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

Chapter 99 Retting Hemp for Clothing
On the sheer cliff, the boulders were washed clean, and two tall figures slowly climbed down.

Suddenly, a boulder came loose, and a person standing on it fell off.

Amidst the thunderous sound of a landslide, the other remained unmoved, simply watching silently, as if waiting for something.

After waiting for a long time without anything happening, a hint of doubt finally appeared in his eyes.

Suddenly, a giant humanoid wolf leaped up, causing the already unstable rocks beneath its feet to tremble.

The humanoid giant wolf's body gradually began to shrink, eventually transforming back into its tall and robust form.

“We’ve found the way. It’s down here. Go back and tell Gadan.”

Upon hearing this, a sly glint appeared in the other person's eyes.

“Tell Gadan there’s no road, and you can go back to the grassland.”

“If we go back to the grasslands, we can’t find any rams, so the ewes can’t mate and the sheep will all be eaten.”

The argument ended there, and the two of them didn't say another word, but silently climbed up the mountain.

Small pieces of granite fell from the hand, plunging down the towering cliff before finally splashing into the river in front of the waterfall...

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"First use this thin one, then this one, and then insert the thick one."

Xia Minghao spoke to Liba and the others, and then demonstrated how to make a four-poster sunshade.

The previous method of digging pits and then erecting pillars was not used because the soil dug and then backfilled would never be as dense as the soil in the original land.

This makes it impossible to stably hold the pillar in place.

That's why Xia Minghao came up with this idea.

That means first hitting a thin piece of wood into the ground to create a small hole.

Then gradually increase the size, so that the hole will be slowly expanded without damaging the compactness of the soil, and it can still tightly squeeze the pillar.

It's been raining for three days straight, and it doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. I wonder how much longer it will continue.

But now that five bronze saws have been made, logging has become quite easy, and it is now "logging" in the true sense of the word.

Now, teach these things to the future "construction team members" so that enough rain shelters can be built, and no matter how long the rain lasts, it won't affect activities like pottery firing and copper smelting.

Of course, this only applies to the area inside Salt Spring Mountain.

The rain outside was still pouring down, and even heavier than last time.

Xia Minghao couldn't even imagine how heavy the rain would be when the real rainy season arrived.

Fortunately, due to the "rain shadow effect" caused by Yanquan Mountain, the rain in Yanquan Mountain was only moderate.

Otherwise, if it were torrential rain in Yanquan Mountain, all production activities would have to stop, and everyone would have to stay in their mud houses and take shelter from the rain.

Watching Liba lead his men to set up sheds in the rain, Xia Minghao estimated that the timber they had cut was enough to build seven or eight sheds, which would be sufficient to meet the needs of bronze smelting and pottery making during the rain.

Then Xia Minghao looked at the tent that had already been set up.

That was the first one built; it was completed before the rain had even completely stopped.

Inside is a blast furnace that we have improved and reinforced.

Provided there is a sufficient supply of charcoal, all the malachite and cassiterite can be smelted into bronze within about three days, producing enough bronze artifacts to meet the needs of the current population.

This type of blast furnace was originally intended for iron smelting, not bronze ware.

But reality dealt Xia Minghao a heavy blow.

That was a small iron ore mine that had been piled up into three small mountains, but with the current level of technology, it was impossible to extract even a single bit of iron from it.

Not to mention the various subsequent steps such as forging.

All of them are complex technical challenges that need to be overcome.

No wonder that after bronze technology matured, many civilizations did not develop iron smelting technology for thousands of years.

Even the Chinese civilization took three to five hundred years to refine its first piece of iron.

To make a breakthrough in this area, one cannot rush it. Xia Minghao felt satisfied that he could develop it within six months.

"Let's take it one step at a time and focus on doing the things at hand first."

Just then, Una ran over in the rain, carrying the nettles that the Da tribe had brought over earlier.

However, the nettles of today no longer have the fine, sharp thorns they used to have, so even if Una mischievously tied them to her wrist, she wouldn't experience that kind of stinging pain that lasts all day.

This was undoubtedly due to the initial drying and sun exposure, as well as the women rubbing hemp with stones.

But the greater credit goes to this rain.

Soaking these nettle stems, which have undergone the first step of treatment, in continuous rainwater for three days completes the retting process.

Not only does it remove the stinging blisters from nettles, but it also allows the "phloem" of nettles to be easily peeled off, which is the material that can actually be used to make clothes.

It's time to make clothes that will allow these primitive people to no longer be "barely clothed".

"You have the women of the Wu clan and the Li clan strip all of this place bare."

Xia Minghao demonstrated how to separate the hemp fibers.

Una blinked her big eyes, then nodded immediately.

