Chapter 424: Kickback

After a brief exchange between Xiong and the two men from the Jiangshui Tribe, they understood Xiong's request: he wanted women. Seeing that this tribe consisted entirely of men, the Jiangshui Tribe understood that it was normal for them to want women.

Thus, they agreed to Xiong's request. In the end, they traded this jar of Wine and the Glass cups for six hundred women, as well as three large bags of dried meat that were half a person's height. Originally, it wouldn't have been worth this many women, but Xiong was not picky. Xiong told the Jiangshui Tribe directly that as long as they weren't too old to walk or missing arms or legs, they would take them; he only asked for a higher quantity.

The people of the Jiangshui Tribe naturally had no objections. They had seen many tribes trading for women, and usually, they would settle for fewer people to ensure they got sturdy beauties, but this was the first time they had seen a tribe that didn't care about quality and only sought quantity.

They had plenty of such women in the Jiangshui Tribe; they could even be considered a burden, so they agreed to Xiong very readily. After the price was settled, the two men had Xiong bring some of his people to go with them to the Jiangshui Tribe to collect the women.

This gathering site belonged to the Jiang Tribe, so they also had a large, semi-permanent camp here, though it was located in a higher position, the purpose of which was to prevent enemy attacks.

After they brought Xiong to the location, Xiong saw the camp amidst the golden fallen leaves. They were mostly semi-subterranean pit dwellings, which provided much better wind protection and warmth.

Their Tribal Chief's tent was also different; it was tall and thick, and though it was unclear how many layers of fur were wrapped around the outside, the wind blew past it without a hint of swaying.

They had no intention of taking Xiong to see the Tribal Chief; in fact, Xiong and his men couldn't even enter the interior of the camp and could only watch from afar.

One of the two men left first, carrying the wine jar; judging by the direction, he was likely going to find their Tribal Chief. However, after walking a short distance, he sent a Soldier over to take the Glass cups.

The remaining man ordered their Soldiers to find the agreed-upon dried meat and women for Xiong and his men.

Since Xiong had said he wasn't picky, they would call over any woman they saw and casually decided their fate. However, they did not call over the beauties in their eyes; those they had to keep for themselves.

To make counting easier, they used long tree branches, with twelve people holding onto one; this way, it was easy to count. A Soldier beside Xiong whispered a reminder that this tribe likely used the base-twelve system that the King had spoken of, which was different from their Huaxia.

Xiong's knowledge base was not high enough; after learning for so long, he could only do addition and subtraction. As for things like positional notation, it felt like something he had heard of, yet also hadn't.

However, they eventually discovered it wasn't base-twelve at all, but base-six. Regardless of the base, after both sides counted and confirmed the number was correct, Xiong noticed there were a dozen or so extra women, so he tried asking if they could give these women to them as well.

Actually, the people of the Jiangshui Tribe didn't think much of it and were perfectly willing to give them away—they were just getting rid of a few burdens—but they had already finished the trade, the price had been set long ago, and the rules could not be broken.

Thus, they had to explain the reason to Xiong, but Xiong saw that they didn't want to give them away because they thought the women were precious, but simply because they didn't want to break the rules.

So he tried asking, "Our trade is finished, but I think our trade was still very pleasant. Those women are of no use to you, so in light of our pleasant trade, could you trade them to us cheaply? For example, one piece of dried meat for one woman?"

As soon as Xiong finished speaking, the few Soldiers driving the women were furious: "What are you thinking! Do you think our women are Grass leaves? Can you just trade them away for one piece of dried meat?"

However, one of the two men who had stayed behind for the handover was definitely middle-to-high ranking; he had authority and was also somewhat intelligent, and he immediately understood Xiong's idea.

So he said symbolically, "Then one piece is too little; I'll trade you one woman for three pieces!"

Xiong was overjoyed upon hearing this and hurriedly had the Soldiers count out meat strips from their bags and hand them to the man. However, this small Leader of the Jiangshui Tribe did not intend to turn it over to the public, nor did he intend to keep it all for himself; instead, he divided two pieces each among the Soldiers who were with him.

Don't look at how they were wealthy and powerful in the Jiang Tribe; that was the tribe's wealth, the King's wealth, not theirs. So, after the Soldiers were stunned but accepted the two pieces of meat—which were not small—without refusal, they didn't say another word.

Finally, the Jiangshui Tribe delivered the verdict: "Huaxia has traded Wine and Glass cups for six hundred women and three bags of dried meat from our Jiangshui Tribe; the trade is complete!"

Both sides were happy. Xiong wore a smile and immediately led those women down the mountain, returning the way they came. Those women still had no thoughts of resisting or running away; they were now people of Huaxia. They had never heard of Huaxia and didn't know how powerful Huaxia was, but looking at their clothing and physiques, and the fact that they dared to trade for so many women at once, they shouldn't be too bad.

After Xiong reached the camp, he had everyone settle these women in, and then he took advantage of the last bit of time before the sun went down to look at the stalls of the Golden Autumn Gathering he hadn't finished seeing, so that they could set off for home early tomorrow morning and not stay any longer.

Everyone was quite excited because there was finally hope of going home. They had been away for so long; they didn't know if it was Winter yet, but the temperature had been dropping rapidly these past few days, and they were all shivering with cold, unwilling to leave the fire.

The reason Xiong wanted to return so early was that missing home was secondary. The weather was turning cold rapidly, and they couldn't obtain food here, so they could only eat their stored rations. Moreover, having added so many people, the pressure on him as the leader was immense.

An even more important point was the threat of the Wulenge Tribe. He had already discovered that people from the Wulenge Tribe would pass by their camp from time to time and stay briefly.

It wasn't that Xiong's observation skills were that strong, but the scent of the Wulenge was persistent enough, and their appearance was too distinct; in a pile of already filthy savages, they were still very conspicuous and couldn't be hidden no matter what.

Because these people of Huaxia had been traveling for a long time and had no chance to bathe or clean up, they were no different from ordinary savages; otherwise, it would have been easier for other tribes to notice them.

The Wulenge Tribe would definitely not let them off easily. The best outcome would only be a forced trade with them; what Xiong feared more was being attacked by the Wulenge Tribe, who were not restricted by rules, on the way back.

Their Weapons were all hidden in their luggage; what they exposed to others were ordinary Stone Spear and Stone Axe, which they had made on the road just before arriving at the gathering site.

The number of Soldiers they displayed on the surface was about the same as the Wulenge Tribe, and they had a Weapon advantage, so they shouldn't be afraid of the Wulenge Tribe. But Xiong did not want a single casualty, otherwise, it would make the return journey even more difficult for their already weak team.