This Is My Primitive Tribe
Chapter 266 - 171: Establishing a Trading Zone

Chapter 266: Chapter 171: Establishing a Trading Zone

The events happening in the Frog Tribe are unknown to Jiang Xuan, as he is currently busy with an important matter.

That is the establishment of a trading area.

This is something Jiang Xuan has always wanted to do, but didn’t have the ability to achieve in the past.

Trading, especially with primitive tribes, offers very high profits and the risks are much smaller compared to direct warfare.

Take the Black Teeth Tribe, for example.

They have long traded among various tribes in the Southern Wilderness, buying goods at low prices and selling them at high ones, with profits from each item being at least ten times, or even tens of times, the original price.

Because of this, the Black Teeth Tribe earns a full pot every year and has become one of the famously prosperous tribes in the Southern Wilderness.

The resources earned from trading propel the tribe to continuously grow larger, and once the tribe grows, it can participate in more trades with other tribes, creating a positive cycle.

Of course, for a tribe to earn various resources from trading, its own strength must be strong enough, otherwise, others wouldn’t trade willingly with you but would instead rob you directly.

The Vine Tribe previously engaged in trading as well, but due to insufficient strength, their trading was passive and did not yield much.

Now, Jiang Xuan believes the time is ripe to transform passivity into activity by establishing a trading area on the outskirts of the Vine Tribe, for people from external tribes and nearby wanderers to come and trade.

The first step is site selection.

Jiang Xuan decided to build the trading area south of the Vine Tribe because this area has the highest concentration of wanderers and quite a few migrating tribes.

The second step is to build houses.

Log cabins won’t do, as their lifespan is short and they look too rudimentary.

Jiang Xuan plans to construct several sturdy mudbrick houses, whose longer lifespan and impressive, solid appearance would clearly distinguish them from the structures of other tribes.

With his plans settled, Jiang Xuan immediately began assembling workers.

He recruited over thirty strong and efficient captives along with former house-building individuals in the Vine Tribe to start digging the foundation.

The initially constructed mudbrick houses in the Vine Tribe had no foundations.

Whenever it rained heavily, the mudbricks near the ground would partially dissolve, requiring frequent repairs and the digging of many drainage ditches to promptly remove rainwater.

After this initial lesson, all later-built mudbrick houses in the Vine Tribe included foundations, with stone bases to form the wall’s seating at the bottom, layered with mixed mud, and mudbrick walls built atop.

This way, the mudbricks became less susceptible to rainwater erosion, making the houses sturdier and more durable.

Within the Vine Wall at the Vine Tribe’s south gate, Jiang Xuan directed the crowd in their work.

"Come, come, let’s start by pulling the ropes."

Jiang Xuan took several long ropes and a large bag of lime to mark the foundation lines.

He first fixed two ropes, one long and one short, to the ground to form an angle.

To ensure this angle was a right angle, he applied the simplest Pythagorean theorem.

If one side of the triangle measures three, the second side measures four, and the hypotenuse measures five, then it is surely a right triangle.

"Three for the leg..."

Jiang Xuan used a straight small stick to measure thrice along an already fixed rope, marking it at a length equal to three small sticks.

"Four for the other leg..."

He used the same small stick to measure four times along another fixed rope, marking it similarly.

"Five for the hypotenuse!"

Finally, he took a new rope and measured five times with the small stick, marking it once more.

Then, he placed the new rope across the marks on the other two fixed ropes, adjusting the positions of those two ropes until all three marks aligned perfectly.

After such a simple procedure, a reasonably standard right angle emerged.

Subsequently, he used the same method to determine another right angle and then secured the ropes.

This way, as long as corresponding rope lengths are the same, all four corners of the house can be assured as right angles.

Once the outer circle was secure, Jiang Xuan used four more ropes to pin down the foundation’s inner circle.

"Spread the lime!"

After dealing with the ropes, two captives followed Jiang Xuan’s orders to start lining lime along the ropes.

When excavating the foundation, the ropes cannot remain untouched, thus lining lime is critical work.

