TPWBI Chapter 31

The discovery of the tung fruit was a cause for celebration throughout the entire Spark Tribe.

In the future, it would bring many uses and conveniences; it was an essential resource for development.

But at the same time, it also brought a burden to the tribe. To obtain tung oil, dedicated people had to be assigned, and quite a number of them.

Just picking the fruit required specially selecting many people. Fortunately, there were also many fruit trees and wild vegetables near that patch of tung forest, so the collecting team could work together. Otherwise, warriors would need to be assigned specifically to guard the area.

After picking, the seeds needed to be extracted, dried, and impurities removed. These fruits had all fallen naturally before, so they were already dehydrated. At present, the drying step could be skipped, but the step of removing impurities could not be omitted.

Then, the seeds had to be crushed. Luckily, Yang Yi had previously bought a stone mill from the market, saving the trouble of making one. Still, people would definitely need to be assigned to find stones to carve it from.

The traditional oil pressing tool required finding a large piece of wood, hollowing out the middle, and using a method of pounding and pressing to extract the oil.

The search for wood was also particular: it needed to be moisture-resistant and not prone to decay, and the grain had to be twisted and tangled. Generally, camphor wood was preferred.

Moreover, it had to be a big tree; otherwise, several trees would have to be combined.

This was not a problem here, since there were trees so large that several people together were needed just to carry one.

Officially entering the oil pressing phase, the tung seed powder first needed to be steamed. If it were other seeds, like rapeseed, they would need to be slowly roasted over low heat.

When the steam rose to a sufficiently saturated level, the seed powder was wrapped in grass into a large cake shape. The outside of the cake was bound with iron or bamboo hoops, matching the gap inside the press, and quickly shoved in.

The entire process had to be fast; once it cooled, the oil could no longer be extracted, or the yield would drop.

After inserting the oil cake into the press, a pounding wooden block was used to knock in a pointed wedge, performing compression and pressing to obtain the desired oil.

From picking to the final oil extraction, several steps were needed. And each step required quite a few people.

Right now, they had nothing. The oil pressing tools still had to be specially made by someone, the jars for storing oil needed cooperation from the pottery group, and extra firewood was also necessary.

“We’re short on people, short on people,” Yang Yi began his usual grumbling again.

Hei Lie walked into the tent and heard him. “I will arrange the manpower properly. You don’t need to worry about these things.”

Since Hei Lie arrived, Yang Yi basically didn’t interfere with personnel assignments. He just broke down the tasks and sent them out, clearly writing what each step required. Hei Lie and Jiao would then arrange the people.

Every time Yang Yi assigned a task, he distinctly felt like a leader.

Having others share the burden of various matters felt really good.

However, this didn’t mean Yang Yi was clueless about personnel affairs. He had a detailed roster with comprehensive information on each person.

One person for each role, all clearly laid out.

Any changes were updated immediately, and everyone’s “ID card” was correspondingly corrected.

Yang Yi wanted to strengthen population data management starting when the numbers were small to build the habit, so that when the population grew, they would have more experience.

For now, Jiao and a student from the training class were responsible.

Even if you didn’t pay attention to these records, just walking around the tribe made it obvious. There wasn’t a single idle person; everyone was very busy.

Now, having to suddenly mobilize so many people again, it was easy to imagine how tense things would be.

That said, Yang Yi couldn’t just be responsible for assigning tasks without knowing whether the people below could handle them; he needed to have a rough sense in his mind.

“I’m not showing off,” Hei Lie said firmly.

“The manpower shortage before was because many things were being done for the first time by everyone. Inevitably, there was chaos and low efficiency. Now that they are familiar and manpower is reasonably arranged, many people can be freed up.”

Hei Lie sat down in front of Yang Yi, who was now using a freshly made golden nanmu wood table and chairs. For this, he had even taken out porcelain and tea from the space.

Yang Yi hadn’t been much of a tea drinker before. But since their place was a major tea-producing province, almost every household had tea sets, so he was somewhat influenced.

With such a nice table, it would be a waste not to have some tea.

The trees here, like the animals, were astonishingly large. This golden nanmu wood table was made from a single slab, nearly one meter wide!

It was made rather hastily due to time constraints, so it wasn’t very delicate and hadn’t been lacquered yet. The unique golden grain of the nanmu wood made it look quite grand and classy.

Also, since the local diet still favored mainly meat, drinking some tea helped cut the grease.

Yang Yi poured tea for Hei Lie, who carefully pinched the seemingly fragile porcelain cup and, without fear of burning himself, drank it down straight away.

