From Chief to Ball

At this moment, a sharp whistle sounded suddenly from the grass-colored mountains, which was somewhat dull through the damp air.

The men in the clan immediately stood at the entrance of the cave, looking into the distance.

A horned deer, a rider, wearing a thatched coir raincoat.

After getting close to the cave, he took out a black and white flag from his arms and raised it, shouting: "25 men, prepare your own food for fifteen days, take bows, arrows and stone spears, and go to the city within seven days. Those who do not, the tribe will be reduced to wild people, and they will not be allowed to live in the city.”

The rider shouted three times, and the leader raised his head and said, "Is this going to war?"

"Yes, Jian said that the wheat should be harvested before harvesting, and the slaves should be captured so that the wheat can be harvested. Now they are also having children, and they don't have much to eat. They just want to thresh now."

After the rider finished speaking, he threw down a piece of pottery. The pottery was shaped like a tiger's head, but only half of it. Today's date was engraved on it - the third day of the lunar month.

This pottery piece has already been fired, and today is the third day of the first lunar month according to the calendar.

"Take the pottery and arrive within seven days."

"It's raining, why don't you come in and get warm?"

"No, the date on the pottery can't be wrong. If I deliver it late, I'll be whipped with a stone on my back. Alright, I'm going to the next tribe."

"whip?"

The rider didn't answer, he clamped the horned deer between his legs, put the flag in his arms, and galloped towards the distance on the slippery grass.

The leader looked at the pottery shard in his hand, knowing that a war was about to happen, but he didn't panic at all, but was a little excited.

He felt that his own tribe would not be able to deal with such people no matter what, but the tribe following Jian could capture some slaves to harvest wheat beans, which were about to be planted for the next season.

The men cheered, the things they got in the last battle helped the whole tribe, and they don't know what they can get from the war this time.Last time, if these tribes didn't know how to fight and rushed, maybe less than ten people would have died. This time, if you are more obedient, you should not die.

The whole tribe began to get busy, drying and preparing the acorns, taking out the dried fish that had already been dried, and learning the rattan shields woven by the Jian tribe.

"It's raining. I'm afraid the bow and arrow won't work well if it gets wet by the rain?"

"You go first, bows and arrows will be sent to you with grass sledges after the rain stops. It must not be too late, otherwise we will be driven out of the city. People from other tribes wish our tribe became wild people, and there are too many Some people paid food and served corvée."

The 25 men packed up their belongings, put on thatch, bid farewell to their mothers and sisters, and hurriedly embarked on the journey.

A few days later, in the city, the sky had cleared up, and Chen Jian stood on the wooden bridge over the ditch, followed by several people, holding half a piece of pottery in the shape of a tiger's head in his hand.

The river water flowed in the trench, which was as wide as two people.

The city wall is only one person high, and it is still in the shape of those mounds, but there are already many sharpened wooden sticks in front of it.The use of bronze axes and saws made it possible to saw and sharpen wood in batches.

There are only three entrances to the trench, and a small bridge is built on it. The bridge is tied with ropes and can be pulled up at any time.

Two piles more than four meters high were piled up near the bridge, a total of six.There are a lot of quicklime piled on it, as well as some stones, with flags planted on it.

There is no entrance to the south of the city. There is the Grass River, and a small pier with wooden piles has been built. The birch bark boats are docked on the pier. Several slaves are carrying ore in baskets. After carrying it back and passing the inspection, they will receive a piece of ore. pottery.

This is their hope. When the number of pottery shards is sufficient, they can become wild people, although it seems a bit out of reach now.

The pottery kilns and brick kilns outside the city had stopped, but there was an additional shaft furnace, where tin ore was being smelted with green smoke.

Blister copper and tin are smelted again in a crucible furnace more than half a meter high, and poured into clay molds when the furnace is perfect.The installed pottery wheels next to it are constantly turning, and the sand and stones on them are polishing various weapons.

The daily quantity is not much, only ten pieces can be cast, and the entire tribe has been transferred to the wartime system. Except for the slaves who are outside to cultivate land, the rest of the men are all here to transport ore and cut trees.

The bronze sword cast was very short, only half the length of an arm. Chen Jian didn't know how to use the split casting method, nor was it as good as the craftsmanship in the Warring States Period.

