In Xu Chen's opinion, food, clothing, housing and transportation have basically been solved now.
Therefore, the main focus in the future will be on integration and development.
A small tribe of dozens of people doesn't matter. It's the size of a small village, so if they all live together, there won't be much of a problem.
But once the number of people reaches the level and status of the Ba people, who need to cultivate thousands of acres of farmland to survive, if they continue to live together, big disadvantages will begin to appear. First, the living environment is dirty and messy;
The farming management of farmland is too far away, resulting in a huge waste of time. Third, the labor arrangement is relatively chaotic, resulting in many tribesmen being extremely busy every day, but some are doing nothing all day long.
Fortunately, the Ba people have hunting teams, kilns, smelters, wood processing, stone processing and other handicraft workshops, as well as fixed labor task distribution such as contract work to groups. Even if the leaders such as Mu Ba and A Mu do not give orders, all
Everyone knows what they should do, and they will not become confused or even do nothing just because there is no arrangement.
But it's hard to say for other tribes. Although times have progressed, they are still used to following the leader's instructions to work every day, which makes some people busy and others passive and slow at work.
The larger the tribe, the more obvious this chaos becomes.
Only by splitting up these large tribes and allowing them to live separately and handle their own family affairs can all kinds of conflicts and chaos within these tribes be resolved.
Each family is self-reliant and responsible for its own profits and losses.
Just like tribes develop separately after splitting.
The tribal chief has evolved into a status similar to an official in disguise, used to guide and handle public affairs and disputes and conflicts between tribes.
The scattered families built villages, and then used these villages to build a relatively close-knit township.
Just like the current relationship between alliances and subordinate tribes, witches assume a status similar to the highest official, responsible for commanding and guiding development, and each tribe relies on these great witches for protection.
The biggest advantage of dispersed settlement is that it can greatly expand human survival territory and improve the living environment, and the exchanges between tribes will become more frequent and closer.
When this change reaches a certain stage, some places similar to market towns will gradually merge and evolve. As the tribes disperse and settle, the population will slowly begin to gather according to development needs, forming a new social pattern of rural towns.
Roads were the most critical factor that contributed to the formation of the final town.
Since ancient times, prosperous areas have either had a suitable environment or developed transportation. Apart from these two factors, the impact of other factors has been very small. Otherwise, even if it was once prosperous, it would quickly decline over time.
The opening of the Cangqia section of the Bagong Avenue marks that the land travel between the two ethnic groups, the Ba ethnic group and the Gonghuo ethnic group, is completely smooth, and the integration between them will be greatly accelerated.
On the seventh day of September, the patrolling hunters brought back the news that the last section of the Cangqia section was opened and the entire Bagong Avenue was connected.
Xu Chen personally led people to inspect, and arranged for people to convene the chiefs and officers of the Qia and Cang tribes for discussion, and then determined the division of land between the two tribes. In the end, Yinlong Gorge was used as the boundary, and the southeast was divided into the Qia tribe.
, the northwest is assigned to the Cang people.
In order to celebrate the completion of the road and the demarcation, Xu Chen summoned people from the two tribes to carry a two-meter-high boulder and set it up on the roadside facing the Golden River at the entrance of Yinlong Canyon, and let the stonemasons inscribe on it the completion of the road construction.
The start and end times, the names of the tribes participating in the road construction, the number of people in each tribe participating in the road construction, etc. are then listed as boundary monuments.
This boundary monument is not only the boundary monument of the territory of the Cangqia tribe, but also the rough boundary between the Gonghuo League and the Ba League.
Although the boundary monument does not seem to have much meaning at the moment, with the continuous development of human beings and the gradual formation of towns, counties and other administrative regions in the future, this boundary monument will become a historical evidence. Even in thousands of years, it may still be
This monument marks the boundary between two different administrative divisions.
Although the construction of this road is worthy of celebration, there are only a few days left before the Witch Lords Conference, so Xu Chen decided to arrange this celebration to be held together with the Witch Lords Conference.
In addition, this time he planned to go to the Gonghuo Clan not by land, but by water. The fifth boat was almost completed, so he did not go to the Gonghuo Clan to inspect the construction of the Jicang River Estuary.
, but arranged for someone to build the stone monument and then returned directly to the Ba tribe.
Three days later, it was the tenth day of September.
Just when the third wooden boat built under the supervision of Xu Chen, which could carry ten people, was going down the river to test the water, a hunter from the Gonghuo tribe suddenly came on horseback to report the bad news. The great witch of the Gonghuo tribe had passed away.
Hearing the news, Xu Chen was stunned for a long time, and then he didn't care about testing the new ship. He hurried back to the tribe to gather people. After some simple discussions and preparations, he hurriedly took the little witch, Ye Zaimo and a group of hunters to escort him.
Next, take a boat down the Wulong River and go straight to the Gonghuo Clan.
Xu Chen also visited the Gonghuo Clan last month. The old witch seemed to be in a very good state of mind. She even chatted and laughed with him about the arrangements for the witchcraft conference. She expressed her great gratitude to Xu Chen for being able to hand over such an important event.
Give her the responsibility, and the Gonghuo Tribe will definitely have a great success, etc.
But in the blink of an eye, the hot meal was gone before I even sat down at home.