Once the lime lines were spread, even if the ropes were shifted, as long as the digging follows the lime lines, a relatively standard foundation can be achieved.

Seeing them done with spreading lime, with the lines relatively straight, Jiang Xuan nodded in satisfaction.

"Start digging!"

Jiang Xuan personally grabbed a Bone Plow, and according to the lime line, dug one corner out first.

Others grabbed their tools too, vigorously digging.

Because the houses being built were quite numerous and spacious, and the tools were relatively primitive, the foundation-digging task took three days to complete.

After the foundation was dug, Jiang Xuan no longer needed to directly oversee them because the Vine Tribe already had a portion of people who learned how to build such mudbrick houses.

Using stones to build foundations, mixing mud, adding straw and leaves, molding mudbricks, building walls, erecting columns, constructing roofs...

This series of craftsmanship the Vine Tribe people had relatively mastered, and could sometimes summarize their experience to constantly improve.

Having lived here a long time, Jiang Xuan drew a lesson that one should never underestimate the wisdom and learning ability of tribespeople.

Poverty and backwardness do not equate to stupidity, they simply have no opportunity to learn.

While the Vine Tribe built trading area houses, external trading did not halt.

Outside the Vine Wall at the southern edge of the Vine Tribe, close to the gate, there is a flat area where several tents are set up, within the tents are some reed mats laid out, various goods placed - this constitutes a rudimentary trading area.

Wanderers near the Vine Tribe enjoy coming here to trade.

Because Jiang Xuan strictly restrains the tribal warriors from forcibly robbing in the trading area, otherwise they would face severe punishment.

Wanderers who trade here need not worry about their goods being snatched, and they can exchange for what they need.

Over time, word of mouth spread, and the nearby wanderers who find anything valuable bring it here to trade.

In one of the tents, a wanderer hesitantly walked in and then produced a medicinal plant.

"How much grain can I trade for this medicinal plant?"

Inside the tent, a Vine Tribe warrior sitting on the reed mat picked up the medicinal plant, looked it over, and then picked up two round potatoes the size of a bowl from the ground, saying: "This medicinal plant can only be exchanged for two round potatoes, do you want to trade or not?"

The wanderer’s eyes lit up, and he exclaimed with delight: "Trade, trade, trade..."

"Alright, I’ll take the medicinal plant, and you can have the round potatoes."

The Vine Tribe warrior handed the round potatoes to the wanderer and then put away the medicinal plant.

The wanderer, holding his round potatoes, beamed with joy; it was his first time trading at the Vine Tribe, and he hadn’t expected it to go so smoothly.

"Hold on..."

Just as the wanderer was about to leave, the warrior called out to him.

The smile on the wanderer’s face stiffened, and his steps halted.

Could it be that the Vine Tribe folks changed their minds and wanted to rob back the goods?

He turned around with difficulty, clutching the two round potatoes tightly in his ragged beast hide clothing, stammering: "Is, is there anything else?"

Seeing this, the Vine Tribe warrior realized what he was thinking and smiled warmly.

"No need to be nervous, I just want to tell you that it won’t be long before the Vine Tribe establishes a real trading area—a large one."

"Food, salt, beast hide clothing, weapons, pottery, tools—everything can be traded. If, at that time, you or any of your friends still find good stuff, you’re welcome to come trade."

After listening to the Vine Tribe warrior’s words, the wanderer breathed a sigh of relief and nodded rapidly like a pecking chicken before hurriedly leaving.

The Vine Tribe warrior wasn’t bothered, having seen lots of wanderers like this, timid especially, easily scared by the slightest noise.

However, there are quite a few wanderers; they often find good things in the forest, bringing them here to exchange for food or beast hide clothing.

Jiang Xuan specifically instructed the promotion of the new trading area, and recently, all wanderers who came to trade would be informed.

This way, once the new trading area is built, there won’t be any worries about not having customers.

The Vine Tribe warrior sat on the reed mat, patiently waiting for the next person to come and trade.