"It was given to me by a friend when I was doing business in Sun City." Niu Tou spoke the language of the Sea Tribe quite well. "If the charlatan likes it, I'll give it to you."
"Okay!" Ma Yue was not polite at all.
Niutou took off the string around his neck and the accessories he was wearing and gave them to Ma Yue. Even primitive people had ornaments: beautiful shells, polished bones, and even a few feathers stuck into their heads...
"Is this thing for sale?" Ma Yue asked.
"Sell? Who wants this?" In this world, goods are primarily food, with furs also being important. I made all the decorations myself.
"Swindler, how about you exchange some of your pickled bacon with us?" Niu Tou was not interested in the topic of accessories, but he must be interested in food.
"Again, on credit?" Salting bacon required a lot of salt, so Ma Yue was naturally unhappy, paying no mind to Niu Tou's face-saving pout. Besides, bacon needed to be chopped into small pieces or long, thin strips; otherwise, the salt wouldn't get absorbed and it would spoil. It was quite troublesome.
"Cure the meat and exchange it for wildebeests. No credit. How about sixty wildebeests?" said the Bull Head.
"I don't have that many people. You can buy the meat and salt, take them back, and marinate them yourself." Ma Yue said.
"That's fine!" The Cowhide Tribe also knows how to pickle meat, and they have their own cellars, so it's not a big problem. Niutou has no objection.
Ma Yue looked at the second priest and Hai. He was not good at bargaining and found it troublesome.
So, the sea came out again, and the spit started flying again...
Another great deal was struck, and Hai was quite content. Since there was meat involved, trading wildebeest would naturally require much less salt, right?
After working for many days, the Cowhide Tribe took away a large amount of meat and salt for the second time, and the Sea Tribe's whale harvesting business was basically over.
Hai, this time, led the team out. There was no other way. The Niupi tribe wanted to use this batch of wildebeests to carry the meat back. Only the people of the Hai tribe could go to the Niupi tribe and take back the wildebeests.
Yes, at least, at present, the Sea Tribe has harvested another sixty wildebeests.
The meat from the two whales really wasn't wasted this time (for a tribe of three thousand, dealing with just two whales was a minor undertaking). We began to simmer the remaining whale fat. Regardless of whether it was smelly or not, it was still oil. What if we could use a fire attack later? We should stockpile it.
The salt boiling at the seaside had long ceased. In the early days, whale oil had been boiled in those large concrete basins, so a lot of good whale oil was harvested and could be used.
Even a lot of fat was eaten. Ma Yue looked at the fat and it looked disgusting, but the primitive people loved to eat it because it was greasy and smooth, and it was very filling.
This is the advantage of having a lot of people, nothing is delayed.
Stone City didn't have much whale meat in reserve; most of it had been taken away by the sub-tribes and villages. Relying solely on the headquarters staff to pickle it would be too slow. The sub-tribes and villages also had elderly and weak cooks, so more people could do the work and the utilization rate would be higher.
Primitive people were used to living a hard life, so after a few big meals, they would pickle as much bacon as possible to live a life of ease and comfort.
No matter what, the fact that the sea sent the meat of two big whales for free was a good sign for the Sea Tribe.
Sure enough, the summer harvest that followed shortly afterwards produced a bumper crop of radishes.
The poor salt-making team, the coarse salt seems to never be enough. After pickling the whale meat, they have to start pickling a large amount of salted radish.
"Are you going too?" Hai and the second priest looked at Ma Yue in surprise. Everyone knew that Ma Yue was lazy and didn't like to go out.
"Look, what is this?" Ma Yue took out the ornament he got from Niu Tou.
“It’s a bit hard!”
"Neither bone nor stone!"
"Holy charlatan, is this important?" The second priest knew that the holy charlatan would not let him see this thing for no reason, it must be very important.
"This is copper! A very important metal!" Ma Yue then began explaining the significance of metal tools to the Second Priest and Hai. Of course, such a small piece of copper didn't look like it was deliberately fashioned into a tiger head. As for how it was made, Ma Yue was certainly interested.
Not to mention copper-making technology, even if you can buy copper products, it is cost-effective.
No matter how bad copper is, it is still metal. It is always sharper than stone and bone, right?
Niutou often went to Sun City to trade, and ninety-nine percent of the time, he got his copper from a larger tribe in Sun City, most likely the Sun Tribe. For copper, Ma Yue didn't care about any taboos.
Of course, it could also be that a small tribe wanted to curry favor with the Bull Head and gave it to him.
Whatever the case, it was worth it for Ma Yue to go to Sun City just for the copper. The mere thought of copper plows, hoes, and shovels would excite him.
"It turns out that copper is so awesome!" Hai smacked his lips.
"Epoch-making significance?" The second priest was a little excited. This guy was an intellectual and idealistic talent.
"I won't go to Sun City. The ship there will be here soon. I will go to Ghost Town to look for it. I must find the tribe that can refine copper." Hai's feelings for the Hai tribe are incomparable. No matter how demoted Hai is now, Hai has no regrets and will do his best to do his job.
As long as the Hai tribe is doing well, Hai will be satisfied.
"Think about it, if we had weapons made of solid copper, even if our Sea Tribe swept across the world, who could rival us..."
The second priest and the sea, with their mouths wide open.
Ma Yue was just talking. There is not even a copper mine near the Hai tribe. Even if you have copper smelting technology, it is of no use.
No matter what, the appearance of this small piece of copper is a hope, isn't it?
The first season's radishes were harvested, providing a large amount of salted radishes. While the wildebeests were still plowing the fields again, Ma Yue had already begun preparing for the long journey.
Ma Yue didn't know what a Gaoqiao saddle was. But he had seen one before. From the day he found the copper, he had his manufacturing team begin to build a saddle according to his own ideas.
There was only a piece of leather on the wildebeest's back, which was very uncomfortable.
In this world, without many carpenter's tools, a curved saddle is, of course, very difficult to build. It's no use; the wildebeest's back is curved. Saddles have front and back guards to prevent them from slipping off the horse's back, right?
Who is Ma Yue? He's a charlatan. Whatever the charlatan says, no matter how difficult it is, you have to do it.
The slightly rough saddle seems to match a group of tall and strong wildebeests, which is pretty good.
"Good! Lu Da, well done!" Since Lu and Ban were not in Stone City, Ma Yue, the leader of the manufacturing team at headquarters, had given this guy a catchy name out of joking humor. It was an honor for the people of the Sea Tribe to have a name given by a charlatan.
"Put a piece of animal skin on the wildebeest's back first, so that it won't feel uncomfortable." Ma Yue immediately experimented.
As for the stirrup, it's even simpler.
With my feet in the stirrups, I turned over and rode on the tall wildebeest. With the simple stirrups and saddle, and the fur padding under my butt, it was much more comfortable.
As soon as I shook the reins, the wildebeest started to gallop. It was good, much more stable, and with the saddle, its butt was no longer pressed.
The wildebeests of this era were still smaller than the tall warhorses of the past, but that was fine. At least they could reach 30 kilometers per hour, right? The wildebeests of this era weren't very fast, but they still had excellent endurance.
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