From Chief to Ball

The predecessors have already gone through the detour, and this is the biggest advantage of the traverser.

There is not much insurmountable gap between the straight shaft plow and the curved shaft plow in essence, but there is a huge difference in labor saving and efficiency. The curved shaft plow can plow deeper from the mechanical point of view because the position of the ox pulls is closer to the ground. Depth will save effort.

Chen Jian did some calculations, and now with the cultivation ability of the tribe, the average person has less than one mu of land per day, but with the support of Quyuanli and the city's cattle and horses, the efficiency can be increased by six times.In the face of reclaimed land, ten times or twenty times the efficiency can be achieved.

When animal-powered agriculture became popular, the existence of clans would be almost meaningless. Chen Jian had already dug the pit, and the clan leaders could only use morality and kinship to prevent the clan from splitting.Whether it is morality or kinship, it is vulnerable to interests.

The carpenters in the meeting hall have mastered the mortise and tenon technique and the gluing technique. Last year, making the wheels also allowed them to master the roasting technique. Although it is not very fine, it can also bake straight wood into a curved shape.

After the curved plow body is completed, holes are carved in the wood, and then the vertical wood for fixing the plowshare is inserted, and the height of the plowshare is fixed and adjusted with wooden wedges.

The first batch of bronze ploughshares used by Chen Jian was cast in a small number, only two or three pieces, because the practicability of bronze ploughshares was not high.

Bronze is too brittle to be forged, but to be cast. Once blunt, iron can be smashed by a blacksmith to make a cutting edge, while bronze can only be polished or returned to the furnace. This also restricts the development of agriculture.

Therefore, Chen Jian only used bronze as a test product. When it comes to large-scale production, it will use stone instead of bronze, so that the cost can be lower, and the stone plowshare can be thrown away directly if it is broken.

The harness can be used directly to pull the cart. This kind of curved shaft plow is for a single ox, and the land near Xiacheng is not red clay, but yellow loam, which is suitable for ox or horse plowing.

In addition to this single-ox Quyuan plow, Chen Jian also made some large-scale plows with two horses, which can be used for deep plowing and plowing, and are convenient for large-scale reclamation.

It took half a month to finalize the production of the two plows. The clansmen only knew what Chen Jian was doing in the meeting hall, but they didn't know what he was doing, and the carpenters were silent.

These carpenters can receive a small taube per day, but only half of it per day.

If the people in the city don't know what they are doing before spring, they will send out the remaining half at once.

Chen Jian used the simple combination method. Once people in the city know about it, no matter who leaked it, everyone's half of Tao Bei will be deducted.

As Fangshi gradually adopts Taobei as the medium of exchange, the use of Taobei has become familiar to Xiacheng people. As long as you hold Taobei, you can exchange it for anything you want in Fangshi. Carpenters know the Taobei. The good thing is that you try not to talk in your sleep even when you sleep.

Chapter 64 Spring Breeze ([-])

When the end of the year is approaching, various tribes are preparing sacrifices. Because there is no calendar before, this is the first New Year in Xiacheng, so there is no need to go through the winter solstice and then the change of New Year’s Eve. Chen Jian directly stipulates that the end of the year is end of december.

The people in Xiacheng got their own benefits. Chen Jian took some goods from the public property, and together with the tribute from the wild people, each tribe distributed [-] big pottery shells, which can be bought in Fangshi.

In addition to these, the disabled clansmen also received some dried bacon and fish, and everyone, regardless of size, was given three catties of flour.

The wild villages outside the city also received some pottery, fishing nets, linen and other things, which are not worth mentioning compared to what they have to hand in every year, but they are still very happy.

At the entrance of the meeting hall, two peach charms were erected, wooden boards carved from peach wood, on which were painted some myths about ancestors circulated in Xia City.

In this era, there is no story of Pangmeng killing Houyi with peach wood, so peach wood has no reputation for exorcising evil spirits, but in the tribe's previous calendar, peach is the name of the month, and peaches in summer prevent many people in the tribe from starving to death. Therefore, mahogany has another meaning, which symbolizes that you will not be hungry next year.

The rest of the tribes also imitated the habit at the entrance of the meeting, and set up peach charms. The children took the candied haws distributed by the market and bit in their mouths. The slaughterhouse was busy killing a batch of rams. The thick soup was being cooked, and the children watched around the place where the pigs were slaughtered.

The end of a year is the beginning of a new year, the wheat can be harvested in a few months, and the newly captured slaves can do more work, coupled with the big victory not long ago, Xiacheng is immersed in a state of excitement. in an exuberant atmosphere.

Except for the absence of the flash and roar of firecrackers, there is more or less the meaning of the year.

The children heard that sweets and pastries would be distributed on the last day of the year-end, and sister Yuqianer also said that new clothes would be distributed on that day, and all of them were looking forward to the arrival of the New Year.

Adults are not as easy to satisfy as children, but because of the comparison of hunger and cold a year ago, they have an illusion of a world away.

On the warm kang, people smashed walnuts and hazelnuts, ate pine nuts, and chatted casually.

