I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 913: News About That Unknown Tribe
It wasn’t just the elder Woman primitive who was shocked; everyone else in her tribe who understood the meaning was equally astonished.
Such a huge cave, comfortable to live in—surely it shouldn’t have grown naturally out of the earth, right?
How could humans possibly have built a cave so massive?
The impact of this realization was far greater than the shock of these strange people suddenly rushing out and surrounding them.
Mao, thinking they didn’t understand, scratched his head and kept trying different ways to convey the meaning. It was quite mentally exhausting.
These outsiders were, Mao thought, the hardest group he had tried communicating with in all his years.
After struggling to express it in various ways and breaking a sweat from the effort, the elder Woman finally began to respond once they recovered from their shock.
Guided by Mao, after a period of communication, Han Cheng and his group roughly understood how these people had discovered this place and settled here.
Han Cheng nodded inwardly; it was very close to what he had imagined.
With this information, Han Cheng had some of his people fetch the two pottery jars and the gourd containing salt soil from the slave huts. He instructed Mao to ask the elder Woman about these items—this was what Han Cheng cared most about.
Seeing their tribe’s precious pottery, obtained at the cost of a lot of food from other tribes, casually carried over with one hand and placed on the ground without a second thought, everyone—including the elder Woman—felt a pang of pain.
Especially when the delicious, equally precious white substance (salt) was casually poured into Mao’s hand, their hearts ached with helplessness.
If it weren’t for the fact that they were outmatched and that these people held weapons made of shiny materials, the elder Woman would have leapt up and fought fiercely to make them understand the value of these items.
“#￥￥@@…”
The elder Woman, full of anguish, stared at the two blackened, fire-smoked pottery jars and the gourd Mao held, then began to explain, in their own way, the origins of these items.
The precious pottery and the tasty white substance had been exchanged from other tribes—they were not originally theirs—so the elder Woman spoke without hesitation.
Worried that this strange person might not understand, she repeated herself several times for clarity.
There was also another reason: if she didn’t explain properly, these people might seize the pottery and the food and never return them.
The thought of such a disaster terrified the elder Woman—they could barely imagine the consequences.
“Exchanged from other tribes?”
Hearing Mao’s translation, Han Cheng muttered under his breath, finding it increasingly fascinating.
The world never develops uniformly. Even among people, there are vast differences.
Between nations or regions, the gaps are even greater.
Even in the future, when the world is nearly a global village, there are still primitive peoples.
Before Han Cheng came to this time, he had seen news of a missionary in America who tried to convert primitives on an island in the Indian Ocean, only to be dragged to death by them with a rope around his neck.
In such times, disparities were already so huge. In today’s isolated conditions, encountering a relatively advanced civilization is hardly surprising.
Han Cheng found this intriguing, and so did I. After all, since his arrival, tribes possessing both salt and pottery—two critical markers of civilization—were rare. Apart from his own tribe and some tribes that obtained these via trade with them, he had never encountered any others.
Now, he had discovered a tribe that might not only possess these items but could produce them themselves. Naturally, he was interested.
Moreover, this tribe already used these items to trade for necessities, indicating that its civilization had surpassed those of all the tribes Han Cheng had encountered so far.
“Ask her if she knows where that tribe is.”
After a moment’s thought, Han Cheng instructed Mao.
Mao resumed gesturing.
Where is that tribe?
The elder Woman shook their heads; they genuinely did not know.
When trading with that tribe, it was always the other tribe that brought the valuable pottery.
Sometimes they came once a year, sometimes twice, sometimes not at all.
Her tribe only traded when those people arrived, exchanging food for pottery and the delicious white substance.
No one from her tribe had ever visited the pottery-rich tribe itself.
It was the same as before: a trading delegation would carry salt and pottery to exchange for furs and food with other tribes.
Hearing Mao’s translation, Han Cheng reflected, gaining new insight into this tribe.
Perhaps… another possibility existed.
Han Cheng looked at Mao, who stood nearby as the translator.
