Wolf King

The main reason why it is more difficult for nomadic people to live in groups, give birth to villages, cities, state systems, and develop civilization and culture than farming people is that nomadic people need dozens or even a hundred times the land to feed a population equal to that of farming peoples.

Without the population being able to live together, any civilization would naturally be out of the question.

And is it impossible for nomadic people to transform into farming people?Hmm... It is estimated that some people who are obsessed with tribal totem culture will say that it is impossible, and they will think that tribal warriors who are born brave and born fighters are absolutely impossible to envy the life of farming two-legged sheep, and they will think that the people of Changshengtian He only loves the wild grassland all his life, and thinks that wolves are absolutely impossible to be domesticated into dogs—and so on.

This kind of fanaticism that has lost its normal IQ naturally has no market here in Xiao Yun, what's the matter, how come wolves can't be domesticated and dogs come here, there are so many cities in Inner Mongolia, are the people living in the urban areas all aliens?

In short... In the eyes of Xiao Yun, a natural materialist who was born in New China and grew up under the red flag, as long as people with normal IQ or intelligent creatures are looking for a better life, he definitely does not have that kind of desire to protect the grassland. The original ecology and the snow werewolf The original ecology doesn't care about being a primitive person for a lifetime. This kind of stupid behavior is useless except to move oneself; human beings say something about the arrogant person who protects nature. It is only after human beings stand at the top of the biological chain on the earth that they are qualified to show compassion for the conquered nature. Besides, whether nature needs human protection or not is another matter... What human beings protect is only their own living environment. One day human beings will be wiped out by human beings themselves, and the earth will still be there, and a new nature without human beings will be conceived and born tens of thousands of years later.

So, after accepting the fact of crossing, all the efforts Xiao Yun has to do is to lead the snow werewolves to live in groups and develop urban civilization and even national civilization. After the werewolf's ability to survive the winter and keep out the cold has been subtly influenced in advance to make the snow werewolf used to settle down, the next thing to do is to increase the productivity of the snow werewolf as much as possible, or in other words, improve the ability of the snow werewolf to transform nature.

Farming has to wait for the next spring. Building a kiln is something that can be done right now. With a kiln that can produce qualified pottery, then burning bricks is no longer empty talk. You can burn bricks, and you can see hope when you burn cement. If it can be burned, will ironmaking still be like a flower in the mirror?

Well, the ideal is very full, but the reality is very... well, Xiao Yun squatted on the ground with a branch as a pen and prepared to draw a picture, but he stared blankly for a long time and didn't know where to start.

"What the hell, I've never seen a cave dwelling in real life, I just watched it on TV... The brick kiln built by the Australian brother looks similar to the ovens used by primitive people in the West to bake bread. Can that thing work? "

Xiao Yun's face turned pale, and he held his head in his hands.

"Wait, speaking of ovens, the principle of the oven is not the same as that of the cave dwelling. It uses concentrated heat to heat the things inside... Well, it seems that there is also the technology of the flue. Is it the same principle as the kang? Anyway, to use the heat as much as possible, keep the cold air out, and keep the temperature inside as high as possible?"

"Then the question is, what is the working principle of the flue in the cave?!"

After squatting in place without moving for 5 minutes.

"Forget it, let's build a small kiln using the principle of burning kang."

It is common knowledge that hot air is lighter than cold air, so apply this common sense to the theory of firing kilns that you have never been in contact with, that is, there should be a difference in height between the burning point and the space for firing pottery that requires heat. Xiao Yun pondered for a while Based on this principle, a pit about [-] centimeters wide and half a meter long was dug out in the open space outside the tribe.

"Leave a downward fuel input port here, and the heat generated by burning in the pit enters the kiln chamber from the other end... Well, the kiln chamber should be built smaller first, probably from here to here..."

Xiao Yun drew marks on the ground with a branch, and stood aside to observe again.

"It doesn't seem right. Combustion requires a lot of oxygen. The fuel input port is small and the kiln chamber is sealed. How can you keep burning and keep high temperature without oxygen?"

"But it doesn't work if you open it for ventilation. If the cold air is too much, the temperature will drop... Hey!"

