TPWBI Chapter 46

At the same time as the iron-smelting plant was being built, the road construction team also quickly built a road leading directly from the mining area to the iron-smelting plant.

The road surface wasn’t very wide, but it could still allow two handcarts to walk side by side.

In order to save time, the construction was relatively rough. They only cleared away the weeds and gravel from the road surface, then used giant rocks to tamp the soil firm, making it sturdier and more level.

Although the distance was not short, most of the places it passed through were flat land. There wasn’t much need to deal with trees, so building it was relatively easier.

There had already been a tamped earth road from the pottery-making area to the tribe before, so with this second road construction, they had even more experience, and efficiency was extremely high.

Hei Lie even specially sent out a hundred warriors and more than three hundred strong ordinary people to rush the work day and night, so this road was quickly made passable.

Although this matter was not deliberately hidden from the Green Python Tribe, it was also not something they would intentionally bring up.

The people of the Green Python Tribe were currently in a confused state as they encountered new things, so they didn’t quite understand the personnel arrangements of the Spark Tribe.

Xiang Zhang could sense that there was a big movement in the Spark Tribe, but he did not deliberately ask about it, understanding very well how to grasp the proper measure.

He knew in his heart that just as he would never reveal where the tribe collected its salt, the Spark Tribe would likewise not tell them certain things.

Yang Yi, however, knew that this matter definitely could not be kept secret. As soon as iron tools were made, people would realize it. But he still did not want it to spread too early.

He wanted to wait until they were able to forge iron tools, and the entire tribe could be armed. When they possessed absolutely overwhelming strength, only then would it not be too late to make it public.

For now, they were still not strong enough and needed to act low-key.

The arrival of the Green Python Tribe made the changes in the tribe each day become even more rapid.

The temple and other houses were also quickly built, and a long trench for the moat was dug at a speed that left Yang Yi dumbfounded.

Yang Yi had originally thought that having a moat would be something far off in the future. After all, the area they had marked out was far too large, which meant the moat would also be extremely long.

But looking at it now, at this pace, it could be finished in just about two years.

Hong Guang was extremely skilled at finding locations. The places he chose not only had a shallow clay layer but also made it very easy to dig into underground water, allowing the moat to have a plentiful water source.

Now, Yang Yi had already ordered people to plant lotus seeds and other crops in it, making use of every inch of land.

“We need to assign more manpower to the pottery-making group; otherwise, there won’t be enough people for firing roof tiles.”

These people’s speed had far surpassed Yang Yi’s previous expectations. Now, with houses being built one after another, the supply of raw materials was falling short.

As for the other groups, that was fine. Members of the Green Python Tribe could be assigned to them. But the roof tile group was tied together with the pottery-making group.

At present, the craft of making black pottery was still in a confidential stage, so members of the Green Python Tribe were not allowed to go there, which meant there weren’t enough people to assign to that side.

“I’m planning to separate roof tile making from the pottery group. Their production method is relatively simple and doesn’t require specialized personnel to complete. By then, members of the Green Python Tribe can also be arranged there.”

Yang Yi nodded: “We did promise them before that we’d teach them how to build houses. The making of roof tiles shouldn’t be kept from them either.”

Compared to black pottery, roof tiles brought in far less profit. Although it was easier to make small profits in large quantities, they simply didn’t have enough manpower to engage in this line of business.

While developing production, they also had to keep enough manpower for hunting—not just to obtain food, but to strengthen everyone’s combat ability and train their combat awareness.

In this world, force was the fundamental means of survival. If they only focused on production, in the end, it would simply become a bargain for others.

Combat strength could only be improved through actual fighting. Not only the warriors, but even ordinary people, couldn’t take it for granted that they didn’t need to pay attention to this aspect just because their combat ability was weak.

On the contrary, they had to take it even more seriously. Otherwise, in times of crisis, they would be the first ones pushed out.

The making of roof tiles was not complicated, completely different from black pottery, which required extremely advanced techniques. Especially now, as black pottery had already become something completely different from its initial version.

