Chapter 517: Going Together All the Way (Subscribe and Vote)
After Niuwei completed the sea salt trade handover of the entire grassland area with the Maodun tribe on the grassland, the Xin tribe has now completely given up the zero authorization of grassland white salt. They directly sell it to Maodun in wholesale, and then they don't care about it.
However, in order to obtain the trading rights of bronze weapons and stirrups of the Xin tribe, Maodun is also responsible for providing a safe trading area for the Xin tribe. This trading area is fixed. First, it provides a safe station for the Xin tribe on the grassland. In addition, it is used to store goods shipped from Zhudao, which is equivalent to a logistics transfer station.
After arranging all this, Niuwei did not forget the real purpose of coming to the grassland this time, which is to find the Han tribe, negotiate with the Han tribe, and it would be best to live in the Han tribe for a period of time. If you can learn some technology, it will be even better.
The ceramics of the Han tribe, the carriages of the Han tribe, and the woolen cloth of the Han tribe, everything is so magical. How are they made? How many other good things does the Han tribe have? Niuwei's heart is full of questions and curiosity.
So Niuwei led a team of 100 people, each with two horses, and brought enough gifts, cattle and sheep, and enough dry food for several months, and traveled thousands of miles north to find the traces of the Han tribe. This journey took more than a month.
After asking around, Niuwei found that the Han tribe did not come to the grassland to sell goods this year. He didn't know if something happened in the Han tribe headquarters. Although he didn't know what happened to the Han tribe, he still learned a piece of news from many nomadic tribes that the Han tribe's caravans always came from the mountainous area in the north of the grassland.
With a direction, the rest of the things will be easy to handle. After finding the entrance to the mountain, Niuwei and his party also looked for a place suitable for human survival. No matter where the Han tribe is, people have to survive, and they are also sure that the Han tribe is a tribe that knows farming and planting, which makes it easier to find. Farming
requires water and a large area of flat land, so they just need to look along the river. When they find other tribes along the way, Niuwei will also give them some gifts and then ask them about the news of the Han tribe.
In the first half month, Niuwei did not find any useful clues. Some tribes encountered had never heard of the carts pulled by oxen and horses, let alone seen them.
What's more, when they saw that they were all riding horses, they bowed down and worshiped them as gods who could control wild beasts.
Of course, there were tribes that coveted the large number of cattle and horses they brought, but the people led by Niuwei were all carefully selected, with excellent horsemanship and archery. Even if the other side was outnumbered, they could rely on the mobility of cavalry to escape without much loss.
After wandering around in the mountains for a month, they finally found a decent river, which was big and wide enough. This river that they valued was the lower reaches of the Liuyang River.
Following this river that was more than 100 meters wide and continued to go north, Niuwei and his team soon made a discovery. First, they encountered a tribe that knew the situation of the Han tribe. Although those natives had not had much contact with the Han tribe, they also knew about such a tribe from other tribes.
This situation finally gave Niuwei and his team members a glimmer of hope, and as they continued to move north, they received more detailed information, from "heard from others" to "we have seen the Han tribe's caravan" and "we have bought things from their caravan".
Until today, they heard news about the Han tribe again.
"Are you going to the Han tribe too?" An old primitive man in his 30s who was questioned by Niuwei asked in surprise, gesturing and speaking some not-so-standard Chinese.
"Yes, what are you doing? Are you going to the Han tribe too?" Niuwei soon discovered the difference between this group of people and the tribes he had met before.
"Yes, our tribe is preparing to officially join the Han tribe. This time I came back from the Han tribe to pick up my people.
I see that you are all riding horses and bringing so many cattle and sheep, but the clothes and headdresses you wear are not like the caravans of the Han tribe. What are you doing? And from what you asked, it seems that you don't know where the Han tribe is?" The native who was questioned began to be curious about the identity of Niuwei and his team.
"Oh, we are from the southern tribe. We raise some cattle and sheep. We heard that the Han tribe can exchange for good things, so we want to go and exchange some with them." Niuwei lied casually.