Truly like a cow chewing peonies!

But Yang Yi didn’t mind; for him, drinking tea was just about quenching thirst. He often got nagged by his father for not appreciating tea properly.

They were all comrades on the same path; no one looked down on anyone else.

“This is best. Our goal is to make everyone in the tribe live better and better. We can’t wear people out just to speed up construction.”

The people here were too hardworking. If they didn’t need to sleep, Yang Yi felt they could work nonstop.

Other managers kept coming up with various reward and punishment systems to motivate their people to work actively. But he had to do the opposite—control them so they didn’t overdo it and wear themselves out.

Hei Lie smiled, “When everyone sees hope, it’s not easy to stop their enthusiasm.”

Yang Yi understood this well. A few days ago, they brought back fired black pottery. The whole tribe was buzzing.

They had never seen such beautiful and special pottery before, so smooth to the touch and with such a deep color.

Especially when they heard it wasn’t guided by the divine envoy but invented by the pottery group themselves, they immediately celebrated with singing and dancing.

With constant education, even the children clearly understood that everything the gods brought was to help them, but also to test them.

If they could only rely on the tools brought by the divine envoy and had no wisdom of their own, then when the gods took everything away, they would be completely abandoned.

Now, the pottery group had proven to the gods that they deserved their help.

Everyone was filled with even more confidence, eager to complete the tasks the gods wanted them to finish as soon as possible, working harder than ever.

“But you still need to rest and not push yourself too hard.”

Yang Yi felt like he was lecturing hardworking children not to study so hard, but to know the importance of balancing work and rest. His feelings were complicated.

Hei Lie didn’t take it too seriously but nodded in agreement.

Playing with the tea set in his hands, Hei Lie asked, “Can we also fire such beautiful porcelain?”

“We can, as long as the firing temperature is high enough,” Yang Yi said confidently.

“The making of pottery and porcelain isn’t that different. Pottery needs to be fired at 600℃ to 900℃, and at most no higher than 1000℃. Porcelain, however, requires 1300℃ to 1500℃. If we want to make something exquisite, not only must the craftsmanship keep up, but we also have to find suitable glazes. The overall cost is too high, wasting labor and materials. Our black pottery is already very beautiful, so there’s no need for that yet.”

Hei Lie nodded. It wasn’t surprising that making such exquisite items was complicated; that was why they were precious.

Precious things could attract the attention of wealthy tribes, allowing them to trade for what they wanted.

He firmly believed that such porcelain placed on the Western Continent would definitely be sought after.

“Taking such things for trade could get us a large number of slaves.”

Yang Yi paused, then changed the subject:

“Since we can free up manpower, extracting tung oil can be put on the fast track. If the firewood is dry enough, we can start building houses. Remember, you also need to send some people to mine and transport stones for making the foundation.”

“Foundation?”

“The foundation is to bear the weight of the entire house, soil or rock. Without a foundation, the house wouldn’t be stable. The houses we’re building are completely different from the temporary mud huts now. They’re wide, sturdy, and not afraid of ordinary wind and rain, so they need the support of a foundation.”

“I see.” Hei Lie stroked his chin, clearly learning something new.

Yang Yi took out a book and pointed to a picture of a mud house in it. “Our houses will look like this.”

This was a picture album Yang Yi had painstakingly dug out from a pile of books, showing mud houses after the renovation of the new rural villages.

They have their own unique style, but inside, they are relatively modern, making them very comfortable to live in.

Yang Yi planned to use this as a blueprint and had already imagined how he would arrange and decorate his own house.

To Yang Yi, these mud houses were very simple, carrying a rustic countryside atmosphere. But to Hei Lie, they were something extraordinary.

He had often heard Yang Yi talk about building houses and had some vague ideas about what they would look like, but nothing compared to seeing it firsthand.

“Such houses are really great! Much more comfortable than caves!”

The pictures also showed the interior decoration and furnishings, bright lighting. Compared to casually laying a piece of animal skin in a cave to live, these were far more comfortable.

Clear zoning, complete functions, and none of them interfering with each other.

Hei Lie had no concept of these things but could still see the comfort in them.

Yang Yi smiled, confident in this as well.

Yang Yi believed that as long as they put some thought into the interior decoration, these mud houses could be even more comfortable than cement brick houses.

Warm in winter and cool in summer, especially in humid weather, the rammed earth walls could absorb moisture.

It was important to know that on days with southern winds, smooth walls would even drip water, but rammed earth walls didn’t have that problem.