Bronze swords are used for stabbing, which is the most lethal attack.Thirty tribesmen who used to use stone axes replaced them with bronze swords, and each wore two handles, because the casting was not up to standard, and they were very brittle and easy to break.

Considering that the Meteorite tribe does not have bows and arrows, the two stone axes and rattan shields in the five-member team were also replaced with short spears to prevent flank attacks.The remaining three are bronze spears with wooden handles.

The weapons of the soldiers of the rest of the tribes who participated in the training in winter were also ready, and the remaining supply soldiers and servants still used stone weapons, and those bronze weapons had exhausted the production capacity of the tribe.

Men are basically preparing for war, and so are women.

Women who have given birth also started to work. Chen Jian’s imaginary confinement room has no time to build. The women are busy with some lighter work, drying acorn powder mixed with lard and salt, or Grilled dried fish.

The whole city is busy. After the winter snow melts, it starts to heat up. It is not the weather but the atmosphere. There is almost no time to relax.Even the evening rituals of bluegrass and civet cats were postponed until after the battle and harvesting of wheat, and civet cats said they wanted to have a meal of wheat during the evening ceremony.

At this time, the raccoon cat is beside Chen Jian, and next to him is Song Song, whose left hand can no longer be curled up freely, holding the iron sword named "Wufeng", standing straighter than others, it seems that only in this way can he forget himself No longer being able to go to the battlefield.

Yu Qian'er stood behind her brother, holding a pottery board and charcoal, waiting for the arrival of the rest of the tribe.

Look at the sky, the sun is already high.

Soon, as far as the eye could see, a group of men meandered over, carrying wicker baskets on their backs. Regardless of being surprised by the changes in the city, they hurried to Chen Jianjian and handed over the half piece of pottery.

Putting the two pottery pieces together, Yu Qian'er counted the number of people, looked at the food they were carrying, and said: "There should be 25 people here, but 27 people came. There is enough food and the day is just right."

Chen Jian nodded, and asked someone to take these people into the city, and continued to wait here.

Before the sun set, more than 260 men from ten tribes were all present, and 200 men from seven wild villages also gathered in the city.

"Beat the drums and blow the xun."

The wolf skin beat the big drum, the civet cat played the Tao Xun, and the soldiers who were queuing up for practice in winter rushed over with their weapons, and the people from the four tribes in the city reacted faster.

After the drum beat, the civet cat and the wolf skin returned to the queue. They were the two captains and began to organize their teams.

The heavy soldiers also took their weapons and stood in a mess. There was more chaos on their side, but the soldiers had calmed down.

Including the two rescued tribes, and the numbers of each tribe according to their population, the entire team of soldiers has more than 260 people, and the total number of soldiers and auxiliary soldiers is 400, and almost half of the men of all tribes are concentrated.

Chen Jian looked at the army that had just taken shape, and shouted: "Before going out, there are four things to say."

"Charge at will without listening to orders, kill."

"Turn around and run away, disregarding the life and death of relatives and friends, and expelled from the tribe."

"Blood in kin-fights, neither booty nor slave."

"I am the elected military leader. Before the battle is over, you must listen to my words. If you want to listen, you can discuss and replace me between the tribes after the battle, but you must not question me before the battle is over, otherwise whip."

He waved his hand and asked the people around him to show what a whip was.

It's not an ordinary whip, and it's no longer a cane, but a "nine-tailed cat".

It is woven with deerskin and hemp rope, and there are nine forks in total. There are some pottery pieces and knots on the deerskin. Just by looking at it, you can know how painful it is to be beaten on a person.

The newcomers kept silent, and the people from the same tribe also bowed their heads, saying that Jianye didn’t care about anything when he started the battle. Last time, my uncle got hit by the cane a few times, and the whip felt uncomfortable on his body. feel good.

Watching the crowd quiet down, Chen Jian nodded to a few people in the distance. Those people held dozens of spears and distributed them to the newcomers, and each of them distributed a millstone.

In addition, the five soldiers were distributed a small bottle of gourd wine, a piece of dried venison, and a small bag made of linen, which contained fried and dried acorn powder.Auxiliary soldiers were worse, but every ten people were given a small bottle of gourd wine.