The next day, the Dragon Tribe quickly returned to normal.
They had to return, as autumn was almost over and the snowy season was about to set in. The men had been away for a month, wasting so much time, they had to hurry up and go hunting in the mountains to stock up on dried meat for the snowy season.
When the yams are ripe, the women are busy harvesting them. After harvesting the yams, they will return to the valley tribe with a hunting team to collect chestnuts.
Although the number of animals in the breeding team is increasing, everyone still tries to get as much reserve food as possible from outside.
Qiao Yu selected six men to smelt iron and forge blacksmith tools in preparation for the upcoming snow season fair.
Yes, when the Snow Season Fair arrived, she planned to take a group of people and participate in the Sun Tribe's fair under the identity of the Stone Tribe. However, the situation in the Sun Tribe was still unknown, and this trip was extremely risky. She had to prepare the weapons she would need in case of war with the larger tribe.
The carpentry team was busy making shields.
When fighting the Stone Tribe, Qiao Yu had considered making shields. Without tools, they couldn't make wooden shields, but they could weave shields out of vines.
But at that time, the people of the valley tribe had just come into contact with weapons such as spears. If they couldn't use one weapon well, they would definitely be in a mess if they had to use a shield.
Besides, she had no intention of having them engage the enemy in close combat to reduce casualties, so making a shield was meaningless.
Now everyone has mastered not only spears but also archery. It is time to practice the coordination of spears and shields.
After being so busy for almost a month, Shan Lai, who had been keeping an eye on the weather, came to the smelting site to find Qiao Yu: "Yu, the first snow is about to fall. Shouldn't you guys set off?"
Qiao Yu placed the finished arrowhead into the basin with a hiss. He raised his head and said to Shan, "Then please notify everyone for me. When we get back today, we'll confirm the number of people, pack our things, and set off the day after tomorrow."
"How many people are you taking?" Shan asked again.
"Thirty people from each of the Valley Tribe, the Boulder Tribe, and the Shanyin Tribe will go, and it's voluntary," Qiao Yu said. "Man will stay with the tribe, and Liushui will go with me. We'll swap places next year. The team leaders of each team will go this time, and they'll take turns going when we have the chance to go out in the future."
"Also, notify the women's hunting and gathering teams. Women under thirty-five and over fifteen can sign up to go with us to the Valley Tribe to gather yams and chestnuts. After gathering, they will be escorted back to the tribe by the women's hunting team, so they don't have to come back with us."
Seeing that Qiao Yu had arranged everything properly, Shan naturally had no objection. He agreed and went out to prepare things.
The ironware made by Qiao Yu and the shields made by the carpentry team were all stored in his warehouse.
Knowing the number of people going out, he had to count out these things so that they could be equipped. The women had to prepare the shovels and wicker baskets for gathering.
Shan knew that after going out with Qiao Yu a few times, the men's hearts had become wild. Because with Qiao Yu around, there was no danger, and they could see the world and do exciting things. Everyone was willing to go out with her instead of staying in the tribe and hunting day after day.
Sure enough, that evening, when he, Man, Liushui, and the other team leaders tallied the numbers, they discovered that almost all the men had signed up. With no other options, they explained the situation to Qiao Yu and asked for her advice.
"Then let each team leader choose the most capable ones," Qiao Yu said. "This time, we might encounter armed conflict with the Sun Tribe, the God Tribe, and the Shanyin Tribe. It's quite dangerous, so it's better to bring the most capable ones. Of course, you should also spread the word that those who have signed up can withdraw if they want to. Everything is voluntary."
Those who went out to fight had to be elite soldiers. Even if someone was capable but timid and didn't dare to take risks, she didn't want them.
While it's called voluntary registration, it's actually a screening exercise. Qiao Yu won't give anyone who backs down a chance, no matter how capable they are. The capable rise, the mediocre fall; the brave rise, the timid fall. This is her principle for hiring.
So the team leaders did some more publicity, screened those who were still willing to go, and finalized the number of people.
The same thing happened with the women. Almost everyone who could go had signed up. There were no quotas for them, so anyone who wanted to go could go.
"The team leaders should write down on wooden slips who signed up first, who withdrew later, and who were finally selected, and give it to Ming for statistics," said Qiao Yu.
The first thing she taught was everyone's name. Team leaders were required to recognize and write their team members' names, as well as learn to count and perform addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers. While teaching characters, she noticed a few students were particularly intelligent, so she took time out to train them with Ming, several elders, and team leaders.
This time when we went to the Sifang tribe, while we were waiting on the other side of the river, the men were tutored by the young teachers, who held classes every day in caves or valleys.
Now, not to mention the team leaders, even ordinary people can read and write the names of their team members.
After Qiao Yu said this, the team leaders all felt sympathy for those who had signed up but then dropped out.
However, the team leaders looked down upon these cowards. Having such people in a team was extremely embarrassing for them. Furthermore, the team leaders had to be rated monthly by their teammates, and their relationship with them was extremely delicate, so they would not bring up this matter in front of their teammates.
Let Qiao Yu and Ming put the names of these cowards on the blacklist.
…
Everyone is now used to traveling long distances, and they have participated in snow season fairs before, so they know exactly what to bring, and Qiao Yu doesn't need to worry about it anymore.
As for the items to be brought for trading, Qiao Yu considered it for a while and finally did not bring anything else. Instead, he brought all the dried meat made from hunting and slaughtering at the farm during this period.
"Why don't you bring pottery and potatoes?" Everyone raised this question at the mid-level meeting.
At the last snow season trade fair, pottery and yams brought the tribe a good deal of salt. While pottery wasn't enough for food or clothing, it was now basically enough to meet the tribe's needs. The pottery team had already crafted a batch of pottery before returning to the tribe, just in preparation for this trade fair.
Now Qiao Yu did not bring this cost-effective pottery, but brought dried meat that the tribe also lacked. Everyone was puzzled.
"There's a 50% chance we'll clash with those tribes this time. We'll be lurking, chasing, and fighting. Will carrying fragile pottery be appropriate? We traded the hairy potato seedlings for hemp seedlings with the Sun Tribe last year. While they can't produce large quantities of hairy potatoes through cultivation, they can forage for them in the wild based on the vines they produce. So, hairy potatoes can't be exchanged for much now, and they're also very heavy, making them inconvenient for us to carry."
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