He used to dislike mud houses, but after his hometown’s mud houses disappeared, replaced by small villas in the city. Seeing some places rebuild mud houses, he learned to appreciate their advantages.

“We still need to keep experimenting on how to mix the materials to make the walls sturdier, especially the walls we want to build around the tribe. They must be strong enough.”

Their tribe’s current security was still quite low, with only wooden fences erected, thorn barriers, and some traps surrounding their living area.

They provided a certain degree of protection, but were still far from enough, which made Yang Yi feel very insecure.

Especially since Yang Yi had heard from Hei Lie that sometimes there would be beast swarms. A large number of wild animals will rush into human settlements.

Many small tribes had perished this way, and even large tribes would suffer heavy losses during such times.

Humans hunted animals for food, and those animals in turn eyed humans fiercely.

Even the powerful Blackstone Tribe could not claim their tribe was absolutely safe.

Therefore, even though resources were still scarce and manpower insufficient, Yang Yi prioritized defensive work.

Only when personal safety was guaranteed could development be discussed.

Because the tribe was not secure enough, many warriors had to be left behind to guard at all times, which was a huge waste of labor.

Hei Lie agreed with this point. Recently, the core management of the tribe had been discussing how to build their tribe.

Tribal construction needed to take the long-term into account and fit their current strength. It was a very complex matter, requiring input and advice from all sides.

The ancient method of building city walls involved compacting earth layer by layer, mixing in sticky rice water, Sanhe soil, sand, and cooked stones.

They didn’t have sticky rice now. The one in the space couldn’t be used, as losing its effect later would weaken the walls. Other materials were hard to find, but they did have natural cement, which should serve the same purpose.

“Gang and the others have already made some progress. The latest rammed earth wall can only be penetrated two or three centimeters by a level-three warrior’s stab. Much better than before.”

Yang Yi had long ago had Hei Lie organize a special team to experiment with making rammed earth walls, preparing well for future house construction.

“It seems natural cement is very useful.”

“They’ve gained more insights these past few days. Gang told me yesterday that the latest soil mix can produce even stronger rammed earth walls, strong enough to hold back fierce beasts.”

Gang was a steady person. If he said this, it meant he was very confident.

Yang Yi was very pleased. “That’s really good news. Looks like we can start building our walls soon.”

“Gang said their efficiency is now three to four times higher than before.”

“That much?!”

Yang Yi was extremely surprised. How short a time had passed?

Although starting from zero usually meant big improvements, they hadn’t been slow at the start either.

These people had strong arms; rammed earth needed technique but relied more on strength.

They were good at controlling their strength, so although a bit inexperienced at first, they quickly mastered the method.

He hadn’t expected such a large improvement compared to before!

“They divided the work and learned new methods, so their speed is faster and the quality is better than before. Gang suggested expanding the walls outward. Their construction team can handle the workload.”

Yang Yi thought for a moment but ultimately rejected the idea.

“We already decided before not to change easily. Besides, the designated area is already enough for five times the current population, enough for a while.”

“Besides, I’m not very skilled in city construction, so there will definitely be many design flaws. This is just our experimental zone, preparing for a larger city later on. There’s no need to expand too much right now; it’s better to focus our efforts elsewhere.”

Yang Yi had once considered building the Tulou houses, which wouldn’t require constructing walls.

But they had no experience building houses. First, constructing tall Tulou buildings could easily be unstable due to unreasonable designs.

After all, Yang Yi wasn’t a civil engineering graduate. He only knew what they looked like, not the specific structures and such, so it was better not to take that risk.

His old home was that kind of earthen house, and he had seen people build them when he was a child. The mud houses they were building now were like small prototypes. They didn’t dare to build houses too tall, which made it more manageable.

Hei Lie also didn’t think expanding suddenly was a good idea. But as the chief, he had to relay others’ opinions to the divine envoy and seek his advice.

After signing the contract, Hei Lie kept his promise and showed great respect for Yang Yi’s identity as the divine envoy in his words and actions.

With a powerful backing, Yang Yi’s position was even more solid.

“I plan to take people to the Green Python Tribe the day after tomorrow,” Hei Lie said after finishing a cup of tea.

“This is a gift for the Green Python chief. Have someone wrap it well.”

Yang Yi waved his hand nearby, and a full-length standing mirror, about a person tall, was placed beside him.

What do women who love beauty like the most? Of course, mirrors!

Yang Yi thought of something and added, “Hopefully, she can accept the reflection she sees.”

There are always exceptions. If that chief considers herself very beautiful but then sees a different person in the mirror, that would be terrible.