Although the old witch's death had long been expected by Xu Chen, there was some trouble at this juncture.
The great shaman of the Gonghuo tribe passed away a day ago. There were no symptoms when he died. He had inspected the road construction situation in the morning. After he came back and drank a cup of hot water, he said he was a little tired and wanted to take a rest. Before going to bed, he told him that he would go to inspect the road in the afternoon.
The material preparations for the witchcraft conference ended up lying down and never getting up again.
The Gonghuo tribe is now in chaos.
But the Witch Lords Conference is already approaching, and other tribes that are far away, such as the Pi tribe, the Youqing tribe, and the Mongolian tribe across the river, should have been on the road for several days.
Therefore, the chief of the Gonghuo Tribe was frightened and frightened, so he could only arrange for hunters to report the funeral to Xu Chen on horseback, hoping to get support and help from the Ba Tribe.
In addition, when the great witch passed away, the new witch needed to succeed as soon as possible to stabilize the mood of the tribe. But now the new witch's succession still needs the blessing of the great witch of the Ba tribe and the approval of His Majesty the Witch King. Therefore, they dare not make the decision without authorization and can only hope that Xu Chen and the great witch will
We can rush to the Gonghuo Clan as soon as possible to deal with this matter, and it is best to complete this succession ceremony before the Wu Zhu Conference, otherwise the Wu Zhu Conference will probably be chaotic.
It was already afternoon when the hunter who reported the news arrived at the Ba tribe.
From the time Xu Chen received the news to the time he took the people to set off, it only took an hour.
The Jicang River seems gentle and peaceful in late autumn, but its huge flow still carries huge energy.
Three new boats, each carrying ten people, were sailing down the river in the middle of the river. They were bumping and swaying along the surface of the river with the roaring clear rapids. The scenery and mountains on both sides of the river were left far away like the shadows of time.
behind.
Compared with the cumbersome feeling of a wooden raft immersed in the water, a wooden boat completely floating on the water appears much lighter. Under the impact of the rapid water in the middle of the river, the speed is frighteningly fast.
Even a group of hunters who had been rowing boats back and forth in the river for hunting and fishing every day, including Mowai, were so frightened by the speed that they turned pale.
If riding on a raft was like running in the past, now riding on a boat is like galloping on horseback, at least twice as fast as on a raft.
In particular, in order to rush for time, Xu Chen directly ordered the boat to sail in the middle of the river, where the flow was the fastest. The boat was bumping and shaking violently along the way, which only frightened a group of hunters who didn't know what they were afraid of and howled like ghosts.
The little witch had never been on a boat, not even on a raft, so it was her first time to ride on such a fast boat. She was frightened and bumpy, and before she had gone very far, she felt dizzy and fainted in Xu Chen's arms.
But in order to rush for time, Xu Chen ordered not to take any rest along the way, so the three wooden boats flew down the fast river and arrived at the mouth of Jicang River around sunset.
At this time, the setting sun was setting in the west, and the sunset was all over the sky. The golden sunshine slanted on the wide river surface at the intersection of Wulong River and Jicang River. Thousands of birds were flying together, and the mountains were mottled with red and yellow. The scenery was picturesque, but Xu Chen had no idea.
Half in the mood of admiring the scenery, he ordered the horn horn to be blown, hoisted the animal skin sail and paddled upstream with all his strength, heading straight for the Gonghuo Tribe.
Sunset, dusk.
The five ethnic groups gathered near the Gonghuo tribe's river beach, which was usually bustling with activity, but today it was full of gloom.
A high pile of firewood has been erected on the river beach, and the deceased old witch, wearing a neat blue witch dress, is lying peacefully on it.
The little witch of the Five Ghost Tribe held up her staff and was singing ancient songs around the firewood pile. Men and women squatted on the ground all around, and the sound of crying and sobbing could be heard for miles.
The gray-haired old head of the Wu tribe and a group of leaders followed the little witch. The two little witches stood next to the firewood pile, holding the witch's scepter and the old witch's witch ring in their hands respectively, with sad expressions on their faces.
The sky is getting darker and darker, and the late autumn river breeze is blowing with a chill.
Although there was a great witch presiding over the funeral, almost everyone would look northwest intentionally or unintentionally.
They didn't know if the person who reported the news had arrived at the Ba tribe, and whether His Majesty the Witch King and the Great Witch could come?
According to ancient traditions, people must be buried quickly after death, whether burned or buried. In short, they cannot be left in the cave, otherwise they may attract evil spirits and even bring disasters. Moreover, the successor of the great witch successor must be determined as soon as possible.
Otherwise the gods may abandon it.
Compared with the funeral, the Gonghuo tribe is more worried about the successor.
"Woo~woo~~"
Downstream of the Jicang River, in the dim and desolate evening breeze, there were suddenly several long and long horn horn sounds.
The whole scene suddenly fell silent. Not only did the singing of the little witch of the Five Ghost Clan stop, but all the men, women, and children squatting all over the place also stood up.
"Your Majesty the Witch King is coming!"
Suddenly in the silence, someone shouted in surprise.
The leader of the Gonghuo Tribe and a group of leaders breathed a sigh of relief, their faces filled with sadness turned into immense surprise. The little witch raised her staff and turned around, heading straight to the river pier, followed by thousands of people.