back to prehistoric savage

Chapter 268
Giant Turtle Lake is located at the center of the tribes west of Hexi, so the Giant Turtle tribe serves as the host for the annual autumn gathering.

As the host, the Giant Turtle Tribe has priority in exchanges. Of course, the tribes coming from afar should present gifts to thank the host for their generous hospitality. This is an unwritten rule and the etiquette that guests should perform.

They were currently under the giant turtle statue on Giant Turtle Island. After arriving, the first thing the chiefs of each tribe did was to visit the "island owner" and inform the host of the goods they had brought to see if there was any exchange. needs.This is also one of the traditions of the fall assembly.

This huge giant turtle, which is three to four meters long and more than two meters high, is like the only building on this floating island. It is also made of local materials, made of reeds and various grass materials. It is lifelike and has obviously cost a lot of money. A lot of thought and effort, excellent craftsmanship.

Around the giant turtle statue are enshrined the empty shells left by the dead giant turtles. Each turtle shell is as big as a stone mill, and the largest body length is almost the same as Zhang Tian's height!

It is said to be a giant turtle, but looking at the patterns on the turtle shell, it looks more like the spotted turtle that once spread across the land of China and was later extinct due to overfishing. However, turtles all over the world belong to the same family, so it is not necessary to distinguish them so clearly.

Only Hutou and Gu followed Zhang and Lin to the island, and the rest were arranged to land.

Only three or four people from other tribes, headed by the chief, landed on the island. Even so, four or fifty people came up, and the originally spacious floating island with a wide view suddenly became a bit crowded.

The chiefs of each tribe saluted the host in turn. Zhang Tian counted, including the Sky Clan, there were a total of twelve tribes.

I haven’t seen you for a year and I miss you so much.Everyone talked enthusiastically, recounting their departure and their respective experiences. Sometimes they laughed, sometimes cheered, and sometimes screamed. It was so lively.

The host entertained guests from various tribes very skillfully and placed the gifts received under the giant tortoise statue as both an offering and a display.

Tribal Council and Fall Gathering, despite being thousands of miles apart, are strikingly similar in some ways.

Zhang Tian had experience in participating in tribal conferences. After meeting Turtle Shell, the chief and priest of the Giant Turtle Tribe, he freely presented the greeting gift he had prepared in advance and said a few words of praise skillfully.

Turtle Shell had heard about this Sky Clan that suddenly appeared. In fact, the moment they set foot on this floating island, the news had spread like wildfire, not to mention the chiefs on the island, and even the people on land. The news has spread among the men and women.

To be honest, when Ah Wei talked about how incredible the Sky Clan's species were, Gu Jia didn't quite believe it, and even Ah Wei himself was doubtful.

Until this moment, he was rubbing the smooth wall of the pottery bowl, stroking the soft fabric of the linen products, looking at various strange but very useful objects, and the shock in his heart was all written on his face.

Treasure!The things brought by this group of strangers are undoubtedly treasures!
Treasures like this should be rare and precious, but they can actually produce them in large quantities!He is keenly aware that this may greatly improve their current living conditions!

Thinking that in the future everyone will have high-quality pottery available, and everyone will have light and comfortable linen clothes to wear, Tortoiseshell can hardly suppress his excitement.

The chiefs of various tribes also rushed around. In addition to pottery and linen products, other things also opened their eyes and amazed them.

Candles and oil lamps used for lighting, bamboo huozhuzi used to preserve fire, natural soap made from saponins, carefully polished wooden combs, flutes that can make beautiful sounds, millet wine with a unique and mellow smell, various A variety of exquisite bamboo silk handicrafts, various exquisite educational toys...

Turtle Shell ordered his tribe to place the Sky Clan's gifts in the most conspicuous place, and then said: "We hope to exchange with you, some of each kind. Is there anything you want?"

Zhang Tian said: "We want to exchange some turtle shells with you."

The tortoise shell is a bit surprising. The tortoise shell has special significance to the giant tortoise tribe, but is useless to other tribes. What are they doing in exchange for the tortoise shell?

"In principle, we will not replace the giant turtle's shell..."

He originally wanted to change the subject and say that as long as you believe in the spirit of the giant turtle, it would be okay to switch to you.

Zhang Tian did not give him a chance to reverse preach, and said directly: "You don't need the shell of a giant turtle, an ordinary turtle shell or fragments of a turtle shell will do."

This winter, we will start teaching writing numbers and advanced symbols. In the future, we will use it in more and more scenarios. How can we do it without a writing carrier?
Zhang Tian does not plan to make paper for the time being. Firstly, he does not know much about the process of papermaking, and secondly, it is not easy to preserve.

