Chapter 572: It Is Not Just You Who Has Iron

Xuanyuan smiled confidently and said, "Of course everything is fine. You have seen it too; our Xuanyuan Tribe is getting better and better. Thank you for your concern."

After the pleasantries ended, the Shaman said directly, "For this visit, we have brought grain, cloth, silk, and other supplies to trade with the Xuanyuan Tribe. I wonder if Tribal Chief Xuanyuan has any interest in this?"

Xuanyuan naturally did not mind, because the things Huaxia traded away were basically of no use to them, so Xuanyuan was very happy to trade, not to mention that Huaxia had come in person this time, which also saved them a lot of trouble.

"What do you need to trade for? The tea leaves are just starting to sprout now; they should be the kind of tender buds you like best. However, you also know that collecting tea leaves takes a long time, and we cannot gather them for you immediately."

"Tea leaves are the main supply we came for this time. Although you don't like drinking tea and don't have the craft of tea-making, which is why you just dry the tea leaves like this and soak them in water to drink, so you can't understand the wonder of tea. For Huaxia, we can go on without tea; after all, we haven't seen tea leaves for half a year. But we now have enough surplus grain, so naturally, we are thinking of trading for more tea leaves to make our lives better."

"Just like honey, it's not something you must eat, but if there is honey, people's moods will improve, right?"

The reason the Shaman said so much was for fear that Xuanyuan would overthink it, believing that Huaxia could not live without tea just as they could not live without salt, and thereby raise the price of tea. This was not something the Shaman wanted to see. Huaxia could not grow tea trees, and tea leaves could only be purchased from other tribes, so the price must not be given any excuse or opportunity to rise from the very beginning. Actively revealing how long it had been since Huaxia had tea leaves was for this reason as well.

Xuanyuan, however, focused on another point: the Shaman was looking down on their tea leaves, thinking they didn't know how to make tea. Xuanyuan also felt a bit embarrassed, but he couldn't say much. Qibo had proven that tea leaves had no special efficacy, and Zhishou had proven it too, so tea leaves were really just something Huaxia used to soak in water to drink, purely to make the water taste like something, so Xuanyuan didn't think about raising the price.

"Then is the price of tea leaves the same as before?"

The Shaman felt relieved inside: "The same."

The Shaman said to Limu, "Arrange for people to go and pick tea leaves immediately; pick as much as you can."

He fixed his gaze on the Shaman again: "You should have brought enough supplies to trade for that many tea leaves, right?"

The Shaman smiled indifferently: "Of course, that is no problem. We brought plenty of things, two large ships. Unless our ship holds cannot fit it, we will definitely not lack things to trade. If it really comes to it, any piece of our ironware would be enough to trade, right?"

But it did not go as the Shaman had expected; the mention of trading with ironware did not stir up the emotions of the Xuanyuan Tribe people. Instead, they seemed a bit disdainful. The Shaman steadied his emotions and acted as if nothing had happened.

Limu carried a long bow they had made themselves, which was very different from Huaxia's design—longer and thicker. However, the Shaman could tell that the craftsmanship was a bit inferior, but the power would not be lacking. Still, it required someone with enough ability to make it effective, whereas Huaxia's bows were easier to handle.

However, Huaxia already had better weapons. The Shaman was not surprised or panicked by the appearance of long bows in the Xuanyuan Tribe; no matter how stiff the bow, it could not compare to a bomb.

But Limu seemed to do it on purpose, walking specifically from his side and slowing his pace. When passing the Shaman, he patted the weapon at his waist, then tilted it, and a bright axe blade was revealed from the sheath. The Shaman's gaze was immediately drawn to it because he saw at a glance that it was not bronze, but iron. Yet, Huaxia had never traded iron axes with the Xuanyuan Tribe.

In that case, there were only two possibilities. First, the Xuanyuan Tribe had already mastered the technology of iron smelting. Second, someone in Huaxia was secretly selling weapons to the Xuanyuan Tribe. But the second one was quite difficult because Huaxia monitored the surrounding area strictly; no one could smuggle down the Dahe and make contact with the Xuanyuan Tribe to conduct trade. They had no opportunity to connect before, but this was not absolutely impossible.

The Shaman was more willing to believe the first possibility, but if that were the case, it would be even more terrifying. With ironware, the gap between the Xuanyuan Tribe and Huaxia would only be gunpowder. Everything else could be compensated for by the Xuanyuan Tribe's population. Moreover, the Shaman had noticed from the beginning that the mental state and physical condition of the Xuanyuan Tribe people were much better than before, which was clearly due to the abundance of food.

In such a short time, why was the Xuanyuan Tribe able to have enough food to feed so many people? Could it be that Huaxia's grain seeds had also been spread? The Shaman's heart was no longer at ease. Perhaps Huaxia needed to conduct another major search.

Xuanyuan noticed this small detail of Limu's, but did not show any reaction. The Xuanyuan Tribe indeed had not mastered the method of casting ironware, but they could already reprocess ironware through hammering.

And they were now equipped with a lot of ironware, which was gradually spreading from the top down. It was not that the Xuanyuan Tribe had enough scrap iron, but that there was more than one Huaxia skilled in smelting metal and casting weapons.

The Jiuli, or rather the current Chiyou Tribe, had been famous for their skill in casting weapons before Huaxia existed. On this land, who didn't know that the Jiuli's weapons were the best? Moreover, their powerful soldiers all used bronze weapons instead of stone tools, though the proportion was relatively low across the entire Jiuli.

Furthermore, iron had always existed in the Chiyou Tribe, but they had not found a large enough iron ore, nor did they have high enough smelting technology to smelt more iron. It was precisely because they had always had iron but it had never flowed out—only they knew it themselves. Otherwise, why would they call the panda an "iron-eating beast"?

But now, as they continuously expanded their territory, they discovered a real iron ore. And by discovering that forest fires burned more fiercely when aided by wind, they increased the firepower by continuously fanning the air while smelting iron, raising the temperature of the smelting furnace to achieve the goal of iron smelting.

Stronger properties and higher yields made the Chiyou Tribe gradually abandon bronze ware and switch to iron weapons. And since Chiyou was another long-term trading partner of the Xuanyuan Tribe, they naturally discovered their iron weapons, and the trade of ironware between the two sides unfolded from there.