From Chief to Ball

The dark pancakes are not made of any tubers, but fern root powder and some small thistles that have not been washed and dried in the sun. It's strange if they don't taste bitter.

Chen Jianming knew that the taste was not very good, so he pinched a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, dragged his neck and swallowed it, and gave Shu Jiu a piece seemingly unintentionally.

Count nine and take it, chew it carefully, the taste is a bit bitter, but if you chew it carefully, it will turn sweet, which is the characteristic of all grains.

She didn't know that it was the sweetness after the starch inside met the amylase in the saliva and turned into sugar, but she knew that it could tell whether it could satisfy the hunger.

When I swallowed that piece of pancake, my mouth was bitter, and my heart was also bitter.

The bitterness in her heart is not because of the continuation of the taste in her mouth, but because she knows that this thing is a kind of food, even if it does not have the sweetness of corn and the fragrance of bean beans, it can satisfy her hunger. up!

They all came from the wilderness, and they can eat as long as they can. Only when there is plenty of food left, will they consider fine and delicious food, let alone a little bit of bitterness. Even maggots and stinky meat have been eaten, and one year I even ate it from birds. Indigestible nuts scraped out of dung.

Her last hesitation was just thinking about how to speak so as not to appear eager.

Seeing that the performance was almost done, Chen Jian held the pancake and said to Yu Qian'er, "Although it's a bit bitter, it won't last long. You accompany the people of the Eyue tribe and wait for me to come back."

He nodded at Shujiu and walked towards the pier by the river, which was already full of goods.

Every step he took, Chen Jian felt a little heavy, looking forward to counting to nine to call him back.

This is a kind of confrontation, whoever speaks first will lose, but if Shujiu does not speak, Chen Jian can only find an excuse to come back and talk to her again, in that case, he will lose the initiative at all.

There are still more than ten steps away from the river bank, and there is still no opening for counting nine. It is impossible for Chen Jian to look back, and he can see the wooden rafters on the bark boat. He thought, should he find an excuse to go back?

It's just that he didn't have the quick wit of Chen Wang's seven-step poem, nor Zhang Yi's eloquence, so he couldn't think of any excuses for a while.

Then he could only sprain his feet, and when his body had already leaned out, the sound of counting nine finally came from behind him.

"Wait a minute!"

Chen Jian withdrew the foot that was going to be sprained, turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Since the pancake tastes bitter, why not plant beans? Don't make it like a bullock cart, but there must be a good wheel."

"But... time is running out. Let's talk again, and it will take a few more days."

"will not."

She looked at the sky and said, "Two hours at most."

The time is the time measured by their tribe using the clepsydra. Chen Jian couldn't understand it, but his mind was ecstatic. Since it was the first to count nine, it was easy to say.

When the two re-entered the council hall, Chen Jian finally saw the priest's determination.

"You can ask the clansmen to prepare salt and wheels now, and just change these first. Go down the river and take my jade, and Eyue will give you beans immediately. As for whether it can be planted in time, it is up to you Let's see how quickly you get back."

She took out a white jade in the shape of a silkworm moth from her waist, and handed it to Chen Jian. The hands were cold, and the carving was lifelike, showing the profound heritage of their tribe. It took several years, and the number of broken jade blanks was even more numerous.

After receiving it, Yu Jue asked, "How do I change it?"

"How many people are you going to go? How many boats? How much can each boat hold?"

"Eighty boats, five people in each boat, pulled back against the current when returning. Each boat can hold [-] catties, which can be exchanged for [-] catties of beans."

"You still can't trust us? You obviously have more ships, and [-] catties of seeds may not be enough. Afraid we will intercept them halfway?"

"I want to leave enough people in the city, what if the scalping tribe from the north comes?"

Shujiu smiled and shook his head, thinking that that tribe would not be able to beat you, if it weren't for the fear that we would stab you when you sent troops to the north, you could still tell us that there are big animals there, and you would have gone to snatch them yourself.

After laughing, he calmed down, lowered his head and took out a counting chip, raised his head after counting for a while and said: "Five hundred catties of salt, ten pairs of wheels, one thousand catties of harvested wheat and peas, and the season for planting. There is not much time, this is the first time." An exchange, and the rest of the two of us will talk slowly. You can arrange your clansmen."

He simply and neatly stated the price of the exchange. After careful calculation, it really didn't take too much time.

Chen Jian took Yujue out of the room and found Yuqianer who was still in the room with Red Fish in acting.

