"A gift?" Acton glanced at Igilianbod warily. The man opposite him had fair and smooth skin, a well-proportioned figure, and a neatly trimmed beard on his chin. This was in stark contrast to the villagers, hunters, and fishermen he had seen in daily life. In contrast, his companion bent down to pick up the dagger and his pocket, pulled out the knife out of curiosity, stretched out his hand to test the blade, and immediately screamed: "Acton, this knife is so useful!"
"Idiot! This is an iron knife. You think it's the bone knife we use to kill fish!" Acton confirmed that the wound was not deep, took the short knife from his companion, carefully inserted it into the sheath, opened his pocket and found several black ones inside. He took out a few small squares, looked at them, and asked, "What's in this pocket?"
"It's stone honey!" Ijilianbod smiled and said, "Have you ever eaten honey? The taste of stone honey is similar to honey and you can eat it!"
"It tastes similar to honey?" Acton immediately became excited. Honey is a good thing. Although he is a child of the village chief, he rarely gets to eat it. He quickly stuffed a piece into his mouth, and it was like that. As the strange guy said, the unique sweetness of honey immediately filled your mouth.
"Yes, yes, that's the taste!" When Shimi entered the mouth, Acton's attitude immediately changed 180 degrees: "Thank you very much. This Shimi is really as delicious as honey. You are so kind. , give me such a good thing!"
"As long as you like it!" Ijilianbod smiled and said: "We are businessmen from a distant place. We want to go to Fuchu Market Town, but don't know how to get there? Do you know?"
Before Acton could speak, the companion on the side rushed to speak: "Fuck the market town? Are you talking about the place where iron tools are sold? I know, I know, it's still about two days away from here by boat!"
"Seriously?" Yiji Lianbode didn't expect to find out the destination of this trip so easily, and he was overjoyed: "Yes, that's the place. We are going to do business there. I wonder if you can be our guide?" I won’t let your hard work go in vain!”
Actun looked at Ijilenbod, then at the big boat on the river, and asked carefully: "Where are you a merchant? We Mohe people are at war with the Tang people and the Khitan people. If you are a Tang people or Khitan merchant, Then I’m afraid I won’t do business with you!”
"Don't worry about this, I am a Japanese, not a Tang person or a Khitan person!"
"Japanese people? Where are the Japanese people?"
"My home country is on a big island in the east, a very, very big island! The stone honey you just ate is produced on our island. There are many other things on the ship, even the goods of the Tang Dynasty!"
"There are goods from the Tang Dynasty!" Acton was overjoyed when he heard this: "The people in Nafu town will definitely welcome you very much. They hate the Tang Dynasty because they want to fight with the Tang Dynasty, but they like Tang people's things very much. They have often fought in these years. The goods from the Tang Dynasty are all cut off. If you can bring the goods from the Tang Dynasty, you will definitely be able to sell them at a good price!"
"Really? That would be great. Can you be our guide?"
"I'm afraid I can't do it now. I have something to do at home today and I have to go back to deal with it before I can come tomorrow. You can stop the boat here and wait for me. I have made arrangements to come to you tomorrow!"
"Okay, then I'll just wait for the good news!"
Seeing Yijilianbod talking to the two Mohe boys for a while and then returning, Master Shen asked, "How was it? Have you heard the news?"
"Yeah!" Yijilenbod nodded: "Those two barbarians said they knew Fu Chu Town, but they asked me where I was from, and said they were at war with the Tang and Khitan people, so they didn't want to fight with the Tang and Khitan people. Do business!"
"Then how did you answer him?"
"I said I am a Japanese, but there are a lot of Tang people's goods on the ship!"
"Hahaha!" Master Shen laughed: "You didn't lie to them. There are not many people from the Tang Dynasty except me on this boat. What do those two boys say?"
"They said it doesn't matter. Although the people in Fuchu town don't do business with the Tang people, they like their goods very much. Because of the war for many years, the trade routes have been cut off, and they haven't seen the goods of the Tang people for a long time, so we can definitely sell well here. Price!"
"These two boys are quite interesting. By the way, what about the guide?"
"They said they had something to do at home and asked us to wait for them here all night. They will come as guides tomorrow!"
