Baldy's Ambition

The next day, some of the women were twisting hemp rope, while others were clearing the ground. Luo Chong had just marked off an area for them to clear, so they could start building the animal enclosure later.

Luo Chong wasn't focused on the bronze smelting for now; Lame and his four companions were enough. The five of them were currently just casting copper and tin sheets non-stop. Because the specific proportions for alloy casting varied, Luo Chong still needed to provide instruction.

Meanwhile, Luo Chong was leading the women in building the enclosure. The lumber team had already brought back a good amount of wood. Most of it was about 20 centimeters in diameter but very long, each log over ten meters tall, like telephone poles.

They cut the logs into 4-meter lengths and sawed them all into wooden stakes. They hammered the stakes into the ground two meters apart, forming a rectangular fence. Two horizontal logs were tied across the gaps for support, and then branches were woven into a fence, fixed to the wooden enclosure to make a simple wall. Finally, a layer of mud was plastered on, and the job was done.

Inside the enclosure, there was a wooden shed facing south. It was four meters high, designed to accommodate the Dinophant calves. A lot of wood was used for the shed, packed tightly together and plastered with a thick layer of mud, making it a real wall.

The south side had a row of small openings leading to the trough outside, allowing the animals to stick their heads out to eat grass. Of course, two of them didn't need to; they just had to stick their noses out to solve everything.

Once everything was built, the 'grass mountain' piled up outside also needed to be bundled up and stacked inside the enclosure to prevent it from being damaged by other animals or people.

The people of the Han Tribe were busy with their assigned tasks, working enthusiastically, and Baldy's tribe wasn't idle either.

Baldy's tribe originally had 92 people, significantly larger than the Han Tribe. However, after trading 9 people for pottery with the Han Tribe last time, they had fewer people.

Nine were traded away, two children died of illness, and one adult male had his belly ripped open by a lynx. Their population plummeted, and now they only had 80 people, fewer than the Han Tribe currently had. But Baldy didn't know this situation. When he came to trade last time, Luo Chong hadn't returned from going out, so he didn't know Luo Chong had brought back 30 people.

Baldy's tribe didn't have an Elder, nor much knowledge passed down, but Baldy was very good at imitating and learning. He learned how to weave baskets and make Long Spears from the Han Tribe. They even made their own Long Spears with stone tips. Baldy even wanted to learn how to make Pottery.

Baldy's tribe lived in a cave. Mountain springs seeped from the rock crevices deep inside the cave, gathering on the ground to form a very small pool, less than two square meters in area. That was their source of water for daily life.

It was fine during normal times, but in late autumn, the mountain spring above the pool would dry up. At that time, they would have to go to the small river 3 kilometers away to fetch water, which was very inconvenient. So they needed a large number of containers to store water.

To get Pottery, Baldy didn't hesitate to use all their Salt Stone to trade with the Han Tribe. Without salt, at most they would feel weak, but they wouldn't die, and they could supplement some salt by drinking animal blood and eating animal organs. But they couldn't go without water, especially since Baldy had deeply fallen in love with the taste of meat broth.

So last time he personally came to trade with the Han Tribe, it was to exchange for more Pottery, but he still didn't get what he wanted. Thus, he decided to take it by force.

In Baldy's opinion, the Han Tribe had fewer than 10 adult men, while they had 15. Defeating them and stealing their Pottery and food shouldn't be a problem.

As for taking people back as well, Baldy hadn't considered it. More people meant consuming more food. Baldy didn't think he could get enough food to support more people; otherwise, he wouldn't have used people to trade for Pottery.

This morning, Baldy took all the adult males from his tribe, totaling 15 people including himself. Each person carried several Long Spears, and they marched towards the Han Tribe in a mighty procession, ready to crush the Han Tribe's Hunting Team in one fell swoop and then heavily plunder their living area.

Around noon, Baldy's forward scouts had already located the Han Tribe's Hunting Team. They immediately returned and told Baldy that they were cutting trees in the forest.

"Cutting trees? What for?" A question arose in Baldy's mind, but Baldy didn't think much of it. I don't care what you're doing, as long as I defeat you.

