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

Chapter 73: The Reversal of Polarity (Seeking First Subscription)

Threats were incessant, but the Xia tribe remained silent as Xia Minghao intervened.

Although the Da tribe had not yet developed words to curse their ancestors, since the patriarchal system had not been around for very long, in this primitive era, the threat to survival was enough to arouse anger.

Liba, who had the strongest temper, suppressed his anger at being threatened like this.

But seeing the long necklace of bear teeth around the chief's neck, he forced himself to hold back.

The men of the Li clan all endured it, while the women of the Xi clan were also aroused to anger.

until……

The men of the Da tribe were hoarse from shouting battle cries, and their already limited language meant they could only repeat the same few phrases over and over again, which they were already tired of.

Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.

The men of the Da tribe now felt as if the threat they had just received was like punching into wet mud on a rainy day.

They all had some doubts in their hearts.

A few years ago, they had seen tribes with a similar number of men as the Xia tribe.

But after this reckless threat, they were successfully driven away.

Why is it that this tribe is not only not afraid, but also doesn't say a word?
Gradually, everyone realized something was wrong, and the sound grew fainter and fainter until it almost disappeared.

Finished?
My turn!

Xia Minghao coughed twice, a sharp glint in his eyes, and swept his gaze over the Da tribe members before speaking loudly and clearly.

"Salt Spring, we won't leave. Salt Spring is mine, it's ours, it belongs to our Xia tribe!"

"summer!"

The crowd behind them had long harbored deep resentment, including the other Xia tribe women in the safe zone, who could no longer bear to listen.

The first shout came from the men and women behind Xia Minghao.

But the second shout had already roused all the Xia tribesmen in the mountains! Even the children started shouting.

"summer!"

"summer!"

"summer!"

The home advantage was fully exploited at this moment; they already had a large number of players, not to mention the pent-up anger.

This united voice, filled with boundless power, resonated deeply within the hollow, massive Salt Spring Mountain, creating a lasting echo.

Seeing the overwhelming fighting spirit of the Xia tribe, the Da tribe members, who originally wanted to intimidate the Xia tribe, were instead frightened.

After the echoes from all directions subsided, the once arrogant Da tribe completely lost its previous momentum.

A hint of worry flashed in Damon's eyes. For a moment, he really thought that the group of people who had taken over the salt spring would rush over.

Meanwhile, his daughter Dali was still in the group; he should have known better than to let Dali come along.

Even after the echoes subsided, Damon, still shaken, quickly said...

“Xia tribe, we will not shed blood, and neither will you. However, we discovered the salt spring first; it was our Da tribe that did.”

Oh ho, so you know you can't scare me, so you're starting to reason with me now?
Xia Minghao chuckled inwardly. At the same time, he noticed that after Damon spoke, the wolf skin, who had been shouting all along, immediately shut up. He already guessed that Damon's rank in the Da tribe was higher than that of the wolf skin.

He also glanced at the withered old man, who was still expressionless.

Without paying any more attention, Xia Minghao looked at Damon again.

It's not a big deal to reason with someone if you can't win, but the problem is that your reasoning doesn't make sense either. Where did this "first come, first served" nonsense come from? It's just sophistry.

However, in this situation, it is meaningless to distinguish between right and wrong.

Xia Minghao thought for a moment, and even if we follow your logic, we'll still leave you all confused.

"The salt spring was never yours to begin with."

Without any hint of aggression, Xia Minghao's voice was remarkably calm.

At this moment, Wolfskin jumped out again and shouted loudly.

“We arrived before you. Daka said that since you just arrived, the salt spring naturally belongs to our Daka tribe.”

These words also stirred the emotions of the Da tribe members, especially the members of the hunting team.

It reminded them of the time when the prey they had finally managed to hunt, the precious meat, was stolen by a pack of hyenas.

Hearing Wolfskin's words, he instantly felt that the Xia tribe's occupation of Salt Spring was like something that belonged to him had been stolen.

Xia Minghao also noticed the righteous indignation of the crowd, but he already had a prepared speech in mind, and then continued to speak calmly.

"The salt spring never belonged to us."

Upon hearing this, the Da tribe members, who had just been filled with fighting spirit, widened their eyes in confusion.

It's like holding a weapon, poised to strike, but the prey suddenly vanishes into thin air.

It's not from my own tribe, nor from the Xia tribe in front of me, so which tribe is it?

Are there any other tribes here?
Some people have started looking around, and some are even looking up.

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Xia Minghao didn't keep them in suspense and immediately continued.

"The first to arrive was the human-faced bear. This salt spring originally belonged to the human-faced bear. But our Xia tribe killed the human-faced bear, so the salt spring is mine."

“But you have never had a salt spring; you just take things from it all the time.”

Following Damon's earlier suggestion of a first-come, first-served principle, and further elaborated by Xia Minghao, this idea was further developed.

This indignant feeling immediately transferred from the Da tribe to the Xia tribe.

“We, the Xia tribe, kill bears, and you want to take them away.”

"We killed the bear, and the salt spring originally belonged to us!"

This time, Xia Minghao did not stop them, but instead observed the crowd.

Primitive people, who were never able to control their emotions, are now even more pronounced in this day and age.

Under the reprimands of the Xia tribe members behind them, the once arrogant Da tribe all turned into a guilty look.