Muma from the Mu clan is talking about building a house together with a few acquaintances next year. After going out to Muma alone, I always feel that I can't afford it, but it's really inconvenient to be crowded in a small house.

There are only a dozen or so rooms in the whole city that are empty for people who want to do some things for men and women to go in. Now that they are full of food, there are more people thinking about these things. Spring, summer and autumn are fine, just in the wild. It was cold and windy at this time, and no one could do those things in the snow.

The last time he told the leader to go out alone, he was frightened back by Chen Jian with [-] catties of grain. At this time, after careful consideration, he decided to build the house with these acquaintances in the spring.

Chen Jian also agreed to build the house privately, and allocated a piece of land to the west of Xiacheng. The person who built the house only needs to go to the council to apply for a piece of land. Someone went back to measure and draw the location, and only needed a Tao Bei That's fine.

Mu Ma bit a pine nut and said, "If you want me to say that our house was built with bricks, I asked. Ji Xia said that as long as we can afford Tao Bei, the brick kiln can burn for us."

"Isn't it good? Except for the sacrificial hall and the school hall which are made of bricks, not even the conference hall is made of bricks. If we build a brick house...it's not good at all."

"Oh, Ji Xia agreed, what are you afraid of? We don't need to cook, we still eat in the tribe, just have a house and women... right? You said the same person, a person can only lead a woman to the grassland , I have a house, who do you think women choose?"

"Then have you calculated how many bricks you want?"

"How can I do the math? I asked Red Fish to do the math for me. If the building was smaller, including the city's masons, there would only be three big shells in one room."

"That's all the spoils of our last war."

"Hey, owning a house is a lifetime thing. Three big shells are worth it. I went hunting with my brother the day before yesterday, and I brought back a roe deer and exchanged two big shells. You don't know, but now Fangshi accepts everything. .Think about it, how nice it is to have a room? I haven't touched a woman for two months."

"That's right. A few days ago, I went to the civet cat to help our tribe. Hey, that hut is really nice. The civet cat spent a big shell for a carpenter to make a cradle. The child is inside, tsk tsk, it looks really like him, I don't even know which tribe my child is in now..."

When a few people talked about children, they were speechless for a while. Before, they only knew who their mother was, but they didn't know who their father was. It didn't matter.

But when I can be a father, all this seems to become important. I can have no father, but I have children to continue my blood.

Nowadays, many people in the tribe have regular sexual partners. In addition to one-on-one couples, there are also many three-on-three-four-on-four couples. Because these things have bleed several times, they all know where Chen Jian is. It seems that this form of dual marriage is not very supportive, but it is probably because of the problem of the house and land, and it is not explicitly prohibited.

When a few people were worrying about how to earn Bei, someone ran in and shouted: "Are you still sitting here? Go and see, there is something going on at the council, it's a good thing, it's a good thing for a Xiao Bei in three days."

Mu Ma grabbed a handful of pine nuts, put on an animal skin robe, and went out only to find that the entrance of the meeting hall was already crowded with people.

Chen Jian was wearing a tattered sheepskin robe, with a white fox fur around his neck, and was holding up a stone and talking loudly to his clansmen. A few people wanted to squeeze in.

"What's the matter? I heard you can get a little Taube in three days?"

"More than that, have you seen the stone that Ji Xia took? Let us all grind it. A qualified one will have three pieces of Taobei. It should be polished in ten days. If you are patient, you can also carve wood. That one gets more Taobei, but it takes a long time. I'm thinking about grinding two stones before the year before, and going to Yuqian'er for some wine."

"How much can I change for carved wood?"

"Eight little shellfish, but it's not easy to carve wood. You have to be qualified to carve. Someone specially inspects it. Unqualified cities are not accepted. Whether the wood carves fit together or not depends on luck. Who knows if there is any wood in it?" Boils? If you find something wrong halfway through the carving, it will be over. Anyone who wants to carve wood has to learn from carpentry."

The speaker squeezed in while talking, there were not many stones, and it didn't take much time, so they all wanted to change some shells while the winter was free.

Muma hurriedly put the pine nuts into her arms, trying to push away the people around her, but everyone was so strong that they couldn't squeeze in, so she could only be anxious.

By the time it was finally squeezed in, the good jobs were gone, and only some weird jobs were left.

"Ji Xia, where's the stone?"

"It's gone, the work of carving wood is gone, and there are other things left, which are more troublesome."

"Give it to Bei? Just do it if you give it to Bei."

Chen Jian smiled and took out a V-shaped wooden fork with a thick bowl mouth and holes on both sides. This was Niu Geng's harness.

"Also accept cowhide. This kind of wood is drilled with holes, and the bark is peeled off. Three shells can be exchanged for one shell. You can also exchange shells by rubbing hemp rope, or go to the quarry to collect stones. Unlike slaves, you have shells. Take it."

Mu Ma listened to these weird jobs. This was the first paid labor in the city. Although a few small shellfish could not exchange for very good things, the food and goods of the tribe were all distributed by the leader, and he could not go hungry on weekdays. I can't die from the cold, but it's really difficult to change something to eat, drink or play.