Chapter 497: The Impending Negotiation

The next day, the two groups continued their journey. Just as the Huaxia Soldiers had envisioned, they were unable to reach the Large Ship today either. After all, the movement speed of the Sixia Tribe was indeed somewhat slow. Fortunately, however, they had brought enough Sulfur with them all at once, which could be considered a good thing for Huaxia, as it saved them waiting time.

One must know that although time in this era was not worth much, the departure of such a large and powerful armed force from Huaxia meant that Huaxia's waters were empty. If any accident were to occur, could the remaining people handle it? Therefore, everyone was thinking about returning early.

The Sixia Tribe also had a very sensible point: when the Huaxia Soldiers were catching fish in the water, they would not have the slightest objection. Although the entire Sulfur Land was nominally ruled by the Sixia Tribe, the Sixia themselves were very clear in their hearts that this was only because Huaxia and the Suiren Clan did not intend to attack them for the time being; otherwise, this Sulfur Land could never have belonged to such a small tribe as theirs.

Therefore, regarding the matter of Huaxia people catching fish on his territory, Sixia just pretended not to see it. However, if he were asked to go to Huaxia's territory to catch fish, he truly did not have the guts.

Sixia was now also enjoying the treatment of riding in a small Huaxia Boat, not needing to take a single step and moving directly downstream. In the cabin, two Soldiers were sleeping; they had been on night watch for too long the previous night and had only slept for a very short time, so everyone tacitly allowed their behavior of sleeping during the day.

Sixia was very envious. No matter how long his own tribesmen stood guard, as soon as the day broke—or even before the sky was fully bright, when the Huaxia people would wake them up—they had to start the fire, cook, eat, and then dismantle and pack up the Tents. By the time all this was finished, the sun had completely risen, and mist was steaming up from the ground.

Just like this, they traveled for another day. Yishang and Liangji were waiting anxiously on the Boat. Although they already knew there was no danger and that they were returning smoothly, the process of waiting was, after all, agonizing.

So much so that later, to kill time, the two took out fishing rods and began to fish in the river, saying they would see who caught the most. Yishang used as a wager a Large Sword inlaid with a green Peridot that had fallen along with the gift bestowed by the Heaven God, which Baifeng had rewarded him with. Liangji was not stingy either, using a gold hairpin inlaid with the same gemstone as a wager, and then the two began to exert themselves, using their best skills to fish.

A wager like the one between the two of them was already nothing strange in Huaxia. However, Baifeng prohibited gambling among the common people, especially since various types of board games had been created by him and were very popular. Baifeng did this to add fun to their boring nights, but he absolutely did not allow them to gamble.

Gambling on board games among Nobles was also strictly prohibited, but wagers like this were not managed; if you wanted to play, you played. Anyway, they were just betting on those few types of things. You won this time, I won next time; basically, it was just one item being passed around and played with in different people's hands.

What they considered the most precious, and also the most commonly used for wagers, were items related to the Meteorite that fell during the founding of Huaxia—that is, the "gift from the Heaven God" fabricated by Baifeng. There was plenty of Meteorite Iron, but Baifeng controlled it and did not let it circulate; it was all with the Royal Family. However, the large amount of Peridot that came with it became something Baifeng used to win people over and to bestow as rewards.

It was good-looking but not practical, yet its significance was very great, so its value was naturally very high. Except for Baifeng and the Artisan, no one knew exactly how much Peridot there was, but the Artisan had also been bought off by Baifeng with two stones, and coupled with intimidation, the Artisan had kept his mouth shut.

As for those stones, Baifeng actually still had a drawer full of them, because the Meteorite was truly too large. There was still a great deal of the Meteorite now, well-preserved in Baifeng's private warehouse.

Those who received the rewards would use the Peridot to make some ornaments and use them frequently, rather than hiding them at home. After all, they were not very large stones; if left alone, one would not know when they might go missing.

The resources in the river were excellent, mainly because no one went to catch them, so fishing was extremely easy. As long as you chose your bait well, it would bite as soon as you threw it in. In the end, the technical competition turned into a test of physical strength, but in terms of physical strength, Liangji was naturally no match for Yishang. Thus, he finally announced his defeat and said that when they returned to the tribe, he would give the hairpin to Yishang.

Yishang did not care at all; it was mainly just to pass the time, and increasing the wager was just to make the game more interesting.

In the end, the fish the two caught were enough for half a boat of people each to eat. Other Soldiers whose hands were itching, after finishing their shifts, also picked up the fishing rods placed on the Boat and started fishing. But if they were asked to fish normally, they would be listless; this was the difference between work and a hobby.

After another half-day of trekking, the Huaxia Soldiers took the lead in steering the Boats, bringing Sixia to accelerate into the secondary tributary, rushing toward the Large Ship they had already seen. Meanwhile, the other Soldiers of the Sixia Tribe continued to walk slowly along the river on land.

Upon seeing the small Boats sailing toward them, the Large Ship immediately signaled with flags, and the people on the small Boats replied in time with corresponding flag signals. Anyway, it was just those few sentences back and forth; they had not formed a perfect and useful flag signal system, just confirming whether they were their own people and whether they had been controlled by others. After the other side responded that it was safe, there was no problem.

Even though Sixia knew that the Huaxia Boats were particularly large and had even seen one from afar once, this ship still shocked him incomparably. They were larger than one another, and there were even three of them.

Sixia also guessed that Huaxia probably would not have sent out all their ships, so Huaxia had more than just these few ships. Sixia almost bit his tongue off; his mind was filled only with shock, without a single thought of being an enemy of Huaxia.

It was not until the small Boat stopped alongside the Large Ship and a rope ladder was lowered from the Large Ship for him to climb that he suddenly woke up, and then tremblingly grabbed the rope ladder and began to climb.

Someone like Baifeng would not use a rope ladder; he had his own ladder. When he was about to board the ship, it would already be lowered from the Large Ship and fixed to a relatively large ferry boat. This was easier, and the posture was also better-looking. But Sixia and the ordinary Soldiers would not use that thing; they could only use the rope ladder. This time, Yishang did have the qualification to use the wooden ladder; these high-level officials still had some privileges.