back to prehistoric savage

Chapter 52

"Started collecting plants early in the morning?"

When the men saw Lin Yu coming back with a large handful of grass, they were all surprised at her diligence.

Zhang Tian recognized the grass she brought back as calamus, which is resistant to cold and likes humidity. It is a very common herb that grows near fresh water. The ancients used it to make sachets, and it is said that it has the effect of warding off evil spirits.

But Lin Yu deliberately collected a handful of calamus back home, obviously not for the purpose of warding off evil spirits, there must be other uses he didn't know about.

The men fetched water and returned to the cave, and the women were preparing breakfast.

The children ran to Lin Yu and asked her for sugar juice.

Lin Yu patted the children's heads and said with a smile, "I'll do it for you."

She boiled a tube of hot water, picked the calamus root, sliced ​​it into thin slices, and threw it into the water, and immediately a sweet and fragrant smell gushed out.

The children formed a circle by the fire, sucking their noses vigorously, looking forward to the thicker juice in the bamboo tube, yelling "good fragrance" and spitting their mouths.

No matter what age children are, they probably cannot resist the temptation of sweets.In the past at this time, there were still sweet fruits to eat, but today it is cold and the vegetation does not bear fruit, and the children are already hungry.

When the water in the bamboo tube boils, all the sweet liquid in the calamus root will be boiled into the water.

The children were scrambling to hand over the bowls. Lin Yu was like a big sister pushing a nostalgic ice cream truck, yelling to the children to be calm, and patiently sharing the sugar juice for them.

The women who watched all this silently learned another trick. In the future, if the children clamor for sweets, they will not worry about being unable to satisfy them.

Dr. Lin's knowledge is convincing. In the past few days, he has also gained a lot of knowledge after listening to the [-] uses of plants she taught women.

While having breakfast, Zhang Tian asked the tribesmen about the nearby tribes.

As a minor, he has never attended a tribal assembly, and has never met people from other tribes. He only occasionally heard a few words from the men in their chats.

"Except for the three tribes that have salt, occupy the best caves and land, and have a relatively large number of people, the other tribes are not as good as us. Let's take the Big Tree tribe closest to us. You must remember what Grandma said, their tribe Now it is run by a young man named Song Guo, what do young people know? So they often don’t have enough to eat, and they have a lot of experience in starvation…”

Hutou narrates the "history of suffering" of other tribes lightly. In his opinion, apart from his own tribe, other tribes are living in dire straits, which is not worth mentioning.

However, he also admitted that compared with the tribes of salt, tiger and cave lion, the former Dahe tribe was still a bit less coquettish, but now they have the sky guided by the sky and ancestors, and they also know how to identify herbs and are good at healing. Lin was recovering from illness, and the life of the three big tribes became more and more difficult.

Zhang Tian and Lin Yu looked at each other and smiled, knowing that if the tiger head was obviously bragging, it would most likely be of little reference value.

The nearby tribes gather twice a year for ten or eight days each time. Most of their understanding of each other comes from hearsay. In addition, the tribes generally presuppose that others are inferior to themselves, so the evaluation of other tribes is naturally easy to deviate. fact.

However, the "wicked tribe" mentioned by Hutou successfully attracted the attention of the two.

"Why do you call them the wicked tribe?" Zhang Tian asked.

"Because they disrespect the forest, cut down grass and trees recklessly, set fire to the mountains every warm day, and changed places to live in every cold day. All the places they lived in turned into wasteland, no plants grew, no wild animals reproduced, What is such a person not a villain? But don’t worry, we will never see that group of villains again, because they can no longer participate in the tribal conference.”

After listening to Hutou's description, Zhang Tian immediately thought of a word: slash-and-burn farming.

Someone is growing food slash-and-burn!

"Where do those villains live?"

"Who knows? They used to live far up the river, and they may have moved farther away now."

Hutou patted his belly and stood up. Everyone finished their meal and packed up their things to go out to work.

Although the people of the tribe must call them villains, and their expressions are full of disdain, they obviously don't care much about what they did, and they haven't delved into why they did it. If you don't have a place, you won't have a deep feeling.

In contrast, Zhang Tian was more concerned about this, wondering if the group of guys living in the upper reaches of the river were the same group of people who made inferior pottery, right?
Although slash-and-burn farming is an extremely backward primitive agriculture, and setting fire to mountains will put you in prison in later generations, but compared with the production method based on hunting and gathering, these wicked people are at the forefront of the times.

From Lin Yu's eyes, he saw her strong academic interests. There are not many opportunities to witness the primitive agricultural activities of prehistoric humans. If conditions permit, Zhang Tian guesses that she will be happy to go to the field for investigation.

……

At sunset, the dusk is dark, the dim light is hard to resist the erosion of the night, and it is fading from the mountain tops little by little, and the coldness comes back to the mountains with the night.

Song Guo, who had been driving non-stop for a whole day, led seven young and strong male tribesmen to climb up the last mountain. Looking at the distant scenery, he was immediately shocked by the sight in front of him.

Pinecone came here once a long time ago. At that time, the other side of the mountain was still lush and full of vitality. But now, the forest has been slaughtered and the earth has been burnt to black. No more, the green water is gone, it is difficult to find traces of wild animals in the wilderness, and there is no life.

Although they had heard about the deeds of the villain, seeing all this still made everyone tremble with anger.

"Song Guo, are we really going to exchange food with those villains?"

The people of the tribe are filled with righteous indignation. They have lived in the mountains for generations, coexisted with wild beasts, slept with vegetation, and enjoyed the nourishment of the forest mother. Now that their mother has died, how can they swallow this breath?I don't even want to be with the group of villains who kill their mothers to survive.

Song Guo clenched his fists tightly when he saw this scene at first, and couldn't hide his indignation, but after taking a deep breath, he suppressed the anger in his heart.

Anyone can act impulsively, but he cannot.

He shoulders the future and destiny of the entire tribe, and every decision he makes must be considered for the benefit of all tribesmen.

It's shameful to kill one's mother to survive, but...he couldn't help but wonder if his tribe was also on the verge of starvation, and if burning the forest would provide enough food to keep everyone alive, would he do the same?

Pine Cone didn't think about it any further, at least dealing with the wicked was an easier choice than burning down the forest.

"It's all here, let's go and have a look."

After he finished speaking, he walked down the mountain first.

(End of this chapter)