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

Chapter 175 The Xia Tribe's "Classic of Poetry"

Fixed pulleys don't need to be like wheels. Just take a round piece of wood, roll it on the ground, and use a bronze axe to cut off the protruding parts to make it as round as possible.

Then use a bronze chisel to drill through it and insert a wooden stick.

The fixed pulley was completed quickly, and the most crucial step in the palm oil production line—the oil pressing shed—was finished.

Xia Minghao watched from the side; the tent was full of men from the Great Lake.

Professional tasks should be done by professionals, and the current goal is to cultivate this group of professionals.

The equipment built for pressing palm oil is very simple.

In the middle is a stacked structure resembling a stove, with a pottery jar inside and a stone slab on top.

A hole was drilled in the stone slab, and small pieces of palm fruit were placed next to it. When the stone fell, it hit the palm fruit, and oil could be extracted.

The large rock was tied to the upright wooden pillar with a thick rope, which went around a fixed pulley to change the direction of the force transmission.

This method isn't exactly great, but it's not bad either; at least it's sufficient for extracting a small amount of palm fruit in the early stages.

However, with the large influx of palm fruits later on, changes will definitely have to be made.

Xia Minghao still needs to think about how to make the specific changes for a few days, because he has never actually seen palm fruit pressed for oil, but he often sees models of sesame oil when he goes to the supermarket.

So, should we manufacture and grind palm oil to extract it?

I'm afraid it will be difficult.

Because palm fruits are large, even if they are boiled until soft and broken into pieces, they are not actually suitable.

If you had found peanuts or sesame seeds instead of such a large palm fruit, you might have considered a millstone.

As for millstones, we're not making them now, but we'll have to make them later, when we have grain.

Crushing and grinding removes the husks and grinds the grains into coarse powder, which is then used to make porridge, cakes, and other foods.

While pondering ways to improve this thing, Xia Minghao suddenly noticed that these men from the lake were a bit slow at doing things, and even showed signs of slacking off.

The stone isn't too heavy, otherwise the stone slab on the stove would have been smashed. I carefully selected these large stones before, so I know their weight very well.

And now these men are acting as if they're pulling a massive boulder.

I used to think the people of the Great Lakes tribe were hardworking and reliable, but now they seem to be slacking off.
Without directly reprimanding or issuing any orders, Xia Minghao habitually pondered the reasons first.

He happened to see the bewildered looks on the faces of the other people watching as the large rock was pulled and the palm fruits were smashed, and in an instant, he realized what was going on.

Yes, I didn't explain before what I was doing this for.

In fact, the others were already used to it and usually didn't ask. They would do whatever Xia Minghao asked them to do, and they would do it obediently.

Because the things they do always bring unexpected surprises.

The people from the Great Lake were different; they didn't ask, but Xia Minghao guessed it was because they were frightened by that inexplicable sense of guilt and dared not question him.

But deep down, he was quite confused, unlike the other people who were originally from the Xia tribe, who knew that listening to him and doing things would definitely bring good results.

In other words, a mindset has not yet been formed, and a positive feedback loop has been established to adjust from "obeying orders and doing things" to "gaining benefits."

Xia Minghao was about to speak up and explain to them that they were extracting oil that was the same as animal fat!
But then I thought again, and realized that it would be pointless to say anything.

The main consideration was that this group of people might have eaten more palm fruit than the Xia tribe had eaten red salt.

They must already have a preconceived notion about palm fruit.

If you tell them that palm fruit contains oil similar to that found on animals, I doubt a single one would believe you.

Xia Minghao simply spoke directly to the group.

"You all, smash all of this before sunset, and everyone will get some oil to eat!"

boom!
The stone fell and smashed onto the mangled palm fruit on the stone slab.

Everyone looked over.

Surprise was evident in their eyes.

油！
These were the delicacies that the great deer could only eat after they died of old age.

This actually works!
The longing in their eyes instantly transformed into all their strength.

Without saying much, he immediately started pulling the big rock.

Xia Minghao was delighted to see that a single sentence had solved the problem of motivating this group of people.

Indeed, material rewards are the best rewards; no amount of words or reasoning will change that.

