Chapter 16 Making Bows and Arrows
When we returned to the bamboo house, it was already dark.
Jiang Xuan lit a torch, chose a suitable place to plant the small stone eggs and saplings he brought back, and then began to think about the issue of self-protection.
The smoke in the forest lingered in his heart for a long time, like a sword hanging over his head, and no one knew when it would fall.
In the primitive jungle, people from different tribes are often more terrifying than wild beasts.
Wild beasts can be driven away by various means, but the competition between tribes for prey, population and other resources often leads to a fight to the death.
Therefore, if the Teng tribe wants to survive for a long time, it must start to consider how to protect itself when facing other tribes.
Jiang Xuan thought for a long time and decided to do three things first.
First, try to improve the strength of the five people and create defensive and offensive weapons.
Second, speed up the process of planting and breeding to ensure that the tribe has sufficient food, and then find ways to increase the population.
Third, build a dangerous plant defense line around the tribe, using dangerous plants such as cage vines and biting flowers to protect the tribe.
Among these three things, the first one is the top priority at the moment.
Because the latter two items take a long time to complete, while manufacturing weapons can improve combat effectiveness in a short period of time.
In the jungle, there are not many weapons that can be made with bare hands, so Jiang Xuan plans to make a bow and arrow.
The bow and arrow is a truly long-range killing weapon. Its appearance replaced the slingshot and spear thrower, which had extremely poor accuracy and short range.
Whether hunting or fighting with other tribes, the side with more excellent archers often has a greater advantage.
Shiqiu had a bamboo bow, but it was too soft and could not withstand the strength of the Yise warriors, and it had almost become a toy.
Due to limited conditions, Jiang Xuan wanted to make a single bow.
A bow made of only one main material is called a monomer bow. It is easy to make and only requires primitive tools.
As for those synthetic bows that are made of multiple materials spliced and glued together, although they are more powerful, they are very time-consuming and require very high tools and techniques to make. Jiang Xuan is currently unable to make them at all.
The next day, Jiang Xuan prepared to make a bow and arrow.
“Bang!”
Jiang Xuan went to the stream and found a piece of hard gravel. After breaking it, he selected a few large pieces of stone with sharp edges. After bringing them back to the bamboo house, he first made a simple stone axe and then selected suitable wood from the woods near the bamboo house.
"Chief, what are you looking for?"
Chishao followed as expected. She was always worried about Jiang Xuan going out alone, fearing that something might happen to him.
Jiang Xuan turned around and said helplessly: "Sister, I've told you so many times, just call me Xuan."
Chishao said stubbornly: "Since you are the leader, I have to call you the leader."
Chishao is a very opinionated person. Once she has made up her mind, it is difficult for others to persuade her to change her mind. Therefore, Jiang Xuan had to give up trying to persuade her.
"I'm looking for wood suitable for making bows and arrows."
Jiang Xuan said: "People from other tribes may find this place at any time. If we practice archery well, at least we don't have to fight them in hand-to-hand combat if a conflict occurs."
In short, the five people of the Teng tribe were too weak. They were young and had very little combat experience. They had no chance of winning in close combat, so long-range attacks were the best way.
Chishao nodded and said, "I have seen the hunting bows of tribal warriors. I will help you find the right wood."
"good."
After all, Chishao had been in the hunting team for half a year and knew much more about the animals and plants in the forest than Jiang Xuan.
The two walked around the woods twice, and Chishao saw a big tree and his eyes suddenly lit up.
It was a huge tree that required at least five people to hug together. It grew almost straight and was very tall and dense.
Chishao used a stone knife to scrape off some bark from the big tree, revealing a purple trunk. Soon, red juice began to flow out.
"We call this tree the purple blood tree because once you cut its bark, you can see the purple trunk and its sap, which looks like blood."
"It is very tough and hard to break. In the past, tribal warriors liked to use it to make spears. Most of the bows and arrows of the warriors in the hunting team were also made of this tree."
"But be careful, its juice is slightly poisonous. If you have a wound on your hand and it touches the juice, or if you accidentally eat this juice, you will feel pain all over your body within two or three days."
"After the warriors cut down the purple blood tree, they usually roast it over a fire or leave it for a few months before using it. The juice inside will solidify, so there is no need to worry about poisoning."
Jiang Xuan nodded and took Chishao's words to heart.
