"Zuosuo" is the name of the village, which is under the rule of the Lu people and is the sphere of influence of the "Mulu tribe".

The village leader Fuquan met Tianhao and Tiankuang in his wooden house. The guards of the village gate checked the mark on Tianhao's left arm and confirmed that this was a 100-man leader and the leader of the village. In any case, Fuquan believed that he had to give the other party enough courtesy.

Fuquan's eyebrows were thicker than ordinary people, and his long black hair tied with leather rope was drooping to his shoulders. He looked at the young man sitting cross-legged across the street. When he saw the beast-skinned shoulder of the other person, Fuquan couldn't help but feel a little proud, and his eyes became erratic, unconsciously bringing a little contempt.

The reason why the deer tribe has a status in all northern barbarian tribes is because the deer tribe has superb textile technology. Five years ago, the deer tribes began to plant cotton on a large scale. Since then, cotton has gradually replaced linen. Now, members of the deer tribe rarely wear linen fabrics, mostly cotton.

Each tribe has its own secret. The spinning wheel has no technical content and can be made by all tribes. However, when it comes to weaving twine or cotton thread into fabrics in an efficient and fast manner, this technology is only mastered by the deer tribe. Even if other tribes have linen production, they can only use old looms, which are extremely slow and very small in number.

"Haha, when did the people from Panshi Village choose a young young man to be the leader?" Fuquan said this without any malicious intention, but he couldn't help but add some sarcastic elements. Zuosuo is a Dazhai with a population of more than 1,000, and Panshi Village with a mere 200 people is just a little grasshopper in his opinion.

"Fusong is dead, I will take over his position." Tianhao sipped the water in the cup. The color was slightly yellow and had a heavy earthy smell. He smiled and said straight to the point: "I came this time to discuss a business with the leader Fuquan."

Fuquan did not object to this. He asked with a smile: "How much cloth do you want to change? Cotton or linen?"

Those who come to Zuosuo Village to discuss business are all for the cloth here.

"Five hundred cotton cloths." Tianhao's calm face showed that only adults were old. He said a number directly.

This is a serious matter that no one can ignore. Fuquan put away the playful expression on his face, stared at Tianhao with a bright look, completely forgot his doubts about the age of the young leader: "What exchange do you use? I will explain first, we don't need weapons."

The Niu tribe is good at smelting metals and forging weapons, and the metal tools in Panshizhai are of excellent quality.

Tianhao raised his hand and touched his chin that had grown thick, hard and short whiskers. His fingers slowly slid away from that position, and pinched his fingers in the air with a very casual movement. Tian Kuang, who was sitting on the side and back, quickly opened the backpack placed beside him, took out a piece of dried fish, and handed it over.

Fuquan looked at the dried fish in surprise. The shuttle-like appearance looked clean, and the white fish meat was very hard to pinch, without any moisture. It turned over and it was a light green fish skin. When you got close, you could smell a faint fishy smell, without the stench of rotten meat. This shows that the dried meat quality is quite good and is a rare and excellent product.

A large amount of saliva was secreted from his mouth without warning, and Fuquan kept shaking his throat. After a hungry winter, the situation in Zuosuo Village was not much better than other villages. Fortunately, the grain harvest last year was good, there were no dead people in the village, and there was no population transaction with other villages during the cold season.

Relying on picnics and sometimes uncommon prey, Zuosuo Village has been to this day. There are also melons planted in the village, and most of them have been picked. The remaining ones must not be moved, otherwise a lot of food will be stored in winter.

Speaking of which, this is Fuquan’s mistake.

For several consecutive years, nearby villages would send people to Zuosuozhai to exchange grain for cotton cloth. Zuosuozhai made a lot of profits from this business, including Fuquan. Everyone thought there was no need to spend effort to cultivate, just make sure that there was enough cotton land to produce raw materials.

Last year was the year with the smallest amount of cultivated grain in Zuosuozhai history, but it encountered extremely cold weather that was rare in a century.

Although clothing ranks first in the civilized era, it is based on the premise of "shaming" and the basic social moral framework. In the eyes of the northern barbarians, hunger is the biggest problem that must be solved first.

Even the leader of the village, Fuquan, still lived a hungry life. This situation lasted until autumn and the first batch of food in the field would be fundamentally alleviated.

"Where did you get the fish?" Fuquan kept swallowing his saliva, but his mind was full of questions. He knew very well about the geographical location of Panshi Village. It is said that there are man-eating monsters in the sea over there, and they have been unable to get close to them for many years.

Tianhao shrugged his shoulders, as if he hadn't heard his question, and smiled: "Let's talk about our business! Leader Fuquan, how much of this kind of dried fish do you want?"