But Wolfskin wasn't about to give up. He started racking his brains, which he rarely used, and finally came up with a clumsy explanation.

"If it weren't for the cave near the river being blocked by large rocks, we wouldn't have been able to get here easily. The human-faced bear would have been killed by our Da tribe long ago!"

When these words were spoken, no one really reacted because they also felt that it didn't make sense.

At this point, Damon was already considering whether he should simply return to the Da tribe and temporarily abandon the salt spring. The Xia tribe could kill bears, something the Da tribe couldn't do, so naturally they dared not underestimate them, nor dared to actually engage in battle with the Xia tribe, otherwise the Da tribe would definitely suffer serious losses.

It would be better to wait for his father, a wise man, to come up with another way to solve the problem of obtaining salt.

At worst, we can do an exchange, like we did with the Divine Tree Tribe.

They only traded salt for the flesh of the Divine Tree tribe. With the Xia tribe, they traded something else for salt.

As he was pondering this, Damon suddenly realized that the leader of the Xia tribe had changed.

Why did your expression change just because of what the wolf skin said?
why?
Damon immediately raised his hand to stop the chattering crowd around him.

Sure enough, Xia Minghao spoke, but what he said was something Damon had never expected.

"Where is the cave you mentioned that's covered by a large rock?"

When Wolfskin heard the question, he immediately thought that his "wisdom" had worked, but Xia Minghao did not believe it.

Therefore, proving the existence of the cave covered by the large rock would prove that the salt spring belongs to the Da tribe.

And you will become a "wise" person.

Although nothing has happened yet, Wolfskin has already started to imagine things.

He also stole a glance at Dali, who was being protected in the crowd and observing from the shadows.

Dali just likes smart people...

Yanquan Mountain is large to begin with, and although the mountain body is thick, the hollow area inside the mountain is still quite large.

Having just taken over, Xia Minghao naturally had no way of investigating every corner and thus did not discover anything unusual.

"Take me there."

Looking back at the wolf pelt, Xia Minghao said directly.

The others, lacking the cognitive ability to process wolf skin, still couldn't understand why the Xia tribe's leader was so interested in the cave blocked by the boulder.

Wolfskin was unwilling to back down, but he really didn't know where the cave was.

Because he had never mined salt, and the cave was blocked by a large rock, he only heard about it from the chief.

The chief learned about this from Daka, who had been in charge of salt harvesting.

Scratching his flea-infested head, Wolfskin grabbed Daka and pulled him over.

"Daka, take us there."

The two groups had maintained a safe distance from each other, but were both following the direction of Daka.

When Daka stopped and pointed to the mountain wall behind him, Xia Minghao looked closely and indeed found something unusual.

Because it is covered by moss, it is completely undetectable unless you look closely.

Even though it was right in front of him, Xia Minghao could only barely make out the outline of the cave.

Just like the cave that is still open to the public, its outline is semi-circular and quite regular.

Once the cave was found, the huge rock blocking it was naturally identified.

When Xia Minghao reached the boulder, he first tried to push it, but it didn't budge.

Then they began to examine the junction between the boulder and its base, racking their brains to analyze it using their knowledge of mechanics.

His furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and a slight smile began to appear at the corners of his mouth.

"You...you still want to move this big rock?"

“More than thirty men from our Da tribe came into the cave from outside the mountain, and they couldn’t move the stone!”

Wolfskin was initially clueless; he simply looked at it.

When he saw Xia Minghao trying to push the boulder to test its stability, he immediately shouted.

Xia Minghao glanced at the wolf skin.

From a mechanical point of view, the center of gravity of this boulder is located almost at the geometric center, maximizing the support surface and making it ridiculously stable.

Moreover, the stone itself is large, and due to the way it comes into contact with the contact surface, the frictional resistance torque is quite large.

Even fifty people couldn't push it open, let alone thirty.

How many people could the cave accommodate to push the stones and provide enough force to level them?

If these primitive people were to rely on brute force to push this stone, it would take who knows how long.

but……

"You can't push it, but I can."

"Can you push it?"

Upon hearing these words, not only Wolfskin but everyone else was moved.

Wolfskin's earlier remarks were not sarcastic.

Sarcasm is a "higher-order social emotion" that depends on complex social structures, cognitive abilities, and cultural needs.

It's impossible for nature to have existed in primitive times.

Therefore, the wolf skin who spoke earlier was only surprised by Xia Minghao's attempt.

But now, hearing Xia Minghao say this, everyone showed anger.

With so many of us, you can't push it? You think you can?

This made them feel that their ability to survive was being disregarded.

Xia Minghao rechecked the position of the boulder in contact with the ground, then looked up again with a hint of relief on his face.

"I can push the stone."

The people of the Da tribe immediately began to discuss among themselves, their expressions filled with anger as they looked at Xia Minghao.

The Xia tribe members looked at their chieftain, then at the giant rock, and their faces also showed disbelief.

Chief, how could that be possible?!
Negotiations on the salt springs can be put aside. Once this boulder is secured, it will obviously greatly improve the final negotiation outcome and also contribute to our "deterrent diplomacy" strategy.

Xia Minghao thought to himself, while glancing at the astonished looks on everyone's faces.

What's pushing this stone?
Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I can move the world!

(End of this chapter)