Chapter Forty-Four: The Underground Cellar and Yellow Mud

  After dealing with the dead apemen, although the apemen were somewhat saddened in their hearts, they couldn't help but smile when they saw the corpses of jackals and wolves all over the ground, as these were their prey.

  It was a moment of great excitement for them, and it also marked the beginning of a long period during which they would not have to worry about food.

  Only Chen Xu, a modern person who understands food expiration dates, knows that things are not as optimistic.

  In the past when there was not much prey, these apemen could act as they pleased. Anyway, it would not take many days for all this food to be thoroughly consumed, and there was no need to worry about spoilage.

  But now, these 100 gray wolves, plus 50 or 60 dhole dogs, are not a small number. To preserve this food, some techniques are needed.

  Under the command of Chen Xu, the fire god, the remaining 200 apes in the tribe began to divide their labor and cooperate. First, they used sharp stone tools and bone tools to peel off the wolf skin and jackal skin, washed them clean with clear water from the river, and dried them on the rocks near the small mountain.

  Then, the skinned prey was cut into small pieces with a stone knife and, under Chen Xu's demonstration, the meat pieces were made into layered, leaf-like meat rolls, which were placed on the rock to dry in the sun, making dried meat.

  After a night's work, by the time the sun rose on the second day and lazily exposed its appearance among the branches of the forest, all the prey had been arranged almost perfectly, leaving only over a hundred skeletons.

  Of course, since the cutting tool was too simple, it was impossible to remove the bones cleanly. Therefore, the food for the group of apes for several days was settled, that is, gnawing on bones.

  Although it's a pity that there isn't a big pot to boil the bones, but since there is still a lot of meat left on them, roasting and eating them afterwards is actually quite good.

  And because the thick layer of meat had been shaved off, the roasted bone that came out was already eight or nine points ripe, making the apes eat with their mouths watering and excitement, in their opinion, this thing is much stronger than the half-raw stuff before.

  He casually ate a few pieces of bone, filled his stomach, and looked at the sun that was already high in the sky. Chen Xu clapped his hands and shouted to wake up the ape-man who had been lying on the ground all night.

  Although they repelled the wolf pack's attack yesterday, it also exposed the weakness of this tribe. The fence is still too short and too weak. If there were twice as many wolves yesterday, I'm afraid what awaited them would be a tragic ending.

  In addition, the pit at the back of the main gate is still too shallow, and after yesterday's battle, it has been almost destroyed, so it needs to be rearranged. Also, it's time to install a gate, can't always leave a big hole like this.

  All this requires everyone to work together.

  Fortunately, the apes only need to be full and content, and they still don't have a resistant attitude towards labor, especially under the leadership of Chen Xu, this fire god with great prestige.

  After catching their breath and recovering a bit, the enthusiastic renovation activities continued. The apes chopped trees, cut and trimmed, constantly increasing the height and strength of the fence.

  Under the guidance of Chen Xu, the first stockade gate in history also appeared in the jungle, although it was only a thick wooden door made by tying trees together with thick vines.

  The wooden door was about to be installed, and after a simple test, Chen Xu nodded in satisfaction, letting the other apes continue with their work, while he went to find the old ape.

  Before this, the old ape was arranged to refine long arrows. With more than a hundred wild beasts' fangs and bones, there is a guarantee of sufficient arrowheads.

  As a result, the old ape did not disappoint him. So far, more than 200 arrowheads have been ground out in the tribe, and with suitable bamboo sticks, they are more than 200 long arrows.

  It's just going down, but it takes more effort. This time, the parts that are convenient for making arrowheads have been taken away, and the remaining parts need to be carefully polished.

  Zan Shang patted the old ape's shoulder, making this rejuvenated old fellow somewhat flattered and surprised. Chen Xu then didn't delay him any further, letting him return to continue directing the manufacture of bows and arrows.

  In this jungle, the bow and arrow as a new generation of weapons, its sharpness was thoroughly revealed in yesterday's battle with the wolf pack. If there were no bows and arrows, they might not have been able to withstand the first wave of wolf attacks yesterday.

  So, for archery, Chen Xu is very particular about it.

  After inspecting the bow and arrow, Chen Xu's eyes shifted to the dried meat on the large stone, and he walked over to test its moisture. He found that under the intense sunlight of early summer, combined with the heat from the mountain rocks, these dried meats were drying very quickly, and some had already started to crack on the surface.

  "It seems that drying is done quickly, so the storage time can be extended for a long time. However, after drying, it's not suitable to put it outside, lest it rot."

  After some thought, Chen Xu summoned Ape No. 1 and had him find a few strong apes to bring wooden mallets to a high ground near the small hill.