After scratching his scalp for a long time, Xiao Yun couldn't figure out how to solve this problem, so he simply thought about building an experimental kiln first, burning it once to see if there was any problem, and then modifying it.

"……and many more!"

Just as he was about to ask Niujiao to move the bricks, Xiao Yun suddenly remembered—the kiln firing scene he saw on TV, the places where the fuel was fed were all indoors, not open air!

"That's right, the fuel is fed indoors. Of course, opening the inlet to feed the fuel won't send a lot of cold air in. Why is the indoor temperature higher than the outdoors?"

The more Xiao Yun thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case, and then he felt a little bit pained... If holes were made in the two houses of the tribe for the purpose of building this experimental kiln that I don’t know if it will be successful, let alone the patriarch, the horns would crush him in place.

"Forget it, anyway, there are a lot of mud bricks, and then build a small house specially filled with fuel. Er, this small house is warmer than the earthen house when the kiln is fired. Maybe the tribe will like to play in it."

Qingcao and Dahe went to make pottery clay, and Xiao Yun had to bring the horns to build this small house by himself. The only requirement is an area of ​​about eight square meters to store firewood and fuel, and the foundation should be dug shallowly by one meter.

The extremely small house was completed in two days with the foundation and the roof added. There was a hole for fuel replenishment at the bottom of the wall on the east side of the fuel replenishment room in advance. The pit used was sealed with mud bricks on the top of the burning pit, the hot air flowed out obliquely upwards, and then a grave bag-style... er, earth bag-style cave dwelling was built, work together!

The one-person-high cave dwelling is made of earthen cement made of mud bricks and swamp silt. The thickness is about two mud bricks placed vertically. The smoke outlet is designed by Xiao Yun scratching his scalp: In the lower part, along the interlayer of the cave wall that took a lot of effort to leave, the smoke is led to the upper part and discharged from the upper chimney.Xiao Yun hopes that this design can prevent the cold air from entering the cave as much as possible during the smoke exhausting process. As for whether it is effective...it depends on the actual combat.

The opening for bringing in and taking out the pottery is at the lower abdomen of the cave. In order to make this opening, Xiao Yun persuaded the clan leader to let all the clansmen, including patrolling and hunting warriors and herders, help together, and found a square-shaped stone slab with unequal sides... During the firing of the kiln, this stone slab is used to block the opening, sealed with mud, and then dug to open the mud seal when the kiln is opened.

The kiln firing project consisting of a firewood room (fuel supplement room), a burning pit and a cave dwelling took five full days. During this period, Xiao Yun consumed more energy and energy than building a mud-brick house... What he didn't understand It is indeed a tossing thing to explore things. No wonder investors will frown when it comes to R&D funds in any field.

During this period, the tribesmen began to move the fodder for the cattle and sheep to the tribe for the winter-that is, the work that the tribesmen who graze after entering the autumn have been doing. The more than 2000 cattle and sheep grazing by werewolves rely on these forages to survive the winter.

The built kiln cannot be fired immediately, at least it has to wait for it to dry naturally and then bake it on a low fire. Xiao Yun first took the grass and the big river to play with mud... No, he made mud tires.

The yellow clay brought back from the river is finely ground into powder after removing the mixed gravel, adding water and mixing it with swamp silt, leaving it for about a day, and then rubbing it vigorously, stepping on it, and squeezing out the air in the soil. Process until the soil is moderately soft and hard, and has enough ductility; first take a piece of mud ball, flatten it, spread it out, and stand it upright to make the bottom of the clay pot, then divide the other mud ball into small pieces and knead them into fine pieces. Lay up the long strips and circles, smooth the junctions, and ensure a smooth one... Without the assistance of pottery tools, this is the easiest way to make mud tires by hand.

Qingcao and Dahe watched in amazement as Xiao Yun made lumps of clay into the shape of clay pots, and they also came up to imitate them, and then... the sharp claws on their ten fingers, which are also considered dexterous among the snow werewolves But it’s always unsatisfactory, either accidentally punctured the mud tire or scratched it...

"Use your fingertips, don't use your claws, especially the claws when kneading the sticks. Yes, that's it. Use your fingertips. This place is your fingertips. Use your strength here."

