Chapter 220: Sheep Tribe was led astray
Han Cheng looked at the sparse charcoal in the basket, the ashes in the kiln, and the pile of wood next to him that hadn't burned through or hadn't burned at all, feeling somewhat distressed as he grabbed his hair.
This was already his eighth failed attempt at making charcoal in the kiln.
None of these attempts had been successful, despite him continuously adjusting the timing of sealing the kiln and starting the fire based on past experiences of making charcoal. However, there hadn't been much progress.
In this eighth firing, compared to the second attempt, he had only produced a few more pieces of charcoal
He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, profoundly feeling the difficulty of picking apples without standing on the shoulders of giants.
Han Cheng wasn't the only one troubled in such a vast world. The chief of the Sheep Tribe was equally distressed at this moment.
Like Han Cheng, he squatted on the ground, occasionally running his hands through his messy hair.
Before him was a corner of the cave.
What used to be connected to the rest of the cave was now separated by a rough wall made of some piled stones, creating a relatively independent space.
The Sheep Tribe chief, clad in sheepskin, squatted on the ground, catching a whiff of some unpleasant smell from the crevices in the stone wall.
Of course, he wasn't bothered by the smell; in fact, his scent wasn't much better.
After squatting there for a while, he stood up.
The scene in this isolated space appeared before him.
Twelve sheep, almost indistinguishable in color due to being covered in dirt, were startled by the sudden movement of the Sheep Tribe chief, bleating and huddling together, trembling.
These sheep were thin, almost like skeletal frames covered in fur.
The Sheep Tribe chief's distress stemmed from these sheep.
Of course, at first, the chief and the tribe members were delighted with these sheep.
Every autumn, for tribes living on this vast land, it was a harvest season, especially for the Sheep Tribe.
Because every autumn, they could harvest enough sheep.
These sheep occupied a large part of their future food supply.
In the past, to prevent captured sheep from escaping, they would choose to slaughter all the sheep they caught.
As a result, uneaten sheep meat often spoiled, even in the cold winter weather, because there was a considerable period between capturing the sheep and the arrival of winter.
In the past, although the people of the Sheep Tribe were troubled by this, they had no reasonable solutions. Because as far back as they could remember, this was how their tribe had always done things.
Food was precious, especially in winter, when even spoiled and rotten food became extremely valuable, and no one was willing to discard it.
The Sheep Tribe, a tribe whose meat supply accounted for half of their winter food, was even more reluctant to discard it because if they did, many people in their tribe would starve to death!
During autumn, the Sheep Tribe could quickly obtain a large amount of meat, ensuring they had enough food for the winter. The reason why the population of the tribe had never been among the top in the nearby tribes was because every winter, as it was about to end, the Sheep Tribe would lose some people, mostly elderly and young children.
The Sheep Tribe would mourn the deceased, but there was also a sense of resignation along with the sorrow.
Or, you could say, helplessness.
A particular saying has been circulating within the sheep tribe. Even the oldest person in their tribe doesn't know when this saying began to spread.
It is said that the people of their tribe had it too easy to obtain food, so the gods punished them
The people of the sheep tribe firmly believe this. In their eyes, it is indeed a punishment because the deceased become extremely emaciated, even though they eat large amounts of food
Of course, the people of the sheep tribe do not know that this is due to eating too much rotten food. Starting this year, they began to leave some live sheep behind, not to solve the problem.
They do this mainly because they were inspired by seeing the large group of deer owned by the neighboring prosperous tribe and partly because they received promises from the leaders of neighboring tribes that they would get more pottery for live sheep than dead ones.
This discovery from neighboring tribes delighted the people of the sheep tribe because they suddenly realized they had found a way to prevent sheep meat from spoiling in the future.
Dead sheep, over time, would rot, while live sheep would not.
This is a very simple truth, which they also understand, but they had never considered associating it with the sheep they captured in their tribe.
Every year, following the passed-down experience, they would kill all the sheep they captured until this year when they saw the large group of deer owned by the neighboring tribe during the joyous gathering
These sheep occupied a large part of their future food supply.
