We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 101 Bows and Slingshots

Two days later, the rain had noticeably lessened, and it seemed like it was about to stop.

Xia Minghao hasn't continued working on spinning wheels and textile machines these past two days, mainly due to concerns about the quantity of nettles and the production of hemp fibers.

There's no point in making so many things if they just sit idle.

Therefore, Xia Minghao has been making bronze tools for the past two days.

The bronze saw was completed early on, and Xia Minghao also made two or three bronze axe heads.

The invention of these two devices made it virtually impossible for the tribe to lack timber, and also enabled more refined timber processing.

In addition, there were four short-handled bronze knives, designed to meet the production needs of cutting animal hides and butchering wild animals, avoiding the time and effort of using stones and also preventing waste.

However, Xia Minghao did not make a bronze broadsword, a weapon intended for killing.

It's not that we can't make it, but that we're reluctant to do so; we only have so much malachite and tin for now.

Well, I got a bronze sword, and it was really comfortable to wield, but I couldn't make anything else.

Xia Minghao couldn't even bear to make the bronze spearhead.

They used the remaining bronze material to forge enough arrowheads.

This is far more cost-effective than spears, and it's time to start promoting bows and arrows as soon as possible, making them the main fighting weapon of the Xia tribe.

The first batch of bow arms made from bow wood has been completed, and the animal strings have also been processed.

Xia Minghao instructed the men of the Lizhu clan to hang up a total of thirty bows and try to draw them. After finding that they were perfectly usable, he still didn't have much of a smile on his face.

The reason is the discrepancy between expectations and reality.

Actually, these wolf tendons, bear tendons, and saber-toothed tiger tendons were enough to make forty or fifty weapons.

But who would have thought that tiger tendons and bear tendons were completely unsuitable for making bowstrings?

First of all, it has poor elasticity, which Xia Minghao could feel even before he hung the string on the bow.

Secondly, it is prone to breakage.

This was a problem that Xia Minghao had never expected.

After further observation, I guessed that the fibers of tiger tendons and bear tendons are coarse, hard, and uneven, making them prone to breaking at the weakest points.

If the technology for processing animal sinews can be improved in the future, it might be possible, but it's not feasible to use any of it now.

It has to be wolf tendon.

It's a pity there are no wolves around here anymore. If we're talking about wolves, the only ones left are Wangcai and his wolf cubs in Yanquan Mountain.

Xia Minghao turned his head and glanced at Wangcai, then looked at the wolf sinew bow in his hand.

Wangcai immediately shuddered, as if he had sensed something, and felt a chill on the wolf's back.

When they looked up and saw that they were still the kind and friendly two-legged creatures, they lay down again.

But we can't waste these tendons that we've worked so hard to process.

How can we avoid wasting food?
Touching his chin, Xia Minghao pondered for a while and suddenly thought of the Da tribe.

The Da tribe used those crude and simple bows and arrows to hunt birds.

There are plenty of birds around Yanquan Mountain!
But using a bow and arrow to shoot birds is too wasteful; the performance is absolutely excessive, and the damage is overflowing.

Bows and arrows have limited durability, so we can't waste them on that.

But these tendons can be used to make the string of a slingshot!

The string of a slingshot is much shorter, and the unevenness of the fibers in the shorter string can be greatly reduced, preventing it from breaking.

Moreover, shooting birds with a slingshot doesn't necessarily have to be done by an adult.

There are so many teenagers in the tribe who are perfectly capable of completing this task.

This effectively increased the tribe's available labor force significantly.

Moreover, nowadays, the children in the tribe do nothing but eat and study, and they don't get to play to their heart's content.

Giving them slingshots would be the best "entertainment" for them.

Making a slingshot is not difficult, and now that bronzeware is available, Xia Minghao immediately summoned the Li clan members who were busy at work.

They were instructed to process the wood to create the slingshot fork.

At the same time, I looked at the wooden planks that had to be thrown aside.

