back to prehistoric savage

Chapter 250

The development of civilization is essentially a process of constantly discovering and solving problems.

The color of the earth is gradually changing. The mountains and forests in the distance are still generally green, with only a few mottled yellow spots.

The cool autumn comes quietly, the ears of grain become plump and golden, and its proud head hangs down.

As the harvest neared, Xiao discovered another problem.

"I heard from people in the Gu tribe that the harvest of millet will be as large as mountains. It is impossible to count them and weigh them with a scale. How do we know how much millet we have harvested?"

Zhang Tian has naturally considered this issue for a long time.

"Use that."

The owl turned his head and looked in the direction of his fingers. What he saw was a pottery that he had never seen before. It was larger at the top and smaller at the bottom. The opening was square, and the four sides were narrowed in a trapezoid. It was a bit like a pottery pot, but the style was different.

"That's called a bucket. To be precise, it's a mold for making a bucket." Zhang Tian explained, "The opening side is one foot and four inches long, and the bottom side is one foot long. Use it to hold millet. When it's full, it's one foot." Dou. You can use the number of dou to measure the amount of millet."

As the most widely circulated measuring tool among ancient people, the dou is the earliest container used for barter in the history of human civilization.All-wooden buckets were more common in later generations, but the processing of wooden buckets requires higher technical requirements. Although pottery buckets are bulky, they are simpler and easier to perform standardized operations.

No rules no standards.Length, weight and volume, at least these three units of measurement must be unified to a unified standard. Perhaps their role cannot be fully reflected now, but they will be used sooner or later in the future. First, let the tribesmen be familiar with these concepts and understand what the standards are.

Zhang Tian asked Xiao to call Pu Hua, Huang, Truffle, Snake Hua and others.

Under the hunting and gathering production method, human beings only know how to grab ready-made natural products, rely on the gifts of nature, and are completely restricted by the natural environment. "When hungry, they seek food, and when full, they abandon the leftovers." It is difficult to form a long-term settlement and cannot Stable surpluses and accumulations may occur.

This is not the case with agricultural production. It uses human intervention in nature to proliferate natural products and transforms from passively adapting to nature to actively transforming nature, thereby achieving long-term settlement and obtaining stable surplus and accumulation.

This kind of surplus and accumulation enables the great social division of labor, the great lever that initiates the further development of society, to form and develop independent handicrafts, commerce and scientific and cultural undertakings, and enables mankind to finally escape from barbarism and reach the realm of civilization. .

Zhang Tianzai consciously guided the tribesmen to divide labor and cooperate, letting those who are good at fishing fish, those who are good at hunting, those who are good at weaving, and those who are good at construction...

Puhua, Huang, Truffle, Snakehua and others standing in front of him at this time are good at making pottery. They have been responsible for this since they came to their new home.

The pottery making process has evolved from the original patching method, to the clay strip making method, to today's slow wheel making method. It only took them one year to complete the process that other ancestors took thousands of years.

Now, Zhang Tian wants to teach them a new method of making pottery: molding.

The molding method is to use the fired pottery as a mold, apply mud on the outside to form a pottery blank, and take it out when it is semi-dry.

It's a very simple method that everyone can understand immediately.

Zhang Tian told the "potters" the dimensions of the bucket mold, and more molds could be fired according to the size, thereby producing standard-sized pottery buckets.

In addition to making pottery buckets, Zhang Tian also found opportunities to lead a group of "construction workers" to build granaries.The granary was built in a semi-crypt style, that is, a semi-underground building structure.

The output in the first year is not expected to exceed 700 kilograms. The capacity of corn is about 36 kilograms per cubic meter. In other words, digging a pit of [-] cubic meters is enough, and you can leave a little margin.

Everyone hurriedly hurriedly built four granaries for storing grain before the harvest. Three of them had a capacity of about [-] kilograms. Two were used to store corn for food, and the other was used to store millet. , soybeans.The fourth granary is a specialized seed warehouse.

……

Plant a millet in spring and harvest ten thousand in autumn.

When it comes to the season of ripening millet, people always emphasize the joy of harvest, but often ignore that autumn harvest is also the busiest and most difficult time of the year.

Most of the tribe members harvested it for the first time. Seeing that the seeds they planted in the spring were now standing tall and swaying in golden waves in the wind, they felt an endless sense of accomplishment in their hearts!

The high emotions made them tireless. No matter men, women, old or young, they all carried bamboo baskets and went to the fields to collect the heavy ears of grain.

