The team traveled for six or seven days and finally reached Salt Village.
Salt Village was much larger than Yu Village, and from a distance, one could see the tall wooden walls and a lookout platform built with wood at the village entrance, with people standing on it.
In addition to Yu Village's salt exchange team, teams from other villages had also arrived at Salt Village.
They set up simple tents at the entrance of Salt Village, forming a makeshift exchange market.
When Yu Su saw this exchange market, he was somewhat surprised. He thought coming to Salt Village was just a simple exchange for salt, but he didn't expect to find an exchange market here.
"These are villages around Salt Village. When they come here to exchange salt, they also bring things unique to their villages for exchange, such as pottery, bone tools, iron tools, and sometimes even slaves."
"Slaves?"
Yu Su was even more surprised. There was slave trading here?
Yu Feng nodded, telling Yu Su: "Most of those slaves fell into slavery after their villages were occupied. The people who took over their villages didn't want to waste food on them, so they brought them out to sell. They are all pitiful people."
As they spoke, they arrived at the entrance of Salt Village. After the village chief and his people communicated with the people of Salt Village, they led the people from Yu Village to an open space in the exchange market.
"Yu Feng, take people to find some thatch and wood, and we'll camp here," the village chief instructed Yu Feng.
Yu Su only now realized that they also needed to camp here.
Looking at the other villages' tents, he knew that the tents here were very rudimentary, barely enough to shelter from wind and rain.
"Can't we stay overnight in Salt Village?" Yu Su asked Yu Feng.
Yu Feng shook his head: "To stay overnight in Salt Village, you must give Salt Village fifty white shells, or give them one-third of the goods you bring for free."
Yu Su knew that white shells were a kind of exchange currency popular here, very rare.
But whether it's fifty white shells or one-third of the goods, it's too much. Yu Village can't afford it. The conditions set by Salt Village are really demanding.
"There are many people here. Light a bonfire at night, and wild beasts won't dare to come over. It's relatively safe; you don't need to worry," Yu Feng said, thinking that Yu Su was concerned about safety at night.
Yu Su didn't think about that. "Uncle Feng, let me go with you to cut wood."
Yu Feng: "No need, let others do this kind of thing. It's your first time here. Let Yu Meng take you to the exchange market and see. Besides salt, there are other things to exchange."
Yu Su nodded and, with Lu Yan, went to the exchange market with Yu Meng. Compared to the variety of goods available in the late-law era, this exchange market is so crude that it's unbearable to look at. But for Yu Meng and the others, it's prosperous enough. As soon as they entered the exchange market, they enthusiastically looked around and wanted to exchange for everything.
"Yu Su ge, why do you look not very happy?" Yu Meng noticed that Yu Su's expression was calm when looking at these things, without the excitement that should be there when coming to the exchange market for the first time, couldn't help but ask.
Yu Su: "I'm not unhappy. I'm just thinking about what to exchange."
"Yu Meng immediately said, 'I want to exchange for iron tools!'
The iron tools mentioned by Yu Meng were actually quite ordinary, with crude craftsmanship that failed to arouse any desire in Yu Su to make a purchase. After browsing for a while, he only settled on a dagger.
This dagger was different from the pile of iron tools. The casting craftsmanship and quality were several notches higher, indicating that it was crafted by a skilled blacksmith.
'How can I exchange for this?' Yu Su asked.
Seeing his interest, the stall owner enthusiastically replied, 'This dagger is a good item. Exchange it for a bushel of salt or twenty white shells.'
Yu Su negotiated, 'Can't I exchange it with animal skins or bones?'
The stall owner, showing a disdainful expression, replied, 'Can those things compare to my dagger? No, I won't exchange!'
Yu Su: '...'
He had collected high-quality animal skins and bones, and this person actually found them unsatisfactory.
The stall owner probably sensed Yu Su's thoughts and pointed behind himself, 'Look, all these are high-quality animal skins exchanged. Do I look like someone lacking animal skins?'
Yu Su glanced and noticed two intact wild fox skins hanging in the thatched shed behind the stall owner.
'If you can bring out a skin like that, I'll exchange with you,' the stall owner said.
Wild beasts are fierce, and only experienced hunters can catch them. However, maintaining the integrity of the skin is challenging, even for seasoned hunters, let alone the rare wild fox skin.
Yu Su hesitated slightly. In his space, he did have an intact wild fox skin. Initially, he intended to exchange it for more salt. After discovering the salt spring, he no longer lacked salt and planned to take the wild fox skin back to make fur coats for Yu Zhou and Jian Yunchuan. In winter, fur coats made from wild fox skins were much warmer than those made from other animal skins.
'Yu Su ge, let's forget it. We don't have a wild fox skin to exchange,' Yu Meng suggested."