Undercurrents and Generous Gifts
Near the Valley Tribe's dock, at the Fire Tribe's temporary camp, Jianya had just settled things with the Fire Tribe when he heard footsteps outside. He looked up and saw a young woman walking towards him. She was wearing a light-colored linen dress, her hair was tied in a simple bun, and she had a faint smile on her face. Behind her were several followers, carrying something in their hands.
That was Qingsui, the only daughter of Daiyue, the chief of the Valley Tribe. Jianya quickly stood up and went to greet her.
"Miss Qingsui!" He clasped his hands in a gesture of respect.
Qingsui walked up to him, but her gaze swept past him, scanning the Fire Tribe's temporary camp. Not seeing that familiar figure, a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure.
"Chief of the Jianya," she began, her voice clear and crisp, "My father has prepared a banquet in the Valley Tribe's council hall and has sent me to invite you there."
She paused, then couldn't help asking, "Didn't Yan come this time?"
Jianya smiled and shook his head, "Our Fire Tribe has recently absorbed some more people. Yan is busy at the Fire Tribe headquarters and hasn't come over yet. He'll come to the Valley Tribe once he's finished with this."
Qingsui nodded without saying anything, but the disappointment in her eyes deepened.
"Okay," she said.
Jianya turned to prepare. He called his Binmao and selected about ten trusted followers, each carrying a load of gifts. Just before setting off, he suddenly remembered something, took a large bundle from his tent, and handed it to Qingsui.
"Miss Qingsui, Yan asked me to bring this to you."
Qingsui took the bundle, opened a corner, and saw several large packets of spices inside. Her eyes lit up immediately, and a smile bloomed on her face.
"Thank you!" She hugged the bundle to her arms, her voice becoming lighter.
The group walked towards the council hall of the Valley Tribe. The entrance to the council hall was brightly lit. Daiyue, along with the seven elders of the Valley Tribe, was standing at the door waiting. When he saw Jianya coming, he strode up to greet him with a big smile.
"Jianya Leader! You've had a long journey!"
Jianya stepped forward quickly, clasped his hands in a respectful greeting, and said, "Chief Daiyue, you're too kind! How could you trouble yourself to greet me personally?"
Daiyue laughed heartily and warmly pulled him inside by the hand.
"The Fire Tribe is our Valley Tribe's most important trading partner right now, so of course we must treat them with great respect!"
As he walked, he said, "I've had hot food prepared. Come in and have something to eat!"
Jianya was warmly led into the council hall by Daiyue, with the seven elders following behind, all wearing smiles. As soon as they sat down, Jianya waved his hand, and a dozen or so trusted followers came in carrying loads. The loads were opened to reveal exquisite pottery and coarse salt.
"Chief Daiyue, elders, this is a small token of our Fire Tribe's appreciation," Jianya said with a smile.
The eyes of the seven elders lit up. The fourth elder, Lin Feng, couldn't help but pick up a ceramic bowl and examine it carefully. The ceramics were finely crafted and better than any they had seen before.
"Great stuff! It's really great stuff!" he exclaimed repeatedly.
The elder also picked up a bag of coarse salt, tasted a little, and nodded repeatedly.
"This salt is much better than that from the Tiger Tribe."
The other elders also stepped forward, lovingly stroking the pottery and examining the salt bags. Daiyue watched this scene with great satisfaction; the Fire Tribe was indeed generous.
"Come on, come on, serve the food quickly!" he waved and ordered.
Steaming hot food was quickly served: roasted lamb, stewed pork, fresh fish soup, rice... The table was full of food. Everyone ate and chatted, and the atmosphere quickly became lively. When they had almost finished eating, Daiyue put down his chopsticks and looked at Jianya.
"Jianya Fang, I heard that your Fire Tribe has brought quite a few large ships this time?"
Jianya nodded. "Yes, our Fire Tribe has recently built another batch of ships. We now have twenty ships with a carrying capacity of 20,000 jin and one hundred and forty ships with a carrying capacity of 10,000 jin."
A complex emotion flashed in Daiyue's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.
"The speed at which your Fire Tribe builds ships is truly astounding," he remarked.
Jianya said modestly, "We were forced into this situation. We've ordered 40 million catties of grain from the Valley Tribe over the past two years, but we can't transport it back without ships."
Daiyue nodded, indicating his understanding.
"Indeed," he said. "The volume of grain trade between our two tribes has been considerable in the past two years, putting a lot of pressure on your transportation."
He paused, his tone becoming somewhat serious.
"The Bear Tribe has been causing some trouble lately, but don't worry, our Valley Tribe can handle it. It won't affect our grain trade, and our Valley Tribe will do its best to assist your Fire Tribe in transporting grain."
Jianya's heart skipped a beat; the Bear Tribe was in turmoil again?
But he remained expressionless, simply nodding and saying, "That's good."
Daiyue then asked, "How much grain does your Fire Tribe plan to transport back this time?"
Jianya said, "Our Fire Tribe plans to transport 3.5 million catties back, but our own fleet only has a capacity of 3.2 million catties. We need the Valley Tribe's assistance to cover the remaining shortfall."
Daiyue nodded without hesitation and said, "Don't worry, Jianya Fang, we'll take care of these things."
Jianya quickly thanked him, "Daiyue, Chief Daiyue!"
Daiyue waved his hand and brought up another matter.
"By the way, that remnant of the Wolf Tribe you mentioned earlier caused trouble on the Big Horse River a while ago. They slaughtered two small tribes of three hundred people each, using extremely cruel methods."
He shook his head, his tone tinged with disgust, and said, "These people are too vicious and cunning. If we hadn't been prepared, they might have caused even bigger trouble."
Jianya's heart tightened, and he quickly asked, "What happened next? Where are they now?"