Xiao Yun taught tirelessly, and didn't feel irritated at all—he was very satisfied with being able to shape the grass and the big river anyway, unlike the funny guy with the horns, who always put on an innocent and stupid face for him every time. look.

It's not easy to make a big guy when you come up, but it's not difficult to make a water cup and pottery bowl or something. Xiao Yun and the two made a few clay-bodied pottery bowls, put them in the room for a day in the shade and then stuffed them into the place where the big stove and the kang are connected Carried out trial firing; Qingcao and Dahe couldn't believe that the mud they played with could be turned into practical pottery, but Xiao Yun was very relieved, even piling firewood on flat ground could burn the most primitive pottery, relatively speaking, the heat is more There is nothing that can't be burned inside the kang with better concentrated temperature... It's just that the quality will be a little bit problematic.

After burning for a day and a half, I took out the pottery bowls, um... put them in, and out of the six pottery bowls, four were formed, and the other two didn't know where the problem was either cracked or deformed, and one of the four pottery bowls was successfully fired. Probably because it was not done well when pinching, and it broke when I picked it up with a little force.

But there are three pottery bowls that can be used, which is enough to make the Snow Werewolf happy. Qingcao and Dahe were ecstatic, and each of them took a pottery bowl to catch the clansmen to show off... er, to share the joy.

Xiao Yun took the last pottery bowl that was the only three success, turned it over and looked, knocked on the wall of the bowl, and sighed: "It's true that the temperature is not enough, this quality is almost as good as that."

Niu Jiao looked curiously at Xiao Yun and then at the bowl in his hand, and said strangely, "Ah Yun, is there something wrong with this pottery bowl?"

"Take a look." Xiao Yun casually handed over the pottery bowl.

Niu Jiao happily took over the pottery bowl, and just as he took it, the wall of the bowl cracked where his finger pressed.

Niujiao: "?!"

"Look, it's very watery." Xiao Yun said there without any conscience.

Ox horn... Ox horn simply didn't know whether to be frightened or reassured.

In any case, the two pottery bowls fired near the big stove are indeed pottery bowls, although the quality is very poor...but the snow werewolves who have been relying on exchanging pottery with human caravans did burn pottery by themselves, the news is coming soon When it got to the pasture, the patriarch personally ran back to see what the tribal homemade pottery bowl crushed by the horns looked like...

When the cave dwelling was almost dry, Xiao Yun squatted in the firewood room (fuel supplement room) and dried on a low fire for half a day, then the kiln firing could officially begin.

It was a big event to burn pottery by himself for the first time in the tribe. The patriarch once again left his work on the pasture and ran back to participate in it himself, and stared at Xiao Yun eagerly, hoping that Xiao Yun would arrange work for him again; Politely... let the patriarch and the horns make the bricks.Anyway, he himself is not confident that the pottery firing will be successful this time, so he will plan ahead and make the bricks for the next kiln rebuilding.

Even if Xiao Yun is completely new to kilns, he also knows that stone kilns are stronger and more resistant to heat than mud (brick) kilns. The problem is that the environment on the grassland is different from his hometown where there are mountains and stones everywhere. Refuse to let him enter the range of primitive forests with mountains and rocks... It's just a pity.

Send the dried mud tires into the cave dwelling, seal the cave dwelling with stone slabs, paste it with mud, and then enter the firewood room to start the fire—put in the charcoal that was burned in advance, stuff it with wood and cow dung, and soon the burning pit will be raging. After burning, the temperature of the room where Xiao Yun was located also began to rise.

"Hmm... the temperature seems to be a bit of a waste. Alas, I can't control that much. The temperature loss should slow down after the room is heated." Xiao Yun turned his head and looked at the room full of firewood and cow dung, thought for a while, and went out Moved in the extra slate that the tribe had found before, put the slate on the upper end of the firewood opening, and used mud bricks to erect the two ends of the slate.

Firewood and cow dung are not as durable as coal, and someone must add firewood at any time, after all, it is the first time to fire a kiln, this job Xiao Yun was worried about others, took a piece of animal skin and sat in the room while sewing and watching the fire.

