Building a Civilization and Raising Cubs in the Beast World – Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The area around the market is all plains, with only low weeds in the middle and no trees. Bai Qi said that this is where the transactions will take place in the next few days. The meadow is surrounded by woods similar to those on the road, providing a resting place for passing orcs.

Although today is recognized as the day before the market opens, many orcs have already arrived. However, I did not trade immediately after arriving early. Today I was more like observing the situation in advance.

They walked together with the same tribe or tribes with good relations, shielding each other’s supplies and looking around vigilantly. After all, they were carrying the hope of the entire tribe, and no one dared to be careless.

Bai Tu observed the orcs in the distance. The orcs in human form were dressed similarly, basically animal skins. A small number of tribes wore grass skirts woven from plants, probably to better deter people with bad intentions. Many tribes had some orcs who turned into beasts and guarded nearby.

Along the way, Bai Tu saw no less than ten kinds of animals, including lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, bears, etc. Most of them were ferocious animals. He walked around without seeing a second rabbit.

There was a rather strange tribe. Judging from their shapes, they should be ferocious beasts, but there were no tribesmen around who had transformed into beasts. The seemingly weak young man in the lead was holding a piece of barbecue in his hand and sharing it with the giant goshawk on his shoulder. Noticing his gaze, the young man looked over and smiled friendly.

It turns out that orcs also keep pets. Bai Tu smiled back politely.

The goshawk on the young man’s shoulder seemed dissatisfied with being ignored, and rubbed its hooked beak against the young man’s face. The young man slapped it, and the goshawk immediately quieted down. Bai Tu was very impressed that a bird of prey could be tamed like this.

Most of the orcs in the rabbit and wolf tribes were not here for the first time. The experienced Bai An chose a location that was close to the water source and the market but not to the point of being disturbed. The first thing he did after settling down was to arrange for people to fetch water.

Upon hearing the call for water, both the wolf and rabbit tribes reacted quickly. In addition to bamboo tubes, they also took out stone pots and wooden barrels.

Bai Tu looked at the person who suddenly became busy, somewhat confused.

Bai Qi took Bai Tu’s bamboo tube and explained before leaving: “The water source nearby is clean at the beginning of the market, but in a few days we can only go upstream to get water!”

Because it hasn’t rained for a long time, there are only two small rivers nearby, but there are many orcs coming to the market. Even if everyone keeps the habit of getting water upstream and washing it downstream, the water source will still be polluted in a few days, and then we can only go upstream to drink water. In order to save time, the rabbit tribe would fetch more water on the first and second days of their arrival, and after the market started, they would exchange their supplies and leave immediately, which was safe and quick.

In the past, wolves would stay longer, but they didn’t like to walk for half a day to get water, and they still had the habit of storing extra water in the previous two days.

Bai Tu didn’t know as much about this matter as others, so he naturally followed the instructions.

Most tribes will not reveal what supplies they have brought. Only when the market officially opens tomorrow will everyone take out the supplies and display them. Bai Tu understood that this meant that wealth should not be shown to others, so he went against his usual behavior and did not bring out any special food that night. He only shared the dried meat.

The dried meat didn’t have much flavor, and everyone ate very quietly throughout the meal. The number of people on guard at night was twice as many as on the road, and when they rested, they only stayed a short distance apart, not too far away.

The tribes around the market seemed peaceful, but in fact they were all alert and defending their surroundings. According to past experience, even if the orcs who attacked would be subdued in the end, some people would inevitably get hurt. No one wanted to see the orcs from their own tribe get hurt, so they were more vigilant.

On the way, Bai Tu heard Bai Qi talk about many of his previous experiences in changing salt. He knew that there were many fights and quarrels, so he took the time to rest at night when it was relatively quiet around.

Facts proved that his idea was correct. Starting from the second half of the night, the sounds around never stopped. First, the two lion tribes quarreled because their resting areas overlapped. Later, a new bull tribe accidentally stepped on a snake tribe that had transformed into a beast… After that, there were too many and too mixed sounds to hear the reason.

