Chronicles of Primitive Civilization’s Growth

Chapter 19: Bow and Arrow, and Leather Shoes

Luo Chong was fortunate; cutting down the cypress trees wasn’t as difficult as he had imagined. After carefully searching through the cypress forest, he found two young trees as thick as thighs. For some unknown reason, they had been knocked over by an animal and were lying on the mountain ground, already dried out in the shade. They were perfect for making bows and it took his companions two trips to carry them down.

Due to the lack of tools, it was a bit challenging to make a longbow in just two days. As the saying goes, “If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools.” It took a whole day just to make stone axes, stone chisels, and stone knives.

After another full day of careful carving and chopping, a 1.5-meter cypress longbow finally began to take shape. Another day was spent meticulously correcting and polishing it before it was considered finished.

The bowstring was made from sisal fibers, which had no elasticity but were very strong, otherwise, they wouldn’t be used as crane cables.

All arrows were cut to a length of one meter. The unit of measurement wasn’t precise, just an estimate. Using the width of an adult’s ring finger nail as one centimeter provided a basic standard, making other measurements easier.

Luo Chong would definitely promote the centimeter system of measurement in the future. It has been proven that the centimeter system is most beneficial for scientific development and progress.

The arrows did not have arrowheads installed. Stone arrowheads were difficult to grind, and there were no suitable animal teeth available. The pig teeth Luo Chong obtained last time were larger than the arrow shafts and were scarce. He had given them all to Qu Bing to make necklaces. The arrow shafts themselves were sharp enough to kill animals, and since armor-piercing capability wasn’t necessary, this was sufficient.

The fletching was made from the blue-green feathers of terror birds. First, they were secured with sisal fibers and then glued with fish glue, producing over 200 arrows at once.

Three days later, one evening when all the clan members returned, Luo Chong gathered everyone on an open space. Thirty meters away from Luo Chong stood a grass target, with several groundhogs caught earlier that day hanging on it.

Luo Chong first demonstrated spear throwing, hitting the target every time from 30 meters away, followed by close-range spear thrusts.

The clan members were excited. Only now did they realize that their chief had been crafting weapons these past few days.

Luo Chong distributed one spear to each adult, regardless of gender, three spears to each hunting team member, allowing two attempts at spear throwing and saving one for close-range stabbing. Even children nearing adulthood, regardless of gender, received one spear each. Besides weeding and playing, they were required to practice spear throwing daily.

The white spears looked beautiful—smooth and straight. Holding one alone might not seem special, but seeing dozens of identical ones together was impressive, even satisfying for those with obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

The clan members were delighted, unable to put down these standardized weapons, especially the young people who hadn’t participated in hunts yet, showing great interest in these weapons.

The hunting team was no exception. This was their first standardized weapon, the only one besides stone throwing that allowed for long-distance attacks. With the white spears, Luo Chong believed it wouldn’t take long before they could bring back larger prey.

If the long spears excited them, the bow and arrows were already regarded as divine objects.

At a distance of 70 meters, about a hundred steps, the Olympic competition distance, Luo Chong shot five consecutive arrows, all landing on the groundhogs. The adults were dumbfounded, astounded by the spectacle, unable to comprehend the principle behind it; the children eagerly pushed forward, wanting to touch the bow, their eyes sparkling with excitement, drooling profusely.

However, Luo Chong merely demonstrated for them, not planning to promote its use immediately, simply informing them of the difficulty in making it, assuring them that there would be more in the future.

Luo Chong’s longbow was only 1.5 meters long, unsuitable for everyone. If used by adults, it would need to be at least 1.8 meters long to unleash the full power of the longbow. As for not being able to draw the bow, that wasn’t an issue here; any woman pulled stronger than Earth’s adult males.

Another concern was accuracy. Luo Chong’s precision was due to the fact that he made the bows himself, understanding their principles and performance better than anyone else, and he had practiced archery seriously in the past. Extensive training would be needed if bow and arrows were to be promoted in the future. Currently, providing everyone with a bow wasn’t something that could be achieved in a short time.

Having successfully promoted the use of spears, Luo Chong began researching other things.

Two black wild boar skins had been soaked in wood ash water for several days. After repeated scraping, rubbing, and washing, they had become very tough and flexible.

Unable to make warm clothing, they decided to use the leather to make boots, cutting out soles according to foot size and shape. Each sole was three layers thick, glued together with fish glue and pressed tightly with stones. The upper part of the boot was also glued on, thus completing a simple pair of leather boots.

Without steel needles or awls, stitching was impossible, but thanks to the sturdy fish glue, it didn’t affect wearability.

To ensure everyone could wear shoes, only Luo Chong’s boots were entirely made of boar skin. Everyone else had boar skin soles, with two layers of boar skin and one layer of rat skin. Groundhog skins, with fur, were used for the uppers, with the fur side facing inward, similar to modern cotton boots.

Qu Bing’s boots were personally made by Luo Chong, using white rabbit skin for the uppers, boar skin for the soles, and long boot shafts reaching up to the knees, snugly covering his calves, keeping him very warm. The little kid proudly showed them off to everyone, smiling all the time.

After Luo Chong’s efforts, the small pieces of animal skin originally possessed by the tribe were all used up. As the weather grew colder, the demand for animal skins became urgent.

Luo Chong himself wore the most, but still only had a fur robe and a pair of leather boots. He especially wanted a pair of pants, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to leave the cave in winter.

This was the leader’s treatment, let alone the others who were still bare-bottomed. Who knows how they endured it. Fortunately, they could drink hot soup every day to keep warm, otherwise, Luo Chong estimated someone would surely fall ill from the cold.

Xie Ding’s pottery production had increased significantly, with four water jars and pottery pots added daily, now totaling dozens. Pottery bowls were no longer produced as each person had three, more than enough. Later, two batches of jars and vases, as well as plates, were also fired, after which pottery production was halted altogether.

Luo Chong assigned him a new task: firing bricks, as many as possible. Once there were enough bricks, a larger kiln could be built to fire large water jars or even to build walls.

The task of pulling weeds and clearing shrubs assigned to the companions was almost complete.

The cave faced south, with a large open area in front. To the east, about 900 meters away was a small river; to the north, over 1000 meters away was the jungle; to the west, approximately 1500 meters away was also a jungle, the direction toward Xie Ding’s tribe.

With such a vast open area, only covered with grass and shrubs, once cleared, it could be used for building houses or farming. However, suitable seeds were not currently available, so only chili peppers could be planted.

Luo Chong didn’t plan to grow sisal here. It was a perennial plant, requiring planting once and harvesting annually without needing constant cultivation, so he planned to grow sisal on the back mountain, squeezing out the living space of the Hanging Spine Man-eating Trees.

After arranging these long-term tasks, Luo Chong prepared to go on a long journey. He intended to search for large herbivores, even goats would suffice. All Luo Chong wanted now was furry animal skins, the more the better.

For a long journey, he had prepared equipment for a long time, especially a pair of durable leather boots.

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