Commercial Trade, Immigration Policy, Strengthening Relations

"Lilim, how did the talks go?"

"Ten baskets of iron ore for about 50 kilograms of cloth, how about that?"

"Not bad."

Lilim turned her head and continued to ask the chieftain and the shaman, "That's settled for the cloth trade, and we also need to conduct trade for recruiting personnel and other goods."

"This is Aningsbe's flag, with a scale added to it, symbolizing fair trade. Seeing this flag means it's an Aningsbe caravan, and neither side can attack."

The shaman took the flag, "Okay."

"By the way, if possible, could you please contact the tribes you know?"

"We at Aningsbe want to conduct trade with all of them."

"If you bring a tribe into Aningsbe's customs system, Aningsbe can provide you with financial subsidies for bringing in one tribe."

Lilim further stated her demands.

"This..." The chieftain looked troubled. Ever since the Demi-human Kingdom split, they had been fighting amongst themselves for a hundred years. After the initial heavy casualties, things had stabilized, and it was mostly intermittent fighting between tribes.

Originally, "demi-humans" was a name given to them by Humans.

Among Cat demi-humans, there were actually many sub-races. For example, Lilim, with her folded ears, belonged to the Holy Tribe among demi-humans. Her tribe belonged to the Blue Cat tribe.

There was a similar classification among Dog demi-humans. For instance, in this icy land, there was a group of Dog demi-humans, foolish but capable of survival – they were Husky-type Dog demi-humans.

They could even go hunting in the frozen wilderness.

The chieftain didn't understand.

What did this Princess want by contacting other tribes?

"Alright, Chieftain Karl, I hope you can contact the demi-human tribes you can reach and ask them to send representatives to Aningsbe for negotiations. We need trade. Don't you demi-humans sometimes go to Human fortresses and can't buy things even with supplies?"

"If you join this system, we will issue a currency in the future, which will allow us to conduct commercial exchanges more conveniently, and everyone can get what they need."

"Furthermore, if you can help us at Aningsbe bring in tribes to join, we will pay your tribe."

The demi-humans listened to the very tempting proposal. Their trade was basically bartering. As for exchanging for money, that was out of the question.

Looking at ancient history, it was similar. Only in more advanced civilizations did monetary transactions exist. In backward places, bartering was the norm.

"Alright."

"I have one last question for you, Elder. Why are you siding with Humans? Did he threaten you?"

"Chieftain, regarding this question, I think we should eliminate discrimination between humanoid races. After all, according to history, Humans were previously called the Human Race, and 'Human' was a general term for humanoid beings. It was only later that 'Human' became the sole representative of the Human Race."

"Please don't betray the demi-humans, Princess. What you're saying sounds too much like a Human's speech. I don't understand," the Cat demi-human chieftain gripped his cane tightly. "Humans are cunning and fickle. They call it intelligence, but we demi-humans are no match for them in this regard. Many of our kin have been deceived and manipulated, not just demi-humans, but all races in the world."

Lilim nodded, "In any case, let's start with a period of cooperation and mutual understanding."

With the Cat demi-humans as a precedent, the subsequent exchanges went much more smoothly.

According to post-statistics, each tribe had several hundred people.

To Lynn, these were like villages.

There were several hundred such tribes. This was only because Aningsbe was too small, and most of the tribes Lynn had come to were within a week's travel to Aningsbe.

Road construction was impossible for all of them. Lynn focused on building roads to tribes with important resources, primarily hiring demi-humans for the construction.

Wooden tracks were mainly for transporting goods, saving more effort, and also for future considerations.

Lynn deliberately offered a high price for the tribal warriors to build the roads. Since it was only for nearby trade, the travel distance wouldn't be too far, and they could reach Aningsbe on foot in a few days. Most of the road construction projects could be completed within a month.

Tribal warriors were Battle Qi practitioners with plenty of strength.

The so-called wooden tracks just needed to be of the right size. Even whole logs could be used. Underneath, crushed stones and wooden planks were used as sleepers, and then they were fixed with iron nails.

After dealing with the most difficult eastern demi-human tribes, Lynn turned his attention to the west.

The southwestern region was too devastated by the rampages of the Werewolves. The west was desolate.

Although the Humans were gone, there was plenty of land. Lynn began exploration work in the southwest.

At the same time, he organized people to trade with merchant guilds that did not belong to the Empire's influence.