Chapter 929: Don't Say You Are a Slave

With this persuasion, Baoxi did not refuse; after all, there was no harm in taking a look, and indeed, Huaxia had too many things worth seeing.

"Fine, Baifeng, this is my first time here, and I likely won't come again. Although I do not agree with the things you say, I have brought gifts to visit, so I should take a look around here."

Baifeng smiled and had Zhigui take Baoxi to get settled, then had the people from the Ministry of Rites accompany Baoxi to walk around and look; if he had any questions, they were to answer them as best they could, without needing to hide things from Baoxi as they did with Xuanyuan, for the difference between the two was too great.

Baifeng did this to increase the difficulty for Xuanyuan to attack the Suiren Clan, to give Xuanyuan some pressure, and to delay Xuanyuan's pace of expansion, so as to leave more time for his own plan to expand to the west.

As for whether Xuanyuan would want to join forces with him to attack the Suiren Clan, Baifeng thought he would; this cooperation with Xuanyuan should be very pleasant and very smooth.

However, Baifeng truly had no intention of attacking the Suiren Clan with him, including the future great war with Chiyou; Baifeng did not want to participate in any of it, because the benefits to be gained were too few, and it would basically be acting as a helper for Xuanyuan.

This time, attacking the Shennong Clan, he could still obtain enough benefits; once this wave was earned, Baifeng would stop, and in the future, he would have to gradually distance himself from Xuanyuan.

The only problem was the ownership of the Liuhuangdi; everything around the Liuhuangdi would be ruled by Xuanyuan, and it would likely be impossible for them, Huaxia, to have another chance to mine there.

Then Huaxia's future supply of sulfur would definitely run into problems, and Gunpowder would be impossible to produce; besides the obvious impact on industrial construction, the deterrent force of their military would also be much smaller.

Regarding this, Baifeng had also considered a lot.

Either he would simply give up this Liuhuangdi, mine enough sulfur for Huaxia to use for several years—or even over a decade—in the shortest possible time, store it up, and then slowly look for a new Sulfur Mine.

Baifeng also knew that there were quite a lot of Sulfur Mines on this land; as long as there was a place with volcanoes, there would likely be sulfur. He still remembered where the volcanoes were all over the country, and as long as he searched in those directions, there was definitely hope in the future of finding a brand-new Sulfur Mine on the territory he ruled.

It was just that with Huaxia's current manpower and material resources, added to the speed of walking and the current Nature, this search time might last for many, many years, so Baifeng did not dare to easily give up this mine now.

If he wanted to continue mining, Baifeng felt the only possible way was to trade with Xuanyuan: hand the mine over to Xuanyuan to mine, and then Huaxia would trade with Gunpowder. Of course, the price ratio would have to be absurdly large, otherwise, it would pose a threat to Huaxia.

But Baifeng felt that Xuanyuan would agree; such an attractive thing, obtainable just by putting in labor, why wouldn't he?

Baifeng was also not afraid of the secret that sulfur was a raw material for Gunpowder leaking, because to create Gunpowder required enough great fortune, and the coincidence was too great. This era had no sorcerers or alchemists; no one would take various heavy metals and strange things and put them together to refine a pill for immortality.

Without thoughts in this regard, such a coincidence naturally could not arise. If Xuanyuan really were careless and put Saltpeter into the sulfur, and then carelessly put in Charcoal Powder, and then carelessly threw this pile of mixture into a fire, causing an explosion, then Baifeng would just accept his fate.

That would not be Xuanyuan being careless; it would be Heaven being too careless, and such an absurd thing should not happen.

Because he considered that Baoxi was only coming this one time and there would likely not be much interaction in the future, he did not specifically prepare a courtyard for him. The courtyards in the center of Huaxia City were one fewer for every one used, and every inch of land was extremely precious.

Thus, he arranged for Baoxi to stay in the courtyard that should have hosted Xuanyuan. Baoxi did not have that many officials by his side, only some Soldiers he trusted, so all of them squeezed into this courtyard to stay.

Added to the fact that their ideas were different, Baifeng did not have anyone confiscate their Weapons. If it were Xuanyuan, he might understand, but Baoxi was different.

The Baoxi of the past, looking at the entire land, was an extremely intelligent person; otherwise, he could not have ruled a tribe and conquered so much territory.

But Baifeng had appeared, Xuanyuan had appeared, and there was also Chiyou. Although he was famous for battle, could a person who could defeat Xuanyuan nine times really not be intelligent? Everything was just a stereotype; Chiyou must also be an extremely intelligent person.

Compared to these people, Baoxi appeared extremely mediocre. Added to the fact that his age was getting older and older, he began to age rapidly like everyone else in this era, his thinking also began to solidify, and he lacked the drive and thinking ability of the past; this was also one of the reasons why the Suiren Clan was destined to fail in the future.

The time was still early. Baoxi, who had originally planned to look around Huaxia, could not take his eyes off things once he entered the courtyard. He did not know that people could live like this; it was truly too incredible. Everything was different from what he was familiar with. No wonder Baifeng told him to look more and learn more in Huaxia, so that after returning, he could make some changes to the Suiren Clan.

At first he did not understand, but now he truly understood. What he wanted first was such a big house and a big courtyard; he wanted everything inside it, too. That strange thing that let light through fascinated him even more.

It was something he had never seen before; it was like ice, but in this weather, it was impossible to have ice, and ice could not possibly be installed on a house.

Zhigui explained everything on the side. What should have been the work of servants had now all become Zhigui's, but when he thought of the Suiren Clan's methods of treating Slaves, Zhigui did not even dare to say that those people were arranged servants; he only said they were people who would serve them.

If Baoxi had any needs, he could find them; if he had any questions, he could also ask. If Baoxi knew that these people were Slaves, even if they were not his own Slaves, these people of the Suiren Clan might not necessarily know what they would do.

Because a Slave was not a person, but property; if it was damaged, one could just pay for it. The Suiren Clan could afford to pay, but these servants were cultivated by Huaxia with great effort; they were carefully selected, and even if their status was that of a Slave, their value was much higher than that of tenant farmers.

Thus, Zhigui secretly told those servants: "You must never reveal your Slave status in front of these people. Even if they ask, you must say you are not, because not every tribe can treat you Slaves like Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe do."