You can use silver and copper coins to trade various things at the Wood Tribe Market. Everything is clearly priced; the more silver you have, the more things you can buy, and the less silver you have, the fewer things you can buy.
You can also use silver to hire craftsmen from the Wood Tribe to build houses in your respective tribes. If you want to build roads in your tribe, you can also spend silver to buy cement from the Wood Tribe.
Since no gold mines had been discovered, Shen Nong traded the gold mines of the Stone Tribe for them. The Feather Tribe beastmen flew in droves to the outlying tribes, and now the Stone Tribe has changed drastically, becoming a replica of the Little Wood Tribe.
Shen Shi was also sent by Shen Nong to build mines. Gold and jade are now the main sources of Shen Nong's infrastructure. Shen Nong decided that before things are completely settled, the only trades will be in silver and copper coins.
When Shen Nong announced that silver and copper coins would replace cured meat and animal hides, the orcs of various tribes were still somewhat unwilling.
How can those stones and thin slices compare to cured meat and animal hides? These two things can neither be eaten nor worn, and the beastmen held them in their hands, feeling light and uncertain about their value.
The Wood Tribe had long distributed meat and animal hides once a month, and now that they've switched to distributing silver and copper coins, it's naturally still once a month.
The beastmen, who had been notified early on that meat would no longer be distributed, still held onto a sliver of hope, and finally the day they had been waiting for arrived to receive their wages.
When they saw neither meat carts nor animal hide carts, the orcs' last hope vanished. They looked anxiously into their palms; before, they could carry loads of meat and animal hides back to the tribe, but now all they had were a few broken stones.
After listening to Shen Nong's instructions, the team leaders emphasized the value of silver again, "Listen carefully, one copper coin is one wen, one string of copper coins is one thousand wen, and one thousand wen is one tael of silver."
There's cured meat for sale at the Wood Tribe market; one pound of cured meat costs five copper coins. Our construction team of orcs earns high wages, five taels of silver per person per month, and can trade a thousand pounds of cured meat.
Before, we could only make about 20 catties of cured meat a day, which would amount to 600 catties a month, plus two small pieces of animal hide. But think about it, now the stones you have can be traded for 1,000 catties of cured meat, which is 400 catties more than before. With that extra cured meat, you can exchange it for two large whole animal hides.
"The High Priest is giving us a raise!"
The orcs in the construction team were stunned. They instinctively gripped the broken stones tightly; the high priest wouldn't lie to them.
The wages of other teams were also converted into silver or copper coins according to the previous payment standards, with an additional amount added on top of that.
The day after each team in the Wood Tribe receives their wages is a day off. The beastmen from each tribe arrive at the market early, waiting for it to open.
The orcs guarding the market were awakened by a commotion. It was just dawn, and the market hadn't even opened yet. The noise outside was quite loud, and fearing something was wrong, the orcs quickly got up and looked out the window.
A group of orcs were clinging to the market wall, craning their necks to look into the market.
The orc guarding the market was startled by the scene, thinking the orcs were about to scale the wall and rob the market. He quickly woke the other guards, shouting, "Something's wrong! Get up! A group of orcs is coming to rob the market!"
This shout woke up all the orcs. They grabbed their bows and arrows and headed outside. The arrows were nocked, and the cold, sharp iron arrowheads were pointed at the outside of the wall. The orc guarding the market warned sternly, "If you dare to climb over the wall and raid the market, this arrow will go straight into your heads!"
Market raiding? What market raiding?
The orcs from various tribes were completely bewildered. They knew that the Wood Tribe's iron arrows were no joke; if they pierced the head, it would be fatal.
The quick-thinking orcs recognized who had shouted and immediately yelled, "Fox Master! We're not here to raid the market, we're here to trade!"
...
The market in the Wood Tribe is usually quiet and unassuming, only bustling on trading days. Today, for some reason, all these orcs have come, and so early no less!
Previously, it was the stall owners who opened their stalls and waited for the orcs to come and trade; today, it's the orcs who are guarding the market and waiting for the stall owners to open.
When the stall owners arrived, they were also taken aback by the sheer number of orcs filling the market. The Wood Tribe's market was very large; aside from trading days, it was unusual to see so many people. The market was almost completely packed.
To be honest, even on trading days there are never this many people.
"Hey, didn't you say you were going to buy all cured meat?" the grass tribe orc asked the rain tribe orc who was standing in front of the meat pie stall, drooling.
The meat patties at the market are all homemade; it's just starting now, the oil is only just getting hot. They're generous with the seasonings, and as soon as the meat patties hit the oil, they sizzle and release their aroma that wafts far and wide.
