I am a Primitive Man

Chapter 380: Deer pulling a plow

Shang suggested clearing the accumulated snow was a good idea, but transporting the stones remained exceedingly tricky.

Too many hands were needed to transport the stones.

At the current rate, it would be almost Chinese New Year by the time the bathhouse was finished.

Seeing the Divine Child's rejection of the proposal, Shang and others were at a loss. Clearing the snow and then transporting the stones was the best solution they could think of.

What else could they do if such a solution wasn't accepted?

They couldn't just let the stones grow legs and walk from the quarry to their tribe, could they?

However, they were surprised that the Divine Child provided a unique solution.

The focus of this solution was on the deer in the tribe.

The thick snow should not be the main reason for transportation obstacles.

It didn't make sense for that old man in red with a white beard to use deer to pull a sled back and forth, delivering gifts, yet their tribe couldn't use deer to pull a plow to transport stones.

The shaman in the tribe arrived. The Eldest Senior Brother, the successful slimming Second Senior Brother, the tribe's chief carpenter, Lame... came. The rooms were packed full of people, and many more were outside, craning their necks to look in.

This was the result of news spreading in the tribe about the Divine Child preparing to create something unimaginable: something that could glide on the snow transport many stones effortlessly, and, after its creation, everyone would be able to use it.

Following the Divine Child to see something extraordinary had become a trend among the tribe's people.

Looking at the severe expression mixed with excitement on Lame’s face as he held an axe, it was clear that he had spread this news.

The Divine Child shook his head with a faint smile of helplessness. This guy was getting more and more cocky.

After waiting for a while, the Divine Child noticed too many people in the room, and the already not-so-large space was now occupied, making it difficult to carry out the plow-making work.

So he spoke up, asking everyone to leave the room and make space for Lame to make the plow. As for the plow's appearance, they would all see it later, and not only that, but they could also use it.

After the Divine Child spoke, everyone obediently left the room except for the shaman and a few others. However, they didn't go far; instead, they stayed outside the room, peeking in.

Seeing this scene, the Divine Child shook his head with a smile of helplessness. Standing outside in such cold weather, these guys would freeze themselves if they stayed there too long. What if they caught a cold?

To prevent the curious people in the tribe from catching a cold, Han Cheng walked out of the room and asked them to go to the quarry to prepare the stones...

How could they stand outside without doing any work in such freezing weather?

Another reason was that once the plow was made, the speed of transporting the stones would increase significantly.

If they didn't take advantage of the opportunity now while the plow hadn't been made yet to quarry some more stones and stockpile them, it was likely that the stones they'd already quarried wouldn't be enough in no time.

This kind of plow wasn't particularly complex in construction. Except for the lack of wheels underneath and instead having two long, curved strips of smooth wood at each end, it was quite similar to the carts Han Cheng had encountered many times.

By this time, the usefulness of iron tools became increasingly apparent.

Without axes, chisels, saws, and planes, it would be difficult to forge a plow that didn't require low technical demands using the original tools.

However, the plow of the Green Sparrow tribe was much simpler than the ordinary plow seen in later generations. The two main, wide wooden pieces at the bottom were not reduced in number, but all other unnecessary parts were removed.

One reason was the limited technological expertise, as the first carpenter, Limp, was making such a tool for the first time. Another reason was that Han Cheng wanted to construct the plow earlier to transport stones and complete the bathhouse as soon as possible.

So, the requirements were lowered, resulting in a much simpler and rougher plow.

The main structure of the plow consisted of two extended frames used as "wheels," with wooden slats about 20 centimeters wide and 4 centimeters thick, spaced out like a ladder in between.

The joints were neatly made with iron chisels. After the wooden slats passed through the joints on the frame, the protruding parts were drilled with a hand drill to make a small hole. The small hole was tightly wedged with a wooden peg with a diameter of about half a centimeter, ensuring that as long as the wooden pegs remained intact, the plow wouldn't fall apart.

This was the main structure of the plow manufactured by the Green Sparrow tribe.

In addition, 30-centimeter wooden rails were installed on both sides of the wooden frame.

This kind of railing-like structure prevented items mounted on the plow from falling to the left or right.

When people rode the plow, they could also sit on these wooden rails, which were more comfortable.

In simple terms, the Green Sparrow tribe's plow was made by thickening and widening the wooden ladder, raising both ends slightly and adding wooden railings to the sides.

Usually, a layer of wooden boards would be laid on top of the plow, similar to the boards laid on old-fashioned beds.

With this layer of wooden boards, items on the plow wouldn't fall off, and when encountering deep snow, the snow wouldn't be able to flip onto the plow.

However, the Green Sparrow tribe's plow had no wooden boards.

Previously, to save iron materials, the iron saws were made somewhat short. While they were suitable for sawing relatively thin wood, it wasn't easy to saw wood into boards.

Han Cheng skipped this step to save time and put the plow into use as soon as possible.

The 2.2-meter-long and 1.2-meter-wide plow was lifted vertically out of the room and placed on the accumulated snow in the courtyard that hadn't been shoveled away.

The somewhat heavy plow pressed down a lot of snow in an instant.

Lame bent down and dragged one end of the plow with his hand, trying to move forward. It could be pulled, but it wasn't as easy as the leader had said.

Lame scratched his head, worried he hadn't made the plow properly.

If an empty plow was this difficult to pull, it would be even harder with heavy stones placed on it.

The adult deer in the tribe were much stronger than humans, but not to an unreasonable extent.

Pulling a plow in the snow and then pulling heavy stones...

Thinking about such a scene, Lame couldn't help but imitate the leader, sniffing.

Before the experiment, Lame was confident in what the leader said about the plow. But now, after the experiment, he felt insecure...