As the sun sets, a strong aroma of food spreads around the camp.
A group of barbarian men, women, and children were all numb and stood far away by the lake, drooling and not daring to say any unnecessary words or actions.
The more contact they have with each other, the deeper their awe for foreigners like Xu Chen becomes.
Because the gap between survival and life is so big, they are frightened to the point of being at a loss as to what to do.
During the day, you can only work according to the orders of these people, and then you have to get permission from these people to eat, drink, and sleep.
None of the barbarians had anything to eat last night.
Still hungry in the morning.
It wasn't until Xu Chen asked Lei to relax his supervision of women, children, and children before leaving the camp and allowed them to search for food that the barbarians had the opportunity to search for food.
But how can these foods be compared with the foods made by Xu Chen and others?
Before Xu Chen and others came, they, like the barbarian compatriots near the Mongolian people before them, ate raw and cold food all year round because they did not know how to preserve fire.
But the warmth and security brought by fire, as well as the smell of roasted food, are feelings they can never forget.
There are very few opportunities for fire to appear in the forest. Thunder fires only occur once every few years or even more than ten years, but there are not many ways to preserve fire.
The use and preservation of fire is actually a sign of the evolution of human civilization with obvious stages.
Only when humans truly understand how to use fire can they truly break away from the category of beasts.
Humans are not the only animals that can use and make simple tools.
Ancient apes, chimpanzees, crows and many other highly intelligent animals can do this.
Chimpanzees, in particular, can even make sharp stone flakes and sharp long sticks with purpose. This ability is already equivalent to humans' early Paleolithic skills.
Among all animals during evolution, only humans have truly learned to use fire for heating, lighting and grilling food.
But learning to preserve fire is the experience accumulated in the long process of using fire.
The barbarians knew how to use fire, but they did not know how to save fire. This was related to the forest environment in which they lived.
From living in tree caves to rock caves, this is also a very important node in human evolution.
Only a safe place that is isolated from wind and rain can truly preserve the fire.
The barbarians in front of them still don't even live in caves, but Xu Chen and others have evolved to the stage of making artificial fire.
Although this step was a bit big, it did not affect Dandan. It just quickly opened up the civilization level of other strange primitive groups.
Therefore, a group of barbarian men, women, and children no longer hold grudges against Xu Chen and others, because the level gap is too large, and they cannot hate them at all.
And watching Xu Chen and others skillfully light a fire and make fragrant food, the gap and frustration became even more severe.
But at this time, Xu Chen didn't have much appetite for the fragrant food.
Long Yi never came back, and no news came from him, which always made him feel restless.
Although I knew that something was unlikely to happen, I was still worried after all.
Xu Chen sat next to the campfire, drank a bowl of spicy and sour fish soup, and ate half a piece of barbecue. Somewhat boringly, he ordered the hunter to call a few older men and women from the barbarian tribe.
"Your Majesty the Witch King, I'm afraid these people don't know anything!" Lei knew what Xu Chen was worried about, so he reminded him while eating and drinking.
Xu Chen nodded and said, "I know, but maybe I can get some other clues if I ask!"
Soon, three men, two women, and five adult barbarians in their thirties were brought over. They squatted on the ground in fear and did not dare to make any move.
"Ask them, apart from these two tribes, are there any other tribes nearby?" Xu Chen asked the Mongolian and barbarian interpreters next to him.
"good!"
The Mongolian hunter quickly chatted with several barbarian translators for a while, and then the barbarian translator began to communicate with five barbarian men and women.
These barbarians do not have a complete language system, and the content they can communicate is very little. They are limited to simple information about daily life, and their pronunciation is also very weird. The sound is sharp, and even the Mongols cannot understand it.
In other words, it is limited to some familiar words, such as eat, sleep, food, beast, direction, distance, etc.
These barbarians simply cannot express the content that is too complex.
The barbarians near the Mongolian people have followed the Mongolian people for several years. They have evolved very quickly in terms of language, food, clothing and housing. They are also very different from the local barbarians in terms of image, temperament and movement language. But fortunately,
The most basic language system is still there, so through communication, you can get a lot of content.
According to Xu Chen's understanding of Long's character, if this guy won't come back for a day, and the possibility of encountering danger is very small, then the most likely possibility is that he has discovered a bigger target.
He didn't think about it in this regard during yesterday's exchange. Even the fact that there were two barbarians here was only known by the barbarians themselves.
At the moment, it seems that there may be another barbarian tribe nearby.
Sure enough, Xu Chen's judgment was correct.
After some inquiries, the Mongolian hunter was surprised and excited. Several barbarians said that there was indeed another tribe nearby, but they were not friendly with them. They lived near a lake a day's walk away.
There were even wars due to territorial conflicts, but the tribe next door seemed to have a good relationship with this tribe.
Xu Chen's face twitched hard several times.
As he expected, Long must have killed him after hearing about this tribe. He probably didn't come back to report the news because he felt it was unnecessary. After all, it takes a lot of manpower and time to go back and forth in this primitive forest.
