Chapter 208

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Chen Yi carefully asked Yun Eight about the situation of the surrounding villages, and learned that near Ma La there were over thirty villages providing various services for the Nobles.

Among them, Yun Village alone had three: Yun Village, Xiao Yun Village, and Shang Yun Village. The latter was a local powerful force, and because the village population was too large, they had no choice but to move some people and livestock out, so that the local fodder would not be insufficient.

Lie Village was similarly divided into two villages: Shanglie Village and Lie Village, located north and west of Ma La respectively, relying on the nearby mountains for food. Unlike the sporadic efforts of Yun Five and Yun Eight, when the hunting season came, Lie Village mobilized the entire village—men, women, old, young, and livestock animals. Often, the two hunting villages would combine into one, just to hunt those precious fierce beasts and sell them to the Noble Lords of Ma La. They were also the wealthiest of all the villages, with large amounts of coins on hand, never worrying about food or clothing. The only regret was that besides fighting desperately, they had to serve in the military every now and then; although the time was not long and there were often spoils of war, after all it was full of danger, and a moment's carelessness could see them captured by another City Lord or Noble Lord, either becoming slaves or losing everything.

Compared with them, the Yu Village, which dared not venture into the Inner Sea, Sha Village, which made a living by providing gravel road, tiles, and other building materials and construction skills, Mu Village, which relied on simple carpentry and providing timber, were all relatively small villages. And the food source for all these villages, besides the large amounts of meat they hunted and exchanged themselves, was the rich local plant root vegetables and fruits.

Chen Yi asked in detail about the form of the coins, and found that they were mainly Copper Coins and Lead Coins. Because they had not mastered bronze manufacturing technology, these soft metals unsuitable for weapons became the equivalent for trade, but Copper Coins and Lead Coins of different sizes and purities were often mixed together, making weights and measures tend toward chaos.

Grain was even more strange. Perhaps because the products of the West Continent were too abundant, making tribal gathering and hunting the main means of survival, grain instead became a delicious luxury good, indirectly controlled by the planting gardens of Ma La Nobles, as rewards given to Warriors and Slaves.

In other words, this was a self-sufficient society where tribal economy dominated; compared with the scarcity of Living Materials, Production Materials were even scarcer.

After understanding these basic facts, Chen Yi patted Yun Eight's shoulder and said: "Now that you have money and an Iron Pot, and a Dagger, what do you want to do?"

"Marry the prettiest girl from Lie Village." Yun Eight said heroically, and everyone laughed.

The Village Chief shook his head repeatedly and said: "With your current money, you can marry a girl from Lie Village, but not the prettiest one—far from it. Who wouldn't want to marry the prettiest girl from Lie Village?"

Yun Eight was instantly deflated, and after a moment said: "I will definitely save up enough."

"That's right, you will definitely save up enough." Chen Yi immediately encouraged him, and from his backpack took out a Longsword originally prepared as a gift, drew one, and asked: "Yun Eight, is a sword like this enough for you to marry the prettiest girl?"

The blue sword body, the sharp blade... Yun Eight couldn't help but touch the blade, and the old calluses on his hands made a "scritch-scritch" sound, like cutting iron sheet.

Chen Yi found it unsettling and hurriedly said: "Yun Eight, among the goods in this transaction, you provided the most, so this weapon is given to you."

"Really?"

"Really!" Chen Yi said with konjac-flavored words.

Everyone looked envious with shining eyes, and Yun Eight excitedly scratched his head and cheeks, fondling the sword body without stopping. They had sturdy weapons and ways to sharpen them, but it was rare to get a handy weapon.

After playing for a long time, the thick skin full of calluses was finally cut a little.

Yun Eight smiled as if it wasn't his own finger that was broken.

"Impressive!"

What he valued was the sword tip and the length of the sword. He thought: with such a knife, smeared with blood, as long as he stirred it in the belly of a Saber-toothed Beast, it would be done. If he killed one Saber-toothed Beast every day, it wouldn't take long before he could save enough money for the betrothal gift to Lie Village, and still keep this knife, then save more money, marry another wife, then save more money... Maybe one day he could be like the Great Yun Village Chief, have eight children, and build his own village...

Yun Eight didn't understand the concept of ethnic groups, otherwise he would definitely think: give me an iron sword, and I can create an ethnic group...

Others' envy and recognition were similar. Although bows and arrows were powerful, against large animals with thick skin and rough flesh, they could only serve to scratch an itch. In contrast, melee weapons increased in power with the user's martial prowess; poke through a little, and immediately cause massive casualties. So unless it was someone with endless strength like Yun Eight, or a villager good at running and jumping like Yun Five, or a hunting expert from Lie Village good at encirclement hunting, most people set traps and used bows and arrows to kill small and medium animals. Actually, Yun Eight often got prey, mostly relying on his metal small knife.

The West Continent lacked ironware, so most used wooden swords with sharpened metal blades; inferior ones were beast fangs and sharp stones. Whichever kind, the consumption in one battle was great—not only inferior to metal swords in usage count and efficiency, but more importantly, there were safety hazards.

