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Seeing that everything was on track, Wu Yue finally found time to try his hand at ironmaking.
Iron smelting requires a high temperature of over a thousand degrees. Fortunately, there are ready-made pottery kilns and lime kilns in the tribe, so this problem is not difficult to solve.
After putting the iron powder and cans he had collected over the past few days into a large ceramic bowl, he broke a small hole in the burning lime kiln and put the ceramic bowl in.
Under the burning flames, the iron in the ceramic bowl slowly turned red. He waited patiently for half a day before he saw the iron powder and the can melt bit by bit.
As long as it could melt, he took the opportunity to wet the sand, found a stone spear and stuck the spearhead into the sand, forming three simple molds.
Only when the iron in the pottery bowl melted into iron liquid did he carefully use a wet branch to pick out the pottery bowl and slowly pour the iron liquid into the mold formed by the sand. He specially picked a small stone spear, and the iron liquid was just enough to make three spear heads.
The iron cast in this way is pig iron, which is hard and brittle, and is not very suitable for making weapons. It must be heated and repeatedly forged to form wrought iron, which can be made into better weapons.
Fortunately, he was prepared for this, but without a hammer, he could only use stones.
He was a little overwhelmed by this kind of physical work. Fortunately, Xiao didn't go out hunting today, so he could just ask him to help.
After cooling and forming the spearhead in the sand, Wu Yue placed it back in the kiln, heated it red hot, and then took it out and hammered it into shape with hard stone. The sparks flying from the blows frightened Wu Yue a little. After demonstrating once, he handed the job over to Xiao, not forgetting to cover him with fur for protection.
Xiao had been itching to make weapons since he heard that Wu Yue was going to make them, and he would come to see from time to time. Now that he saw that the powders and boxes really had the prototype of a spearhead, he couldn't wait any longer and kept moving under Wu Yue's command.
Wu Yue squatted beside him and watched, occasionally instructing him to put the spear head into water to quench it, or put it back into the kiln to heat it again.
Although he had no experience, he had at least seen some movies and TV shows, and after some guesswork, he actually got the first spearhead.
The spear head is spindle-shaped and black all over. At Wu Yue's request, the tip and both sides of the spear were forged very thin to make polishing easier.
Pulling out a whetstone from the space, Wu Yue poured water on it and began to sharpen it. Although it was a tedious task, it didn't take much effort.
The two men, one hitting and the other sharpening, naturally attracted curious people to come and watch. At first, they didn't know what they were doing, but they knew that the things made by the messenger of God must be good things. After seeing Wu Yue sharpen the spearhead in his hand until it was shiny and sharp, they were all surprised and happy.
This is a weapon! It's not made of stone or bone, but like the ones brought by the gods, it's extremely sharp and can easily kill prey or enemies!
Although the envoy had previously said they could make weapons, they also said they couldn't find enough materials, so they didn't have high hopes. Unexpectedly, they didn't expect it to be made so quickly! With such weapons and vine armor, they no longer feared anyone!
"God, God's Envoy!" Fox, who had just replaced Ma Tian as the vice-captain, said eagerly, "Are you and the leader making weapons?"
Will he have a share of this weapon? Although it's not as good as the ones brought by the God's Messenger, it looks very sharp. Moreover, it was made by the God's Messenger and the leader themselves!
"Yeah." Wu Yue agreed, then sighed, "There's not enough materials, so I can only make three spears."
Fox's heart tightened, fearing that it would be his turn, and he quickly said flatteringly: "Three is not bad, it took a long time to collect the materials to make them."
Wu Yue smiled and said, "That's right. We'll find a way to find iron ore later. When we have enough materials, we can use this stuff to make pots, nails, and many other useful things besides weapons."
The fox nodded repeatedly, but was not actually listening carefully. His eyes were fixed eagerly on the spearhead.
Wu Yue found it funny, but he also understood his desire for sharp weapons. He had good fighting ability, so he would eventually be given one of the three spears.
He stood up and handed over the unfinished spear head in his hand: "Come here, sharpen it and make it into a spear yourself." Just find a hard wooden stick to clamp or tie the spear head on it, and he won't have to worry about this kind of work.
