Chapter 495: Arrival at Liuhuangdi

After a journey of over ten days, Yishang and his group crossed the Dahe, then traveled along a tributary until the Large Ship could no longer pass. They had a portion of the men transfer to small boats to go and notify the Sixia Tribe, while the rest waited on the spot. For the sake of caution, those who left took a falcon with them, because a falcon could be summoned to land on the Boat, whereas a pigeon might not necessarily do so. If there were no issues, they could just bring back a message casually; if they were attacked or something happened, they could just let the falcon fly back without carrying any information at all.

Most importantly, if an accident really occurred, the thirty people who left together would have no chance to write a message; as long as they could release the falcon, it would count as a success.

Furthermore, it was agreed that if no news was sent back within three days, their main force would advance to investigate the situation.

At this time, the Sixia Tribe was also having a rather difficult life. He had initially only seen the importance of this place to Huaxia and the Suiren Clan, but he had never imagined that this place would be so barren. The tribe of nearly three thousand people he led relied mostly on grain stored from trades with Huaxia for their food throughout the Winter.

If they wanted to hunt, they had to set out for relatively distant places. However, what they felt was quite fortunate was that the water near their territory did not freeze in Winter and flowed constantly, and there were many small shrimp and plenty of fish in it.

As a tribe that primarily relied on land beasts, having to suddenly transition to relying on aquatic products was still somewhat difficult for Sixia to accept; after all, whose wild beasts are covered in small thorns?

But for the sake of survival, they had to change. The small streams around their territory were slow and clear, and the fish were large. Even though they had little experience, catching them was not too difficult. Yet, they were also afraid that such a large tribe could not be sustained by these few small streams, and Huaxia might not necessarily be reliable, so the thought of abandoning Liuhuangdi sprouted in Sixia's mind again.

Just as Sixia was eating fish soup boiled with Grass Seed, a Soldier reported to him that several dozen people claiming to be Huaxia Soldiers had arrived at their territory. Upon hearing this, Sixia immediately perked up, hurriedly stood up, and went out to see without even wiping his mouth.

When he looked at those who had arrived, although he did not recognize or know any of them, the clothes they wore, their physiques, and the strange wooden Boat they were sitting in were definitely Huaxia without a doubt.

Although he did not see any grain and not many people had come, Sixia did not dare to be the least bit negligent and hurriedly stepped forward to welcome them with a smiling face; these people were very likely the saviors of his Sixia Tribe.

The Huaxia group was not the least bit timid either. Amidst the gazes of over a thousand people, they strode forward confidently, following Sixia's guidance.

Sixia wanted to invite them all into his cave, but his cave was too small and could not accommodate so many people at all, so he had to ask fawningly, "Which one is the Leader? Shall we go inside to talk?"

The person leading the Huaxia group directly looked up and refused Sixia, then scanned the ground beneath his feet. After confirming it was pure earth and there were no strange things, he sat down cross-legged and said to Sixia, "No need. The weather is so good now, let's just sit here and chat. What's so good about that cold, gloomy cave? Come out and bask in the sun for a day."

The Huaxia Soldiers also observed the ground beneath their feet, and after kicking away some large stones, they sat down as well. Seeing this, Sixia hurriedly sat down too. Even though so few people from Huaxia had come this time, he did not dare to show any arrogance, because he knew very well that Huaxia had sent so few people because they only wanted to send so many, not because they could only send so many. He had a very clear understanding of Huaxia's true strength.

After sitting down, Sixia shifted his bottom, then rubbed his hands and asked curiously, "Leader, what is the purpose of this visit? Regarding what I mentioned when I went to Huaxia before... can our alliance happen?"

This Huaxia Leader said very solemnly, "The reason for coming is to discuss relevant matters with you. However, because our main force and the true Great Leader could not determine what the situation of your Sixia Tribe is now, they are still staying in a river channel downstream. The people I lead are just the vanguard, here to see the situation of your Sixia Tribe. Therefore, I cannot tell you the specific details, but I can clearly tell you that we, Huaxia, have already agreed to form an alliance with you."

Upon hearing this, Sixia immediately beamed with joy. As for these people being here to check on the situation of their Sixia Tribe, wasn't that perfectly normal? Huaxia was such a large tribe; what was wrong with those Great Leaders being a bit cautious? It wasn't as if they were like him, driven to a dead end, and thus had to risk going directly to other unfamiliar tribes.

"Then, what should we do now? Do you want to go and bring that Great Leader here?"

The Huaxia Leader did not hide the disdain in his eyes and tone at all. After scanning the surrounding environment, he said bluntly, "The conditions and environment here are too poor. You should just take your people and come with us to talk on our boat. One of our boats has better conditions than your entire tribe."

Sixia was left somewhat speechless. He looked around at the surroundings again, but he felt it wasn't that bad; it was just a bit poor. But wasn't that the general situation of the entire era? What could be done about it? How much better could Huaxia's "good" be? But Sixia didn't dare to say it out loud.

After a brief moment of thought, he decided to go along. At the time, he had dared to go directly to Huaxia; now, it was just meeting a Huaxia Leader, so what was there to be afraid of? Moreover, Huaxia surely wouldn't have any bad intentions toward him; otherwise, he wouldn't have left Huaxia alive in the first place.

Seeing that Sixia had already made up his mind, the Huaxia group stood up quite decisively. The Leader said to Sixia, "Since you've decided, then hurry up and go prepare now. See how many people you want to bring; it's up to you anyway. However, you'd better bring the Sulfur you've collected as well. We are here to trade for Sulfur this time, so if you bring some now, you can save yourself a trip later."

Hearing that there was an unexpected bonus, Sixia became even more proactive. Ignoring the Huaxia request to set off that very day, he happily went to summon his people. He had thought that Huaxia would take at least half a year before continuing to trade for Sulfur; after all, the frequency of trades with the Suiren Clan was not high either.

Fortunately, he had always been having people collect Sulfur, and he estimated that it would be more than enough to satisfy this trade. Plus, since Huaxia said there was no limit on the number of people, he simply brought enough men and took all the Sulfur he had collected with him.