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

Chapter 165 Wärtsilä's Phlogiston Theory
Early in the morning, people, led by Datan, headed toward the stream at the edge of the highlands.

When they arrived at their destination, everyone was mostly awake and began to pick up the sand-sifting tools.

This was made just the day before yesterday. The four corners of the nettle cloth were tied together with vines or leather ropes to make an "open bag".

Although simple, it does increase the speed of collecting sand and gravel.

In the past few days, the surface sand in the stream has been completely collected, so we have to spend more effort collecting the lower layer of sand.

At first, it was quite novel, but after sitting for a long time, everyone became listless and lethargic.

I worked from sunrise to midday. Although stepping in the stream was incredibly refreshing and didn't take much to do, I still inevitably ended up with a sore back.

Every time a man from the Wa clan dug, he would look at the woods by the stream to see if the cart delivering meat and taro had come by.

In fact, everyone is like this around noon; they have long lost their will to work and are only thinking about eating as soon as possible.

Especially when my stomach starts rumbling, and I think of the fragrant meat broth in the earthenware pot, and the taro soaking in the broth, I don't even want to move, let alone work.

They didn't seem to be the lucky ones who stayed in the Insect Valley, like the caress of a powerful tribal woman's pectoral muscles.

Without a home, they wouldn't know why they should save the "wages" the chiefs rewarded them with, and therefore lacked motivation.

"Hurry up and dig the sand! Otherwise I'll tell the chief that you'll end up like Wasi!"

Hearing Datan's urging and remembering Washir's experience, everyone put in even more effort.

Seeing that the car hadn't arrived yet, the Wa clan man sighed, lowered his head again, and scooped up another handful.

Just as he was about to put the sand and gravel into the large nettle bag, he suddenly saw something glowing.

This thing was especially eye-catching under the midday sun!

The initial boredom vanished instantly, and curiosity about the unknown tends to be particularly strong when safety is assured.

Crouching down, the man rummaged through the sand and gravel until he found the glittering object.

Held up to the sun, the golden light was dazzling for a moment.

The strong reflection also attracted the attention of many other people.

Everyone gathered around, looking at the unprecedented pebble.

It's smaller than the fine sand used in cement, yet it's so bright!
"What is this?! Give it to me!"

While they were still in awe of the dazzling golden sand, a sinister voice suddenly rang out.

Before the man could react, the gold dust in his hand was snatched away.

"this is mine!"

"This is not..."

"Otherwise you'll end up like Wasi. I'll tell the chief you're not digging the sand properly!"

After Datan finished speaking, the man immediately fell silent, and no one dared to speak either.

Seeing this, Datan walked to the side, satisfied. He looked at the beautiful stone.

……

……

……

The cabin has been expanded to two rooms, one for making love and the other for office use.

Xia Minghao was sitting in his office, taking notes in his notebook.

I never imagined that the notebook I bought for three yuan would one day become the document for the future Xia tribe's "Civil Servant Law".

During this period, Xia Minghao only drafted the future departmental plan.

The State Council, the Economic and Production Department, the Military and Security Department, the Judicial and Supervisory Department, and the Education and Publicity Department.

These sectors will be further subdivided, for example, the economic and production sector will have differentiation into industry, agriculture, commerce, animal husbandry, fisheries, and so on.

However, Xia Minghao has not yet made a detailed division. He will wait and see the specific situation before conducting a further detailed analysis.

After establishing the general structure of the department, Xia Minghao focused all his energy on formulating laws and regulations.

He was once just an ordinary worker who had never been an official, but he knew very well what kind of officials ordinary people needed and what kind of officials they hated the most.

By filling in all possible loopholes, the rate at which these officials, acting as "key components" within the state apparatus, rust will be significantly reduced.

At least there won't be a situation where all parts rust. If one or two parts rust occasionally, they can be replaced in time.

Besides the cumbersome legal drafting, there was an even more important problem troubling Xia Minghao: a lack of talent.

Fortunately, the Xia tribe is still small, so I can take on many positions in different departments. But once it grows bigger, I will have to find suitable people to fill those positions.

While sitting in the room drafting the law, I suddenly felt a pair of hands gripping my shoulders.

