Han Cheng furrowed his brows for a while, then gradually relaxed them. Generally speaking, it won't happen abruptly even if the climate turns colder. A gradual change will give people enough time to adapt to the situation. According to the current circumstances of the Green Sparrow Tribe, as long as winter doesn't become excessively long, the Green Sparrow Tribe, with its increasing reliance on farming for food, isn't afraid of such changes. Spending more time cooped up indoors during the winter is just a matter. Even if it gets too cold to live here, they could just move south; there’s no way that, even in subtropical or tropical regions, it could become this cold.
Now, the Green Sparrow Tribe isn’t very large or very small. It would be a hassle if they decided to migrate, but nothing could stop them. Of course, this is just the worst-case scenario. The tribe’s calendar is still short, and the records made by Shi Tou aren’t extensive. It’s not necessarily accurate to conclude from just a few years of data that the climate is getting colder; this could be a normal phenomenon.
With this in mind, Han Cheng’s heart instantly relaxed. He told his thoughts to Shi Tou, patting him on the shoulder to reassure him that year-round ice coverage wouldn’t happen. The tribe has enough food, and rooms with kang beds make it easy to get through cold weather.
Hearing Han Cheng’s words, Shi Tou also relaxed. His biggest concern was the increasing duration of cold days, eventually leading to year-round ice. If that happened, they wouldn’t be able to grow crops, and without the growth of grass and trees, the game wouldn’t survive either—they wouldn’t survive either. Year-round ice won’t happen. Even within the Arctic Circle, there’s always a period when the ice melts every year, and some grass grows back, let alone where Han Cheng and his people live.
Han Cheng greatly appreciates Shi Tou’s ability to think and find problems. This is indeed something worth encouraging. As a person of this era, discovering this situation and thinking of the possible consequences is rare, although he’s perhaps thinking too seriously. Shi Tou took his stack of clay tablets and walked away, and Han Cheng stood here with a thoughtful expression. If the climate truly does grow colder and colder, how should they respond?
Relocating the tribe would be the last resort. Unless it becomes an absolute necessity, like most tribes of this era, Han Cheng wouldn’t take this step. After years of development, there have already been many positive changes around the Green Sparrow Tribe. Not to mention the copper and salt mines, even just the thousands of acres of land, would make it a headache to move somewhere else. Clearing land and farming isn’t easy; new land often needs to lie fallow for two or three years to become productive. The hard work involved in this is needless to say.
After some contemplation, Han Cheng sighed. Faced with such a change in the environment, he has few solutions. What can be done is to encourage the tribe’s people to open up more land and grow more food, storing as much food as possible to prepare for the impact of climate cooling.
As long as there’s enough food, everything else is minor.
Having figured things out and set a strategy, Han Cheng went to find Hei Wa. After searching for a while without finding him, he heard from someone that he was inside a cave, so Han Cheng walked toward the cave.
Hei Wa was not far away, clutching cold clay, his fingers moving continuously. After a while, he would take something else and press it into the clay, then pick up a bamboo knife, working meticulously.
What Hei Wa was currently doing was the mold for a plow head, a problem that had troubled him for a long time. After extensive thinking, experimenting, and rethinking, he finally found a way to solve this issue.
Luckily, he figured out the plow head mold before the snow completely melted. Otherwise, it would have delayed spring plowing for the tribe.
Hei Wa thought this to himself, feeling very happy—not only because he had solved the plow head problem before spring plowing but also because it was his own idea.
Overcoming the bothersome challenges through his persistent efforts and the delightful feeling that came with conquering these difficulties was mesmerizing for Hei Wa. It felt even more satisfying than singing songs with Zhuang.
And he didn’t stop at just the plow head; with this mold, he could expand to make more tool models. Copper basins and copper bottles—given him some time, he could make them all.
Now, Hei Wa felt like he had crossed a hurdle and saw an open road ahead with a burning passion. Driven by his desire to make the plow head mold in time for spring plowing and to work on other tools, Hei Wa was very enthusiastic about making molds now.
The weather was warm today, but Hei Wa was eager to start.
He chose to work inside the cave for these tasks for two main reasons: the cave was more spacious, allowing him to move freely, and compared to the outside, it was windless with slightly higher temperatures, making it less likely for the good clay to freeze.
After completing it, he carefully placed a mold near the fire, allowing it to dry out by baking off the water inside.
After doing this, he flipped the molds around those already placed by the fire for further drying. A few of the earliest molds he made were completely dry, so Hei Wa put them directly into the fire to burn.
Through casting bronze, Hei Wa discovered that the molds didn’t need to be fired particularly well or put into a kiln. Just a half-day in the fire would suffice, and they could be used directly, with no difference in effect compared to clay fired in a kiln.
After finishing these, Hei Wa squatted beside the fire, stretching out his hands to warm his frozen palms with the heat.
The weather was starting to warm up, which was not the best season for playing with clay, and it felt incredibly cold to the touch.
Standing a bit further away, watching for a while, Han Cheng smiled and asked. Lost in his world, Hei Wa was startled and trembled at the sudden question.