Chapter 897: Just This Much?

"By the way, regarding this matter of hiring laborers you mentioned..."

Before Xuanyuan could finish speaking, Baifeng immediately raised his hand to interrupt him: "Hey, let's discuss this slowly. Come, this is my first time visiting your Xuanyuan Tribe, so I have prepared some gifts for you."

Hearing that Baifeng had brought gifts, Xuanyuan instantly had an ominous premonition. It seemed as if Baifeng was about to pull a big move; he feared that in the upcoming negotiations, he would suffer an even greater loss.

But since the other party had already brought them, could he refuse? Moreover, Xuanyuan added: "By the way, I also have a gift prepared for Qihu. Last time in your Huaxia, I didn't bring anything, but now I must give it. You can just take it back for me; after all, he is your grandson."

Baifeng also agreed with a radiant smile, then had the Soldiers outside carry the boxes they had brought in. Changle had been listening from the side the whole time. Fortunately, regarding the matter of his marriage, his father had already given him a heads-up, and he had even prepared himself to make sacrifices for Huaxia, which was why he had been able to remain calm and silent.

However, he did not expect that this matter would be settled so casually, without a single word of excess, which left him somewhat shocked.

When the boxes were opened, they contained various beautiful Porcelain that Baifeng had prepared. Xuanyuan had used them before, and he even had some that he had traded for, as well as some Baifeng had gifted previously, but this time the quantity Baifeng brought was large, and they were clearly better-looking than before.

Besides these, there were also some ornaments made of gemstones, which were considered quite precious in Huaxia; the main issue was that they were too troublesome to craft. Now that he was giving so many to Xuanyuan at once, Baifeng did not say who they were for; how to distribute them was Xuanyuan's business.

Looking at so many items, Xuanyuan was also somewhat surprised for a moment. There were so many; if he had to trade for them, it would probably cost quite a lot. Now that Baifeng was just giving them away, he must be planning to fleece him hard; Baifeng was not that generous.

But he also said with a smile: "Good, good, Baifeng, I like the gifts you brought very much. We in the Xuanyuan Tribe do not have such good things to give, but our Xuanyuan territory is large and we have many hunters, so we have plenty of meat."

"When I was in your Huaxia, I noticed that although you have plenty of grain, you have little meat. Even you, at times, have no meat to eat. As the king of a country, how can you eat like that?"

"To express my gratitude for your hospitality during that time, and for the gift I have for Qihu, I will send some meat to your Huaxia. However, the journey is long and fresh meat will certainly spoil, so there is only cured meat."

"And another point is that I have decided we can also make meat a part of our trade. Your Huaxia can use your grain and other things to exchange for our meat; in this way, your people will be able to eat more meat."

After hearing this, Baifeng also smiled very sincerely. This was an unexpected joy. Xuanyuan saying this did not mean to belittle Huaxia, because it was a fact that Huaxia lacked meat. Xuanyuan being willing to take out their meat to supplement Huaxia was already generous enough.

"Good! This gift of yours is far more precious than the ones I brought. It truly solves the trouble we have in Huaxia. I must thank you properly, Xuanyuan."

This was something Xuanyuan had decided on long ago, and now it was used to offset the impact of the gifts Baifeng had brought. Only then could they truly begin the negotiations.

As for the hiring of laborers that Baifeng mentioned, that was merely an excuse. Before leaving Huaxia, he did indeed have that thought, but after encountering the messenger on the way and obtaining the detailed negotiation content that had been drafted, Baifeng was completely confident.

The two cleared the table; except for Changle, no one else participated. On the Huaxia side, Baifeng alone could make the decisions, and the same went for the Xuanyuan Tribe. Moreover, the bottom line that the Xuanyuan Tribe could offer had already been determined.

"Xuanyuan, I met the messenger on the road, and they told me the general situation, but as I see it now, it is still somewhat vague. Do you have any more precise information regarding the Shennong Clan here?"

Xuanyuan also became serious: "The information obtained now is only what those envoys said themselves, and it has been too long since they left their tribe. What the situation is in their tribe now is not very clear, so Qibo has already led a team to go and see for himself. As long as Qibo returns, everything will be clear."

Baifeng nodded: "Good, then we shall wait for Qibo. However, I still need to confirm how many Soldiers your Xuanyuan Tribe can send at most. You know that our Huaxia has fewer Soldiers, but they are very elite."

"About ten thousand. Although we have many Soldiers, the distance to the Shennong Clan is too far and the supply lines are stretched too thin, so our grain supply cannot keep up, and we have no way to send too many Soldiers over."

"However, I think ten thousand Soldiers is already a huge number. No matter how big the Shennong Clan is, it will not be easy for them to pull out ten thousand people to fight us. They still have to fight those Tribal Alliance groups, and once you join in, their grain supply simply won't be able to sustain it."

This number was outside of Baifeng's expectations because it was still a bit low. He felt that a tribe like the Xuanyuan Tribe should be able to pull out twenty thousand people. After all, they were not like Huaxia; their Soldiers were not professional Soldiers. When idle, they still had to go hunting and farming, and only when fighting a war could they pick up their Weapon to aim at the enemy.

Therefore, it should be reasonable and normal for them to have more Soldiers. Huaxia's were full-time Soldiers and could not be too many; if there were too many, Huaxia could not afford to support them. Now, the two cities only had a little over six thousand people, and that included a female troop of over two hundred.

The number of Soldiers Huaxia could recruit in a year was only a few hundred. Every year, some would request to be demobilized and return home due to physical or age reasons, so the number of Huaxia's Soldiers did not grow fast, but it always maintained a state of being young and elite.

"Ten thousand... regarding this number, I think we still need to wait for Qibo to return before we continue to discuss it. But our Huaxia's total number of Soldiers is not even ten thousand; I can guarantee at least two thousand will participate in the war."

When Baifeng said two thousand, Xuanyuan's expression became somewhat unpleasant because he did not expect Baifeng to say such a small number. Once they participated in the war, the spoils would certainly be divided equally, but with so few people from Huaxia, how could they divide them equally? It seemed more like just a gesture. According to Xuanyuan's guess, it should have been at least four or five thousand people; only then would they have enough certainty to completely crush the Shennong Clan and maximize the gains.