The night was not peaceful, and one of the wounded tribesmen developed a high fever, the wound was infected, and he was talking nonsense in a daze.

The people who woke up looked at the people with high fever, helpless, and looked at Jian Chen.

However, all Chen Jian could give them was to shake his head helplessly. In this environment, he has no way to guarantee anything, and even for a long time, he has no solution, and can only rely on his own struggle.

The average life expectancy at the age of thirty will accompany mankind for a long period of time, measured in millennia.

Life is fragile in the wilderness, which lays the foundation for human strength and indomitability, but also brings with it dependence on religion. He is not a god, and he doesn't want to be a god, so he can only lead his people out of the wilderness as soon as possible.

A people who have surplus food and don't need to spend all their time around food every day are qualified to figure out how to live longer.

The rambling continued for a long time, and it was not until the second half of the night that he slowly fell asleep. None of the clansmen had the heart to sleep.

This kind of thing is very common, and everyone thinks that they may be the same one day, how can they get rid of the pursuit of death?

The next morning, the tribesmen were in no spirits.

Death is not terrible, what is terrible is the long process of death. Being eaten by a tiger and dying slowly with a fever and festering are completely different from the impact on the psyche of the onlooker. Some armies will brutally kill their own wailing wounded soldiers, but they will not worry that the soldiers will see death.

Chen Jian touched the injured man, his forehead was very hot, and the wound was a little inflamed. Probably because of the effect of honey, which is not too severe, the fever proves that the body is fighting.

"Ken, is there really no way?"

Song walked over and asked, and Jian Chen sighed.

"No one can not die, but our ancestors will shelter us and guide us. He gave us bows and arrows to keep me from starving, clay pots to drink, and perhaps a way to fight sickness. Let's go, maybe there's a way to get to the front. ”

Song was a little skeptical of Jian Chen's words. He believed in the existence of the Ancestors, but would the Ancestors really shelter everyone? Will they really shelter those who have just become one with their blood? What if their ancestors sheltered them directly?

Thinking about simple thoughts, I feel a little sullen in my heart. Chen Jian saw it and shouted at the crowd: "Hurry up, maybe there will be a way!" ”

In the confusion, a word of hope can light up the road in front of them, and the speed of the clansmen accelerated.

The mountain is very high in front of you, and the good news is that a deep canyon divides the mountain in half, and the magic of nature is like this.

The wolf skin told Jian Chen that after crossing the valley, there was salty earth and stones, but there was almost no grass.

Jian Chen looked up and saw that this canyon was extremely high, flanked by steep cliffs, on which some tough vines grew, and the hoof prints of many animals on the road. It was clear that these animals also needed to be replenished with salt, and the people should have noticed it when they migrated here from afar, and over time it became a meeting place for more than a dozen tribes.

He asked people to collect a large number of willow leaves and willow bark, put them in cloth bags, and led the people through this inverted canyon.

The narrowest part of the canyon is only three or four meters, looking up at the sky, there is only a line, and the occasional crow flying by brings a bit of desolation.

"It's going to be a strategic location in the future."

Chen Jian silently remembered in his heart that his vision could not be placed within a hundred miles. Beyond the canyon there is salt, and to the west there is a large mountain, and to the east is the plain. It is conceivable that thousands of people will die in this canyon in the years to come.

"In the future, this place will be called a line of heaven, but the clansmen don't know the word line yet, and the name can only be said later."

After walking for about an hour, everyone passed through the canyon, and their eyes suddenly opened up, and Chen Jian was also shocked by what was in front of them.

It was a huge valley where a small stream fell from the rock face to form a small waterfall that meandered westward, not knowing where it went.

Hundreds of meters of land are devoid of vegetation, creating a deep crater that contrasts sharply with the verdant peaks as far as the eye can see. About a few hundred acres of land, less green, a few animals are licking the saline soil on the ground.

