Chapter 1647: Heading to Jiuli

Time passed, and it was already the second year of spring. The ice and snow melted, all things grew, and Huaxia was already busy with spring plowing. As long as one stepped out of Huaxia City and looked around, there were people and oxen working in the fields everywhere, and the sounds of shouting and driving the oxen were constant.

After Baifeng had finished arranging everything, he took the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Guard he had organized and set off for the Xuanyuan Tribe. As for food, there was no need to worry; knowing that the journey to Jiuli would certainly be lacking in clothing and food, Baifeng had prepared several boats of grain to take to the Xuanyuan Tribe. When it was time to depart, he would let the Soldiers act as logistics personnel and carry the grain on their backs.

If it was already known that the road on that journey could be traversed by oxen, then the Xuanyuan Tribe's oxen could be used to carry the heavy loads. Now, Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe had long since had sufficient experience with going on long journeys. In the past, there was no food, and they would hunt while walking along the way, so life was bitter and the mortality rate was high. Now, there was no shortage of food; the trouble was merely in the carrying of it.

Xuanyuan did not go back on his word this year either. After preparing for two days with Baifeng at the Xuanyuan Tribe, he also set off with a large force. However, he first sent an envoy to tell Chiyou about this matter, so as to avoid a sudden visit that might look a bit like forcing Chiyou to do this.

At the same time, the Ministry of Land and Resources brought by Baifeng left behind most of its people, preparing to divide the territories of both sides together with the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Xuanyuan had also spent a winter, and finally had a rough idea of how large the Shennong Clan actually was. Afterwards, he gave Huaxia the promised territory according to the ratio previously agreed upon by both sides.

Baifeng had only one requirement for the people of his Ministry of Land and Resources: they must secure places that appeared to be rich in mineral resources for themselves, especially the location of the Sulfur Mine, which must be 100% fully controlled; this could not tolerate the slightest mistake.

Furthermore, he and Xuanyuan had reached a consensus that when dividing the territory, it was best to use mountains, rivers, and valleys as boundaries, rather than necessarily drawing a straight line.

Xuanyuan also understood Baifeng's meaning. A fixed mountain, river, or valley could not be changed by human effort, so this was the best basis for boundary division. Another point was that mountains, rivers, and valleys were also natural barriers. Even if Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe went to war in the future, such natural barriers would be advantageous for both sides. As for ownership, it would naturally be half for each; the north would belong to Huaxia, and the south would belong to the Xuanyuan Tribe. Even a river would be split in half this way; the fish and shrimp in the water would belong to whoever's side they swam to, and the wild beasts would belong to whoever's side they ran to.

Then there was the issue of illegal border crossing. Once the boundaries between the two sides were clearly defined, they naturally could not walk back and forth at will. Except for official exchanges like theirs now, in the future, people who lived relatively close by or some hunters who crossed the border would be defined as illegal border crossers.

In such cases, once caught, one could demand ransom and compensation from the other side. If they broke the law within the other side's territory, they would be punished according to the local rules. When necessary, there could be extradition clauses to bring them back to their home country to accept punishment.

Although Xuanyuan did not quite understand why Baifeng thought in such detail and made such a fuss over small matters, since Baifeng had said it and it was reasonable, Xuanyuan had no reason to disagree. If such problems were encountered in the future, there would be a way to solve them.

Baifeng also proposed that it would be best to open up private trade between the two sides. For those who lived close to the border, if they wanted to trade, let them; they only needed to set up a fixed trading place. However, those coming to trade would need a travel permit issued by the side where the venue was located to enter the border smoothly, and they would need to leave within a time limit.

Xuanyuan felt that this was really a bit too cumbersome, so he did not consider the travel permit matter at all. As long as they were not sneaking over to kill or hunt, what was wrong with trading with each other?

It was just trading; why make some travel permit? It was simply a waste of time and energy. Xuanyuan trusted his own tribesmen, and he also urged Baifeng to trust his own tribesmen.

Since Xuanyuan thought this way, Baifeng did not insist any further. In any case, the Huaxia of the future would certainly require such things as travel permits, because when a country became large enough and the population began to increase, various situations would arise, especially the problem of crime, which would inevitably be unavoidable.

With a travel permit, at least it would be easy to catch people, and one could find some strange people without permits. It was troublesome, but at least it ensured social stability. Unless Huaxia could suddenly enter the information age, allowing everyone's identity information to be checked anywhere, then you could go wherever you wanted, and it wouldn't matter.

After handling these matters, Baifeng and Xuanyuan set off. Of course, they did not go empty-handed this time. Since they were going to discuss cooperation, they still had to bring some sincerity, and it was also to allow everyone to have a better cooperative relationship in the future, so they both brought a gift.

Huaxia naturally brought the good things produced at home: a set of ceramic utensils, and two bolts of dyed and patterned Silk. Xuanyuan also brought Silk, because this was a specialty of the Xuanyuan Tribe. However, the quality of the Xuanyuan Tribe's Silk was indeed superior to Huaxia's; the raw materials were better than Huaxia's, and Huaxia's only excelled in color and patterns.

Baifeng also really wanted to get some silkworm seeds from the Xuanyuan Tribe, but Xuanyuan would certainly not agree, because this was the Xuanyuan Tribe's trump card. If given to Huaxia, and Huaxia had better dyeing and printing technology, then the Silk produced would far exceed that of the Xuanyuan Tribe, and the advantages possessed by the Xuanyuan Tribe would also vanish. Therefore, it was impossible for Xuanyuan to do such a short-sighted thing.

Baifeng felt the only possible scenario was exchanging grain seeds for silkworm seeds, but he also felt there was no great necessity, because not everyone could afford to wear Silk; it belonged to luxury goods, the market was limited, and its function was limited. If there was no Silk, one would just wear Hemp Cloth.

However, grain was something that could make a country rapidly prosperous. If good grain seeds were given to the Xuanyuan Tribe, Huaxia would be the one being short-sighted, so this was completely impossible. If Huaxia wanted better Silk, it could only trade with the Xuanyuan Tribe, trade back their raw Silk and raw silk fibers, and then process them after bringing them to Huaxia; that would be enough.

The grain that Huaxia sent to the Xuanyuan Tribe now was either all stir-fried or all ground into flour; in any case, it was impossible to put a single raw seed inside. Baifeng wanted to restrict the excessive free trade between the two sides also because of this problem, for fear that without knowing it, Huaxia's grain seeds would end up in some tribe of the Xuanyuan Tribe, which would be a huge loss.