"Come to be a guide tomorrow?" Master Shen frowned: "The nights are long and there are many dreams. Why not arrest those two boys? Wouldn't it be better?"
"I've thought about it too, but the waterways here are complicated and our ship is big. If they don't like it and give random directions, it will be troublesome if our ship runs aground. I have already put my saber and a bag of rocks. Mi gave them a meeting gift and promised a generous reward, so I’m not afraid they won’t come back tomorrow!”
"What you said makes sense!" Shen Faseng nodded: "Our boat is very convenient on the sea, but we have to be careful when entering the inland river. But tonight, we must be more vigilant to guard against barbarian night attacks!"
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Atumen Village.
"I'm back!" As soon as the boat docked, Acton shouted loudly and ran towards the village, completely ignoring his companions behind him who were working hard to move the salmon ashore one by one.
"This guy Acton ran so fast and left all the hard work to us!" his companion complained.
"Forget it, we just gave the half bag of stone honey to eat, what's the point of moving some fish?"
"By the way, do you really want to be a guide for that group of people?"
"Why don't you go? You guys haven't done enough of catching, killing, hunting and farming every day? Being a guide can at least broaden your horizons and increase your knowledge!"
"Yes, I am thirteen this year and you are fourteen. If you get older, I am afraid that you will be dragged by the Goguryeo people to serve as soldiers to fight against the Tang people. You may die one day. If you can get along with this group of businessmen, Relationships, aren’t they a great thing?”
The friends were carrying fish while talking. Acton had already run to the door of the house. He crossed the yard full of people and ran to his mother who was busy in the kitchen: "Where is Amma?"
"In the backyard, drinking with some elders! Where is your fish?"
"Back there, we'll move here soon. I have something to do with Amma!" Acton ran to the backyard, took the short knife and the remaining half of the bag of brown sugar to his father, and told the story of the big ship just now, and finally Said: "Amma, I promised them to be their guide tomorrow, what do you think?"
The leader did not immediately answer the younger son's question. He took out a piece of brown sugar and put it in his mouth, then pulled out his short knife and looked at it: "Is this all given to you by the people on the ship?"
"Well, the man who got off the boat looked a little strange. His skin was whiter and smoother than the women in the village, and his beard was trimmed beautifully! He's different from us!"
"That should be a great nobleman!" The leader replied slowly: "Not a businessman!"
"Your Excellency? How do you know, Ama?"
"Businessmen travel all over the world and are exposed to wind and sun. How can their skin be so white? And trimming beards beautifully requires skills. Maybe there are dedicated female slaves!"
"Then, could he be a rich businessman?" Acton asked.
"A rich businessman?" The leader sneered, pulled out his short sword, shook it in the light of the fire, and asked, "Acton, do you see clearly? What do the lines on this blade look like?"
“Kind of like pine leaves!”
"Yes, pine leaves! Do you know how such lines come from?" The leader continued without waiting for the younger son to answer: "Ordinary swords are made by beating hot iron bars, and the superior ones are made by beating hot iron bars. Swords are made by repeatedly beating red-hot iron bars, so that they have such beautiful lines and are extremely sharp. Even the best blacksmith cannot make a few such good knives in a year. Come!" After saying that, he slashed at the half of the wild boar that was being grilled on the fire with his backhand. He cut most of that half of the wild boar open with one blow, even cutting off the spine.
The leader wiped the blade clean, returned it to its sheath, and asked, "Acton, do you think any businessman would be willing to give away a good knife like this?"
At this time, everyone in the yard understood what the leader meant. Although nobles are rich and businessmen are also rich, there is still a difference between the two. The nobles are rich because they are powerful. For the sake of their own dignity and style, they have They don't care about spending more money, and sometimes they even spend more money on purpose to show their generosity; businessmen, on the other hand, are looking for profit, and they will spend money, but in the end they still want to get more money, so they have to be "rational" in their spending. Much. For things like finding a guide, a businessman would be reluctant to give away all his swords.
"Amma, are you saying that the noble man was lying to me?" Acton asked carefully.
"I can't say that he lied to you, but there are always some things that noble people don't want others to know!" The leader said: "So many times he cannot tell the truth, but this cannot be said that he lied to you!"
