Cut off my army's food supplies? I'll open a portal between the two worlds and max out my

Steward Liu led his caravan into the tribe's temporary territory in a very open and unpretentious manner.

The surrounding tribal knights did not stop them, which was the custom among nomadic tribes, as these caravans would bring them many necessities.

This does not mean that nomadic tribes welcomed these caravans.

On the contrary, in the eyes of the tribesmen, people in caravans were often associated with fraud and deceit.

They would sell any scarce resource in the Gobi Desert to themselves at a high price.

Then they would buy back the furs they had at a lower price.

Although nomadic tribes are less civilized, it doesn't mean they are stupid. They also resent this kind of exploitation.

I used to buy things reluctantly because I had no other choice.

For the first twenty years after the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the price of salt remained relatively stable. Each dou (a unit of dry measure) of salt cost approximately fifty wen (a unit of currency), which was affordable for ordinary people.

However, in recent years, the Great Zhou Dynasty changed the salt certificate system to a special sales system in order to increase tax revenue, and now the price of salt has skyrocketed.

The price of salt per dou (a unit of dry measure) has risen to around 200 wen (a unit of currency).

Because the nomadic tribes still maintained the custom of bartering, caravans used a conversion rate of one dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice when selling salt.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, they sold smuggled salt for three dou of rice per dou of salt.

The minimum exchange rate for salt sold to these nomadic tribes was five dou of rice per dou.

Steward Liu was very confident about this, thinking that as soon as the caravan arrived, the women of those tribes would bring all their belongings to exchange for goods.

When the caravan arrived, the nomadic tribe acted as if nothing had happened.

The women continued working, the men patrolled, and the children played, with a few curious children occasionally coming over to take a look.

Where are the people? Where are the people who came to buy things?

Butler Liu was very puzzled.

He led his caravan around the nomadic tribe three times, but still no one came to surround them.

"Hey! You over there, stop circling around the sheep and disturbing their grazing."

Butler Liu: "..."

Suppressing his doubts, Butler Liu greeted them with a smile, saying, "My friends! I've brought many exquisite goods from the Great Zhou! Among them are your favorite salt and sugar! My friends, wouldn't you like to buy some?"

"How much?"

The tribal knight asked a question.

"My friends! As a symbol of friendship, I can sell it to you at a low price! Each bushel of salt will only cost four bushels of rice!"

The strange phenomena ahead made Steward Liu lose confidence, so he temporarily reduced the price by one bushel.

"Oh."

The tribal knight merely chuckled and did not reply, then turned and went to herd the sheep.

Butler Liu stood there dumbfounded. What's going on? I even lowered the price, and you're all still not buying?

Steward Liu was puzzled by today's situation. In the past, his caravan would have been surrounded by customers! Back then, people would have gritted their teeth and bought his rice even at the price of five dou (a unit of dry measure). Why were they unwilling to ask any questions after he lowered the price today?

Butler Liu was unaware that the tribes near the Gobi Desert all knew that they could buy incredibly cheap salt at the market in Anxi Town.

Moreover, not only was the price of the salt low, but its quality far exceeded that of the salt mixed with sand sold by these Zhou merchants.

The salt crystals bought in Anxi Town were as white as jade, and were of a high quality that the nomadic tribes had never seen before.

No one answered Liu's questions; his caravan seemed to be subjected to passive-aggressive treatment.

Ultimately, they had no choice but to leave the tribe, thinking that if they didn't buy it, there would be plenty of others who would! After all, no one can do without salt.

As a result, Steward Liu suffered cold violence for three consecutive days. No matter which tribe he went to, the people there would not buy his salt.

This made Steward Liu question his life choices. He even lowered the price to the same level as when it was sold in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but still no one was interested.

"Steward Liu, shall we go to the next tribe?"

The caravan's scout asked cautiously.

Butler Liu's face darkened: "Go to hell! Just go straight to White Elephant Kingdom! What's wrong with these barbarians?!"

Butler Liu felt extremely unlucky.

The White Elephant Kingdom was one of the kingdoms in the Western Regions. They had a cooperative relationship with the head of the family because the caravans couldn't overcharge people when selling goods, so their profits were much lower compared to selling to these nomadic tribes.

For a businessman like Steward Liu, earning less is equivalent to losing money.

Steward Liu led the caravan directly from the main road to the White Elephant Kingdom, without visiting any other tribes in the Gobi Desert.

Li Wen received intelligence that the Great Zhou caravan was passing by that very day.

The bustling market in Anxi Town has a hidden benefit: people can learn about the situation in the Gobi Desert from the herders.

Li Wen had no particular thoughts about this caravan.

When he received the threat from the imperial cabinet, he knew that if he did not cooperate with them, the Anxi Army's designation would be erased by the imperial court.

Therefore, the Anxi Army does not exist in the current Great Zhou Dynasty.

This is also the result Li Wen wanted.

Those in the imperial court believed that the Anxi army had long since starved to death in the Gobi Desert of the Western Regions.

Their plan was to develop the army, and once it was developed, they could then "legitimately" lead the Anxi army soldiers back to their hometown.

Whether the Great Zhou court will welcome them at that time is another matter.

The caravan left the Gobi Desert and headed straight for the White Elephant Kingdom. Li Wen ignored them and instead arranged for Jiang Tian to start farming.

Based on the farmland that Jiang Tian and his men had reclaimed, Li Wen distributed the purchased seedlings to the different areas.

"General, can these things called potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes really survive? Maybe we should make some compost, since the soil in some areas still isn't fertile enough."

The soldiers of the Anxi Army were all from peasant backgrounds, and they gained a general understanding of the land during the reclamation process.

Based on their past experience, it is essential to improve the fertility of the soil when planting crops.

Otherwise, let alone a harvest, it would be difficult for the crops to even survive.

Li Wen was prepared for this.

He had already purchased various fertilizers beforehand.

Li Wen also grew up in the countryside, so he was very familiar with the use of various fertilizers and had bought them in advance and transported them to Anxi Town.

Chemical fertilizer is a good thing.

No matter how high the yield of potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes is, they all rely on chemical fertilizers.

On Earth, the world's population problem was solved thanks to the invention of fertilizer.

Otherwise, once the population grows to a certain level, the biggest crisis will be a food crisis.

Li Wen didn't explain much; anyway, Jiang Tian and the others unconditionally trusted him and simply made arrangements.

"Plant the potato and sweet potato seedlings on the sandy soil, and plant the corn on the land along the riverbank. After planting, fertilize them manually as I have instructed."

"By autumn, this land will be able to support ten times as many people."