From Chief to Ball

After a long time, a man came around and asked, "We don't want clay pots, can we exchange bows and arrows?"

"Yes! As long as we have it, you can change it. Except for the banner of the ancestors, everything is fine."

"So, how many bows and arrows can a baby animal exchange for?"

"We can discuss this. If you want to exchange one for ten, we don't agree. We want to exchange ten for one, but you don't agree. If you and I agree, we can exchange."

"Ten? One?"

The other party heard one, two, three, four many times today, all from the Chen Jian tribe, but he didn't understand.

Chen Jian called Lancao, and took out a dozen clay tablets from the wicker basket, which were fired before the rain, and engraved with one, two, three, four.

Call the chiefs, and hold out your finger and tell them what is one and what is two.Because it is pictographic and ideographic, it is easy to understand.

The clay tablet has been fired so strong that it is not afraid of water and fire.Each tribe divided a piece, and the leaders carefully put it away, repeating one, two, three, four.This will be useful in future exchanges. Chen Jian didn't tell them the numbers after ten, and there is no need for them. The items that can be exchanged for more than ten in these tribes can only be bones.

People of each tribe are counting the things that their tribe can exchange with one, two, three, recalling the strange stones they have seen in hunting stones.

It can be seen that the clay pots are very attractive to them, but they can't exchange much, and the pots Chen Jian sent are too few.

Seeing that they were still wandering around the clay pots and bowls, Chen Jian was secretly delighted, and asked someone to open another wicker basket, the contents of which were also fired from acorns before it rained.

The rest of the tribe thought it was still a clay pot, but when they opened it, they found that it was not.Although it looks like clay pots and bowls, it has no bottom, like a round piece of wood, but it is empty inside.

Each one is the size of a fist, with some weird patterns painted on it, which are very cumbersome and hard to tell what it is.

The overall look is very beautiful, but it seems to be useless, and the water will leak.

Chen Jian held up a pottery ring and said, "We are all from the same ancestor, and the guidance of the ancestors also hoped that all descendants would have pottery pots. But we didn't take so many, four for each tribe, wait until the next moon is full , you can go to our tribe to exchange clay pots. Each can be exchanged for ten clay pots and bowls. If you don’t want it, you can also exchange it with other tribes. No matter who brings this to our tribe, you can exchange it.”

Handing over these pottery rings to the hands of the other leaders, they stroked this weird pottery ring and asked in disbelief, "Can this be exchanged for a pottery pot?"

"Of course, stones can be exchanged, why not this?"

"If I exchange sheep for this item from another tribe, can I also go to your tribe to exchange clay pots and bowls?"

"can."

Chen Jian pretended to move the stone under his feet unintentionally, making a slight noise.These originally meaningless stones were exchanged for clay pots. The young man kept his word, so naturally this weird pottery ring would do.

This thing itself has no use value, but Chen Jian used his tribe as a guarantee to endow the pottery ring with value, which can be regarded as a primitive currency.

In a short period of time, clay pots and bowls can be regarded as hard currency, especially after teaching them to dig traps and use bows and arrows in the future, there will be a large surplus of food within a year, until the animals move away or are rarely killed.

This kind of pottery ring must be made with a pottery wheel, and there is no need to be afraid of counterfeiting for a long time.Moreover, a tribe must first ensure food and have enough non-hunting time before thinking about making pottery.They don't give them things like fishing nets and fish baskets, and they don't have time to think about it.

Clay pots may depreciate after being saturated, and when the value depreciates, Chen Jian thinks better things will appear, and there will always be something worth exchanging for them.

It will take time to cultivate their sense of exchange first, from bartering to semi-currency transactions.This is not to say that the money is minted and everyone can accept it.Before that, it takes a long time to accumulate. This is not a game, it can only rely on time and reputation.

Dozens of pottery rings are distributed. Obviously, when some tribes cannot catch food, they may choose to exchange pottery rings for some tribes that have caught too much food. Over time, tribesmen within hundreds of miles will subconsciously Li accepts this kind of thing that has little use value in itself.

This time the credit is to use the labor of the tribe as a reserve fund, and clay pots and bowls as the material standard. I just don’t know how long it will take for these people to accept such a weird concept-seemingly useless things can be exchanged for things that can continue the survival of the tribe. Very useful stuff.

He thinks this group embraces the concept of money, not money itself.

Nowadays, bartering is enough, and there is not much trading volume, but looking further, Chen Jian thinks it is better to prepare in advance.

Malachite has been found, will the new era be far behind?A group of tribes who hold bronze swords and halberds, but don't know that one, two, three, four, and no concept of currency are still barbarians. What is the difference from the group of tribes that use meteorite?

