Chapter 199: Setting Out (I)

After practicing for several days, Baifeng and the others finally became proficient with the skis, but in the process of practicing, Baifeng and his group discovered another thing: skis were very useful on flat ground and downhill, but when going uphill, for every step taken, they would slide back three, which was extremely strenuous.

At this time, Baifeng remembered that classic Northeast bandit-suppression movie he had watched in his later life; the skis used by those Northeast people in the film were different from the common ones, as they all had a layer of fur tied onto them.

In this way, there was no impact when skiing downhill, and the smooth fur could even add speed; when going uphill, the fur tied against the grain on the skis would scrape against the snow to increase resistance, allowing them to walk upward better without slipping easily.

They were reluctant to use complete furs, but fortunately, there were many fur scraps left over in the tribe; they hadn't known what to do with them when they were cutting them before, but sticking to the principle of not wasting, they had kept all those scraps, and now these things had come in handy, much to everyone's delight.

Slowly, the accumulated snow on the mountains melted, and they had nowhere to ski, so they began to practice on the ice; however, on ice, the skis were not that useful, and Baifeng actually thought of ice blades, but they did not have enough Iron to make them.

But they could also use wood; using two wooden boards to make something like a small stool to step on under their feet was also very useful, and with the experience of skiing, they were very quick to get the hang of using this thing on the ice.

Slowly, they discovered that sliding on the ice seemed to be faster than taking a Boat, but it was also quite strenuous after a long time, as they had to slide with their feet and also use their hands.

At this time, other tribes were surely huddled in their homes and not coming out, which was a great opportunity for the Baifeng Tribe to take action; they had stored food, and their warm clothes, gloves, and hats were all complete, so they were not afraid of frostbite.

Baifeng had actually thought for a long time about when they should go to the Jiangbenshi to dig for Sulfur; it was easy to encounter people from the Suiren Tribe at other times, which might lead to conflicts, but this time seemed like a very good opportunity, only he did not know if this Dahe could lead to the territory of the Jiangbenshi.

Baifeng found Chinv and drew for her the most detailed map he could remember, letting Chinv identify it through the trends of various water systems and mountain ranges; Baifeng was able to remember this map thanks to his excellent grades in middle school Geography.

In middle school, they didn't need to learn those complex air pressures, ocean currents, or climate causes; they only needed to memorize the maps, and Baifeng didn't know how many times he had drawn maps of various provinces and even continents, and now he still vaguely remembered some of them; although rivers might change their courses, the mountain ranges remained unchanged.

People of this era were exceptionally sensitive to Geography and direction, unlike Baifeng in his later life, who was a true person with no sense of direction, but after obtaining this body, it had improved greatly; Chinv was also taken aback after seeing that map, as she hadn't expected Baifeng to be so familiar with this world, as if he had been everywhere.

After slowly recalling the route she had traveled, Chinv determined the location of their Jiangbenshi on this map, and then through deduction, Baifeng confirmed that this Dahe could indeed lead to the Jiangbenshi, though it was not the main river channel, but rather that after reaching a certain point, they would need to head toward that tributary.

They now had Sleds that could travel on ice, as well as ice blades they could step on to slide, so their travel speed was very fast, and they could reach there without much effort, so Baifeng planned to head to the Jiangbenshi to mine Sulfur after being fully prepared, and he had to dig up enough to last him a year.

It was still a long time before the Dahe thawed, so even if they spent more than a month or even two months on the round trip, it would be more than enough, but the amount of Dry Rations they had to carry on the road would have to be huge, as they already found it difficult to hunt any prey in Winter, including in the river, where they couldn't break the ice to catch fish.

Moreover, the people to be brought on this trip had to be carefully planned; people from the Jiangbenshi had to be brought as they were the guides, but at the same time, they could not bring too many; if they brought too many, once they reached the territory of the Jiangbenshi, they might stage a "domain expansion" and threaten the safety of the Baifeng Tribe members.

The opportunity to lift the Slave status that Baifeng had planned earlier was to let them go dig for Sulfur; as long as their entire tribe could bring back a sufficient amount of Sulfur, he would lift their Slave status, so this time he had to select some representatives from those people to make enough contributions for their tribe, thereby allowing all of them to gain freedom; Baifeng did not speak of individual contributions, but calculated the contribution of the entire tribe.

However, the Baifeng Tribe did not have that many robes to give them to wear, as there were just enough for the people of the Baifeng Tribe to wear themselves; the Baifeng Tribe could at most provide those people with hats, gloves, and Boots so that they would not get frostbite, and the rest would have to be endured by themselves, so this could be considered a rather dangerous and arduous job.

Baifeng told Chinv about his plan, and Chinv immediately wanted to go along, but looking at Chinv's slender figure, Baifeng said it would be better not to, and to let those male tribesmen take them there themselves; after all, their familiarity with their own tribe should be the same.

Chinv did not insist further, but went to discuss with her tribesmen to see who they would choose to go to the Jiangbenshi to dig for Sulfur; this should be done by their own voluntary choice or selection, as it was truly dangerous to go to such a distant place in Winter, especially in this era, where the surroundings were desolate and uninhabited, and even if you encountered human habitation, you wouldn't dare to approach it, as that was more dangerous than the wilderness.

As for Baifeng himself, he once again found the Carpenter Ben and asked him to lead people to rush to make more Sleds and ice blades; after hearing this, Ben's face turned ferocious, and he just wanted to bang his head against the wood and die; if he had known, he wouldn't have learned this craft, as Baifeng was completely using him like a beast of burden.

There was no other way, so they had to stop the work of building the Boat first and rush to make this batch of supplies that Baifeng urgently needed; after these things were made, they would still have to train those people from the Jiangbenshi well so that they could quickly master the technique of using ice blades, otherwise they wouldn't be able to go.

After arranging these things properly, he found the Shaman and asked him to see how much food the tribe had left to support them for this trip; Baifeng estimated that they should bring about a hundred people, half of whom should be their own people, carrying Weapons to watch over the tribesmen of the Jiangbenshi, while the people of the Jiangbenshi would be pure manual laborers.