Chapter 888: Everything Depends on Huaxia

Xuanyuan did not pause in the slightest and continued, "If we want Baifeng to also participate in this war, we must promise him sufficient benefits from the very beginning. Regardless of whether he provides men or Weapons, I believe the first step is to expand the existing trade volume; whatever Huaxia needs, we shall provide them with as much as possible."

"We currently have enough food and plenty of idle manpower, so let us send these people out to harvest more Tea Leaves. Huaxia also needs those medicinal herbs, so let us give them more."

"Does Huaxia not need Laborers to build their city? Last year, among the many who went, half were female Laborers. So, let us hire out more men to Huaxia—five thousand, six thousand, it is all fine. He wants men to work for him, and we need them to replace our own men in fighting; Huaxia should not refuse."

"Then, we shall send them Slaves and offer them territory in exchange for their immediate support. Huaxia cannot manage too much territory, but we can occupy more of the Shennong Clan's land and exchange the territory closer to Huaxia with them. Under such temptation, would Baifeng really refuse?"

"If I were Baifeng, I certainly would not, because we are satisfying his needs, and he is merely exchanging them at a relatively low cost," Qibo said, affirming this.

Limu, however, felt it was not quite right: "But in doing this, are we not paying too much? Giving away everything."

Dahong immediately stepped forward to balance the accounts for Limu: "No, Limu, we are not losing anything. Huaxia needs people, we give them people, but we are receiving the food they provide. This is a perfectly reasonable trade. It is just that Huaxia is in urgent need; he needs Tea Leaves, so we give him more. At worst, we lower the price a bit to let them gain more benefits, but the food will still be given to us. We are not losing anything at all; it is not as if we are giving it to them for free."

After this explanation, Limu was even more confused: "Since it is also beneficial to us, why not give more from the start? Are we not getting more food the more we trade?"

Dahong looked at this muscle-bound fellow and was somewhat speechless, but he could only patiently

explain: "If we hire out more people to Huaxia, it is equivalent to us having fewer people to do work. At the quantity like last year, the returns for us are greater than if they stayed in the tribe. But if the number sent out is any higher, our own construction speed will slow down due to a lack of people. There will also be fewer people to go hunting, so the meat we can obtain will be less, the mountain forests will go undeveloped, and the farmland will go uncultivated."

"Everything is only good within a reasonable limit. If more were always better, then we might as well have the whole tribe stop farming and hunting and just go to Huaxia to work for them."

Limu said "Oh," as if he were thinking. Dahong did not know if he had actually understood, but he figured that since he had explained it so clearly, he should have understood.

The steady Qibo then asked a second concern: "What about the Suiren Clan? Our communication with the Suiren Clan is almost non-existent now, but Huaxia's communication with them has been continuous, even having fixed annual trade just like with us. Will they unite?"

"If we can solve the problem of Huaxia, then the problem of the Suiren Clan will not be significant. As long as we can come to an agreement with Huaxia, it would be best if they could send enough Soldiers; this way, Huaxia's Soldiers would be tied down."

"I have said that Huaxia does not have many Soldiers. If they all go to attack the Shennong Clan, they will have no way to unite with the Suiren Clan to attack us. He also has to consider the safety of his own Soldiers who are with us."

"If we can reach an agreement to oppose the Suiren Clan together, that would be best. Although the Suiren Clan is still strong, compared to the Shennong Clan, the Suiren Clan is already too weak. It is like a tiger with broken teeth. If we can unite with Huaxia, attacking the Suiren Clan will be much easier than attacking the Shennong Clan."

"However, we do not have a suitable reason, and we would be hated by the tribes under Heaven. Our attacking the Shennong Clan is something their own tribe requested help for; it is not us acting on our own."

Qibo pointed to the west with his finger: "Then for now, the main problem still lies with Huaxia. As long as we can talk to Huaxia, then everything will not be a problem."

Xuanyuan let out a long breath: "Correct, it lies with Huaxia, and it lies with Baifeng."

Qibo immediately stood up and said: "Tribal Chief, why don't I represent our tribe and go talk to Huaxia? Let us settle this matter as soon as possible. This round trip will take a very long time. You arrange for someone to go to the Shennong Clan to see the situation, how about that?"

In matters of war, Qibo had always been Xuanyuan's teacher, and Xuanyuan had always been extremely respectful toward Qibo, so Xuanyuan would not have any dissatisfaction when such an arrangement was spoken by Qibo.

However, he had his own ideas. He also stood up to show his respect for Qibo: "Qibo, I think we should first discuss it with these Huaxia officials. Among the people Huaxia sent this time, you all know the one called Chou. His status in Huaxia is high enough; he is not an ordinary envoy. I believe he has a certain degree of decision-making power. It would be better to talk to him first and ask for his general intent. If he confirms it, then Baifeng's intent will likely not be much different."

Qibo followed Xuanyuan's suggestion: "Good, that is also fine. But we really must prepare as quickly as possible. What about those few envoys? Until when are we keeping them?"

Xuanyuan held up three fingers: "Three days. I promised them that within three days, I would tell them the Xuanyuan Tribe's decision. However, regardless of what Huaxia's intent is, I have also decided to send Soldiers to follow them to that Tribal Alliance to take a look, to see if what they said is true or not."

"It is also to personally see what the situation of the Shennong Clan is. One cannot fully believe the words in other people's mouths. This concerns the future of our Xuanyuan Tribe. I am just afraid that by the time we get there, that Tribal Alliance will have already been defeated, and then even if we wanted to join the war, it would be very difficult."