Chapter 282: A Grand Sacrifice (Please vote and subscribe)
It took seven days for the reconnaissance team to return to the Han tribe. Luo Chong also got the most detailed survey information and prepared to plan the construction of a new city in Hanyang City. However, this was not a very urgent matter, because as soon as spring came, the Han tribe would mobilize the labor of the entire tribe for spring plowing. Even if there were any plans, they had to wait until the end of spring plowing before taking action.
Time passed quickly. In the last month of winter, the cavalry teams that went out to trade people brought back 300 people. Together with the more than 30 people who had taken the initiative to go to the Han tribe before, and the population brought back in the previous two months, a total of 817 people were added in winter, and the total population of the Han tribe barely reached 4,000, and this was still counting slaves.
Spring has returned, and it is a new year. Luo Chong has finally reached the standard of adulthood. He is 12 years old. However, since there are 14 months in a year here, Luo Chong should be 14 years old when converted into Earth time, and he is in the eighth grade of junior high school. Moreover, due to the improvement of living standards last year, he has no shortage of meat and rice, and his height has soared to 1.75 meters. This age is the period when boys grow taller.
Along with Luo Chong's adulthood, another group of adults has emerged in the Han tribe, but there are not many, only about 100 people. These are the teenagers from the Black Rat Tribe, You Tribe, Li Tribe, and Bian Tribe. The rest of the tribesmen were absorbed last year. They are either newly-adults, or too big or too small. The foundation of the Han tribe is still too short, and most of the tribesmen are new members. There is nothing they can do about it.
With the arrival of spring, the annual high priest held a routine ceremony again. However, this time the sacrifice was a little special. It was not only the tribesmen of the Han tribe. Because of the return of spring, the market at the beginning of each month was held again. However, the first market at the beginning of the year was not for trading goods, but for those tribes that had learned to grow rice to learn spring ploughing from the Han tribe.
In addition to the time and experience of learning spring ploughing, the large-scale blind date meeting in spring every year was moved to the market of the Han tribe. Each spring meeting took many days. This year, there was also spring ploughing. If we went to Rumeng Water Valley as usual, it would be a waste of time. It would be better to hold it together when everyone came to the market.
Because of the blind date meeting this time, many people from various tribes came. The leaders or witches and elders of each tribe led the team personally, plus about ten strong warriors, and led twenty or thirty young boys and girls who had just reached adulthood. Each tribe had about forty people. Dozens of tribes added up, and the population gathered reached thousands of people. They were all stationed on the pasture west of Hanyang City, densely packed.
Most of these people came to the Han tribe for the first time, especially those young boys and girls who had just reached adulthood. They had never left the tribe too far before they came of age. Although they had heard from their tribesmen about the Han tribe’s market, they had never seen it with their own eyes.
In three days, almost all the tribes that were supposed to come had arrived. On the morning of the fourth day, the Han tribe held a grand sacrificial ceremony and allowed these tribes to watch the ceremony. Luo Chong also intended to show the strength of the Han tribe through the sacrifice.
On the morning of the fourth day, the cowhide drums on the four walls of Hanyang City were all moved to the top of the west gate, and a tall flagpole was erected on the top of the west city tower, but there was no flag on it.
Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
When the sun was about to rise to the sight of the west wall, the eight drums on the west wall of Hanyang City suddenly sounded. The more than a thousand people gathered outside the city were also startled by the thunderous drum sound, and they all walked together to look at the top of the west city.
With the slow and rhythmic drumbeats, the solid wood suspension bridge at the west gate slowly lowered, and finally landed on the other side of the moat with a thump, and a huge red lacquered solid wood door immediately appeared on the city wall.
After a series of creaking sounds, the inner and outer gates opened, and the tribesmen who had been prepared in the city lined up to walk out of the west gate, and soon formed a square formation in front of the west gate. Except for the slaves who were locked in a warehouse, all the other tribesmen came out. The team was so huge that the foreigners couldn't help but secretly smack their lips.
"Oh my god, how many people are there in the Han tribe? I saw 1,000 people who came for blind dates these days, and I thought it was a lot, several times more than the people in our tribe. I didn't expect that the people in the Han tribe are several times more than the dozens of tribes that came for blind dates. The Han tribe is really big." A teenager who came to the market for the first time said in shock.
"Yes, yes, there are so many people in the Han tribe, eh? I think I saw my brother, he joined the Han tribe last spring, I also want to join the Han tribe, the Han tribe is really great."
A young girl who just came of age next to her also jumped up and down, pointing at her relatives in the crowd and introducing them to the people next to her, looking very excited and proud, as if being able to join the Han tribe is the most worth boasting about.
The crowd chattered non-stop, marveling at the strength of the Han tribe, but this did not affect the Han tribe's sacrifice.
The tribesmen quickly marched out of the west gate and formed a square formation outside the west gate. The children stood in the front, the women holding infants in the middle, and the young and strong men of the Han tribe were on the outermost edge. Just when the square formation was completed, the drums on the city wall finally fell silent.
Then, several people on the city wall were seen holding something and walked to the arrow slits on the top of the wall. They tied several two-meter-wide yellow linen scrolls to the city wall, and then suddenly let them go. The scrolls automatically fell down, and finally fully unfolded and hung on the outer wall of the city wall.
On the scroll in the middle were four large black characters "Respecting Ancestors", and on both sides were hung "Abundant Harvest", "Farmer's Prosperity", "Prosperous Population", and "Peace in All Seasons". Each character was nearly two square meters in size and was very conspicuous when hung on the city wall.
The appearance of the scrolls soon caused a commotion among the crowd watching the ceremony. Many young men and women pointed at the five scrolls and shouted loudly.
"Look, look, I've seen those Chinese characters. They are on the porcelain bowl I eat from. I can read them all. The one with five grains and abundant harvests means praying for a good rice harvest. I like eating that rice the most now." The boy in the crowd pointed at the scroll and said loudly.
"I know those Chinese characters too. The one with a prosperous population means praying for more children for the tribe. There are more and more people in the tribe. I have it on my bowl, too."
"I know the one with six livestock and multiplying animals too. I heard from our leader that it means the wild beasts raised by the Han tribe are to make the wild beasts give birth to more cubs. But I don't know what the six livestock are."
A boy also said the Chinese characters on the scroll, but he didn't know what they meant. However, as the sacrifice progressed, this doubt was soon solved for them.
(End of this chapter)
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