Salt Lake City is about the same size as Las Vegas, only more messy and rundown, and dirtier.

Before entering the city, Chu Tianjiang smelled the sour smell on his face. Next to the Great Salt Lake, the air humidity in Salt Lake City is very high, and the acid gas that permeates the air is extremely harmful to the human body. Chu Tianjiang hurriedly asked the caravan to stop, and then asked Stewart to go to the outskirts in the upwind direction to find a place to stay.

Chu Tianjiang was not afraid of poisonous acid gas, but Clara was not, and she was pregnant.

From a distance, Chu Tianjiang didn't want to believe that Salt Lake City was a city at all, and felt that it was more like a huge mountain of garbage dominated by reinforced concrete.

Because it was getting late, the deacons sent by Stewart were unable to find a place to stay, so the caravan had to camp on the outskirts of Salt Lake City.

After dinner, Stewart came to find Chu Tianjiang and said that he was taking him to the city for a walk.

Chu Tianjiang didn't refuse, but he didn't take Nicol and them with him, because they had an important mission, and then he took the three Andre brothers and set off with Stewart.

"I'm not afraid you won't believe it, in the entire western region, Salt Lake City is notoriously the city that never sleeps."

"The city that never sleeps, built on garbage heaps and manure pits!?"

"Two months ago, merchants were mainly active during the day, but as the pollution of chemical workshops has increased, more and more merchants are choosing to do so at night. It's also understandable that evaporation is too great during the day and slightly better at night. Later, the black group made it clear that chemical workshops could only produce during the day, so that merchants could go to the city at night to do business. ”

"Merchants live in the suburbs?"

"The powerful large caravans are all in the suburbs, and the small caravans still live mainly in the urban areas."

"Anyway, I'll have to find a place to stay tomorrow and I can't camp outside anymore." Chu Tianjiang is not used to camping, but camping can only live in tents or vehicles, and cannot be heated by fire, which makes Clara very uncomfortable, and there are many inconvenient places in daily life.

"Rest assured, like Las Vegas, in Salt Lake City, as long as you have money, anything can be done." Stuart smiled reluctantly and said, "The main reason is that it's too late today, and the nearby manors have been rented out, so tomorrow I promise to let you live in a warm room." ”

"Where are you going to take us?"

"To familiarize yourself with the situation, I haven't been to Salt Lake City for a long time."

"Right?"

Stewart thought for a moment and said, "It's been almost two months." ”

"It's not too long."

"In the past, two months was not too long, but now, two months may be a vicissitudes of life, and many small separatist forces have existed for less than two months."

Chu Tianjiang smiled, this is the truth.

"Lao Chu, I think you should go to Houston with me."

"I haven't thought about it yet." Chu Tianjiang knew that Stewart was not worried that he would not be able to return to Houston safely without his escort, but that only by returning to Houston with him, Stewart's status in the Houston Chamber of Commerce, and this harvest could be guaranteed. "Rest assured, when you get to Denver, I'll give you a clear answer. If it's really necessary, I'll go with you to Houston. ”

"Really?"

"I'll talk about it when we get to Denver." Chu Tianjiang paused slightly, and then said, "Wait, let's go to the guard hiring market first." ”

"Why are you going there, hiring more guards?"

"No, we have enough guards. I mean, let Andrei go and register a mercenary legion so that he can act in the future. ”

"This ......," said Stewart, stunned for a moment, "that would be fine, at least it would be stronger." ”

"Is there an agency dedicated to managing mercenaries?"

"No, you just need to register a name in the Guardian Employment Market in the five central trade cities and pay a fee."

"There are no restrictions on the personnel of the mercenary corps, and the origin of the personnel?"

"No, who would limit the size of the mercenary corps?" Stewart glanced at Chu Tianjiang and said, "Only when signing a guard contract with an employer through the escort employment market, the mercenary corps needs to declare the number of personnel, but there is no need to provide the specific situation of the personnel. ”

"What other ways can I sign a security contract with my employer?"

"Of course, it's mostly private bargaining, but there are no security guarantees. In addition, the chamber of commerce in each place provided the caravan with the necessary escorts. ”

"In other words, it is not possible to fine-tune the management of the guards."

