Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: From Primitive Era Chieftain to Space Era Emperor
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With the development of iron-bronze, possibilities for advancement opened up across various fields.
Thinking that metal would only be used for weapons was an incredibly narrow-minded approach.
True primitives might stick to weapons at first, but for us on the cusp of the farming era, we had no choice but to research crafting all sorts of agricultural tools to boost productivity.
Take hoes, for example.
Using metal for the blade was far superior to fragile wood or bone.
Thinner and tougher, it dramatically improved labor efficiency.
Sickles sliced with incomparable sharpness compared to bone ones, and metal-tipped hoes could mercilessly dig into and upheave hard soil.
We needed further refinement, but nails and rings could find uses across multiple industries.
And then there was transportation.
This had the potential to spark a true revolution. Inserting thin bronze bushings between the wooden cart axles and hubs boosted durability to absurd levels.
The wooden nails used in wheels were the same.
With greater load-bearing capacity, we could now move far more cargo stably.
Beyond that, we anticipated producing hinges for warehouses and even pulleys.
Advancements in weaponry went without saying.
Bronze-era progress had fundamentally originated from arms, so I disseminated the knowledge I possessed and tasked my advisors with research.
Discussions were already underway on arrowheads and spear tips, even partially replacing leather armor with metal components.
Once we transitioned to the Iron Age, civilization's pace would accelerate like flooring the pedal.
The only drawback was our inevitable manpower shortage.
Sustaining population growth, creating fields for surplus production, breeding livestock and horses, maintaining and managing the city, developing fertilizers, improving weapons...
I wished our population could hit around ten thousand.
Still, there was no rush at all.
By the time surplus goods started appearing, our weapons would have shifted to iron-bronze equivalents, and that was when I planned to launch our wars.
With spring in full bloom and planting in full swing, I figured peace would hold for at least a year.
Then one day, the scouting party delivered urgent news.
"Chieftain! We've spotted a massive force!"
"A massive force?"
Wide Foot bellowed at the top of his lungs, so every tribesman could hear the report.
"Around three thousand strong, with six to seven hundred warriors, by the looks of it."
"What!?"
"Signs of recent combat. Seems like two large tribes have just merged. They're farming clumsily—no metal in sight."
"Horses?"
"Not a single one."
"Woo!"
Cheers erupted amid the crowd at Wide Foot's report.
Warriors thrust their weapons skyward one and all, women went wild with excitement, and the children—well, that went without saying.
The city began descending into frenzy.
With this much power in our grasp, a mere disparity in numbers looked like nothing more than prey.
The option of avoiding war wasn't even on the table.
Civilizational development was always relative.
Human prosperity varied based on when they settled down.
The sooner the settlement, the more advanced the civilization.
A civilization just starting farming had absorbed another major tribe.
Settling down demanded manpower, and populations exploded as a result.
Even early farming societies had realized this and aggressively expanded their numbers.
But nascent agrarian groups faced all sorts of problems and trial-and-error pitfalls, sometimes living worse off than in the hunter-gatherer days.
Population symbolized power in itself, but poor sustaining capacity turned it into a double-edged sword—a potential catastrophe. Their choice almost seemed misguided.
We needed to approach things with greater caution too.
Even if war was inevitable, we had to pick the timing meticulously.
"We'll hold a tribal council."
Tribal council.
Victory was a given, to start with.
The question was how to minimize casualties.
Also, upon absorbing them, should we build a satellite city or just expand outright?
The final agenda was crucial: with three thousand more mouths, could our food supplies hold?
First issue.
The answer was simple.
The staff department provided it.
"Expand cavalry to fifty units and bolster our forces to five hundred."
"Right. Best to prepare for war before spring ends and strike then."
The executives nodded at Black Stone and Blue Tree's words.
"Eagle's Eye, any issues scaling cavalry to fifty?"
"None. We're breaking a hundred horses right now. Fifty for combat, the rest for hauling or plowing."
That was precisely why we weren't fretting over war.
The enemy might have bows—we didn't know—but even if they did, their range and power would fall short.
