Chapter 391: Marketing

As for the Wulengge Tribe, after those savages returned to their own group, they spoke with the others for a while, kept turning their heads to look at the camp of Xiong and his people, and then left directly without taking any further action.

Xiong also felt that they could not let their guard down; their herd of cattle would absolutely become the focus of attention for all the tribes at the entire gathering. After all, no one had ever seen such docile cattle that could also be used for labor. If it were just simple inquiries about trade, they could still deflect and refuse, but the real trouble was the fear that when the gathering ended, certain large tribes and clans, no longer restricted by the gathering's rules, might take action against them.

Therefore, starting now, Xiong decided to increase the level of security at night; it was impossible to hide the cattle, as they were their very important labor force.

In the two days that followed, they encountered a few more groups heading to the gathering. Among them, one group also came to ask Xiong on the road if the cattle could be traded, but after being refused, they did not linger and left directly, which saved Xiong a lot of trouble.

They finally arrived at the location when the Golden Autumn Gathering was at its liveliest, but all over the site, there were tribes setting up camp. At the front of the entire gathering point was an extremely high mountain; one could see sparse trees on the mountain and exposed rocks, which was very spectacular. Xiong and his people had never seen such scenery before.

The gathering point was at the foot of this mountain, on a very wide plain. In the distance was a forest that had already turned golden. On the plain, there was a small, narrow creek; although no fish were seen inside, it was enough for their daily use.

Xiong and his people chose a suitable location and set up their camp. The worst thing about this place was that one could not find food nearby and could only eat the Dry Rations they brought. This limited many small tribes; they had originally rushed here to exchange for food, but during this period, not only could they not go hunting, they also had to consume their supplies, so they could only stay for a short time. Once their goods were sold, they had to leave immediately. Only tribes with some strength dared to stay here for a long time.

Xiong and his people happened to belong to the slightly stronger kind. Although they needed to hunt for themselves along the way, that was only because their location was far away, but they still carried a lot of food. Moreover, by just taking out some salt, they could exchange it here for enough food to last them a day.

Xiong and his people set up their huge camp, and then on the damp Grass, they laid out the goods they had brought: Glass cups and Porcelain packed in boxes. However, they only took out two of each to demonstrate their scarcity, so as not to let those who came to look think these were common items and fail to get a high price. In reality, they had many more such boxes in their luggage, and they would immediately put out new ones once the buyers walked away.

Their greatest reliance was the Wine that had hardly been touched along the way. The only jar that had been opened, and which was half-drunk, was left with its mouth open on the ground, emitting the special Incense of the brewed Wine.

This special fragrance, which no one had ever smelled before, deeply attracted everyone nearby. All the tribes, whether large or small, rich or poor, were lured by this scent to Xiong's stall.

The first thing they asked was: what is this fragrance?

The Soldier responsible for trade matters pointed to that jar. If anyone wanted to get close, he would immediately drive them away, telling them to stay further back, and used the script Baifeng had once fabricated, saying that this was water drunk by the gods, and they had only obtained some under very fortunate circumstances, but because their tribe suffered a disaster, they had no choice but to take it out for trade.

Almost everyone who heard this was convinced. A person who looked like they belonged to a very wealthy tribe began to ask for the price. The Soldier was not intimidated in the slightest and directly took out a large bag and a small Glass cup, saying: "A cup of this Wine requires three such bags of Grass Seed or one bag of meat to exchange. Oh, right, this cup is what the gods use to drink water; this can also be traded, but the price is even higher than this Wine. And we don't necessarily only want Grass Seed and meat; if there are other good things, we can also trade for them."

Upon hearing such a high price, most people were scared off, but they all still lingered near the stall, basking in this fragrance.

That person who asked for the price did not hesitate at all. After saying a few words to the Soldier following him, he said: "I want to trade for this cup of your Wine, but can I drink it now and have a taste?"

The Huaxia Soldier said: "Of course you can, but if you want to drink using our cup, you must give two more bags of meat to be kept here, so you don't break the cup. After you finish drinking, give the cup to me, and I will return the meat to you. If the cup breaks, we will not return the meat, but you are also not allowed to take the cup away. Do you understand?"

The man looked at the cup and nodded in agreement, so he spoke a few more words to the Soldier following him, telling him to go get the items.

After the bags of food were sent back one by one, they were first poured into the Huaxia bags, because the sizes of their bags were different.

The Huaxia Soldier opened the bag and took a look; inside were very small Grass Seeds, smaller than grains of Millet. He had never seen them, but they should be edible; otherwise, no tribe would be willing to waste energy collecting this stuff.

The Huaxia Soldier filled up three bags, and then seeing the meat jerky that was made in almost the same way as what he had seen a few days ago, he packed two bags very tightly.

After everything was packed, the Soldier then carefully picked up the cup and used a small spoon made of gold to start scooping Wine from the jar, saying as he scooped: "The first sip of this Wine is fragrant, then it feels a bit hot, and then the whole front of your body will feel hot all the way down. But it is different from hot soup; our Wine is ice-cold. Some people will get drunk just by smelling it, their heads will feel a bit dizzy, and they will feel as if they have reached Heaven. Those with good luck might truly see the gods."

"As for those with bad luck, drinking a cup won't let them see anything, but no matter how unlucky a person is, as long as they drink a little more, they can forget all their sorrows. Those with good luck only need one sip."