The fox was startled, then overjoyed. He thanked Wu Yue repeatedly and took the spear head like a treasure. He squatted down and imitated Wu Yue to carefully sharpen it on the whetstone.
"God's Messenger!" Seeing that Fox got the new weapon after talking to God's Messenger for a few words, the onlookers' eyes were about to spit fire. They surrounded Wu Yue and stared at him eagerly.
Wu Yue spread his hands and said, "Don't look at me. It's up to the leader to decide how to distribute the remaining two spears."
A group of people immediately rushed over to stare at Xiao. Wu Yue patted the dust off his body and left with a smile.
He first went to look at the jungle fowl. With plenty of food and warm weather, the hens had already started laying eggs. Wu Yue was reluctant to eat them, so he made a nest of hay and ripped fur and put them inside, hoping the hens would hatch chicks.
Sure enough, after collecting a dozen eggs, a hen stopped moving from the day before yesterday and lay in the chicken coop all day. When Wu Yue went in to add food and water, her feathers would stand up vigilantly.
Wu Yue naturally didn't dare to disturb it. He always put food and water carefully not far in front of it, for fear that it would get excited and break the eggs.
Wu Yue walked outside the chicken coop and saw the little fox peeking out from afar. He sighed helplessly. After all, it was the nature of foxes to eat chickens. Although he had repeatedly told the baby not to hurt the chickens, the baby still often stared at the chicken coop with a greedy look on his face.
Although it obediently did not attack, its appearance always made the chickens inside panic and terrified, especially the rooster, which was afraid but also tried to hold on, with the feathers on its neck standing up and its wings spread out, as if it was ready to fight to the death.
"Baby!" he shouted coldly. He walked forward, picked up the little fox, tapped its head with his finger, and gently accused it, "Didn't I tell you not to eat the chicken inside? If you don't behave, you won't have any sausages to eat in the future."
The baby didn't respond, either because he didn't understand or was just pretending to be stupid. He just wagged his tail and used his paws to scratch his fingers.
Want to get away with it again——
But he had to admit that this method was very useful to Wu Yue. Wu Yue sighed in his heart, but he naturally took out a small piece of sausage from the space and fed it to the baby.
The little fox was not greedy. After eating a piece, he jumped out of the arms and ran away in a few seconds.
That night, in order to distribute the remaining two spears, the Sharp Tooth Tribe held a small fighting competition.
Xiao, Shi, Yu, Fox and other people who already had iron weapons and had strong fighting ability did not participate. Among the remaining people, there were many young and strong men who were determined to get the spears. Soon, groups of people started fighting in the open space next to the campfire.
Wu Yue was initially interested, but the more he watched, the more alarmed he became. He frowned and asked Xiao, "Can they fight like this? I think they're going to use some heavy hands."
Xiao handed him the roasted meat and replied, "It's okay. Such sparring happens all the time. They all know the rules and won't mess around."
Wu Yue watched for a while while biting the barbecue, and saw that they did not attack the fatal weaknesses, but hit the thick parts of the meat, so he felt a little relieved. He did not want the small population to be lost because of such a thing.
"Hey, so you fought like this when you were choosing a leader?" Suddenly remembering something, he turned around and asked Xiao. He heard that choosing a leader was a round-robin battle. How could Xiao be so resistant to attacks?
Xiao nodded, a proud look on his face: "No one in the entire Sharp Fang Tribe can defeat me."
Although he was indeed seriously injured that day.
Wu Yue snorted at his boast, then suddenly remembered something: "By the way, how are tribal leaders replaced? Do they serve until death, or do they retire after a certain age?"
Xiao paused and sighed, "If the leader is still alive, he will step down when he realizes his health is failing. However... no leader of the Sharp Fang Tribe has ever lived that long."
It's not just the chief, the members of the hunting team, or even those who are only responsible for gathering and making salt. Most people in the tribe find it difficult to live to old age.
Wild beasts, enemies, snakes, insects, poisonous weeds, weather, illness, hunger...
They have too much to face.
Wu Yue quickly reacted, patted Xiao on the shoulder, and comforted him, "It's okay. If we all work together, we will definitely ensure that everyone can live a stable life until old age."
Xiao took the hand from his shoulder, brought it to his lips and kissed it: "Of course, we can do it."
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