Chronicles of Primitive Civilization’s Growth

Chapter 12

After a simple breakfast, the seven members of the hunting team all set out, including the Elder. They carried a water jar, a clay pot, and three pottery bowls to trade for people and salt.

Luo Chong’s instructions were not to acquire adult men since those from other tribes are hard to subdue. Instead, they could trade the water jar for two adult women who have good fighting capabilities and can also bear children, making them more worthwhile than men, especially two of them.

The clay pot could be traded for two almost-grown boys as young people tend to integrate more easily.

All three pottery bowls should be exchanged for salt. If there’s no salt available, then trade the bowls for girls—one bowl for two underage girls would still be a good deal.

The trading would take place with a tribe located west of their own. By crossing a mountain and a valley, they could find that tribe. The entire process would be led by the Elder while others were responsible for protection, aiming to return before nightfall.

Today, the hunting team wouldn’t hunt; Luo Chong instructed them to collect some wooden sticks suitable for spears along the way. They weren’t allowed to waste time unless wild beasts provoked them.

The children were all tasked with weeding and clearing the open area in front of the cave, removing the shrubs. Anything too difficult to move was to be burned directly.

The foraging team wouldn’t go out today either but instead focus on fishing by the river or curing meat. Those who had nothing else to do, Luo Chong taught them to twist grass ropes and also instructed the Lame Man on how to make pottery. Except for the pregnant women and the little kids, no one was idle.

In the jungle, an old man with ram horns on his head led six men with tied-up hair, hurrying along a narrow path frequently used by the hunting team.

After climbing over the mountain, a valley less than 200 meters wide appeared ahead, beyond which lay the location of another tribe.

This tribe was larger than Luo Chong’s Han Tribe, with a population of about eighty to ninety people. There had been some exchanges between the two tribes; they had once borrowed fire from each other. The Han Tribe had also traded dried meat and animal skins for salt stones with them.

By mid-morning, the group of seven finally reached the hill opposite the valley.

Before reaching the other tribe’s settlement, the Elder encountered their hunting team, which consisted of more than ten people, though they were scattered looking for prey.

A young man spotted the Elder’s group and immediately shouted loudly to call his companions. Soon, twelve people emerged from the forest and surrounded the Elder’s group.

Their chief was a middle-aged, muscular man with a bare upper body displaying solid muscles. A large piece of animal skin wrapped around his waist like a skirt. If Luo Chong were present, he might have shouted: “Third Brother, is that you?”

Their chief was balding, with a completely bare scalp except for a ring of curly short hair elsewhere. If he wore a string of large prayer beads, he’d look exactly like the Monk Sha Wujing.

At first, the bald chief didn’t recognize these people with tied hair and backpacks, but upon closer inspection, he recognized the elder with the ram horns and the fierce-looking One-Ear. Recognizing them as acquaintances, the chief relaxed.

The bald chief began communicating with the Elder through gestures and speech.

“What brings you here?” The bald chief was very puzzled.

The Elder smiled gently, took out a pottery bowl from the backpack carried by Dali, and handed it to the bald chief, saying, “Let’s trade this for salt.”

The bald chief’s eyes lit up as he took the smooth pottery bowl and examined it against the sunlight. The shining light from the bowl impressed him greatly. This red stone basin was a treasure—beautiful and much lighter than ordinary stone basins.

“Alright, follow me to my tribe,” the bald chief said generously, allowing the hunting team to continue their dispersed hunting. He only took two men to lead the Elder’s group back to the cave, with no intention of returning the pottery bowl to the Elder.

The bald chief’s tribe lived in a cave, actually a karst cave where clear spring water flowed out of rock crevices, forming a small pool of less than two square meters in a depression. This was the tribe’s water source, but during winter, the water flow would stop, forcing them to rely on snowmelt or travel far to a small river for water.

Near the karst cave, there were more than a dozen pregnant women watching over the children. The underage kids were busy weeding or collecting berries from nearby shrubs.

When the group reached the entrance of the karst cave, they stopped. The bald chief sent two of his men inside to fetch a small bag of salt for the Elder.

The bag was made from groundhog skin and contained only half a bag of salt. This amount wouldn’t last long and consisted of coarse salt grains the size of soybeans. If Luo Chong were to purify it, even less would remain.

The Elder looked at the bag and shook his head. “This isn’t enough; it’s too little. We want more, and this time we also want to trade for people.”

Hearing this, the bald chief became agitated, frowning and gesturing, “No, your stone basin is too small and not very useful. If you want to trade for people, we can’t give you salt. We don’t have much salt either.”

The Elder chuckled, his gray beard quivering, resembling an old goat. He signaled for Dali to bring out the water jar.

“We’ll use this to trade for people.”

The bald chief’s eyes widened immediately. Surrounding children and pregnant women also gathered to watch.

“What a beautiful stone basin.”

“Wow, this stone basin is so big.”

“It’s even bigger than the large stone basin in our tribe.”

Around them, chatter erupted in the local dialect.

The bald chief caressed the small water jar and compared it with the previous pottery bowl. Both were made from the same type of stone, with such a smooth surface. How did they polish it? Such a large stone basin must have taken generations to grind.

“We’ll trade this for two adult women. If not, no deal.” The Elder let Dali put the water jar back and firmly told the bald chief.

Now the bald chief hesitated. His tribe really needed such a large stone basin. Two women for one seemed like a great deal, but it was autumn, and fewer people meant less harvest, so he was unsure.

“Can you come back in winter? Now we need people to gather food. I can give you more salt,” the bald chief said hesitantly.

The Elder shook his head again, indicating refusal. “If you give us the people now, we’ll save on two people’s consumption in winter. It won’t matter if less food is collected.”

The bald chief thought about it and realized that fewer people meant fewer mouths to feed, thus requiring less food for winter. What a good deal!

“Alright, this large stone basin for two adult women, and I’ll give you some extra salt,” the bald chief agreed generously.

One of the bald chief’s subordinates pointed to the cave and spoke a bunch of words. The bald chief smiled and nodded, instructing him to find people.

Soon, two emaciated women, stark naked, were brought over. They were sisters. The younger sister was just an adult, while the older sister, a few years older, held a four-year-old boy without clothes, his eyes closed and unmoving, his face flushed red, clearly sick. His mother held him with a sorrowful expression.

“We’ll trade these two people for your large stone basin, and the little boy is a gift to you.”

The bald chief waved his hand dismissively, seemingly urging the two women to leave quickly.

The child was ill, and the bald chief wanted her to abandon the child and hurry to gather food. But the woman refused, clinging to her sick child and staying in the cave all day, doing no work. Her sister also refused to work. The bald chief hadn’t given them food for two days, so driving them away today for a beautiful large stone basin made him extremely happy.

The Elder looked at the frail women without comment. It was the season when labor was most needed. If it were him, he wouldn’t have traded two strong women either.