Chapter 644: Tang Tribe (Seeking votes and subscriptions)
Luo Chong’s main hope for Youfu is to let him go downstream as soon as possible and reach the estuary of Liuyang River. If the common sense of this world is still in his understanding, then the end of a river system like Liuyang River, which can be called a large river, must be the sea. As
long as the sea is found, the route to Zhudao can be found along the coastline. Luo Chong did not think of letting Youfu go ocean-going at the beginning, which is not realistic. The current navigation technology and ships of the Han tribe do not support it at all. It is enough to run in the inland river. The development of civilization and technology needs to be done step by step, especially for things like navigation. If you want to jump and go by relying on your knowledge beyond time and space, it may not be a good thing for the current Han tribe.
Youfu obviously does not understand so much. He only remembers a goal that the leader told him, to go downstream along the Liuyang River until it reaches the end.
You Fu didn't know how far it was. In his mind, the word "end" was probably similar to the end of the world, but it was even harder for him to understand the end of the world because he didn't have that concept in his mind.
He had asked Luo Chong in confusion, "Chief, will the Liuyang River have an end? What will it be like there? How can I know if I have reached the end of the Liuyang River?"
This question was really hard for Luo Chong to answer. After all, he had never seen the sea in this world, let alone what the sea here was like. However, since the Xin tribe of Zhudao could use seawater to make salt, it was certain that the seawater was salty.
So Luo Chong's answer at the time was, "The end of the Liuyang River is the sea, which is countless times larger than a lake, and there is water everywhere. The most important sign is that the seawater is salty, and there is endless salt in it."
You Fu can still remember how excited he was when he heard the chief say that. Endless salt, what is salt? In this era, it is hard currency, a necessity of life, and can be used as currency to exchange for things. If the Han tribe found such a place, wouldn't it be rich?
With a new goal, Youfu's voyage exploration became more hopeful. He would taste the local water in the new river basin every day, hoping that one day the water he drank would become salty.
However, after a few months, not only did he not encounter the sea he imagined, but he found a city on the bank of the river. Yes, it was a city built with rammed earth, and it looked very large.
Outside the city was a large tract of farmland, and the crops planted looked like wheat and corn, all dry fields. From a distance, the wheat in the fields was arranged in rows, which showed that the other party had mastered certain farming techniques, at least knowing row sowing, rather than the most primitive slash-and-burn farming, which was done by simply sowing a handful of seeds.
The width of this section of the river is about 300 meters. Youfu's fleet is sailing in the middle. However, when he was standing on the second deck, he saw many people working on the shore, both men and women. They were fishing with round fishing nets, and some dragged a long fishing cage out of the river, and then a woman took the fish out of it. It can be seen that their fishing skills are relatively advanced.
Of course, this way of fishing is not beyond Youfu's cognition, because the Han tribe has also done this, or done something similar. What surprised Youfu the most was another special way of fishing.
From a distance, there were people paddling rafts in the water along the coast. Yes, they were bamboo rafts, and there were also a few canoes, which were made by hollowing out tree trunks instead of splicing and assembling wooden boats. One person was steering a raft or canoe, while another was fiddling with a dozen black water birds standing on the raft. From time to time, those birds would jump into the water, and when they came up, they would spit out a lively fish from their mouths, and then stand by the raft waiting for an opportunity to go down again.
You Fu was shocked. He had always thought that small birds like chickens and ducks were very stupid animals, not as human as large livestock like cattle and horses, and could become laborers through human training. However, the tribe in front of him could actually train water birds to catch fish for them, which really surprised him.
But just as he was amazed at the other party's fishing method, the fishermen working on the shore and the fishermen holding the rafts were even more amazed at the several large sailboats of Youfu. They had never seen such a large "raft" before, and the huge raft could move by itself without the need for people to hold the poles or paddle the oars.
Could it be that the thing was carried by the water? Otherwise, why did it come down from the upstream?
