Chapter 679: Niuwei Return (Seeking Tickets and Subscriptions)
Han Tribe actually has such good things?
The young man who led the way successfully aroused Dalantai's curiosity. With the attitude of wanting to broaden his horizons regardless of whether he would buy it or not, Dalantai asked the young man to take him to the shop selling lamps.
The lamp was quickly taken out, and the shopkeeper also demonstrated the operation method on the spot. Looking at the portable horse lantern emitting strong yellow light in front of him, Dalantai was shocked, liked it very much, and wanted it very much.
"Does this thing only need stones and water to light up?" Dalantai has already started to prepare to buy it, but of course he still needs to inquire about the after-sales usage before buying it.
"As long as the water is clear water, but the stone is not an ordinary stone. This is called calcium carbide. Only our Han Tribe can make it, so you can only buy it here." The shopkeeper explained while the young man next to him translated.
"Oh"
Dalantai hesitated. The stone used for lighting the lamp is controlled by the Han Tribe. It is a problem whether he can buy it next time. Without that special stone, this lamp is useless, so should he buy it?
After thinking for a long time, Dalandai still liked it very much. Finally, he made up his mind and bought it.
He could buy more calcium carbide at one time. Anyway, he had money now. As for the next time, he could just send someone to buy it. If that didn't work, he could buy some second-hand goods from other tribes. After all, they were not the only ones who bought calcium carbide lamps on the grassland.
After making up his mind, Dalandai quickly bought a batch of calcium carbide lamps, more than a hundred of them, almost buying out the inventory of Kaiyuan City. He used the remaining money to buy a two-horse cart, and finally loaded a full cart of calcium carbide.
After buying the calcium carbide lamps, the boy continued to take Dalandai shopping. Seeing that they were wearing felt boots made by herders themselves, he recommended the leather boots of the Han tribe to Dalandai.
Leather boots are also one of the most popular commodities sold in Kaiyuan County. They not only purchase livestock from herders, but also purchase livestock by-products such as cowhide, ox horns, tendons, sheepskin and wool. Some are taken back to make bows and arrows, and some are woven into woolen cloth. The cowhide and sheepskin are also made into various leather belts, leather school bags, leather clothes, and leather boots, which are sold to various parts of the Han tribe. The sales volume here in the grassland is also very huge. For this reason, Kaiyuan City has specially raised a group of leather craftsmen and established the first official factory in Kaiyuan County.
Dalantai was not vague. He bought two pairs of shoes for one of his men who came with him this time, a pair of single shoes and a pair of cotton boots with fur inside. He also brought some for his acquaintances and family.
After buying what he needed, the remaining more than 100 yuan was used to pay the service fee of the young man who led the way. Then he led his men to have a hearty lunch and bought some dry food for the road. At this point, all the money was spent, and there was no money left.
Before it got dark and the Han tribe hadn't noticed, Dalantai and his group drove four carriages full of goods and set off on their way home. The young man who led the way happily shook the three silver dollars in his hand and put the money into a small cloth bag. The young man took the stack of transaction vouchers that Dalantai used when buying things and began to go from house to house to ask for tips.
The shopkeepers of the cart sellers, shoe sellers, cloth sellers, and lamp sellers, as long as he led people to those places, would give him some change, not much, just one or two dimes, and some only gave him a few coins as a thank you for his help in introducing customers. A few coins were enough for a full meal.
After a round, he collected more than one yuan, plus the three yuan given by Dalantai, a total of more than four yuan, which was enough for an ordinary craftsman's four-day salary. For a teenager in his early teens, this was definitely a huge sum of money.
After eating the buyer, he eats the seller. It is quite shady, but no one thinks so. He earns money by his own ability. He didn't steal or rob. Why should he
look down on him? Of course, some people are jealous of such easy money, but not everyone can do this business. Although the government doesn't care about this, the requirements for individuals are very high. First of all, they must be able to speak Chinese and Mu, be bold, and be eloquent and know how to read people's expressions.
Not everyone can make money just like this. They can only find those guests who come to Kaiyuan City for the first time and are unfamiliar with everything. After coming a few times and getting familiar with the transaction process, no fool is willing to spend that money again.
