Chapter 33: Coordination
Working for others is always tiring, but working for oneself is motivating. In this era, the concept of "self" still encompassed the entire tribe; it had not yet narrowed to the individual.
Especially at night, the crowded sleeping quarters had become unbearable. The clansmen, desperate for more rooms, woke Chen Jian early.
This time, building the houses could not consume all their attention, so Chen Jian needed to plan carefully. The apricots were turning yellow and the peaches were ripening; they needed to be collected. Certain herbs had to be dug up, and the seeds of many plants were about to mature.
Most importantly, the wild daylilies and lilies were in full bloom. If they missed this season, they would have to wait until next year to collect enough, delaying his plans for another year.
All this work had to be coordinated. The houses would still be built using the rammed-earth method, but he also planned to introduce brick-making—not for their dwellings, but for another purpose. He wanted to use bricks to construct ceremonial buildings, making them distinct from their homes to subtly influence the tribe's perspective.
He planned to use fired bricks for structures related to sacrifices, schooling, and a hall of honor. His goal was to make the clansmen subconsciously feel that these institutions were more important than life itself, while also enhancing their cultural atmosphere. For those outside tribes who lacked a strong cultural identity, cultural assimilation was a far more effective tool than military conquest.
Forgetting one's ancestors, adopting another's writing, speaking their language, and wearing their clothes—when that happens, the ethnic group is effectively dead, even if its blood still flows in their veins.
In addition, several birthing rooms needed to be built. The clan did not currently pay much attention to childbirth; women sometimes worked right up until their water broke. But confinement after birth could prevent many future ailments. While such chronic issues were less of a concern when the average lifespan was only thirty years, with settled agriculture poised to increase their longevity, it was better to be proactive.
Standing on the cliff, Chen Jian sketched the village layout on a piece of bark with charcoal. He called Yu Qian'er to his side to have her learn.
"Watch carefully. In a few days, you will be the one making the arrangements."
"Me?" Yu Qian'er was frightened. This was a project for two or three hundred people, a major undertaking for the entire tribe. She felt she was not capable of it.
"Brother, I can't."
"Ten days ago, you didn't know how to use chopsticks. There's no such thing as 'can' or 'can't,' only 'know' and 'don't know.' You saw how the clan built the last houses, so tell me, what are the steps?"
Yu Qian'er asked timidly, "Why me?"
"Because you're the only one who can count to nine hundred. Now, come on, tell me what to do to build a house."
Yu Qian'er recalled for a moment. "First, dig a foundation, then burn stones to fill it. After that, set up the wooden frame and ram the earth for the walls. The pit we dig can be used to raise fish."
"See? That's very good."
"But… I don't know how to ram the earth or how to make the mortise and tenon joints for the wood."
"You don't need to know how to do it. You just need to know who *can* do it."
"Oh. Will the other brothers and sisters learn too?"
"Yes. I will teach you, and you will teach them. You must learn not only how to do things, but also how to get others to do them."
Chen Jian was preparing to train these children as his successors. The minds of the older clan members had already solidified. They could be taught *what* to do, but it was difficult for them to understand *why*.
In the future, these children could be sent out to spread their influence, equipped with the insights a ruling class should possess. It would take at least ten or twenty years for them to learn rational analysis. When the time for slavery arrived, they would need to understand the irreconcilable conflict between the ruler and the ruled. He didn't need them to have a conscience; he just needed them to know how to protect their own position, to find a balance between the cost of repression and the severity of oppression, and not push things so far that they got themselves killed.
Chen Jian paused his thoughts, looked at Yu Qian'er, and said, "Follow me. See with your eyes, listen with your ears, and ask if you don't understand. Do you hear me?"
"Brother, what will you be doing then?"
"More important things."
"More important than building a house?"
"Yes."
Yu Qian'er couldn't imagine what was more important than building a house or catching fish, but she nodded obediently and followed him step by step.
Chen Jian led all the clansmen upstream to fell trees. They needed everything from small branches for firewood to large logs for future rafters. The plan was to prepare everything they needed and float it down the river.
This prompted Yu Qian'er's first question.
"Why don't we dig the soil first? Like last time, Brother Wolf Skin could just lead people to cut the trees."
Chen Jian didn't answer immediately. He had everyone fish the wood out of the water, and only after the branches were piled by the river to dry did he lead them to start digging the foundation pits.
The next day, once the wood was dry, Chen Jian had some people pile the branches against the cliff wall. As he lit the fire, Yu Qian'er watched the flames and suddenly understood.
"Brother, I know! The wood is wet when it comes out of the river, so it has to dry before it can be used to burn the rocks. We can dig the soil while the sun does its work of drying the wood. While the sun works, we work."
Chen Jian nodded with a smile. "Exactly. Let me ask you another question. If I gave you a pile of firewood, a pot, and a whole sheep, and you were all alone, how would you cook the sheep in the fastest way possible?"
Yu Qian'er pondered for a moment. "First, I would start the fire and put the pot of water on to boil. While the water was heating, I would butcher the sheep. That would be the fastest way."
"That's right. Building a house is the same, just with more tasks. Use your charcoal and draw out all the things we need to do today. Draw it so you can understand it. See how many steps are needed in total."
"Okay," Yu Qian'er agreed. She took a piece of charcoal and followed behind Chen Jian, her brow furrowed in concentration as she watched and listened.
She spent three full days like this. Following Chen Jian's instructions, she used charcoal to draw symbols for every step she could identify. When she saw how densely packed the bark was with her notes, she was shocked.
