Chapter 73: No One Came to Attack

Regarding enemies of unknown numbers, Baifeng could only formulate countermeasures based on currently known intelligence; he now knew their primary means of attack was the sling, which was what Baifeng knew as a "sling."

Baifeng had originally intended to call it by the name "sling," but when he said it, no one understood what on earth a "sling" was. Baifeng knew this was likely a Tibetan word, but translated it meant "sling." Once he said that, the tribespeople all fell silent; although they didn't say it explicitly, Baifeng could sense their speechlessness at his redundant behavior, so Baifeng simply chose to forget the name "sling" and just called it a sling.

Although the sling had a long attack range and relatively high lethality, it was far inferior to their bows and spears equipped with spear throwers, but he still had to find a way to defend against it; everything had to be prioritized for stability.

A shield was the best thing; not only could it block flying stones, but it could also be used in close-quarters combat. It was just that Baifeng hadn't thought of it before, having kept his focus on making armor, though unfortunately, he still lacked the ability to make any part of armor even now.

A shield was different; a wooden shield was simple and easy to obtain, and quick to produce, but it was also easy to imitate; other tribes only needed to take one look to immediately copy it.

Unfortunately, Baifeng had no time to make wooden shields now; even if they were easy to make, they still required slow carving and chopping with wood. If the enemy attacked tomorrow, they might not be able to produce many even if they rushed to make them all night.

However, a bamboo shield was simple; one just had to tie bamboo together. The tribe had plenty of collected bamboo, and it didn't even require a specialized craftsman; every Soldier could make a shield for themselves. The flying stones could not possibly break the ropes.

Baifeng and his people therefore worked through the night, starting to tie bamboo to make shields. Once finished, they placed them on the city wall. Because Baifeng's city wall did not have a parapet like the Great Wall—that is, an embrasure—but was instead an unobstructed flat surface, if they faced the enemy head-on, the Baifeng Tribe would also be under great threat if the enemy had long-range weapons.

With bamboo shields, they could block a few waves of long-range attacks from the enemies below, and when they started a forced assault to climb the wall, they would begin to attack with arrows and spears.

However, this also gave Baifeng the idea to renovate the city wall again. Currently, the wall was not high enough, and many structures were imperfect. It was called a city wall, but aside from serving as an enclosure for protection, it had absolutely no structure from a military perspective.

Although the city wall was very long and the Baifeng Tribe occupied a large area, the real threat came from the direction of the forest. The other directions were backed by mountains, which were natural barriers, and the two plains were completely unobstructed, so the tribespeople could immediately detect even the slightest anomaly.

Only from the direction of the forest could wild beasts or other human tribes possibly emerge.

Through the middle of the night of production, Baifeng and his people had already made a sufficient number of bamboo shields, which were then placed on the city wall, ready to be picked up whenever needed.

Although it was unlikely anyone would come to raid at night because visibility was so limited—after all, night blindness made everything look pitch black at night, like being blind—the moonlight was slightly bright now, and if torches were lit, the line of sight would be perfectly sufficient.

Moreover, the last time the wolf pack raided at night, it made everyone want to keep people on night watch. Even with a high city wall, if no one was on watch at night and everyone was fast asleep, there was never any sense of security.

The main thing was that if they didn't hurry to finish the shields now, it would be too late if they waited until tomorrow.

By the time the sun was about to rise and the east turned red, no one had come to attack. Baifeng hurriedly let everyone go rest and had the Soldiers who had rested well last night get up to rotate with the others. In times of war, men still had to take the lead; no matter how strong a woman was, she was still in the back.

The herd of cattle had stayed safely in the cattle pen all night, and in the morning they started mooing, because it was time for them to get up and eat grass. There was only cow dung in the pen and nothing to eat, so they naturally started to get restless.

Baifeng dared not let them out; if the enemy attacked, there wouldn't be enough time to return to the cattle pen. However, for the sake of the cattle's winter food, the tribe was already preparing grass; every day when they went out to work, they would grab a large bundle, which also served as clearing weeds.

The grass currently stored was enough for the herd to eat for five or six days, but with more cattle, the inside of the pen was very dirty. Cow dung and urine were mixed with soil, and constant trampling turned it into dung-mud, but since the situation was urgent, they had to just throw bundles of grass into the pen.

Fortunately, the cattle didn't mind too much and still ate deliciously, and the restlessness disappeared.

After waiting for a day, no one was seen attacking, but Baifeng and his people dared not take the initiative to attack either. Although they were well-equipped, ever since his trip to the Suiren clan, Baifeng had believed from the bottom of his heart that he was still just a minor, insignificant tribe.

If those large tribes really wanted to fight, they could use slaves to pile up until their Soldiers broke through the Baifeng Tribe's city.

Therefore, the Baifeng Tribe had to eat their stored food for now. Fortunately, there was enough grain, and what they had saved was enough to last a month. They had even restored their previous routine, though the number of people on night watch and daytime patrol had increased significantly. Taking advantage of this time, Baifeng led people to dig irrigation canals for the farmland to water the Wheat that was about to head.

Because of the temperature, Baifeng only now felt that the Rice seedlings he had cultivated had reached the stage for transplanting; the length was about the same as what he had seen in videos from later generations.

The Rice paddy was soaked with plenty of water, and then the seedlings were planted one by one in the mud with the spacing carefully managed. There were many people but not many seedlings, so it was all planted in half a day. The field was a sea of green, and Baifeng only hoped that what he had done was not wrong, allowing the Rice to grow healthily until it headed and seeded.

Furthermore, they started digging the Fish Pond directly now. They would dig three or four extra-large Fish Ponds, and the excavated soil could just happen to be used to continue building the city wall; there was so much soil that it was enough to raise the city wall by another half a meter.

The water was taken directly from the Dahu, and there was no need to worry too much about the fish not being suitable for the water quality here. Later, they only needed to catch some fish with roe and release them inside, and they would always be able to raise small fish into big fish. It was just that they dared not leave the tribe to go to the Dahu now; if they were not careful, they might lose their lives.

Seven or eight days passed, and the war Baifeng worried about still did not come. Looking at the dwindling food in the warehouse, the tribespeople were also a bit worried. If they couldn't go out to hunt, they might not last long. When the enemy finally came to attack, perhaps after a day or two of siege, the Baifeng Tribe would starve to death inside the city.

There was no other way; Baifeng could only let everyone go toward the vicinity of the Dahu. They must not go near the Old Camp; it might have become a place for the enemy to station, though it was also possible those people were just passing through and had killed the Baifeng Tribe members with such vicious methods.

Baifeng thought to himself, if he encountered people using slings in the future, he would definitely use a Sword to skewer two holes through them.