The capital of the Cao tribe, called Yangzhai, is a large town built on the west side of the Central Plains Plain, only a day's journey from the eastern mountains of Maiji.

Different from the Gobi town of Xianyang, this city is a typical Central Plains city, mainly using a large number of wooden buildings, and the way and style of construction are somewhat similar to the architectural style created by Lin Yuan in Huadu in the last reincarnation, which should belong to the same lineage.

Patches of white clouds like cotton candy, lazily floating in the sky, the afternoon sun sprinkled in a golden corn field around Yangzhai City, it looked like another harvest year.

Lin Yuan sat in a small pavilion on the Yangzhai City Wall, on a large and thick mahogany thick-backed chair, leisurely looking at everything around him.

Everything within sight, whether slaves or livestock, was now Lin Yuan's property.

He has been in Yangzhai City for almost half a year, since the last time he led a large army and coerced the Grass Clan Patriarch to occupy Yangzhai City, Lin Yuan's sphere of influence has expanded to the hinterland of the Central Plains, and almost half of the Central Plains is now under Lin Yuan's control.

But that's not enough......

Lin Yuan knew very well in his heart that although his current strength had made a huge improvement compared to a year ago, he still couldn't compete with the Huang Clan, and he knew very well that if he wanted to unify the Central Plains and restore the prestige of the Yan Clan, then he had to defeat the Huang Clan.

In order to achieve this goal, he must first accumulate strength, in which there is both hard power and soft power.

The so-called hard power is naturally the troops, equipment, food, materials, etc., while soft power is the centripetal force of the entire nation, and in layman's terms, it is the fighting spirit.

Right now, hard power can still be seen and touched, Lin Yuan is moving forward step by step, achieving his goal step by step.

And soft power, it is still a mess, at least, Lin Yuan himself can feel that his people still do not have a relatively clear centripetal force.

For example, he once encountered a dispute between the Saba people from the Gobi and the local grass tribe in Yangzhai City, although the grass tribe is a vassal, but it is a problem at the tribal level, for ordinary people, the grass tribe and the Sabah tribe are still on an equal footing.

Lin Yuan did not engage in any hierarchical class system, because he knew that only a large number of free commoners could promote the development of trade, and he could profit from it.

Therefore, what he needs to do next is to find a way to create some kind of centripetal force, something that can twist everyone into a rope in a society where everyone is equal.

……

Religion is always the best choice......

Lin Yuan muttered to himself.

"God, what religion are you talking about?"

A silver bell-like female voice came from behind Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan was startled and jumped up from the chair, and then there was a burst of "Gege ......" laughter behind him.

"Hehe, it scared you, why are you always alone here?"

Jiu Yao said with a mischievous wink, she was dressed in a brown animal skin tight suit, with a small leather whip wrapped around her waist, and said with a playful smile to Lin Yuan.

This Jiu Yao, when there were outsiders, Shang Ke still held a few points of proportion, and asked Lin Yuan to call a few times "King Yan, King" and the like, but as long as there was no one around, he reverted to that eccentric appearance, and Guan Lin Yuan called the nickname "God-given".

Lin Yuan stretched out his hand, twisted it vigorously on Xiao Nizi's ear, and pretended to be angry and said:

"Next time you dare to treat me like this, I'll marry you to Scar of the Sabah tribe!"

Jiu Yao Cherry pursed her small mouth, dodged back, made a grimace and said:

"Oops...... It's so boring to stay here! Die of boredom! I miss the days when we had an adventure in the Western Regions, but now it's good to nest here every day, looking at the surrounding farmland, and I'm about to turn into a sorghum myself......"

Lin Yuan smiled knowingly, he understood, it turned out to be this lively little girl, in the capital city on this plain, she was not very used to it.

It is no wonder that Jiu Yao is from the Pangeng tribe in the mountains, where primitive hunting activities are still maintained, and there is no such thing as the Central Plains where agriculture is developed, food is sufficient, and a leisurely life is lived.

