Chapter 152 Transition

With the recent spate of natural disasters, various tribes have experienced varying degrees of famine. Tribes like the Black Deer tribe, which built animal enclosures in advance and stocked up on a large number of animals, were able to weather the crisis when their members faced severe hunting difficulties. However, tribes that did not build enclosures or stock wild animals in advance, along with their members, are now facing starvation.

Xu Que decided to go and visit other tribes with Hou and the others.

The Black Deer tribe's chief, deputy chief, and elders rose before dawn to fetch water, start fires, and cook meat. It wasn't until evening that they had prepared food for the tribe's nearly 20,000 members!

Xu Que felt that without the help of a bellows, the efficiency of cooking meat in the big iron pot was too low! So he decided to take advantage of the time when the Black Deer tribe had not yet built houses and everyone was not too busy, and make a bellows for the tribe to improve the efficiency of cooking meat in the big iron pot!

"Is the stone tablet commemorative album finished?" Xu Que shouted, looking at the man stretching and yawning at the entrance of the cave.

"It's not finished! I came out for some fresh air and to check if you're still outside! I need to bring out the animal hide food bag and sit in front of you to finish our stone tablet album! What if you sneak away if I don't keep an eye on you for a day? Last time you went to the primeval forest with Hagang, you had a fierce battle with Gu, don't think I didn't know! Gu even broke Hagang's nose! You two conspired together, acting like accomplices, and didn't even tell me when you got back to the tribe! You're really wicked!"

"Hmph! Don't even think about sneaking out under my nose again! I'm going to keep a close eye on you!" After saying that, Hou pouted, turned around and carried his animal skin food bag full of thin stone shards out of the tribal cave!

Xu Que took out a logging saw and a multi-functional automatic power drill from the system's inventory.

He used a log saw to cut down the leftover timber from the enclosures the tribe had built to raise wild animals, and had Hagang help him drag over one or two pieces.

I used a log saw to cut it into logs about one meter long.

Then, the sawn logs are cut into strips about 5 centimeters thick and the same width as the diameter of the log. Four identical strips are used to make the outer casing of the bellows.

Xu Que used a multi-functional power automatic drill to make notches in the wooden boards that were cut to serve as the outer box of the bellows, and then connected them with mortise and tenon joints.

Then, gently tap the finished mortise and tenon joints into the notch with the back of an axe. Repeat this process on both ends of each wooden board. A simplified version of the bellows's external structure is now complete!

Xu Que used a multi-functional power drill to drill a square hole, eight centimeters long and four centimeters wide, at the front and back of the box.

On the wooden board at the front of the bellows, make two small square holes, each about 3 cm wide and 5 cm long, spaced about 10 cm apart.

Using a logging saw and a multi-functional power drill, cut two strips of wood, each about 2.8 cm wide and 1.2 meters long, from another whole piece of timber.

The front end of the wooden strip is also made into a bellows handle using mortise and tenon joints. The bellows handle connects the two wooden strips to the inner box inside the ventilation box.

The bellows' inner chamber is sealed well with soft, furry cowhide around its perimeter!

Xu Que gripped the bellows handle, pushing and pulling it. The bellows created airflow as it was pushed and pulled, which was then compressed and used to blow air into the fire.

The movable wooden box is pulled open by hand, and air enters the box through the air inlet, compressing the box. The air inside the box then enters the air supply pipe through the exhaust port, and finally enters the smelting furnace to be used for cooking.

After Xu Que finished making the bellows, he waved to Hou, who was drawing and watching him, as if signaling her to come over.

When Hou saw Xu Que calling her, she obediently put the stone tablet commemorative book she was drawing into her animal skin food bag and came over to Xu Que.

"Is it hot now?" Xu Que roared, looking at him.

"It's hot! What? Are you going to fan me again?"

"Hmm! Look, I made a hand-cranked hair dryer for our tribe to use for cooking! Try lying on the other end of the hair dryer to see if there's any airflow." Xu Que looked at Hou with a beaming smile and great anticipation.

"Alright! I'll lie half-reclined at the bellows vent, you figure out a way to cool me down!" Hou said, then lay down and waited for Xu Que to operate.

Xu Que quickly pulled the bellows, and with a crackling sound, air flowed out of the bellows vent, blowing Hou's hair backward!

"Keep going! It's cool here! Just pull your suitcase properly! Let me cool off for a bit!" Hou closed his eyes and dozed off.

"The bellows testing phase is over. Now I'm going to install it myself next to the stove. This will make it much easier for the tribe members to cook meat!" Xu Que said as he picked up the bellows and went to the stove to install it.

He took out a boning knife from the system's inventory, leveled a patch of uneven soil next to the stove, and skillfully installed the bellows on it. Using a bamboo pole about the same thickness as the bellows' outlet, he connected one end of the pole to the outlet and the other end to the fire-starting area on the side of the stove.

Hou jumped up from the ground: "I told you to hold it and blow on it for me for a while, how come you installed it here in the blink of an eye? You're such a cheapskate! I'm not playing with you anymore!"

"Uh! This is a bellows, what's so fun about it? It's used for cooking over a fire! Tomorrow I'll make you a fully automatic fan so you can stay cool all day long!" Xu Que winked at her and smiled.

"Really? Is it true or not? You're not allowed to lie to me! If you lie to me, I'll cry every day! I won't be able to calm you down! Humph!"

"Of course it's true! I'd be a dog if I lied!"

It's time to cook meat again.

Hua led the deputy chief of the Black Deer tribe and all the members of the elders to the stove.

Xu Que took out a windproof, non-refillable lighter from his pocket, started a fire, and had the tribal elders pour water into the large iron pot.

Add the pre-cut beef chunks, add the seasonings, and then cover the pot.

"Look! This is a bellows I just made! It's for burning firewood and blowing air! It can speed up the airflow on the surface of the firewood, making the flames burn brightly! It's very simple to use, just pull it back and forth like this! You can control the speed yourself! If you want the wood to burn faster, pull the bellows faster, and if you want the wood to burn slower, pull the bellows slower!" Xu Que then demonstrated it to the primitive people of the tribe.

"Wow! Look! The fire in the stove is much stronger than before! Listen! I can almost hear it whooshing!" Hua looked down at the fire in the stove and turned to the members of the Black Deer Tribe's elder council behind her.

Hou gently poked Xu Que's back with his finger: "Speed ​​up! Pull the bellows as fast as you can! I want to see just how far the fire in this stove can burn!" Xu Que, slightly out of breath, turned to Ha Gang and said: "You pull it! Let Hou see just how high the flames in this stove can reach!"