This tree is so big that even its branches are extremely thick and tall. If you want to make a bow and arrow, you have to find a small tree.
Fortunately, there were many small purple blood trees near the big tree. Jiang Xuan chose small purple blood trees that were the size of a bowl, grew straight, and had no knots, and cut down six of them in one go.
After removing the branches and treetops, they tied them up with rattan and carried three trees each, along with the red peony trees, back to the bamboo house.
After returning to the bamboo house, he followed Chishao's instructions and hung the purple blood trees horizontally above the fire pit and baked them for a whole day, so that the sap inside would solidify and would not flow out when they were cut.
Then he peeled the purple blood tree and used a stone axe to chop it into the right shape for the bow bit by bit.
The middle of the bow is the force-bearing point and the gripping area, so it is relatively thick, while the curved bow belly on both sides is relatively thin.
You must be very careful in this step. If the wood is not cut well, unevenly, or the wood texture of the bow is damaged, the bow will easily deform or even break.
Because they needed to make bows and arrows for five people, it was obviously not possible for Jiang Xuan to do it alone. Everyone helped with the rough processing, and the more detailed work was done by Chishao and Jiang Xuan.
After the bow was chopped into the appropriate shape, Jiang Xuan cut grooves on both sides for tying the bowstring. Then he selected the toughest bark rope as the bowstring, used force to bend the bow slightly, and then tied the bowstring on.
Next comes the bow training phase.
A newly made bow cannot be bent directly to a large extent, as this will damage the bow.
Bow training means making the bow back gradually adapt to the curvature, and in the process, continue to scrape and adjust the bow body to make the curvature on both sides consistent.
Jiang Xuan made a simple bow training stand, then placed the bow on it. He first pulled the bow to a relatively small amplitude, fixed the bowstring to keep it in an open position, and carefully observed the curvature of the bow on both sides.
If one side of the bow is not curved enough, use a stone knife to plane and scrape it until the two sides are consistent.
When the bow adapts step by step and bends to the appropriate angle, take it off the bow training stand, fix the bowstring, and polish it.
At this point, an original single bow is basically completed.
If conditions permit, it is best to apply some tung oil on the bow to prevent moisture and cracking.
Jiang Xuan didn't have tung oil, but based on Chi Shao's suggestion, he found a natural tree lacquer that could achieve the same effect when applied.
Afterwards, Jiang Xuan made some feather arrows. The arrow shafts were made of a small straight shrub. After being baked and straightened, they could be used directly.
The arrowheads were made of polished triangular stone pieces. The fish bladders that Jiang Xuan had stored before came in handy. After boiling the fish bladder glue and adding some fibers, the arrowheads could be firmly glued to the arrow shaft.
The arrow feathers are made from bird tail feathers. Break the tail end of the arrow shaft, clip on the tail feathers symmetrically on the left and right, and then tie them up with a thin rope.
After the arrowhead, arrow shaft and feathers are prepared, a feather arrow is completed.
Ten days later, five bows and some feather arrows were completed.
Every member of the Teng tribe has a bow of his own and a batch of feather arrows.
Jiang Xuan and four other men took their first bow and walked into the woods, ready to try out the newly made bows and arrows.
Jiang Xuan was the first to attack. He aimed at a big tree about twenty meters away. The diameter of the tree was about the size of a washbasin.
He held his breath, drew his bow and arrow, then aimed at the trunk of the tree and released the bowstring.
"call out!"
The feather arrow flew through the air in an instant, but passed by the big tree and stabbed into another tree.
"It went astray..."
Jiang Xuan felt very embarrassed, after all, several people behind him were watching him.
Chishao gently comforted him, "It's okay. It's normal to miss the target the first time. Any archer needs a long period of training to be able to shoot accurately."
Jiang Xuan nodded and said, "Keep practicing. I don't believe I can't shoot accurately!"
Jiang Xuan shot arrow one after another. After shooting all the arrows, he went over to pick them up and continued practicing.
He is a patient and persistent person. Once he wants to do something, he will not give up easily.
An hour later, he finally got the hang of it and was able to occasionally hit larger targets.
Others are also practicing hard.
Thanks to book friend "Li Binjie" for the reward of 500 book coins.
Thanks to book friend "ncat" for the reward.
Thanks to the book friend "Yelang Ancient Kingdom Lin Dao" for the reward.
Thanks to the book friend "Huichun Muxue" for the reward.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