The pottery group racked their brains every day to refine the pottery-making process. It had to not only be good and beautiful but also highly efficient.

These were the crystallization of their wisdom, not something that could be easily passed on to outsiders.

Yang Yi was not stingy about sharing the techniques he had with others, because those were not inventions he had created himself, but masterpieces handed down from the ancients.

The secrecy of iron-making technology was to ensure their own safety, but black pottery was different.

The core parts of that technology were things these people themselves had devised. At present, even Yang Yi’s own handiwork was not as good as theirs. So whether it should be spread outside was not something he could decide.

“Let’s set up the roof tile group near the drying group. The clay layer there is very shallow, and we can also dig more pits nearby for drying wood.”

“The first batch of ordinary houses is nearly finished. We’ve already fired quite a number of roof tiles before, so we can start roofing. But in that case, it would be earlier than the temple’s completion.”

“Then let them all wait. The temple must be finished first, so the gods have a place of residence. Only then do we have the qualification to build our own houses, only then the qualification to move in.”

Hei Lie’s attitude was very firm, domineeringly finalizing the matter.

Yang Yi frowned. He understood his reasoning, but still felt something was off.

After the people of the Green Python Tribe arrived, the original thatched mud houses were no longer enough. Many of them were now living in makeshift rain shelters and crude tents, which could hardly be considered houses at all.

Clearly, with so many houses almost completed—enough to solve the housing problem for a large number of people—it felt somewhat inappropriate to insist on waiting until the temple was finished first.

The temple was much taller and grander than ordinary houses, and its interior was also more complex. Beside it stretched long rows of houses, and in front of it was a vast plaza.

The earth of the plaza had to be tamped firm, then paved with a natural cement mixture so that it wouldn’t raise dust.

There was also another section directly paved with stone, which would serve as an arena in the future.

The roof tiles of the temple were also different from ordinary ones. They were specially designed, carrying patterns and shapes.

All of these ideas were their own creations—designed by Han Bing, and finalized after everyone had discussed and revised them.

Yang Yi did not intervene at all. The images he had shown them before were only extremely common designs.

He hadn’t thought much about it at the time. But once he discovered Han Bing’s artistic talent, his paintings were highly distinctive, with a style very different from anything Yang Yi had seen back on Earth, carrying a unique beauty of their own.

Yang Yi felt that they ought to be allowed to develop their own sense of aesthetics.

Although the things he brought would inevitably have some influence, as long as they were given the freedom to create, he believed they could just as well give rise to a civilization of their own.

This was not Earth. While Yang Yi hoped to use Earth’s advanced knowledge to improve the living environment here, he also wished for them to possess their own culture and civilization.

The temple tiles designed by Han Bing were truly distinctive. Yang Yi himself found them extremely beautiful. What’s more, they suited this place better. The people here thought so, too.

These roof tiles, compared to ordinary ones, required much more effort and labor in both molding and firing, and their efficiency was far lower.

Especially after they discovered iron ore, Han Bing, with his natural sensitivity to pigments, quickly noticed the red it produced.

After much pondering and various experiments, he created a red glaze using hematite powder. This was applied not only to pottery but also to roof tiles.

Recently, the pottery group produced a new batch of items. As soon as Xiang Zhang saw them, he was instantly captivated. With a grand gesture, he traded away quite a lot of dried meat for them.

When this batch of red-glazed pottery was delivered to the Green Python Tribe, it brought back even more dried meat than expected. Jin Huan, using a strong-arm tactic of forced exchange, demanded even more of the new pottery.

“Trust me, we have to do this. It’s for your own good.” Hei Lie sensed Yang Yi’s displeasure.

Yang Yi was not ungrateful, though. He represented the gods. The temple being prioritized also meant that his status was elevated.

For him, this was indeed safer.

“Don’t think of them as too fragile. Those tents are already very good for them.”

Hei Lie’s words were not false. Whether it was the Blackstone Tribe or the Green Python Tribe, class divisions had already emerged.

The braver and stronger one was, the better treatment they enjoyed.

In the past, the good caves were not for ordinary people at all. They were always crowded together in small, cold, damp caves.

