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

Chapter 114 Order on the Stone Slab
The unseen morning sun illuminated the drizzling rain falling within Salt Spring Mountain.

The group of outsiders who had just arrived in the Xia tribe were still drowsy from hunger and cold.

Meanwhile, the men and women of the Xia tribe had already begun their work under Xia Minghao's command.

Under Sheila's leadership, all the earthenware pots were filled with rainwater and had been boiled.

Usa returned with his men, their baskets filled with a large quantity of willow bark.

Then, the women of the Wu clan threw willow bark into the earthenware pot.

"Wait, tear the willow bark into smaller pieces."

Xia Minghao stared at the earthenware pot for a while, then spoke up to remind him.

Upon hearing the chief's order, the women of the U clan hurriedly began to gather empty baskets.

Then tear the willow bark from the basket into pieces and put them into an empty basket. Once a new empty basket appears, put the new pieces of willow bark into it.

The peeled willow bark and the unpeeled willow bark were placed separately, clearly distinguishing them.

Xia Minghao watched from the side and nodded silently.

Having made progress over this period, it is clear that the primitive people of the Xia tribe have become much smarter.

Xia Minghao even felt that perhaps they shouldn't be called primitive people anymore, because they had already opened their arms and were ready to embrace the coming civilized era.

The term "primitive man" should no longer be used to refer to them; these three hundred outsiders are the real primitive men.

Now, the people of the Xia tribe should be called tribal people.

"Chief, can we put these bark pieces in now?"

"Put it in, but don't put too much in each pot. Just put it in one basket."

After receiving the order, Usa placed a basket of shredded willow bark evenly into each earthenware pot.

As he watched the willow bark bubbling in the boiling water, Xia Minghao recalled the words he had heard from the village's long-retired "barefoot doctor" when he was a child.

Boiling water with willow bark can not only prevent colds and fevers, but also treat them.

Xia Minghao heard a lot of these things when he was a child, and he never expected them to come in handy now.

It is said that the old man's knowledge in this area came entirely from a book called "The Barefoot Doctor's Manual".

At the time, Xia Minghao was very curious about some miraculous healing methods, but he was powerless to find the answers.

Later, after I started working, I began to slack off, and unintentionally, I recalled my childhood memories, and then I "picked up the flowers of my youth".

Only then did we understand the rationale behind the barefoot doctors' claims.

For example, boiling willow bark can treat colds and fevers because willow bark contains salicylic acid, which is the source of the famous "aspirin".

As for anti-inflammatory drugs, Xia Minghao also had quite a few in his medicine cabinet, including antibiotics.

But how could I bear to use it?
These were all great treasures in that primitive era, and they had to be used at crucial moments. Using them now would be a shameful waste.

"Hopefully it will work."

While they were boiling the willow bark, Daka came over.

"Chief, the one you mentioned has been engraved."

"So fast?"

Xia Minghao looked at Daka with some surprise.

He immediately walked to the stone slab and, sure enough, saw that lines of text had been carved on it according to the charcoal traces he had left behind.

Indeed, the Da tribe is far more adept at dealing with stones.

Even though none of these stone slab carvers were professionals from the Da tribe, their efficiency and ability far surpassed those of the Xia tribe.

He made up his mind that when he went to the Da tribe next time, he would definitely bring back all those stonemason talents and train them to lay a technical foundation for building large stone buildings in the future.

"Move this over there, in front of that group of people."

Xia Minghao then spoke to Daka.

The members of the Da clan, who had just joined the Xia tribe, immediately worked together to move the stone slab and carry it in front of the outsiders.

The outsiders, who had been fast asleep, were all startled.

I don't know what they're going to do with such a big stone slab, and I'm also afraid that it might fall on them.

When the stone slab fell, took root in the soil, and stood before everyone.

It was only then that the outsiders noticed the patterns painted on it.

Xia Minghao immediately sent Lipa to explain what was written on the stone slab.

"This is the order of the Xia tribe, the order for you. If you join the Xia tribe, then this is no longer the order for you."

Lipa walked up to the stone slab and addressed the crowd.

Then, he began to recite what Xia Minghao had written on the stone slab.

“You must listen to the person with bear teeth, or you will be whipped 10 times with a thick rope and then have your wounds washed with salt.”

……

……

……

"If someone disagrees, you can't take their things, or you'll be whipped five times with nettle rope and then have your wounds washed with salt."

There were ten items in total, not too many, but not too few either. They were all thought up by Xia Minghao and covered almost all the problems that had already occurred and those that had not yet occurred.

But this only applies to the current situation of the influx of outsiders.

In fact, there are many more issues to come, such as the protection of personal private property.

However, there's no need to rush to draft more regulations, as this is currently a wartime policy.

Once the normal rhythm is restored, these clear orders will be necessary.

As he spoke, Liba's security team waved their clubs around, making the people on the other side tremble with fear, lest the clubs fall on them.

Meanwhile, security personnel were also carrying thick ropes and nettle ropes. The thick ropes snapped loudly as they were waved, and even just holding the nettle ropes was a shocking sight for the group of outsiders.

This made them listen even more attentively to Lipa's explanation of the Xia tribe's rules.

