Chapter 481: Alloy of Xin Tribe (two chapters in one, please vote and subscribe)
Su Ritu carefully cut the Gaoqiao saddle, and then laid a thick layer of felt on it, and then covered it with the best lamb skin in the tribe, and finally used the skin of grassland rhinoceros to make glue to stick it together, and then decorated it with some grassland-style decorations, so that a delicate saddle with high ends was made.
It was not easy to make this saddle, because metal tools were scarce, Su Ritu had no choice but to use an iron dagger to cut it one by one. Making such a saddle is basically the same as carving a sculpture by hand.
With the trade activities of the Han tribe caravans on the grasslands in the past two years, more and more grassland tribes have begun to recognize this powerful nation living in the mountains. They have a lot of wealth and miraculous manufacturing technology, various ox carts, horse carts, pottery jars, porcelain bowls, iron pots and cooking utensils, as well as salt, which is indispensable to humans, dense woolen cloth crisscrossed, hair-like woolen yarn, and sharp and thin iron needles and awls.
The most important thing is that there are well-armed warriors in the Han tribe, which is the guarantee for their safe trade on the grasslands.
Some people see the wealth of the Han tribe and the first thing they think of is to rob them, but Su Ritu is different. He prefers to trade with the Han tribe.
This is not because he is so kind, but because Su Ritu thinks highly of himself. He disdains to rob the Han tribe caravans because it will not benefit their tribe at all, but will bring disaster to his tribe.
"My tribe is not yet a match for the Han tribe."
Su Ritu had a clear understanding, unlike those fools who were blinded by interests and automatically bumped into the knife edge of the Han tribe.
"If I want to rob, I won't rob their things, I will rob those craftsmen who can make things."
A pair of scarred hands tightly grasped the shining dagger. Those wounds were left when he made this saddle this winter.
Su Ritu liked this steel dagger very much. It was very useful for slaughtering livestock, skinning, dividing meat and removing bones. I don't know how much better it is than those stone and bone tools. It's a pity that it's too expensive. The guy named Youfu wanted to exchange two cows for this dagger. He exchanged two daggers and felt his heart bleeding. These two little things were actually more expensive than a car.
"They obviously have so much iron, and the long swords their warriors wear are as tall as children, but they just don't want to sell it to us."
Su Ritu gritted his teeth secretly, but soon he was relieved. He was a smart man, and he fully understood the practice of the Han tribe. If his own tribe also mastered the skills of making such artifacts, he would never sell it to others easily. Wouldn't this cause trouble for himself? What if the other party bought his weapons and turned around to beat him?
So Su Ritu didn't have any aversion to the Han tribe. On the contrary, he respected the legendary leader of the Han tribe very much, because he felt that the other party was also very smart, just like himself, no, smarter. According to the man named You Fu, these things were made by their leader and the tribesmen, and the production methods were all taught to them by the leader.
"The leader of the Han tribe is really amazing!" Su Ritu exclaimed.
It is impossible to beat them by beating, so robbing is not an option. As for plundering the craftsmen of the Han tribe, that is even more impossible. Not to mention that he didn't know where the Han tribe lived at all, even if he knew, he would only be beaten.
"Why should we fight? Even in this situation, I can still gain benefits." Su Ritu couldn't help but think.
Behind the six carts, there were some slaves tied together, or should we call them captives. There were also many warriors riding horses around the captives, patrolling in front and behind the team. Although these cavalry warriors were not equipped with stirrups and high-bridge saddles, they all wore leather armor and leather helmets.
This was also learned from the caravans of the Han tribe.
Just last winter, after Su Ritu's tribe and the caravan of the Han tribe separated, when he saw the cavalry wearing armor that could block the arrows of the grassland people, he secretly became interested.
The production of this thing is not very difficult. You only need to cut the raw cowhide into a suitable shape and then string it together with silk thread to make it look like clothes. However, the leather armor of the Han tribe was painted with several layers of paint, and there was no such thing on the grassland, so Su Ritu could only let the tribesmen make the simplest leather armor.
