I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 441 – The Hidden Aspects Behind Fair Trade.
In the rooster’s crowing, Hong Song and a few others from the Fire Tribe woke up.
They slept more comfortably than ever last night, though they were stiff and sore.
Hong Song didn’t know if it was from the hard work of clearing land with the tribe yesterday or if his body couldn’t handle such good treatment.
Stepping out of their room, they found many people from this tribe already up.
However, unlike their tribe, where people would go hunting or gather food after eating, they were doing things in a courtyard that they didn’t quite understand.
The esteemed Divine Child was vigorously chopping grass with a stone knife, and the second esteemed one was holding some grass and throwing it into something made of mud.
There were also many people squatting by a ditch, holding precious pottery in their hands, poking something into their mouths with a tree stick.
While poking, they shook their heads and swayed, looking like they were trembling…
This… this was indeed a rich and strange tribe.
Standing in a daze at the door for quite a while, Hong Song finally defined this tribe.
His strangeness did not last long because soon, someone came over and gestured for them to join in doing strange things together.
Looking at the pottery cup full of water in his hand and then at the tree stick dipped in salt in his other hand, Hong Song felt dizzy all over.
Salt, exceptionally cherished in his tribe, was being used to poke teeth in this tribe!
In his mind, the prosperity of the Green Sparrow Tribe soared to another level once again.
Such astonishment persisted until they ate the yellowish-fragrant porridge.
After the meal, Han Cheng and Bai Xue called Hong Song and others to take them to a room in the Green Sparrow Tribe.
In this room, there were four simple looms lined up.
Han Cheng’s plan was to teach them how to make these simple looms and pass on the weaving technology so that the Green Sparrow Tribe could spend less effort on this in the future.
This year, the newly processed hemp also yielded some threads, which Han Cheng had people rush to make precisely for this moment.
Bai Xue sat down at her usual loom and began weaving fabric, one thread at a time.
Hong Song and his companions initially didn’t understand what their tribe members were doing, but the up-and-down motions looked intriguing.
After waiting a while, something astonishing happened that made Hong Song and the others widen their eyes. The individual strands of hemp, which had been separate, were now woven together into a dense piece of fabric.
With Han Cheng’s approval, a woman from the Fire Tribe approached and carefully felt the fabric woven by Bai Xue, expressing amazement and curiosity at the transformation.
“With things like this, we can trade for more pottery and salt and even exchange them for food from our tribe,” Han Cheng said, seizing the moment. He pulled some hulled millet from his pocket and showed it to Hong Song and the others.
Since arriving at the Green Sparrow Tribe, Hong Song and his companions had already eaten this yellowish food three times, finding it exceptionally delicious whether boiled with water or made into dry rice. It was very different from their usual food.
Now, hearing the esteemed Divine Child mention that items made from hemp thread could be exchanged for plenty of salt, pottery, and this delicious food, they were thrilled.
Their tribe all highly valued salt, pottery, and this previously unknown but delicious food. Now, with just these hemp-made items, they could obtain them. It was indeed a delightful surprise.
These items made from hemp thread didn’t seem troublesome to produce. As long as they stayed within the tribe, they could manufacture them, which was much easier than hunting.
In other words, people in their tribe only needed to perform these seemingly non-dangerous and not very tiring activities within the tribe to acquire these precious items.
People are always more eager and responsive to benefits than to other things.
“Really?” Han Cheng listened to Bai Xue’s translation and looked at Hong Song and the others, who were hopeful yet afraid he might change his mind, vigorously nodding.
Han Cheng even thumped his chest to emphasize the seriousness of his words.
Seeing Hong Song and the others cheering, Han Cheng was delighted.
Since the people from the Fire Tribe arrived, Han Cheng has made sure they have millet every meal. This is to introduce them to this food they had never eaten before.
It seemed to have worked well, and his efforts were not vain.
Han Cheng deliberately suggested using fabric to exchange grain with the Fire Tribe. The cultivation and weaving of hemp fabric would undoubtedly affect the Fire Tribe’s food procurement.
If they were only trading for pottery and salt, the Fire Tribe would likely limit the scale of hemp cultivation and weaving to ensure they could still hunt for enough food to sustain their tribe.
However, everything would change if grain-like millet were added to the exchange.
Because they could exchange hemp fabric for food, the Fire Tribe would accept this arrangement outright.
If the Green Sparrow Tribe had enough millet to trade for fabric and the amount of millet offered was sufficient to feed the Fire Tribe, they might focus on hemp cultivation and weaving instead of hunting.
If it came to that, the fate of the Fire Tribe would be entirely in the hands of the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Perhaps not even that much was necessary; if just one-third of the Fire Tribe’s food came from millet obtained through trade with the Green Sparrow Tribe, Han Cheng would have significant influence over their future.
This approach may not seem barbaric at all and might even seem a bit maternal, but the results achieved would far surpass those of relying solely on force.
Hong Song and the others were happy their tribe would gain so much. They couldn’t have imagined that behind this seemingly fair and highly advantageous trade, there could be such profound implications.
After their cheers, they respectfully bowed to this kind and generous shaman, expressing their feelings that words could not fully convey.