Before encountering the Flying Snake Tribe, Mao’s own tribe had acted as middlemen: acquiring pottery and salt from one tribe, then trading with others.
In other words, the tribe trading with the one in front of them might also be a middleman.
If that were true…
Han Cheng inhaled sharply. The unknown tribe’s civilization might be even higher than he had imagined.
Direct trade between tribes is very different from trade mediated by a middleman.
Typically, a tribe with middlemen develops faster than one without.
“Mao, ask her if we can get more information about that tribe.”
Han Cheng said.
Initially, he assumed the pottery and salt in the room were produced by this tribe—they had the skill to make pottery and knew where the salt soil was.
At that time, his focus was on salt soil. He wanted to see if resources were nearby to produce salt locally, reducing transport needs from the main tribe.
But as he learned more, his focus shifted from salt soil to the unknown tribe itself, which produced both pottery and salt.
Mao conveyed this to the elder Woman.
By now, they were familiar with Mao’s gestures, and comprehension became smoother.
Soon, the elder Woman understood Mao’s meaning.
They looked at the bronze weapons on the rattan shields held by Han Cheng’s people and gestured animatedly to convey their point.
Han Cheng, standing aside, didn’t need Mao to translate everything—he understood most of their meaning.
Once he grasped it, his mind grew restless.
He restrained himself, waiting for Mao to finish and summarize. After all, the elder Woman had pointed to the shields—it wasn’t clear whether they meant the rattan shields or the bronze studs on them.
There was a huge difference between the two.
Once Mao finished, he summarized to Han Cheng:
“She says that tribe has bronze weapons. They look different from ours, but are made of the same material.”
Han Cheng’s heart skipped a beat.
The rest of the Green Sparrow Tribe, holding bronze weapons and having surrounded the elder Woman, were astonished.
Until now, bronze weapons had been their tribe’s exclusive advantage.
They had never seen or heard of any other tribe with bronze weapons.
They knew well the usefulness of bronze tools and weapons.
If not for the Divine Child leading their tribe to smelt bronze and make weapons and tools, their tribe wouldn’t have reached its current development level.
Even the tribe’s arable land would have been at least half of what it is now.
Now, learning that another tribe also had bronze weapons was astonishing.
Their tribe had bronze thanks to the Divine Child; could it be that the unknown tribe had one too?
This thought naturally crossed the minds of those familiar with the Green Sparrow Tribe’s history.
Han Cheng, hearing this, fell silent.
Compared to the tribe members, he extracted more information and possibilities from the news.
Coming from the future, he clearly understood the significance of bronze.
It represented a stage of human civilization—a step beyond the Stone Age.
Even though he had prepared himself for a high level of civilization in this unknown tribe, this news exceeded his expectations.
Earlier, when he learned that the Black Stone Tribe possessed meteorite iron superior to bronze, he hadn’t been as excited.
Meteorite iron, though superior in many properties, is naturally occurring—not man-made.
Its possession depended on luck, not skill.
Bronze, however, is man-made through smelting.
Its existence signals mastery of bronze smelting—a qualitative leap in civilization!
A tribe possessing bronze, pottery, and salt is far more advanced than one that merely finds meteorite iron.
Bronze represents civilization.
Such a tribe would surpass contemporaneous tribes by a significant margin.
From stone tools to bronze—this is a genuine leap forward.
Even Han Cheng, aware of global developmental imbalances, felt a complex mix of emotions upon hearing this.
It could even be described as a shock.
In this mountainous basin, another tribe with bronze existed.
Now, his tribe had arrived and planned to settle here—things became delicate.
Two civilizations of similar level meeting rarely result in smooth interactions. Without a third party, friction is almost inevitable.
Historical examples such as the Yan and Huang tribes, the Yan-Huang Alliance, and the Chiyou Tribe conflicts illustrate this.
The elder Woman’ tribe could settle here, meaning their tribe wasn’t far away.
The unknown tribe, capable of trading pottery and salt, wasn’t far.
After all, travel was slow, mostly on foot.
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