The Rain Tribe orc swallowed hard, holding up two fingers. "You can buy two of these meat patties for one copper coin."
The aroma from the meat pie stall was so enticing that orcs quickly gathered around it.
"I want four fish cakes."
"I want six beef patties and two fish patties!"
"Give me two of these meat patties, all of them!"
"Me too!"
In the Beast World, wild vegetables are more expensive than meat, and meat in the market is very cheap, but seasonings, animal hides, baskets, animal hide clothing, fish skin clothing, raincoats and straw hats are not cheap.
Paper, pens, mineral pigments, and furniture—not to mention the cheapest chair, which costs two hundred coins. Those coated with tung oil cost an additional one hundred and fifty coins on top of the original price. Tung oil is currently scarce, making it expensive due to its rarity.
The orcs who came to the market initially intended to exchange their silver and copper coins for cured meat and animal hides. However, once they started browsing the market, they quickly forgot about their initial plans.
Some lingered at the barbecue and meat pie stalls, while others spent a fortune on jam at the jam stalls, and all the other stalls were visited by the beastmen.
Since they had enough cured meat and animal hides stored up, not many orcs visited these two stalls.
However, some orcs only bought cheap meat patties and some cured meat, and just looked at the other stalls.
The orcs working in the Wood Tribe do not entirely own their wages.
In the beginning, the orcs working there had to hand over the cured meat and animal hides they received as wages to the tribe each month. Later, when the tribes had accumulated enough resources, their priests allowed the orcs to keep some for themselves instead of handing over everything.
Even though the currency has been changed to silver and copper coins, everything remains the same. Therefore, the more the orcs earn, the more they can keep.
Xiong Qi from the Grass Tribe stood in front of the jam stall, his nose twitching every now and then, trying to catch the sweet aroma of the jam. He had been rewarded with a bowl of sweet jam water for his good performance at the start of spring work, and Xiong Qi dreamed about that taste every night.
Now, seeing it at the market, he couldn't tear himself away. But he didn't have enough money to buy the jam...
Xiong Qi clutched the copper coin in his hand. His disappointment didn't last long; he quickly cheered up. Copper coins weren't like cured meat; they wouldn't spoil no matter how long they were stored. If he saved enough, he'd definitely be able to buy a jar of jam!
After this market, although the beastmen still didn't quite understand what money really was, they vaguely knew that money was better than giving them cured meat and animal hides directly.
They can trade money for anything they want directly, and everything has a set price; once they've saved up that money, they can trade it.
Previously, they were given cured meat and animal hides. Cured meat could be stored for a long time, but there was still a limit. Animal hides would also spoil if stored for too long. Money was different; it would never spoil. Because of this, the beastmen all started thinking about saving money.
Some wanted to buy expensive things they couldn't usually afford, while many orcs wanted to save money to build a house. If brick houses were out of the question, then they'd consider mud houses.
This thought filled them with energy, and the beastmen seemed tireless.
Silver and copper coins became the primary currencies used between the Mu tribe and surrounding tribes.
Since construction began in early spring this year, orcs from all the tribes have come to work in the Wood Tribe. The road construction, which had been delayed by various issues, has also been put on the agenda and is progressing rapidly.
With enough cement and manpower, plus the fact that some sections had already been repaired, and with a significant investment of manpower this time, the cement roads leading to the various tribes were being built very quickly.
Spring and autumn are both short seasons, and it's already late spring. The mornings and evenings are still cool, but the midday sun is very strong. Unless it rains, the cement road will dry completely in three or four days.
After the cement road was built, the orcs no longer transformed into human form to transport things, but instead used flatbed carts, which was easier, faster, and the items were placed more stably.
Shen Nong stood on the watchtower, looking at the road that had been built out of the city wall of the wooden tribe. People and vehicles walked on it, and it vaguely resembled a new social civilization.
He stepped down from the watchtower and recalled that when he first transmigrated, the system told him to bring this primitive era into a higher level of social civilization.
Since he confirmed with Cao Qing some time ago that Ze was not immune to wood-type abilities but rather to his own, this realization has made Shen Nong even more confused, and her doubts about her transmigration to the Beast World have deepened.
Shen Nong also knew that he had nowhere to investigate these mysteries unless the system told him.
Shen Nong couldn't help but think that when the beast world fully entered a new civilization, when the beastmen no longer ate raw meat and drank blood, but learned to write, learned skills, and achieved something in everything, his final mission would be complete.
At that time, would the system send him back to interstellar space or let him stay in the Beast World? Shen Nong initially thought that bringing a new social civilization into the Beast World was a pipe dream, at least impossible in his lifetime.
Therefore, I didn't think about what would happen if it came true.
