Chapter 810: Establishing Order (2)

The first small tribe accepted the task with trepidation; they had prepared themselves to receive nothing, but they did not expect Huaxia to give them the salt first: "Take the goods before doing the work. Today's work is not easy to do. After you rinse it with water, it is best to find some soil to cover it with, otherwise, the stench might be unbearable."

The tribe that received the salt in advance was shocked. The Tribal Chief joyfully stuffed the salt bag into his bosom, then took the lead in dragging the corpses; his movements caused a swarm of flies to fly everywhere.

Xiong, however, looked at the corpses on the ground and the bloodstains along the path, feeling somewhat hesitant. Could the gathering and trade really continue here? Those bloodstains on the ground certainly could not be cleaned very thoroughly, even if most of the ground here was stone and would not turn into bloody mud.

But he knew very well how difficult human blood was to deal with. It was likely that even after rinsing the ground with water several times, it would still attract a large number of flies. Those corpses would also certainly attract nearby wild beasts. This place was likely not very safe. Huaxia was not afraid, but what about those small tribes?

So, Xiong directly asked for a horse and mounted it, taking over a dozen Soldiers with him, wanting to find a more suitable location nearby. There was still time; as long as there was a place that was flat enough and had a water source, it would be entirely possible to process it into a clean gathering point. There was no need to insist on staying here.

However, he was not very familiar with this place, so he rode the horse, trampling over the corpses as he went out, and said to those tribes: "There are too many corpses here, which might attract many wild beasts. It is a bit dangerous for you. Does anyone know if there is a more suitable place nearby? Let us go take a look, and then change the location for the gathering, how about that?"

Most of the tribes were a bit worried, but some tribes also noticed the difference between Huaxia and the White Velvet Tribe. Moreover, they had long known the name of Huaxia and had also seen Huaxia. They felt that since Huaxia was so wealthy, they should not go so far as to rob them, and the possibility of them wanting to control the gathering was greater.

But it was certainly better for the gathering to be controlled by a large tribe like Huaxia than by a tribe like the White Velvet Tribe. Generally speaking, large tribes would not set their sights on the meager wealth of small tribes; they cared more about power.

Thus, the Tribal Chiefs of several tribes decided to take a gamble. In any case, they could do nothing now; if they could help Huaxia re-establish this gathering, they would be the ones to profit.

So, after the first tribe stood out, several more tribes successively came forward to express their stance, indicating that they could go look together and that they had indeed seen more suitable places.

The atmosphere under She Shan suddenly improved and was not as oppressive as before. This was exactly the result Huaxia wanted, so he smiled and said to those tribes that were still watching: "You can continue to trade normally now. Huaxia's Soldiers will maintain order. If anyone wants to rob or steal, you can completely ask our Huaxia Soldiers to help you, and we do not need you to pay anything."

"If we find a better location, whether you are willing to move there or not is entirely up to you."

After saying this, Xiong let those who knew the place lead the way, and he maintained a very good attitude along the way, wanting to make the atmosphere more relaxed. These tribes willing to stand out were the ones most worth winning over.

If they were unwilling or afraid to speak, Huaxia's Soldiers would naturally find topics for them. As long as the conversation continued along the way and they did not discuss sensitive or serious topics, the atmosphere would not go cold.

In the conversation, those tribes also discovered that Huaxia was not that terrifying. Thinking back on what happened last night, Huaxia's actions were indeed not wrong at all. None of the conflicts were started by Huaxia. If they had encountered the same thing, they would certainly have fought too, though they might have been wiped out as a tribe. They did not have the powerful combat strength of Huaxia.

Their fear of Huaxia seemed to be purely fear of Huaxia's exaggerated combat strength. After all, they had killed so many people for no reason, and they had no idea where the upper limit of their combat strength was.

At the same time, Huaxia also intentionally or unintentionally revealed Huaxia's true strength to those they talked to, telling them Huaxia's location, making them develop the idea of wanting to get closer to Huaxia and receive Huaxia's protection.

Of course, they certainly would not say it so directly. What really made those savages open their hearts was what Huaxia said they wanted to trade for.

Huaxia knew that these savage tribes certainly would not have any good things. What Huaxia wanted was only animal skins, new plant Wax Seeds, gold, or what Huaxia called dog-head gold. Although it was a metal, it was too soft and not very useful to those tribes, but because it was special, many tribes still collected it. Perhaps some tribe would want it.

Furthermore, there were the horns and bones of various wild beasts. Rhino Horn was a must-collect item for Huaxia. Tender deer antlers—they must be tender, old ones would not do—and the horns of a special kind of sheep. Xiong had not seen them, but he had heard Baifeng describe the general shape. It was just a matter of whether he would be lucky enough to see them this time. People could also be bought if they were of good quality.

Moreover, what Huaxia was willing to give were salt and Salted Fish, absolute hard currency. The people of those tribes were all very tempted when they heard this. If nothing else, they all had animal skins. If they could trade their own skins for Huaxia's salt, they would make a huge profit. And Xiong also said that the price would only be higher than other tribes, not lower; the rarer and softer the skin, the better.

But they would not want skins of poor quality, no matter how cheap the price was.

And besides animal skins, they also had more or less of the other items themselves. They had deer antlers and sheep horns, but they really did not expect that a tribe would want them. They were only using such things to make up the numbers because they did not have much else to trade. If they happened to trade them away, that would be a huge profit.

They could not wait to trade with Huaxia and kept asking about the price. Although Xiong was a bit impatient, he could not show it and could only smile and say: "There is no rush for this. We will still be here, and there is enough salt, so you do not need to worry. Now, let us find a better place first. When we return, I will prioritize trading for your goods, alright?"

With Xiong's promise, they calmed down a little. As long as their own goods were not traded away by their tribesmen in advance, then trading for salt with Huaxia was a sure thing. Besides, it was unlikely that other tribes would trade for things like horns.