Facing Feng and others' request, Xu Chen did not answer directly, but turned to look at Mu Ba.
Then all the men and women turned their heads to look at the mother.
The old face of the mother-in-law with brocade feathers on her head was full of anger.
She understands everyone's thoughts and needs.
Even she herself likes this neat and clean stone house.
She could understand it, but she didn't agree with it. She felt that her family authority was being greatly challenged at this time.
But she also knows that if she cannot make the right decision, huge rifts and conflicts will arise in the clan.
As the patriarch and parent, she must weigh the pros and cons and make the most beneficial choice.
But she had never encountered such a thing.
Therefore, she was very helpless and even a little panicked.
Her dignity comes from teaching and guiding, not controlling and controlling.
The inheritance in her bones makes her work hard to maintain the survival and reproduction of the tribe.
Living together in a cave on the mountainside is an ancient custom passed down from generation to generation, and it is also a kind of security. She does not dare to change it.
But what happened in front of her forced her to consider making changes.
So in anger, helplessness and panic, Mu Ba had to seek answers from Xu Chen.
All of this was done by Xu Chen.
If anyone in the entire tribe can solve this problem, only Xu Chen can do it.
So with the mother's eyes asking for advice, the men and women all turned their attention to Xu Chen.
"Well……"
Xu Chen smiled dryly, then turned around and pointed to an open space covered with thorns and weeds not far from the kiln and toward the canyon.
"You can build a very big house there..."
Xu Chen made a large gesture with his hands.
The eyes of Feng and other hunters suddenly lit up, and they started to scream with excitement, and then they all looked at the mother expectantly.
Mother hesitated again and again, and finally nodded gently.
"嘢嚯~~"
The crowd instantly burst into cheers, including all the women, with excited and surprised smiles on their faces.
Looking at the jubilant tribesmen, Mother Ba's old and withered face showed indescribable emotions.
There is helplessness, melancholy, and a touch of sadness and loss.
She turned around with her cane and slowly walked out of the kiln. Her old back was thin and lonely.
It was in great contrast to the cheers coming from behind.
She didn't know what she did was right or wrong.
Before her death, her mother told her to take care of all her people, but she felt increasingly powerless.
…
The moon is full and waning, and it is gradually entering late autumn.
The roaring river twists and turns among the primitive and wild mountains, heading straight to the distant southeast.
In the lower reaches of the river, thirty miles away from the Ba people, there is a vast river beach.
Hundreds of millions of years of river alluvial have formed an alluvial plain stretching for more than ten miles.
There are abundant aquatic plants on the river beach, and there are flocks of wild animals. Groups of flying birds come from the northwest, and neatly arranged formations of geese swoop down and stay on the river beach to perch and feed.
Between the high mountains on both sides of the river, the roars of wild beasts can be heard from time to time.
Wolves roamed along riverbanks and at the foot of mountains, while tigers and leopards roamed among the vast jungles.
In a valley not far from the river beach, a flock of birds suddenly flew away, followed by a long cry of "Boom, boom, boom, boom."
As the shouts got closer and closer, I slowly saw a group of primitive people wearing animal skins coming out of the valley carrying spears and clubs.
The herd of beasts that were foraging on the river beach instantly became nervous. They all pricked up their ears and even turned their heads to look in the direction in which this group of primitive humans came. Some small beasts even started to run away.
The quiet and deserted river beach suddenly became chaotic.
There are nearly twenty people in this group of primitive people. They are all young men. They all look very tall and strong. They are painted with oil paint on their bodies and have various bone and tooth ornaments hanging around their necks. Some even have a piece of wild beast on their head.
The skull, ferocious teeth and holes look terrifying and savage.
These savages did not hunt wild animals on the river beach, but went up the river without stopping. Along the way, they kept making long and distant calls of "boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!"
In the valley where the Ba people live, a group of primitive people live a busy and fulfilling life.
Since Mu Ba promised to build more houses at the foot of the mountain, Xu Chen could free up his hands and start implementing his plan for primitive people to go down the mountain.