Both sides were amazed at each other's skills, but for a while they seemed to be a little deadlocked, staring at each other, and did not dare to take the initiative to greet each other.
"Captain, should we go over and take a look? This is a city with a large population!" The captain of the flagship where Youfu was asked him.
The shipbuilding industry of the Han tribe developed very rapidly due to the existence of Luo Chong, a bug-like existence. The surge in the number of ships would cause a shortage of professional sailors. Correspondingly, every time a new ship was launched, there would be a large number of new people to supplement it. In this case, the original old people were promoted very quickly, and sailors became the most popular profession.
But it was just popular. There were many popular industries in the Han tribe. It can be said that as long as someone in the Han tribe had a skill, he would not have to worry about his life. However, when life was stable, people had more ideological pursuits. When the leader promoted the merit system, those who did not have to worry about their lives thought more about how to get merit and get promoted to a higher level, so as to bring honor to their ancestors.
Other systems had their own channels, and the sailor industry also had its own way of making merit. The best choice was to be able to join the long-distance pioneering group. Although it was far away from home, life on the ship was hard, and they went to unfamiliar areas. There were certain risks every time they came into contact with unfamiliar tribes, but merit was not so easy to earn. It must be accompanied by certain risks, and the greater the risk, the higher the merit, especially as the "first to land" to communicate with unfamiliar tribes.
You see, although several people in the fleet died when they came into contact with the barbarian tribe last year, those who died were posthumously conferred with two levels of titles. They themselves did not enjoy the benefits of the titles, but their children were able to inherit the titles. Although the hereditary titles set by the chief were reduced from generation to generation, they were still titles.
So if the pioneering group encountered some unfamiliar tribes along the way, the crew would rush to go ashore and contact them. Every time they made friends with a tribe, it was a credit. And the tribe with a huge city like the one in front of them was the first to be encountered in the two voyages. If they could receive this first landing mission, their credit would definitely be recorded in the book of credit. That's why the captain of the flagship took the initiative to ask this question. Even as a captain, he couldn't help but want to go ashore and communicate with those strangers.
"We can drop the sails and anchor, stop the boat first, but don't rush to go ashore. Even though the other side hasn't come over yet, they must have someone who has gone to the city to call the big shots. Let's wait and see if the manager comes out." You Fu observed the situation on the shore and said after thinking for a while.
The captain of the flagship thought it made sense. If they rashly went to contact them, they could only contact civilians. If they couldn't see the leader of the other side, it would be of no use to the Han tribe. Another thing You Fu didn't say was that who knows how the other side will react when they see outsiders like them. We will know when the manager comes out. If he leads a large group of young and strong people with weapons, the risk of contact will rise sharply. If the other side intends to contact them, then it will be another game. The situation is unclear now, so we should observe it first.
So after receiving the signal from the flagship, several sailboats began to drop their sails and anchor, and stopped in the middle of the river. When the people on the shore saw this situation, there was another commotion. Some people hurriedly packed up various fishing gear. Those who were fishing on rafts had already dragged the rafts to the shore, and several people ran to the city again, probably wanting to report the latest situation to the higher-ups. Those huge "rafts" stopped.
Sure enough, after a while, a group of people came out with a middle-aged woman in a yellow cotton robe. Someone led the way in front of her, pointing at several large ships in the middle of the river from time to time, and talking about something in a very excited manner.
Tang Ji was the woman in the yellow robe. She was the leader elected by many tribesmen of the Tang tribe. Unlike other tribes, the Tang tribe was very large, with a total population of no less than 40,000. The main body was the huge city in front of them, with a population of more than 10,000 people living in it, and the rest of the population was distributed around the main city in the form of villages.
The population structure of the Tang tribe is also very complex. They are a collection of many small clans. Therefore, such a huge tribe naturally cannot have a system like other tribes where the clan leader serves as the leader. Instead, it is jointly elected by the clan leaders. The succession is still based on the abdication system, and the eldest son inheritance system has not been formed.
