Chapter 1514: So It Was All Hoarded

"Since this kind of fabric is so precious, why not keep it for yourselves first and supply the people of Huaxia? I'm sure there are quite a few people in Huaxia who want this kind of fabric, so why give it to me now?"

Baifeng didn't blush or skip a beat as he lied: "Of course it's because we are good friends. When such good things are made, naturally I want to share them with you first, right?"

"As for the people of Huaxia, the production isn't enough right now anyway, so even if we hoarded it, how many people would actually be able to use it? It won't be too late for them to use it in a few years."

"These good things, given to my good friend, you, Xuanyuan—this can also strengthen our friendship, can't it?"

Xuanyuan did not refute Baifeng's words, but seized on them: "You said the raw materials for dyeing this fabric could also be given to us; is that true? Are you really willing to trade them with us?"

"Of course I can, but we in Huaxia can't find much of it in a year. It is very hard to find, and after finding it, it must go through various complex processes before it can be used."

"So Xuanyuan, it's not that I'm asking for too high a price; it's truly that the raw materials are too hard to find and too precious. Just finding the materials alone costs us so much effort and so much expenditure."

"It is also an indispensable item in the dyeing process. Without it, the color isn't deep enough, isn't good-looking enough, and it fades easily. As long as you have it, you have nothing to fear."

"If you want to trade, of course I can give it to you, but the price is too high, and one box can't dye much fabric. You'd be better off just trading for this finished fabric. The colors are the best; if you take the raw material back, you'll have to spend a large amount of materials trying to figure out how to mix the right color. It's the least cost-effective way."

Hearing Baifeng say this, Xuanyuan understood that Baifeng didn't sincerely want to trade the main material; he just wanted to imply how precious the material was to drive up the price of the fabric. But with such a good opportunity in front of him, Xuanyuan wasn't about to let go so easily. Regardless of whether he could make it himself, he had to see what it looked like so he wouldn't be like a headless fly in the future.

"Fine, I'll take the fabric at the price you stated. I also want your raw materials; after all, trading isn't as good as making it yourself. How much can you give me, and what is the price?"

Baifeng didn't hesitate: "If I give it to you, I can't give you too much because we don't have much either. At most, I can give you thirty jin... ah... forty jin. After all, if it's too little, you won't be able to do anything with it once you take it back."

"And the price?" Xuanyuan asked immediately.

"I want Tung Tree Seed. One jin for one hundred jin, and I only trade for Tung Tree Seed. If you can find more, I... I might consider the situation, see how much more we in Huaxia can spare, and give you a bit more. That's not impossible."

Baifeng's goal was very clear. Currently, Tung Oil was extremely useful to Huaxia and needed everywhere, but the shortfall was also quite large. The small amount of Tung Tree Seed traded back from the Xuanyuan Tribe each year was simply not enough. Baifeng didn't know if the Xuanyuan Tribe was doing it on purpose or intentionally, but they always capped the amount every year and wouldn't trade more to Huaxia.

But after so many years, based on Xuanyuan's personality, Baifeng could guess that they must be keeping a large amount of Tung Seed to study its uses, or they were doing it specifically to limit Huaxia's development. There was no way the annual production was only that little.

It was even possible they had already started artificial cultivation. Xuanyuan would never leave a plant seed that Huaxia desperately needed out in the wild without studying it.

However, looking at the boats of the Xuanyuan Tribe, Baifeng understood that they definitely hadn't found the correct way to use Tung Seed yet. People of this era wouldn't think to press plants for oil, because apart from a few natural plants that oozed oil when squeezed, you wouldn't know there was oil inside other seeds at all.

The most common vegetable oils now—corn oil, peanut oil, soybean oil—if you crush them, you won't see any oil appear, so how could they think of using them to press oil? People of this era weren't even skilled at rendering animal fat; they didn't know how.

The earliest human extraction and pressing of vegetable oil was in the Han Dynasty, and it used things like sesame, which had extremely high oil content. Therefore, Baifeng wasn't afraid of Xuanyuan being too many years ahead of this era. Xuanyuan had seen Soybean Oil, but Baifeng wouldn't tell him how it was pressed out.

Just like Wine, which produced a lot of waste residue, similar to Bean Dregs, Xuanyuan might conclude that the processes for both Wine and oil were extremely complex and wouldn't think in the direction of simple pressing, thus interfering with his judgment. The same naturally applied to Tung Seed.

The thing Baifeng had seen with the most oil content was the Sichuan Pepper Seed. The black seeds inside would leave an oil mark when rubbed on a Cement floor. With so much oil, he wouldn't be at ease without thinking of a way to press it out.

Plus, Tung Seed was toxic, and the oil rendered from it was even more toxic. If the Xuanyuan Tribe accidentally ingested or used it during their experiments, it might scare them off.

When Xuanyuan heard Baifeng's request, his regard for Tung Seed increased a little, but even now, they didn't know what it was for. They knew what most plants needed by Huaxia were for, and although they weren't very useful to them, they truly didn't know about Tung Seed.

The quantity was quite large, and it was collected across the entire tribe, totaling much more than a few hundred or a thousand jin a year. Every year when trading with Huaxia, the amount was very small; it was all collected and saved up. If they didn't use it, they couldn't give it to Huaxia, because they didn't know what it was for, and it might provide a great boost to Huaxia.

The amount of Tung Seed saved up over these years was truly a bit much. Excluding the fixed amount traded every year, the Xuanyuan Tribe could easily handle this extra trade quota for the year.

Now that he could trade for something relatively important and clearly known to be useful, Xuanyuan had the idea of clearing out his inventory all at once.

"Thirty or forty jin can only trade for three or four thousand jin of Tung Tree Seed. Our tribe has saved up quite a lot over these years. If you want it all, I can trade it to you at once, provided you can trade me this thing you mentioned, and also the correct method of use."

"Of course, if you want to trade for Tung Tree Seed with other things, that's also fine. I want Ironware, Bombs, and weapons of that sort. See if you're willing."

How cunning...

Baifeng cursed inwardly. So this was why Xuanyuan only gave them a little bit each year; the rest was being hoarded. Every year they only gave Huaxia about a thousand jin, and most of the time not even that. Fortunately, they were all dried fruits, but the oil yield was too low. In a year, Huaxia only pressed out a dozen or so jin of Tung Oil, and the whole of Huaxia was fighting over it.