The soil on the ground is pale red, and it stretches a thousand kilometers to the north, and out of the deep pit is a hill overgrown with various plants, which is thriving.

The canyon behind him seems to be connected to the gate of life and death, but this deep pit only has the hell of death, such a huge contrast is really far beyond Chen Jian's imagination.

It seems that in addition to the salt here, the strange terrain is also the reason why the tribe gathers here, which they cannot understand why there is such a big difference across a canyon.

Therefore, even though there are often animals here to lick the dirt, no tribe chooses to live here, probably out of a kind of worship of nature.

Reached out and grabbed a handful of soil and licked it in his mouth, it was salty and bitter.

The Songhe people came from far away and had never been to this place, and looked at the pale red land with some fear, not knowing why they came here.

The injured clansman still had a fever, and Song was concerned about this.

"Ken, can this save him?"

Chen Jian didn't answer, but asked the wolf skin to go to a distance to collect some firewood, and Song didn't ask anymore.

I found a large bluestone, cleaned it, and asked the women to chop up the willow leaves and bark.

The willow bark and leaves contain salicylic acid, a close relative of aspirin, but it can seriously irritate the stomach when eaten without processing.

Salicylic acid can reduce fever and relieve pain. At least if the fever is gone, the body's own immune mechanism will work more quickly and the chances of survival will be greater.

The willow bark and leaves were put into a clay pot, boiled in water, and then cooled for the feverish tribesman to drink, and the bitter taste was unbearable, and soon his stomach twitched a little because of the irritation, and he kept humming, and his face was slightly distorted.

Song kept putting his forehead on the face of the clansman to test the temperature, and Jian Chen knew that it would take a while to play a role, but he didn't stop it.

With a few people, they found a place to dig with the bones, and the soil below gradually became hard.

Jian Chen pinched a piece and looked at it, there were some salt crystals precipitated by the white flowers in it, mixed with the sediment.

It was already difficult for the bone to continue digging, but Chen Jian knew that there should be lumps of salt underneath, so he filled the clay pot with water and poured it into the dug pit.

The melted brine and sediment mix together and become cloudy, and gradually insoluble salt settles underneath.

Dip it a little with your hands, the salty ones are already bitter, and the salt concentration is saturated.

All that remains is to wait for clarification and sediment precipitation.

During the long wait, Song suddenly shouted excitedly and ran towards Jian Chen excitedly.

"He's not hot anymore!"

Chen Jian walked over and touched it, the fever had indeed subsided, the medicine had worked, and the hanging heart could be regarded as letting go.

Song stood beside his clansmen, constantly saying some ridiculously comforting words, constantly thanking the ancestors for their protection.

I finally believed in my heart that I and my people would also be protected by our ancestors, and the blood in my body was really the same!

Jian Chen also comforted a few words, returned to the pit, took out the clarified brine in a jar, put it on the fire and grilled it, and carefully watched the bottom of the jar.

There are halides in the brine, although the content is not high, but if they are all burned dry, then such salts are toxic.

Yang Bailao died by drinking brine, and he didn't want to repeat the tragedy.

Fortunately, table salts have a lower solubility, while those halides have a higher solubility. When half of the water in the jar remains, a layer of white crystals precipitates underneath, which is table salt.

Now there is no need to think about efficiency, so Chen Jian asked the people to pour out the remaining half of the water in several jars. The brine salts were all dissolved in the water, and he didn't know the amount of brine here, so he didn't dare to take the risk.

Each jar was given a layer of salt, not much, but pure. The brine was poured out along with the water.

A few jars were roasted dry over the fire, and the salt grains of the white flowers were scraped out.

The tribesmen looked at this pure white thing in amazement, thought of the snowflakes they saw when it was cold, and touched it with their hands, but it was not cold and did not melt.

"Salt."

Jian Chen gave the name, and the clansman dipped it with his hand, put it in his mouth and sucked it, his face showing a happy luster.

