Not many people paid too much attention to the naming of the Flaming River. After some time had passed, most people had already forgotten about it. After all, it was just a river. Who cared if it had a name or not.
But now, this river was connected with the Trading Point. Perhaps many people still didn’t know which river was the Flaming River, but the Flaming River Trading Point caught their attention.
It’s a Trading Point!
A place where they could trade goods.
Shao Xuan had already sent out the news and set up more wooden signs around the area. Hopefully, the news about the Flaming River Trading Point had reached many different tribes.
“How’s progress? Is it almost done?” Duo Kang came over with a team to deliver food for these hard-working men. They were also here to replace them for the next shift, so they could take turns resting.
“It’s pretty much done. If we’re not striving for perfection, this will work just fine for the time being,” Shao Xuan rolled up the animal skin scroll in his hands and looked over at the buildings around him.
The exterior wall was made with stones stacked on top of each other. This wall was thick and stood seven to ten metres tall. There were three entry points to the trading point—two near the piers and one near the forest. A trail had already been established in front of the entrances.
After Duo Kang instructed his people to their assigned tasks, he walked over to Shao Xuan and said, “By the way, if we’re to open up the trading market before winter, how are you planning to treat those who are coming? Like the Rain tribe and the Pu tribe.”
“I’ve already prepared a spot for them,” Shao Xuan handed his scroll over to Duo Kang. On the map two locations had been marked out clearly, “Here, facing the Pu tribe, because they will most likely arrive by the river. This will be where the Rain tribe…”
Shao Xuan showed his drawing and divisions to Duo Kang, and also explained why he made the arrangements in this way.
“Wait!” Duo Kang had no opinions about the divisions, but he had another question, “Are we not going to collect anything from them before their entry?”
Duo Kang thought that Shao Xuan would use the methods the slave masters used in the city to treat their guests. When they lived on the other side, they had to pay an “entry fee” to enter the city, and the divisions would be made based on the decency of the goods. However, Duo Kang and the others traded in the free trading zone, so there was no set location for them. They looked for a vacant spot and set up their booths for trade. It was unlike the standard trading markets with organised places for each booth.
But now that they were on their land, Duo Kang was not willing to just let others set up their booths without having to pay.
“This is just the beginning. We have to let everyone know what this place is like and show them the benefits of trading here. We are not charging them yet, but when people are familiar with this place, then we will collect goods from them accordingly,” Shao Xuan explained.
“I see,” Duo Kang understood immediately. He nodded, “Makes sense.”
Other tribes wouldn’t decide to trade if they didn’t see any benefits. If they wanted to attract more tribes to come trade in the area, they had to provide some incentives. If they started collecting entry fees even before everyone recognised their trading point, then many tribes would retreat upon hearing that they had to pay.
“I wonder how many tribes will come when the market opens,” Duo Kang muttered silently as he walked away.
Shao Xuan also had no clue. The only tribes that had confirmed their attendance were the Rain tribe, Drumming tribe, and Pu tribe.
More people came over in the past few days to ask about the trading point. Shao Xuan did not know their decision, and could only wait until the day the trading point opened to find out.
Shao Xuan once again looked at the scroll in his hands. The houses constructed were marked out clearly on this map. Some were connected as a group of buildings with a yard and warehouses. Others were smaller and made mostly out of wood. These houses were simply designed, and the construction was not complicated. That’s why it didn’t take long to finish.
This was where the tribes would gather and trade. There wouldn’t be any cases of individuals trading with each other happening in the area. The trade was specifically between tribes, so there could be no single person or a few people having their building. If the tribe that came had many people, Shao Xuan would direct them to a larger space. If they had fewer people, he would give them a smaller space.
The centre of the trading point belonged to the Flaming Horn tribe.
Here, the buildings were not made of wood. They were stone houses that were two stories high.
As the day of opening approached, the Flaming Horn tribe had already moved a portion of their stock over to the trading point. Besides the stock that the expedition team had brought on their travel, the tribe still had many things to trade. Although these were cheaper things, they still had beast hides that they had collected recently.
Pottery, horn and bone tools were not uncommon here. Their main supply was on beast hide and beast meat. The Flaming Horn tribe was not on a shortage of food so they could trade their excess food supply for many other goods.
Now that this trading point was about to open, the Flaming Horn tribe would also benefit greatly and have more options.
Many tribes that resided nearby suffered casualties from the previous disaster, and none of them recovered as quickly as the Flaming Horn tribe. Perhaps they would trade what they had left for some other goods that were urgently needed.
Very soon, the people from the Rain tribe also brought their stock over to the trading point. They hadn’t paid back all the debt from before, but they worked laboriously in exchange for food to last the winter. It had not been long since they migrated to this area, and they did not have much stock in their hands. They just wanted to try and see whether they could trade at the trading point.
Many people from the Drumming tribe also came, but mostly to watch the excitement. They had no stock to trade, so they could only try their best to survive. Even if they wanted to trade, they could only watch. But recently when they started rebuilding their tribe, they found some scraps of Water Moon Stones in the ground. Some of their crocodiles also found more in the river. They wanted to use these stones to trade for some food.
The Pu tribe had also sent people over to take a look, and when they sensed that it was safe enough, they sent people back to inform the others. A while later, the Pu tribe’s team also arrived.
Because not many people had arrived yet, Shao Xuan made arrangements so that all of them were gathered in the centre of the market, and not spread out in the area.
Amongst all the members of the Pu tribe who came, Shao Xuan was still familiar with their leaders, including the hunt leader of their expedition team, Fan Ning, and Yu, who had bright colours painted around both his eyes.
Shao Xuan and Yu were having conversations about old times, but they were suddenly interrupted by a sharp whistle. They were instructed to direct the Pu tribe to their designated location, and Shao Xuan looked towards the entrance.
They looked out at the entrance of the trading market. Beyond the barriers, a man with pigtails appeared at the entrance. There were pigtails on both the top and sides of his head, and it resembled the claws of a chicken. He was even wearing beast horns. Wearing beast horns as accessories were not just a habit in the Flaming Horn tribe. It was also common in other tribes.
He was very vigilant. After the guards at the entrance approached them, they slowly came out of the shadows.
This group of people wore rattan armours and had similar hairstyles. The weapons they had were mostly made of stone or wood, and they carried rattan baskets on their backs. Shao Xuan also noticed that these people had large feet and very long toes.
Lang Ga walked over to Shao Xuan, carrying a strange expression. He said in a low voice, “These were the people who were observing our trading point before.”
Shao Xuan remembered a few of them, but in his memory, most of them had messy hair when they were observing from behind the woods. Now, it seemed like these people even “dressed up” before they came.
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