Chapter 1101: Ginseng

Qingqiu City?

Yangasha and the others were all shocked, but upon second thought, it seemed to be true; Changle had been saying before that after the Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe Alliance, they had helped them a lot and taught the Xuanyuan Tribe many things.

One could tell from the embassy; the entire Qingqiu City was just a simple, as simple as could be, embassy style, and the residences of Xuanyuan and his people were the same as those of Huaxia—the materials and styles were all originally built by Huaxia.

If that were really the case, then trading with Huaxia might truly bring about completely different changes for the Jiuli.

"But our two tribes are, after all, too far apart, and communication is too difficult. Meeting like this once a year, I don't know how many years it would take to reach a cooperation. Is Huaxia really willing to wait? Also, is this kind of water grass really that important to Huaxia?"

Baifeng explained himself, saying: "It's not that water grass is important to us. Actually, if you think about it, even if it's very light after being dried, how much can be traded in one go? We have so many people in Huaxia, it's impossible for everyone to eat it; it's enough if just us and the officials have some to eat."

"We don't lack food or clothing. Look at us, we have enough Hemp Cloth to wear, so we've started wearing Silk. We've eaten enough Grass Seed and enough meat, so we start thinking about eating more different things. It just so happens that you have those wild vegetables that can be preserved for a long time and are easy to obtain, so why wouldn't we want them?"

"Our Silk in exchange for your wild vegetables, which can be seen everywhere—isn't that good?"

"However, as you said, the distance is far and cooperation is hard to negotiate. I probably won't send envoys to your Jiuli in the short term."

"You lack salt, but I know how to let you obtain enough salt so that you no longer lack it. But you must also know how high the value of this method is—so high that even if you gave us such wild vegetables for free every year, it might not be enough to equal this value. Because once you learn it, I can guarantee that without much trouble, I can make it so your entire Jiuli no longer lacks salt."

Bingzhu pointed at the water grass on the paper and said: "Then your meaning is to use this method to trade for water grass with us. But aren't you afraid that after we learn how to make salt, we won't send you water grass anymore?"

"Of course I am afraid, because I haven't had any communication with your father and cannot confirm if he is a person who keeps his word. Of course, this is not to insult your father, but to consider the interests of our entire Huaxia. I cannot affect the interests of our entire tribe just by casually trusting the Tribal Chief of another tribe. Can you understand this?"

Bingzhu let out a breath through his nose: "I understand. If I were to just go and tell my father this, he wouldn't believe it either."

Baifeng chuckled: "So, I have another way. Take a look at the next page. The one drawn below is another kind of sea grass, but it grows on the rocks by the seaside. It is very small, but it can be preserved as long as it is dried; there is no need to add salt. We can trade this kind of thing first."

"If your father is willing to trust me, I can first teach you a relatively simple method to briefly solve your salt usage problem. Once you feel it is useful, you can bring more wild vegetables next time and give them directly to us. I will give you better methods based on the value."

"Until we completely trust each other, I can teach you the complete method so that you will never lack salt again. This method is to be exchanged for these wild vegetables; just send them in a certain quantity for enough years. After that, you can continue to trade normally. If you cannot make the decision, write it down and go tell your father. For the initial trades, I will not let you suffer a loss."

Bingzhu passed the two drawings for the others to see. They were actually nori that Baifeng had drawn from memory; they should be able to recognize them. Looking at them now, they might feel it looks strange, but upon reaching the seaside, they should be able to recognize it at a glance.

Baifeng didn't want to think about other seafood; with a journey that easily takes more than half a year, it was impossible to deliver them. Even in the later generations with developed logistics, the inland areas couldn't necessarily eat fresh enough seafood. For now, just eating nori and kelp would do.

However, below the two drawings, there was another one, which was actually in color, not that monotonous blue-black.

"What is this? Is this also from the sea?"

Baifeng glanced at Ayuduo and said: "No, this is not. This is in the mountains. You show it to Ayuduo; maybe she recognizes it. This is a type of medicine. I know you have it there, but you need to go to a very northern place, deep in the forest."

Ayuduo looked at the leaves and the red fruit, only feeling a bit familiar, but she couldn't recognize it at all, so she shook her head. Changle also took it and looked at it, but she hadn't seen it either.

"This is called Ginseng, a very good medicinal herb. You can also go look for it yourselves; when the time comes, let your Miao doctors try it and you will know. It's a good thing and very easy to identify, it's just that the location is further north than your tribe."

"Generally, the thicker and older it is, the better. If you dig it in this season, keep all the small root hairs intact. If you can find it and bring its roots over, I am willing to trade with you using an equal weight of Silk."

Upon hearing "equal weight of Silk," Bingzhu was truly tempted. If Huaxia was really willing to do this, then what did it matter if they sent people to look in even further northern places? It was completely worth it. Silk was much more precious than a wild medicinal herb, even more precious than people. He couldn't even imagine how many people one such bolt of Silk could exchange for; it could even be said that it would depend on whether the other party was willing to trade.

The Xuanyuan Tribe was stingy and unwilling to trade away Silk. Now that he had encountered such an opportunity, he really wanted to agree, but as the saying went, could he really trust them?

Baifeng saw Bingzhu's concerns and said directly: "I think you don't need to have so many concerns about this issue. I've already given you so much Silk, do you think I wouldn't trade with you? And how much Ginseng can you actually find? Ginseng is not that easy to find."

"Oh, right, there is also a particularly large tiger where you are. I also want the tiger skin and the bones of that kind of tiger, and I can trade with you for them. If you dry those parts, you can exchange them for even more things."