After all, two or three yuan is not a small amount for herders. They can buy a lot of things here.
The reason why the government doesn't care is that the Han tribe is also short of translators who can speak Chinese and Mu. If they can't communicate, how can they do business? Therefore, having these people can promote the business of Kaiyuan County. Besides, according to the current situation, it won't take long for these people. After the herders are familiar with Kaiyuan City, there will naturally be no room for them to survive.
On the afternoon of the return trip from Dalantai, a brief farewell was also taking place at the dock near the lake in Kaiyuan City. Ying Rui, as the representative of the Han tribe, was seeing off the merchant elder Niu Wei of the Xin tribe.
Niu Wei had been here for three days. He had visited the city and the market outside the city. He also heard Ying Rui introduce the idea of the Han tribe to build Guocheng outside the existing Kaiyuan City. In the future, Guocheng would include the markets on both sides.
The Han tribe was very powerful and was getting stronger and stronger. Its influence on the grassland was also deepening. Many tribes far away from Kaiyuan City came to buy things without any effort. The herders exchanged the livestock they depended on for the currency of the Han tribe. He didn't know what this meant, but he knew that this must be the means used by the young and ambitious leader of the Han tribe.
Xin tribe will not plan to get involved in the grassland in the future unless it is allowed by Han tribe. For example, the white salt that Han tribe sells to grassland herders is actually the sea salt produced by Xin tribe. Because of the trading relationship with Han tribe, the sea salt produced by Zhudao can only be sold to Han tribe, and then Han tribe will use the sea salt they produce to make money on the grassland. Niu
Wei, who saw all this, could not stay any longer. The speed of development of Han tribe was too fast. He did not know how far Luo Chong's plan had gone, nor did he know how much time he had
left. He had to go back quickly. Time was running out. It was better to join Han tribe sooner rather than later. The higher the completion of Luo Chong's plan, the lower the utilization value of Niu Wei. The later the time, the fewer chips he had in his hand, and the benefits he could get would depreciate. So he was very anxious. He could not stay for three days after the original plan of staying for a week.
After boarding the big sailing ship from the pier, Niu Wei stood on the deck beside the ship and bowed to Ying Rui. He was now dressed in the clothes of the Han tribe, with his hair tied up and a bone hairpin inserted. He bowed in a very formal manner, and it was obvious that his study abroad life of more than a year had not been in vain.
"No need to see you off, Ying County Magistrate. Niu Wei will be back soon. When he comes, I will definitely bring him some local specialties."
Ying Rui also stood on the dock and returned the greeting from a distance, "Don't worry, Elder Niu. Next time you come, I will definitely host a banquet for you. I will use the best wine from the Han tribe to entertain you. I also wish Elder Niu a safe journey."
The two looked at each other and said goodbye. The sailors on the ship shouted and raised the huge sails. The huge three-masted sailing ship began to move slowly and gradually sailed away from the dock of Kaiyuan County.
There were four three-masted ships going to Zhudao this time. In addition to sending Niuwei back, there were also many craftsmen and a lot of supplies and materials on board. Zhudao's resources were relatively rich, but there was no iron now. Many tools that the delegation needed were in short supply, so Luo Chong had to send some blacksmiths, ironmaking tools, and a large number of iron ingots.
Since the three places of Xingang County, Dongxin County, and the coking plant were operating normally, the Han tribe had never lacked iron, so Luo Chong didn't feel bad about getting some to Zhudao, anyway, it was for his own people. Apart
from anything else, he asked Shouya to prepare the stone bricks for the construction of the lighthouse on Zhudao. This work required a lot of crowbars, steel chisels, hammers and other tools, which the delegation did not have now, so a batch had to be transported over quickly.
In addition, there were a large number of craftsmen from other industries on the ship. They also brought some new hemp seeds, which were prepared for large-scale planting on Zhudao Island, as well as some hemp rope making machines that the Han tribe had just developed. In fact, it was a wooden machine for twisting hemp ropes, with a crank on it that could be used to twist thicker hemp ropes, mainly rigging such as ship cables.
