I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 603 – The population issue reappears
In addition to farming and reclaiming land, the production of bronze farming tools cannot be neglected, especially plow-making.
The spinning and beating of hemp, smashing ores to make salt, and feeding various animals all need to be done—none of these tasks can be skipped.
At the same time, the trade team must continue to bring salt, pottery, and other goods to trade with the surrounding tribes.
The tribe has found copper and tin mines, but trade cannot be neglected. While it is important to maintain contact with neighboring tribes, trade can sometimes lead to unexpected surprises.
Apart from these, there are still many miscellaneous tasks to be handled in the tribe. Every task requires people to do it; if no one does it, it won’t be done automatically.
After reviewing everything, it became clear that there weren’t enough people to handle it all.
Furthermore, Han Cheng also planned to send people to develop a residential area in Copper Mountain. Given the current situation, this plan may have to be postponed.
After all, right now, the tribe has a trade team that isn’t directly involved in food production, along with artisans like Hei Wa, Lame, and Second Elder Brother, Shaman, and Shi Tou, who are administrative workers not involved in production, and the textile workers led by Bai Xue.
These people, in total, add up to nearly forty people.
If we include the large number of minors who don’t participate in food production, the number of people not involved in food production will be even greater.
Without lowering the standard of living, the number of non-production personnel that the tribe can currently support is nearing its limit.
Under these circumstances, establishing the Copper Mountain residential area is not the right time.
After all, at least twenty people would be needed to set up a residential area there. Only then could the residents mine and smelt copper while farming enough food for themselves.
Of course, to become self-sufficient, clearing land and harvesting the newly planted crops would take at least a year.
During that year, the Copper Mountain residential area would produce little; the main camp of the Green Sparrow Tribe would supply their daily needs.
This doesn’t even account for the manpower required to transport food there or the food consumed on the way…
After running all these numbers, Han Cheng painfully realized that the manpower shortage had once again become a serious issue.
With the bronze farming tools, farming efficiency has indeed increased, but given Han Cheng’s grand goal of storing enough food for three years, farmers are not expected to have free time.
Because with improved efficiency, they will farm more land.
After conquering the Flying Snake Tribe, the labor force increased significantly. However, with the growing number of tasks and the increasing demand for food, the issue of insufficient adult manpower has resurfaced in the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Han Cheng felt a headache coming on.
Integrating other tribes into the Green Sparrow Tribe is the most direct and effective way to increase the tribe’s labor force.
There are two ways this can happen: active integration and passive integration.
Active integration, like with the Pig Tribe, Donkey Tribe, and Green Tribe, happens when members either get attacked or voluntarily seek to join the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Passive integration, like with the Bone Tribe and Flying Snake Tribe, occurs when they are defeated and captured by the Green Sparrow Tribe and then join the tribe.
Currently, the fastest way to increase the population is to send people to raid the surrounding tribes and capture their people, rescuing them from poverty and backwardness and bringing them into the bright and glorious Green Sparrow Tribe.
With the bows, shields, and now the bronze halberds, along with the well-trained squads of the Green Sparrow Tribe, launching an attack on the surrounding tribes would not be particularly difficult.
Moreover, due to the presence of the trade team, Han Cheng had already figured out the locations of the smaller tribes around them.
It seemed that sending troops to plunder would be a very suitable strategy.
After thinking about it, Han Cheng ultimately suppressed this tempting idea.
While he certainly wanted the tribe to develop, he did not wish to use such means to achieve it.
It wasn’t about anything else, just about his character. For those enemies who had first attacked the Green Sparrow Tribe, Han Cheng had no moral qualms about sending people to strike them down, and if necessary, he could personally take up the blade and cut off their heads.
But he always struggled with the idea of attacking those tribes that held no grudges against the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Whether out of pretentiousness or something else, he truly did not want to do this.
It seemed his character was not suited for great deeds, ruling, and conquering.
Luckily, he had arrived in the primitive era. If he had been in a chaotic world, he might have been captured and eaten right away.
Since actively attacking and raiding the population to force surrounding tribes into joining the Green Sparrow Tribe was not a feasible option, the only path left was to get the surrounding tribes to integrate willingly into the Green Sparrow Tribe.
This method would certainly be more challenging than wielding a sword recklessly in a population raid.
After all, when a tribe is able to survive on its own, it generally won’t easily give up its own tribe and join another unless there is a compelling reason.
However, while this method is slow, the people brought in through it are far more stable than those obtained through raids.
Had he known this earlier, he would not have wiped out the Flying Snake Tribe so wholly.
With such a potent external threat like the Flying Snake Tribe, it would have been much easier to absorb the surrounding small tribes.
Rubbing his head, Han Cheng thought helplessly.
Moreover, looking back, he realized he had been too hasty when dealing with the Flying Snake Tribe.
At the time, he was only thinking about removing the Flying Snake Tribe at the lowest cost possible and absorbing their prisoners of war.
But he also forgot to use that opportunity to absorb and integrate the surrounding small tribes.
If, after learning that the Flying Snake Tribe had attacked the Donkey Tribe and was planning to attack the Green Sparrow Tribe, he had sent word about the presence of such a strong and evil tribe lurking nearby, he could have used this external threat to his advantage.
Internally, he could have used the opportunity to entice and persuade the surrounding tribes to join the Green Sparrow Tribe. This method would likely have helped absorb one or two tribes.
If he had been even more ruthless, he could have deliberately let the Flying Snake Tribe wreak havoc on the surrounding tribes, deepening the fear among the smaller tribes…
Unfortunately, he only thought of this too late. The powerful and evil Flying Snake Tribe had been swiftly and carelessly dealt with.
As a result, he had missed the opportunity to increase the population of the Green Sparrow Tribe rapidly, and now he was scratching his head over the issue of population growth.
This is often how things go—thinking you’ve grabbed the best opportunity, only to realize later that an even bigger and better one was missed.
But at least he had held on to something. If he had hesitated in front of many opportunities and ended up empty-handed, it would have been a regret that would haunt him forever.
It seemed that the solution to this issue now rested with the trade efforts led by Shang and Mao.
After pondering for a long time, Han Cheng finally stood up to find Shang and Mao to give them instructions.
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