Farming Animals

80

The whole family migrated across a county, and it was impossible not to provide supplies on the way. Wu Jiu originally planned to follow the tributary of the source of the stream to Muyun and follow the memory to find a few of them. The lake was used as a supply point, but the existence of the cunning provided him with another possibility.

The Shuojin Tribe, as the largest merchant alliance in Arakawa, has branches in every county, and at fixed times, there will be gatherings between merchants for the exchange of materials and information. This kind of private meeting- Yes, it's not public. Only the people of the Shuojin tribe know the specific time and place. As a former member of the tribe, Nie Qiao naturally has this information.

Of course, because of the abundance of wealth, this kind of gathering will also include a few outsiders like Wu Jiu. For safety reasons, Wu Jiu chose Lang Yue as the team leader, and a dozen other high-ranking people. The soul warrior organized a temporary guard team to protect him and Nie Qiao, and went to trade, while the tribe just rested in place. With Rong Xiao in charge, nothing would happen.

What Wu Jiu used for trading was very simple. It was the booty seized from other bandits in the past few days. Apart from some jewelry and fabrics that were not very practical, there were also large amounts of purple feather coins. As for the more valuable Wu Jiu retained all the soul crystals, and he is now experimenting with the method of stimulating courage. If they cannot be formed in the end, these soul crystals will be used to enhance the combat power of all soul warriors. After all, the mysterious Xiyuan It's not a good place, there is nothing wrong with accumulating more strength in advance.

Niu Qiao led the way at the front, and Wu Jiu looked around while walking. The terrain in front gradually became flatter, and a huge rock wall blocked everyone's sight. When he walked all the way to the opposite side of the rock wall, Wu Jiu felt that his vision suddenly widened. In front of him was a fairly flat open space, the snow on it had been cleared long ago, and countless tapeste huts of various shapes filled the entire space, and countless orcs who could not tell their original ethnicity were sitting on the ground, Or set up a simple shelf, and put their respective products full on it. There are buyers and buyers who shuttle back and forth during the period. The sound of selling is mixed with the sound of bargaining, no matter the scale or prosperity , are comparable to the trade market of later generations.

It was the first time for Wu Jiu to see a market of this scale, and she couldn't help but look all the way in surprise, but saw that although countless merchants were arranged densely and disorderly, there were still people around to maintain order. On the outermost side, there are countless high-ranking war slaves, forming a small team, patrolling back and forth in the crowd, whenever there is a dispute or conflict, they will rush over immediately, and in the market, there are countless faces with black patterns The people who go back and forth between the merchants, from time to time obsequiously follow behind a certain merchant. If the merchants need to run errands to move goods or send messages, they only need to take out some scattered coins or even a little food. , to solve problems for the surrounding merchants.

Wu Jiu walked in slowly, looked at it seriously, and didn't bother him. Seeing that he saw some rules, she explained in detail: "This kind of gathering usually has people from the same family. Hosting, venue fees, and transaction fees are all collected by them, and of course, the security and maintenance of the venue, as well as some service work, are also done by them." As he spoke, he pointed to the war slaves on the outside and said: "These war slaves They are all from the same family, they are the most loyal and powerful, and generally each team has one or two fourth-tier war slaves. Occasionally, bandits from other counties come here to trade, especially those from Xiyuan. There are a lot of bandits, it is because of these war slaves that those bandits dare not be presumptuous and trade obediently, so that the safety of the merchant's goods can be guaranteed. We bring the whole unit here, it is too eye-catching, if we step here easily , I’m afraid they will be expelled directly by the war slaves.” Nie Qiao explained the reason for the large army to stop in the first place, Wu Jiu followed the direction of his voice and looked at the war slaves who were patrolling around. Looking over, seeing that Wu Jiu was actually from the Yu clan, the latter was a little surprised, his face was not as fierce as before, but he still scolded them not to look around.Wu Jiu was surprised by this insight, so she stopped looking at them.It has to be said that Wu Jiu, who had a lot of money with him, felt a lot more at ease with the outside inspection of this group of war slaves.

Niu Qiao led Wu Jiu all the way forward, and whenever the slaves with tattoos on their faces wanted to approach, he waved them away impatiently.

Seeing Wu Jiu's gaze sized them up curiously, Nie Qiao finally explained, "These are ordinary slaves, and the tattooed ones are especially loved by the master. This kind of gathering is usually only shown on weekdays. Alright, only slaves loved by their masters can appear here."

"Is there any benefit for them to help here?" Wu Jiu couldn't help asking after hearing this.

"Isn't it good to be able to get extra food and one or two scattered coins?" Nie Qiao said with a smile: "They usually have no intentions with the master's - poultry - livestock -, and now they can Here, they are well-dressed and don’t need to be hungry, if it’s not for the fair, it usually only lasts for a few days, and they’re probably not willing to go back.” He said happily to himself, seeing Wu Jiu’s expression was indifferent, only then remembered that he himself was not He didn't like turning other people into slaves, so he shut up resentfully.

Wu Jiu observed several transactions, knew the general barter standards, and the purchasing power of the Purple Feather Coin, so she lost interest in the surrounding markets. Staying, followed Nie Qiao all the way to the deepest part of the market.

