The river froze, marking the onset of winter. The Hai Tribe's mass production campaign had raised a significant amount of fodder for livestock, enough to last them through the winter. Ma Yue decided to contribute radish leaves and half of his sunflower greens to the livestock for the winter; the wildebeest and sheep would struggle to survive on hay alone.
When the weather is cold, it is actually very easy to store winter vegetables, not to mention that there are cellars.
With sufficient reserves of salted dried radishes, the able-bodied men of the Hai tribe had to continue their large-scale production even in winter, and they didn't even stop boiling salt on the beach.
Well, primitive people had a hard life, and they were probably used to it. It was hard for Ma Yue to see things with the compassion of a modern person. Fortunately, this year, the Hai Tribe had hunted a lot of thick furs and also received a lot in exchange.
People who go out to work should try to wear thicker clothes to reduce the risk of frostbite as much as possible.
The processing of the plow is still under continuous in-depth research. Although the current wildebeest is much larger than that of the previous life, it is still not as good as cattle. Cattle are the most suitable for plowing. Even so, the efficiency of wildebeest plowing is still far too low compared to the two primitive people with backward tools.
Under Ma Yue's constant urging and encouragement, the tool research team led by Lu Heban finally developed a new generation of plows. Lu Heban tried one out and found that the new generation of plows required much less effort to pull with a horn horse, and was as efficient as two and a half able-bodied men.
This is very good, as long as there is progress, it is worth affirming. Ma Yue treated Lu Heban to a banquet, each of them a plate of stir-fried pork with green onions. Lu Heban was so grateful for such a high reward that he cursed and swore, and studied the new technology of the plow even more diligently.
The high priest had no objection to Ma Yue rewarding Lu Heban. Now the biggest harvest of the Hai tribe is arable land. Even if it is efficient with half an extra able-bodied man, there are at least a hundred wildebeests in the Hai tribe that can plough the land, which is equivalent to fifty more ploughing laborers. Do you think Lu Heban's contribution is great?
At the high priest's command, the vigorous construction of the new plow began...
"Spirit, the messenger from the Niupi tribe has arrived and is asking if the Ice and Snow Festival will still be held this year?" asked the second priest.
"We are not going to sell our radishes anymore, so why trade them?" Ma Yue was not interested. Why would he be active in something that did not bring him any profit?
"The Niu Hide Tribe reportedly got a lot of sheep and wildebeests. They honestly said they needed our coarse salt."
Coarse salt? Damn! Finally being honest. I thought you could get cheaper salt in Sun City, but it turns out the salt in Sun City is more expensive.
“Is it worth it?”
"In winter, since we can't travel far, trading for wildebeest and sheep is still profitable," the high priest said. "We have hundreds of extra men working on salt in winter, so the yield is very high."
"Well, even if a large amount of coarse salt is traded at the Ice and Snow Conference, there is still most of the winter left to store a large amount of coarse salt again. In the future, it will be enough to trade in Sun City." said the second priest.
With these two calculating priests around, the small account book would be very calculated, and Ma Yue could worry less. Of course, such transactions made the salt-making team of the Hai tribe even more difficult in winter.
It's okay if it's bitter, Ma Yue knows. These primitive people are used to it. As long as there's salted radish, all the primitive people are full of energy. With salt, people have physical strength.
"Give the salt-cooking team more rabbits, and kill a sheep for them every few days..." Ma Yue was still relatively soft-hearted. After all, they were human beings. Even if they only had a piece of meat, it would be good.
"Okay!" The second priest agreed reluctantly. Rabbits were okay, but killing sheep would be painful.
Of course, the high priest and the second priest have become accustomed to Ma Yue's soft-hearted character. They must do as the charlatan says and respect him in their hearts.
In fact, every decision made by the charlatan was correct and wise. It would be unimaginable for the Hai tribe to be as strong as it is today without Ma Yue.
"Don't worry, charlatan, we'll feed the salt-cooking team a sheep every three days. There won't be any shortage." Perhaps because he felt his tone was not very confident and lacked respect for the charlatan, the second priest patted his chest and assured him that attitude was very important.
Ma Yue nodded with satisfaction. The people-oriented thinking still needs to be implemented slowly.
How much meat does a sheep have? Although sheep in primitive times were relatively large, a sheep weighed at most 50 to 60 kilograms. The salt-making team of more than 200 people only weighed less than half a kilogram each.
Well, it's only three days on average for a decent meal of mutton, so let's just make do. Is half a pound too little? Damn! That's meat. If the other primitive tribes knew about this, they'd curse Ma Yue and call him a spendthrift.
Ma Yue didn't feel at a disadvantage at all. The crude salt produced by the salt-boiling team could be exchanged for more sheep and wildebeests even if the price of salt was not high at the "Ice and Snow Conference". The surplus value created by the salt-boiling team was at least two or three times more.
A salt-boiling team of 200 people consumes about 30 sheep in the whole winter. In the half winter before the Ice and Snow Festival, the value created by the salt-boiling team is about 60 to 80 sheep. The second priest is calculating very well.
As for the coarse salt needed for future transactions in Sun City, isn’t there still a reserve of coarse salt for half a winter, spring and summer?
The current second priest is equivalent to the Minister of Commerce and half of the Minister of Animal Husbandry of the Sea Tribe; the high priest is equivalent to the chief steward, agriculture, tools and equipment minister of the Sea Tribe; Chief Hai is equivalent to half of the Minister of Foreign Trade and half of the Minister of Defense... Interesting!
"We don't have to worry about the Niupi tribe stealing our business from Sun City. The three major super tribes in Sun City have a huge market for both green onions and coarse salt," said Ma Yue.
"Well, what the charlatan said makes sense. Even if we compete, the Niupi tribe cannot compete with us. After all, the coarse salt they have is purchased from us." Chief Hai said.
"According to my information over there, although the Sun Tribe produces its own salt, they still purchase coarse salt from our Oxhide Tribe. The situation has changed a lot. In the past, the Oxhide Tribe bought coarse salt from the Sun Tribe."
"As I said, the market in Sun City is huge. We have more than enough food to eat in the market of Moon Tribe, haha!" Ma Yue said with a smile.
"That's true!" Everyone laughed, and the concept of the new term "market" was gradually accepted by several leaders.
"God of gods, the Niupi tribe has gradually recovered some of its vitality. They have also followed our example and built a double-layer timber wall, retaining ditches, and defense platforms." said the second priest.
"It doesn't matter. Didn't I tell you that we have no intention of attacking the Niupi tribe? A siege itself consumes a large number of soldiers, which is not cost-effective. In the future, we will still focus on trade and try not to fight if we can avoid it." Ma Yue said.
"We are not afraid of fighting. On the way, our caravan was besieged by hundreds of people, but we still defeated them in a field battle, haha!" said the third leader Wu Qi. This time, he followed the second priest to the Sun City, and they only lost a few people in the battles along the way.
"Very good. A blacksmith must be strong himself. The military training of the soldiers of our Hai tribe must be continuous and long-term. In the future, once a war breaks out, perhaps we may take the initiative to fight. Only when we have our own strength will we not be afraid of others' coveting us, right?" Ma Yue said.
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