They had no sense of hygiene. Those caves were dark and foul-smelling. Nothing like here.

Even though having to go to designated places for relief was a bit troublesome, it truly improved the tribe’s environment.

Along with the various rules about cleaning and tidiness, everyone now understood what “comfort” meant.

Not only that, but they also slept on beds raised above the ground, keeping out the dampness from below.

Animal hides treated with new methods were softer than before. And even without hides, there were the quilts Yang Yi had brought out—warm and gentle.

Whether it was ordinary people, who in the past held a low position in the tribe, or elite warriors like Hei Lie, all of them could clearly feel that life had become more comfortable.

The approval from the Green Python Tribe was the best proof of this.

Yang Yi smiled slightly. “I’m just not used to it.”

If this were on Earth, in his own country, which leader would dare to do such a thing? They’d be scolded to death, and once exposed, would immediately be forced to step down.

“With the gods here, only then can we feel at ease. That’s a sense of security no comfortable house can bring.”

Yang Yi no longer raised objections to this matter. In fact, aside from him, although everyone longed deeply for their new houses, they weren’t actually that impatient. What they were more eager for was to see the temple completed.

“This works, too. During this time, we can build more houses, which will allow for better arrangements later.”

The allocation of housing was also a big issue. On a small scale, it was like assigning dormitories; on a larger scale, it was a clear embodiment of the tribe’s governing principles.

At present, they use “contribution value” as the standard for distributing houses.

But what exactly counted toward this “contribution value” would reflect the tribe’s stance.

Martial strength, craftsmanship, intellectual labor, and so on. Whichever was weighted the highest would give everyone a clear signal and, in turn, shape the class structure.

Here, the custom was to use martial strength as the standard, so they could not completely overturn it.

They had their reasons for doing this. At present, it seems to fit within the larger backdrop of this society.

For example, they would prioritize allowing a family—those who had become husband and wife and were raising children together—to move into a new house. This was also to encourage stable marital structures.

If a family had more children, there would be corresponding reward policies, ensuring that even with many children, they would have no worries. In this way, childbirth was encouraged, and the tribe’s population could quickly grow.

Every single policy was linked to all kinds of aspects.

In the past, Yang Yi more or less understood this point. Every time a new policy came out, it would always spark a series of discussions.

But back then, although many policies affected his life, relatively speaking, they were not that direct, so he didn’t care that much.

Now that it was his turn to draft systems, he only felt darkness before his eyes.

This thing was far more troublesome than building a city. Constructing something—if it went wrong, at worst, they could just redo it, only losing some finances and labor.

But one careless mistake here could set off a series of social conflicts. And once such conflicts arose, it would be extremely difficult to erase their influence. They would remain like a thorn, forever lodged there. Once anything happened in the future, it would be all too easy to ignite it.

Fortunately, the people here were still rather simple and didn’t think as much or as deeply as he did.

The tremendous changes made it hard for them to think so far ahead all at once. Even if they had some ideas, the people here were extremely straightforward and direct. They wouldn’t hide things, bury them in their hearts, and spin countless connections.

They wouldn’t secretly scheme in the shadows. If they had something to say, they would say it outright, allowing contradictions to be resolved quickly.

Not like showing one face up front and another behind the scenes, letting contradictions snowball bigger and bigger, until something as small as a fingernail eventually turned into an avalanche.

Of course, this was also because the time was still short, which gave them room to make corrections to all the systems.

When Yang Yi thought of these things, he felt like his head had doubled in size.

“Managing so many people is really troublesome.”

Hei Lie laughed, immediately understanding with perfect tacit agreement what Yang Yi was struggling over.

“Isn’t strength found in numbers? This is only the beginning.”

Yang Yi propped his face up with both hands, squashing it out of shape until his eyes became little slits.

“It’s truly painful yet joyful.”

He liked having so many people available, but when it came to drafting concrete systems, Yang Yi felt like he wanted to die.

He had read quite a lot of books on politics and administrative management. But knowing the theory didn’t mean he actually knew how to manage.

