The Fish Tribe Brings Grain
The Fire Tribe's exploration team had just concluded its first systematic exploration and trade in the upper reaches of the Fish River, and the afterglow of the fleet laden with harvests and intelligence was still lingering when the "creditor" downstream arrived as scheduled.
The Fish Tribe's massive fleet, led by eight 5,000-jin (2,500 kg) giant boats, arrived precisely at the confluence of the Fire Tribe's stream and the Fish River within the agreed time. The boats were fully loaded with the second batch of grain for this transaction—50,000 jin (25,000 kg) of rice. The Fish Tribe people were clearly eager to complete this transport mission, and as soon as the fleet docked, they began unloading the cargo quickly and orderly with the assistance of the Fire Tribe's garrison personnel.
Baskets of heavy rice were unloaded from the large ship and piled on the open ground of Fire Creek Mouth, a rudimentary settlement that was already taking shape. The Fire Tribe's pre-prepared transport team immediately took over, using manpower and wheelbarrows to begin transferring the grain back to the granary in the valley. At the same time, the Fire Tribe also delivered pottery and other goods of corresponding value to the Fish Tribe as agreed, and prepaid part of the deposit for the next batch of 50,000 catties of grain.
The transaction was swift and efficient, with both sides displaying remarkable understanding. The Fish Tribe did not linger; after the handover and verification, the massive fleet immediately set sail and headed downstream at breakneck speed, clearly eager to return to the Valley Tribe to retrieve the last batch of grain.
Watching the sails of the Fish Tribe fleet disappear into the distance, and seeing the 50,000 jin of grain piled up before them being transported away by cartload, Jianshi, Wang Yan, and the others felt much more at ease. Combined with the previous 100,000 jin and the tribe's existing reserves, the Fire Tribe's granaries were more abundant than ever before, providing a solid foundation for the upcoming summer harvest.
The Fire Tribe that flows from the valley into the Fish River, through years of dredging and utilization, has become much deeper in its lower reaches. In fact, after measurements and trial voyages, large boats with a carrying capacity of 5,000 jin (approximately 2,500 kg) can now slowly navigate to considerable depths. To facilitate naming and to assert sovereignty, the tribe officially named the stream "Fire Creek River," and the estuary where it meets the Fish River was named "Fire Creek Mouth."
Fire Creek Mouth is no longer a simple unloading point. Instead, it has been transformed into several rows of sturdy wooden houses and warehouses, where warriors and logistics personnel are stationed. It has become an important window and outpost for the Fire Tribe to the outside world. The reason for insisting that the Fish Tribe's large ships unload their cargo at Fire Creek Mouth, rather than allowing them to venture deeper into the Fire Creek River, is a decision made after careful consideration by the Fire Tribe's leadership.
On the one hand, the upper reaches of the Fire Creek River conceal too many secrets of the Fire Tribe —a vast valley camp, a shipyard under expansion, a secret smelting workshop, cavalry undergoing training, and so on. Allowing a large fleet from a potential rival (although currently a trading partner) to venture too deep into their territory would be too risky. On the other hand, this is also a conscious declaration of boundaries: you have the upper hand in the lower reaches of the Fish River, but the Fire Creek River, and even parts of the upper reaches of the Fish River, are within the Fire Tribe's sphere of influence and its private domain.
The easing of food pressure removed the biggest worry for the Fire Tribe's rapid development in various areas.
On the cavalry training ground, the atmosphere was electric. The newly acquired one hundred ponies, combined with the existing fifty, while still insufficient to satisfy the aspirations of every one of the twelve hundred warriors to have a horse, were enough to provide ample training for the six hundred carefully selected cavalry prodigies. These chosen warriors knew this was a rare opportunity, and they trained with all their might, making rapid progress. Horsemanship, mounted archery (though still not proficient with bows and arrows), squad-based coordinated charges... each subject progressed systematically. According to Project Jianshi, once the remaining two hundred horses promised by the Pottery Salt Tribe arrived, the cavalry force would be initially formed, becoming a highly formidable and rapid-fire force in the tribe's arsenal.
