Nine soldiers and nine archers surrounded a pair of horses and horses and walked east along a clearly marked path.

A flagpole was tied to the carriage, and a flag with ochre-bottomed white pattern swung in the wind. The white texture was the shape of a dragon. This was exactly the Xia Kingdom dragon flag designed by Hua himself.

The team descended along the Ru River, reached the Yingguo range at the southeast end of the valley, and then turned east.

Hua was not sitting in the carriage, where there were two businessmen. They were shaking their heads and chatting, enjoying the scenery.

Hua gave the carriage to them not because Hua Lixian was the sir, but because these two luxurious brocade clothes could not be stained.

In the words of these two people, "The first thing a businessman needs is to be good at the best. He would rather be hungry than keep his fortune. He would not be able to fight back."

Therefore, when they were about to reach their destination, Qibashi, Hua asked the two businessmen to change the luxurious clothes in their luggage and get on the carriage.

Soon, Qiwu was already in sight. Hua was familiar with this place in his memory. The capital of Yiguo was not far southwest of this city.

Although this place is far away from the royal capital of the Shang Empire, it is directly under the jurisdiction of the Shang Empire, like Panlong City, Shenyi in the south, and Henan in the north. They are all managed by Dianjue directly sent by the Shang King. These four cities and the most loyal vassal state of the Shang Empire, Zeng, form a thousand-mile commercial road from Chaoge to the bank of the river. (On the map of later generations, namely Chaoge-Zhengzhou-Luohe-Zhumadian Zhengyang County-Suizhou-Wuhan Line)

From Chaoge to Panlong City, each distance is exactly 120 kilometers, and it takes up to three days. Moreover, this trade route is almost a straight line from north to south. Apart from crossing a Dabie Mountain Pass along the way, it is almost all the Great Plains.

The copper ingots from Tonglu Mountain in the south of the Yangtze River were continuously imported into the imperial capital through this trade route, creating various agricultural tools and military armor. But what is more important than this is the trade function of the trade route itself. After the goods from the northeast and west gathered in the Shang Dynasty royal capital, part of them returned to the south from this trade route, and exchanged their presence and whether the barbarians were distributed in the south, earning rich trade spreads and taxes.

Qiba City is a real city, with tall and solid rammed earth walls surrounding an area of ​​nearly four square kilometers. Merchants do not like to build cities, and there are no outer cities in the royal capital, only palace cities. The "main capital has no cities" before the Five Barbarians invaded China was their habit of leaving behind. But because this trade route directly crosses the western edge of the Huaiyi distribution area, it is necessary to build such a strong city.

Hua's soldiers were stopped by the merchant soldiers guarding the gate. It turned out that the soldiers were not allowed to enter the city. Hua had to ask them to wait outside the city. Then he drove into the city with two businessmen and coachmen.

The city is lined up with buildings and shops. The soldiers in armor and helmets patrol the streets. A large number of soldiers escorted the ox carts carrying copper ingots out of the north gate. They were escorting the copper ingots and also patrolling the commercial routes.

There are a wide variety of goods on the market, including grain, seedlings, livestock and poultry, agricultural tools, jade and gold utensils, brocade and cloth, and of course, special commodities of this era [people], which are all available. These commodities are classified in various street markets.

There are also all kinds of people who buy things and sell things, including merchants, people and civilians from all over the south, and even Huaiyi with disheveled hair. "Business is business, and has nothing to do with anything else." This is probably the philosophy of business people.

...

[Ding... The temporary task "Find the Trade Points of the Merchant Party" is completed, and you will get a reward of 200 points] The system sent a prompt. When Huacai Air Conditioner came out of the panel, he saw that the total points were 240.

[Ding…The "first transaction" of the temporary task was released, and a transaction was completed within the merchant's trading point will be rewarded with 200 points]

...

In Qiba City, no matter whether you buy or sell, you can only find fixed stores as the trading party. You are not allowed to trade on the streets privately. This is to facilitate the official to collect taxes through these stores.

Hua found a fur shop and sent two businessmen to negotiate the fur business with the boss. The carriage was carrying a large bundle of raw skins that he had gotten during his hunting before. These furs were of no use to Huayi, so he simply took advantage of this mission to exchange for some money.

The two businessmen were shaking their tongues and used various tricks. One of the businessmen went out to inquire and negotiated with the other two nearby stores, and finally got a higher price.