"People in the Han tribe have sent cattle and sheep to the door?!" The native was surprised at first, and then thought that since this matter was related to the Han tribe, it didn't seem strange.
"This old man, from what you said just now, you went to the Han tribe and came back, and you want to take all the people of the tribe to join the Han tribe together?"
Niuwei said, taking a piece of salted beef jerky from his subordinates, and then cut half of it with a bronze dagger and handed it to the native, and he ate the remaining half first.
This is a gesture of goodwill, willing to share meat with the other party, and he took the first bite to show that the meat is fine.
Niuwei has already mastered this simple means of communication. Every time he asks others for directions, he will take out a small gift to thank them, just as skilled as modern people taking out cigarettes when asking for directions.
The middle-aged and elderly native was not polite, took it and took a bite generously, and then continued.
"That's right. Before it snowed, I was at a gathering and saw that a nearby tribe had changed a lot. Everyone was wearing clothes and shoes made of something I didn't know. After asking, I heard them talking about the Han tribe.
They all said how good the tribe was and that they were still recruiting people to work. As long as you work, you can exchange them for good things, not only cloth for making clothes, but also salt, iron pots, porcelain bowls and the like.
Moreover, they provided meals so that you could have enough to eat every
day. I was very interested at the time, so I asked them to take me to see it, but when I got there I found out..."
"What's wrong, are they lying?" Niu Wei couldn't help but interrupt curiously.
"No, the Han tribe is much better than what they said.
They really provide food, and as long as you are willing to work, it is not a dangerous thing, just a little tiring. However, hunting and gathering by yourself also takes effort. The key is that you may not always get a harvest. But in the Han tribe, it is really stable. Eat on time and have no shortage of meals.
Not only do you get food, but you can also get some money when you leave. Money is a good thing in the Han tribe. It is a new thing recently and can be used to exchange for all kinds of good things. I have gotten some, hehehe."
The middle-aged native began to chatter non-stop when he talked about his previous work in the Han tribe, because every time he talked about these experiences in front of his tribesmen, it would attract everyone's attention and envy, making people very happy.
Niu Wei tried hard to understand what the natives said, and then picked out useful information from it. The Han tribe was recruiting outsiders to work for them, not only providing them with food, but also giving them things.
What was going on? What on earth was the Han tribe doing that required so many people? But this was not the key point. The key point was that the person in front of him had indeed been to the Han tribe, and they were now on their way to the Han tribe. In this case, wouldn't he be on the same road with them? Why not just go together?
Thinking that he had finally found the location of the Han tribe and would be there soon, Niu Wei suddenly felt excited.
"Oh, really? That brother is really amazing. He is doing so well in the Han tribe. It makes me want to go to the Han tribe earlier. But we have come from a long way and don't know how to get to the Han tribe.
Otherwise, let us go with your tribe. I see that there are three or four hundred people here. You will definitely need a lot of food along the way. It just so happens that we have enough food. Let us provide food for everyone on the way. Just take us to the Han tribe. How about it?"
Niuwei pointed to the cattle and sheep behind him and immediately suggested to the leader of the native tribe.
The native was also very tempted to hear such good news. To be honest, the food they brought was indeed not enough. It would take about a month to walk from here to Liuyang County. The stored food was definitely not enough. Maybe they would have to hunt and pick fruits all the way to get there.
He had taken thirty tribesmen to the Han tribe before, and when he came back, he got some wages, but they were reluctant to exchange all of them for things to bring back. They only exchanged for some white salt, which was necessary for life. Since the Han tribe was in short supply at present, they did not sell food to the outside world. Besides, even if they could exchange them, they did not have pack horses and vehicles, so they could not bring much back.
Now someone was willing to provide food assistance, and he only needed to take them to the Han tribe. Besides, his own tribe was going to go anyway, so it seemed that it was not impossible to take them with him.