Bai Tu simply got up, washed up, and counted the items in the tribe with Bai An. Because they had the support of the wolf tribe along the way, they now had a lot more supplies than when they left the tribe. There were now twelve backpacks of dried meat, eleven backpacks of smoked meat, eighteen backpacks of roasted or dried meat, and five or six backpacks of fruit.

Most of the fruits were picked on the way, and they planned to keep them. On the one hand, the price was low and they could hardly exchange them for much supplies. On the other hand, they would have to eat them on the way back. Because they carried salt, they would go back faster and would hardly stop, so they would not have time to pick fruits.

However, even if only meat is exchanged, the meat is enough. Among the supplies exchanged, the salt needed by the tribe is listed as the first item, which cannot be changed in any way. The remaining supplies can be selected. The animal skins that Bai An wants to exchange and the seeds that Bai Tu wants to exchange are both on the shortlist.

Before dawn, some people were walking towards the market. Lang Qi and Bai An did not go there right away. After making sure there was still enough time, Bai Tu found a stone pot, steamed some food, and after it cooled down, he wrapped it in leaves and put it in a backpack.

They waited until daybreak, when many tribes had gathered in the market, and then each of them picked a few people.

Lang Qi chose Lang You and a few wolves that Bai Tu was not familiar with. Lang Ze tried to sneak in when there were many people around, but was pulled out by him expressionlessly. He even said something sternly: “If you follow me again, you will have to eat barbecue on the way back.” The barbecue here is obviously not the improved version of barbecue, but the hard kind that everyone uses to exchange for salt.

The effect of this sentence was obvious. Langze was indeed as quiet as a chicken and never mentioned that he wanted to follow.

Bai An called Bai Tu, Bai Qi, Tu Xun and a middle-aged orc named Tu Xing. Bai Qi and Tu Xun each carried a backpack.

The Blood Wolf Tribe needs to exchange a lot of salt, so not everyone will go in with a backpack. Instead, they will bring two baskets of food to choose a salt-exchanging tribe that can cooperate. The two tribes will trade near the market, which is both hidden and safe. The Snow Rabbit Tribe rarely did this before, and most of the time they could only bring food to exchange on the spot. This year, together with the Wolf Tribe, they can just pick a tribe with a suitable price to exchange for salt.

The wolves brought grilled and sun-dried meat from the tribe. No matter how delicious the dried meat and braised meat were, they did not touch the food in exchange for salt. What they exchanged with the rabbits were the meals prepared in advance and the prey caught on the road.

The rabbit tribe brought two backpacks, one of which was filled with smoked meat. They used the raw meat given by the wolf tribe, which they marinated and smoked on the road. It was simpler than Bai Tu’s original plan, but better than the commonly used roasting method. The other was dried meat, which included pork jerky and venison jerky. The beef jerky was eaten up by the wolves. The considerable amount of barbecued and sun-dried meat was not taken because they were all exchanged by the wolves on the road, and the quality was the same as that brought by the wolves.

The tribes that bring salt here almost always stay in a fixed area every year, so there is no need to run around. Bai Qi obviously knows the location, and even with a backpack on his back, he is no slower than others. Bai Tu followed behind a few people, and finally the two wolf tribes and Lang Qi.

The Huanyan tribe has a very obvious characteristic: their skin color is dark. It is not because of their congenital black skin color caused by their animal shape, but because of the dark red skin caused by years of exposure to the sun. Obvious marks can be seen on their exposed shoulders, and there are deep and shallow horizontal lines on their necks. Their faces are very rough due to long-term exposure to wind and sun.

It can be said that one can tell from their appearance whether this tribe is a real salt-exchanging tribe. Because of this, people basically don’t look at the orcs whose faces have no sunburn, even if they have salt in front of them, because they either exchanged the salt and plan to sell it at a high price, or they snatched the salt from other tribes and plan to exchange it for food.

The group crossed most of the market and finally stopped beside a larger salt exchange stall. The people who stopped did not rush to ask the price, but watched others trade from the side.