In Jiu Yao's world, they need to fight desperately against nature every day to hunt and kill prey, otherwise they will only go hungry.

Therefore, it is reasonable that Jiu Yao is not used to staying in Yangzhai City.

"Let's go!" Lin Yuan took a step forward suddenly, tightened the belt of his coat, took Jiu Yao's little hand, and walked out.

"Oops! Providential...... Where are you taking me? Jiu Yao asked behind her.

"Aren't you boring...... Let's go, I'll show you something interesting......"

Lin Yuan said as he strode forward, they slowly climbed down the stairs of the city wall, and followed the path below the city wall, passing through several small alleys.

Along the way, all the soldiers and civilians saw Lin Yuan, put down what they were doing, crossed their hands on their chests, and bowed slightly to Lin Yuan.

This kind of saluting posture was invented by Lin Yuan on a whim, whether the posture is beautiful or not, but at least there is a standard, and it can be regarded as a way to unite everyone.

If Fuxi is here, it will be good......

Lin Yuan often couldn't help but think that if that big fool Fu Xi was there, he would definitely be able to make a much more interesting and complicated ritual than this......

In a few thoughts, they had come to a huge building at the foot of the city wall, which was next to the west gate of Yangzhai City, at this time, there were several caravans, carrying slow wooden carts and backpacks, from the west gate of the city, slowly walked to the building physical, and then unloaded the goods, and then put on other things, and after resting for a few days, they set off and returned again.

These people were called freight drivers by Lin Yuan, most of them were barbarians on the Gobi Desert, in order to change a livelihood, Gu started this kind of livelihood, they usually set off from Xianyang car, with specialties from the Western Regions...... Of course, it was mainly salt, and then crossed the Maiji Mountain and followed the path to the west all the way to Yangzhai City.

Here, the large bags of salt they brought would be inspected, registered, and then sorted into smaller packages, and then stored in warehouses, waiting for free people of other races in the Central Plains to come and pay the equivalent for supplies in exchange for salt.

This is Lin Yuan's original trade method, he used this way to make salt, in the shortest possible time, spread throughout the Central Plains, and even to the deep mountains and the Huang people in the north.

Although the Changyi of the Huang clan insisted on prohibiting the people from trying to use salt, according to Lin Yuan's spy intelligence, there were still some bold Huang tribes who secretly used salt, of course, mainly those vassal tribes near the Central Plains.

The consequences of Lin Yuan's large-scale promotion of table salt, in addition to improving people's pursuit of food taste, more importantly, almost changed the course of mankind in two aspects.

First, the regular ration of salt has provided a stable source of sodium for the primitive human body, and people no longer drink the blood of animals in order to obtain sodium chloride, nor are they completely dependent on animals for food.

Second, Lin Yuan also taught everyone the wonderful use of salt, which is very important, that is, people can use salt to pickle food, they made a lot of original pickled vegetables and cured meat, although the taste is a little worse than that of later generations, but the better is that the ingredients are fresh and pollution-free. What's more, people have learned how to preserve food, and when the food supply is sufficient, people can use salt and air-drying to keep meat for a longer period of time...... At the same time, it has also given rise to the singleness of dedicated travelers, many places that were previously impossible to explore due to food, but now there are people who are eager to try it.

"Jiu Yao, come, come in, show you something......"

Lin Yuan took Jiu Yao's hand, took a big stride, and approached the huge building, it turned out that this was a huge warehouse.

As they passed by the door, one of the guards suddenly said:

"King Yan! Yes! Under the damn ......"

Lin Yuan frowned slightly, daring to disturb him at this time, if it wasn't that this guard didn't want to live, then there was indeed something very important.

"King Yan...... That's going to be a debriefing for you tomorrow morning, so I saw ...... It's good to see you passing by here, that ...... An envoy from Xianyang just came this morning, and he said that he had something important to tell the lord of our Xianyang Chetongyu City......"