People are constantly going back and forth between the fields and the threshing floor, and basket after basket of full ears of grain is dumped on the threshing floor, spread evenly, and receives the baptism of sunlight.

Lin Yu's experimental field is a special "save seed field". The seeds of various crops must be harvested, planted and stored separately to strictly prevent the mixing of seeds and maintain the purity of the seeds to avoid seed degradation caused by mixed varieties.

This field is managed individually by Lin Yu and her assistants and apprentices Bai, Ye, Teng and others, and they obtain superior seeds through continuous selection.The necessary conditions for improved seeds are large ears, full grains and pure color. After the seeds are harvested, they must be dried and spread in the sun. These seeds should be sown in large areas in the fields next year to combine improved seeds with good methods.

From morning to night, without stopping, even though he is as strong as a tiger's head, he is already exhausted.

But people are still very motivated and even more excited!

The harder it is and the longer it takes, which means the more grains will be harvested!
By the time they finished harvesting, the threshing floor had turned into a golden sea. This was only a small part. More ears of grain were piled up in the fields, as high as hills.

Let it dry for three days and organize everyone to play.

People stood in two rows facing each other, holding the handles with both hands and vigorously swinging the farm tools called flails in their hands.

When I first started, I didn't know how to use it, and it seemed a little clumsy; but gradually I figured out the trick, twisting my waist, my steps moving left and right as my arms raised and lowered, and the flail seemed light and full of spirituality when I swung it.

In the end, everyone became as skilled as an old farmer who has been in the field for a long time. The steps of raising, lifting, throwing, and falling were all very measured, and the distance was as standard as measuring it with a ruler.With a crackling sound like a firecracker, the grains were knocked off the ears and flew everywhere.

Everyone in the Yougu tribe has realized the superiority of the flail. This thing is easier to use than a wooden stick and is much more powerful!

The empty ears of grain were thrown back into the field, and the grains were collected in one place and began to be raised. The grains were continuously lifted up, allowing the wind to blow away the sediment and residue mixed in the grains.

Then the cleaned millet is transported to the granary. When it is time to eat, it is taken out, shelled and peeled, and as much as is eaten.

The hard shell of millet is resistant to insects and moisture. Shelled millet can be stored for decades without deterioration, of course, provided there are no rodents.

It took a week in total to dry, beat, winnow, and store.

Of the two granaries storing corn, one was full and the other was half full. The output of millet and soybeans was relatively small, but it met Zhang and Lin's expectations.

Everyone gathered around the door of the granary, peering in and smiling from ear to ear.All the sweat and hard work in the past six months is worth it at this moment.

Many of them have come to see it many times and can't get enough of it. It seems that if they don't stare for a moment, the grain in the granary will disappear.

When Zhang Tian said that he wanted to select a few people to guard the granary, everyone volunteered and volunteered. This was beyond his expectation. He thought that few people would be willing to do such a boring job.

The tribesmen have completely different ideas. How happy it is to guard these millets!How could it be boring?Never get tired of watching it!
For the first time, they had such a huge amount of supplies. The Sky Priest said that even if they only ate millet and no other food, the millet here would be enough to meet their needs for the entire cold weather!
Everyone felt the miser's mentality. Looking at the golden grains, they couldn't even bear to eat them.

Zhang Tian announced loudly: "Next spring, we will cultivate more fields, plant more millet, and harvest more food!"

The crowd cheered.

After finally completing the harvest, it is natural to taste the taste of fresh millet.

One bucket is estimated to weigh twenty kilograms, and is distributed according to one bucket of rice for every 40 people.

Zhang Tian taught everyone to dig the ground as a mortar and use wood as a pestle to shell and peel the millet, and then clean it up with dustpans. Looking at the full-grained, crystal-clear golden millet, everyone's face was filled with the joy of the harvest. .

Boil a pot of sweet, soft and glutinous millet porridge, and the rich aroma of the grain will overflow and float over the entire camp.

This is not the first time for the tribe to eat millet porridge, but all the things they have eaten before are not as good as this time!Thinking that this is the millet they grew with their own hands, the fragrance has doubled even before tasting it!
When a bowl of hot porridge falls into the stomach, a warm current flows from the throat into the intestines and stomach, spreading throughout the limbs and bones, warming the stomach, body and heart.Everyone sighed with contentment. The intense work for a week seemed to be healed, and they no longer felt tired no matter how tired they were.

