We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 108 Twilight Murder (5k)

Despite the considerable distance, the smoke column was still remarkably clear, identical to those seen nearby from cooking fires.

What kind of tribe must be cooking this?
Xia Minghao immediately picked up his binoculars and looked toward the distant column of smoke.

As the magnification was slowly increased, I gradually began to vaguely see what the column of smoke actually was.
It's actually a volcano!
Xia Minghao was overwhelmed with emotion and felt extremely fortunate for having spent so much effort climbing to the top of Yanquan Mountain.

Otherwise, we might have missed out on this treasure trove!

With volcanoes, there's no shortage of stone resources, such as obsidian, which is a very good stone. In addition, there are all kinds of minerals, and you might even find large amounts of copper and iron.

Volcanic ash is also a valuable fertilizer, especially when mass production is not feasible. It can support the rapid development of agriculture before it has even begun.

But these weren't the things that made Xia Minghao so grateful.

What truly caught Xia Minghao's eye was the large amount of sulfur near the volcano!

硫！
This stuff is a key ingredient in gunpowder.

Monosulfide, dinitrate, and charcoal!

Charcoal was something that could be easily produced, and Xia Minghao had never worried about the source of saltpeter; even without saltpeter mines, there was no need to fret.

When the time comes, toilets will be built, and each person will have their own urine. The more people there are, the more nitrate will be produced, which is achieved through "biological nitrification".

This was a common way to obtain saltpeter for gunpowder in ancient and modern times, and it was widely known. Almost everyone in the older generation in the countryside knew about it, and that's how Xia Minghao heard about it.

Sulfur is the hardest thing to find. Although it is abundant in nature, it is difficult to find because of its "geological enrichment" phenomenon.

But once you find them, there will be a huge pile.

Looking at the distant volcano, Xia Minghao felt as if he could hear the bubbling sound of the volcanic lava in the distance.

It's a pity, it's too far away. Even with the telescope adjusted to the highest magnification, I can only barely see it.

It's probably at least a hundred kilometers away, and there's no river connecting it. If you were on foot, it would normally take ten days to half a month to walk there.

This strange and unusual world is also quite bizarre, and it's unclear whether there are any unknown risks near the volcano.

Looking at the distant volcano, Xia Minghao felt a sense of melancholy, like a eunuch going to a brothel.

"Oh well, even if we get a lot of sulfur now, we don't have enough manpower to mass-produce gunpowder. There's no rush. Anyway, this volcano isn't going anywhere."

Suppressing his excitement, Xia Minghao looked again at the plumes of smoke rising near Yanquan Mountain.

That's clearly cooking smoke.

Xia Minghao memorized the locations of nearly a dozen tribes, then admired the sunset and the crimson sky before carefully descending Yanquan Mountain.

Once back on the ground, looking at the boardwalk that had been painstakingly built, Xia Minghao felt it was a pity.

Once the rainy season arrives, the month-long erosion by rain will inevitably loosen the structure, and it is estimated that half of it will collapse. Moreover, the map of the surrounding area has been obtained, so it is unnecessary to mobilize a large amount of manpower and resources to build a new boardwalk just to feast our eyes on it.

I wonder when I'll be able to climb up to this high place again and enjoy this beautiful view.

Without lingering too long, Xia Minghao immediately found some charcoal and sketched a map of the surrounding area on a pre-prepared stone slab, while also marking the terrain as much as possible.

At the same time, all locations with human presence were marked with a question mark, and the volcano was prominently marked with a large question mark based on the direction of the compass.

Looking again at the map drawn on the stone slab, these tribes were probably as primitive as the former Wu, Li, and Xi tribes, and it was impossible for them to be directly integrated into the Xia tribe.

Therefore, Xia Minghao still plans to first "hire" them to make them his own labor force.

Then, they gradually select the most capable individuals and attract them to join the Xia tribe.

This way, the population won't explode and lead to food shortages, while the Xia tribe's productivity can be increased efficiently—a win-win situation.

"Lipa!"

Xia Minghao once again summoned Lipa, who led a fully armed team to search for these tribes. He also lent Lipa a valuable tool that was considered a miracle in this primitive era: a compass.

Lipa was overjoyed and was more than willing to take on the task, even though there would inevitably be many difficulties along the way.

The Xia tribe didn't know how much they had gained, but Xia Minghao was very clear about it.

Sharing joy is worse than enjoying it alone, so the dinner that night was even more grand than the wedding the day before.

"It's a pity there's no wine."

In that steel jungle, it was only when we were tired, weary, and fed up with work that we would think of "drowning our sorrows in alcohol".

This was the first time Xia Minghao had ever wanted to drink to celebrate, but unfortunately, due to the difficult conditions, he didn't have the opportunity.

The raw materials for brewing wine are nothing more than sugars or starches.

Sugars are made from various fruits; for example, the so-called "monkey wine" is made from the fermentation of various fruits.

Starch, on the other hand, comes from ingredients like sweet potatoes and sorghum, and is used as a raw material for brewing.

