Chapter 1638: Why Not Form a Great Alliance

Xuanyuan understood that what Baifeng said was the most realistic situation; he and the Jiuli were indeed currently just in a relationship of mutual trade, without much deep interaction, and because Baifeng had inserted himself into this trade, Chiyou realized even more that trading with the Xuanyuan Tribe was not cost-effective, so the relationship had also cooled down.

The Xuanyuan Tribe needed the Iron of the Jiuli, because only the Jiuli were willing to sell Ironware to the Xuanyuan Tribe; perhaps they had enough confidence in their own strength, feeling that even if the Xuanyuan Tribe obtained enough Iron Weapons, they would not have the ability to conquer the Jiuli, which was why they were so bold and generous in being able to trade Ironware to the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Of course, this was firstly because the Jiuli's own iron production was high enough, and they had enough Ironware equipped for themselves, so they were able to have a surplus to trade to the Xuanyuan Tribe; furthermore, this trade was profitable enough for the Jiuli, as the Xuanyuan Tribe could provide them with the grain, Silk, salt, and other items the Jiuli needed, such as things from Huaxia, but because there was already trade with Huaxia, this part could be ignored.

However, grain was still very important to the Jiuli, because the Jiuli were after all still engaged in fishing, hunting, and gathering, and their food was not as abundant as the Xuanyuan Tribe's; what's more, what the Xuanyuan Tribe brought for trade were plump Grass Seed, the kind that could be stored for a long time, and the Jiuli had no reason to turn such a good thing away.

Huaxia was different; Huaxia was in a period of great development, currently both reclaiming wasteland and expanding its military, and its own Ironware was not enough; now, the standard Weapon for new recruits could not even be fully issued, training was all done with Wooden Spear and Wooden Blade, and every company was waiting eagerly for the distribution of weapons, so where would there be any surplus to sell to Xuanyuan?

If the Jiuli were willing to sell their Ironware to Huaxia, Baifeng would also be willing to do this business; after all, grain would rot if left for too long, and if it could not be eaten, it would not create value, but Ironware could be used continuously; as long as it was maintained properly, it could be used for hundreds of years, and if it failed, it could just be remelted and reforged.

The quality of the Jiuli's Iron was not good, with many impurities and poor hardness, but as long as it reached Huaxia's hands, it could be reforged, or they could just trade for farm tools and implements from the Jiuli, as the requirements were not that high.

There was another, greater reason why Baifeng did not trade Ironware to the Xuanyuan Tribe: he knew Xuanyuan's ambition and ability; if he were really equipped with enough good weapons, he could go and attack any tribe, and the same went for Huaxia, so Baifeng would certainly not trade Ironware to Xuanyuan; that small amount each year was merely a compromise made to trade for the Xuanyuan Tribe's specialty goods, and it would not affect the overall situation.

Under the current circumstances, for Xuanyuan to go and find the Jiuli to jointly attack Huaxia, Xuanyuan understood that it was completely impossible; instead, he had to guard against Huaxia and the Jiuli joining forces to attack their Xuanyuan Tribe.

Therefore, no matter from which angle one looked at it, the Xuanyuan Tribe was in a passive position; wanting war, the overall situation was unfavorable to the Xuanyuan Tribe, and once a war broke out, the target being attacked would more likely be their Xuanyuan Tribe, rather than Huaxia or the Jiuli.

So he could only make peace with Huaxia now, ensuring that he pulled this ally, Huaxia, to his side; although he did not know how good the relationship between the Jiuli and Huaxia was, with the connection of Ayuduo, they naturally had an advantage over the Xuanyuan Tribe.

What's more, in Xuanyuan's view, if Baifeng could secretly annex the Suiren Clan, then it was even more likely that they had already established a better trading relationship with the Jiuli, because the two tribes were now adjacent, with no Suiren Clan in between to block them, so trading was naturally more convenient; trading through the Xuanyuan Tribe instead felt like it was to cover up this fact.

"Baifeng, tell me the truth now, have you and the Jiuli already been trading, bypassing our Xuanyuan Tribe to trade, and is your relationship good enough?"

Baifeng had no need to lie to Xuanyuan now, so he said truthfully: "Yes, we do have trade with the Jiuli, and the volume is quite large, but we have only been trading for a year, because we have only just made contact, so it is not as close or as large in trading volume as it is with your Xuanyuan Tribe."

Likewise, we have not signed this kind of contract, so our trade is also unstable; the Jiuli do not even know that we have annexed the Suiren Clan, and they still have designs on our territory.

If it were not for the fact that I said we would complete our trade through the Suiren Clan, I am afraid Chiyou would have already started attacking the Suiren Clan by now.

Xuanyuan, the Jiuli led by Chiyou indeed have no small amount of strength, perhaps even greater than both our tribes, and his ideas for expansion are also very large, but currently, our three tribes are in this situation; if the current state of affairs is explained clearly to him, he might just put aside the idea of attacking each other.

Regarding what I said about mutual exchange and common development, you have heard it too many times, and I am afraid you have long since not wanted to hear it, but I still have to say it.

Our three tribes are separated too far, and this land is too vast; even if you conquered it all and ruled it yourself, there are too few people and the land is too far away, so you cannot control it; currently, our territory is large enough for us to develop steadily for hundreds of years, with no need for any expansion.

And precisely because we are separated far enough, we each have things that other tribes need, not just Iron, but other things as well; you have things that I need that we do not have, and in the future, you will also need more and more things from our Huaxia.

And the Jiuli also have things that I need; of course, you also need them very much, you just don't know it; if our three tribes could establish an alliance of mutual trade and mutual help, developing together and exchanging what we have for what we lack, then in the next few decades to a hundred years, we could increase our population several times over.

I think that for your Xuanyuan Tribe's population to develop to two million people within a hundred years should be no problem, as long as you can grow your grain well and your policy toward your tribesmen is good enough, then they will be more and more capable of giving birth, and the children born will also be able to survive and grow up.

Once they grow up, they will be able to develop the wasteland and mountains further away into farmland, grow more grain, and have more children.

It is the same for us in Huaxia, and the same for the Jiuli; there is no need to fight over land that has no people, and missing supplies can be exchanged.

Once a war breaks out, one year of war will consume the entire tribe's three years of rations, the young and strong who die will take many years to recover, and the land will be left barren because there is no one to farm it; Xuanyuan, you tell me, what good does this do for us?"