There is a unified food trading point in the market. Unlike the noisy market in front, there is no one shouting outside to solicit customers. The owner of the food is directly huddled in the warm hut and never shows up. The traders lined up consciously. Compared with the hustle and bustle elsewhere, the people who came here subconsciously quieted down.

Wu Jiu raised her head and subconsciously looked down from the top. Behind the trading tent was a "wall" made up of bags of grain. The grain bags were stacked all the way, almost flush with the surrounding rock walls. When it comes down, there are as many as ten thousand bags, and the wealth of the Shuojin tribe can be seen from these bags of grain. In the winter when other large and medium tribes can only fight with hunger, they easily take it out Thousands of bags of grain!

Wu Jiu sighed at the richness of the Shuojin tribe, but her cunning eyes were on the people who bought food around her. She saw him look around and sighed: "It seems that the life of the counties is not easy. Among the Liang people, apart from a few small bandits in the source of the stream, there are also some who are the principals of the Dazhong tribe in the three surrounding counties. When they traded with the Shuojin tribe before, they were not what they are now. Now It’s hard to live, but I can do a little bit of low work.” Niu Qiao said contemptuously, obviously, he had had unpleasant business dealings with these traders in the past, although he is no longer a member of the Shuojin tribe, However, there is still a sense of pride in the words.

Hearing this, Wu Jiu looked in the direction of his speech. The crowd was very long, and he didn't know which ones he was talking about. However, all the people who were waiting to buy food looked very respectful. The place where the city soul warriors guard the most, just the coercion that the soul warriors radiate wantonly can make those tribal managers with slightly lower abilities feel uneasy.

"Did the Shuojin tribe have a tradition of storing grain before?" Wu Jiu finally set his sights on the wall made of grain.

"It has existed over the years. It is a rule handed down from our ancestors. Every year, there will be special grain merchants who go to various places to collect grain. However, in the entire Arakawa, only Heishui County and the surrounding areas of Zhongdu have large tracts of fertile land. They don't often Just come here."

"Would the sheriffs of the counties and the officials of the Central Capital not care about them hoarding grain like this?" Wu Jiu asked in surprise.

"The Shuojin tribe collects grain as a rule, and the counties only collect heavy taxes, so there are so many." Nieqiao stated the facts in a normal tone, but it gave Wu Jiu a new understanding of this large tribe specializing in commerce.

Seeing that the team was getting closer and closer to the hut in the middle, the two of them stopped talking because of the influence of the atmosphere. The people who came to buy grain were obviously frightened by the long winter, and they were generous with their actions. The grain in the shape of a hill is rapidly decreasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Finally it was Wu Jiu's turn, and the grain merchant in charge of the transaction said directly: "One bag of coarse grains, thirty square hole coins, or five medium-quality soul crystals."

"Thirty square hole coins? Why is it so much more expensive than what was agreed at first?" Nie Qiao immediately dissatisfied upon hearing the words.

The other party didn't talk to him too much, and said hesitantly: "There are many people buying, and the price increase is the fixed grain, cunning, although you have become someone else's blood bond slave, you were originally a member of the Shining Gold Department anyway, what's the matter with this?" Forgot? If you think it’s expensive, just wait, maybe next time you trade, there will be cheaper food.”

Niu Qiao was so angry that his cheeks turned red, Wu Jiu stopped him, ended the meaningless argument, and said directly: "We don't have square hole coins, only purple feather coins, how do we trade?"

"The currency in the county will be three cents cheaper, that's all, I'll make it cheaper for you for the sake of cunning, how about 38 purple feather coins and a bag of coarse grain?" Take care of your appearance.

Wu Jiu didn't waste time with him, and directly said to Lang Yue who was behind him, "Give him the purple feather coins and exchange them for food."

The several bags of purple feather coins were all placed on the table, and the accumulation of ten months was quite considerable. The grain merchant carefully counted the purple feather coins in his pocket, and finally waved his hand and gave them two hundred bags of coarse grain.

Before leaving, he casually got behind him: "I have bought so much rations, so you have to be careful along the way."

"More reminders." Wu Jiu looked back at him and said seriously, regardless of how sincere the other party's words were.

During the whole process, Ye Qiao was talking all the time, Wu Jiu didn't comfort him, and let him adjust himself. When all the food was loaded on the frame, Ye Qiao finally recovered his usual mood. Walking in and out of the spacious aisle, Wu Jiu looked at the market in front of him for the last time. Suddenly, his expression paused, and his eyes stopped on a strong man in the crowd. It's all about bravery. At this moment, he is leading people out of a merchant's shed.

Wu Jiu narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at him. He was very sure that he had never seen this person before, but the fierce aura around him made him feel very familiar.The other party came and went in a hurry, Wu Jiu was just a wrong eye, and lost the other party's trace. He was slightly startled, and then put the matter aside. If Rong Xiao was here at the moment, he would be able to recognize the other party at a glance. The bee-waisted man was the same black panther who led the crowd to rob the dog tribe when the patriarch and his party went to the county capital at the beginning!