Eating, cooking, drinking salt water, digging pits, burning rocks, cutting trees, ramming earth, making mortise and tenon joints, cutting grass, drying grass, mixing mud, drying mud bricks, diverting water for mud, collecting pine resin, stripping bark…
She held up the piece of bark and, pointing to the various symbols, explained them one by one to Chen Jian, who was mixing mud nearby.
But Chen Jian pushed her to think further. Which tasks required people, and which ones depended on the sun? For the ones that needed the sun, how many days were required? How much wood was needed for one house? How much mud to build a kang and a chimney?
Yu Qian'er spent another day just staring at the rammed-earth team, counting and recording the numbers on her bark. That night, while everyone else slept, she sat outside by the moonlight, still counting. And she didn't forget what her brother had first told her—she wanted to know how many times the moon became full, so every night before bed, she drew its shape.
In the morning, when she went to find Chen Jian, she finally earned a compliment. She had not only calculated the number of logs needed for a single house, but also how many houses could be built with the timber they had cut days ago.
The piece of birch bark, as tall as she was, was now covered in dense, black charcoal marks, and her eyes were red-rimmed from the effort. But she was very happy, because her brother not only smiled but also stroked her hair, a gesture she knew was reserved for when he was truly pleased with her.
"See? It wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Mm," she hummed.
"Tomorrow, you will lead people here to mix the mud for the bricks. The pottery molds are over there. You will calculate how many mud bricks we need for the walls and chimneys of all these wooden houses. And calculate some extra, in case any crack in the sun. Go, think it through carefully. Take your younger brothers and sisters with you and have them help you count tomorrow."
The next morning, Yu Qian'er couldn't find her brother. Her grandmother and some of the other elders were gone, and so were Brother Wolf Skin and his group.
She asked around and learned they had all left at dawn. A wave of panic washed over her. Today was the day her brother was entrusting her with real responsibility. She couldn't make any mistakes.
Her heart pounded in her chest, reminding her of how the wolf cubs had acted when they were first captured and separated from their mother.
Count the mud, prepare the meal, make sure the clansmen had enough to eat, have boiled water ready… She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, gritted her teeth, and thought, *I have to do a good job and show my brother that I've grown up!*
The clansmen watched her with amusement, teasing their little niece. They expected her to cry, but she didn't shed a tear. Instead, with her jaw set and her small fists clenched, she led everyone to the river to begin the day's work.
***
While the clansmen started making mud bricks, Chen Jian took the elders of the two clans and some women who couldn't do heavy labor upstream along the river. There, on a hillside, grew many apricot trees, and it was time to pick them.
Chen Jian had thought about shouting a motivational slogan, like "Twenty days of eating fish to build thirty houses," but the clansmen were truly sick of fish. With so many people, it was impossible to cook delicately. Boiled fish today, boiled fish tomorrow—they were tired of it. Good logistics were key to maintaining progress, and that meant a change of menu.
He also needed the nutrients and sugars from the apricots for some experiments he was preparing. Furthermore, with various fruits ripening, it was time for the clansmen to create an additional condiment. Almonds would also be excellent food for the winter. They contained a small amount of amygdalin, but soaking them in water would make them perfectly safe.
Wild fruit and nut trees had their cycles. Their nutrition wasn't sufficient to produce a crop every year; they usually bore fruit every three years and had a bumper crop every five. This was a big year, with an abundance of apricots, wild fruits, hazelnuts, and acorns. It was a good year.
The old grandmother led the group in picking apricots and placing them in wicker baskets. These people were skilled at harvesting fruit and could endure the repetitive labor.
Meanwhile, Chen Jian took Wolf Skin and about twenty men to a more distant location, carefully searching for the hoof prints of wild boar and deer. These animals had fixed routes and followed their own paths.
After finding a good spot, Chen Jian had the men start digging a pit. The hole couldn't be too wide, because roe deer and sheep were excellent climbers, capable of navigating slopes of nearly sixty degrees. With a short run-up, they could easily jump out. A few days ago, Wolf Skin had led a team to dig several pits, but they hadn't caught a single thing. Today, Chen Jian was here to show them the right way.
The goal wasn't to kill them for food, but to capture them for breeding. The young ruminants they already had no longer needed milk; it was time to domesticate more.
The twenty or so men dug all morning and finished one pit. But that wasn't enough; they also needed a net.
Without a ready-made one, they had to weave it from rope. They cut ropes into two-to-three-meter lengths, stretched a long rope between two trees, and then tied the shorter pieces onto it with slipknots.
Net weaving, in its simplest form, was like a row of people holding hands and linking feet. To save time, Chen Jian had them make the mesh the size of a fist. Since they weren't trying to catch fish, he wasn't worried about anything small escaping.
The pit was covered with a layer of branches and leaves for camouflage, with the net laid on top. A heavy log was placed in the bottom of the pit, and one end of the net was tied securely to it. This way, when an animal fell in, its hooves would get tangled in the net, which would then wrap around its body, making it nearly impossible to jump out.
Crucially, this method wouldn't cause serious injuries, unlike a snare. If an animal was maimed, you would have to care for it like an invalid and might even have to help it by hand when it came time to mate.
After everything was set, Wolf Skin touched the edge of the pit and grumbled, "Is that it? You just had me messing around with a bunch of extra rope."
Chen Jian casually broke a stick. "This is the same as the bow you use, just with more than one string. And let me tell you, stop thinking about shooting every animal you see. We need to put them to work. You hear me? I want them alive!"
"Understood," Wolf Skin said. "But let's get one thing straight. I'm not weaving this net again. Find a woman to do it next time."
He painfully stretched out his short, stubby fingers. Tying those knots, for him, had been more agonizing than a fight to the death.
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