When the burlap purse containing 1,000 coins was placed in Hua's hand, the system's prompt sound rang again

[Ding…The "first transaction" of the temporary task is completed, and the task is rewarded with 200 points]

Hua walked around the city several times and checked the prices of various commodities, including the prices of slaves. Children's slaves over 10 years old cost about 80 shell coins, adult healthy male slaves cost more than 200 shell coins, and young female slaves cost more than 150 shell coins. Of course, they are priceless in beauty, and are auctioned.

He stayed in front of the salt shop for a while and calculated [Can you refine coarse salt into fine salt to earn interest rate spreads?] But he immediately gave up this idea. Although he still remembers the method of filtration and purification of chemical filtration in junior high school to obtain fine salt, it is not suitable for large-scale production, and he cannot find the corresponding filter materials.

More importantly, Huaji remembers that there is the option of [Salt Making Floor] in the building list of the system. You can build it as long as you find a salt mine and other conditions. Then why bother to work hard by yourself?

I went to the gold (metal) market again and took a look. A hoe that consumed two kilograms of bronze sold for 50 shell coins. The boss was willing to collect 35 to 40 shell coins, while a two kilogram of bronze material only had 20 shell coins. It was produced using a cost-free workshop in Huayi. Each hoe could have a gross profit of 15 to 20 shell coins.

The other bronze agricultural tools and hunting tools are similar, and the gross profit of daily bronze utensils is even more considerable. Hua particularly noticed that a bamboo bow can purchase price of 15 shell coins. As for weapons and armor, it is the official sale of Shang Kingdom, and private transactions are prohibited here.

Hua had an idea in his mind. He sent the seller to negotiate with the boss who sold copper materials, and finally bought 200 kilograms of bronze ingots at the price of 9 shell coins per kilogram. Then he ran to the livestock market and bought 10 piglets and 20 lambs. The seller said that he was smearing the words, which made the boss happy and sent another basket of chickens and duck cubs.

The 1,000-civilian shell coins extracted from Curry plus the 800-civilian shell coins given by Su Guo, plus the 1,000-civilian shell coins obtained by selling fur, totaling 2,800-civilian coins, and only 800-civilian coins were spent.

Hua stuffed all the remaining 800 coins into a businessman and asked him to find an inn in Qibashi City and stay there for a long time. On the one hand, it is used for daily contacts and business purposes in the future, and on the other hand, it can collect the situation for the long-term Xia Kingdom.

...

Two days later, Hua and his group returned to Huayi in vain.

The villages in the basin have been built, and Hua sent 10 farmers and all indigenous civilians to live in, and appointed a system of farmers to be the village chief. The newly bought livestock and poultry were distributed to them for feeding.

Hua Ling built another 40 farmers and 50 slaves in the southern plains of the basin, which were densely covered with bamboo and wood, to use it to cut bamboo, pick hemp, log wood and burn charcoal.

Huaxing pulled out the system panel to see what his 440 points can do now.

Now that Hua is interested, there are the following items that can be done.

[Junior ceramic kiln workshop] and [Intermediate ceramic kiln workshop]

You can produce porcelain at an intermediate ceramic kiln, which will definitely be exchanged for a large amount of wealth, but it requires 820 points in the front and back. Moreover, the ceramics are fragile and large in size, and are not easy to transport. Production also requires special distribution of part of manpower to dig clay.

The most important thing is that if you spend all your points on this and you don’t have the protection of a strong soldier, this... forget it, let it go aside.

[Bronze Age Intermediate Military Barracks, upgrade to this facility, add three types of troops: "Horn Bow Shooter", "Long Salute Warrior", and "Disin Ge Infantry". Upgrading requires 180 points, and the palace is upgraded to the Bronze Age Intermediate]

[Bronze Age intermediate residential houses, upgrade to this facility, add three units: "official", "strong bow hunter" and "elephant trainer". The upgrade costs 180 points, and the palace is upgraded to the Bronze Age intermediate]

[Bronze Age Intermediate Workshop, upgraded to this facility to create more sophisticated instruments and armor such as ox horn bows, composite bows, bronze swords, and escalators. Upgrading requires 220 points, and the palace is upgraded to Bronze Age Intermediate]

Ascend to the army, civilian, or worker? Hua scratched his head and thought.

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Data summary so far in this chapter:

【Points: 440】

[System population: including 50 farmers, 10 bamboo bow hunters, 2 businessmen, witch doctors, 10 bronze shield guards, 10 bronze spear soldiers: 39, 39 bamboo bow shooters: 39, 153 people in total]
Chapter completed!