novelhk Chapter 117 Westward
Chapter 117 Westward
Under the leadership of Jiang Sining, Liuyun Village became extremely busy.
The number of brick and tile kilns has now expanded to 10, and 5 cement kilns have been built. Now a large number of bricks and tiles and cement are output from the kilns every day.
My uncle-in-law is in charge of brewing wine at home and is busy every day. A large amount of strong liquor is brewed.
Part of it was sold to Mr. Liu, a great man, and sold throughout Daxia through his channels, while more was sold to the barbarians.
The climate in northern Xinjiang is cold in winter and resources are quite scarce. Winter is the most difficult time of the year. If they had some strong liquor, it would be of great help to them in surviving the winter.
Qingyu and his companion were also very helpful. They sold the cheap liquor at a high price and exchanged it for a large number of cattle and sheep.
Good news also came from Xiashan.
First, he bought a large amount of rubber. Although this thing is not useful now, it will definitely shine in the future. The key is that the price is not expensive.
Jiang Sining asked Xia Shan to leave a few people he could trust to buy a large amount of rubber locally, and then transport it back to Daxia by land. This section of the road is relatively safe, and rubber is not the target of robbery by bandits, so it should be relatively safe.
"Then should I come back?" Xia Shan conveyed the message to Jiang Sining through space.
"No, you still have to continue heading south." Jiang Sining replied.
"Continue to the south? But there are only old mountains and dense forests to the south, and there are no people."
"Keep going, it will work."
Xia Shan gritted his teeth after receiving the news. It was not that he was afraid of hard work and danger, but if he went further and further, it would be difficult to go back.
If he can't go back, then if the young master and his wife rebel, he won't be able to help them.
"Madam, how about Dong Ling go instead?"
"Dong Ling has something else to do." Jiang Sining said, "Xia Shan, your mission is very important. As long as you pass through the dense forest for about a thousand miles, you will reach a very rich place. There are a variety of fruits, rice, rubber, and a large amount of seafood. These will be necessary to save the people of Da Xia in the future. If you do this well, you will be the biggest hero in the future."
Upon hearing this, Xia Shan gladly accepted it.
So he found a few hundred strong locals, reorganized them, and started to cross the dense forest.
He planned to complete the 1,000-mile mountain road within a month.
The place where Jiang Sining asked Xiashan belonged to Thailand in his previous life. If he could arrive there smoothly, he would be able to buy more food.
As for crossing mountains and ridges, it is difficult for ordinary people, but Xiashan has space and can immediately obtain various supplies, so there is no need to worry at all.
Just after Xia Shan's itinerary was arranged, news came back from Qingyu.
"Ma'am, there is something I want you to decide."
"what's up?"
"My subordinates found Daxia captives in the barbarian camp, at least a thousand of them." Qingyu replied.
The prisoners should be the captured Daxia soldiers.
Generally speaking, the barbarians would not keep captives because there was a shortage of supplies in the northern border, especially in winter, and they would not waste precious food on captives.
So once autumn comes, these captives will face a tragic end.
Jiang Sining knew that Qingyu wanted to save these people, and she also wanted to save them. There were more than a thousand lives involved, and they were all good men of Daxia.
But the question is how to save it?
She thought about this for two days but couldn't come up with a good solution.
Seeing that she was worried, Si Chenan took the initiative to talk about this matter: "Madam, why don't we make some weapons and armor for them, let them resist on the spot, and perhaps they can fight their way out."
Jiang Sining shook his head.
On the grassland, without war horses, even fully armed soldiers could not be a match for the barbarians.
"We can try to negotiate with the barbarians."
"Negotiate with the barbarians?" Si Chenan opened his eyes wide, feeling that it was a little unlikely. "Will the barbarians negotiate with us?"
"As long as there is enough interest, anything can be discussed."
"But those are soldiers. The barbarians will never let them go back!" said Si Chenan.
"I didn't say I wanted them back."
"If you don't come back, where are you going?"
"Go west."
So Jiang Sining sent a message to Qingyu, asking him to find a way to contact the leader of the barbarians, and promised that if they were willing to sell those more than a thousand people to Qingyu, the price of liquor could be reduced by 30% in the future.
Qingyu didn’t know whether he would succeed or not, but since his wife had made the decision, he found the barbarian leader.
The barbarians liked him very much as a weak merchant from Daxia, because he brought strong liquor and salt, which were things the barbarians were in great need of.
But when he heard that Qingyu wanted to buy captives from Daxia, the face of the barbarian leader turned gloomy.
"My friend, this is impossible. Don't mention it again."
"Master Chief," Qingyu said, "I want these people, not to go back to Daxia."
"Then where are you going?"
"I heard that if you keep going west through the sand, you will reach a place full of gold and fine wine."
"Haha..." The little barbarian leader laughed and said, "That's just an ancient legend. No one can cross that endless sand, ever!"
"But I still want to go, so I need those captives." Qingyu said, "If the leader can agree, I will give you a 30% discount when your people buy wine from me in the future."
When the barbarian leader heard that he would lose so much money, he became tempted.
But he still asked cautiously: "Are you really going west?"
"Really?" Qingyu said, "Chief, you can send someone to follow us until we enter the sand. If we can really find that rich legendary land, I also promise to give 20% of the gold I get to the chief."
"Okay, I promise you." The barbarian leader said, "But if you dare to secretly bring them back to Daxia, I will kill you all."
In this way, Qingyu used more than two thousand kilograms of liquor to exchange for more than a thousand skinny Daxia soldiers.
They had thought they were dead, but now they were suddenly rescued, and the ones who rescued them were from Daxia. These soldiers were all moved to tears of gratitude.
"Listen carefully," Qingyu said, "I rescued you not to let you go home, but to take you to the western sandy land."
When the soldiers heard this, they looked at each other in confusion.
They had also heard of the desert, which was a very scary place and once you entered it, you could never get out.
But then I thought, if I didn't go, I would be beaten to death by the barbarians, so I might as well follow this guy and take a chance.
That night, Qingyu set off with the thousand people, while Qiuhe continued to stay in the northern border and do business with the barbarians.
After more than half a month of arduous journey, they arrived at the barren Gobi Desert.
When Qingyu set out, he only bought a dozen horses to carry food and water, but now all of them have been used up.
Seeing that they had nothing, the barbarians who had been following them turned around and no longer monitored them, thinking that they would die of thirst or starvation even if they turned back.