"Fifty kilograms to change to a piece of cloth." Fuquan answered quickly. This is the exchange price in the normal season. The conversion between jerky and fresh meat is about one to six. The fish is very dry, and Fuquan probably doesn't mean one to seven, even one to eight.

Cloth is more valuable than meat and food. If you wear it as a piece of clothing, you can last for many years if you care.

"You are kidding!" Tianhao's smile became a little cold, and his tone became no longer polite: "If it was autumn, of course there was no problem with the exchange price. But you don't look at what time it is now, fifty kilograms...haha..."

He shook his head, and sarcasm and ridicule were clearly written on his face, and he could see it at a glance.

The terrain south of Panshi Village is very special, with the coasts that are hundreds of miles long and towering with cliffs. A cliff that is hundreds of meters high cannot find a way to go. It is difficult to catch fish or cook salt and cannot form a scale.

The village closest to Zuosuo is the Rock. These barbarians of the Mudharth tribe obviously still don’t understand the situation.

The embarrassing mentality flashed through Fuquan's mind. He knew that the asking price was a bit too much, but business was business, not to mention that the textile technology of the deer people was well known. The weather was already hot, and the young leader on the opposite side was still wearing thick animal leather shoulders. Don't he want to change into a cool and thin cotton jacket?

"Then it's forty-nine pounds." Fuquan felt that he had shown his greatest sincerity.

He didn't see Tianhao's movements clearly, but felt that his hand slipping, and the piece of dried fish as a sample disappeared instantly. When he came to his senses, the dried meat was firmly held in his hand by the damn young man, and then handed it to the thick man sitting behind him. The guy was even more disgusting. He stuffed the dried meat into his backpack, pressed his hands tightly, and stared at him with his vigilant eyes as if he was thief-proof.

"Forget it, I'd better go!" Tianhao stood up and shook the dust that did not actually exist on the animal skin shoulder. He picked up the long-handled battle axe placed beside him, and the sunlight shone in from the gaps in the wooden house, reflecting a faint blue metal cold light on the surface of the sharp axe blade.

The second fusion point has been created, and Tianhao directly invested in the "physical energy". During this period, a large amount of food nutrition supplemented the missing parts in the host body, muscles were growing rapidly, bone strength was also increasing, and tendons became stronger and tougher. Although they still did not reach the level of Tiankuang, the difference between the two was not very big. Ninety points and eighty-five points, that's all.

Before doing business, you must consider comprehensively. You must make sufficient ideological preparations between "success" and "not". Panshizhai does not have talents in this area, and Tianhao must go there personally. This is sincerity and a contest between those with equal status.

Fuquan was disrupted by this sudden change, and he was forced to swallow all kinds of words that had already been thinking about bargaining before he could say it. He frowned, a hint of anger appeared on his face, and he shouted with displeasure: "Then tell me, how much can I change it?"

Tianhao, who had already reached the door, stopped, raised his left hand and stretched out his five fingers: "Five kilograms of dried fish and meat to exchange for a piece of cotton cloth."

Fuquan shook his head and rejected it without thinking: "This is impossible."

Zuosuo Village has never exchanged fabrics for such a low price.

Tianhao glanced at him, said nothing, and turned around and left.

Looking at his back, Fuquan's anger expanded exponentially.

It is extremely unwise to use tough measures to leave a village leader. Moreover, it is useless to keep Tianhao. His entourage’s backpack is not big, so it probably doesn’t contain much stuff in it.

Are you deliberately insulting me if you want to change to a piece of dried fish for five kilograms of dried fish?

...

The shadow of hunger continued to cover Zuosuozhai.

The food has been cut off.

The "grain" mentioned here is a broad concept, including crop production in all fields and meat. In the dictionary of the northern barbarians, "grain" means nutritional supplements.

Wild vegetables cannot be counted as it is. During the spring famine, many villages are mobilized by the whole family. They dig wild vegetables on the mountain, dig mountain rats in the cave, searching for everything to eat, and even the little insects are not spared. When they go home at night, everyone's harvest gathers, boiling soup and water into a pot. When they drink it, their stomachs are full, and in the middle of the night, their stomachs will be rumbling constantly. They will not stop until dawn, and they will become hungry again.

Looking at the wheat seedlings growing green ears in the field, Fuquan felt anxious as if he was on fire.

The wild vegetables on the nearby mountains have been dug up and the wild animals have disappeared. The deer people live in the area with few trees and there are not many hunting results every time. If this continues, you will be desperate.

This year I learned a lesson that the area of ​​ploughing wheat is far more than any time. By autumn, no one will go hungry.

The question is, how can we survive this most difficult time?

Do you really want to surrender to the young boy from Panshi Village and exchange a piece of precious cotton for a mere five kilograms of dried fish?

Fuquan could not convince himself to accept this fact.
Chapter completed!