Chapter 235

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

On Earth, there were far more metals worth more than gold. Anything slightly rare dared to claim a price higher than gold, and the rest were all said to be more precious than gold.

For a moment it was impossible to tell, but Chen Yi still asked excitedly, "Ten shell coins per sword—how many do you want?"

Lanier blinked, then smiled. "How many do you have?"

"That depends on how many of these you have..." Chen Yi held up a shell coin.

"Conch shells?" Lanier shook his head. "I can't tell you the quantity, but I can definitely afford your swords."

In his eyes, Chen Yi was nothing more than a capable merchant.

"Fine then. In three days, we'll trade one thousand swords at the Shuizhai nearby." Chen Yi answered just as decisively.

Lanier was stunned.

One thousand swords meant ten thousand conch shells—no matter the type, enough to equip an army. How could he possibly produce that many at once?

But did the other party actually have one thousand swords?

All the swords currently appearing on the market probably didn't add up to that many. Even Ma La's years of reserves amounted to only a few thousand swords—how long and how much blood had it taken to obtain them? And how many were spoils from the Holy War back then?

He hesitated for a moment, and Chen Yi casually unbuckled the dagger at his waist and tossed it to him, saying, "Take this one," and had already entered the Village Chief's large house.

Invitations were not allowed; merchants could not enter the Village Chief's large house—this was a long-standing rule.

Lanier scratched his head and returned to his seat, drawing the dagger for a look. Strong sunlight shone directly onto the blade, making it like a bronze mirror.

"Good sword." No one present failed to recognize quality, and they praised in unison: "One conch shell for a sword like this? What a bargain."

Lanier chuckled, but the corner of his eye casually glanced at the scabbard—it was also metal, and even heavier than the blade itself.

This made him secretly delighted while also secretly astonished.

Such a short sword was worth at least ten conch shells, and if officials and nobles liked it, selling for dozens or even hundreds of shells was possible.

Giving him dozens of conch shells for free? Such generosity had frightened Lanier.

He didn't know that what he held was merely a mechanism-polished Tibetan Knife, only slightly better than a craftwork in quality, and that heavy scabbard was precisely one of the reasons it was cheap. Modern people wouldn't look at that crude, rough-hewn thick steel scabbard. Switch it to shark skin or something, and that would catch the eye. But in the West Continent, lacking durable metal, such a scabbard could be considered another blunt sword—especially for those Knights with battle qi, who relied on battle qi attached to metal when using weapons, not the sharpness of the metal itself—though the latter still had some effect.

Lanier couldn't be bothered with small business anymore; he packed up his stall and left, leaving behind a group of merchants with strange expressions.

A transaction of ten thousand conch shells—let alone doing it personally, they had never even heard of it. In their view, Lanier's expression was relatively normal, but that Chen Merchant was too abnormal; "one thousand swords" had come from his mouth—Divine Dragon above, did Ma La really have one thousand swords?

What a huge business that would be!

Early the next morning, the merchants were all fast asleep. Yu Weichao brought four Mount Beasts and a team of Bodyguards to welcome Chen Yi.

For merchants who traveled south and north, there was one advantage: they weren't afraid their goods wouldn't sell. They brought things scarce for thousands or tens of thousands of years from various places; even in bad years, it was only a matter of earning more or less, never a situation where they couldn't sell.

So, although they rose early and worked late on the road, once they reached the place to sell goods, they could sleep soundly, sleep in, and wait for the locals to come begging to trade, without having to go door-to-door peddling.

The situation in Yun Village was somewhat special, but it didn't interrupt the merchants' good habits. Moreover, last night they had discussed the transaction of one thousand swords for a long time, so they hadn't slept early.

The sound of snoring traveled straight from inside the house to outside, and was quickly interrupted by the sounds of Mount Beasts.

The four newly arrived adult Mount Beasts had set out at dawn; having finally arrived, how could they not eat breakfast? It was seen that no fewer than three households were busy pouring tons of tender branches and leaves, coarse branches and leaves, into stone grinding mills—this human-powered machine made of two crossed millstones, as long as one desperately stepped on the wooden wheel, could cut tree branches and leaves into crumbs.

Such crumbs mixed with other feed made the Mount Beasts digest better and gain strength after eating, and they could eat less while being full. But this human labor was truly not light, so it was only given to the Mount Beasts before and after transporting goods; on ordinary days, it depended on each family's labor and diligence.

Yu Weichao wore a thick green training uniform, riding a Mount Beast over two meters tall. The alien-race Bodyguards he had hired numbered over thirty, likewise dressed in anti-scratch cloth training uniforms, each riding a Mount Beast, spirited, holding spears over six meters long, all imposing. The difference was their long hair; each alien race person coiled their hair around their waist, like a long whip combed down from the top of their head, making it impossible to distinguish male from female.

Even the people of Yun Village rarely saw so many Mount Beasts outside Ma La; just preparing food kept everyone busy. Yu Weichao was always generous with money, and soon he had mobilized the entire village.

"Truly extravagant!" Chen Yi crawled out of his room with sleepy eyes, fetched some water from the stone trough at the door, and washed his face.

Yu Weichao curried favor by handing him a hot towel, smiling: "I kept this for myself; it's a bestseller in Ma La, fine terry cloth that absorbs water and feels comfortable on the face."

"You've been to Ma La?"

