Chapter 23: Salt Mine in the Barren Mountain
In the vast primeval forest, a group of bison ate grass and walked slowly forward, occasionally looking up and around, very alert.
Behind the bison, Jiang Xuan, Chishao and Shiqiu had been following it for most of the day and were all hungry.
“Huff, huff…”
Chishao used a bone hoe to dig out several spherical plant tubers from under a tree and handed the largest one to Jiang Xuan.
"Eat it. It's a round potato. It's very sweet."
This fruit looks similar to sweet potato, but it is spherical and has red skin.
Jiang Xuan wiped the dirt off the skin and took a bite.
He was surprised to find that this round potato actually tasted like fruit - very crispy, sweet and had a very good taste.
Jiang Xuan's eyes lit up and he said, "This thing is good. Do you have any smaller ones? Dig them up and plant them!"
"I'll look for it."
Red Peony turned over the place where the round potatoes were growing and found that there were five or six smaller round potatoes on the root system. The big ones were as big as eggs, and the small ones were only as big as pigeon eggs.
In the past, the tribesmen would not dig up this small fruit, but wait for it to grow in the ground so that they could come back and dig it up next time.
But now it’s different. After the Teng tribe reclaimed the wasteland, they can dig up all the fruits, eat the big ones and plant the small ones in the fields.
Jiang Xuan put these small round potatoes into the animal skin bag he carried with him. To him, these were all treasures.
"Chief, the bison are going to the next place to graze."
Stone Eel kept staring at the herd of bison. Even when he was eating round potatoes, his eyes never left the herd. He is a very responsible and patient person.
"Follow me."
Jiang Xuan tied the mouth of the animal leather bag tightly and quickly followed.
The grass in the primitive jungle is relatively scattered, so after the bison finish eating in one place, they will move to the next place to continue eating.
In addition, sometimes the cattle will be attacked by large wild beasts and flee in panic. If you don’t follow them closely, you may lose them.
In this way, they collected edible plants along the way and tracked the bison herd. Before they knew it, it was dark.
After the bison herd reached a meadow, they stopped moving forward.
Bison also need to sleep.
When the weather is cold, they forage during the day and sleep at night.
When the weather is hot, they usually forage in the morning and afternoon, and sleep at noon and at night.
Of course, there are always exceptions, and some bison will forage at night.
Fortunately, this herd of bison is no exception and they plan to spend the night here.
At night, one bison would be responsible for keeping watch so that the other bison would not have to worry about being suddenly attacked by wild beasts while they were sleeping.
Jiang Xuan observed the herd of bison and said, "It looks like they won't leave tonight. Let's prepare to spend the night in the tree."
There are many poisonous insects on the ground, and it is also easy to be attacked by wild beasts. It is slightly safer to spend the night in a tree.
The three of them quickly built a temporary shelter on the tree and started a fire on the ground.
Fire is very important. Not only can it drive away wild beasts, but the smoke can also drive away some annoying insects.
The three of them ate a little, then took turns keeping watch and slept in the tree for the night.
The next morning, just after daybreak, the bison herd set off again. Jiang Xuan and the other two carefully put out the fire and immediately followed.
Tracking a herd of bison is a very boring and time-consuming task. Fortunately, Jiang Xuan and his team have three people who can take turns.
On the second day of tracking the bison herd, Jiang Xuan finally discovered that the bison herd had gone to a rather special place.
They were a few barren mountains with sparse vegetation, which seemed out of place in the primeval forest with towering ancient trees.
These barren mountains are quite steep and have only some very low grass and shrubs, but the bison herds run up the mountains without hesitation.
When they ran halfway up the mountain, they stopped in front of a stone wall and kept licking the stones on it.
At the foot of the barren mountain, Jiang Xuan was very excited as he watched the actions of the bison herd, but he was not sure that what the bison herd was licking was salt.
"Go up and take a look!"
Jiang Xuan took Chishao and Shiqiu and climbed up the mountain along the path the bison herd took.
The herd of bison licked the rocks for a while. Because the grass and trees were sparse and they were high up, they could easily spot people climbing the mountain.