At this moment, in the coniferous forest on the ridge, Dashu and Beast Tooth were still cutting trees. They worked very fast today. With three large axes, two long saws, and two hand saws, they could fell a tree under 30 centimeters in diameter in less than fifteen minutes with this equipment.

After spending some time clearing the branches, they could basically get a clean log in half an hour.

And this was just the speed of one group. Excluding the Elder, Lame, and Luo Chong, the Han Tribe had 6 remaining adult men plus the 4 from the former Tree Tribe, a total of 10 people. They formed groups of three, with one person watching the Blue Antelope, and each group had a large axe. Basically, they could fell three trees simultaneously within half an hour.

Wooden Porpoise was watching the antelope today. The 6 antelope were currently grazing on the hillside. Later, they would work in pairs to drag 3 logs home.

Just then, a group of people suddenly ran from the mountain opposite the valley. Each person was holding a Long Spear. Wooden Porpoise, who had personally witnessed the Cannibal Tribe's attack, naturally knew these people had ill intentions. He immediately shouted 'Enemy!' towards the ridge, then quickly pulled the reins and dragged the Blue Antelope back.

Dashu naturally understood this local dialect. He immediately used gestures and words to tell One-Ear and the others that there were enemies.

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, grabbed their weapons, and prepared to fight. Not a single person ran away.

This was very interesting. Dashu had killed people with Luo Chong before and was no longer the same Dashu as before; he naturally wouldn't be a deserter.

As for Beast Tooth and One-Ear, they were simply reckless war-mongers. How could a young man who had his ear torn off by a lynx, his face covered in blood from scratches, and still dared to confront the lynx head-on, possibly run away?

Wooden Porpoise led the 6 Blue Antelope in a desperate dash, with Baldy and his men in hot pursuit. When they reached the ridge, whistling sounds of air rushing past came from behind Wooden Porpoise.

Immediately following were agonizing screams. The two antelope at the very back were struck by Long Spears and instantly cried out and fell to the ground. The other four, still running, dragged the bodies of their two companions all the way towards the Han Tribe's 'grass mountain'.

"Wooden Porpoise, come here quickly."

Dashu shouted ahead, then pulled out the Stone Axe from his waist. He waited until Wooden Porpoise ran to his side. Baldy and his men were already within 50 meters.

The Han Tribe members hidden behind the trees all drew a Stone Axe from behind their waists, exchanged glances, and suddenly darted out from behind the trees. Instantly, 9 Stone Axes flew spinning towards Baldy and his men.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh

"Ah, help!"

Thud, thud

Under the attack of the 9 Stone Axes, Baldy's group instantly lost 3 people, and two others were injured. Only ten people continued to advance, which Baldy hadn't expected.

He thought the Han Tribe's Hunting Team should only have six or seven people, and seeing him bring so many people, they should be scared and run away. How dare they fight back? Also, what did they just throw? It wasn't a Long Spear.

Baldy was angry. Things shouldn't be like this. So he immediately gave the order to throw spears again.

But as soon as the ten Spear Throwing flew out, Dashu and the others hid behind the trees again.

Swoosh swoosh thud thud thud

Ten Long Spears stuck diagonally into the ground covered with fallen leaves, making dull thudding sounds. Baldy and his men also ran within 30 meters.

As soon as the Long Spears landed, One-Ear and the others appeared from behind the trees again. This time it was a neat row of 10 White-shafted Long Spears. Luo Chong had equipped each member of the Hunting Team with three.

Swooshing sounds of air rushing past rang out, and Baldy's tribe instantly fell down four more people. The others managed to hide behind the trees in time.

One-Ear and the others also hid behind the trees again, waiting for the enemy's next attack, but the sound was long in coming.

Attacking again was impossible. They would never attack again, even if it meant dying. Baldy's courage had been shattered in these two brief exchanges of fire. He never expected such a result; the enemies in front of him were too terrifying.

Moreover, he suddenly realized that the Han Tribe had more people than he had anticipated, possibly exceeding ten. And he himself now only had 8 people left, two of whom were injured. Fighting was definitely out of the question; at this point, even escaping was a problem.

So he immediately led the remaining people back to the cave. Returning to the cave at this time might still save his life.

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