Stimulated by the oil, everyone worked with great enthusiasm, but things became chaotic.

Everyone was focused on smashing the rock quickly and getting the oil, which resulted in a loss of their previous teamwork. One person would exert all their strength to lift the large rock, while another person would have already exhausted their strength.

As a result, the stone was pulled much lower, and the overall efficiency dropped significantly.

Xia Minghao was about to speak when he suddenly heard a voice spontaneously emerge from the group.

"Pull the stones!"

"Put down the stones!"

As soon as the sound appeared, even more sounds followed.

Unexpectedly, discipline arose spontaneously without my directing.

Sure enough, the group of people from the Great Lake had some experience in manual labor; they probably had this habit from when they were building treehouses with logs.

Now it's clear that they've "learned by analogy".

The large rock rose higher and higher, reaching the height of the fixed pulley, before crashing down and splashing oil onto the stone slab.

Seeing that the jar was almost completely smashed, Xia Minghao had someone replace it with a different one.

It wasn't because the container was full; it was mainly for experimentation. We were categorizing palm fruit oils at different cooking levels to see which type could yield the most oil and had the best taste.

After pressing the first batch, the group roughly understood the process. Xia Minghao no longer spent time guiding the oil pressing, but began to build the last step of the palm oil production line – oil rendering.

The pressed oil has a high water content, so it still needs to be boiled or boiled.

How difficult can it be to render oil? Isn't it as easy as making fish soup?

That's true, but the problem is that we're dealing with a lot of palm oil.

While considering how to boil a large amount of palm oil, Xia Minghao thought of a second step: boiling palm fruits.

Even now, boiling palm fruit is still not feasible for large-scale production, as it requires too much pottery and also leads to a waste of charcoal.

The best solution seems to be to create an enormous earthenware pot.

In fact, Xia Minghao had previously researched the maximum size that could be made from ceramic pots.

The final result of the study was that it was not much bigger than that, at most like the large pots in rural northern China.

Obviously, this is also insufficient to meet the demand for palm oil extraction.

In a flash, a brilliant idea struck Xia Minghao.

Wooden trough!

This is perfectly fine; just coat the outside with clay to protect the wooden trough from being burned by the fire.

Thinking of this, Xia Minghao arranged for everyone to start building a long earthen ditch, and then had someone cut down an old tree.

The old tree had a thick, long trunk, and the group painstakingly used bronze tools to cut it into two pieces with edges that looked like they'd been chewed by a dog. Then they coated the bottom with clay they'd retrieved from the oil lake.

Charcoal was placed into the earthen ditch, and then the hollowed-out half-grown old tree was placed on top.

After lighting the fire, it did not burn through, but only made the wood extremely hot!
Become!

Once you add water, you don't have to worry about burning the wooden trough, just like you don't have to worry about a plastic mineral water bottle filled with water melting when placed on a fire.

The other half of the old tree was transported to the place by the oil lake where the palm fruits were cooked.

One tree can solve the problems on both sides. As long as the broken clay is repaired in time, it can probably be used for a long time.

Even if it gets burned, it's not a problem. In this primitive era, trees were arguably the easiest resource to obtain, especially after the advent of bronze.

"Give it your all!"

"There's oil right away when you let go!"

After the oil pressing production line was fully completed, Xia Minghao faintly heard sounds coming from the oil pressing shed.

It has become similar to a work chant, not only to help people work together towards a common goal, but also to dispel the boredom of this kind of mechanical labor.

Xia Minghao has been holed up in his room for the past few days researching the secrets of the giant totem stone. He had been busy with other things before, so he had indeed become somewhat detached from this kind of physical and collective labor.

Hearing it now, I found it quite interesting. I discovered that the work chants these people were chanting were all different, so I simply sat down and listened.

But the more he listened, the more something seemed off, especially when he noticed that the women who were cooking palm fruits nearby were also starting to get excited.

"Give me a hand!"

"Chief, give me some oil!"

"Got the oil!"

"Easy to get in!"

With a bang, the large rock fell, but was immediately drowned out by the women's laughter and shouts.

Xia Minghao was a little confused at first, but he immediately understood when he saw the woman's reaction.