"Yes, I went secretly, and later found out they actually had no city defenses at all." Yu Weichao took a deep breath, then continued: "Cities are freely entered and exited, and the city gates are closed late at night, unlike our ancient cities. It's said the city walls were mainly built to defend against alien races, those not of our kind."

"Those not of our kind? Another kind of person?"

Yu Weichao used a scientist-like laugh to tactfully and high-profile say: "What's strange about that? Neanderthals were exterminated by modern humans; I read it in the Library. Ma La's enemies seem to be a kind of tall human, generally over 2.5 meters in height, very robust."

Chen Yi said "oh," his interest greatly reduced. No matter how strong the muscles, they couldn't stop submachine gun bullets with 600 joules of kinetic energy; if needed, sniper rifles with 2000 joules, heavy machine guns with 3000 joules, and anti-aircraft machine guns with 20000 joules all had the effect of annihilating flesh.

Strength had always been an advantageous gene within a group, not a survival gene determining a group's fate. Whether Mages or Knights, they were products of intelligence, not of the body.

The merchants at this time appeared in the Village Merchant Office, which was the large house in the village. Some curiously watched the new team, while others set up stalls preparing to make money.

Compared to Ma La, Yun Village was not far away; being able to earn a considerable profit here was the main motivation attracting merchants to come. After all, two or three months of long-distance travel was still quite arduous.

Lanier did not appear. Ten thousand conch shells was not something he could decide; he could only run back to Ma La in a frenzy.

Chen Yi and Yu Weichao made a circle among the merchants, receiving extremely warm hospitality, but no one would say they would buy all his goods in bulk anymore.

Yu Weichao's local connections were not bad either, and he received similar hospitality. He himself had some officialdom thinking, knowing to stand respectfully behind, letting Chen Yi receive the most praise.

Watching the driver command the Mount Beasts to load various goods, Chen Yi said with a smile: "Looking at you, life in the West Continent isn't bad, is it?"

"Thanks to your grace, sir." Yu Weichao used the tone of the Organization, then smiled: "The goods you've delivered here before, front and back, total over forty tons, especially metal products, which are the most valuable. I wholesaled most of them to the merchants, but still worried about attracting disaster by being too rich. So I spent money to buy thirty Mount Beasts, two hundred Mount Beasts, and hired these alien-race soldiers..."

He pointed outside: "These alien-race people are easy to teach, pay attention to rules. I heard the Village Chiefs of Yun Village say so, and I asked the merchants; they often bring alien-race soldiers when transporting goods."

"There's always some danger; use with caution." Chen Yi knew he needed military force to establish a fortress outside, but didn't expect it to directly become hiring an army.

In history, mercenary rebellions were countless. Yu Weichao understood and said: "Shuizhai is already the richest village near Ma La. Actually, I've tried to reduce the cash in the village; most of it has been used..."

"Used where?"

"Real estate. You'll see when you arrive at the village tonight." Yu Weichao held back a sentence, then hurriedly urged: "You get on the Mount Beast; we'll try to return within two hours."

The village was only three or five kilometers of mountain road from the house, but the rough and difficult road along the way was destined to make larger teams slower.

Chen Yi wasn't in a hurry either; he got on a specially selected Mount Beast, which had a large warm pavilion on its back, built-in ice blocks, slightly cool.

Yu Weichao had nowhere to go, so he guarded outside the cool pavilion. Chen Yi called him twice before he reluctantly sat in.

The journey was bumpy all the way, just right for Chen Yi to learn the customs and conditions of the West Continent. Speaking of it, Yu Weichao also counts as a bold fellow, with quite sufficient spirit of exploration. Under circumstances where Chen Yi had traveled back and forth several times yet never attempted to go to Ma La, he actually slipped into Ma La alone, and moreover posed as an outsider villager, staying for quite a few days.

However, Yu Weichao is not a professional intelligence personnel either; what he obtained was mostly public information, yet even so it helped Chen Yi make basic judgments.

At least they now know that Ma La is the first major city within 100 kilometers nearby, and the other two cities are similar to it, all implementing a city-state system, just like classical Greece.

In Yu Weichao's account, Ma La has two oddities.

First, whether farmers, herders, or hunters, all find it difficult to supply large quantities of grain to Ma La, but the number of residents inside the city is not small, at least 50,000 households, over 300,000 people. This is a quite huge population base, yet it is unknown how they maintain basic livelihood.

Second, Ma La and such cities revere war; young children enter the Chang Wu to live collective lives, undergo training, and upon adulthood go to distant places to participate in wars. Often directed against another alliance of city-states. This is also the main affair that city residents must bear. But from a modern person's perspective, the wars they wage have almost no influence on Ma La; at a glance it looks like pure giving, something scientists of the energy conservation era cannot understand.

Chen Yi had no time to think too much; a city quite possessing ancient style gradually came into his view.

Yu Weichao, in the tone of a girlfriend who maxed out her credit card, happily said: "The Shuizhai has stone walls on three sides, 5 meters high, 2 meters wide, all completed by animal power and manpower; the city wall is 700 meters long, east-west width 200 meters, took only three months. Additionally still building blockhouses, after everything is completed, still have to build fortifications on the outer perimeter..."

... (Unfinished, if you want to know after this, please log in www. qidian. com, chapter more, support author, support genuine reading!)