In the past, to prevent captured sheep from escaping, they would choose to slaughter all the sheep they caught.
As a result, uneaten sheep meat often spoiled, even in the cold winter weather, because there was a considerable period between capturing the sheep and the arrival of winter.
In the past, although the people of the Sheep Tribe were troubled by this, they had no reasonable solutions. Because as far back as they could remember, this was how their tribe had always done things.
Food was precious, especially in winter, when even spoiled and rotten food became extremely valuable, and no one was willing to discard it.
The Sheep Tribe, a tribe whose meat supply accounted for half of their winter food, was even more reluctant to discard it because if they did, many people in their tribe would starve to death!
During autumn, the Sheep Tribe could quickly obtain a large amount of meat, ensuring they had enough food for the winter. The reason why the population of the tribe had never been among the top in the nearby tribes was because every winter, as it was about to end, the Sheep Tribe would lose some people, mostly elderly and young children.
The Sheep Tribe would mourn the deceased, but there was also a sense of resignation along with the sorrow.
Or, you could say, helplessness.
A particular saying has been circulating within the sheep tribe. Even the oldest person in their tribe doesn't know when this saying began to spread.
It is said that the people of their tribe had it too easy to obtain food, so the gods punished them
The people of the sheep tribe firmly believe this. In their eyes, it is indeed a punishment because the deceased become extremely emaciated, even though they eat large amounts of food
Of course, the people of the sheep tribe do not know that this is due to eating too much rotten food. Starting this year, they began to leave some live sheep behind, not to solve the problem.
They do this mainly because they were inspired by seeing the large group of deer owned by the neighboring prosperous tribe and partly because they received promises from the leaders of neighboring tribes that they would get more pottery for live sheep than dead ones.
This discovery from neighboring tribes delighted the people of the sheep tribe because they suddenly realized they had found a way to prevent sheep meat from spoiling in the future.
Dead sheep, over time, would rot, while live sheep would not.
This is a very simple truth, which they also understand, but they had never considered associating it with the sheep they captured in their tribe.
Every year, following the passed-down experience, they would kill all the sheep they captured until this year when they saw the large group of deer owned by the neighboring tribe during the joyous gathering
What comes quickly also goes easily. In the beginning, the idea of raising sheep did excite the entire sheep tribe because after starting to raise sheep, they realized another benefit: after the cold weather passed, their tribe would still have sheep, unlike in the past, when if they wanted to eat mutton after the cold season, they would have to wait until the following autumn
To raise these sheep, they also built sheep pens imitating the deer pens of the neighboring tribe.
They didn't have those high courtyards, so they built the sheep pens into their living caves.
They couldn't build sturdy sheep pens out of wood, so after seeing that the nearby tribe had built something similar to where the deer lived using stones, they came back and started building sheep pens with stones
Everything seemed fine, but troubles arose as the weather gradually got colder.
The trouble was with gathering grass or the sheep's deaths.
At first, they thought raising sheep was a good idea; they only needed to give them grass daily.
But after some time, it became impossible because they had too many sheep in their tribe, and they needed a lot of grass daily to feed them.
As the weather got colder and the grass around the tribe was depleted, the burden of gathering grass became heavier and heavier.
These sheep couldn't eat their fill and drank old, dry grass daily, so they started visibly losing weight.
Moreover, as time passed, sheep began to die continuously.
The sheep tribe would not let these dead sheep go to waste, but compared to autumn, there was not much meat left on their bodies.
Raising sheep not only meant losing meat but also brought suffering to the people in the tribe.
In previous years, when the cold winter arrived, they could block the cave entrance with stone slabs and sit around the fire for a long winter.
But not this year because they still had to go out and gather grass for the sheep, and each one froze to the bone. Some people's hands and feet had already started to develop frostbite.
The leader of the sheep tribe was troubled.
He didn't quite understand why what seemed like a good path was like this once implemented.
The neighboring tribe had so many deer. How did they get through the winter?
After scratching his head again, the leader of the sheep tribe began to prepare food. He decided to go and find out what was happening in the nearby friendly tribe.
