Chapter 259: The Upcoming Major Event

The people of the Industrial Department prepare all the necessary materials, and then the people of the Construction Department begin to find people to build; aside from the specialized Workers, most of the tasks must be done by Slaves, such as digging soil, leveling the ground, and so on.

This requires the cooperation of the people from the Household Registration Department; they select a portion of the Slaves to be assigned to this work, and those who have signed up to go to the New City also need to participate in the road construction work.

After the Autumn Harvest ends, there is not much free time, because they have to start plowing the land now; most of the straw has been brought back to the tribe, because ever since every household has had its own stove, they have discovered that burning straw for cooking is better than using firewood.

Straw burns quickly and heats up quickly, which means the cooking fire is stronger, and once the food is cooked, the fire can be extinguished at will; it is not like firewood, which is too troublesome to extinguish, making the food prone to burning in the pot.

Baifeng is also operating with the concept of Sustainable Development; thousands of years later, this place will become a Wasteland, and such primeval forests will become barren slopes with hardly a tree in sight. Although their development currently requires cutting down trees, only by logging reasonably can this forest exist for longer.

The straw that can be brought back is piled up into haystacks; if one needs firewood or grass, they just pull it out. The tribe does not restrict the use of this, and some is specifically reserved as feed for the cattle.

Because the area of the tribe has expanded, coupled with the abundance of grass and feed, they no longer go out to graze, but instead pen-raise the cattle; after all, the grassland area required for grazing is too large and would occupy the development of arable land.

As for the straw that cannot be brought back, it is burned on the spot, then returned to the fields, and after plowing, it becomes fertilizer.

Those who were drafted use the supplies provided by the tribe to continuously build roads. They cannot build the roads straight, as there are too many obstacles along the way. Although they have Gunpowder and can help open mountains and break stones, the consumption is too high, so in the end, they chose to go around them.

If an obstacle can indeed be cleared, then the Gunpowder will exert its positive side, providing assistance for their road construction.

The Full Moon Gathering is now completely controlled by the Qiexin Tribe; just by collecting protection fees, they can earn a large amount of wealth every year, which is unavoidable for whichever tribe comes.

However, this has drawn the dissatisfaction of many tribes, and some large tribes are also jealous, but a precedent has already been formed. It is difficult for them to initiate a gathering themselves, as not all tribes are willing to buy it.

Baifeng feels that something big will definitely happen at this year's gathering, because the Soldiers they have patrolling around the territory discovered that the Suiren Clan is making big moves; their village has far fewer Soldiers, as if they have been drafted away.

After hearing the news, Baifeng combined it with the upcoming Full Moon Gathering and concluded that the Suiren Clan is likely going to take action this time, but the target is not the tribes participating in the gathering, but the Qiexin Tribe.

The Suiren Clan is going further and further down the road of crazy expansion. Baifeng had speculated that they would stop their expansion due to internal turmoil, but he did not expect that Baoxi would persist all along, and even suppress the conflicts within a controllable range. However, the current Baoxi is in very poor condition due to long-term alcoholism.

Baifeng feels a bit unbearable seeing Baoxi's appearance; the current Baoxi would only be considered a young adult in later generations, yet he is already exceptionally haggard due to alcohol, women, and the pressure of the tribe. He does not even think it is the alcohol that turned him into this, but rather feels that without alcohol, he would be even more unbearable. Baifeng has also never given him the "head and tail" of the wine, but normal good wine; the idea of using inferior wine from before has long since disappeared.

The tribes located downstream from Baifeng have almost all been conquered by Baoxi. In any case, Baifeng has not seen any other independent tribe. This is thanks to Baoxi's high-pressure rule; those who rebelled and fled, from the initial killing to the later enslavement, made their tribesmen feel fear.

Moreover, Baoxi also adjusted his policies, reducing the distance between various villages, which is easier for governance and allows for mutual supervision.

For the Baifeng Tribe, the current Full Moon Gathering no longer has any economic significance; its political significance is greater, or rather, it is so that Baifeng can obtain more information and understand the development progress of various tribes, which is why the Baifeng Tribe attends the gathering every year.

The cattle-catching activity before the Full Moon Gathering has been cancelled, but in order to retain the essence of the celebration, they will symbolically catch one or two, which is entirely due to the rapid development of the animal husbandry industry of the Baifeng Tribe.

Going to catch cattle once requires a great deal of expenditure, and the caught cattle are not of much help to the current scale of the Baifeng Tribe. Excessive hunting is not a good thing either; the wild cattle population has only recently recovered to its previous size, so the Baifeng Tribe will slaughter a portion of the cattle raised by the tribe that day for the tribesmen to enjoy themselves wantonly for once.

For this Full Moon Gathering, Baifeng intends to go in person. He wants to see if his guess is correct, and also to study the true combat power level of the Suiren Clan, because the Baifeng Tribe has already blocked the expansion pace of the Suiren Clan, and it is only a matter of time before the two sides go to war.

Baifeng is not worried about his own safety, because they are now fully capable of watching the fire from the other side, but Baifeng does not intend to intervene. If he were to intervene, it would mean that the Baifeng Tribe wants to go to war with the Suiren Clan, and for now, Baifeng only wants to seize the time and develop for one more year.

Baifeng, who has a Boat, arrived at the gathering place early. He did not expect Baoxi to arrive quickly as well, arriving only one day later than Baifeng by land.

Baifeng wanted to probe Baoxi's intentions, so he sent someone to the Suiren Clan's encampment to invite Baoxi to chat, drink tea, and talk about business. He did not expect that the person he sent would be directly turned away by the Suiren Clan's Soldiers, and he did not even get to see Baoxi.

At this point, Baifeng was even more certain; given their current relationship, it would be impossible to refuse so resolutely, even if the relationship was actually tense, they were still intimate trading partners on the surface.

Seeing that it would not work, Baifeng did not disturb them further and told everyone to gather together and not to wander around the gathering site casually; it would be bad if Baoxi suddenly launched an attack and accidentally injured them.

However, their sentries now each have a Telescope, closely observing the movements around them. Their Telescopes are no longer double-lens, but compound lenses, which are clearer and have better zoom, allowing for more detailed observation. As for the Baifeng Tribe, when it comes to reconnaissance, no one dares to claim first place if they claim second, not to mention the scout falcons that occasionally fly into the Heaven to circle around.