Salty, but no longer bitter!

After learning the method, the tribesmen got busy, and Chen Jian said that he would bring these snowflake-like salts back to the tribesmen, so that they would not have to lick those bitter stones.

Grab a handful of dried salt, dissolve it in another jar, boil it, and add some willow water.

Wipe the honey off the wound of the injured clansman and find a stick for the clansman to bite into his mouth, otherwise he may bite off his tongue when he cleans the wound.

Song watched from the side, and Jian Chen tested the temperature until it dropped to fifty or sixty degrees. This temperature does not cause much harm to people, but it has a killing effect on inflamed and purulent bacteria.

As for the pain, it must be unbearable, but it is better than death.

Pouring water on the wound, the clansman's body immediately arched up, his face suddenly covered with beads of sweat the size of beans, his mouth whined, and the green tendons on his neck burst out, and his eyes widened.

The strength of the brute bull was uncontrollable, and several people couldn't hold it down, and the sharp pain of that kind of convulsions was very unbearable, and the wooden stick in his mouth was bitten and gurgling.

Song Leng was caught by the other party's hand, and his hand was clenched together with surprising strength, and he gritted his teeth in pain, but he comforted the clansmen that he would get better soon.

The unbearable pain lasted for about three minutes, and when the clansmen almost fainted, it finally stopped.

The wound was washed with boiling water, and the juice of wild chrysanthemum and wormwood was smeared, and the crispy feeling of cold silk and crispiness replaced the sharp pain, and a layer of honey was applied on top.

After such a set, the chances of survival are much greater. This is also the greatest effort that Jian Chen can do in this era. More often than not, it is the desire to survive by the clansmen.

By the time night came, the injured man had stabilized, no longer had a fever, the wound had not continued to deteriorate, and he had even gained some appetite.

After a busy afternoon, he collected the salt of four clay pots, which was outrageous in terms of low efficiency, but Jian Chen was quite satisfied.

God treats himself well, this area is very good, and in the future, the clansmen will move to the plains, and they must control here.

After the beginning of primitive agriculture, the role of salt will become more and more great, and now it can be supplemented by blood and meat, and it will not be able to hold on to cereals as the staple food in the future.

Salt was available, undomesticated food crops were discovered, and Jian Chen's heart was finally settled.

While he was pondering, Song came over and asked, "Is this the protection of the ancestors?" ”

"Yes. The ancestors don't tell us directly, but they tell us through wild beasts. When the beasts were sick, they would eat different grasses and lick their wounds, which was the guidance of the ancestors. ”

Song looked back at the surviving clansman, and his heart was hard to calm down.

"Jian, other people's wounds can be cleaned like this, right?"

"Yes."

"If I learn this, will I be able to keep more people alive?"

"Yes. I know very little, but I can try slowly. Someday, we will make it impossible for these diseases to take the lives of our people. ”

Song turned around to look at the injured clansman, the clansman who had a fever during the day had survived, his eyes flashed with hope, he could feel the joy in it, he could feel the longing in it.

He thought of the people who had died before, because of their injuries or illnesses, their desperate gazes before they died, their emaciated and weak bodies, and the blood and pus that flowed out...... The pain of seeing his loved ones die but not being able to do anything about it pierced his heart.

Within a few days of the migration, he had already lost too many loved ones.

So he clenched his fists and said solemnly: "Jian, I want my clan and relatives not to leave us due to illness and injury. ”

"But the guidance of the ancestors is not clear, some grasses may be poisonous, and may make those who try to die, aren't you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid. I would make a note of each type of grass I used, try new ones, look with my eyes, and taste with my tongue. I don't want to let my loved ones go anymore. Your loved ones, my loved ones, our people. One day, under the guidance of our ancestors, we will make it impossible for sickness and injury to take our people away from us! ”

He looked back again, at the few relatives who should have left him, and his heart was as firm as a pebble by the river.