Xia Minghao arranged all of this, including how to make the straw rope make a snapping sound when he waved it.

After all, these three hundred people in the Xia tribe must be properly controlled; otherwise, a major disaster is bound to occur.

Therefore, in addition to Liba's security team, Xia Minghao also arranged another position for him, namely the armed team.

Led entirely by Lipa, the group comprised the largest number of people, mostly from the Li clan, along with men from the Da clan who had just joined the Xia tribe yesterday and returned with him.

The men of the Da clan all took up bone tools that had been phased out, while the men of the Li clan all took up sharp bronze tools.

Security teams can only maintain order; if problems arise, the armed forces must be relied upon.

Of course, under normal circumstances, there is no need for Lipa to be mobilized, as the armed forces should focus most of their energy on dealing with the wolf tribe.

Security teams and armed forces can be considered the prototypes of police and the army.

As for his own Hippocratic Guard, they were currently working on the bronze under Hippo's leadership.

Another team, led by Hima, dealt with the old vine.

Why bother dealing with the old vines?
Of course, it's to create rattan armor!

With the advent of sharp bronze tools, reliable armor became of paramount importance.

However, using bronze for armor would be too wasteful, so rattan armor became the best choice.

Xia Minghao planned to equip the Xi clan's guards with bronze weapons and rattan armor as standard equipment, making them the strongest fighting force in the Xia tribe.

The difference between having armor and not having armor is not just huge, it's like night and day.

Therefore, Xia Minghao planned to not only equip his personal guards with rattan armor, but also require everyone to refrain from possessing any armor without permission.

After Lipa finished speaking, he happily looked at the two bear teeth hanging around his neck.

One of them was already there, and the other was given to him by Xia Minghao this morning.

Besides him, Shiphat, who became the captain of the "Guards," also received one.

Now, he and Xifa are the two most powerful people in the Xia tribe besides Xia Minghao.

After he finished speaking, Lipa led his armed team away, while the outsiders began to whisper among themselves.

The water from the willow bark had already boiled, and Usa poured it all into a vat before distributing it in batches to the group of outsiders using the limited number of earthenware bowls available.

As they drank the hot willow bark water, the discussion became increasingly heated.

Because these ten points were far too many for them, Lipa only repeated them a few times; how could they possibly remember them all?

Upon seeing the bear teeth on Lipa's neck and the gleaming bronze artifacts, no one dared to approach Lipa to ask him anything.

But this is a rule that concerns whether you will be beaten or not. If you don't know the answer, you will feel a strong sense of insecurity.

At this moment, several kind-hearted Xia tribespeople came over and explained it again.

After this period of popularization, most of the Xia tribe members are now able to recognize dozens of characters.

A small number can recognize hundreds of characters, while Una, who takes on the task of teaching characters, can recognize nearly two hundred.

Although these Xia tribespeople couldn't recognize all the characters, they could guess the general meaning, and since Lipa had read it aloud just now, they had some recollection of it.

Then he repeated the explanation to the outsiders.

After they said that, some people finally remembered one or two points.

However, when these rules began to spread among the people, they became unclear again, and some of the provisions even changed their meaning completely as they were passed around.

These primitive people from different tribes even started arguing.

But after arguing back and forth, nothing came of it, and in the end, they all waited for some other kind-hearted Xia tribespeople to come and explain things to them again.

Xia Minghao had already returned to his room and was beginning to think about further arrangements.

If one were to witness this scene, one would surely realize that the beginnings of social stratification have emerged.

The root cause of the diversion lies in the order on that stone slab.

Because the Xia tribe people were literate, they had the right to explain the legal provisions, while outsiders, who were illiterate, could only listen to others explain the legal provisions.

Under the suppression of bronze artifacts, everyone could only reason, but because they did not understand "reason," they completely lost their initiative.

This is the division under social rules, and social classes are born as a result.

But for now, it's not difficult to cross social classes; all you need to do is learn to read and write.

This served as the first screening of these outsiders, a selection of the intelligent and the foolish.

A small number of intelligent people will take the initiative to learn how to understand the legal provisions, and these people will inevitably be discovered by Xia Minghao and thus be given important positions.

Of course, this only refers to intelligent people in the general sense. There is another kind of intelligent person who is also observing in front of the stone slab at this moment.

A kind-hearted Xia tribesman came over and began to explain the laws to these anxious outsiders.

All the outsiders were trying their best to listen and take notes.

"Listen to those who have more bear teeth..."

"The first man from the Xia tribe had two bear teeth."

"Look at that woman, she also has a bear tooth..."

"Becoming a member of the Xia tribe means you can live in one of those caves..."

Everyone else was discussing the contents of the law, but this woman was the only one who overheard what the Xia tribesman casually said.

Becoming a member of the Xia tribe grants access to these "caves," while marrying a member of the Xia tribe grants access to a separate "cave."

The woman held the teenage girl in her arms, feeling as if she had grasped something in her mind.

He then immediately looked at Liba, who was patrolling according to Xia Minghao's orders.

He slowly stood up, took the small hand of the petite girl in his arms, and timidly walked towards Liba.

(End of this chapter)