Chapter 27: Three-Legged Cauldrons
Editor: Atlas Studios
The successful purification of the salt ores meant that the Vine Tribe would no longer lack salt in the future. If the tribe developed and grew stronger, they could even sell salt as a commodity.
After Jiang Xuan took out a small jar of salt, he temporarily stopped this very time-consuming work. The remaining salt ores could be left for rainy days when there was nothing else to do.
The next day, when Jiang Xuan ate a pot of stewed meat with salt, he was immersed in great happiness and almost burst into tears.
This is the taste of good food!
Meat without salt is really hard to eat.
After solving the problem of salt, Jiang Xuan used clay to make two larger three-legged round cauldrons, as well as some spoons, ladles, and other earthenware. He placed them in the bamboo house to dry.
This was because there were more people eating now. Obviously, they could not cook enough food with the two clay pots.
A cooking tool like a three-legged cauldron would solve this problem very well.
The capacity of the three-legged cauldron was very large, and because it had three feet, it could be placed directly into the fire pit to burn without being propped on the stone.
In addition, the three-legged cauldron also had two handles. When the food was cooked, one only needed to put a wooden stick through the handles to easily carry the cauldron elsewhere.
Peaceful days always passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, nine days passed.
On April 9th, the weather had clearly changed from warm to hot. The drizzle had also turned into heavy rain or even torrential rain.
Whether it was the plants in the forest or the crops and vegetables planted by the Vine Tribe, they began to grow crazily. Everything was green.
All of this meant that spring had quietly left and summer had arrived with its heat.
'April 9, clear day, summer.'
In the morning, Jiang Xuan engraved the words 'Start of summer' on his bamboo calendar. Then he put away the bamboo tube and walked out of the door.
At this moment, the sky was blue. The sun had yet to rise, but a few rays of sunlight pierced the clouds and dyed the white clouds the color of red clouds.
"Go and see if the pottery has been successfully burned."
Jiang Xuan had placed the dried clay pots in the horizontal kiln yesterday and baked them for half a night before going back to sleep.
"Chief, wait for me."
Hook Vine also ran over excitedly. Chi Shao, Stone Loach, and South Star also ran over.
Jiang Xuan walked to the side of the kiln and touched it. The wall was still warm, but it was no longer hot.
Jiang Xuan untied his stone knife and dug out the mud on the side of the horizontal flame kiln that was used to seal the entrance. He then moved away the large piece of mud that had been burned, revealing the pottery that had been completed in the furnace.
The first to be taken out were five spoons for soup. They were made thicker and had a long handle. During the process of cooking, two of the spoons' handles broke, but the other three were more successful.
"Take them." Jiang Xuan handed a ceramic ladle to Hook Vine.
"Sure thing."
Hook Vine held the ladles happily. He knew that this was good stuff. With these, they wouldn't have to pour soup from a clay pot. They could just spoon it into a bowl.
With excitement in his heart, Jiang Xuan carefully carried out a cauldron from the furnace of the horizontal flame kiln.
Jiang Xuan checked carefully and found that the firing was very successful. There were no cracks!
It was a round clay cauldron with three feet and two handles. It was about sixty centimeters tall and forty centimeters wide. It was very heavy and had a lid on it.
The most conspicuous thing about this cauldron was that its outer wall and lid were engraved with the totem patterns of the Vine Tribe: a huge ancient vine wrapped around a dangerous stone mountain, like a dragon coiling around a pillar.
When the cauldron appeared in front of everyone, they were excited.
Not because it was perfectly baked, but because it was engraved with totem patterns.
Totem patterns were very important to the tribesmen. Anything that was engraved with totem patterns would naturally be given special meaning.
Even if this cauldron wasn't that round and was even quite crude, it was the best thing for the people of the Vine tribe, and they wouldn't accept rebuttals from outsiders.
Hook Vine asked, "Chief, are we going to use it to cook in the future?"
"That's right. With the cauldron, we can cook enough food for 10 people at a time in the future."
"That's great. The rice cooked in the cauldron must be delicious!"
The others nodded. This was a cauldron engraved with the totem patterns of the Vine Tribe!
"There's another one inside."
Jiang Xuan took out another cauldron from the furnace.
The wall of this cauldron was also engraved with totem patterns, and the firing was also successful.