Most of the tribes that came to the market were for salt. The few tribes that exchanged salt were naturally very popular. Holding the necessary supplies, these tribes had more say. After watching for less than ten minutes, Bai Tu witnessed nearly five or six tribes leaving in disappointment because the food they brought did not meet the requirements of the salt-exchanging tribes. They did not want meat of poor quality, meat that was overcooked, meat that went bad due to short roasting time, spoiled raw meat, or meat mixed with bones…

The salt-exchanging tribe had only one requirement: good meat.

This requirement is easier said than done. Their two tribes are relatively close to the market, and it took them seven or eight days to get there. For some tribes, it takes more than ten days or even longer to get to the market. It is not easy to prepare a month’s worth of food, plus food to exchange for salt. It also takes time to select the meat and roast it to the right degree of doneness. It is inevitable that some tribes end up being more casual in order to save time or get more food in their backpacks.

Some salt-exchanging tribes have lower requirements and will accept any salt as long as it is acceptable, while the salt-exchanging tribe called the Tata tribe has higher requirements.

Even though the requirements are high, there are still many tribes waiting here, because the price they offer is too tempting. Sixteen baskets of food can be exchanged for one basket of salt, while other tribes mostly offer twenty baskets or more for one basket, which is a difference of nearly a quarter. No wonder this place is overcrowded. Even orcs who know that the food they bring may not meet the requirements will come here to try, in case they are lucky enough to exchange it for a lot of salt.

However, no matter how many people there are, the Tata tribe will not lower their requirements. They will not miss any step of looking, smelling and tasting, and will select meticulously.

The few of them waited for a while, and the Tata tribe only agreed to the deal with one tribe. The tribes that were not chosen either left in disappointment or cursed in a low voice. Some orcs found that luck was useless, and silently took the food to find other tribes to exchange for salt. After all, the price of salt would become more expensive as time went on.

Bai Qi whispered in Bai Tu’s ear: “The salt from the Tata tribe is delicious and not bitter, but it requires especially good meat. If that doesn’t work, we can only go to the Fengta tribe to exchange it. It only has a slightly bitter taste. We can’t exchange it with the Black Tower tribe. It’s too bitter.”

Bai An and Lang Qi discussed it, and the four orcs carrying backpacks lined up at the back of the team.

Because some people had left, there were fewer people around than at the beginning, and soon it was their turn. The first thing we see is the two backpacks that the wolves carry, for grilling and drying meat.

The wolves were efficient in hunting and had never treated themselves badly with food, so the salt they brought in exchange for salt was naturally of good quality. The orcs from the Tata tribe first checked the size and color of the pieces of roasted meat, broke them apart and smelled them, then with Lang Qi’s consent, picked up a piece and took a bite, and finally nodded. The first two steps for the dried basket are the same, except that it is not tasted at the end.

After the other party checked the first two backpacks, an older orc at the back took everyone to a secluded place and said, “I am Tagu, the leader of the Tata tribe. How much food do you have?” The previous tribe with good food only had a dozen backpacks, which was far from what their tribe needed. Tagu was very anxious.

Lang Qi: “There are a hundred backpacks of these two kinds together, and there are two new kinds.” To outsiders, the wolf tribe and the rabbit tribe are one team, so Lang Qi was talking about the barbecued and dried meat of the two tribes combined.

Bai An quickly asked Bai Qi and Tu Xun to put down the backpacks. Tu Xun opened the backpack containing the smoked meat. The meat had been marinated and smoked overnight. The surface was covered with black ash. It looked similar to the barbecue brought by other tribes, but the biggest difference between the two was inside.

Bai Tu took out a bone knife, picked up a piece of smoked meat, and scraped off the black particles on the surface: “This is a new method we learned from the big tribe. It requires many kinds of herbs. The meat produced can be stored for half a year, and it can be eaten from now until the snow season.”

Hearing this, Lang Qi, who was looking at Bai Tu, turned his gaze to the smoked meat. How did he remember that the other party suddenly got up in the middle of the night a few days ago and arranged for the rabbit tribe to make this meat?

Bai An and others had already been told by Bai Tu to listen to him today, so they didn’t say anything when they heard these words which were somewhat different from the actual situation. Bai Qi felt that what Bai Tu said was the truth, because what Bai Tu knew were things they didn’t know. He must have learned it in the big tribe where he lived before, but they didn’t know which big tribe it was, otherwise it would have been able to help him find his home.