These were originally materials that Xia Minghao was preparing to build for the plank road leading to the top of Yanquan Mountain.

The problem that was just solved has now resurfaced.

We're short-staffed!

Because there are more things that can be done, there are more places that need people. The previously abundant labor force has suddenly become scarce.

When the time comes, we'll need people to mine malachite and tin, people to repair the trestle, people to weave textiles, and people to grind the tin and malachite into powder.

Xia Minghao also wanted to make bricks, tiles, and the stalactites and calcite in the cave.

We need people for all of this!
Where did all these people come from?!

Even though the Xia tribe could eat their fill without doing anything to get food, the large amount of free time they had was still not enough.

"I'm so worried..."

Covering his forehead, Xia Minghao felt extremely frustrated. He was on the verge of rapidly developing the Xia tribe, but unexpectedly, he was stuck on the labor force.

"Forget it, let's figure out how to use the bow and arrow first. The safety of the tribe is the top priority. Without military force, everything else is just empty talk."

Thinking to himself, Xia Minghao picked up a wolf sinew bow and a bronze arrow with several feathers plucked from the chicken's body.

I immediately recalled the archery techniques I had seen on TV.

I pulled the bowstring with my thumb, but immediately felt excruciating pain.

This won't pull at all...

If you really want to pull it, you'll probably need to wear a thumb ring or something.

Then he searched his memory and came up with the way the bow was drawn in the Olympics.

Use your index, middle, and ring fingers to pull the bowstring, holding the arrow between your fingers, but not pinching it.

With a whoosh, the long arrow flew an unknown distance and got stuck in a crevice in the stone wall.

Of course it wasn't Xia Minghao, nor was it the bow and arrow; it was just a coincidence.

However, to the primitive people, it seemed that Xia Minghao had created a bow and arrow that was very similar to that of the Da tribe, which actually pierced through the stone.

When he pulled out the arrow, he saw that all the men who had been making slingshots were looking at him with surprise and admiration.

"Chief, you can shoot through stone with this!"

"Chief, can I shoot through the stone like you?"

amount……

"sure."

To boost the morale of this group, Xia Minghao told a little lie.

Now everyone had completely lost interest in making slingshots. They gave the finished slingshots to the children and prepared to send them away.

Giving them slingshots alone wouldn't be enough, so Xia Minghao went among the children and taught them how to use slingshots to shoot birds.

"Put the pebbles inside, then pull back!"

The children perked up immediately after seeing it and started scrambling to get their hands on the slingshots.

Xia Minghao set a rule for them: they would have a competition, and whoever shot the best would get the prize.

Otherwise, we'll just have to wait.

Of course, there's definitely enough material for a slingshot: one tiger tendon and three bear tendons. That's enough to make countless slingshots.

It's just a matter of time.

After explaining things to the children, Xia Minghao returned to the crowd and began teaching everyone how to shoot arrows.

"This one, sandwiched in the middle, yes, just like that, don't pinch it, hey."

"I fired!"

"You didn't shoot it out, you just fell out."

The difficulty of using a bow and arrow was greater for these primitive people than Xia Minghao had guessed.

After teaching for a long time, not a single one could understand it.

It seems that as soon as they exert force, their brains are occupied by muscles, making it impossible for them to think.

It seems that it will take a long time before primitive people can master the use of bows and arrows.

By this time, the group of children behind him had already descended into chaos. No one was following the rules Xia Minghao had set out for; the whole thing had turned into a brutal fight.

One child, panting heavily after failing to grab anything, watched the other children scrambling for the item and seemed to realize that he too would be unable to get anything in such a chaotic situation.

Instead of being discouraged, he looked at the chief who was teaching everyone how to shoot arrows.

The more you look at the child, the brighter his eyes become!

She got up, seemingly anticipating rejection, and before stopping, she watched Xia Minghao demonstrate again and again. Once the demonstration stopped, she would watch other people's mistakes...

(End of this chapter)