What's easy to get into?
Need I say more?!
Xia Minghao was not surprised that this group of people from the lake, who had been having wild encounters everywhere, would say such things.

Surprisingly, they discovered that oil could act as a lubricant.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Primitive people weren't stupid, they were just ignorant.

I just don't know how it was discovered. Could it have been accidentally contaminated?

Unexpectedly, the woman opposite also started to shout, but her relatively weaker voice was more like a "singing".

They don't need to rely on their voices to work together; they only need to look at the charcoal and the earthenware pot, which allows them to sing more freely.

Xia Minghao listened to the lyrics, which were incredibly primitive and rudimentary, yet also incredibly wild.

They sang about everything, from small to big, deep to shallow.

Suddenly remembering seeing this group of people having sex in the wild today, Xia Minghao wondered if a "Classic of Poetry" belonging to the Xia tribe might be born.

It now seems that once the text is widely disseminated, it's a done deal.

As the autumn wind blew and yellow leaves fell, Xia Minghao felt the "romance of the primitive era" and experienced an unprecedented sense of enjoyment.

That's enjoying life...

life!

After such a long period of transformation and construction, is the Xia tribe finally moving from mere survival to a fulfilling life?
By dusk, all the palm fruits boiled that day had been processed.

Seeing the large pile of empty palm oil jars, Xia Minghao put it into the pot where he had boiled the palm fruits and asked the women to start boiling it.

The men, who had been working hard all afternoon, showed no signs of fatigue, probably thanks to the shouts they had just uttered.

Fatigue often doesn't originate from the body, but rather from the mind.

This moment perfectly illustrates the situation with these men who spent the entire afternoon smashing things.

Everyone gathered around with great interest, but that was all they did; no one spoke.

Even without saying a word, Xia Minghao knew they wanted oil.

"Here's the oil for you. This will turn into oil in a moment."

Xia Minghao no longer needs to hide anything; he can just be open and honest, since the oil will be ready soon.

The men looked at each other blankly, while the women stared in disbelief at the palm fruit juice extracted from the large pot they were in charge of, which had only a bottom.

Moments later, almost everyone from the Great Lakes had strange expressions on their faces.

At this moment, their expression wasn't one of anger at being deceived, nor of confusion, but rather a complex mix of emotions.

This was the first time Xia Minghao had ever shown such a complex expression on a primitive man's face, perhaps related to the high level of civilization in the Great Lakes region.

Although it is relatively complex, it is easy for someone like him who has experienced modern society to understand.

I feel like I've been bullied.

They seem like poor, unpaid laborers who did the work but didn't get paid.

Seeing this, Xia Minghao felt bad too.

It's fine if you're angry or confused, but this kind of reaction makes me feel a little uneasy.

It's like I've become one of those capitalists who make empty promises but never deliver.

"Really, this is oil!"

Xia Minghao pointed at the crowd and said this, but no one believed him, and no one dared to say anything more.

Whatever, believe it or not, we'll find out soon enough.

Seeing this, he offered no further explanation.

With just this much palm oil, the water should evaporate after a while of boiling.

Many men left dejectedly, and Xia Minghao did not stop them, but some still stayed behind.

They didn't believe it, but they still held a sliver of hope—what if it was true?

Although deep down they still didn't believe it was true, after all, they had been eating palm fruit for so long, when had they ever tasted oil?

This last glimmer of hope stems from despair, much like how someone trapped in dire straits might pin their hopes on some irrational supernatural force, such as demons or monsters.

And it was these people who stayed behind who watched as the water in the palm oil evaporated little by little, solidifying like deer oil.

"It's true! It's real! It turned into oil."

"Palm juice has turned into oil!"

Nobody believed that palm fruit contained oil, but now it's actually true!
What should I do?
Thus, a magical thought process gradually began to form in everyone's minds.

Because the chief discovered the palm fruit, the palm fruit became oil!

If the chief hadn't seen these palm fruits that tasted so bad they wanted to die, then it would have been impossible to get oil from them, that must be it!

More and more people gathered, and as they looked at the palm juice that was beginning to thicken like deer oil, they thought of this.

(End of this chapter)