Lin Yuan nodded slightly and said:

"Okay, let him come over now, I'll wait for him in this warehouse."

The guard immediately let out a big sigh, but fortunately it didn't make the king angry, and then he turned and ran away.

Lin Yuan shrugged his shoulders, since their group moved from the Gobi Desert to the west side of the Central Plains, he said that the jurisdiction of Xianyang City and Yinhu was all left to Tongyu, and appointed Tongyu as the city lord of Xianyang City, and she was responsible for all daily affairs.

Tongyu also once again showed her leadership skills, and in the past six months, Xianyang has been in an orderly manner and everything is going well.

However, right now, she actually sent someone to spread the word, and it seems that ...... It seems that something big has changed......

Lin Yuan shook his head and relaxed, after going through so much, he had long been accustomed to difficulties, and he also understood that he could be comfortable in the face of any difficulties.

"Jiu Yao...... Come on, come here, and show you something fun! ”

Lin Yuan suddenly remembered the main purpose of this trip, and he pulled Jiu Yao and walked to a corner of the lobby, where a black wooden box was placed alone.

Lin Yuan bent down and fiddled, the small box was quickly opened, and several colorful lights poured out one after another, illuminating the room colorfully.

Jiu Yao couldn't help but cover her mouth, looking shocked.

That box was filled with all kinds of rare treasures, including palm-sized shells, a few Hunyuan pearls, and even a few red corals, all of which had never been seen in the Central Plains.

Love beauty is a common characteristic of all women, even Jiu Yao, a female man, is no exception.

I saw her eyes shining, bending over beside the box, obsessively looking at the beautiful baby inside.

"Jiu Yao, don't be so exaggerated, which one do you like, I'll send you!"

"Ahh That's ...... But...... Then again, God, where did you get all this stuff? ”

Lin Yuan laughed a few times, and then said:

"Haha, I didn't expect that salt would have such a great power, and it is said that it has spread to the barbarian land in the East, next to the backwater lake."

The Eastern Barbarian Land in Lin Yuan's mouth actually refers to the general term for a large area of barbarians in the east, and the stagnant kettle refers to the endless sea water.

The reason why he said this was mainly due to the feelings of the local primitive people, after all, they did not yet have a basic concept of geography.

"These things are all gifts from the Eastern Great Tribe, and he said that this box, along with the contents of it, is the ...... of the Eastern Barbarians."

"Yikes! How could those Eastern barbarians have such beautiful things! Jiu Yao happily flipped through the box, as if she was looking for her favorite thing.

"Huh!!" Jiu Yao suddenly shouted.

Lin Yuan hurriedly leaned over and asked:

"What's wrong?"

Jiu Yao frowned and turned around, holding a yellow-green square in both hands, which seemed to be quite heavy.

"What is this?"

Jiu Yao asked with a frown.

Lin Yuan turned to that object, and to his surprise, he actually found that it was a piece of metal!

It's a piece of pure brass that has been oxidized to give it a green patina, but it's a purified piece of metal anyway.

Lin Yuan frowned, the tribe that owned this piece of pure copper should have mastered the secret of metallurgy, and they could already refine brass, and now, it seemed that they were a strong competitor.

But fortunately, this is in Dongyi, and there is still some distance from the hinterland of the Central Plains, so there is no need to be too nervous first.

Lin Yuan nodded slowly, handed the brass to Jiu Yao, and suddenly asked:

"It's called brass...... By the way, Jiu Yao, I remember you told me that a certain tribe near your Pangeng clan seems to have this thing......"

"Godci, are you talking about the Luohe clan? Yes, they seem to have it too, and they sold us some of it at a high price, like that beautiful brass ornament on my mother's body. ”

Lin Yuan nodded slowly, and said to himself:

"Hmm...... Luohe ......" (To be continued.) )