Actually, the raw materials for brewing wine are not lacking. For example, the taro that the Da tribe has "too much to eat" can also be used to brew wine.

However, brewing wine inevitably leads to a lot of food waste, hence the saying that "wine is the essence of grain."

The urge to enjoy pleasure told Xia Minghao that he could use the taro from the Da tribe to make wine, since they couldn't possibly eat it all.

But reason prevailed, and Xia Minghao dismissed the idea, even though the Xia tribe now seemed like a paradise, or even an eternal paradise.

However, there is still the possibility of unexpected situations. If a large amount of waste is carried out, it is very likely that the tribe's "resilience" will decrease when unexpected crises occur in the future, and it may even bring a fatal crisis to the Xia tribe.

After taking another bite of taro soaked in meat broth, and looking at the crowd singing and dancing, Xia Minghao, as the chief of the Xia tribe, naturally felt a sense of accomplishment.

Lost in his own world, Xia Minghao failed to notice Xia Ya, who was eager to approach him from a short distance behind him.

Just as Xia Minghao stood up and was about to say something to Xia, Dali's "sixth sense" as a woman seemed to kick in, and she immediately turned around to look at Xia, who was walking towards her.

Her eyes darted around, and then she immediately pulled Xia Minghao, wanting to go back to the house.

We haven't finished eating the meat yet, why are we going back inside?

Xia Minghao was puzzled, but when he returned to the house, before he could even light the calamus, Dali, as if she had finished, began to do some wonderful things...

In the distance, volcanoes spew forth churning lava...

……

……

……

"Dali, you..."

Xia Minghao woke up to a warm sensation and saw Dali as soon as he opened his eyes.

"hiss……"

"call……"

Whether it was six or nine days later, Dali remained remarkably "diligent" for some reason, which made Xia Minghao, a modern man, feel a bit overwhelmed.

In particular, Dali even mastered the technique of "Snake Queen's Suction"...

Once she was sure there wasn't a single drop left, Dali finally relaxed and giggled.

Hearing Dali's silvery laughter, Xia Minghao pulled her into his arms, enjoying the moment of tenderness, while also pondering in his heart.

If I were truly a primitive person, I'm afraid the Xia tribe would have reached its limit by now.

Especially as the leader and chief of the Xia tribe, he already enjoyed quite a lot of material comforts.

It's no wonder that the development of civilization is so long. Often, a great leader, after achieving some great feat, will inevitably begin to yearn for stability and enjoyment, and will lose the motivation to continue.

This is due to limitations in cognition.

Xia Minghao, however, does not have this limitation, at least not before he leads this era into the electrical age.

He knew what a truly good life was like, and he didn't think that wearing clothes made of nettles and eating muddy blackfish, mutton with a hernia, and pork with a fishy smell meant he was living a good life.

There's also silk, cotton, sweet and sour pork ribs, and braised pork intestines...

Most importantly, it also contains goji berries!
So, where exactly should we put the goji berries?
He was afraid he wouldn't be able to stand it if he couldn't find his own body again. After his tender moment with Dali ended, Xia Minghao pushed open the door and looked at the sundial he had just made a few days ago.

It's around two or three in the afternoon...

The late-night entertainment options have been quite plentiful these past few days, so much so that Xia Minghao has been sleeping until late afternoon every night.

The tribe has changed in the past few days; it can even be said to have been completely transformed.

Firstly, there's an increase in the number of earthen houses. While the collective dormitories are still full, they've become much more spacious.

The reason is that in the past few days, many women in the Da tribe have been willing to establish stable marital relationships with men from the Li clan.

Several men from the Da tribe also came to the Da tribe, including Datun, who was particularly good at archery, and Daka, who was bullied by people from clans included in the wolf skin network in the Da tribe.

Datun didn't know any handicrafts, but because he knew archery, Xia Minghao taught him the correct way to draw the bowstring. Therefore, Xia Minghao paid him a salary and made him the "instructor" of the archery team.

Of course, Daka didn't know any handicrafts. He used to rely entirely on salt mining. Xia Minghao remembered that Daka had excellent balance and had been mining salt for many years, so he also had a lot of "stealth" experience. Therefore, he put Daka in charge of contacting various tribes.

Now all the small tribes have been discovered and have all joined the ranks of those collecting malachite, tin, and stalactites.

Every day, large quantities of minerals are transported to the Xia tribe. Even with overtime work to smelt and cast bronze, eight small mountains have still been piled up.

Four are made of malachite, three of them of stalactite, and one of them of tin.

The emergence of small families has a greater impact on the development of private ownership than Xia Minghao had ever imagined.

Although only a small percentage of people own their own families, almost everyone realizes that they will have their own children in the future, children who can recognize their parents.

Then there will be something for the children to inherit, which gives them a greater motivation to acquire their own property.

This change also spurred the emergence of a phenomenon that Xia Minghao most wanted to see: specialized production.

Everyone can make things. For example, some women in the Wa tribe make pottery blanks that are better than others, so everyone wants them to make pottery for their families.