"Moo!"
One of the bison let out a cry, and then the others stopped licking the rocks and fled down another hillside.
Jiang Xuan didn't care. He followed the bison herd not for hunting them, but for salt. Now that he had found the place where the bison replenished salt, there was no need to follow them anymore.
Not long after, Jiang Xuan finally climbed to the mountainside and came to the stone wall.
This stone wall is composed of countless stones and should have been exposed after a landslide.
These stones are generally yellow in color, with some tinged red. The lower stones have obvious signs of being licked and have a relatively smooth surface.
There was some bison dung, wild sheep dung, and some other animal dung on the ground. Obviously, not only bison came to this place, but other animals also came.
Jiang Xuan pulled out a self-polished stone knife from his waist and pried off a small piece of semi-crystalline, reddish stone from a higher part of the rock wall that had not been licked by animals.
Then he stuck out his tongue and licked the stone gently.
A salty and bitter taste stimulated the taste buds on Jiang Xuan's tongue.
“Salty!”
Jiang Xuan shuddered all over. He looked at the small semi-crystalline stone and his excitement was beyond words.
This is salt, real salt! Jiang Xuan was so excited that he wanted to jump up. God had pity on him. He had never tasted real salt since he came here, and he almost forgot what salty tasted like.
"I'll try."
Chishao also used his stone knife to pry off a small piece of rock, licked it, and found that the taste was not good. In addition to the salty taste, there were many other flavors and it was not delicious.
"Let me try, too."
The stone loach couldn't wait to get a small piece of stone and lick it. His feeling was similar to that of the red peony root, that it was not delicious.
"Chief, is this really salt?" Chishao was a little skeptical.
Because in her impression, salt is extremely precious, and the Deer Tribe can only obtain a small amount of salt by trading with other tribes.
The salt is usually managed by the tribal leader or witch. Only those who are injured or sick can get a little salt water. Others rely on drinking animal blood to replenish salt.
Most of the tribesmen had never seen what whole salt looked like, and Chi Shao had certainly never seen it either.
She found it a little hard to accept that the large pieces of stone on the rock wall could be extremely precious salt.
Shi Qiu was also looking at Jiang Xuan, because he knew that the leader would definitely give an answer.
Jiang Xuan placed the semi-crystalline reddish stone in his palm and said to Chishao and Shiqiu, "To be precise, this is a salt ore. In addition to salt, it also contains a large amount of toxic substances."
"If the toxic substances in the salt ore cannot be removed, people will slowly become poisoned after eating it, and in serious cases they may even die."
When they heard that it was poisonous, Chishao and Shiqiu suddenly became nervous because they had just licked this salt ore.
Jiang Xuan continued: "Don't worry, it's just a lick, it's fine, it's only poisonous if you eat it for a long time."
Chishao asked in confusion: "Then why were those bison fine after eating it?"
Shi Qiu nodded aside, he also had the same question.
"Bison are much stronger than us, and their detoxification ability is also stronger than ours, so they can lick it directly, but we can't eat this salt ore directly."
Chishao said helplessly: "We finally found it, but we can't eat it. Didn't we work for two days in vain?"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "It's not in vain."
"I have a way to remove the toxic substances in these salt ores and turn them into salt we can eat."
"Really?" Hope rekindled in Chishao's eyes. Salt was too important and too precious to the tribe.
"Of course it's true."
"Very good!"
Jiang Xuan said: "First, dig some salt ore, break it into pieces, and then bring it back to the tribe in animal hide bags."
"good!"
The three of them immediately used stone knives to dig up the salt ore. They only chose the reddish semi-crystalline salt ore because it had a higher salt content.
Semi-crystalline salt ore is easier to break up, and after breaking up, it is easier to put into animal hide bags and easier to carry.
Each of them brought a hide bag, and when the three bags were full, they set out on their return journey with excitement.
If these salt ores can really be refined into edible salt, then the salt shortage crisis of the Teng tribe will be truly solved! (End of this chapter)
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