Although local residents didn't understand what risk meant, they clearly knew that after going out hunting, returning with a broken sword versus an intact sword meant completely different levels of danger.

Yun Eight held the sword hilt, looking deeply contemplative.

Obviously, compared to beautiful women, this unusually long metal sword made his will weaker.

Chen Yi shouted loudly: "From now on, any villager who brings the most goods in each transport will receive one Treasure Sword."

He took out another Longsword again and waved it in the air.

Yun Eight shivered and tightly clenched his fist.

"Yes, Chen Merchant still has swords; we must find a way to exchange for one."

Everyone's thoughts were even more numerous and excited. They had all seen the sword in Yun Eight's hand, but out of simple village camaraderie, they hadn't rushed to snatch it. Now that there was an opportunity to obtain one, they were happy to the point of madness.

Their thinking was different from modern people. The whole village had only over thirty people, totaling eight families, which meant that no matter how many goods were transported, after at most eight times, their own family would also have a 'Treasure Sword'...

They didn't worry about it taking too long; they had plenty of time. They didn't worry that Chen Merchant wouldn't come again—how could that be, merchants traded long-term with various fixed villages; sometimes when the father grew old, the son would take over. So... just wait.

Chen Yi didn't know what the villagers were thinking; instead, he thought he was establishing a new village full of commercial thinking, and asked the Village Chief: "What do you think, how much should a Treasure Sword be exchanged for? In other villages."

"Exchange for what?" The Village Chief was instead stunned.

Chen Yi frowned and said: "Exchange for bows and arrows, exchange for Leather Armor, or exchange for money."

"Only Nobles in the city have money." The Village Chief said, shaking his head hard, and said: "Such a powerful Treasure Sword, how could it be used to exchange for things? If used for hunting, you could get as much as you want."

Chen Yi smiled bitterly and said: "There must be a price, right?"

"I've only heard that on the battlefield, Noble Knights award Long Knives, like your Treasure Sword, to Soldiers. I've never heard of them being traded on the market. No matter how much you give me, I won't sell..."

In this understanding, the Village Chief was obviously still at the level of Primitive Society.

Chen Yi sighed helplessly. It seemed that ironware or other metals were all monopolized by the Nobles. They were unwilling to sell at low prices, or just as the Village Chief said, there were no goods available for exchange, so they were only used for awards.

This gave him a feeling somewhat like China's ancient imperial court exclusive goods—cost higher than use value, thus having no market value at all, only appearing before everyone as Luxury Goods. To some extent, this was similar to the "Phantom Wand" he had just obtained; the difference was that the latter was meaningful to him, while the iron sword didn't even count as a commodity.

The original ecological environment of the West Continent indeed found it hard to provide enough commodities. In the modern society of the post-industrial era, port throughput was often calculated in millions of tons; even if all the forests near Yun Village were cut clean, they might not reach a million tons.

Chen Yi shook his head, but instead became interested in the trees nearby—perhaps they could be used to make Scroll paper? However, if they were just ordinary trees, it wouldn't be worth it. Large Wood Pulp Mills, besides using native trees, preferred fast-growing high-yield forests. This kind of industrialized forest had high production efficiency, was easy to control, and most importantly was cheap. If what was brought home with great difficulty was just ordinary goods...

Thinking of this, Chen Yi grabbed the Village Chief and asked: "Do you have very Heavy Trees nearby? I want them."

He waved the iron sword in the air again.

The Village Chief nodded repeatedly: "There definitely are."

He actually didn't know what Chen Yi meant by Heavy Trees, but anyway, getting trees was right.

Over 200 sets of bows and arrows, over 300 sets of Leather Armor—the space needed was far larger than a Raptor's buttocks. Fortunately, the villagers used Vines to bundle the goods, so they could barely travel.

The small Lizard could only complain: "I am now the worst-performing Pickup Truck."

"Making you eat the Instruction Manual really worked." Chen Yi changed the subject.

When they reached near the Light Gate, Chen Yi hesitated for a moment, but still stepped on the Car Accelerator and rushed in directly, and it succeeded. He wiped his sweat; if he had to unload the goods again, that would be fatal.

Returning to the Abandoned Subway Station under the market, Chen Yi slowly put all the Equipment into the warehouse. He thought he should find someone who understood bows and arrows to maintain them. The Martial Arts Hall recruited a batch of students every half month, but the number reaching Level 1 Student would not exceed 20. To digest so many things, it would probably take some time.

Going out, under the night, the bustling street market revealed lively faces—some laughing, some angry, some happy, some sad, some nervous, some relaxed, some at ease, some busy. Chen Yi couldn't tell whether they were happy or joyful, but he thought that such a life was at least better than the muddled days of the Yun Village people...

However, the border of the Light Gate still has to be bought.

……(Unfinished, if you want to know what happens next, please log in to www. qidian. com, more chapters, support author, support genuine reading!)