The tools were ready. They bought a large number of iron scissors from Youfu. They were sold to them by the Han tribe for shearing wool, but they could also be used to shear cowhide. It was not difficult to drill holes in leather armor. They bought awls specifically for making shoes, and the thin ropes used to weave armor could be rubbed with wool.
In this way, Su Ritu formed a team of warriors in his tribe who were all wearing cowhide armor. The horse gear was still the same, the bows and arrows were still the original single bows, and the arrows were still bone and stone arrowheads. However, through learning from the Han tribe, they also knew the correct way to add tail feathers to the tail of the arrow.
In the end, Su Ritu relied on such a team of three or four hundred people to plunder the weak tribes around during the long winter, because this team was equipped with leather armor, which enabled them to reduce their own casualties in battles with the enemy.
Although it was just unqualified leather armor, it helped Su Ritu a lot. In many battles with other tribes, leather armor played a huge role. The enemy often kept a certain distance from them. When they were within the range, both sides shot arrows at each other at the same time. The final result can be imagined. The enemy's bone arrows were difficult to penetrate their leather armor, but their own arrows caused serious damage to the enemy.
Even in such a situation, Su Ritu was not idle for the whole winter. He beat all the small tribes living around his tribe for the winter. The total number of captives was more than 4,000. With the more than 1,000 people in his tribe, the number of herdsmen under Su Ritu exceeded 6,000. However, there were still not many adult men among them. Most of them were women and children robbed.
In addition to the population, there were also a large number of livestock robbed from several tribes, with more than 20,000 cattle, horses and sheep in total.
Looking at the crowded herds in front and the strings of slaves behind, Su Ritu showed a satisfied smile.
"Look, isn't this great? Why should we go and rob the Han tribe? Just learning something from them can bring me countless spoils of war, hahahaha."
All the tribesmen looked at their leader sitting on the cart in confusion, not knowing who he was talking to or why he suddenly laughed.
But it didn't matter anymore. The warriors on horseback were very happy because the battle last winter not only brought a lot of harvest to the tribe, but also to themselves. Everyone got at least one woman. Who wouldn't be happy about such a good thing?
"Ah! It would be great if we could equip the same saddles and stirrups as the Han tribe, and even better, some metal weapons, that would be even better." After laughing, Su Ritu began to mutter to himself again. He picked up a bowl of milk that the slaves had just squeezed for him, gulped it down, and looked at the silver bowl in his hand that was shining white in the sun, and couldn't help thinking secretly.
"The weapons of the Han tribe are hopeless, there is no way to exchange them, and even if you can exchange them, they are ridiculously expensive, and there is no way to use them as weapons for the warriors. But what about the not-so-powerful Xin tribe? Don't they also make metal things? I wonder if their tribe can make iron tools?"
Su Ritu, who wanted to strengthen himself by learning from the
Han tribe, realized that it was impossible to buy steel weapons from the Han tribe. He once again looked at another tribe of merchants who often moved on the grassland, the Xin tribe, which also made metal tools.
However, what Su Ritu didn't know was that the Xin tribe was also not doing well at that time.
In late autumn last year, the leader of the Xin tribe, who was looking forward to the caravan bringing back vehicle samples day and night, waited for not the legendary ox cart that could carry hundreds of kilograms of grain, but a group of defeated soldiers who even lost their mounts.
A large number of sea salts used to trade cattle and horses were gone, and the various grain seeds they brought were gone, and even the pack horses used to carry goods were gone. More than half of the more than 100 people who were specially prepared for contact with the Han tribe caravan were also killed, and only less than 30 people returned. These people didn't even bring back their own mounts, let alone a cow or sheep. They walked all the way back.
This result was certainly not what the commander-in-chief wanted, so he was furious. You know, the lost materials this time were not a small amount. Although sea salt and food could be produced again, it would take time. And those additional personnel who were sent out all died outside.
The commander-in-chief needed an explanation, and the families of the dead also needed an explanation.
"Commander, the Han tribe is too domineering. Not only did they not agree to us exchanging seeds for their carriages, they also sent soldiers to kill our people and rob our things. That's not all. After killing people, they threatened me, saying that we are not allowed to run to the grassland to sell white salt in the future. If they see us, they will kill us every time they see us. Listen, they don't take our Xin tribe seriously at all. Commander-in-chief, you have to help our people get revenge! Woo woo woo woo"
After listening to the old elder Shang crying and complaining, the commander-in-chief felt very upset and finally sneered at the elder Shang.