To report a letter from Zhonglai, at least ten people need to act together to ensure safety. If there are fewer people, it is dangerous, but if there are more people, the strength will be dispersed.
This was the mentality when the Pi Tribe conquered the Ta Ke Tribe dragon. They did not report the military information back in time, but waited until it was completed before sending the news back.
Although the results were good, Xu Chen always felt like he couldn't control the situation.
As a king, this feeling is really bad.
But now he has no good solution, after all, he won the battle.
In addition, they are all a group of barbarians who have just escaped from eating fur, drinking blood, wearing furs and living in caves. Food, clothing and shelter can evolve quickly, but ideological evolution is not easy. As a powerful leader, Long has his own opinions and judgment.
, will consider their own interests.
This kind of autonomy is also a very important ability for generals who have troops outside.
The so-called general will not accept the king's orders.
The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly. The more assertive commanders and generals are, the greater their chances of success are.
It's just that such generals are often the most feared and suspicious, and their end is usually not good.
Because they are disobedient, or do not take the people in power too seriously.
Xu Chen believed that Long respected him the most, but when he encountered such a good opportunity to strive for military glory and interests, Xu Chen was not surprised at all that Long was so happy that he ran to do it again.
If Long doesn't do it, Xu Chen will look at him with admiration.
It's a pity that this guy has such a temperament that it is difficult to change.
After getting the news, Xu Chen's worries relaxed.
Although there may be some casualties and troubles on this trip, in the end we know the whereabouts of the dragon and a group of forbidden troops, instead of completely missing them.
So Xu Chen felt much better. After finishing a piece of barbecue, he pulled out a beggar bird and gnawed on it.
Several barbarians squatted nearby and kept swallowing saliva nervously.
Xu Chen turned his head and glanced at the barbarians, old and young, gathered in the open space by the lake, waved his hand and told Lei:
"Distribute some food to the barbarians and arrange for more people to hunt and fish tomorrow. There is no shortage of salt here. You can make more and pickle it and eat it slowly. In addition to building camps and salt factories this time, we will also arrange for people to stay for a long time.
Here, the food problem must be solved. In addition, starting from tomorrow, these barbarians will also participate in labor. Let several barbarians from the Mongolian side be responsible for leading the team. The injured should also pay attention to care!"
"good!"
Lei nodded and stood up, instructing the Mongolian hunters to send the five older men and women back, and then arranged for the hunter responsible for lighting the fire to cook with a knife to chop off several large pieces of the roasted animal meat and send them over. A group of barbarian men, women, and children suddenly came together.
There was a lot of shouting and commotion and even looting.
After Lei made arrangements, he came back and sat down again. He said like an emotionless robot: "Your Majesty the Witch King, four of the barbarians were seriously injured and died today. They were all thrown into the forest by people. I'm afraid the other three are about to die!"
"
Xu Chen gnawed on the flowers and birds, and shook his head without much emotion and said: "There's nothing we can do about it. They won't be so tame unless a few of them die. I'm just a little worried about whether there will be any accidents on the dragon side!"
Lei smiled and comforted him and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty the Witch King. Although Long is young and energetic and a little reckless, he is still very careful in hunting and fighting. There are not many barbarians, so nothing will happen to him!"
"hope so!"
Xu Chen nodded, and then he and Lei and several other officers who were sitting around the campfire were eating and talking about arrangements for camp construction and salt mine development.
This place is far away from the Gonghuo Basin, and future development and transportation can basically only be left to the Yu Gong clan.
Moreover, the scale of this salt mine is very large. Not only is it simple to develop, but it is fully developed successfully and can meet the salt demand of the entire country of Pakistan, so the benefits are definitely huge.
This thing is the same as food. It is necessary every day. Once you get used to eating it, you will feel uncomfortable if you miss a meal.
But it is impossible for such a huge benefit to be left to the Yu Gong family to monopolize.
After all, after conquering the barbarians here and finding the salt mines, the tribes near the royal city also dispatched more than a hundred elite hunters. Almost all the relocated tribes participated, and fifty forbidden troops were also mobilized.
Whether the Forbidden Army contributed to the war is not said, but it represents Xu Chen's attitude that the salt mine belongs to the royal city.
Because this salt mine is not within the sphere of influence of the Yugong clan and was snatched from the hands of foreigners, it should belong to the common wealth of all Ba tribes.
However, the Yugong clan occupies a geographical advantage and will occupy the main development rights in the future, but the ownership belongs to the royal city, and most of the benefits must be returned to the royal city and redistributed, so as to balance the tribal wealth.
The most important thing is that salt, as an extremely important livelihood resource, must be sold at a fair price, and the price must be controlled by the royal city. In the end, it will be the same as the Mongolian salt, which will be purchased and sold at a unified price by the royal city.
The salt and iron monopoly was a very important means of making money for the newly established Pakistani court, and it was also an extremely important welfare policy.
Otherwise, the price of salt and iron will be too confusing. For those remote, poor and underdeveloped tribes, they will increasingly be unable to afford it, and their production and life will be greatly hindered.