“This gift is too precious,” Hei Lie expressed his disagreement.

He was not unfamiliar with mirrors and had seen them before, just not one this large.

Compared to a telescope, a full-length dressing mirror didn’t really attract him.

Yang Yi couldn’t help but laugh. It’s just something worth a hundred or so. What’s so precious about it?

But then he thought about how the people here had even burned golden nanmu wood as firewood. That wasn’t something to laugh about either.

“It’s okay, I still have plenty.”

Hei Lie still shook his head: “You only need to give her one the size of a palm. You are the divine envoy; giving her a gift is her honor. But if it’s too precious, it will overshadow your identity.”

Yang Yi was amazed. This man had improved so much. He used to be a bit straightforward, maybe with some little tricks. But now he was getting better at these subtle things.

“You’re getting craftier and craftier.”

Hei Lie knew “crafty” wasn’t a compliment, but he still took it as praise.

“That’s all thanks to you.”

Yang Yi waved his hand: “Not me, not me.”

He was simply a straightforward engineering guy.

“The books you brought made me understand many things,” Hei Lie said seriously.

Only then did Yang Yi remember he had given Hei Lie quite a few books earlier, ones not available in the reading room.

Mostly, those books were quite advanced and showed Earth’s historical culture, as well as order, and systems for group construction, which simply didn’t exist here.

Yang Yi felt it wasn’t quite appropriate to show those books in front of everyone, so he didn’t take them out.

But with Hei Lie, he had fewer reservations. He knew Hei Lie’s identity and background.

The more Hei Lie understood, the more they could talk on the same level; otherwise, they were completely on different planes.

Their perceptions were very different because of the huge gap in their environments, so communication was inevitably challenging.

Yang Yi was actively trying to integrate into this world and hoped someone would know his world, understand him better, and know his thoughts.

So the books he gave Hei Lie were much richer in content, covering a wide range of topics.

After giving Hei Lie the books, Yang Yi didn’t pay much attention anymore and didn’t see Hei Lie asking him questions; he thought maybe Hei Lie was too busy to read.

Unexpectedly, at some point, Hei Lie had read quite a lot.

“You understood all of it?”

Yang Yi didn’t know what expression to show. The books he gave were very different from the children’s books in the reading room. They were serious, formal books, many of which even made him sleepy when he read them.

Everyone in the tribe knew Lan Jian was a genius, but they didn’t know their chief was no less capable than Lan Jian.

From the very beginning, when Hei Lie started recording written words, he showed his talent.

His memory was excellent. Since he was an experienced adult, he had more advantages than the child Lan Jian. He found it easier to understand the deeper meaning behind the reading and could integrate knowledge better.

Moreover, since he was often by Yang Yi’s side, he received much more guidance than others, so his progress was even more noticeable.

“I’m still studying. The knowledge contained in these books is vast. I can’t fully read and understand them yet.”

“What book have you been reading recently?”

“The Prince.”

“Ah!?” Yang Yi was startled. “Did I give you this book?”

The Prince was once known as the ‘evil bible’, a manual for Western dictatorships, extensively discussing how to use power tactics to achieve one’s goals.

There’s a chapter called “On Cruelty and Mercy, and Whether It Is Better to Be Loved or Feared”, which gives a rough idea of what it’s about.

This book used to be a banned political book because much of it teaches that one can use any means necessary to reach their goals.

However, Yang Yi himself quite liked it; from a dialectical perspective, it’s a kind of tactic used under certain premises.

To him, it was simply different methods applied in different situations.

Of course, as an outsider, he was mostly just watching for the spectacle.

The deeper meanings inside were beyond the understanding of a lazy engineering student like him.

“Yes, it’s a very interesting book, although many parts are hard to understand.”

Yang Yi thought for a moment and said, “This book is written based on the premise that human nature is inherently evil. There is an opposing view that people are born good. The content of books is not the absolute truth; it has some reasoning, but cannot be fully trusted. We have a saying: ‘It is better to have no books than to believe all books blindly.’ You need to learn to think independently and analyze things from all angles. And remember one thing: practice is the only criterion for testing truth.”

Yang Yi felt that giving Hei Lie these books wasn’t a bad thing; on the contrary, reading more helps him learn to think.

So, next, he would give him more books to read, rather than just blindly trusting one single viewpoint.

“I understand,” Hei Lie nodded seriously.

“Simply using others is not enough to become an excellent leader. The people can carry the boat, but they can also overturn it.”

“Boat?”

“It means a ship.”

“What is a ship?”

“……”

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