The Taq clan incident came a bit suddenly, but it was still a good opportunity.
As long as the Taq tribe is taken care of, we can extend our hands further to the west. Although these mountain tribes are more troublesome to control, after conquering them, they can still expand their territory and gain more people, and the kingdom's influence will be greater in the future.
Moreover, after the Taoge tribe is taken care of, all the tribes in the first circle of ethnic groups in the four directions of Gonghuo Basin, southeast, northwest and northwest are taken care of.
The next task is to work hard to build the kingdom, and then rely on these peripheral groups to continue expanding to the surrounding areas.
In the future, the exchanges between further ethnic groups and tribes will become more and more troublesome, expansion will become slower and slower, the situation will become more and more complex, and wars and exchanges will also show more and different changes.
There is a saying that it is beyond the reach of a whip.
Just like the enfeoffment during the Shang and Zhou dynasties and the centralization of power after the Qin and Han Dynasties.
These are different governance methods in two different periods.
From tribes to princes, and then to centralized power, this is a gradual process, and there is no possibility of big jump.
Population and transportation are the biggest problems.
At present, except for the ethnic groups in the core circle of friends around the Gonghuo Basin, the management of other peripheral tribes will be very loose. If we want to promote the Ba culture faster and wider, enfeoffment is the only way.
However, in this era where witches control tribes and beliefs, military enfeoffment is unlikely to succeed. In the end, to recover and govern more ethnic groups and larger territories, we can only rely on divine power.
Therefore, for a long time, the influence of divine power was much higher than that of royal power.
And he can only continue to act as a magic stick, continue to deceive and deceive people with the title of Witch King, and eventually become the great Witch King who created the world, created the world, and is the only one who dominates.
…
After sending away the witches of the Pi tribe, the courtyard where the Ba tribe lived became much quieter.
Without the fun of teasing his son every day, Xu Chen's life became a little boring.
Although he believed in Long's ability to lead troops and believed that a cavalry team of dozens of people could intimidate the Toge tribe, after all, the environment was complex and the distance was too far, so he had no control over the matter and could only wait for the news to come back.
The construction of the royal city is now in full swing, and he doesn't have much energy to think about it, so he can only focus on the construction of the royal city all day long, spending almost all day at the palace construction site.
It’s mid-December in the blink of an eye.
Lei, who went to the Cicha tribe, came back with a group of hunters, and also brought back more than 200 immigrants from the Cicha tribe. These people were all young and strong men and women. Xu Chen felt much better now.
Lei went there for a full month and a half this time, but most of that month was spent on the road.
Escorting the Cicha clan witch and a group of clan leaders back is just one of their tasks.
In fact, Lei's other mission is to find a safer and more convenient road to the Cicha tribe, preferably one that can bypass the huge lacquer forest.
And the news Lei brought back did not disappoint them either.
Sure enough, they found a road that bypassed the lacquered woods, but it was a little further, but the road condition was much better.
Xu Chen breathed a long sigh of relief when he heard the news.
Lei took out the route map drawn on a piece of linen and explained to Xu Chen in detail some of the landmarks along the way, such as canyons, rivers, lakes, etc.
Drawing and looking at pictures is a military order that Xu Chen constantly promotes among officers and the core hunter class.
Every time he went out, Xu Chen would constantly instruct the accompanying officers and hunters on how to identify the direction based on the sun and the growth of plants, and would also remind him to collect information on road conditions and animal and plant information along the way.
Under his influence and promotion, most senior officers such as Feng, Mo, Lei, and Long, as well as some smarter hunter groups, can easily identify directions, and can also simply draw and identify maps.
There are two roads marked on this map.
One is the road that Xu Chen led from the Five Ghost Clan to the Cicha Clan. It is almost a straight line, all the way to the east. Some valleys and mountains along the way are slightly twists and turns. Generally speaking, it is relatively straight, but the only part of it is called Curse.
It only took three days to walk through the lacquer trees in this area. It can be seen that the lacquer trees grow in this area and the number of them is huge.
Precisely because the area was so large, a group of people were ill-prepared and had to collect firewood, barbecue, drink water, and even get some branches and leaves on the spot to sleep on. As a result, they were poisoned by lacquer, which almost led to a collective collapse.
The other road was the one Lei and others found when they came back this time. It was more northerly, bypassing the lacquered forest, and returning along the canyon from a large river. The whole road showed a larger arc, and the distance was indeed much farther.
But after experiencing the nightmare-like experience in Qishin Shulin last time, Xu Chen believed that the extra two days of detour was worth it.
After all, the lacquer forest is too big. Even if you take protection and preparations, you can't guarantee that you won't be poisoned. At most, the symptoms will be mild.
But thinking about the itching pain that made people want to scratch their flesh, Xu Chen felt uneasy and vowed that he would never go there again in his life.
The Cicha people live near the Great Lake. Their living environment is very different from that in the Gonghuo Basin, and their lifestyles are also completely different.
Before sending the Cicha tribe back last time, Xu Chen specially taught the Ba tribe how to build houses and farm for three days in order to help the Cicha tribe develop farming production as soon as possible.
Although the time is short, with these tips, Xu Chen believes that their living conditions will change dramatically soon.
Dozens of bamboo roots brought back from the Cicha tribe three years ago were planted in the Gonghuo tribe and the Ba and Wu tribes. Now they have grown into small bamboo forests. However, due to the influence of the soil and the environment, these bamboos have grown too small.
They are not as tall and strong as those around the Great Lake. The thickest ones are only as thick as a calf, and the thin ones are only as thick as an arm, but some of these bamboos are already usable.