Throwing a bunch of guns to a primitive tribe is still a tribe; but a country with spears and swords is still a civilization.

Chapter 29 The Wisdom of the Old Grandmother

Because of the attraction of pottery and bows and arrows, the original two-day tribal gathering lasted for three days.

Thousands of people gathered, food was a big issue, and a few simple agreements were reached before the various tribes separated.

Every time the apricots mature, the tribal gatherings will still continue, but because of the Tao Huan and promises given by Chen Jian, the exchanges between the tribes will gradually increase, and of course the trading place is the village by the Caohe River.

Many tribes wanted to see what this so-called village and house looked like with anticipation, but they had to return to the cave first due to the pressure of survival.

They learned to make simple bows and arrows, learned to throw stones, and the food was sufficient in a short period of time, so they were full of joy.

When they came, they had their hair disheveled, but when they returned, they tied their hair into a bun. They took the soap Chen Jian gave them and put it away together with the pottery ring clay plate, so as not to break it.

At the same time, he also took away a little uneasiness. On the last day, Song told about the tragedy of his tribe. The meteorite tribe in the distance made every tribe feel anxious.

Fortunately, Chen Jian made a promise. As long as everyone admits that they are from the same ancestor, and as long as there is a conflict between the tribes that don't wear their hair and these tribes that wear their hair, Chen Jian's tribe will stand up and provide help.

When the enemy is unable to resist, you can retreat to the grass river; you can also spread your hair to obey the invading tribe, it is up to you to choose.

Clever use of external threats has transformed the bun from aesthetics to cultural identity.Chen Jian's words are very clear, his tribe will only help people who identify with the same ancestor, that is, those who wear their ancestors' hair in a bun.The same goes for exchanging clay pots, otherwise he has no reason to help the rest of the tribe.

These tribes themselves migrated from the direction of the rising sun. In the grandmother's generation, many of them were cousins ​​and relatives. Now they are spreading branches and leaves. It is easy to accept the idea of ​​the same ancestor.

There were also some weaker tribes who wanted to follow the example of Song and Huaihua and merge into Chen Jian's tribe, but Chen Jian refused.

Now that the newly added population is nearly half, no amount is beyond his control, but he promises to seek help from other people if he is extremely hungry.

Song has no regrets. Under the primitive moral system, since blood is sucked, he must abide by it. His mother's wailing before her death was to let him lead the clansmen to live. Now that the clansmen are living well, he is very satisfied.

Sophora Hua is more cunning, her idea is very practical-incorporating into the tribe can share everything in the tribe, there are too many women in the tribe, and when the next time the apricots mature, there will be too many babies and women who need to breastfeed. Only a strong tribe can guarantee survival.

And she is very smart, from the calluses that have been ground by the Chen family members, she knows that this kind of life is hard-won, it is not brought by the wind, start from scratch?She wouldn't be that stupid.

She looked at the Shitou tribe who kept her surname, and thought: "Your hands will also grind out such thick calluses!"

Chen Jian would not know what these people were thinking at this time, and he didn't want to know, as long as the life of the tribe continued to rise, all kinds of contradictions could be suppressed.

There are many things to face. After a year and a half, two ethnic groups with different surnames have lived together for a long time, pair marriages will inevitably appear, and things like love, jealousy, and murder will be inevitable, and new ones will follow. The contradictions brought about by the way of life will also accumulate, and he wonders whether there is a system that can suppress internal contradictions without bloodshed.

After the rest of the tribe left, Chen Jian also took the tribe down the mountain to the saline-alkali land, thinking about things along the way.

The old grandmother looked at Chen Jian's sullen look and asked, "Good boy, what's the matter with you? Is there any problem you can't solve?"

Chen Jian didn't know how to explain it, so he thought for a while and said, "I know there is a ferocious beast that might kill our clansmen. But before this beast appeared, no one would believe it. Only after killing the clansmen, the clansmen It appears that it has already appeared. I wonder how I can restrain this beast."

The old grandmother laughed haha ​​when she heard this question, her old face was covered with wrinkles.

Pointing to a grass in the distance, she asked, "Do you know what that is?"

Chen Jian glanced at it, and felt that it was a bit like the tubers he usually ate, but it was different. He didn't know why the old grandmother asked such a question, so he shook his head and said he didn't know.

"Boy, this grass has tubers under it, just like the one we eat. But it's poisonous, and you'll die if you eat it."

Chen Jian lowered his head and listened respectfully, trying to get an answer from the wisdom of the old grandmother.