Those who didn't do well had to take on other jobs.

However, they will not be without work, because resources are now abundant, and the Xia tribe people have a high desire for a better life, so much so that various handicrafts among the tribes are in a state of "supply falling short of demand".

Because of this woman's success, she gained more "clients" and could exchange them for a large amount of "private property," which not only increased her work efficiency but also improved the quality of her work.

This has happened to many people as well, with many jobs automatically being taken over by more specialized individuals.

Xia Minghao naturally realized that the seeds of class distinctions had already been sown.

This is inevitable and need not be avoided, because it is the normal course of history and the direction of civilization's development.

If Xia Minghao took action to stop it out of fear of the emergence of a class system, then he would be standing on the opposite side of social change and becoming a typical anti-freeze element.

We should not be afraid and try to stop it, but rather analyze and guide it, so that the Xia tribe under our leadership can smoothly move towards civilization.

For the time being, there are no unusual phenomena, and Xia Minghao doesn't have much to do in order to maintain his initiative.

That means protecting the means of production collectively owned by the Xia tribe, while focusing on the three lifelines: pottery, salt, and bronze.

I patted the big orange tiger's head. I wonder if it's because it's eating and sleeping well in the Xia tribe, and because of Dali's caresses, that the big orange is growing so fast.

Now its size is similar to that of a slightly larger medium-sized dog, and it's even close to the size of Wangcai.

"Chief!"

Suddenly, he heard a call from behind. Xia Minghao turned around and saw a young man from the Li clan whom he had appointed.

Because of his excellent carpentry skills, he has been hired by Xia Minghao to make giant bows for him.

"Chief, that bow, the big one, is ready."

"All right?"

Although I had already anticipated what the young man was going to say, I still couldn't help but feel a little excited after actually hearing it.

Such a powerful weapon has finally been created! It can definitely be considered the sacred artifact of the Xia tribe!
Just as we were about to go and see, we suddenly heard a shout coming from the cave near the river.

"Chief of the Xia tribe, the wise man of our Da tribe is dying, and he has something to tell you."

what?
dying?
Xia Minghao's pupils dilated instantly. He remembered seeing that withered old man coughing all the time, and he seemed to be in poor health. Could it be that he had some incurable disease, that he was terminally ill, and that he was now on the verge of death?

……

……

……

boom!
He smashed a piece of malachite with a granite block, and a smile couldn't help but appear on Babo's face.

"There are many blue stones, and many of them are edible."

Babo came from the last tribe to be discovered by the Xia tribe because it was closest to the waterfall.

Although the general population still "only knows the mother and not the father," the beginnings of a patriarchal society have already emerged.

For example, Babo, the strongest of the three, had a daughter thanks to his excellent hunting skills.

Because he had a clear offspring, Babo did not complain about being tired like other men and stop coming after one day.

Thinking of his daughter's happy smile after eating the meat and salt he had traded for, Babo swung the granite stone even more vigorously.

"The sun is about to set."

Upon hearing footsteps, Babo, like the others, immediately heard the voice of the man from the Xia tribe named Daka.

In the dimly lit cave, illuminated only by the campfire, everyone's face showed a hint of dejection, just like Babo's.

This means they can only come back tomorrow to knock on these pretty stones; the food they can get today is all they have on hand.

Ye Zi and several Li clan men carrying bear bones waited on the boat. Once Da Ka and his men boarded the boat, they headed towards the Xia tribe.

When they reach a marked location, they will drop off a few of these primitive people.

This could be considered a "bus" from the primitive era.

Babo was naturally the first to be put down. He received a string of salted dried black fish and happily disembarked, heading towards the Ba tribe.

Halfway there, Babo suddenly remembered something and secretly hung a few more pieces of dried blackfish on the tree.

The things he brought back were meant to be shared by the tribe, but Babo felt he had contributed a lot and didn't want to share so much with the tribe.

"For my daughter."

Babo counted the number of dried blackfish again, and after thinking for a moment, he took one more and decided to give more to the tribe.

Once they felt at peace, they continued their journey towards the tribe.

As I walked into the wooded window, the sunset cast its glow, though today it had a touch of bloodiness.

Babo was puzzled when he didn't see any children playing near the tribe.

But as they got closer and smelled a strong stench of blood, a look of joy immediately appeared on their faces.

"The hunters must have shot down the big wild boar."

This made Babo regret hiding so many dried blackfish; the tribe had put in a lot of effort to hunt the big wild boar.

But the thought flashed through his mind, and he quickened his pace, heading towards the tribe.

Even as he got closer, Babo still couldn't hear the usual commotion that usually emanated from the tribe.

"Everyone must be hunting that big wild boar in the cave."

As he walked through the woods, Babo's legs gave way to their final jerk as he took his last step.

Upon seeing the scene before him, Babo froze, his eyes widening until they ached, his mouth agape, yet he couldn't utter a single gasp.

Until he realized what it was, Babo let out a half-groove, then collapsed to the ground, trembling all over!

(End of this chapter)