After the harvest, an empty field of straw is left.

The temperature in autumn and winter is low and the time is long, making it difficult for straw to rot. It is definitely not possible to let it fend for itself and affect normal agricultural production.

Whether it is returning to the fields or breaking or bundling, the efficiency is far less than burning it with fire.

Moreover, burning straw has many benefits. It can not only reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases, reduce the number of weeds, but also fertilize fields. The ashes after burning straw contain a large amount of potassium and phosphorus, which can be directly applied to the soil and absorbed by the soil. It’s the same principle as burning wasteland to fertilize fields.

With Lin Yu here, you don’t have to worry about being unable to control the fire.The tribesmen do not reject it. These straws will die sooner or later. Burning dead plants and setting fire to the mountains are two different concepts.

Thick black smoke surged upwards and slowly dissipated until it was dozens of meters in the air.

The land returned to desolation.

Although Zhang Tian claimed to reclaim more fields next spring, he actually cannot wait until then. Next year’s goal is to reclaim all the land that was burned down by Lin Yu, which is about twice the amount this year. The task is very heavy. It really doesn’t wait until then. If we start cultivating again in the spring, we may not be able to catch up with the spring planting.

Therefore, after burning the straw and resting for only two days, Lin Yu led his tribe to cultivate Qiutian.

It's still the same method, digging furrows to make ridges, except that the previous furrows are built into ridges, and the ridges from the previous furrow are turned into furrows, and seedlings are planted in the furrows. This is equivalent to a rotational rest and can ensure soil fertility.

It is necessary to complete the task of reclamation before the temperature drops significantly. Farming work squeezes everyone's time for fishing, hunting and gathering. This year's reserve food obtained through fishing, hunting and gathering will be less than last year. This is inevitable.

It's nothing. They have harvested tens of thousands of kilograms of grain, and the bamboo rat breeding is also going smoothly. Basic food and clothing is no longer a problem.

In spring and summer, they catch a large amount of aquatic products every day. Now is regarded as the fishing moratorium, which can temporarily alleviate the pressure on the lake and river ecology, which has both advantages and disadvantages.

Not all of the newly cultivated fields will be used to grow grains, but a large portion will be used to grow hemp and soybeans.

Since the invention of the waist machine, the textile efficiency has been greatly improved, and the tribe's demand for hemp products is increasing day by day.It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. After wearing linen clothes, who would want to wear leaves?

In addition to making clothes, hemp can also be used to make quilts, bags, and windproof curtains... Mint was inspired by the straw sandals woven with bark fibers, and through constant experimentation, he made soft and comfortable hemp shoes, which are deeply loved by the tribe!

Most animal skin products and rattan products can be replaced by hemp products, but hemp in the wild alone cannot meet everyone's needs. This year, almost all that can be harvested has been harvested, and it will be difficult to grow so much next year.

Only by growing your own can you ensure a stable output every year.

Zhang Tian took several construction workers to build a bamboo rat breeding factory.

A dozen bamboo rat couples gave birth to their third child. Congratulations to them for being the first to qualify for next year.Those who are not actively reproducing will probably not survive this winter.

The baby rats born in early spring this year have also reached sexual maturity and are breeding for the first time. They are expected to give birth in winter. By then, the number of bamboo rats may double, and this small breeding factory will not be enough.

Winter is not a good time to carry out major projects. After being busy for most of the year, the coldest month of winter is the time to take a good rest and take a winter vacation.

Zhang and Lin had the same idea, trying their best to finish everything before the end of this autumn.

The change in color has passed the critical point. The green color that had been resisting for more than half a month finally surrendered. The yellow-brown color spread quickly like a virus, conquering every mountain top almost overnight. Looking around, the eyes were full of desolation. scene.

Frost has returned to the earth, and dead leaves have fallen all over the mountains and forests.

The women were carrying out the final collection. They turned over the dense, moist piles of fallen leaves, and various smells billowed into the air: first the pungent rotten smell, then the strong and pleasant smell of fresh mushrooms, lingering around them. A richer earthy aroma indicates healthy soil.

They transformed into little girls picking mushrooms. At the same time, they also followed the wizard's instructions and picked back the stale and overripe fruits.

The men seized the last chance to go to the mountains and cut a batch of bamboo for winter use, mainly for bamboo rats to eat.

Quietly, the footsteps of winter are approaching.

(End of this chapter)