Acton nodded blankly. He could not understand the subtle difference between not telling the truth and deceiving for a while. Finally, he decided to put these things behind him and solve the problem at hand: "Then I have promised him tomorrow Go to the river in the morning and serve as their guide, should you go or not?"
The leader did not answer, but turned to the white-haired old man closest to the fire: "Old shaman, can you show Acton the good or bad luck?"
The minced meat on the wild boar's shoulder blades was cleaned and roasted on the fire. Soon six or seven cracks appeared on the shoulder blades. Acton carefully picked up the shoulder blade and brought it to the shaman. He stepped aside and waited for the old shaman's interpretation. The old shaman's right hand was shaking on his shoulder blade, and he was mumbling something. Acton wanted to get closer to understand what the old shaman was saying, but he didn't dare. Legend has it that the shaman was having a conversation with his ancestors at this time, except for himself. and the Apprentice, anyone who dared to eavesdrop on the dead man's words would soon follow.
Of course, shamans have to pay a heavy price for doing this. All shamans have no children, and most of them have one or two defects. For example, the old shaman in front of him has a disabled right leg, and his apprentice Born mute. According to what the old shaman said once when he was drunk - ancestors and gods love those with inherent disabilities more, because otherwise, they would not be able to survive.
The old shaman's murmur did not last long. Suddenly he opened his eyes, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare, and threw himself into the sky. Then he kowtowed to the void, as if there was an invisible power there. Seeing this, the others quickly imitated the old shaman's actions. After a while, everyone dared to stand up. The old shaman gasped and said, "It's so terrible. I almost couldn't come back today. I just wanted to ask my ancestors, but even the Deer God was invited!"
Everyone exclaimed in exclamation. The Deer God was a very common belief among the Mohe people at that time, and its majesty was naturally much greater than that of the ancestors of this small village. The leader hurriedly asked about the result, and the old shaman sighed: "Our ancestors told us that since we have made a promise to others, we should keep our promise!"
"Then you should go?"
"Yes, but then the Deer God showed up and said this matter was important, so we could ask for a generous reward!"
"Generous reward!" Everyone looked at each other. They were still in the tribal alliance stage and only had a very vague impression of the amount of wealth. After a moment, the leader made a decision: "Acton, tomorrow you will ask those people for a hundred Remuneration of bolts of cloth!”
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The next morning.
"What? You want a hundred bolts of cloth as a guide's reward?" Igillenbod asked.
"Yes, one hundred pieces of cloth!" Acton stretched out his right hand nervously. He still didn't know the true meaning of one hundred pieces of cloth: "It means giving one piece of cloth to everyone in the village!"
"No problem!" Ijilenbode was too lazy to argue with the barbarian boy in front of him on this trivial matter: "But I will only give you twenty horses first, and I will give you the rest when Fu comes out!"
"Okay!" Bargaining is not what Acton is good at. Besides, he also hopes to go to the village and go to Fuchu Town to broaden his horizons.
"Okay, bring twenty pieces of silk cloth and prepare to sail!"
Acton led two companions onto the ship. They looked at everything in front of them with curious eyes: two masts, a large number of ropes, a smooth and hard deck, and various winches and pulleys. Come the sound of drums, whistles, and horns, as if you are in a noisy hive, making a huge roar.
"Weigh anchor, weigh anchor!"
Following the bosun's loud voice, three or four sailors with round waists began to turn the winch vigorously. The thick hemp ropes rose steadily from the water, and finally brought out the iron anchor full of river mud. Then it was time to raise the sail. The sailors stood neatly under the mast, pulled the rope hard, and raised the sail to half the height. Under the strong blowing of the river wind, this large ship was nearly forty meters long and five meters wide. It started moving slowly, and the speed continued to increase, and soon reached a speed that made Acton stunned. He had never imagined that such a huge creation could move so fast and gracefully without any human effort!
"Lower the sail, the wind is too strong! This is an inland river, not the sea!" the captain shouted, and the sailors pulled the rope hard. When the sail was lowered to a certain height, they tied the rope to the mooring pile. . I saw the captain standing calmly on a high place, constantly issuing various orders, directing the sailors on the ship around.
(End of chapter)