The Deer Tribe mine operated smoothly under tight security. The transport team had established a fixed procedure: twenty cavalrymen escorted the ore, while twenty strong oxen carried it, traveling between the mine and the Fire Tribe valley along a well-established safe route. To further ensure the safety of this "lifeline" and expand the perimeter of the security perimeter, Jianshi and Wang Yan, after discussion, decided to dispatch Yingmu, who had already demonstrated exceptional talent and Chenwen demeanor, to lead thirty elite cavalrymen and thirty-one ponies (including his own mount) to be stationed near the Deer Tribe, responsible for the security and patrol of the mine and the surrounding area.
Yingmu's patrol range even extended to the lush grasslands where the original Green Sheep Tribe was located. There, the Fengmao Water Grass made it not only an ideal pasture for horses but also a forward supply point and observation post, monitoring any possible movements further north (mainly to guard against possible flanking harassment from the Wolf Tribe). Yingmu's mobile cavalry squad was like a flexible yet sturdy nail driven into the northern barrier of the Fire Tribe.
However, behind the Fire Tribe's rapid expansion lies a terrifying consumption of resources, especially of the "mother machine of industry"—bronze tools. In recent months, the vast majority of the bronze smelted has not been used to forge dazzling weapons, but has instead been transformed into chisels, saws, planes, axes, drill bits of various sizes...
The reason is simple: the task is too heavy and the demand is too great. In the shipbuilding workshop, the goal is clear: by the end of the year, there should be 200 small dugout Xiaozhou with a carrying capacity of 500 jin, 100 large Muzhou with a carrying capacity of 2,000 jin, and 30 large ships with a carrying capacity of 5,000 jin, which represent the highest technology! This is an extremely ambitious plan. The processing of every keel, the planing of every plank, and the chiseling of every tenon and mortise are all inseparable from sharp and durable bronze tools.
In the fields, as more and more land was reclaimed, the demand for agricultural tools such as wooden plows, harrows, Chutou increased exponentially. Traditional stone and bone tools were inefficient and could not meet the needs of such large-scale production. Only by relying on bronze tools to quickly manufacture a large number of sturdy and durable wooden agricultural tools could the intensive cultivation of thousands of acres of land be guaranteed.
Moreover, in order to improve agricultural production efficiency, many of the "large agricultural implements" planned by Wang Yan were put into the manufacturing schedule: wooden winnowing fans, high-efficiency threshing machines, rice hullers for removing rice husks, and large wooden waterwheels (cylinders) for lifting water from low to high places for irrigation... The precision machining and assembly of the core components of these relatively complex wooden machines could not be done without bronze tools.
"With no major battles recently, this is the perfect time to focus on hard work and solidify our foundation." At a high-level meeting, Wang Yan pointed to the densely packed production schedule on the wall and said, "It's alright to produce fewer bronze weapons for now, but we must prioritize our production tools! Only with sufficient tools can we build ships quickly, cultivate fields well, and manufacture all kinds of machinery. These are the foundation for the tribe's long-term strength!"
This idea was unanimously agreed upon by Jianshi and everyone else. The Fire Tribe was like a giant beast in a period of rapid growth. It temporarily put away its sharp claws (mass-produced weapons) and instead used these precious "metal skeletons" (bronze tools) to frantically strengthen its "muscles" (production capacity) and "blood vessels" (transportation and irrigation systems).
Not long after Fire Creek Mouth unloaded 50,000 catties of grain sent by the Fish Tribe, another exciting piece of news came from the shipyard deep in the valley: following the first ship, the Fire Tribe's third large ship with a carrying capacity of 5,000 catties has successfully completed its launch test. The ship is stable and waterproof!
More importantly, in the shipyard, the main structures of seven other ships of similar size have already been assembled. The massive hulls are lined up in the workshop, creating a spectacular sight. Next, all that's needed is to complete the internal details and the most crucial step—sealing the seams of the hull with a mixture of tung oil, lime, and hemp fiber—before these seven giant ships can be launched one after another!
This means that the construction of the Fire Tribe's giant ships has passed the most difficult exploratory period and has begun to enter the accelerated mass production stage. When thirty 5,000-jin giant ships are sailing on the Fish River, the Fire Tribe will truly have the strength and confidence to have an equal dialogue with any force in the upper Fish River Basin, and even to decide its own destiny.