Bai Tu certainly wouldn’t say that this was something he came up with on the road. After all, complicated smoked meat takes several days, and this is at most a simplified version. But the simple version is enough. Bai Tu used a knife to cut the smoked meat horizontally after scraping off the ash: “This kind of meat is not as dry and tough as barbecued meat. Even children can chew it, and it tastes good.”

Lang Qi agreed with this. After all, Lang Ze had gnawed a piece of it in front of him this morning, as if he had been hungry. For the sake of his younger brother, he did not do anything.

The shiny smoked meat had an attractive luster. Even without eating it, the aroma of meat in the air meant that the meat would taste good. Just as Tagu was about to nod, Bai Tu picked up the piece of meat wrapped in leaves next to him, opened it, wiped the bone knife clean and cut off a piece: “This is steamed, try it.”

Tagu took the piece of meat and put it in his mouth, nodding repeatedly.

Bai Tu didn’t give the other party time to speak, and lifted the cover on the basket on Bai Qi’s back: “This is dried meat. Don’t underestimate it. It takes four days to make this basket!” After saying that, he picked up a piece of dried meat and handed it to the other party. He was not lying. It takes four days to make the dish after cutting, drying it in the sun for three days and then steaming it.

Tagu, who had just finished eating smoked meat, took it reflexively, put it in his mouth, and bit it without breaking it. Just as he was about to say that it was harder to chew than the previous one, Bai Tu spoke again: “It is a little hard at first, but the more you chew this kind of meat,

the more delicious it becomes. You can only discover its real taste at the end.” After hearing this, Tagu chewed it for a while longer, and just as Bai Tu said, the more he ate, the more delicious it became.

Bai Tu continued, “This kind of dried meat can be used to coax children, and it always works. No matter how disobedient the child is, you can let him do anything as long as there is dried meat as a reward.”

Lang Qi inexplicably thought of his brothers Lang Ze and Lang Zuo and Lang You, who always ran to Bai Tu whenever they had time, regardless of whether it was mealtime or not, and fell into deep thought.

Bai Qi, who was often fed with dried meat: “???”

Upon hearing about coaxing a child, Tagu, who was already excited, looked even more eager.

Bai Tu used his ultimate move: “Only we can cook these two kinds of meat. When we leave, Chief Tagu won’t be able to find a second one even if he searches the entire market.” Tagu

nodded continuously: “I want them. Our tribe wants both of them. How many do you have?”

Hearing this, Bai Tu looked at the people around him with embarrassment. The people he saw were confused, and in order not to show weakness in front of Tagu, they could only pretend to be calm.

However, in Tagu’s eyes, these materials were precious and he would not exchange them until everyone agreed.

Bai Tu looked around, sighed and said, “These two kinds of things are too troublesome, especially the dried meat. It takes three or four pounds of fresh meat to make one pound, and the herbs are precious. We only made twenty-three baskets in total. We plan to exchange them for animal skins, fruit seeds and knives. We can only give a few baskets to Chief Tagu…”

When Tagu heard that there were only more than twenty baskets, he quickly said, “Eight baskets for one basket of salt! I’ll give you three baskets of both together, and you can use the salt to exchange for other things!” Tagu still had some confidence. In the entire market, there was nothing that could not be exchanged for salt.

A basket of dried meat requires about the same amount of raw materials. There are gaps between the dried meat, and the volume is not much smaller than the raw materials. So it is twice as expensive as other meats. The ratio is almost the same when trading with the wolf tribe on the road, but the wolf tribe also included protection work. Bai Tu seemed to be thinking: “Then I have to exchange it once more. I want to exchange it for animal skins, knives, seeds…” Tagu

slapped his thigh, interrupted him, and said with pain: “Four baskets! Four baskets! I’ll give you four baskets, no more. Four baskets of salt can be exchanged for half of the tribe’s animal skins!”

Bai Tu nodded: “Okay, deal.”