"Yes. In addition, some caravans that are more powerful but have never returned to their place of departure are likely to sign long-term cooperation agreements with mercenaries, that is, mercenaries will become shareholders of the caravan in the form of providing security and dividends in the caravan's profits. Such mercenaries would not sign escort contracts with caravans through the Escort Hire Marketplace and would not be regulated. It's just that any mercenary army starts from the basics, so it definitely needs to be registered in the Guardian Employment Market in a central trade city. ”

Chu Tianjiang nodded and said, "In this case, after Andre forms a mercenary legion, he will sign a long-term cooperation agreement with you." ”

"Is this necessary?"

"Of course there is, do it in a proper way, so as not to be gossiped about by others."

"The problem is, let's get those free mercenaries to participate in the dividends, we ......"

"I'm not going to let them join the Legion."

Stewart was stunned for a moment, looked at Chu Tianjiang a little incomprehensibly, and said: "Although no one has made a clear limit on the size of the mercenary legion, there are only more than ten of you, even if all of you join, it is not a mercenary legion, at most it is just a free mercenary team." ”

Chu Tianjiang smiled and said, "Well, you don't have to worry about this." Besides, I don't plan on making a living from mercenaries yet. ”

"This ......"

"Anyway, do as I say."

After entering the city, under the guidance of Stewart, André first drove to the Escort Employment Market.

There was still a strong sour smell in the air, but it was much better than in the evening. In addition to the fact that the chemical workshop stops producing at night, it is also related to the decrease in the temperature at night and the decrease in the moisture content in the air, in addition to the night wind blowing from the south.

The Salt Lake City security guard hiring market is much the same as Las Vegas.

As Stewart said, it's not difficult to sign up for a mercenary legion, and there's not much to pay. When registering the size of the mercenary corps, Chu Tianjiang learned that the minimum standard was fifty people. If the number is less than fifty, it is a team of free mercenaries.

Subsequently, Stewart took Chu Tianjiang and them to the three main trading markets.

The first thing to go to was the slave market.

The slave market in Salt Lake City was much larger than in Las Vegas, and there were five trading locations, with a much larger number of slaves per trade, ranging from fifty to hundreds. Because they were mainly labor slaves, most of them were women between the ages of thirty-five and fifty, but there were also some men over the age of forty, and a small number of relatively strong minors. According to Stewart, at its peak, in the six months after the black group in Salt Lake City waged war with foreign countries, as many as 5,000 slaves were traded here every day, sometimes more than 10,000. Usually, the daily trading volume is also more than 2,000 people. Transactions were also conducted through auctions, except that before the auction began, the market would give buyers hours to assess the value of the slaves one by one, so each auction would take several hours, and some large auctions would even last for one night.

Chu Tianjiang didn't stay here for too long, and after turning around, he asked Stewart to lead the team to Salt City.

The size of the salt market is much smaller, but the trading volume is much larger. Because the black group had a monopoly on salt production, the salt market itself was the seller, and the only seller. The salt market will take samples of different types and qualities of salt, and arrange special sales staff to bargain with buyers. Because it is a monopoly, it is generally impossible for buyers to lower the price much, and they often buy according to the price offered by the seller. As long as the price is negotiated and the deposit is paid, the buyer will negotiate the delivery time and delivery place with the salt market, and then the salt market will deliver the goods to the buyer on time. If the purchase is large and the price is not deliberately underpriced, the salt market will also provide some additional benefits, such as helping buyers negotiate with black groups, appropriately reducing buyers' protection fees, and even providing escorts.

In the salt market, Chu Tianjiang didn't delay too much time, and there was no place for him to delay too much time.

Chu Tianjiang was interested in the arms market.

Now that it has been decided that Connie and her team will form a legion, and that they have registered a mercenary legion, it is natural to consider purchasing some appropriate weapons and equipment, as well as enough ammunition.

In the arms market, only the trade in ammunition is monopolized, while the arms trade is decentralized.

Most of the weapons and equipment are in extremely bad condition, some are not even functional, or even repairable, and the quality of the ammunition is not much better. Reloaded ammunition is sold on the market, i.e. bullets made from used cartridge casings that are reloaded with primers, propellants and bullets. Original ammunition is not only very rare, but also extremely expensive, and neither the free-form mercenaries nor the mercenaries can afford it. Relatively speaking, the problem of firearms is not very serious, and Chu Tianjiang is sure that many guns that look very bad will be given a makeover.

After turning around twice, Chu Tianjiang left the arms market in disappointment.

A gun without ammunition is not as good as a burning stick, and a gun with inferior ammunition will not only not kill the enemy, but also kill the user.

Without a reliable source of ammunition, Connie's legion would not last.