This group of people had so many cattle, horses and sheep, and they were rich. They should not do anything to the people in his tribe, right? They really had nothing to rob,
so the indigenous leader quickly agreed to Niu Wei's conditions and agreed to take them to the Han tribe. In return, their entire tribe of nearly four hundred people had a hard-earned meat meal at noon, and each person had a bamboo tube of corn porridge.
The pot was an iron pot bought by the indigenous people from the Han tribe, and the dried meat and corn were all from Niu Wei.
While eating, the native leader was even more surprised when he saw the corn porridge in the thick bamboo tube in his hand.
"How come you have corn from the Han tribe? I have only eaten this in the Han tribe. I heard that only they have it. Where did you get it?"
"Hehe, this is grown by our tribe. Does the Han tribe also grow corn? Haha, what a coincidence," Niu Wei said meaningfully.
"You also grow corn?"
"Yes, our tribe specializes in growing this thing. This is our staple food. Of course, we also raise cattle, horses and sheep. Why does the Han tribe call this thing corn?" Niu Wei briefly introduced it.
"Oh, so that's the case. However, the Han tribe does not specialize in growing corn. The Han tribe grows more rice, and corn is only a minority. And this corn is indeed not as delicious as white rice." The native leader sighed.
Niu Wei also seemed very happy at this time, because he suddenly found that chatting with the native in front of him could also indirectly obtain some news about the Han tribe. For example, although the Han tribe also grows corn, it is not the main crop. The staple food of the Han tribe is something called rice and white rice.
The two groups came together happily. In order to take care of the speed of the natives, Niuwei and his men also started to dismount and walk. After two days of walking, as the two groups became familiar with each other, Niuwei took the initiative to let the packhorses help carry the children of the native tribes. In addition, they did not have to work hard to find food along the way, which increased the overall speed of travel.
After the two groups got to know each other for a few days, the native leader became more and more relaxed and began to take out the coins he earned in the Han tribe to show Niuwei.
"Is this the money you are talking about? Everything can be exchanged with this?" Niuwei asked in surprise, holding a brass coin of one cent, and then looked at the fellow tribesmen around him, as if they had read something from each other's eyes.
"Yes, there are other patterns, sizes, weights, and colors, and the things that can be exchanged are also different, but these coins can also be exchanged with each other. There are Chinese characters written on them, which are the size of the money. I just haven't learned it yet, and now I can only know how much money it is by looking at the pictures on it." The leader of the indigenous tribe showed the different coins in his hand and said.
Niu Wei also opened his eyes and looked carefully. Finally, after getting consent, he picked up one by one and looked at it carefully.
These coins are very beautifully made, and the patterns and designs on them are also very clear. They look very new, as if they were just made not long ago. In terms of metal casting technology alone, Niu Wei knows that the level of the Han tribe is far ahead of the Xin tribe.
More importantly, these round metal pieces called money shown to him by the indigenous leader are all like they were carved out of the same mold. They are all exactly the same, with the same face value, regardless of size, thickness, pattern, or even the direction and angle of the pattern.
How did they do this? With the current level of the Xin tribe, not to mention whether it is possible to make an identical coin, but this kind of repeated replication, and the casting technology of each single product with the same fineness, is something they can only dream of.
However, they are not short of the metals for making money. Whether it is copper called "purple gold" or silver called "white gold", the Xin tribe has them all.
Can this thing be exchanged for anything in the Han tribe? !
Niu Wei gradually had a bold plan in his mind.
But before that, he also saw some things about the Han tribe from these coins, such as a few ears of rice on a penny. This thing looks like some kind of plant, but it is definitely not corn. There are also patterns of planting rice, patterns of plowing the land with cattle, and three kinds of wild animals raised or worshipped by the Han tribe. There are also many strange patterns in the last Yuan level, and Niu Wei can't tell what they are doing.
Of course, the most eye-catching is the portrait of a person on the back of each coin.
"Brother, who is this person on the money? Why does he look like on each one?"
(End of this chapter)
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