Chapter 249: Industrial Department

The Industry Department is currently one of the more complex departments in the Baifeng Tribe, because the work done there seems to be of the same nature, but in reality, the tasks are unrelated. If a leader were to be chosen from among these people, there is a fear that they would only understand their own small area and not understand the work of others, leading to chaotic arrangements that would impact the entire tribe. Therefore, Baifeng has taken on the role of head of this Industry Department himself for the time being.

The Industry Department includes building material production, such as bricks, tiles, cement, and so on, as well as glass, iron smelting, weaving, brewing, and plaiting. The department most closely related to it is the Construction Department; when people in the Construction Department want to start building, they must obtain these materials from the Industry Department, and they also have to go to the Agriculture Department to obtain timber, because the felling of timber is the responsibility of the people in the Agriculture Department.

Carpenters were assigned by Baifeng to the Construction Department because the work they do is technical. Although carpenters are also needed for many other things, their primary work direction remains in construction. However, this is just for the convenience of management; in reality, the carpenters have a high degree of freedom and are basically not restricted by the person in charge, but being grouped into this department makes cooperation more convenient.

Stonemasons are also assigned to the Construction Department, but blacksmiths are in the Industry Department, because a blacksmith does not just forge iron; their upstream industry is the smelting of iron ore. From mining to the forging and shaping of tools, the entire process is categorized by Baifeng as a complete iron smelting industry.

Weaving belongs to light industry, so Baifeng also placed this under the jurisdiction of the Industry Department. At that time, the tribespeople still did not understand what this "industry" meant.

Baifeng explained to them that this "industry" refers to handicraft industry; work that involves deep processing of raw materials can all be called industry. It is just that because later generations entered the Industrial Age of large machinery, everyone has already forgotten the term "handicraft industry."

Of course, the most important thing in the Industry Department is gunpowder. Currently, this thing has always been the most secretive matter of the Baifeng Tribe. The room for preparing gunpowder has been built and renovated several times and is now very complete, with a raw material storage room, a mixing room, and a filling room.

At the beginning, Baifeng thought about finding a few people to help him, but later he realized that the ingredients for their gunpowder are simply too simple. As long as people see it for a long enough time, someone will eventually figure out what is going on. Even if the people handling the raw materials and the people mixing the medicine were separated, it would not work; there would be a day when the secret would leak out sooner or later. Therefore, Baifeng has always done it himself. Fortunately, their gunpowder usage is very low, so Baifeng rarely has to go and prepare gunpowder. However, after several years of consumption, their sulfur is almost running out.

Now Baifeng has completed the granulation of gunpowder, and the power of their gunpowder has been raised to another level. Coupled with the progress of the papermaking industry, their bombs now basically have paper shells, and Baifeng has also created explosive packs.

Now Baifeng intends to pass this technology on to Bai Yulong, but the child is still too young and cannot yet understand what Baifeng says. Therefore, Baifeng has not taught him the most important things. However, during the New Year and various sacrificial ceremonies, Baifeng will take out the small firecrackers and various small explosives he made for Bai Yulong to light, giving Bai Yulong a chance to learn step by step. At the same time, it is also to tell the tribespeople that their little Tribal Chief can also use Heavenly Thunder, even if the current power is still relatively small.

Regarding his two sons, when all is said and done, Baifeng is still a bit biased, as only one can inherit his position. The children are still young now and do not understand, but when they grow older and understand the meaning of power, they might have opinions about Baifeng.

Therefore, Baifeng only makes distinctions in the imparting of knowledge, while being fair and equal in terms of affection, and even gives Changle a little more love. When Chinv gave birth to Changle, she thought her beautiful life was about to begin; with a son to rely on, she would surely be able to surpass Sui.

Unexpectedly, starting from the naming, Chinv's hope was dashed. He gave Sui's son a name that was imposing and mighty, while for her son, he just took the name Changle. Although the meaning is very good, it is completely incomparable to Yulong. Chinv then understood that Baifeng had already decided on Yulong as his successor. From then on, Chinv gave up the idea of fighting for power and profit and very meekly acted as Baifeng's wife.

The Baifeng Tribe has opened a school, which admits children over the age of five. As long as the children in the tribe are not fools, they must be sent to school to study once they reach the age. Currently, their tribe has several hundred children in this age group, and there are even more children who are a year younger. The explosion in the number of children in their tribe began in the second year after they started taking in a large number of Slaves. The children born to those people have not yet reached school age; by this time next year, there will be over a thousand students.

This is the new generation of the Baifeng Tribe, the future of the Baifeng Tribe, and the true people of the Baifeng Tribe. The people from before did not have much of a connection to Baifeng; they were all tribes cobbled together by Baifeng. But this generation has lived since childhood in a Baifeng Tribe that is already formed and developing at high speed, and their sense of identity and pride in the tribe is extremely strong.

Moreover, Baifeng's education also allows them to fully conform to Baifeng's values and worldview. By cultivating a worldview basically consistent with Baifeng's from a young age, these people can be considered true tribespeople of the Baifeng Tribe.

They learn Chinese characters, learn Baifeng's various knowledge, and come into contact with magical and grand things from a young age. They can understand Baifeng's wild imagination; no matter what Baifeng says, they can understand most of it, unlike the other tribespeople, in front of whom Baifeng cannot integrate at all—the feeling of being an outsider is simply too obvious.

Therefore, Baifeng prefers to face this group of children. No matter how busy his work is, the class he gives them every day is a must. However, what he teaches is Natural Science knowledge, increasing everyone's understanding of the world.

The person who teaches them characters and arithmetic is Yu. Yu has been following the Shaman to handle financial and warehouse matters, but in the blink of an eye, he is already a big young man. In the Baifeng Tribe, in another three or four years, it will be time for him to marry. Baifeng can only sigh that the pace of life in this era is very slow, but time is always the same and never waits for anyone, passing in the blink of an eye.

Yu has also changed from the Shaman's assistant to Baifeng's assistant. Baifeng felt that it was truly a waste of talent for such a person to follow the Shaman to do those things, so now he has been following him to handle Government Affairs Department matters.

Yu has basically learned all the characters; he recognizes all the commonly used characters. Sometimes, when there is suddenly something that he does not know how to name, Baifeng digs the name out of his own mind and then writes the corresponding character for Yu to learn.

In fact, Baifeng discovered a drawback in the teaching process, which is that he skipped the process of constant simplification from pictographic characters. This resulted in their characters only having meaning, without deeper layers of significance. Future people will also have no way to create new characters based on the principles of character formation, which means their characters will always be limited to this number. Even if new characters are created, they seem to be from a completely different system, with no connection at all between the new and old characters.