The people of the tribe knew that Xiao Yun was doing something very important to the tribe: pottery burning, so they tried their best to control themselves not to disturb - they wished they could see with their own eyes that the patriarchs who succeeded in making pottery were honestly making bricks by the river with their horns, Qingcao and Dahe worked hard to learn how to knead the mud tires, and the wool guys didn't even dare to approach the kiln, for fear of affecting Ayun, Xiao Yun's side was rare and quiet.

Probably knowing that Xiao Yun was "on the order" at the moment, Uncle A Shan, who hadn't had a good conversation with A Yun for many days, quietly returned to the tribe at some point, entered the firewood room silently, and sat down beside Xiao Yun.

"Uncle?" Xiao Yun was quite surprised when he saw the person coming. Ah Shan was a more diligent tribal warrior than anyone else, and he had never seen him finish his patrol early.

Ah Shan looked at Xiao Yun in silence, his mouth moved and then closed tightly, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how to say it.

"What's the matter, uncle, what do you want to tell me?"

Ah Shan hesitated for a while before he said: "Ah Yun, you... did you encounter anything when you left the tribe before?"

Xiao Yun was stunned for a while, and then he understood what A-Shan meant, and his back immediately broke out in sweat... The busyness of the past few days made him careless about his identity and origin. As a relative of the original owner, Uncle A-Shan Maybe for a while, I can't think of what the change of A Yun and the other two mean, but has it been a long time?

The Snow Werewolves are indeed born with rough nerves and atheists. Whether it is the memory of the original owner or Xiao Yun's life in the tribe these days, he has never seen any signs that the Snow Werewolves engage in sacrificial activities like humans. The confidence to worry about being framed and burned to death—but what if the original owner's uncle thought that he killed the original owner and robbed the original owner's body?Would Ah Shan still consider him his nephew, unconditionally protect and protect him?

Xiao Yun thought a lot for a moment, and before the cold sweat broke out on his forehead, Xiao Yun made up his mind... He must not tell Ah Shan that the original owner has died, who knows if Ah Shan will go crazy with grief, then it is the most appropriate, yes The safest way to protect one's own personal safety... is to fool this matter, uh, that is to deceive Ah Shan.

"...Yes." Xiao Yun showed his best acting skills and made a vicissitudes expression, "Actually... on the day I left the tribe, I could feel that I was already dead."

Ah Shan's eyes widened in an instant.

"I was lying in the grass, missing my mother, tired, hungry, and weak. I saw my mother waving to me in the sky. I felt my soul ascending to the sky and getting closer to my mother... "

Xiao Yun showed a painful expression: "But I didn't touch my mother's hand, I seemed to be sucked in by something, I felt cold all over, and there was darkness around me..."

Ah Shan showed a sad expression, he stretched out his hand to gently wrap Xiao Yun's shoulder, and patted it slowly.

Thanks to Ah Shan who also likes to sleep on the kang now, his body doesn't smell so bad after taking a few baths, otherwise Xiao Yun would really not be able to continue singing...at least he wouldn't be in such a full mood.

"I don't know if this is a dream, Uncle, I forgot about you and my people... I was born in a strange world, and in that world I also had a mother who looked exactly like my mother... …that mother held my hand, took care of me, and taught me a lot…”

"I feel very happy. That mother has always been with me, just like my mother...Suddenly one day, that mother said to me, Ah Yun, you should go back, you are not useless, the clan needs you..."

Xiao Yun pinched his thigh hard and cried out, Ah Shan was shocked, and hugged him with both hands.

"I grabbed my mother's hand and didn't want to leave her. She was very sad, but she still shook my hand..."

"When I woke up, I remembered you and the clansmen again, but my mother was gone..."

Xiao Yun felt that it was time to cry out, but his grief was still brewing, and the sound of wailing exploded in his ears.

Xiao Yun was stunned, and slowly raised his head to have a look... Well, very good, it really is a snow werewolf, his emotions are not concealed, Ah Shan cried like a child, with a face that was clean and handsome .

Uh... My conscience seems to be prickling a bit. I am indeed a good person. Although I was forced to tell a harmless lie, I still feel sorry for making people cry...