Especially now. He felt that in front of Hei Lie, he almost didn’t seem like an Earthling anymore. Hei Lie could already read many books very fluently. Not only that, he had even learned Chinese.

Although when speaking, he was still very awkward, he could basically already express his meaning in Chinese.

Whenever they discussed drafting a certain rule or system, Hei Lie could always find a similar case from some book or from history, and then explain its causes and consequences, later developments, its successes and failures, and so on.

Yang Yi often couldn’t follow along, staring blankly and asking in confusion: “There was something like that?”

His store of knowledge was already gradually falling behind that of a primitive man. Yang Yi felt he absolutely had to reflect on himself.

That very day, he took out the relevant books to read, and then…

Fell asleep.

His Mao Theory and Deng Theory courses had only been passed through a few little tricks. He often had classmates answer roll call for him in class. Back then, he was hopelessly addicted to games and couldn’t pull himself out.

At that time, he even had famous teachers guiding him. Now he could only read and understand on his own, dry and tedious.

Every day, his mind was still occupied with countless other matters. His efficiency was extremely low.

Yang Yi often wanted to go back to how it had been before—completely letting go of everything else and only focusing on infrastructure.

But obviously, that was not possible either. Hei Lie’s thinking was, after all, still influenced and constrained by this place. And since he wanted to build the “city in his heart”, he couldn’t just manage the hardware and ignore the software.

So, he could only grit his teeth and keep pushing forward, nearly to the point of going bald.

“At present, it’s not that complicated. You and I hold absolute authority here. Whoever dares not obey will first have to ask my fists,” Hei Lie spoke with domineering confidence.

“We’re only planning ahead. You don’t need to pressure yourself too much. Don’t worry, I’m here for everything.”

Hei Lie’s words were brimming with confidence. Reading books made him wiser. Though the more he read, the smaller he felt himself to be, yet at the same time the clearer he became about what he was doing and how he ought to do it.

Yang Yi gave Hei Lie a heavy pat on the shoulder. “Brother, I’m counting on you. Read more books. I’ve got high hopes for you!”

He was grateful for the existence of this symbiotic contract. In the past, it had been a shackle and restraint, but now it was more of a companionship and mutual aid.

Yang Yi couldn’t imagine how exhausting it would be if he had to hold up such a huge setup all on his own.

Not to mention constantly worrying that a single decree might harm someone’s interests, and then, in secret, they would just cut him down. He truly had no ability to resist that.

While house construction and iron smelting were both being carried out in full swing, Yang Yi called over Mu, the person in charge of the carpentry team.

The carpentry team had previously honed and improved their skills by making common household items such as beds, tables, and chairs. Now, the most talented among them had already begun crafting more intricate objects, progressing at a very fast pace.

“I need you all to build a few things. They might be a little difficult.”

Mu’s eyes lit up. “Divine Envoy, we’re not afraid of difficulty!”

Ever since starting carpentry work, Mu and the other members of the team had become completely engrossed in it, unable to pull themselves away.

Only then did they realize that before, they had always been working blindly—just doing whatever was assigned to them, never using their brains.

The result of this was low efficiency, and they were always less outstanding than others.

They had worked very hard and diligently, yet somehow, they could never compare to the rest.

This had left them deeply frustrated. Not only was their combat ability not very high, but even in doing tasks, they fell behind other ordinary people.

But ever since they began doing carpentry, everything became different. In the words of the Divine Envoy, they had found themselves. They had found the place that suited them.

Although every day was extremely tiring, with their heads bent down constantly until their necks grew stiff, they were still incredibly happy.

Whenever they invented something new, the sense of accomplishment thrilled them beyond measure.

At the recent festival exhibition, the furniture they had crafted with their own hands even won over the Green Python people.

When the Green Python chief Jin Huan came to the tribe, she had specifically sought them out to make her a chaise lounge, carved according to her requirements.

They had completed the task beautifully and received praise and rewards from the Divine Envoy, which filled them with even greater confidence.

