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

Chapter 21 Riverside Ambition

"Chief!"

As soon as they saw Xia Minghao arrive at the riverbank with his men, the women immediately waved excitedly.

This was the first time that so few people had entered the perilous riverbank. Although Shifa and the other women didn't say anything, they were still inevitably terrified.

Seeing Xia Minghao and his group, they were naturally both surprised and delighted, especially Xia Minghao's arrival, which made them feel like they had found a pillar of support.

"Chief, we are few in number and have little food."

Hifa stepped forward, pointed to the fish they had caught and the small animals they had snareed with lasso traps, and said...

"It's alright, we don't need that much stuff, we already have plenty in storage."

With fewer people, less food was expected, so it didn't really matter.

If we continued at the previous rate of food acquisition, even if we roasted all the food into jerky and stored it away, we still wouldn't be able to finish it all before it spoiled.

These women are now just enough to meet the tribe's needs for food, and they even have enough to make a profit.

The other women followed, but unlike Shifa, they didn't come to report to Xia Minghao. Instead, they noticed the bone hoes that Xima and the others were holding.

"Chief, what is this?"

A woman asked in confusion.

"Oh, these are the amazing tools we'll be using later. You don't need to worry about them, just keep an eye on the fish traps and lasso traps."

Hearing Xia Minghao's words, the women all looked somewhat confused.

What does "妙妙工具" mean?
Xia Minghao naturally didn't expect these primitive people to understand modern humor. He smiled and led the other women along the riverbank.

Not all soils can be used to make pottery. Luckily, I had previously gotten a voucher for pottery DIY when I was bored, so I experienced pottery making and know what clay is. Otherwise, I would have to test all kinds of soils.

The clay that can be used to make pottery is called clay. The color of clay is not fixed, but its texture is certain; it feels like dough when you knead it.

Following the river to a bend, Xia Minghao squatted down and used an entrenching tool to dig away the top layer of dry, dark brown soil mixed with fallen leaves, revealing a layer of yellow soil underneath!

The color makes it look like it might be clay.

Then, with another shovel, Xia Minghao scooped up a large clump of yellow soil.

Because it was a forest and by a river, the soil was quite moist, but Xia Minghao still added some water and mixed it in.

During the kneading process, I could feel the pebbles inside, but if you remove these impurities, the texture is not much different from kneading dough.

Then Xia Minghao tried to roll the loess into thin strips, which stuck together very well, just like Play-Doh.

As expected, obtaining clay was not difficult; I found it so quickly. This yellow soil was undoubtedly clay!

The women had already gathered around, looking at Xia Minghao's actions with puzzled expressions.

Why does it look like those little creatures in a cave? Is the chief peeing and muddying?

“Now you shall begin to dig this soil with the bone hoes in your hands.”

Standing up, Xia Minghao ignored their confusion and gave the order directly.

“Yes, Chief.”

The women immediately responded to Xia Minghao and began digging.

There were only eight bone hoes; the remaining women were responsible for carrying the soil into animal hides and compacting it.

Xia Minghao found another spot and started digging with an entrenching tool.

An entrenching tool is a professional tool for digging soil, especially by a river where the soil is moist and loose.

It was much easier to dig than it was at the cave entrance.

The sun had just risen directly above the center of the sky when the animal hide was filled to the brim.

If it's further covered, then it will be inconvenient to pick up the animal hide.

Xia Minghao got up, and felt another wave of back pain. He rubbed it while looking at the women.

They discovered that after all that hard work by the women, the amount of clay they had dug out was only about the same as what they had dug out themselves.

Without good tools, efficiency is really low.

For the time being, without a revolution in materials, inefficiency can only be offset by manpower.

With current food availability, doubling the population wouldn't be a problem.

Where can we find so many people?

The most reliable way to quickly increase the population is to do what happened last night: exchange people from other tribes for your own.

For this plan to succeed, putting aside whether we can actually get the exchange, we first need to find other tribes.

Exploration is something Xia Minghao has wanted to do for a long time. Things like salt, malachite (a basic material for bronze magic), and seeds of agricultural crops—these things don't exist yet, and all of them must be obtained through exploration.

Now, another motivation for exploration has been added: to make contact with other tribes and exchange personnel.

While rubbing his slightly sore lower back, Xia Minghao frowned as he looked at the slowly flowing river in front of him.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

Primitive human settlements were all located along rivers. If you built your own boat and traveled by water, you would have a greater chance of finding other tribes than if you traveled by land. It was also much more convenient.

Building a boat isn't difficult; just burn down an old tree, dig a hole in the middle, and you can make a boat.

At the very least, you can peel off a whole piece of bark from a big tree and use it as a boat.

The question is how to make the boat move.

The river's current isn't rapid; one can only row a boat by hand. Even if it were rapid, one would still have to come back by boat after going downstream.

We're still short-staffed...

If we can build sailboats, we won't need to rely too much on human power for navigation, and this exploration plan can be implemented.

But where did the wind come from in this woods...?

"Chief, how much more should we dig?"

At that moment, Hima's voice came over.

Xia Minghao snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look.

The clay from the three animal hides combined was about the same as what they had dug themselves, but the women were clearly exhausted, and some of their hands were trembling involuntarily.

"Alright, that's enough for now. Let's take these back."

It's not just clay we'll need; we'll also have to use animal hides to carry water back and forth to the cave, which will definitely be even more tiring.

The women had long since lost interest in using bone hoes, and the arduous task of digging for no apparent purpose had gradually worn away their enthusiasm.

Upon hearing that Xia Minghao would no longer allow them to continue working, the women's expressions visibly relaxed.

After greeting Hifa and the others, the four of them each grabbed a corner of the animal hide and began to head towards the cave.

As soon as they returned to the cave, the children were overjoyed to see the clay they had brought back.

Their favorite thing to do was play with mud. Compared to the mud outside the cave, this clay was a rare find.

They rushed over and pinched it a few times, and then they couldn't stop. Some of the children even stood up and tried to urinate inside.

Xia Minghao quickly stopped him, saying that this thing was going to be used for pottery making, and it was not allowed to urinate or play with mud.

The women also took turns disciplining the children, some even resorting to physical punishment, giving the disobedient children a complete childhood.

“Go back to the river and bring the water back with animal skins.”

After giving further instructions to Hima and the others, Xia Minghao began the initial processing of the clay.

This is absolutely necessary; otherwise, even if it is shaped, the stones inside will crack during firing due to uneven heating or some other random reason.

After sifting through the clay once, I sifted it again with a basket. Only then was the clay barely processed properly.

The women finally returned, all panting heavily; bringing back the water seemed far more tiring than bringing back the mud.

Upon seeing Xia Minghao working with clay, the women's fatigue was immediately replaced by curiosity.

They had already witnessed too many miracles brought about by Xia Minghao, like the strange stick that allowed women to throw wooden spears farther than men.

"Chief, what can we do with this soil? Can it help us get more food?"

"If I rub it on my body, will I not get bitten by blackfish in the river?"

Cognition limits women's imagination. Hearing the doubt, Xia Minghao stood up again and said with a smile.

"This soil will allow us to eat more delicious food and make it easier to get water. We won't have to go to the river to get water anymore."

"It can also prevent dried meat and dried fish from going bad, and there's so much more. You'll see when it's made."

"To eat even more delicious food?"

"Fetch water?"

"How to prevent dried fish and meat from going bad?"

The women all looked thoughtful after hearing this, but couldn't come up with any answer.

But in everyone's hearts, what the chief said must be true, even if they don't know why.

In the end, no one spoke anymore, but looked expectantly at Xia Minghao and the piles of yellow clay.

(End of this chapter)