On such a hot day, wearing weird leather boots and trousers glued together with fish-maw glue, Red Fish was already covered in sweat, and was unbuttoning two buttons on his shirt in the wind, his face flushed with heat. .

Chen Jian's heart suddenly moved, he took a deep breath to suppress the thoughts in his heart, called Yu Qian'er aside, and Hongyu walked to the corner consciously.

"Brother, have you finished talking with that woman? Why are you so fast this time?"

"She's also in a hurry. In this way, go to exchange this time, and you lead the team."

"I?"

Yu Qian'er was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Why me? I've never been this far before."

"Do you remember when I drove an ox cart for the first time? The ox had never pulled a cart, but it would never pull a cart once."

"Aren't you coming with me?"

"No, I still have something to do. Sister, you should do something for the tribe and let the tribe know that you are very good."

Yu Qian'er frowned, not knowing what Chen Jian meant, so Chen Jian simply made it clear.

"The old grandmother's body is getting worse day by day. She coughs every day these days, and she has to sleep on her stomach when she sleeps to facilitate spitting. You know that. If... If one day, the old grandmother goes to the place where her ancestors lived, I want you to be the leader of our tribe."

"Ah? What about you? What are you going to do?"

She was suddenly a little scared, wondering if her brother was going to leave the city?

Chen Jian knew that it would be difficult for Yu Qian'er to accept it for a while, so he had to explain in detail: "Listen to me, you have led the clansmen to repair the house, if the matter of changing the beans is done, the clansman will not refuse, you I have only seen Fallen Leaves and Green Sprouts twice less than me."

"I am the leader of the council now, but the council will still have veto power for a long time in the future. If I become the leader of our tribe, fifteen people will become fourteen, and there will be one less person who supports me. This will not work. .”

"And, as I said, we will build a new small city at the border between us and the Eyue tribe."

Yu Qianer could accept the first few reasons, but when it came to the third reason, Yu Qianer immediately jumped aside and shouted: "I'm not going! Brother, why do you want me to leave the city?"

At the end of the conversation, tears had already begun to roll in the corners of her eyes. Chen Jian stretched out his hand and wiped the corners of her eyes and said, "I can't cry in the future. Why did I say that I will drive you away? I mean that the city will also be in the future." There is one of our people in charge, one who stands with us in charge, and it must be managed well, and the goods exchanged must surprise other tribes, so that there will be one more person who supports us in the council."

Yu Qian'er was relieved when she heard that she was not allowed to leave the city, and said with some concern: "What will happen to that person in charge of a city in the future? We used to not let us milk the sheep, and they would jump when we were milked." , and now you give in, people are like sheep, they will change. Look at the leaders who supported you back then, didn’t they object a few days ago?”

Chen Jian said with a smile: "It's great if you think so, but the leader of that city is different from these leaders. The people he manages are selected by each tribe, and the goods exchanged are sent by us. He has nothing in the city. But the tribal leader is different. After leaving the city, they still have clansmen connected by blood, as well as land and slaves. What is there? At that time, that person is like a windmill on the top of a mountain. Towering too high above the mountain tops, but can only move with the wind."

He thought for a while, and then said: "For the exchange, you should take care of it first, and when it gets better, we will replace it with someone we trust. Think about it, since the person in charge of the exchange can enter the council, then the person in charge of raising cattle will , who are in charge of teaching people to farm, those who are in charge of building houses, and maybe those who are in charge of the sun, the moon and the stars... Can these people gradually enter the council? When these people enter the council step by step, those leaders How much more can you manage?"

Yu Qian'er seemed to understand, and whispered: "You mean...in the future, the council may not need a leader, but only those who are in charge of their own affairs?"

"Yes, there is no need. Although the leader is still there, he can only take care of the distribution within the clan. They don't need to take care of anything else. They are all old and tired."

"They won't be happy."

"So hurry up, add at least two people to the council before they understand and start to feel unhappy, and there is also a wild man who had a lot of beheaded people in the last war. They should also be allowed to come to the city. The two tribes that support me, even if the rest give up all their differences, they are still a minority in the council. If they don't abide by the council's decision, they can be expelled from the city, even if they want to fight, I have soldiers, you can control Who can beat food and drink? Besides, will their clansmen agree?"

Yu Qian'er seemed to understand. After a long time, she hummed and took Chen Jian's hand and said, "Brother, I feel a little scared when you say that. What if... what if I don't do well this time?"