Chapter 1109: A Generous Wedding Gift

The wedding was as usual, just as tedious, just as solemn, but also just as lively. The point that was different this time from before was the clothing the bride wore, which was completely different from Huaxia's; it was very distinctive and had unique features. This allowed even ordinary people, whose news was slightly slower, to know a bit of information: as it turned out, Changle Prince's wife was not a Huaxia person.

Following this came all sorts of guesses. Everyone wondered if Huaxia was going to continue forming alliances with some tribe, and whether there was truly love in the Prince's marriage, or if it was simply arranged by Baifeng.

Ordinary people were guessing, while the Nobles, feeling a bit of heartache, presented their wedding gifts. They sent grain by the tens of thousands of jin, and all sorts of good things were coughed up for Baifeng again. However, it was mainly grain; they knew that other good things would be of no use even if Baifeng took them.

After the fact, Baifeng took the settlement of the gift list and looked at it, and he laughed out loud immediately. The grain sent for this wedding was already enough to count as one-fifth of the entire Huaxia City's tax revenue for a year.

Huaxia was very wealthy, but wealth was decentralized, the tax rate was not high, and there were some lands still within the tax-exemption range, so the grain collected over a whole year was not considered too much, but it was enough to ensure the development of all affairs for the year.

Baifeng firmly believed in one point: hiding wealth among the people. Even in the most ordinary family, the grain they had hidden in their home was enough to let them survive the whole year. This was their ability to cope with disasters and changes. Even if Huaxia had a year where the whole country had no harvest, it could be guaranteed that no one would starve to death; the grain in everyone's own home was enough to eat, and the National Treasury was the final guarantee.

They still had to use this grain to improve their lives, exchange for larger land, larger courtyards, marry more wives, and raise more children, so they could not, like the Nobles, rely on the initial bit of grain to carry out the largest amount of primitive accumulation, buy more land, hire more labor, and allow themselves to obtain more grain. Cycling back and forth like this, they would become increasingly wealthy, and their grain reserves, if added together, were likely a very huge number.

However, now that so much grain had reached Baifeng's hands, he could use it to do more things. First of all, he could cope with the more sudden influx of population to come. The Suiren Clan side would likely not send more over this year, but the Shennong Clan Battlefield would certainly bring a considerable portion of Slaves.

It had already entered Autumn, and Xiong and the others might return after continuing to advance for a distance. Winter was impossible for fighting. Judging from the news Xiong had sent in his letter before, he had already procured many Slaves for Huaxia, and there would soon be new wars, which meant even more Slaves.

Baifeng had been arrogant at the time when asking Xuanyuan for people; when formulating the division plan, he specifically asked for people, not land, not anything else. Now Baifeng regretted it a little. Just the Suiren Clan alone was already enough to stuff himself to death; if the Shennong Clan people came, he feared he would be unable to solve the problem at all. Perhaps the method he had created of cities developing rural areas would not work; he would have to break them up again and disperse them to various places, living their previous lives in different locations.

Now Baifeng did not want to think about it either; on a day of great joy, one should think of happy things. Worry about tomorrow's troubles tomorrow, right? Today, drink the son's wedding wine first.

After the normal wedding procedures were finished, Baifeng felt he had been drinking the whole time, drinking non-stop. He drank everyone's wine, and in the end, he knew nothing. When he woke up, it was already the next day.

Changle and Ayuduo had not drunk much; after all, everyone left the opportunity for them to have their wedding night. However, Changle did not care anymore; he had already been working hard for a long time, and by now, Ayuduo might already have a child.

Changle and Ayuduo woke up from their sleep. After yesterday's sacrifice, it indicated that Ayuduo was already completely a Huaxia person. Yesterday, Ayuduo still had not been able to call out those words "father" and "mother"; she felt it was very difficult. However, today, after Changle's repeated persuasion and her own sufficient psychological preparation, she successfully changed how she addressed them.

The address change was successful, and Baifeng was very happy. He immediately gave Ayuduo some Silk, and Sui and Chinv also expressed their sentiments. However, now that the happy things were over, it was time to get to work immediately.

Bingzhu and the others had to leave to return tomorrow after staying for one day today. Time was very tight. When Zhigui told them, their brows knitted together again. Indeed, Huaxia was so good that they did not want to leave, but after all, this was not their own tribe, not their own home. But the place that made them feel unable to accept it was the Boat.

As soon as they thought about having to be on the Boat again, swaying and rocking for over ten days, their heads already started to feel dizzy. Bingzhu said almost pleadingly, "Is there a road where we don't have to take a Boat? Can't we reach the Xuanyuan Tribe by following the Dahe just the same? Let's just walk back."

Zhigui said to them, "Walking can indeed get you there, but it is estimated that it will take twenty days. Can your tribesmen afford to wait? Moreover, that road might still be very dangerous. It won't work if just you few walk; our Soldiers, we don't have that many to protect you. Only taking a Boat will do."

"If you take a Boat to the Xuanyuan Tribe, it will be faster. With the current and the wind, if you hoist the sails, it won't even take ten days to reach the Xuanyuan Tribe. Furthermore, the grain your people have at the Xuanyuan Tribe is all given by our Changle Prince. Such a long time is already enough, right? They haven't had to do anything and have been fed by our Prince for a month. Do you think that if you don't take the Boat and walk back, our Prince will still be willing to provide the grain you eat during all that wasted time?"

Bingzhu also felt a bit embarrassed; after all, Changle had indeed put in a great effort, and these should have been things they came for themselves.

Yangasha's face was ashen, and she did not say a word. After Qianxi was silent for a while, he slapped his thigh: "Alright, let's take the Boat! We could endure it when we came, can't we endure it when we go? The time is shorter. If we go back too late, once the weather gets cold, it will cost us our lives. It's just taking a Boat, we won't die."

Bingzhu also tilted his head back: "Fine then, let's take the Boat back. Does Huaxia have any way to not get seasick?"