Winter has gone to spring, and the time has entered the eighteenth year of the establishment of the Dragon Tribe, Su Yan is already a middle-aged man who is nearly thirty years old, and Su Yan's two sons are also six years old.

However, the years have not left many marks on the faces of Su Yan and his two wives, who look like young men in their twenties.

The people of the dragon tribe did not feel strange about this, on the contrary, they thought that it was normal for the king's appearance to have not changed, and that our king was immortal.

In the new year, the Dragon Tribe has a total of three hundred and fifty-nine male clansmen and four hundred and three female clansmen, which is equivalent to the population of a small tribe just by putting these new adults together.

After the end of the spring festival, the household department summarized the population data of each city, and the adult male tribe of the dragon tribe has reached 2,941, the adult female tribe has reached 6,959, and the total population of the dragon tribe has reached 26,646.

In one year, the total population of the Dragon Tribe increased by nearly 3,000 people, you must know that the Dragon Tribe did not fight outside the country last year, but only relied on the natural growth of the population, and a small number of children under the age of six in the population traded from other tribes, and even fewer people who were promoted from servants.

In addition, the dragon tribe also has 208 adult servants and 622 minor servants, making a total of 830 people; There were 863 adult slaves and 1,409 juvenile slaves, making a total of 2,272 people.

If the total population of the Dragon Tribe, the number of servants, and the number of slaves are added together, the total number has reached 29,748, and it will break through the 30,000 mark before the end of this spring, which is not so far from 50,000.

There is still some time before spring ploughing, and the entire dragon tribe is busy.

Last year, three more A-type ships were launched, and the number of A-type ships owned by the dragon tribe has reached fifteen, adding two A-type ships to the Ministry of Commerce, making the first trade fleet and the second trade fleet each have five A-type ships, which can be regarded as an increase in the carrying capacity of two fleets, and one trip can transport more people, cattle and horses.

Loaded with various goods such as copper spears, copper axes, copper knives, rattan shields, rattan armor, white salt, pepper powder, pottery, etc., the two trading fleets of the Ministry of Commerce officially set off to trade with various tribes.

In addition to trading, the two trade fleets also have a mission to invite people from some tribes to the Dragon Tribe, to show the strength of the Dragon Tribe, and to prepare for inviting various tribes to join the Dragon Tribe.

Only the Aoki tribe, the Japanese tribe camp, and the nomadic tribe are excluded, and the Aoki tribe, which is developing rapidly, and the powerful Japanese tribe camp, even if the dragon tribe invites them, it is difficult for these two to join the dragon tribe.

The rest of the nomadic tribes have different living habits from the farming tribes, and unless the dragon tribe can build a city on the grassland as soon as possible, it will be difficult for the nomadic tribe to join the dragon tribe.

In addition, if the nomadic tribe wants to trade bows and arrows and horse harness, and the dragon tribe does not agree, it is easy to cause the relationship between the two sides to break down, so it is better not to invite the nomadic tribe to come.

The two trading fleets set off, and not long after, 1,000 adult tribesmen, 100 adult servants, and 200 adult slaves, led by Tu Shen, went in batches to the area about a day's west of Yangcheng on the south bank of the Yellow River to begin the construction of the sixth city of the Dragon Tribe.

In late summer and autumn last year, Tu Shen had already led some of his tribesmen to set up a temporary camp in the area, and even built a brick kiln to fire a batch of bricks and stones.

The sixth city is under construction, the seventh city, the eighth city, the ninth city, and three more cities, and Su Yan will officially establish the country with the Dragon Tribe as the main body.

For others, there is no difference between "tribe" and "country", but the word "country" has an extraordinary status for Su Yan, and "tribe" is far inferior to "country".

The two trade fleets sailed all the way, and each tribe that had traded with the Dragons stopped to give a New Year's gift, regardless of whether the other party hoisted a white flag or wanted to trade.

There weren't many things for New Year's gifts, a few bags of white salt, peppercorn powder and a few delicate pieces of pottery.

Who doesn't want to ask for a gift for free, the leaders of the tribes are happy to accept, pottery they have in their tribe, no matter how delicate it is, it is just good-looking, it doesn't matter, white salt and peppercorn powder are things that all leaders like, sprinkle a little pepper powder when roasting fish or animal meat, that taste, it's really enjoyable.

Gifts are given, transactions that require trading, and before leaving, the official of the Ministry of Commerce in charge of trading sends an invitation to the target tribe.

"Honorable chief, the leader of our tribe has extended an invitation to your tribe to invite the people of your tribe to come to our tribe as guests."

"To your tribe?"

"Yes, we came to your tribe, but the people of your tribe did not come to our tribe, and the leader of our tribe invited the people of your tribe to come to our tribe as guests, which is conducive to deepening the friendship between your tribe and our tribe, and our tribe can guarantee the safety of your tribesmen."

On the basis of several transactions, the dragon tribe is familiar with these tribes, and there are no unpleasant things happening on both sides, and the leaders of most of the invited tribes accept the invitation from the dragon tribe, and it is good to send a few clansmen out to meet the world, so easily go to another tribe as a guest, which is a rare thing.

What's more, the tribes also want to know more about this dragon tribe that trades with their own tribes, and what other way can they understand the situation of the dragon tribe better than to go to the field to watch, anyway, it's not the leader to go in person, just choose two or three clansmen to go.

Although the dragon tribe will send out invitations now, it does not mean that the guests from various tribes will get on the boat and go to the dragon tribe now, spring ploughing will come soon, and the matter of visiting the dragon tribe will be put after spring ploughing, and the dragon tribe's trade fleet will be suspended during the spring ploughing, if this trip comes to the dragon tribe, the person who comes to the dragon tribe as a guest will stay in the dragon tribe for a long time.

Now it's just a matter of inviting in advance, there is still a long time before the spring ploughing or even after the spring ploughing is over, so that the various tribes can prepare and select the clansmen who will come to the Dragon Tribe as guests, and even a few tribes that refuse to invite may change their minds.

Over the course of a month, two trade fleets deliver New Year's gifts to the various tribes, send out invitations, and complete several transactions along the way.

Except for the three nomadic tribes, the scale of the remaining transactions was very small, and the total value of the total was only about twenty copper weapons, but the three nomadic tribes brought nearly fifty cattle and horses to the dragon tribe.