In this era, before pants, primitive people used animal hides only to cover their vital areas in the summer. In winter, they wore a simple upper layer of animal hides sewn from thin vines, and a skirt wrapped around the lower body with animal hides. However, wearing a skirt with bare legs didn't provide much warmth, and the hides were quite stiff due to improper processing. Even wearing two or three layers of animal hides would already be difficult for a person to move. Furthermore, tribes couldn't save enough hides, so they traded them for salt or dried meat at trade fairs.

The caves are cold and damp. If you burn branches in the cave, the smoke will be so strong that people can't stay there. If you insist on burning branches in the cave, after a few days, the smoke will make the people's eyes and throats unbearable.

In previous years, the tribe would find a sheltered spot in the open field outside and light a big fire to keep people warm. At night, everyone had to return to the cold and damp cave to sleep - still sleeping on the ground, with only a little thatch and animal skins on top.

Under these conditions, many people fell ill in winter. In an era of lack of medical care and medicine, falling ill often meant death.

What primitive people feared most was the snow season.

"Yes," Qiao Yu said. "After the charcoal in the kiln burns out, I will burn a few more kilns to ensure that everyone has enough charcoal for this winter. During the day, you can all find a few large caves to keep warm together, which will save charcoal. At night, each of you can go back to your own cave and light a charcoal fire, so you won't feel cold when you sleep. While you're warming up, you can also put clay pots on the fire to cook broth, which can also dispel the body's cold."

"But..." Her expression turned serious. "When burning charcoal, you must keep the cave well ventilated because the burning charcoal produces a poisonous gas. If you're not careful, the people in the cave will be poisoned to death."

Seeing everyone's fearful expressions, looking at the blazing charcoal fire like wild beasts and tigers, Qiao Yu said again: "As long as the cave is not blocked, the situation I described will not happen. Everyone just needs to be careful, and it will be fine."

Everyone lived in caves, their entrances open. Even to keep out wild animals that might sneak in from the back hills, they used wooden and vine-clad gates. Because of the orientation, the wind wouldn't blow in through the cave entrances, but it didn't block the airflow either. So, as long as you were careful, you'd be fine.

Everyone nodded nervously.

Qiao Yu told Shan and Lu to tell the people coming in later, and then left the cave.

She still had to go back and burn another kiln of charcoal.

When Qiao Yu stuffed the firewood for the second kiln into the kiln and lit it to make the second batch of charcoal, a group of people came back with the women and children of the Stone Tribe.

There were more than sixty women and children in total.

"Did the trip go smoothly?" Qiao Yu asked.

"It went pretty smoothly," Man said. "According to your suggestion, we took back two of the people who behaved well and had no ill feelings towards our tribe. When the women of the Stone Tribe heard that the men were still alive and had been captured, and that our tribe had promised not to kill them as long as they behaved, and that we had food and would not starve to death, they followed us obediently."

Qiao Yu nodded.

To put it bluntly, the people of the Stone Tribe just want to survive, and the conflict between the two tribes is not so sharp that it cannot be reconciled. The Valley Tribe has food, so the people of the Stone Tribe naturally will not refuse to be merged.

"What is the attitude of Shuo's wife and daughter?" she asked again.

"She cried secretly for a while, but then didn't show any reaction after that." Shu said, "I've been observing the two of them along the way. Shuo's wife is a coward by nature, so she probably wouldn't dare to have any ideas. Shuo's daughter is pregnant, her husband is also imprisoned by us, she has a mother-in-law above her, and she has a three-year-old daughter. Under these circumstances, it's impossible for her to avenge her father."

"That's good." Qiao Yu felt relieved.

The next day, Qiao Yu called a meeting of the middle-level leaders of the Valley Tribe.

At the meeting, she announced, "Tomorrow, I plan to take over forty men and the men from the Stone Tribe to the tribe's new location to build a new tribe. Shu, you will select ten people to stay with the tribe and guard our home."

Everyone was shocked.

Everyone knew Qiao Yu had found a particularly good spot, and the tribe was moving there. However, Qiao Yu kept quiet about how and when the move would take place. Since the tribe already had members of the Stone Tribe, no one asked, simply awaiting Qiao Yu's orders.

But everyone thought it would be after spring came and the ice and snow melted. Now it's freezing and snowy, and such a group of people, old, young, and weak, can't even walk that far before getting sick.

If there aren't enough caves to live in, everyone will have to live on the snow until caves are dug. Who knows how many more people will get sick due to this delay.

You know, when the women and children of the Stone Tribe migrated here, several of them fell ill. Fortunately, Shuo had left some ginger in the tribe, and Man followed Qiao Yu's instructions and made ginger soup for them along the way, which saved their lives.

There wasn't much ginger left in the Stone Tribe. It wasn't realistic for the entire tribe to move away. Qiao Yu's decision was a wise one, and Shu and Man both thought it was a wise one.

Shan had a lot to think about. "How about taking all the men from our tribe with us? There are only about forty of us. The Stone Tribe has more people than us. If we feed them, will they rebel? But if we don't feed them, they won't be able to work. Your words won't count, and there's no way they'll be convinced."

There were over forty captives from the Stone Tribe, a few more than the Valley Tribe that Qiao Yu was planning to take with him. If they became disloyal, Qiao Yu and his group would be in great danger.

"Their wives, children, and family members are still in our hands," Qiao Yu said, "and they have no weapons. Although I will feed them well, I will also assign them the most tiring work."

Shan nodded.

He believed his daughter would properly manage the people of the Stone Tribe, but as a father, he was still worried.

"There are over eighty men, and you're the only woman. Your uncle hasn't gone with them yet." He frowned and said, "I'm afraid this isn't appropriate."

"Don't worry, your daughter is stronger than anyone else and has a smart mind. No matter who it is, no one will let your daughter suffer." Qiao Yu said with a smile.

Having experienced the apocalypse, she never considered herself a woman. And in this primitive society, there weren't many strict rules about sex. Even if there were, she didn't care.

Anyway, she has no plans to get married, so it's none of her business what others think.