Bai Qi was a little surprised that he could exchange so much, but when he thought of the taste of dried meat and smoked meat, he understood. If he had salt, he would also prefer better-tasting dried meat and smoked meat. The grilled and sun-dried meat that was hard on the teeth was really not delicious.

Everyone was very satisfied with this salt replacement ratio. After discussing the ratio, everyone started to check the size of the backpack.

There is no fixed specification for the backpacks at the market. Each tribe has its own backpacks of different sizes, not to mention those from different tribes. After all, the reminders between orcs are different. You can’t ask a tribe whose animal forms are small animals and a tribe whose animal forms are large animals to use the same backpack.

For example, nowadays, the backpacks of the rabbit tribe are considered medium to small. One backpack can hold about 100 kilograms of raw meat or more than 30 kilograms of dried meat, and about 70 kilograms of grilled or smoked meat. Salt has a high density, so a backpack can hold about 200 kilograms of salt, which is 40 bowls. The wolf tribe’s backpack is about half the size of the rabbit tribe’s. One backpack can hold more than sixty bowls. This bowl refers to the bowls used by the rabbit tribe for eating. The number for the wolf tribe is another number.

In order to make up for the difference in backpacks of different tribes, the market has its own set of default rules, which is that both parties to the transaction use backpacks of the same size for measurement. For example, when the Rabbit Tribe gave the Tata Tribe dried meat and smoked meat, the Tata Tribe would pour salt into the Rabbit Tribe’s backpacks and fill four backpacks according to the size of the Rabbit Tribe’s backpacks. When the Wolf Tribe switched, they would use the Wolf Tribe’s, thus saving the conflict caused by the different sizes of tools.

There was no objection to the proportions and size of the backpack, and both sides agreed on a safe location near the market but not crowded.

Being close to the market is for trading safety. The areas around the market are places where fighting is prohibited. Anyone who robs or steals supplies will be isolated by all the tribes. When similar incidents occur, the orcs who see them will also stop them. However, places far away from the market are not so safe.

After agreeing on a time, both sides went back to get supplies. In the end, the two tribes exchanged ninety-six backpacks of grilled and sun-dried meat and twenty-three backpacks of dried and smoked meat for five large and five small backpacks of salt.

The big backpack can hold 300 kilograms, and the small backpack can hold 200 kilograms. The Snow Rabbit Tribe now has nearly 1,000 kilograms of salt. Even if more than half of it is exchanged for other things, the remaining will be enough for the tribe to eat for most of half a year. And that’s on top of the fact that the tribe left two backpacks of barbecue as food for the trip back home.

Bai Tu was naturally happy. The more salt he exchanged, the more he could control. Moreover, now that the biggest problem of salt had been solved, they could choose the supplies they needed with peace of mind.

The replaced salt was placed where everyone rested last night. More than half of the members were guarding nearby, and less than one-third were allowed to go out and walk around. After this group of orcs had picked out the supplies they wanted to use, the remaining orcs could go in.

The two tribes chose to exchange salt first, besides the fact that it was a necessity, another important reason was that salt was one of the hard currencies, while other items were not.

For example, the Snow Rabbit Tribe needs animal skins, but the tribe that sells animal skins may not need food but needs knives. In that case, they can only go to the tribe that sells knives first. Assuming that the tribe that sells knives also does not want food but only wants medicine, then they can only find the next tribe. It may take some effort to find the complementary goods from many tribes, not to mention the noise around, which will take even more time to bargain.

Now if we exchange it for salt first, we won’t have this worry. Salt is needed by almost all tribes. No orc will refuse if you take the salt to exchange for what you want, even if he doesn’t need the salt, because after receiving the salt, he can use it to exchange for what he needs. This is also the reason why the price of salt will rise in the later period. The large salt-exchanging tribes will be able to collect enough food and leave quickly. The flow of salt in the later period is limited, and there will be many tribes that arrive late for various reasons.

Bai An waved his hand and gave Bai Tu two backpacks of salt: “Tu, go and exchange for whatever you want, and let Qi and Xun help you carry the things!”

Lang Qi looked at Bai An as if he was looking at a tyrant.

Mini-theater:

Lang Qi: A tyrant ruler.

Langze: Don’t be impatient, you will be the same in the future.