Given the current development of the Wood Tribe, it is highly likely that he will complete the system's mission while he is still alive.
After this problem arose, Shen Nong asked the system, but the system only said that it did not have the authority to answer and that she could only ask the main system. Shen Nong had tricked the main system before and knew that it held a grudge even more than she did, so the other party would definitely not tell her easily.
Shen Nong was preoccupied with her thoughts and wasn't paying much attention to where she was going. Her feet got tied to something, and if she hadn't reacted quickly, she would have been lying on the ground by now.
After he regained his footing, he looked down at what was binding him on the ground.
When the orcs in the food-making team saw that the high priest had almost tripped over the pile of purple bamboo they had set aside, they quickly put down the ingredients they were carrying and ran to Shen Nong, anxiously asking, "High Priest, are you alright?!"
"It's nothing." Shen Nong didn't look up, picking up a purple bamboo stalk. "Where did this come from?"
When asked about this, the orc from the food-making team couldn't help but sigh, "This bamboo was cut by the production team. It was originally intended to make bamboo tubes and such, but who knew that this purple bamboo is solid and has a thin skin. It's completely different from the green bamboo, so it can't be used."
They didn't want to just throw it all away, so they dragged it over saying they'd give it to us for firewood. But the purple bamboo was full of water and couldn't be used for fire at all. The team leader said to drag it out and dry it in the sun until it was completely dry.
"Bring me a knife." After hearing the orc's description, Shen Nong, who already had a suspicion, became even more certain of her thoughts.
The orc returned quickly. Shen Nong took the cleaver and, with a swift stroke, cleaved the "purple bamboo" in two. The cross-section fibers were flattened, and a trace of juice seeped out, only to disappear quickly.
But that sweet fragrance lingered around my nose for a long time.
This isn't bamboo at all, it's clearly sugarcane!
"Place all these sugarcane in a sheltered, earthen place. Sprinkle some water on the earth to moisten it, and then add another layer of earth on top of the sugarcane." As Shen Nong spoke, she bought a design blueprint for a primitive wooden juicer from the system's shop.
The beastman in the food-making team realized from Shen Nong's words that the purple bamboo was called sugarcane and that it was very important. He didn't dare to delay and quickly called the other beastmen to preserve the sugarcane according to Shen Nong's instructions.
This preservation method can keep unpeeled sugarcane for a month. That's enough time to study the blueprints and develop a juicer.
With sugarcane, we have brown sugar, rock sugar, and white sugar. From now on, the Mu tribe will never have to worry about sugar again!
A hundred miles away from the Wood Tribe, an orc caravan led by Snake Forest from the Beast City was resting.
Captain Shi Lei looked around at the surrounding mountains, feeling uneasy as if someone was watching them. "Eagle Mountain, transform into human form and go scout it out."
A note from the author:
For information on sugarcane preservation, please refer to Baidu.
Chapter 114
Defeat
When it was time to harvest the first hemp, Shen Nong went with the orcs from the cloth-making team to harvest it. She kept some for herself in the system warehouse, planning to exchange it for equipment from the system later when she had enough infrastructure points to continue her plant research.
Shen Nong cut some ramie and put it in her basket. Just as she was about to move to another spot, Shen Twelve came over and said, "Priest, look at the sky."
"An eagle?" Shen Nong shielded her eyes from the sunlight with her hand. A medium-sized eagle was circling in the sky, and soon flew towards the direction of the Mu tribe.
Shen Shier said, "This eagle has been circling for quite a while."
If he hadn't known about the Feather Tribe, Shen Nong wouldn't have thought much of it. He was worried that Beast City would send other beastmen to search for the missing beastmen. Eagle's behavior was unusual, so Shen Nong told Shen Twelve and returned to the tribe first.
They had only gone halfway when they saw the orcs from the Wood Tribe approaching, looking very anxious.
Shen Nong recognized that the orc was sent to watch the watchtower on the mountain. The Wood Tribe had watchtowers set up on the surrounding mountains, one every thirty miles, stretching for a hundred miles.
If a lookout spot something unusual, it only needs to report it to the lookout ahead, and then the lookout ahead will continue to report it upwards. This is so that the orcs can transmit the news back to the Wood Tribe as quickly as possible.
"What happened?" Shen Nong had a bad feeling.
The orc hurriedly said, "Priest, a message came from the watchtower a hundred miles to the east that they have spotted a group of orcs. There are quite a few of them, and their level is not low."
Shen Nong frowned slightly. All the orcs from Beast City were in the Wood Tribe. Logically speaking, if no one had led the way in the Beast World, the orcs from Beast City wouldn't have been able to find them so quickly.