"Also, after you've finished this, comb this out, just like your hair."

Considering that the next step would be easier only after the hemp threads were properly combed, Xia Minghao added, "Hair?"

Upon hearing this, Una immediately tossed her "beautiful hair".

Immediately afterwards, several lice were thrown directly onto Xia Minghao's body.

"I rely on."

Xia Minghao quickly patted his clothes. Although it had been almost a month, he hadn't had time to wash them and they were already in a terrible state.

But since I already wear modern clothes and I'm usually quite careful, I definitely have some lice, but not many, and it's tolerable.

Watching Una leave, Xia Minghao thought to himself, "I might as well take advantage of this heavy rain to properly clean up the hygiene of the primitive people around me."

The several earthenware jars of soap I made earlier using animal fat and wood ash are almost ready to use.

After watching the women start their work, Xia Minghao also began his own work.

That was the real opening of the textile industry!

Textiles, naturally, require spinning before weaving. Spinning is turning silk into thread, and weaving is turning thread into cloth.

What Xia Minghao needs to do now is to manufacture spinning wheels and looms.

The purpose of a spinning wheel is to turn hemp fibers into hemp thread.

The function of a loom is to allow hemp threads to interweave through the warp and weft, transforming them into fabric that can actually be used to make clothes.

This was a long-planned "clothing-making operation," and Xia Minghao had already prepared all the necessary parts.

As planned, we used a survival knife and entrenching tool to sharpen and cut while simultaneously securing the various components.

After a long time, the most primitive spinning wheel was finally completed.

I tried turning the wooden wheel I had made earlier, and the large wheel drove the small wheel to spin at high speed.

This rotation allows short, loose hemp fibers to be twisted and stretched into continuous and strong hemp threads.

It has four large wheels, enough to make four spinning wheels.

As for why it has four wheels, it was actually a failed attempt by Xia Minghao to build a car.

It wasn't that the wheels failed, but rather that the axle wasn't strong enough; perhaps only bronze could withstand it.

But getting a bronze staff is still a bit of a luxury right now. I'll have to wait until I go to the cave again and get a lot of materials before I can do that.

The women, having finished preparing the hemp rope, rushed over.

Xia Minghao then demonstrated it to all the women several times.

The women found it fascinating, something they had never seen before. Many women felt they had learned something and wanted to try it themselves.

But without exception, they all ultimately failed.

After seven or eight attempts, the first woman finally learned how to spin thread.

Then more and more people learned to spin thread, including members of the Wu clan and the Li clan.

The women laughed and joked, seemingly treating it as a form of entertainment, competing with each other to see who could spin the longest thread.

But Xia Minghao knew exactly what the significance of spinning thread was.

The invention of the spinning wheel gradually made spinning a standard skill for women, and ultimately it was women who relied on this skill to support "half the sky," which is the so-called "men plowing and women weaving."

Women's rough hands will become even rougher in the future.

Those scars covering his hands were caused by all sorts of threads, and even his fingernails bore indelible marks from the threads.

Things will only change after a monster that eats coal and spews steam arrives.

Without paying any more attention to the women, Xia Minghao went to the new shed that the "construction team" led by Li Ba had just set up.

They started making a simple loom.

The loom is more complex, but not difficult to manufacture; the purpose is simply to interweave the warp and weft of the hemp threads.

After the simple loom was finished, Xia Minghao went to check on the results of spinning the thread left in front of the spinning wheel.

The results were only so-so; the line wasn't long enough.

This is precisely where the difficulty of spinning thread lies: how to make the thread long enough without breaking.

Overcoming the difficulties requires women's patience and gradually improving skills.

However, the current thread was sufficient. After taking some away, Xia Minghao led a few people to start weaving.

This demonstration took longer and was more complex. First, the longitude lines were hung up, and then the latitude lines were interspersed.

Only two or three people learned how to do it, including Una.

Two or three people are more than enough: one person to control the tracking and one person to guide the weft.

Although there were many people spinning thread, they could take turns "playing" with it, but after a while, everyone got tired of it because the women didn't know what they were doing it for.

Of the three weavers, only Una was still working enthusiastically; the other two took turns to avoid getting bored.

Xia Minghao, who was still working on another rudimentary loom, noticed this but didn't say anything.

Textile making is like that; it's incredibly tedious. But once the first piece of linen is woven and its uses are seen, weavers will gradually get used to this tedium.

Especially after the promotion of private ownership, under the supply and demand relationship, this would undoubtedly become a "good job", so that they would not want to leave the loom.

Walking up to the loom, Xia Minghao checked the progress and then looked at the sky.

It's estimated that the first piece of cloth suitable for making clothes will appear before dusk...

(End of this chapter)