Chapter 169: Handover

"How much do you think this jar of Wine should be worth?"

Baoxi thought for a moment: "I cannot be sure if the effects you speak of are true. If they are true, I believe it is worth one thousand Slaves, but for now, I can only consider it worth one hundred Slaves."

Two tribesmen of the Baifeng tribe looked on in disbelief. They knew very well what effects this Wine had; drinking it in Winter made the body very warm, though they could only drink it freely during feasts. Getting drunk allowed them to forget all their sorrows; the Tribal Chief had not spoken a single false word.

Not to mention how much Sorghum it took to make such a small amount of Wine, and not to mention the complex process. The price Baoxi offered was simply wishful thinking. In any case, they would not sell it to Baoxi at this price; a price of one thousand Slaves would be about right.

Baifeng smiled: "Very well, this jar is yours for the price of one hundred Slaves. But once you know the benefits of this thing, such a jar will be worth far more than one thousand Slaves."

As he spoke, he took the five-jin jar from the hands of his jaw-dropped tribesmen, along with his own wine cup, and placed them together in front of Baoxi. The tribesmen used Sorghum to bait the trap, and he used Wine to bait the trap, to catch this big fish, the Suiren clan. He just didn't know if it would take the bait.

When Baoxi pulled the two items toward himself, he realized he hadn't traded for what he needed most. Five hundred Slaves had already been traded away, and it wasn't even his own initiative. Now it was too late to go back on it; people from various tribes around were watching. He, the Suiren clan, also had a reputation to maintain, and his own tribesmen were very expectant, waiting to see if they could also have a taste once the Tribal Chief had traded for it.

Baifeng had cast his bait; what followed was the real moment for business. The Suiren clan had only nine hundred and some, less than one thousand, living Slaves. What Baifeng could take a fancy to was likely around eight hundred. He could exchange for these using either the Sorghum or the Small Knife alone.

Baifeng was not afraid of the Iron being taken by the Suiren clan and recast into better Weapons, because theirs were all Small Knives, and their past craftsmanship was relatively poor; the quality could not compare to the steel they used now. Furthermore, the melting point of Iron was much higher than that of Bronze; they could melt Bronze, but not necessarily Iron.

Moreover, even if this Iron were melted, there wouldn't be much of it, at most three or four Changdao like theirs, which would not have any impact on the overall battle situation.

Thus, Baifeng placed the Sorghum and a Small Knife that was somewhat bent and chipped on a wooden stump, letting Baoxi choose which one he wanted. Even in this state, the Knife was still a treasure in the eyes of these tribesmen; whose Bronze Sword didn't have some bends or damage?

The Soldiers of the Suiren clan very much wanted to trade for the Small Knife, because in the entire tribe, only the Tribal Chief had one. They, these elite Soldiers, only had short Bronze Swords. They themselves were not short on food, because the Tribal Chief skewed resources toward them; it was the ordinary tribesmen who lacked food, but they would not consider the affairs of ordinary tribesmen.

Baoxi did not care about the feelings of these Soldiers and chose the Sorghum directly, because their tribe was indeed short on food. The food that could be traded for so many Slaves was enough to alleviate the troubles of their tribe, but trading for the Small Knife would only provide some benefits to the elite class and could not practically solve the troubles of the Suiren clan.

With the items for exchange decided, the Baifeng tribe began to select the Slaves. They let the Suiren clan do this themselves, picking out Slaves of the quality required by the Baifeng tribe. Baoxi even generously gave the ropes used to bind the Slaves to Baifeng. The Slaves were strung together with the ropes, tied into several rows, and the ends of the ropes were handed to the Soldiers of the Baifeng tribe.

Baifeng also gave Baoxi a satisfying price: a whole ship's hold of Sorghum, plus five Small Knives. As for the Sorghum on the other Boat, Baifeng felt it was better to keep it as food for the journey. After all, with so many people, relying solely on fishing to feed them was a bit of a waste of time, and going upstream was quite strenuous to begin with.

Once the price was set, neither side would go back on it. After all, as the Tribal Chief of a large tribe, one had to have integrity; both sides might still have trade dealings in the future.

Subsequently, Baoxi ordered the Slaves who had not been selected to be killed on the spot and discarded casually onto the Shazhou. The blood also gathered together and flowed into the river, attracting a large number of fish. Seeing this, many people actually ran to the riverbank to catch fish, which gave Baifeng a chill.

However, if Baifeng stood in Baoxi's shoes, he would also kill those Slaves; they were of no use, and if released, they would be a hidden danger. But Baifeng would at least burn or bury the bodies; he would not dispose of them so casually.

For the sake of the safety of this river basin, Baifeng once again explained the Divine Punishment Theory to Baoxi, but Baoxi still did not take action. He had always just tossed bodies away casually, and he had never seen any divine punishment descend, so he was unwilling to waste time and energy doing such things.

Helpless, Baifeng had to use his "money power," using salt to get the wild people watching the spectacle to burn these bodies. Although the tribes were so far apart that the virus might not necessarily spread to the Baifeng tribe, now that the water route was completely opened, communication would surely become increasingly frequent in the future. Moreover, for the sake of the entire human race, spending some salt that was basically worthless to the Baifeng tribe was very worth it.

Baoxi was speechless at Baifeng's grand gesture, but he had no right to manage the affairs of another tribe. It would be best if Baifeng kept spending so lavishly and exhausted their wealth; could it be that the Baifeng tribe had a salt mountain?

The two chatted idly as they walked toward the camp of the Baifeng tribe, because the Sorghum had not yet been handed over, and Baoxi still had to go over and see it for himself.

By this time, the women traded for by the Baifeng tribe on the riverbank had already collected a huge amount of firewood, trying their best to show their diligence and capability in hopes of being noticed by the powerful Soldiers in the tribe.

The Large Ship dared not get too close to the shore because it might run aground. If it ran aground and no one saw, it would be fine, but if it were discovered by Baoxi, it would not be good. It was best not to let the enemy know the shortcomings and defects of any items, so they could only rely on small boats to send them over bag by bag.

Baoxi generously gifted the Hemp Cloth ropes used to bind the Slaves, and Baifeng also generously gifted the bags used to hold the Sorghum. If Baoxi knew that most of this Hemp Cloth came from the hands of the women traded from their tribe, he wondered what Baoxi would think.

While waiting for the food to be loaded and unloaded, Baoxi proposed another suggestion: their tribe had many animal skins, and he wondered if the Baifeng tribe needed them. If they did, they could be traded for using Small Knives.

This was Baoxi's way of hinting and compensating the slightly unhappy Soldiers, showing that the tribe still considered the interests of the elites and would not focus its center of gravity on ordinary tribesmen.