He and Lin Yu have decided not to leave behind modern writing, but wouldn't it be nice if they could leave some primitive symbols, or even hieroglyphics, and pass them on to archaeologists thousands of years from now?

The only carriers that can be preserved for thousands of years are stones, pottery and tortoise shells. Among them, the tortoise shell has undoubtedly the most special meaning. Anyone who looks at it can immediately think of oracle bone inscriptions.

The tortoise shell is unknown, so exchanging pottery and linen products for ordinary tortoise shells is not a loss of blood?
However, losing blood to the opponent means gaining blood to oneself. Thinking of this, Turtle Shell readily agreed. The most indispensable thing for their tribe was turtle shells!This area is the habitat of various turtles and turtles. Just go to the lake beach and dig out a sack!

When the host completed the exchange, the chiefs of other tribes rushed forward and competed to grab it.

Turtle Shell shouted: "Don't worry, everyone! The meeting hasn't started yet, and the Ship Tribe hasn't arrived yet!"

Da Wa, the chief of the Calabash Tribe, disagreed: "Those desperate guys are late not only once or twice, but sometimes they arrive after the gathering is over. If we wait until they arrive before starting again, we might have to wait until the chrysanthemums have withered!" "

After he finished speaking, he took out a bunch of gourds tied together with ropes and sold them to Zhang Tian and others: "Would you like a good gourd? Young gourds are delicious, and old gourds are easy to use. People who have exchanged them say they are good! How many gourds should I exchange? No?"

Zhang Tian said: "Did you pay for it? I don't want the one that I paid for. I want the one that I haven't paid for."

"There are some! The tender gourds are not picked out. The meat inside is very tender. It is guaranteed to be delicious! If it doesn't taste good, you can ask me to return it next year!"

Da Wa is a cheerful person.

Zhang Tian smiled. He wanted the unopened gourd not for eating, but to get the gourd seeds and plant them himself in the future.But the seeds of the young gourd were not yet mature and were not suitable for planting, so he said, "I want an old gourd that has not been dug out. Do you have any?"

"There are plenty!" The big baby is most in need of gourds. There are all kinds of gourds. "How can I change them?"

"One gourd is exchanged for a set of pottery bowls and spoons, three gourds are exchanged for a piece of cloth..." Zhang Tian began to quote.

Da Wa's eyes widened and she couldn't believe her ears.This pricing is too conscientious!
If the people of other tribes were not competing fiercely for it, or if he were not worried about causing public outrage, he would have exchanged all the things belonging to the other tribe!

However, not all tribes can provide what Zhang Tian needs.Those who came excitedly with the specialties of their own tribes, but in exchange for the words "no need", they couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Seeing this, Zhang Tian announced: "We want stones, all kinds of stones, as long as they are stones we don't have or rare stones, we are willing to exchange them, anything can be exchanged!"

With the clan's existing productivity and living conditions, there really wasn't much to exchange with these primitive tribes who still relied on fishing, hunting and gathering for a living. The only ship tribe that might bring rare goods arrived late, so they came up with this idea. idea.

It is said that it is an exchange of stones, but in fact it is an exchange of their manpower. Zhang Tian hopes to use the eyes of all the tribes in Hexi to find various rare ores.

Of course, the most important thing is to find the whereabouts of the only black stone among the five colored stones.

But it is obvious that these primitive ancestors did not understand, and it was even more unbelievable that clay pots and bowls could be exchanged for stones?Is there such a good thing in the world?This is even more unbelievable than Shang Yang's standing wood in later generations.

Someone asked: "Can the stones you pick up be exchanged directly? No need to polish them?"

"No, you just need to remember where you picked it up. Don't use common stones, such as flint, chalk, ocher, black flint, cobblestone, granite... It's best if you haven't seen it before, or never seen it before. The kind of stone you can pick up.”

The more I talk about this, the more incredible it becomes. Aren’t stones that you wouldn’t pick up when you see them just useless?What to do with useless stones?
There were discussions among the crowd, but no one took any action.

When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. This is human nature.Zhang Tian was not in a hurry, waiting for someone who dared to take the lead in eating crabs.

After a while, Da Wa, who was still cheerful, took out an animal skin bag from nowhere, untied the rope, poured out a pile of gravel, and said with a grin: "Can these be exchanged?"

Anyone who knows Da Wa knows that this guy has a hobby of collecting stones.

"of course can!"