With these two cauldrons, not only would it be much more convenient to cook in the future, but it would also be much more convenient to purify the salt ores. This was because they were big enough to accommodate more salt water at once.
"Let's wash it first, then go back and try our new cauldron."
Jiang Xuan was the first to pick up the cauldron. Chi Shao picked up the other one. The two of them went to the stream and washed the cauldrons carefully.
Then they carried the two cauldrons back to the bamboo house and placed them in the fire pit.
The cauldrons' three feet allowed them to stand firmly in the fire pit. They did not have to bother to set them up. They could just light a fire.
Jiang Xuan placed the burning firewood under the cauldrons. The flames kept licking the cauldrons, gradually heating them up.
In the first cauldron, Jiang Xuan first added water before putting in various edible plant tubers, such as stone eggs, sweet potatoes, and Solomon's seal.
This was the food that the Vine Tribe usually ate.
After the second cauldron was completely heated, Jiang Xuan put in some sheep's oil, wild ginger, and wild onions. After stir-frying the spices, he added water.
Then he put in small pieces of dried beast meat and added many edible wild vegetables and stems. Finally, Jiang Xuan added some precious salt, covered the cauldron with the lid, and slowly stewed the food.
This was the meat dish they usually ate.
Sometimes it was beast meat, sometimes fish, sometimes shrimp and crab, and even some edible insects.
It took some time to cook this food. Jiang Xuan asked South Star to watch the fire while he and the other three went to the side of the farmland to look at the traps set up yesterday.
With the continuous opening up of land, the Vine Tribe now had more than 10 acres of farmland. Rows of grains and vegetables were planted neatly on this farmland, which was very spectacular.
But questions followed.
As all the edible plants were cultivated in one place, the herbivores in the nearby forest, including a large number of insects, gathered here and harmed these immature grains and vegetables.
For now, he could only rely on those vagabonds to catch the insects with their bare hands.
To deal with those wild beasts, Jiang Xuan and the others needed to set up traps.
In order to protect the crops that they had painstakingly planted, Jiang Xuan and the others set up a large number of traps around the farmland. There were rope traps, trigger traps, ground bows, and so on.
These traps could catch or kill some wild beasts that came to steal crops, adding meat to the Vine Tribe.
Even those insects were caught by the vagabonds one by one and roasted with sticks. If not for Jiang Xuan not allowing them to eat raw food, they would even eat them raw.
It was a very aggressive way of eating.
"A fat mountain rat. Take it back."
Jiang Xuan walked to the first trap and discovered a fat mountain rat whose head had been crushed by a wooden stick. It weighed about two to three pounds.
This was also good meat. He could bring it back and roast it.
Jiang Xuan threw the mountain rat into the rattan basket and continued walking.
The second trap was a lasso trap, but the rope had been bitten off.
Chi Shao studied the marks left on the ground and said, "It must have caught a rabbit. The noose must have caught its foot, so it bit the rope and escaped. If it had caught its neck, it wouldn't have gotten away."
The four of them continued forward. Some traps successfully caught their prey. Some traps were not triggered, and some traps were triggered, but the prey escaped.
However, after walking around, they actually obtained more than 10 small prey and filled a basket.
"Not a bad haul. Let's go back."
Jiang Xuan was in a good mood. When he was farming, he did not expect to obtain meat.
When they returned to the bamboo house, the food in the two cauldrons had already been cooked, and the fragrance filled the air.
"I'm starving. Let's eat!"
Jiang Xuan removed the firewood under the cauldron and opened the lid. The steaming food immediately emitted an even more enticing fragrance.
Jiang Xuan took out his pottery bowl and chopsticks. He used a long spoon to scoop a large bowl of cooked plant tubers first. Then he scooped some beast meat and wild vegetables from the other cauldron. As he blew on them, he ate them in big mouthfuls.
"Smells good!"
Jiang Xuan was very satisfied. With the salt, all the food was especially tasty.
The others started eating as well. After they were full, they packed the food in clay pots and sent them to the vagabonds so they had sustenance to continue working.
In order to give these vagabonds the strength to work, Jiang Xuan was not stingy. There was almost no difference between the food they ate and the food the vagabonds ate, and this included salt.
If these vagabonds did not eat salt, they would fall sick from the lack of salt and would not be able to continue working.
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