A sense of relaxation washed over him, but Xia Minghao didn't linger. Instead, he patted Huo Li's hand on his shoulder.

"I see!"

"I see!"

Just as I was about to start writing again, I suddenly heard a sound coming from outside.

Xia Minghao recognized the voice; it belonged to the young man named Washi.

Washi started slacking off at work a few days ago, and Datan told Xia Minghao about it.

As a manager, I was actually quite happy to see people tattling on others at first.

Upon learning that Wasi was actually thinking about how carbon dioxide extinguished the torches, Xia Minghao immediately made a decision.

That is to nominally imprison Washir.

This is a special talent; they must be given special care.

The prison cell restricted freedom, which would have been torture for the free-spirited primitive man, but not for Washi.

The prison cell, ironically, provided Waisi with an environment for reflection, and Xia Minghao also gave Waisi a higher standard of prison food.

Under normal circumstances, prison food is based on the standards of the pastoral tribes.

But now, Washi is being given not only taro, but also crocodile meat.

Only Lipa, who delivered the food, himself, and Washi knew about this. In front of others, however, it was a different story, and it even served as a warning to others.

Almost everything was a good thing, but there was one thing that gave Xia Minghao a headache: Datan.

After successfully tattling, Datan began frequently reporting to Xia Minghao about various people slacking off.

They used it for all sorts of trivial matters.

Xia Minghao was getting annoyed, but he was worried about dampening Datan's enthusiasm and making him miss something important, so he had no choice but to listen.

Originally, Xia Minghao, as Dali's uncle, was prepared to appoint her to a high position, but now he has a much lower opinion of her. He plans to make sure that when setting up departments in the future, she will not be his direct subordinate, otherwise she will be a nuisance.

He walked out of the room and headed straight for the cell. Xia Minghao saw Waxi with a joyful face, a stark contrast to his former gloomy appearance.

"Wasi, what have you figured out?"

Xia Minghao looked at Waxi with amusement.

Although he understood it perfectly well, he was still very curious about what kind of understanding this primitive man could possibly have.

"Things that burn do so because they contain a fire element; anything with that element can burn!"

"Things that cannot burn do so because they contain other elements."

"When the white stone was burned, the other elements left, and the fire element burrowed into the white stone from the charcoal!"

“The other elements came out and touched the torch, extinguishing it!” Xia Minghao’s eyes lit up when he heard this argument.

This is somewhat similar to the "phlogiston theory" I've heard before, a theory used to explain combustion before the birth of science.

Although it wasn't entirely correct, the fact that Waissi could arrive at such an answer in such a short time was enough to surprise Xia Minghao.

This Waxi is definitely the most lacking special talent in the Xia tribe – a scientific research talent!
Such talent should not be left here. Instead, they should be nurtured and sent to Yanquan Mountain to study relevant mathematics and writing.

Once Yucheng is established, I will bring it back and pass it on to him personally.

"No, you're wrong, but... you're good, I'll tell you what's right later."

"I...I was wrong..."

Upon hearing Xia Minghao's words, Washi's smile froze instantly, and his eyelids began to twitch as he struggled to accept the fact.

Even more unexpectedly, Xia Minghao saw Waxy suddenly squat down and burst into tears.

This……

It's understandable, actually. It feels like Wasch's current thinking is a bit like he finally solved a difficult problem, only to find that the answer to that problem was wrong.

"You're a man, why are you crying? I can tell you why."

Xia Minghao didn't offer any comfort. Instead, after thinking for a moment, he pointed out that calcining limestone produces a gas called carbon dioxide.

This gas can stop a flame from burning.

Unexpectedly, this explanation was more effective than comforting words. The almost collapsing Wadsfield suddenly stopped crying and began to think again with a worried expression.

Seeing that Washi had calmed down, Xia Minghao closed the cell door.

Even with exceptional talent, without a solid foundation, it's still a pipe dream to make it useful.

We're just waiting to send it to Yanquanshan; it might even spark a wave of reflection on chemistry.

Back in the room, they started designing the Xia tribe's civil service law again.

After working at my desk for a long time, I looked up again and it was almost dark.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw Datan waiting at the entrance.

"Datan? What's wrong now?"

