Chapter 289: No More Delay

Baifeng's tone softened: "Of course, if you can quit, others can join. In the past, when I selected soldiers and military personnel, I always picked the best fighters, but it will be different from now on. I will establish a new set of standards; as long as one meets the standards, anyone can become a soldier."

"However, it will still be the best of the best, because the tribe's normal production must still be guaranteed. But everyone can rest assured that the selection criteria will not simply be about who has the biggest build or who can fight the best. As long as they pass my threshold, I believe that every person who comes, as long as they undergo my training, will be able to become an excellent soldier—at least stronger than they are now."

After finishing, Baifeng pointed at the line of soldiers. They felt shame once again, but they had no way to vent it; they could only project their anger onto the deserters who had already died and the person who had been demoted to a Slave. If looks could kill, that person would have died many times over.

After hearing Baifeng's speech, many men below, disregarding the oppressive atmosphere of the moment, cheered together. This reform of Baifeng's meant that they, too, had a chance to join the troops, to stop laboring and specialize in training. It was just unclear whether they would regret it after entering the new army.

Because Baifeng had already summarized a set of very strict and perverted training methods, which was to apply the training methods of later generations' nations, but with the intensity directly doubled. Baifeng believed that with the physique of the people of this era, it was absolutely no problem. As long as they could persist through the training, they would be the truly strongest team of this era. Coupled with the ideological transformation movement that Baifeng would launch throughout the tribe next, it would allow them to become an army that could not only win battles but also obey commands.

As for other aspects, Baifeng was not yet ready to speak, because this required coordination with the Administration Department; this was a matter of great importance.

Baifeng intended to declare himself King.

This matter had been going on for many years, starting from when Baifeng first tricked Xiong. Only on the day he married Sui, when he was called King by the tribesmen, had he never heard this title again.

Baifeng's idea was to build high walls, store grain widely, and delay declaring himself King, at least until after wiping out a large tribe.

But now, the actual situation was forcing Baifeng to declare himself King, and the timing could be considered ripe. As for building high walls, their tribe's city walls were already high enough; after years of constant repairs and heightening, they were now five or six meters high, and even in the most peripheral areas, they were four meters high.

In this era where other tribes didn't even have houses, let alone city walls, having only Tents, shacks, and earthen caves, the Baifeng Tribe's city walls could already be called impregnable.

As for storing grain widely, the Baifeng Tribe currently lacked no grain at all. The fertile fields stretched for miles, and everywhere one looked were the Baifeng Tribe's cultivated lands. Everything that could be converted into paddy fields had been converted, planting the highest-yielding Rice, while the dry land was for Wheat and various miscellaneous grains. Soybeans, as an oil crop, were also planted in large quantities. Coupled with the continuous optimization of varieties for cultivation, the yield and disaster resistance were also constantly improving.

Vegetables and fruits had already achieved complete self-sufficiency, though sometimes people would still go to gather wild vegetables in the spring when their own vegetables had not yet grown. As for fruits, the Baifeng Tribe had already planted many orchards, or even fruit forests; all kinds of fruits produced here were available in abundance.

Hemp and Silk, the two raw materials for Weaving, were also not scarce in the Baifeng Tribe, because although clothing was a consumable, the cost was not too high, and now ordinary tribesmen could wear dyed Hemp Cloth clothing.

Dahe and Dahu had been continuously explored and utilized by the Baifeng Tribe. Houses had even been built by the side of Dahu, and roads had been constructed between the tribe and the lake; traveling by ox cart took less than half an hour.

The lakeside of Dahu also had tribesmen stationed there on rotation, because they had started planting lotus roots and raising ducks by the lake.

The wild ducks were also the credit of Changxu. Chickens had basically been domesticated; they were unwilling to fly away even without their wings clipped. They wandered outside during the day and returned to their coops at night.

The hens no longer laid eggs according to the season; now it was irregular. These eggs, besides a portion given to the soldiers to eat, were all given to the children of the tribe. Baifeng was extremely attentive to the children of the tribe.

Because of the experience in domesticating several types of birds, Changxu often thought about raising more types of birds. Wild ducks were his experimental target. This year was the second year, and it was considered a success, though it required clipping the wing feathers.

Because they had to be raised in places with water, people were arranged to be stationed at Dahu. With a large number of dogs for early warning, they could take a Boat onto the lake to hide at any time, and there were pigeons that could communicate with the tribe in a timely manner, so the Dahu stronghold did not have much danger.

The tribe's industry was also flourishing, constantly expanding its scale and improving its craftsmanship, so the Baifeng Tribe also fit the "store grain widely" point very well.

The old grain alone filled many local warehouses; those that were too old or showed signs of mold and rot would be used to brew Wine or as feed for chickens and cattle.

And the normally stored grain was enough for the entire Baifeng Tribe to eat at the current standard for a year, and if they entered a wartime or natural disaster rationing state, it could last another half a year.

Of course, this could be said to be a secret in the Baifeng Tribe. The quantity of grain was known only to a few people, such as the Administration Department, the finance department, and Baifeng, and it was strictly kept confidential; the news could not be leaked.

This was for fear that some people in the Baifeng Tribe would covet it, and also for fear that someone would leak the news to outside tribes, attracting enemies, revealing the tribe's strength, and it could also avoid waste.

After summarizing the current situation of the tribe, Baifeng felt that he was qualified to declare himself King, even if he only had ten thousand people under his rule, but now, the actual situation of the tribe was pressing, and the outside world was also pressing.

The Suiren Clan was already expanding crazily, and sooner or later there would be a battle with him. The Xuanyuan Clan was expanding to the west and north.

From the words exchanged with Xuanyuan, Baifeng learned that Xuanyuan had not only made contact with Chiyou, but he had also made contact with the Yi tribes in the south and the Sanmiao Tribe.

According to Baifeng's historical cheat, soon Chiyou would unite with the Yi tribes and the Sanmiao Tribe to start resisting Xuanyuan, and Xuanyuan would also soon be resisting the Shennong Clan and the Lieshan Clan.

The true great era was about to arrive. Baifeng had to transform the Tribal Chief's thinking and build the army well; otherwise, it would be difficult for them to gain an absolute advantage in this upcoming great war.

What needed to be told to the tribesmen today had already been told, so Baifeng announced the end of the meeting to everyone. Today was mainly to deal with military issues.

And the matter of selecting soldiers and reforming the army that Baifeng spoke of still had to be discussed with Xiong, Chi, and several other heads of the Military Department after returning. He already had the specific plan; the next step was the issue of execution.