Chapter 487: A Transaction of Massive Proportions (3)

The more Baifeng spoke, the brighter Baoxi's eyes became; he had never ceased his pursuit of Ironware, and although he had made up his mind this time to only trade for grain, his heart still wavered when Baifeng brought out the Ironware.

"May I take a look at the Dajian?"

Baifeng said nonchalantly, "Of course you may."

Then, a Soldier beside Baifeng placed the box containing the Dajian on the table, opened it, and pushed it in front of Baoxi.

Baoxi took out a Dajian, weighed it in his hand a few times, then stroked it and exclaimed, "It is too beautiful. How much do you price this Dajian at?"

Baifeng spread both hands toward Baoxi and stated a number that Baoxi could not accept: "One hundred! For this Dajian of mine, the price is one hundred Slaves."

After a simple mental calculation, Baoxi realized that just the ten Dajian in this box could trade away one-tenth of the Slaves he had brought this time; this was something he could not accept, as the price was too high.

Baoxi put the Dajian back into the box and pushed it toward Baifeng: "Your asking price is too high; let us trade for grain instead."

This turn of events was not right, and Baifeng felt somewhat puzzled; he had thought that based on Baoxi's personality, no matter how high the Dajian was priced, he would have taken them directly, yet this time he had actually given up.

Baifeng had no choice but to say: "Right now, I feel your pricing for Slaves is too high, and you feel my pricing for the Dajian is too high, so let us discuss the prices first."

Baoxi picked up the freshly poured Tea Leaves and took a small sip, then also said with a serious expression: "Very well, let us discuss the price."

Baifeng believed that the amount of grain equivalent to the weight of a Slave was too high, and that it was completely impossible—no Slave had ever been worth that much grain; Baoxi, however, felt that Huaxia was in great need of these Slaves, and apart from the Suiren Tribe, no other tribe would be willing to give them tens of thousands of people.

Both sides argued back and forth, and finally, the price reached three-quarters of the original, meaning the grain equivalent to the weight of three Slaves could be exchanged for four Slaves; Baifeng was still not satisfied, believing it had to be lowered by at least half, so the two continued to argue again.

In the end, it was Baoxi who compromised, because Huaxia could do without these Slaves, but the Suiren Tribe could not do without grain; even if it meant selling all the Slaves at a low price, it would not be a loss.

Baifeng cut the price of the Slaves in half, and Baoxi also cut the price of those Ironware in half; if sold at half the price, the Suiren Tribe could still trade for these Ironware.

Being able to save grain for himself was the golden rule, and Baifeng agreed; although Huaxia's Ironware were currently ahead of the entire era and their production was extremely high, these tribes had mastered the technology of refining Bronze, but they seemed more inclined to forge the Bronze they worked so hard to refine into sacrificial items rather than Weapons and tools.

It was also possible that for some reason, they were deliberately controlling the production of Bronze; otherwise, after these tribes had developed for so many years, why would the production of Bronze still be so low?

Baifeng believed that Xuanyuan would definitely discover this problem; if it were a matter of craftsmanship, Xuanyuan would certainly make improvements and directly increase the production of Bronze, and by the time they armed themselves with Bronze Soldiers, the advantage of these Soldiers of Huaxia would be greatly reduced.

The reason Baifeng dared to sell Iron Daggers, or even complete Dajian, to Baoxi now was, firstly, that Huaxia's current stock of Dajian was very large and they were not worth much in Huaxia, making it just right to trade with Baoxi; but if he only traded other Ironware and failed to pique Baoxi's interest, then their preparations would have been in vain.

Another reason was that the Suiren Tribe had no ability to smelt Ironware, which had been determined long ago, and the Xuanyuan Tribe did not possess this skill either, so whatever Huaxia's Ironware looked like when sold, they would look the same when seen again.

Now that the prices for both sides had been settled, Baoxi was impatient to have Baifeng transport the grain so they could trade quickly.

Baifeng was also straightforward and did not drag things out; he stood up immediately and had the Soldiers of the Ministry of Revenue return to the city to notify them to start opening the granaries and transporting grain.

Baifeng had originally intended to roughly estimate how much each person weighed and then trade the grain, but Baoxi strongly requested that every single person must get on the Balance Scale.

Huaxia did have such large Balance Scales that could hold several people, which were all made for collecting grain, but there were not many of them; now that Baoxi required every person to get on the Balance Scale, it was no different from increasing the workload by several times over.

However, Baifeng could not refuse, so he had to go along with Baoxi; watching people come and go in the cold wind was certainly not a comfortable thing, and Baifeng really wanted to hurry back to the city to get warm, but Baoxi kept watching from the spot and did not go back, so it was not appropriate for Baifeng to leave.

Just then, a gust of wind blew, and Baoxi began to cough repeatedly with a "kaka-kaka" sound; Baifeng felt pain in his own lungs just listening to it, so he hurriedly said: "Baoxi, you should go back to your Tent to rest; your Soldiers are watching over these matters, so what is the use of you watching? You cannot keep track of so many being weighed at the same time."

After Baoxi struggled to stroke his chest, he sighed and returned to his Tent.

Seeing this, Baifeng also breathed a sigh of relief, as he could now leave; before he left, he instructed the Soldiers that everything should center on themselves—if it was too cold or too tiring, they should go rest, and if it was about to get dark, they should hurry back and talk about it tomorrow.

Everyone responded loudly to Baifeng's concern, and then Baifeng strode back to his office.

Just after sitting down, he remembered something, then took out a piece of paper and began to write on it; afterwards, he studied the paper for a while, made some revisions, and handed it to the people of the Phylum.

"Go, take this to the Hospital, have them prepare five doses first, boil one dose, put it in a warming box, and take it to Baoxi; keep the others for now, and I will give them to him myself later."

The people of the Phylum never asked for the reason; whatever the King said was what it was. They took the slip of paper and started walking toward the Hospital, and even though they already knew it was a prescription, they would not open it to look just because it did not involve secrets.

Near dusk, the wind grew stronger, and everyone knew that trading was no longer possible and they would have to wait until tomorrow; thus, the people of Huaxia hurriedly took the remaining grain and the Slaves traded today and headed toward Huaxia City.

At the same time, the people of the Phylum also carried the medicine and called out at Baoxi's Tent; Baoxi looked at the small bowl of brownish, steaming liquid, feeling somewhat bewildered, and he could even smell the peculiar odor emanating from the water.

Baoxi pointed at the medicine and said: "This, what is this thing? Is it some kind of Tea Leaves again?"

The Soldier of the Phylum hurriedly explained: "It is not, though it is similar to Tea Leaves. Our King said that drinking this medicine is good for your body; do not be afraid of the bitterness, drink it all."

Baoxi took the bowl of medicine, but he still felt some trepidation in his heart; after opening his mouth slightly and taking a sip, he felt so bitter that he doubted his own life, and his brows furrowed in great pain.

The Soldier of the Phylum hurriedly urged: "Tribal Chief Baoxi, this is different from drinking tea; you cannot sip it slowly, you must drink it in one breath, otherwise it will be too bitter to finish."

Baoxi steeled his heart, tilted his head back, and downed the bowl of medicine, then wanted to find water to rinse his mouth; seeing that he had finished it, the Soldier of the Phylum did not linger and left directly.

From beginning to end, Baoxi never suspected that this would harm him, because in his view, things that could be eaten and drunk were all fine, even if the taste was very strange; Baifeng seemed to just like these very bitter things.