Chapter 175: Receiving the Slaves

There was actually no need to give further instructions regarding Yu's mother; a woman of such looks was very popular. As soon as Baifeng spoke, several Soldiers volunteered to say they wanted to take care of her, but in the end, he let the woman choose for herself.

There were no other incidents on the remaining journey. On the Boat, Baifeng taught Yu addition and subtraction, and by the time they were close to the tribe, he was already able to skillfully use two-digit addition and subtraction.

On the night before they were about to arrive at the tribe, Baifeng gave everyone the bottom line, telling them they would be able to see the tribe tomorrow, so the next day, everyone's pace was exceptionally fast.

When they reached the riverbank and saw the stretching city walls, they couldn't help but slow their pace, wondering what on earth this thing was and what the tribe enclosed within these earthen walls was like.

Because the riverbanks they traveled between were opposite each other, the Slaves had to be transported across by Boat several more times before they could all be brought over; having them swim across was impossible, as they would likely drown in it.

Baifeng had never thought about building a bridge over the river, as that would only provide convenience for other tribes to attack them; this river could also be considered a natural moat.

The Soldiers on the small Boat docked first, while the others waited in place. Those two Soldiers went under the city wall and blew a whistle to explain the situation, asking them to open the city gate to welcome them.

At the same time, he also had Xiong and the Shaman lead the Soldiers and manpower to take inventory and receive the Slaves. This time, the various people brought back totaled nearly two thousand, which was more than the current population of the Baifeng Tribe, so how to arrange these people was also a very troublesome matter.

The Soldiers on the city wall immediately went to report after receiving the news. Sui, of course, could not be left out; she had not seen Baifeng for more than half a month and missed him dearly.

The Large Ship could not dock, so they could only use small Boats to ferry people over again and again. However, during the time Baifeng and the others were away, that group of Artisans had built two more medium-sized boats; after testing, they were pulled back onto the riverbank, ready to be launched at any time.

This time, almost all the tribespeople came out to welcome them, because they especially wanted to see how many people the Tribal Chief had brought back this time. Although they had heard from the Soldiers on the city wall that the harvest was bountiful, they still wanted to see it with their own eyes.

They were shocked at the sight; the riverbank was densely packed with people, more than they had on their side. If they hadn't received the news in advance, they would have thought another tribe had come to attack the Baifeng Tribe.

After all the Slaves had come ashore, Baifeng first had them separate those with skills from those without, and then separated the remaining Slaves by gender. As for the Free Persons, there were not so many formalities; he let them stand to one side first to be processed later.

All those who claimed to have skills were taken away by the people in charge of the relevant industries in the Baifeng Tribe for assessment. If they passed the assessment, their Slave status would be lifted, and they would become Free Persons, working alongside the people of the Baifeng Tribe. If they did not pass but still had some foundation, they could also work in the workshops with the status of a Slave. If they were just making up the numbers, they were driven back directly to continue being Slaves and doing dirty, tiring work.

The remaining Slaves were counted by the Shaman and his assistants, registered uniformly, and then the idle earthen warehouses were given to them to use as their living quarters.

The treatment of the Free Persons was slightly better; they could live in the earthen houses that the Baifeng Tribe members had first settled in. At least the number of people living inside would not be as high as in the warehouses, the environment would be slightly better in every aspect, and there were even heated brick beds, whereas in the warehouses, they could only spread some dry Grass to sleep on the floor.

After these people arrived, the first thing they saw was not that the Baifeng Tribe had few people, but that every member of the Baifeng Tribe was well-fed and strong, without a hint of hunger, dressed in beautiful clothes, and each carrying a Knife; even the elite Soldiers of the Suiren Clan could not reach this level.

The Slaves were separated into groups and taken away, entering the large gate under the city wall one after another. The others still had to line up to be registered and checked. They did not yet know what kind of prosperous scene was inside the city walls; their imaginations were already insufficient.

The most anxious were those tribespeople who had been bought back. They urgently hoped to put on beautiful clothes, eat delicious food, and preferably be equipped with a Changdao, completely saying goodbye to their poor past selves.

That was what they thought, but Baifeng did not intend to give them such good treatment from the beginning. Those women might have a chance, after all, there were those Baifeng Tribe Soldiers who would manage them, and the tribe's wealth was more than enough for them to support a few more wives. Baifeng also supported doing so, as it was to create population for the tribe.

Baifeng stopped worrying about Xiong and the Shaman; he had already seen Sui waiting for him at the city gate. He also missed Sui very much, mainly because he was at an age of vigorous energy and found it hard to endure not seeing his wife for half a month.

But looking at the new tribespeople rubbing their hands and stamping their feet, Baifeng still sighed and brought them along as well, including Yu who had been following him.

Baifeng walked forward, and Sui also ran toward Baifeng. After getting close, she jumped directly onto Baifeng, like a snake. Baifeng just held her and walked forward; anyway, no one here understood shame, so it didn't matter.

Once inside the city gate, these new tribespeople were shocked by the prosperity of the Baifeng Tribe. Although there were not many houses in front of them, they could still see tall houses standing in the distance—not the wooden or animal-hide Tents they were used to, nor those built with dry Rice straw, but real houses that looked like stone.

Baifeng did not say what he would arrange for them; he just took them for a walk to let them get to know what the Baifeng Tribe had.

The closest thing was the cattle pen. They could see the countless cattle kept inside through the wooden fence. Coming from a small tribe like theirs, being able to hunt one cow was already very lucky; they never expected that Baifeng had so many kept here, and they had never known that cattle could be raised artificially.

Those from large tribes who had seen the world were better off, because many large tribes, such as the Suiren Clan, also raised cattle, and the scale was about the same as the Baifeng Tribe's. It was just that the cattle pen seemed much more refined than the Suiren Clan's, and it was clean inside, and the cattle were also very robust, even stronger than those in the wild.

Actually, the most important thing was the farmland, but the Baifeng Tribe's grain had already been harvested, so even if he took them to see it, they would only see an empty field. Therefore, Baifeng did not explain anything more to them; even if he did, they would not be able to understand or imagine it.

Baifeng also took the opportunity to explain the water conservancy system to them, including the use of faucets. The Baifeng Tribe was not yet rich enough to use Iron to make faucets, and they didn't have that technology either. They used pottery ones; just inserting a piece of pottery into the water pipe was enough, and when using it, pulling out the pottery piece would let the water out. However, because the seal was not good, there was inevitably some water leakage.