"Yes, we should avenge those dead members. You were the one who promised us that we could exchange seeds for the carriages we wanted. But now, where have you taken them? Ah?" The commander-in-chief angrily slapped the bamboo coffee table, causing the exquisite porcelain tea set on it to fly up. Then he shouted loudly.
"Come here, drag Elder Shang out and chop him off. Hang his head, hands, feet and body on the trees outside. Tell the families of the dead members that it was this bastard's fault for not bringing them back."
Elder Shang, who was lying on the ground crying and cursing the Han tribe in indignation, was immediately shocked and peed when he heard the commander-in-chief's verdict on him.
No matter how he begged for mercy, the commander-in-chief did not let him go. Soon, all the parts of Elder Shang were hung on the largest tree in the middle of Qingquan Valley. The families of the caravan members who died outside also ran here to grab the body. The last family grabbed a piece of meat and took it back to sacrifice to their dead relatives.
The commander-in-chief was not a fool. After such a thing happened, he would definitely find a scapegoat to kill in order to vent the anger of the families of the deceased. Moreover, the proposal to exchange grain seeds for car grain was originally proposed by Elder Shang. Who else could he kill if not him?
Seeking revenge on the Han tribe? Don't be ridiculous. Do they know where the Han tribe is? So they had to kill Elder Shang first to vent their anger.
But others didn't know what was going on, but the commander-in-chief knew that the culprit of this incident should still be blamed on the Han tribe. That group of people was too domineering. It was fine if they didn't exchange the car, but they also killed our people and robbed our things. It was really too much.
The commander-in-chief was getting more and more angry, but there was no way to solve this problem. Find the people of the Han tribe and fight back? That was not very realistic, but it would be a great loss if the carriage was not made.
Of course, when Elder Shang vowed to bring back a car as a sample, the research department of the Xin tribe was not idle. They had been trying to make vehicles and now they had made some progress.
"Come on, call the people who make the car." Thinking of this, the commander-in-chief immediately started to call people.
Making a car is not a simple job. It requires multiple departments to cooperate in research at the same time. Now that half a year has passed, the Xin tribe has indeed made some achievements.
Soon, a group of people came to the bamboo building of the commander-in-chief, and brought their research results.
"Commander-in-chief, this is a pottery wheel cart made of clay. It is very convenient to operate and can hold four bags of grain at a time. But it is too heavy, and it is easy to break when it hits a hard stone." The elder who was responsible for making various tools said carefully. They had just heard about Elder Shang being killed, so they were very scared now.
"Why are you talking about it if it can't be used? You're wasting time, get out of here." The commander-in-chief shouted angrily.
"Commander-in-chief, this two-wheeled cart made entirely of wood can also work. I made this cart according to the appearance of the vehicle I heard. It can also be tied to a horse in front to pull it. I just don't know if it is the same as the one used by the Han tribe." A small
leader who participated in the cart-making pointed to a very rough wooden cart and said. "Oh? This cart is actually made entirely of wood?! How did you make it?" The commander-in-chief became interested and asked curiously.
"Oh, commander-in-chief, this is made with a new alloy tool we made." The three elders in charge of metallurgy also immediately took credit.
"Alloy?!"
"Yes, it's these golden axes. We tried the three kinds of gold in our tribe, but none of them were as strong or hard as the iron scissors of the Han tribe. So we wondered if this kind of gold, called iron, was inherently stronger than our three kinds of gold?
So we tried to melt the iron again and cast it into an axe to use as a tool. It really worked. The iron axe is very sharp for chopping wood, several times better than our red gold.
It's a pity that we can't smelt iron ourselves, so this little bit of iron is definitely not enough. So we wondered if we could melt the iron and add it to the red gold to see if the red gold could become hard after absorbing the iron. It really worked.
This axe is made by melting iron and red gold together. Although it's not as sharp as an iron axe, it's not much worse."
(End of this chapter)
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