If you don't go down the mountain, you will always be a savage.
Only by living at the foot of the mountains near rivers and learning to farm and herd can humans upgrade to a more advanced civilized society.
Although Muba agreed reluctantly, her mood has been very low recently.
But the entire Ba ethnic group, men, women and children, were very excited.
Because Xu Chen drew a large-scale stone house for them, which was enough to accommodate all the tribesmen.
But to turn this picture into reality requires the joint efforts of everyone.
Therefore, after the kiln house was completed, Xu Chen led a group of men who had changed their jobs as carpenters and bricklayers to devote themselves to this unprecedented project.
One mile away from the kiln, at the foot of the mountain near the canyon, there is a large flat open space.
Xu Chen chose this location after observing it for a long time.
Less than 200 meters to the right is the canyon, 100 meters ahead is the river, and not far to the left is the path up the mountain. The kiln is next to the path.
There are slightly undulating earthy hills nearby, covered with a large number of wild oats, beans and other plants.
Regardless of the large-scale layout of the valley or the small-scale layout of houses planned to be built, this is a geomantic treasure land suitable for human farming and survival.
The mountains on both sides of the valley are not too high. Compared with the rolling mountains on both sides of the river, they appear gentler and more secure.
Because there were too many weeds and thorns and not enough manpower, Xu Chen didn't bother to slowly weed and chop down trees. With simple tools and more than a dozen pairs of calloused hands, it would take a long time to completely clean the foundation.
Just half a month.
So he set a fire directly.
In autumn and winter, thousands of trees are in decline.
The vegetation on the river beach has withered in large areas.
After these withered and dried weeds and thorns were ignited, the entire foot of the mountain instantly turned into a sea of fire, with crackling flames burning and thick smoke rising straight into the sky.
Slash-and-burn cultivation is a symbol of human civilization's transition from ancient barbarism to new era civilization.
Although Xu Chen has a lot of experience in identifying ores and even knows how copper and iron are made, at the moment, he can still only use this most primitive method.
As for the behavior of burning wasteland, even if human civilization continues into the era of high technology or even space technology, it will be inevitable as long as we still need to grow food to eat.
This primitive method not only cleans the ground of weeds and thorns, but also kills various viruses and pests. At the same time, the plant ash left behind is rich in various mineral elements and will provide sufficient nutrients for the next year's plants.
Burnt land will become more fertile.
As for smog and air pollution, they don't exist.
Natural fires burn thousands of times more violently than this.
Fire is life energy, which will stimulate more vigorous vitality in plants and animals.
Of course, Xu Chen's action of burning the wasteland caused a lot of panic in the tribe. Seeing the flames at the bottom of the mountain and the thick smoke billowing into the sky, the mother was so frightened that she rushed down the mountain with a group of panic-stricken women to check. Xu Chen had to waste a lot of money.
Explain to them verbally.
Although it was a wasteland burning, Xu Chen still made full preparations a few days in advance.
First, a fire break was manually cleared at the foot of the mountain, and then more than a dozen men scattered around the fire scene with branches to look after it. If any fire broke out of the fire break, they quickly put it out.
Therefore, although the fire seemed fierce, it was basically limited to the planned scope.
Of course, if the wind is too strong and really ignites a mountain fire, it is impossible to say that several nearby mountains will be burned down, and the life of the tribe will also be greatly threatened. Whether it can be extinguished depends on whether there will be heavy rain.
However, in this crisp autumn season, the possibility of rain is relatively low.
Therefore, for the sake of safety, he asked Muba to arrange for people to go up the mountain to pack up all the food, clothing and tools that were dried in front of the cave, and to temporarily bring all the women, children, old and weak to the kiln for resettlement.
The raging flames burned for more than an hour. The more than ten acres of wasteland planned by Xu Chen were completely burned, leaving only black ash on the ground and some unburned small trees, standing scattered here and there.
Smoke billowed out from the fire scene.
A large amount of thick smoke rushed high into the sky, forming a black cloud above the valley, which could be seen clearly from dozens of miles away.