Upon seeing Datan, Xia Minghao couldn't help but frown, wondering if it was another one coming to tattle on him.

“Chief, I was working by the stream today and found this beautiful stone. Here, you can give it to Dali; it’s very pretty!”

"What do you mean by 'stone'..."

Xia Minghao didn't pay any attention at first, thinking it was some kind of soft pebble.

The pebbles in this stream are indeed very nice, and for some reason, they are surprisingly round.

But a pebble is just a pebble. People who haven't seen one before might think it's nice, but it's nothing special to Xia Minghao.

But when Xia Minghao saw what Datan handed him, his eyes widened.

Although it was pitifully small, it was quite conspicuous!

This is... gold?
Gold dust?

Xia Minghao took the gold dust and first tried it with a magnet, but it was useless.

The fake gold that exists in nature is most likely pyrite, which should theoretically be absorbed.

But not if it's real gold.

After a simple verification, Xia Minghao was overjoyed.

Is gold useful?
It was practically useless in primitive times...

It cannot be used to make tools or weapons, cannot be eaten, cannot provide energy, has high acquisition costs, and has extremely low cost-effectiveness.

Gold is a nearly useless yellow stone, not even as good as a regular pebble, since pebbles can be used to crack nuts and make weapons.

The value of gold was not realized until the end of primitive times, on the eve of the birth of civilization.

It primarily serves the ever-growing population and the new spiritual needs that arose among primitive people, which went beyond mere survival.

That is a symbol of identity and a carrier of faith, mainly because of its scarcity and its attractiveness.

As civilization developed, gold became increasingly valuable; one could even say that the history of civilization is the history of gold price increases.

However, Xia Minghao quickly discovered that gold had a better use.

currency!

Xia Minghao had long wanted to introduce currency, but currently the salt and pottery standards still existed, making transactions extremely cumbersome and restrictive.

However, with the availability of gold, a necessary condition for the emergence of currency became the gold standard.

Of course, it is only a necessary condition, not the whole picture.

To artificially create currency, rather than allowing it to gradually and naturally emerge as a key element throughout the history of civilization, various conditions must be met.

Such as the credit backing of the tribe that issues the currency, the scale of the economy, and the sufficient amount of gold reserves in hand.

The discovery of gold is merely the beginning of developing a currency, which will allow for a smoother transition when currency is needed.

"You did a great job, Datan!"

Xia Minghao was very satisfied with this, but there was one last step: he was afraid that this thing might end up like those "iron mines" in Yanquan Mountain, playing a joke on him.

"Fire Beauty, give Datan a bottle of honey."

Upon hearing the word "honey," Datan's eyes lit up, while Huoli reluctantly handed it over.

After seeing Datan off, Xia Minghao led Huo Li to the blast furnace where they had previously conducted the "iron ore" smelting experiment.

Riverside Village doesn't fire pottery or bronze, so this furnace has been idle for a long time, and it was thought it would remain idle forever.

But if gold is actually discovered, then this furnace will never be idle.

They placed the gold into a graphite crucible, added a little charcoal, and Huo Li and Xia Minghao simultaneously used the power of the wind totem and the fire totem to begin calcining it.

Soon, the gold particle melted into a small golden ball.

Seeing the small gold in the crucible, Xia Minghao could feel his heart pounding.

This is gold!
Huo Li was also stunned. It was the first time he had ever seen something so beautiful, even more dazzling than the flames.

More dazzling than flames!!
Just as this thought came to mind, Huo Li suddenly remembered the prophecy about the dragon descendants that circulated among the Fire Tribe.

"He will bring many things, things that are more dazzling than fire and will destroy the Fire Tribe."

Huo Li glanced at Xia Minghao, then at the molten gold sphere.

A hint of fear flickered in his eyes, while the remaining ninety-nine percent were pure curiosity.

"Will you use this to destroy the Fire Tribe?"

"what?"

Xia Minghao was a little confused when he heard Huo Li's words.

A moment later, he remembered Huo Li's words, that prophecy.

Looking again at the solidified gold nuggets, Xia Minghao stroked his chin.

If I really am a dragonborn, and this thing is indeed what the prophecy said, and that prophecy is true, then how could Gold destroy such a powerful and brutal Fire Tribe?

(End of this chapter)