“I currently need you to build a few things, but I don’t know if you have enough manpower. If you don’t, you can tackle them one by one. Once you’ve mastered the techniques, let the newcomers handle the completed ones, while the core members of your carpentry team move on to study the other two.”

Mu spoke cautiously: “That depends on what we’re making.”

“The first is wooden wheels, like the wheels on our carts. The simple method is to chop down a large enough tree and hollow it out to form the wheel, but this requires very large logs.”

Mu thought for a moment, then said: “Finding wood that large isn’t difficult, but because it’s so massive, it’s hard to dry it thoroughly. There’s a type of tree we call ironwood. It’s extremely hard yet has a certain toughness, so we could use it to make wheels. But it doesn’t grow that big, so we’d likely need another method.”

Yang Yi took out a booklet. “The second method is in here. Divide an entire wheel into several parts, make each component separately, and then assemble them together. This requires extreme precision. If even one component is off, the whole wheel won’t be usable.”

Mu picked up the booklet and studied it very carefully. After finishing, he spoke with absolute certainty:

“Divine Envoy, we can do it!”

“Wheels will need to be produced in large quantities. You’ll have to adopt assembly-line work. Draw up standards so more novices can participate. As for exactly how to break it down, you’ll have to figure that out yourself.”

The wheels Yang Yi had brought with him were limited. The first batch he had taken out had already mostly broken down from carrying heavy loads back and forth every day.

All the parts had been dismantled and repurposed for other uses.

It had been less than two months since he first brought them out. The failure rate left Yang Yi worried.

Now, with the need to transport a large amount of ore, the tires he had purchased from the marketplace had already become insufficient.

Therefore, before the tires he had bought from the marketplace were all damaged, they had to use the materials here to build wheels.

At present, wooden wheels are a very good option.

For a very long period of time on Earth, wooden wheels had been in use.

“Yes, Divine Envoy, I already have a rough idea in my mind. I promise that within five days, I’ll let you see the finished product.”

Yang Yi nodded. This group worked efficiently, so he did not doubt whether Mu could accomplish it within five days.

“The second item is this—a cotton gin.”

“Cotton gin?”

“We are currently planting cotton. That is, the blankets you use to cover yourselves when you sleep at night. The outer fabric is woven from cotton, and the filling inside is also cotton. When it’s harvested, it still carries the cotton seeds.”

Mu immediately understood: “This is for removing the seeds?”

“Yes. Manually removing the seeds wastes far too much time. With this, it will be much more efficient.”

Mu looked at the diagram and spoke with great confidence: “This isn’t difficult. We can do it.”

Yang Yi then laid out another booklet, pointing to the first few pages:

“This is a spinning machine. First, make the ones at the beginning here. After you’ve understood their principles, then think about ways to make the later, more complex ones.”

The first few pages showed the most primitive hand-cranked spinning wheels. The later pages depicted improved versions, approaching the spinning machines of Earth today, yet still requiring manual operation—like the spinning jenny.

Yang Yi didn’t want to pull up the shoots to help them grow. By letting them experience “progress”, they would be able to better grasp the craft and continuously improve.

Many things here were shaped very differently from those on Earth, which meant that the tools for handling them would also have to change accordingly.

If this group of people only engaged in mechanical copying, then it would be very difficult for their craft to improve.

The last thing Yang Yi brought out was also a loom. Just like the spinning machines, the front pages showed the most primitive types, while the later pages showed improved versions, ones closer to Earth’s modern looms.

“These are truly too great. Worthy of being brought by the gods!”

Mu was shaken to the core. He had thought that he had already mastered the skills of carpentry, but now he realized how ignorant he had been.

So it could actually be done like this!

Although he had never had any contact with weaving, nor really understood how it worked, he could still picture it clearly through Yang Yi’s explanation.

Before, he had thought that Cai Yun weaving such beautiful clothes with just a few thin sticks was already something incredibly great.

But only now did he realize there could be so many marvelous tools to help people do it even better.

Yang Yi shook his head, repeating the words he had already said countless times before:

“This is the wisdom of mankind. It’s only that the gods let me bring it here.”

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