Daiyue said, "Later, Daiyan from our Little Valley Camp Outpost camp quickly defeated them. Those people fled to the Bear Tribe, but I heard they didn't stay long and are now heading further north."
He paused, then said, "I heard they're quite strong. If we didn't have bronze weapons, we'd be really hard to deal with."
Jianya nodded, secretly relieved. At the same time, he felt a pang of regret; that bastard Xueya had run away again.
"Those people from the Wolf Tribe have committed many atrocities in our area," he said. "If we hadn't run away quickly last time, we would have been wiped out long ago. These people are no good; they are cunning and vicious. Fortunately, your Valley Tribe discovered them early, otherwise it would have been a real problem."
Daiyue nodded. "Yes."
The two chatted for a while longer before Jianya got up to take his leave. Early the next morning, Hefeng, the second elder of the Valley Tribe, led his men to the Fire Tribe's temporary camp.
"Jianya Leader, shall we begin the transaction?" Hefeng said with a smile.
Jianya nodded. "Okay."
The two had worked together many times and were already in perfect sync. Hefeng was in charge of counting the pottery and coarse salt, Jianya was in charge of checking the quantity of grain. They worked on both sides at the same time, which was very efficient.
On the first day, 1.8 million catties were loaded, and on the second day, 1.7 million catties were loaded. A total of 3.5 million catties of grain were neatly stacked in the hold. By evening on the second day, the last batch of grain had been loaded. Jianya stood at the Chuantou, looking at the fully loaded ships, and let out a long sigh of relief.
Early the next morning after the grain was packed.
"Set off!" Jianya commanded, and the grain transport fleet slowly started, leaving the Valley Tribe's main dock and beginning its journey upstream along the Fish River.
Twenty-six days later, the Fire Tribe's main valley came into view. The dock was crowded with people. Jianshi, along with Qingye, Flame, Dabang, Jijiao, Canglan, Jia Li, and others, were waiting there. The fleet slowly docked, and Jianya jumped off the ship and strode towards Jianshi.
"Brother!" he said with a broad smile, "We brought back 3.5 million catties of grain this time, and everything went very smoothly!"
Jianshi patted him on the shoulder. "Good! You've worked hard this time!"
As they were talking, Fengren also came over. He had just finished arranging the affairs of the six 50,000-jin-capacity giant ships and came over in a small boat to meet with Jianshi.
Jianshi hurriedly went to greet them, "Leader Fengren, you must be tired from your journey! Please come to the council hall and have something to eat and rest!"
Fengren smiled and nodded, following Jianshi towards the council hall. After a hearty meal, the grain on the Valley Tribe's ship was unloaded. Fengren got up to take his leave, and Jianshi led everyone to the dock. After seeing Fengren off, Jianshi led everyone back to the council hall. Everyone took their seats, and Jianya began to report on the trip to the Valley Tribe.
"Brother, everything went smoothly this time too. The Valley Tribe's attitude towards our Fire Tribe is still very good, and the grain was loaded onto the ship quickly."
He paused, his tone becoming serious, and said, "However, the conflict between the Valley Tribe and the Bear Tribe is escalating. Daiyue said that their Valley Tribe can still control the situation, but if they can't, our Fire Tribe's grain trade and transportation will be greatly affected."
The room fell silent. Yan asked, "How confident are the Valley Tribe about their chances in the conflict with the Bear Tribe?"
Jianya shook his head. "It's hard to say. Chief Daiyue said he can still keep things under control, but judging from his expression, he's probably a little worried."
Jianshi was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Fortunately, our Fire Tribe has built a large number of ships during this period. Otherwise, if something really happened, we wouldn't be able to transport the grain back, which would be a real problem."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Jianya continued, "Furthermore, the remnants of the Wolf Tribe, after being driven away by the Valley Tribe, fled to the Bear Tribe, but they didn't stay there either; they've now headed further north."
Jianshi nodded. "It's good that they're not with us for the time being; it saves us a lot of trouble."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Dabang and asked, "Dabang, how's things going at our workshop lately?"
Dabang stood up, a smile on his face, and said, "Chief, we have recently built ten ships with a carrying capacity of 20,000 catties each and ten ships with a carrying capacity of 10,000 catties each, and they have all been successfully tested."
He paused, then said with pride, "Now, our Fire Tribe has thirty ships with a carrying capacity of 20,000 jin each, and one hundred and fifty ships with a carrying capacity of 10,000 jin each!"
A low cheer erupted from inside the room.
"Great!" Jijiao slapped his thigh. "Excellent!"
The others cheered, their faces beaming with excitement.
Dabang continued, "Our other workshops in the Fire Tribe are also operating well, with increased production of pottery, coarse salt, and linen."
Hearing this, everyone became even more excited. Jianshi nodded in satisfaction and then looked at Yan, asking, "Yan, how's the Youth Team doing?"
Yan stood up and said, "The new boys have fully integrated. They're keeping up with the training, and they're learning to read quickly. There are a few promising talents among them; with proper training, they could achieve great things."
Jianshi nodded, his eyes filled with satisfaction, and said, "Good, the Youth Team is the future of the Fire Tribe. Keep a close eye on them during this time."
Yan nodded. "Understood."
Jianshi then reported on the development of the outer strongholds, saying everything was going well. Finally, he looked at Jianya and said, "Jianya, you'll have to work a little harder. In a couple of days, take the fleet to the Valley Tribe and bring back as much of the remaining grain as possible. The headquarters already has plenty of grain stored up. This time, the fleet can simply unload the grain at the Fish River Estuary Outpost outside."
Jianya nodded. "Okay."
Jianshi finally looked at everyone and said, "Everyone must do their job and not slack off."
The crowd responded in unison, "Yes!"
People gradually left.