At best, short spears or stone-throwing.
No ranged projection like that could counter mounted archers.
I even figured fifty cavalry could toy with them.
I believed that once war began, it had to end perfectly, so I decided to announce a bold new policy.
"Select two hundred women for additional training."
Most faces registered confusion.
Even Wise Flower, another woman, seemed to think it unwise.
"I know the Chieftain wants to utilize women somehow, but strategy and warfare are worlds apart. What alternative do you have in mind to bring this up?"
"Exactly."
In a society where my deification had progressed somewhat, there was no outright rebellion.
Even Red Rock, who used to push back more, had acknowledged my abilities after seeing the iron-bronze sword.
The facial tattoo was unprecedented in this world too, convincing them I wasn't your average human.
Anyway.
By this era's sensibilities, negativity was the natural response.
But my thinking differed.
"Not as frontline melee infantry. They'll handle medical care, logistics, signals, security, and we'll develop easy-to-fire bows—crossbows—for support. They never advance to the front lines."
"...!"
Murmurs rippled through.
The executives exchanged views among themselves.
After a bit, opinions swung positive.
Something feasible only in early civilization.
No rigid male-superiority ideology in primitive times; the reluctance stemmed from physical realities.
Until recently hunter-gatherers, it was taken for granted that men handled strength-based tasks.
In an era of crude weapons dominated by close-quarters melee, deploying weaker, less enduring women screamed desperation for defeat.
Support roles, however, were viable.
Carts eliminated the need to carry loads personally, and hygiene medics offered equal efficacy regardless of gender.
And if crossbows emerged...
Dedicating a women-only unit would massively bolster our forces.
"Easy-to-shoot bows? Arrows fired just with fingers?"
"Possible."
"Then it seems plenty feasible!"
The primitives immediately grasped the advantages of employing women.
Men were already scarce.
If they could pull even half a man's weight—no, zero-point-five—it would revolutionize warfare history.
But Wise Flower raised a practical concern.
"Future wars will mostly be expeditions. Mixing genders won't cause issues like... sowing seeds?"
"She's right."
The topic was bluntly direct.
And voiced by the Chieftain's mate, no less—it really hammered home the primitive vibe.
"That'll be forbidden. On campaign, focus solely on war. Indulging in sowing distracts from battle the next day and leads to defeat. Anyone caught secretly during wartime gets executed."
"Wise."
"Has to be that way."
The women employment issue passed without opposition.
No grounds to resist when the rationale held up.
Something utterly impossible once agrarian society stratified and civilization advanced further—it sailed through smoothly.
Black Stone raised the next point.
"With three thousand added, where do we house them?"
The inner city's max capacity was three thousand, but that meant encroaching on fields.
The outer city was similar.
Purely cramming population was one thing, but gutting our nascent heavy industry for it would be putting the cart before the horse.
I had Yellow Stone fetch the city blueprints.
A thin, flat stone slab was laid out.
"The outer city's expanded southward for now."
Nods all around.
The Whirlwind Tribe's origin lay where the river curved in a C-shape.
With the C's mouth facing south, the outer city had extended that way.
We could bridge northward too, but fierce currents made it inefficient.
Not impossible, but premature.
So, demolish part of the outer city and build another one.
Southeast or southwest—establish new cities for expansion.
Thinking ahead, both sides worked.
Post-harvest, we'd ramp up in earnest.
"We'll expand like this."
Ultimately, extend north with a bridge, launching a massive urban civilization.
Class structures weren't solid yet, making satellite operations impractical.
Unless a special case like the mining village.
Now the critical food issue.
"If we absorb them, can we feed them?"
"That's the biggest problem."
The advisors nodded.
Deep down, I wanted to delay the war a bit.
Food shortages could be fatal.
Eagle's Eye answered.
"Need closer scouting, but their warehouses suggest it might be doable."
In the end, food stocks would dictate the war's timing.
But the advisors were eager for battle, so we'd likely push forward unless major issues arose.
"Scout them thoroughly and extract intel."
"Ooh!"
Gleaning enemy info was our scouting party's specialty.