
However, doubts remain doubts, and no one objects. After all, if it can really be realized, it will also be great news for the Uzbek people, and future transactions will be much more convenient.
"Your Majesty the Witch King, how can I exchange copper for coins?"
The little witch asked the most important question.
After all, no matter how useful copper coins are, they still need to be able to exchange the copper they smelt for enough money to trade for food, and they also need to ensure the interests of the families within the tribe. If they cannot make ends meet, it will definitely not work.
Xu Chen smiled and said: "I will give you one pound of copper in exchange for one coin. You can buy five pounds of grain from the Ba people with this coin. The copper you sent can be exchanged for a thousand coins. If all
Exchanged into grain, it would be five thousand catties..."
"Five thousand kilograms!"
In an instant, the group of people sitting around the fire pit all exclaimed. Not only the eyes of the heads and leaders of the Wu tribe shone brightly, and they began to collectively drool with excitement, but even a group of Ba tribe leaders attending the meeting, such as Mu Ba and A Mu, became nervous.
According to one pound of grain per person per day, this grain is enough for the entire Uzbek tribe to eat for ten days. If exchanged like this all year round, the Uzbek tribe only needs to use a small number of manpower to smelt copper to ensure the entire tribe's food for half a year.
The entire Ba ethnic group participated in labor, and this year's unprecedented bumper harvest only brought in 35,000 kilograms of grain.
If all these grains are bought by the Uzbek people, what will the Ba people eat?
Therefore, during the exclamation, Mother's nervous old face turned pale, and even the little witch had a worried look on her face, but she did not speak. She knew Xu Chen, and this matter would never develop into what she imagined, but something else.
There was something she couldn't understand.
Sure enough, Xu Chen shook his head with a smile and said: "That's true, but it's impossible for the Ba tribe to exchange all their food for you, and the same goes for other tribes. After all, everyone has to give priority to ensuring that they have enough to eat. This exchange is just a transaction condition, just
Just like a leather item can be exchanged for two pottery bowls, the Ba people don't have to exchange it for you, do you understand?"
Momba and the others immediately exhaled and looked much better. Mom nodded vigorously and said in a loud voice: "Yes, you can't change!"
So a group of Uzbek people became excited, and a leader said with excitement: "If we don't change, we will starve, Tong Mo Lian Ga!"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
The role of bronze wares is obvious to all, and naturally the more the better, but currently, except for the Ba tribe, all other tribes are in dire need, including the Uzu tribe. They also hope to use smelted copper to exchange for more bronze wares and carriages with the Ba tribe.
Urgently needed production tools such as trolleys.
If the Wu tribe lacks food and cannot smelt more copper, then the Ba tribe will not be able to manufacture and produce more bronze tools, and other tribes will not be able to obtain them. After getting used to sharp and strong bronze tools, who can return?
It's back to the previous state of using stone knives, stone axes, and stone hoes.
So this is a conflicting issue.
If the Uzbek people want to continue smelting copper, they must be provided with enough food.
"Don't get excited, everyone. Food is not only available to the Ba people, but also to other tribes, and the food is not only wheat and beans, but also yams and other grains, fish, etc. I just said that you can exchange this kind of copper coins for any items, so
I will inform the nearby tribes and ask them to use their spare manpower to increase hunting, fishing, digging yams and other food to send to the Uzbek tribe. If everyone works together, we can solve the food problem of the Uzbek tribe, even including the Gonghuo tribe.
As long as they are willing, the Pi Tribe and Yu Gong Tribe can send excess quarried food and fish meat to the Utri Tribe in exchange for copper coins. They can use these copper coins to continue trading any desired goods with other tribes, including the Ba Tribe.
Everything I have right now..."
When Xu Chen said this, he took out a pile of copper coins with his hand, placed one copper coin first and said:
"The current trading standard is that one penny can be exchanged for five kilograms of grain, of course it can also be exchanged for a big fish, and it can also be exchanged for enough meat to feed two people. This is the simplest standard."
"Sigh!"
Only then did a group of people understand, and they all nodded and said that this is how copper coins are used.
Xu Chen smiled and continued: "You used to exchange ten pounds of copper for one pound of copperware, but suddenly the copperware you want is not available, so you can keep the copper coins and wait until you have the bronzeware you want.
In exchange, or if you lack thick animal skins to keep out the cold in winter, you can use copper coins to trade with the Ba tribe or other tribes for the type and quantity of animal skins you want. As for the exchange standards..."
Xu Chen pondered for a moment and turned to Ye and said, "Go to my room and get a piece of animal skin from the wooden box with copper coins!"
"Okay!"
Ye quickly stood up and ran out of the fire pond room. Soon another gust of wind rushed in and handed Xu Chen an animal skin with writing on it. He glanced at it for a few times and then handed it to the little witch sister.
The little witch quickly took it and took a closer look, and saw that there were more than ten copper coin exchange standards for daily goods written on it.
One penny is exchanged for five kilograms of grain.
A penny is exchanged for a foot-long fish.
A penny is exchanged for a pottery bowl.
One penny was exchanged for two pounds of twine.
Two pence would be exchanged for an ordinary animal skin.
Two pence for a pound of rock salt.
Two cents was exchanged for a small clay pot.
Three pennies were exchanged for a piece of linen thread and linen cloth.
…
Seeing such clear exchange standards, the little witch showed an expression of extreme surprise. While reading, she read it to the head of the Wu tribe and a group of family leaders.
A group of patriarchs and leaders are no longer the old savages who knew nothing in the past. In recent years, they have learned a lot of words and knowledge from the two little witch sisters. They can still apply simple reading, addition and subtraction, so after listening
They were also very happy and expressed that with this clear exchange standard, future transactions would be much more convenient.
After listening to the little witch sister read all the redemption standards on the animal skin, Xu Chen smiled and said:
"This is a simple exchange table made for the convenience of transactions. After the Uzbek tribe gets the copper coins, they can exchange it with the Ba tribe according to the above standards. As for other tribes, they can naturally use the same standards, but this exchange is not fixed.
It just represents the current situation.
Take pottery for example. In the past, it cost one ordinary animal skin to exchange for two pottery bowls. Now I will convert it to two cents per animal skin, which is one penny per pottery bowl. It is simple and convenient.
But as each tribe has more and more pottery, the demand is getting smaller and smaller, and gradually everyone feels that it is not cost-effective to exchange. Maybe one penny can buy two pottery bowls in the future.
The same is true for animal skins. In the past, everyone wore animal skins, but now it is more and more convenient to wear linen. In the future, people will want to trade more linen instead of animal skins. However, animal skins are not easy to store for a long time and will become moldy over time.
It can be traded to tribes in need at a discount, and the copper coins will be kept in the family for future use.
As for food, if everyone is short of it in winter and spring, you may need to pay more copper coins. In summer and autumn, when there is more fish and meat, it may be cheaper. Over time, the exchange ratio may fluctuate. It all depends on you.
Adjusting the exchange ratio is not set in stone."