So Xu Chen cut down some bamboo and taught them how to make bamboo tubes and bowls to hold water for eating. At the same time, he chopped the bamboo into strips and taught them how to make some simple and rough bamboo utensils for fishing and holding things.
Compared with ivy, bamboo woven utensils are stronger and more durable, but require sharper metal tools and more delicate craftsmanship.
Xu Chen provided them with some metal tools, but the craftsmanship could only allow them to slowly explore and improve after returning.
Because bamboo is strong and durable, it is also an excellent material for building houses. Building houses is more convenient and simpler than trees.
Therefore, Xu Chen also used wood as a demonstration to teach them how to build a bamboo house.
And when they saw that Xu Chen had made so many exquisite and useful utensils from the bamboos that grew all around the lake through simple processing, the great shaman of the Cicha tribe and a group of chief hunters were all so excited that they cried like ghosts and wolves, and fell down on the ground to give thanks again and again.
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Even the Ba people themselves felt extremely surprised and excited.
When Xu Chen brought back many bamboo roots that he had never seen before and planted them, no one could understand seeing the serious look on his face. But when they grew out, they discovered that they were a strange plant that was tall, straight and thin.
, and I have never known how to use this plant that looks like a weed but is stronger than a weed.
It was not until now that everyone truly understood that bamboo is indeed more useful than trees and can do almost anything.
In fact, what Xu Chen demonstrated was only the most basic and superficial use of bamboo. If bamboo is used to the extreme, it can do almost anything in life except replacing pottery and metal for boiling water and cooking.
Human beings' strong adaptability to the living environment determines that human beings can break away from the category of beasts and evolve into a more advanced form of civilization.
The bamboo resources around the lake are extremely rich. As long as they are utilized well, the Cicha tribe will definitely develop quickly.
And it was just as Xu Chen expected.
After the Cicha people returned this time, they used the copper axes and knives presented by the Ba people to start cutting bamboo on a large scale to build bamboo houses and make various utensils. They also made many simple bamboo bowls and tubes and went to the lacquer forest to learn how to harvest raw lacquer.
However, because the time was too short, Lei didn't bring back much this time.
There were three bamboo tubes in total, and the raw lacquer inside was only half a bowl when poured out, adding up to less than a pound.
Looking at the three bamboo tubes dyed black with raw lacquer and the half bowl of raw lacquer that was as white as pulp, Xu Chen couldn't help but sigh.
Although this thing is poisonous, it is worth a lot of money.
It is said that this is the harvest of dozens of Cicha tribesmen who have been busy for several days, which shows that the production of raw lacquer has reached an outrageous low level.
But fortunately, the lacquer forest covers an area of hundreds of miles, and the amount harvested all year round must be quite large.
In terms of labor costs, the price of raw lacquer is definitely much more expensive than copper ore.
This bowl of paint is worth at least tens of pennies and hundreds of kilograms of grain.
But right now, food is still the most valuable thing, and other possessions are not comparable.
But with the development of farming, and after each tribe has sufficient food reserves in a few years, the value of other items will gradually be reflected.
Lacquerware is an extremely important ritual vessel that emerged during the transformation from primitive clan society to feudal society. It is one of the three great inventions of ancient Chinese civilization along with bronze and painted pottery.
It is precisely because of the rarity and rarity of lacquer that lacquerware is so valuable and has become a kind of wealth that can only be enjoyed by nobles.
The oldest lacquerware was painted directly with raw lacquer, and the color was relatively single, basically black. It was not until the Warring States Period that people began to mix tung oil and some mineral pigments to make colorful quick-drying colored paints, the most amazing of which
The most interesting ones are the warrior figurines buried with the First Emperor's mausoleum. When they were first unearthed, they were all colorful and lifelike. However, after they were unearthed and exposed to the air, they quickly oxidized and discolored, eventually losing their original appearance and turning into a gray-faced appearance.
For this bowl of precious raw lacquer, Xu Chen found a gourd and packed it carefully. Later, he added tung oil and mineral pigments to make a colored lacquer for some experiments.
After Lei reported the situation of his trip, Xu Chen rewarded him with a jar of fruit wine and a jar of salted duck eggs, and each hunter who accompanied him was also given ten copper coins. After sending each of them back to their tribe, he would accompany him.
A group of Cicha tribesmen gathered together and arranged a place for them to settle down.
Nowadays, the good areas near the four gates of the royal city have been allocated to the five major tribes including Gonghuo, Yu Gong, Ba tribe, Pi tribe and Wugui tribe, and the vacant areas have also been planned as farmland for each tribe. Therefore,
Xu Chen could only arrange it in a place adjacent to the Pi tribe, three miles upstream from the west gate.
It is close to the Jicang River. Although it is a little far from the royal city, the terrain is flat and the transportation is convenient. There is also a small stream within the planning area, so the living and farming environment is quite good.
It is already late winter, the temperature is relatively cold, and there was even a light snowfall a few days ago, but spring is coming, and it is definitely too late to build large-scale houses now, so Xu Chen can only mobilize a batch of wood for the construction of the palace, and at the same time
A large amount of thatch and wheat straw were collected, and a group of craftsmen were mobilized from the team building the royal city to help build some wooden houses for temporary living as quickly as possible.
A group of Cicha tribesmen were also happily digging pits, carrying wood, moving rocks and soil. Hundreds of people worked in full swing for several days, and the frames of several wooden houses were completed.
Then the thatch and wheat straw were tied directly to the frame layer by layer, and soon several huge thatched house courtyards, no more than a hundred meters apart, were built, which took only ten days. This chapter has been completed!