Chapter 62: Fusion of New and Old

In Baifeng's design, work points were equivalent to virtual currency; you earned based on how much you worked, and at the end, the tribe's total harvest for the year would be calculated to determine what those points were actually worth. Without an equivalent exchange medium, inflation and deflation were almost inevitable.

But how much of a surplus could the tribe have in a year? For now, this was merely a policy to stabilize the tribespeople. For instance, which was more valuable, a brick or a handful of wild vegetables? Or a pound of salt versus a pottery jar? Everything was simply decided by Baifeng.

Baifeng's vision was to set a minimum daily standard; only after tribespeople completed their assigned minimum work could they receive their work point settlement. This would also widen the gap between diligent and lazy tribespeople, and it was also a way to differentiate the treatment of new and old tribespeople.

New tribespeople were physically far inferior to the healthy and strong old tribespeople, not to mention their lack of work proficiency, so their work progress would certainly be much worse. For a long time, the contribution made by new tribespeople would be negative. Only by creating a gap between new and old tribespeople would the tribe not feel dissatisfied or resistant when more savages were incorporated later. Of course, this did not include beauties; if there were truly beauties, they would be willing to trade for them even if they had to go hungry themselves.

After pacifying the old tribespeople and letting them begin their daily work, the new tribespeople remained timid and unsure of what to do. Long-term wandering had made them feel very inferior in this new tribe.

Yishang was their backbone, but Yishang did not perform very well either, also waiting for instructions from Baifeng.

The first thing all new tribespeople had to do was register their information and receive an identity tag. With over two hundred people, this added a huge workload for Baifeng. Moreover, for the sake of durability, all identity tags were carved with a Knife, which was slower and more strenuous than writing. Baifeng felt as if his fingers were about to break, but he also took pleasure in it.

In their current state, they had no choice of work. They had just regained some strength, but what could they do? They had to be assigned to weave Grass ropes, mix mud, and the like. Those in slightly better physical condition could go dig earth, preparing for the future heightening of the city wall.

The new tribespeople were clumsy, which the old tribespeople found very displeasing, but Baifeng demanded that they be treated equally, without insults or exclusion, so they had to endure it and teach the new tribespeople slowly.

The Hunter Team's harvest remained very abundant. The old tribespeople could eat meat and soup boiled with wild vegetables pickled last year. Those who contributed more could also be allocated more meat to eat. The new tribespeople could only eat soup boiled with minced meat scraps, and those who performed better might get bones with no meat left on them to suck on.

Supplies were relatively scarce at the beginning of spring, so Baifeng could only let everyone eat a bit worse; there was no longer the treatment of eating dried meat like before. The surplus grain was stored to deal with emergencies that might occur later. Baifeng felt that this year would not be very peaceful.

Nearly a month passed like this, and these new tribespeople slowly became familiar with the old tribespeople. Everyone no longer had barriers and got along quite harmoniously, but there was still a difference in food; after all, more work meant more gain.

The food was not very good, but it still raised this group of skeletons into human shape. The former Soldiers slowly grew flesh, and their strength increased. The tribe would naturally favor them with better food to let them become combat power faster.

Other tribespeople could also do other work. For example, the Wax Seeds planted in the fields had sprouted, and with the addition of fertilizer, they grew exceptionally vigorously, far outstripping their counterparts growing in the wild.

Agriculture required intensive cultivation, and it was time to weed. Selectively hoeing out weeds among the Grass did not require much strength, but it was also tiring and time-consuming. All of this was handled by the new tribespeople, even though many planted crops were also hoed up along with the weeds.

The vegetable garden was handed over to Sui. Usually, Sui was Baifeng's shadow; whatever Baifeng did, she would help out, and she had no fixed work. The tribespeople had gradually accepted the fact that Sui was the Tribal Chief's woman. Coupled with Baifeng's obvious favoritism toward Sui, the tribespeople did not care about Sui's idle daily routine.

Baifeng did not trust the new tribespeople with the vegetable garden. Sui was meticulous, and even if she hoed away his vegetables, he wouldn't feel pained, but if the new tribespeople hoed away his vegetables, he might not have a pleasant expression.

Wild vegetables also began to grow wildly. The ones picked at this time were the most delicious. Although they could be picked in later seasons, the taste was not just a little bit worse. What's more, the tribespeople had been eating out-of-season wild vegetables that had been pickled for half a year, and the taste was truly hard to compliment.

The first to grow was wormwood; it was everywhere, and one could soon dig up a full Basket. However, Baifeng really couldn't accept the taste of this thing—it numbed the tongue—so this kind of wild vegetable had always had no fate with Baifeng.

The gathering team also continued the excellent habit of picking various samples and bringing them back for Baifeng to see. Baifeng also found several types of edible wild vegetables among the gathered plants, further expanding the tribespeople's diet.

If they encountered good-looking stones, they would also casually throw them into the Basket and pour them out for Baifeng to see later. In case they were like that tribesperson who had the good luck to pick up Iron Ore before and earned a house and a wife, wouldn't that be wonderful?

The pile of stones in the corner was basically just strangely patterned ones with no special use. One stone, the size of a finger with purple and white patterns intersecting, was slightly useful—a piece of Qin purple jade. Drilling a hole to make a necklace for Sui, she would be happy for a long time after he gave it to her, holding the necklace and looking at it all day, not even taking it off when sleeping, clinking against Baifeng beside her and making him unable to sleep.

That tribesperson saw Baifeng choose the stone he had picked up and hurriedly said he had seen ones the size of a human head in that place, but he thought they were too heavy to move. If the Tribal Chief needed them, he would move two back tomorrow. Baifeng hurriedly refused; such large Qin purple jade was of no use at all in this era.

Another stone that made Baifeng relatively happy was a piece of pure white Lime stone. The ones usually seen were gray; this pure white one was quite rare, and it was also an excellent material for burning Cement.

Upon asking where the stone was found and if there were many more of this kind, the tribesperson only said it was picked up under a boulder several people high. Baifeng basically lost hope immediately.

However, no suitable Lime stone mine had been found around the tribe. For the sake of the Cement cause, Baifeng felt it was better to go take a look in person; what if a miracle happened?

A miracle did indeed happen. When Baifeng went, he found that what the tribesperson said was exactly right—it was just a Lime boulder over four meters high; it probably wouldn't even burn enough Cement to build one house.

Baifeng sat on the ground in annoyance. If he couldn't find a large enough Lime stone mine, did he really have to use mud to build brick houses?

While Baifeng was thinking about substitutes for Lime stone, he was randomly poking the ground with his Knife. But soon, Baifeng discovered that the originally yellow soil was actually mixed with white powder. Digging deeper carefully, he didn't expect that there was actually a Lime stone mine underground.