Chapter 490: Bringing Grain Back to the Tribe

It took them another full day to finish trading those Slaves. Because the price of Ironware had dropped, Baoxi exchanged for those Dajian, and also traded for two Iron Pots and two Iron Shovels each. He did not understand why the Iron Pots and shovels, which clearly used more Iron, were cheaper in price.

Baifeng naturally would not explain it to him; perhaps forging a good Dajian required more craftsmanship and more complex procedures. In any case, as long as the trade was finished, it was fine.

When Baoxi was about to leave, Baifeng gave him over a dozen sets of medicine and taught him how to decoct them. Baoxi always felt that getting things for free like this was not quite right, especially when it came to things from Huaxia, so he thought about trading for them or simply refusing them, because these medicines were not what he wanted; Huaxia was essentially forcing a sale.

Baifeng did not expect Baoxi to have such an epiphany, so he took out the copied transcripts of those illustrated manuals from Changle and handed them to Baoxi, telling him that as long as it was something in these manuals, Huaxia could use it for trade, though the values would vary.

Baoxi opened the manual with a sense of doubt and discovered that he had seen many of the things drawn inside. However, with Huaxia having traded for Sulfur to make Bombs beforehand, Baoxi did not dare to sell these things whose uses he did not know to Huaxia, even if it were just some Grass.

However, the words Baifeng said next barely dispelled Baoxi's doubts: "The medicine I gave you to drink is decocted from these Grasses. Different Grasses have different effects. Like when you feel a headache, dizziness, or a cough, there are ways to treat them; just drink the water decocted from certain Grasses. Like you right now, listless and very weak, if you drink a decoction made from a few kinds of Grass combined, there won't be any problem. After drinking it for these two days, you shouldn't feel anything too obvious, but after drinking it for a while longer, you will understand."

Baoxi looked at the paper packets on the table and the manual in his hand, and in the end, he agreed to Baifeng's proposal. He would take these things back to drink, and in the future, he would also need to use these Grasses to trade with Huaxia; it was not a loss at all.

The grain that Huaxia gave to the Suiren Tribe was all packed in sacks, and the Suiren Tribe seemed to prefer Bean Dregs rather than Wheat and rice. The reason for this was the oily scent on the Bean Dregs.

Since the Suiren Tribe chose it themselves, Huaxia naturally had no objections. Their people did not eat Bean Dregs anyway, but after trading so much with the Suiren Tribe, the amount of Bean Dregs their livestock could eat would have to be reduced.

After Baoxi lingered in Huaxia for another night, he set off the next day. Because they had grain, everyone could eat their fill, and everyone felt they had strength. Although each person had to carry tens of catties of grain, no one had any complaints, and they did not even feel it was heavy.

Huangpin was still waiting bitterly in the tribe. The longer he waited, the more panicked he became, and the remaining people were also becoming restless.

Huangpin hurriedly gathered the tribespeople on a flat piece of land to dig the already frozen soil, then burned hot water to mix the mud, wanting to build more of the houses he had designed on this flat land. For one, it was indeed very effective at keeping out the cold and staying warm, and it could also stir up the minds of the idle people so they would not let their thoughts run wild.

But Huangpin still thought a bit too optimistically. At this temperature, even boiling water would quickly turn into ice shards after being poured into the soil. His plan not only failed to work but instead made the tribespeople even more dissatisfied.

Just as Huangpin was hiding in his Tent at a loss, Baoxi returned. Only then did Huangpin feel as if he had seen a savior and hurriedly went up to welcome him.

But what made Huangpin even happier was the grain carried by the massive team. With so much grain, plus their stored food, and then going out to hunt when the weather was a bit better, they could completely survive this Winter.

Seeing the joyful expressions of the tribespeople, Baoxi was also very happy. Afterward, he arranged for people to store all the brought-back grain uniformly. Once he clarified how many people were in each place, he would naturally distribute the grain, including those Villages; they would also have it, and he would not omit them.

Huangpin asked Baoxi somewhat obsequiously: "Tribal Chief, we were able to trade for so much grain with ten thousand Slaves. Why don't I lead a team and sell the remaining Slaves to Huaxia as well? That way, we definitely won't be short of grain this year."

Baoxi did not even look at Huangpin directly and said very calmly: "Do you really think Huaxia has an endless supply of grain? Taking out so much grain this time, I could see that Huaxia was having a bit of a hard time. If we take the remaining Slaves to Huaxia again, I reckon Huaxia won't buy them; they don't have enough grain."

"However, try your best not to let too many of those Slaves die this year. Keep at least half, and next autumn, continue to take them to trade with Huaxia. By that time, Huaxia will definitely have enough grain."

Huangpin hurriedly agreed. Not letting the Slaves die meant feeding them every few days, at least more often than they were currently being fed. Just in the time Baoxi was away, another hundred or so Slaves had died; it was still because of the severe lack of grain.

Baoxi also saw the earth house that Huangpin was working on. He also felt that this was completely doable; it was safer, sturdier, and had better wind resistance. The main thing was that it could save more animal skins. If animal skins were no longer used for Tents, they could be spread inside the house to keep warm, and they could live more comfortably.

It was just that it was indeed the cold Winter now, and it was impossible to build them; he could only wait until next year to talk about it.

After a rough count, Baoxi understood the population distribution of the Suiren Tribe, and then, based on the grain traded back this time, he distributed the food almost equally to everyone. However, the elite Leaders, who still had plenty of stored grain, were not among those receiving grain this time; Baoxi was more inclined to distribute more grain to the poorer people.

Upon receiving the grain sent by the Tribal Chief, the tribespeople of the Suiren Tribe all cheered and were moved, thanking the Tribal Chief profusely. Those Villages that had reached the brink of death and intended to flee the Suiren Tribe to join other tribes, upon inexplicably receiving the grain sent by the Tribal Chief and having the amount of their collected hunting/gathering income that they had to hand over reduced, were first extremely shocked and unable to believe it. But the food was truly in their hands, and they could not help but believe it.

The grain they received was barely enough to help them survive the remaining days, so they gave up their previous thoughts, thinking they would wait and see next year. If the Tribal Chief was still the same as before, then there would be no need to stay in the Suiren Tribe; they would flee when it was time to flee.

Huaxia had already finished distributing all the Slaves, and because they had places to live, it avoided the problems of various vicious incidents occurring like with the tenant farmers. The workload of the Ministry of Revenue was also greatly reduced, and they could finally rest well for a few days.