Therefore, although the Tang tribe has a large population, it is actually still relatively primitive and backward. It is somewhat similar to the era before Dayu. According to Luo Chong, the management system and leader succession method of the Xin tribe can barely be regarded as a country, but the Tang tribe obviously does not have the conditions to become a country. It is more appropriate to say that it is a clan tribal alliance.
However, when it comes to the leader selection system, this is similar to the legend of Dayu. Only those who have made great contributions to the people and are supported by the people can be elected as the leader. Tang Ji is no exception. Her contribution to the Tang tribe is the invention of the method of building walls by slabs.
Tang Ji was originally the daughter of a clan leader of the Tang tribe. It can be said that she has certain political capital, and Tang Ji herself is a very smart and innovative woman.
A few decades ago, the population of the Tang tribe was not small, but there were also many hostile tribes around. The Tang tribe occupied the most fertile land by the river, and also controlled several salt wells, with the ability to produce salt on its own. Therefore, it was coveted by neighboring tribes, and several neighbors often united to attack the Tang tribe, hoping to seize the territory of the Tang tribe.
Although the Tang tribe had never lost a battle because of its large population, they always had to be wary of the enemy's attacks and harassment, which seriously affected the production and life of the Tang tribe. The number of people who died of starvation and freezing in those years even exceeded the number of tribesmen who died in battle.
It was under such circumstances that Tang Ji used the prestige of her father as the patriarch to propose a plan to build a fortress with high walls, enclosing the important production and storage facilities of the Tang tribe, such as salt wells and granaries, in the walls to protect important assets. In addition, it could also be used for military purposes, so that the tall walls could be used to defend against the enemy's attack.
The clan where Tang Ji was located first adopted this method and began to build city walls. Later, when the enemy attacked again, Tang Ji's clan really drove away the enemy with the advantage of high walls, and they suffered no losses. The warriors defended against the walls, and their own combat damage was also reduced to a minimum.
Seeing that the wall building was effective, other clans in the alliance followed suit and asked Tang Ji to teach them how to build walls. So in the following time, Tang Ji kept running around to help various clans build fortresses and teach them how to fight and defend with high walls.
Later, a defense system made of rammed earth appeared in the Tang tribal alliance. Since then, the enemy has not been able to gain an advantage in every attack, even if the number of people is several times that of the city, it ended in a miserable defeat.
The enemies were forced to migrate to distant places to find a more suitable place to live. In a year or two, only the alliance of the Tang tribe was left around.
The war that lasted for decades and several generations finally ended with the victory of the Tang tribe, and Tang Ji, who brought a decisive victory to the entire alliance, was naturally elected as the new leader.
After Tang Ji came to power, in order to consolidate her power and better defend against foreign enemies, she advocated that her clan be the main body, and the fortresses of several neighboring clans be connected by walls to form a group of fortresses, and finally became the city with a population of more than 10,000 people.
As a leader, Tang Ji was not only extremely intelligent, but also very good at developing production technology. She made technical improvements in agriculture, breeding, textiles, fishing, hunting, metallurgy and other aspects of the Tang tribe. It took nearly ten years to develop the Tang tribe into a stronger one. Therefore, she was more respected and loved by the people and became the most prestigious leader.
This time, she heard the tribe members report that several huge "rafts" had come up on the river outside, so she rushed over as soon as possible. When she saw the Han tribe's sailboat for the first time, she was shocked beyond words. She made an evaluation in her heart that this was definitely something made by a large tribe that surpassed many of them.
The arrival of this strange tribe was definitely very dangerous for their Tang tribe. However, along with the danger, it was also a valuable opportunity. If the other party was willing to communicate with them peacefully, this would be a good opportunity to learn.
So Tang Ji stood up and told everyone not to follow her too closely. Then she came to the river alone and just looked at the big sailboat a hundred meters away. She wanted to see how the other party would react and whether they wanted to contact them.
(End of this chapter)
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