Looking at the pile of colorful stones in front of him, Zhang Tian's eyes suddenly lit up. Unexpectedly, this tall and thick guy turned out to be a big collector!
Mica, fluorite, hibiscus, lapis lazuli, waxstone, fish scale stone... Zhang Tian looked through Dawa's collection with great interest. Some of the stones he and Lin Yu could recognize, but most of them were different to both of them. I had never seen it before, and even the big baby couldn't name it. He just thought it looked good, so he picked it up and kept it.

Just like stamp collectors, there is almost no repetition.

"One, two, three... come on, get it."

In full view of everyone, Zhang Tian counted the stones, and every time he counted to three, he gave the big boy a set of pottery bowls and spoons.

At first, when people heard him counting, they didn't know why, and they all found it novel. They couldn't help but count along with the rhythm, and gradually formed a conditioned reflex, knowing that after counting to three, they can change a set of pottery bowls and spoons.

The eldest child smiled from ear to ear when he saw the exquisite pottery and cloth being delivered to him in a steady stream!
Who dares to say that these stones are useless in the future? Who is he to worry about?
The people around were so envious that they drooled three thousand feet down. Can these useless stones really be exchanged for pottery and cloth?

Those who react slowly are still drooling, while those who react quickly have already rushed to the shore, jumped on the boat, and rushed to the land to find rocks!

The chiefs didn't want to fight over it. They wanted to stay here. What if these good people would get benefits again later?This time the Gourd Tribe took the lead, and we must not lose the opportunity next time!

Now, they have completely believed all the words of this sky priest, and he can even practice such outrageous things. What is there to doubt?
Zhang Tian carefully identified these stones. Most of these beautiful stones were jade, and most of the jade had no practical use.

But he believed that in the not-too-distant future, various tribes would always turn their attention to those less beautiful but crucial stones when fishing, hunting and gathering.

Those stones may be worth a clay pot to other tribes, but in his eyes they may be copper and iron, gold and silver, lime, gypsum, coal...

Da Wa was extremely happy, but not everyone was so happy. The tribes who had monopolized the pottery kept silent from beginning to end, and their faces became increasingly ugly.

Compared with the pottery of the Sky Clan, their pottery cannot be said to pale in comparison, it can only be said to be useless!
What's more, the Sky Clan's pottery is large in quantity and low in price, but the quality cannot be compared, and the price is higher than others. How can they compete?I'm afraid this batch of goods will be smashed into my hands!

No, not only this batch of goods, I am afraid that in the future, I will no longer be able to rip off other tribes by monopolizing technology!
But rather than being depressed, I am more curious: How do these guys make their pottery?How can we achieve both quality and quantity?
They still use the most primitive pile-firing method, which has low thermal efficiency. Each firing consumes a large amount of firewood, but the output and yield are very low.

We can’t blame them for setting high prices. It’s true that the costs cannot be reduced, so we can’t do business at a loss, right?
At this moment, they heard the sky priest suddenly announce a new benefit: "We will recruit apprentices in winter. Each tribe can send two people to Taoyuan to learn knowledge for free, preferably one man and one woman. You don't have to worry about food and housing. We cover it all.”

This benefit is more important than exchanging stones for pottery!Everyone was stunned for a moment.

On the contrary, the Taoshi tribe responded the fastest and asked quickly: "Does the knowledge you mentioned also include making pottery?"

"Of course! Our knowledge comes from the guidance of the sky, and the sky has always been generous and kind. Of course, if you look up to the sky and pray to the sky, you can directly get the guidance of the sky; if you join the Sky Clan and become the people of the sky, you can Can be protected by the sky.”

Zhang Tian observed everyone's expressions as he spoke, and their heartbeats were clearly written on their faces.

At this time, if the miracle of sowing seeds into forests is repeated again, it will be a surefire success.

It's a pity that they are now in the middle of the water. Even with Lin Yu's great ability, he can't give birth to a rootless tree.

Everyone praised Tian Tian loudly, and then couldn't wait to agree. They had even thought about the candidates who would be sent to Taoyuan for further training.

In the blink of an eye, the sun was setting, and everyone returned to the land by boat. The houses on the floating island were only large enough for the locals, and the guests could only spend the night on the land.

There are no secrets on Giant Turtle Lake, and the name of Sky's generosity and kindness quickly spread to every corner.

The host had already prepared a sumptuous meal. After the meal, Zhang Tian led his tribe to look up at the sky. The Niutou tribe and the Big Fish tribe were not to be outdone. Seeing this, the others also looked up at the sky.

(End of this chapter)