These will all be made on Zhudao Island. Luo Chong has already set the tone for vigorously developing the fishing industry in the future. So whether it is shipbuilding, net weaving, or sail weaving, a large amount of material reserves are needed for the time being. The Han tribe can't even grow enough food, so how can they get so much land to grow hemp? It's better to get these inedible things on Zhudao Island. Anyway, they also need fishing nets to fish there.
The big sailboat sailed on the wide lake, riding the wind and waves all the way, moving forward quickly.
Niuwei stood quietly on the bow deck, looking at the scenery that was rapidly receding on both sides, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
The Han tribe's sailing ship is really amazing. There are so many advantages to this kind of ship that it is hard to list them all. But if I have to pick one advantage that amazes Niu Wei the most, it is probably the sail power on it.
It does not require any firewood or grease, nor does it require human or animal power. Just unfold the canvas to make this huge water fortress have unlimited endurance. That's right, in theory, as long as the ship is not broken, it can keep sailing like this, without getting tired or hungry.
With such a powerful water transportation tool, it means that all water sources, or all places where large ships can pass, have become targets for the Han tribe to attack at any time, because it is too easy, just drive the ship over.
Even the isolated Zhudao Island is not safe, because the Han tribe has the ability to drive the ship over, and is sailing there.
In a few days, Niu Wei saw a wider world. This was his first time to set foot in the world east of the grassland lake. Although he often went to this continent to do business, his scope was always limited to the grassland. Because their transportation method was very low-level, the goods they carried were sold out before they could leave the grassland. Therefore, there was no reason to explore further.
The world east of the lake was very beautiful. Unlike the bare grassland in the west, there were forests here. There were no high mountains. There were plains suitable for farming everywhere, and they were close to the river where they were.
There was water, land, and forests. This was the best habitat for humans. If we didn't consider the mineral resources, the land here was actually more suitable for human habitation than the occupied area of the Han tribe.
The Han tribe was a "mountain people". There were indeed many mountains over there. The plains were not much compared to the mountains, but there were mines in the mountains. This was why Luo Chong was reluctant to move.
Niu Wei was different. He looked at the undeveloped land on both sides of the strait and cried bitterly. The Xin tribe was also very powerful. The population was 80,000 to 90,000 a few years ago, and now it has grown to over 100,000. However, due to the size of Zhudao and the resources on Zhudao, the Xin tribe has been developing very slowly. Of course, this is also due to the backward technology, but Niu Wei believes that this is not the fault of the Xin tribe itself, but because they have no one to learn and communicate with.
Take the grassland for example. The Xin tribe was just a tribe that knew farming, hunting, and salt making at the beginning, but they were limited by the poor resources of Zhudao, and there were only so many humans on it. There was no chance to exchange life experience with others, let alone learn.
But when they arrived at the grassland, everything changed. The cultures and lifestyles of both sides began to merge and communicate. The nomadic tribes on the grassland ate seafood-flavored white salt and used lighter and stronger bamboo arrows, while the Xin tribe also obtained the livestock breeding technology of the grassland people, introduced cattle, horses, sheep, dogs, and other creatures that were not originally on Zhudao, and learned to make better bows and arrows, as well as how to press felt.
So Niu Wei thought that if the Xin tribe also lived on this continent, they would definitely be able to contact more tribes, and even get to know the Han tribe, which was still weak a long time ago. In that case, maybe the Xin tribe would be the boss now.
But this is just a thought
. Sailing is always boring. There is only a small space inside and outside the cabin. It feels fun and fresh for a day or two, but it will get boring after a while. However, in the words of the crew, it is still good now. At least there are different scenery on both sides for you to see. If you go to the sea, the front, back, left, right, and right are all the same. You can't even tell the east, south, west, and north. Staying in this small place of sailing every day can really drive people crazy.
However, the Han tribe is okay. There is no plan to go to the ocean for the time being. It takes at most ten days to sail from the estuary of the Liuyang River on the mainland to Zhudao. If it is fast, it can reach Zhudao in seven or eight days. Such a short time will not drive people crazy. Moreover, they have always been sailing close to the coastline and have never let the land out of their sight. So it is just talk to say that they can't tell the east, south, west, and north.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