  The morning ape No. 1 made a few gestures, Chen Xu drew a circle on the ground and ordered the apes to dig down. After a while, with the participation of more apes, a slanted cellar leading to the base of the mountain stone appeared.

  This cellar is about seven or eight meters long, extending downward at an angle of forty-five degrees, and ends with a hard stone wall. Due to the high terrain, as long as the top is covered, even if it rains heavily, no rainwater will seep in.

  The cellar was completed, and Chen Xu found a stone the size of a millstone from the side and handed it over to the apes for grinding. After the bottom of the stone was ground clean, a cover for the cellar was formed!

  Bring a piece of animal hide to cover the cellar, and then put the lid on the hide, so that a cellar capable of storing food for a long time was produced in the Stone Age.

  Up to now, the development of the tribe has officially embarked on the right track. The result of yesterday's war was quickly digested and has now been transformed into the underlying momentum of the Fire God Tribe. Although it doesn't help much with direct combat power, in the long run, it has a very profound significance.

  With no need to worry about food for many days, Chen Xu could also allocate enough manpower to carry out some construction with his modern perspective.

  After the apes had greatly strengthened the fence, at around three o'clock in the afternoon, he ordered them to stop work. This strengthening of the fence was a long-term task that could not be completed in a short period of time, so it was already good if they could spare two or three hours each day to build it.

  Chen Xu gathered the apemen, dividing them into several groups. One group continued to make bamboo spears and stone tools under the leadership of the old ape man. Another group went to the surrounding forests to pick wild fruits. Although they now had meat to eat, they couldn't just eat meat all the time.

  Of course, these jungles avoided the territory of the jungle overlords and were not very dangerous, and they were not far from the tribe, and the warriors in the tribe could support at any time.

  The remaining majority of the apes were assigned by Chen Xu to cut down trees, trying to clear the woods next to the fence as much as possible. This way, on the one hand, they could obtain a lot of usable wood, and on the other hand, they could expand the tribe's borders, making it difficult for some wild beasts to lurk in the woods and spy on the tribe.

  The most important thing is that Chen Xu plans to build a small wooden house in this very suitable place for human habitation!

  Although there is no reinforced concrete or building materials here, if the flat wood cut and piled up can still be built into one or two small wooden houses if not particular about it.

  However, this is not a short-term task. At present, Chen Xu only needs to let the apes constantly cut down trees, accumulate usable wood in the tribe, and then assign people to do simple cutting.

  Nowadays, the agenda of the tribe is about the firing of pottery clay. Chen Xu spent all his efforts to drive away Jingang and occupy this land, in addition to its unique environment and rich aquatic products, there is also the problem of pottery clay for firing pottery.

  Good clay is hard to find, but coarse river sand and strong flexible loess are abundant along the banks of this small river.

  After the tribe was on the right track and all things were arranged, Chen Xu began to work on the refining of pottery. In his expansion plan, pottery was a very important link, just like opium in later generations when foreign invasion opened the doors of different tribes.

  Then, Ape No. 1 and Captain Ape, two big lumps, led dozens of apes to the riverbank under Chen Xu's leadership, starting to dig up river mud with their crude wooden hoes.

  Before long, the rotten mud on the riverbed was washed away, revealing a deep yellow mud beneath, which is one of the good materials for making ceramics - yellow mud!

  A faint glimmer appeared before his eyes, and Chen Xu's heart was slightly stirred. He shouted orders at the apes, telling them not to slack off, and to dig up all the yellow mud below. He also instructed them that after digging out the soil, they must deliver it to the tribe without any mistakes.

  A group of apes were completely bewildered, unable to comprehend the use of this yellow mud. In their simple minds, apart from being used as weapons for battle, everything was useful only when eaten. To them, these things were nothing but a pile of rubbish. However, this was the great Fire God's command, and they could only grit their teeth and continue digging.

  After a while, on the rocks in the tribe, there appeared a large patch of pure yellow mud. Next to the yellow mud was a group of apes that looked like muddy monkeys.

  "Go cut down trees!"

  With a wave of his hand, he drove away the curious onlookers and leaped onto the rock. He picked up a piece of yellow mud and carefully kneaded it with his hands.

  "Not bad, the soil is very pure, grandma's, pottery, just thinking about it gets me excited, by the way, those bird eggs I'm still keeping, once I have pottery, my dream of eating boiled eggs will come true!"

  Excitedly letting out a loud whoop, Chen Xu's two legs dropped down and he sat up, his hands grasping at the yellow mud as he began to shape utensils based on his impressions.