Chapter 99: We Need Trade Routes

Chapter Ninety‑Nine: We Need Trade Routes

Does Huangzhou have gold mines?

In Chen Jian's memory, there were.

But it was obvious that what they found in this civil defense installation could not possibly be gold shipped from a mining operation; it resembled a refined, commercial‑grade gold product.

“Who brought this thing in?”

He Shuo wondered aloud.

“I don’t know; whoever brought it, it’s ours now.”

“Fifty‑six pieces, each a standard kilogram, that’s fifty‑six thousand grams.”

“We had only twelve hundred grams of gold left, and the unpaid bounty was out of reach.”

“Now we’ve got a sudden windfall; the scarce currency problem is solved.”

Chen Jian called the others to pack the gold quickly, while at the same time Lei Jie signaled the start of the first round of blasting to dismantle the heavy isolation door.

“Boom!”

After the deafening blast, the ground inside the installation shuddered several times.

The charge was sufficient—even excessive—blasting a large hole in the concrete wall beside the door; Lei Jie then stuffed a second charge into the hole, and another thunderous roar opened the passage.

Chen Jian crawled through the passage and saw that the emergency corridor was still largely intact.

No need to climb the elevator shaft.

The group hurried upward through the passage, climbing several flights of steps, until at last they saw sunlight again.

“We’re out!”

Chen Jian removed his respirator and exhaled deeply.

The trip to Huangzhou couldn’t be called a huge haul, since he failed to find the heavy weapons and ammunition he most wanted, and uncovered no useful facilities or equipment inside the installation.

But at least the fifty‑six gold bars were genuine.

Of course, Huangshi City’s fiscal situation wasn’t actually that dire.

Setting aside the promised compensation from Han Shui City, even without it, if external trade became necessary we could barter scarce weapons for even scarcer resources.

But Chen Jian always believed that weapons, as one of the most vital means of survival, must not be allowed to leak out unless absolutely unavoidable.

And now, with ready‑made currency at hand, that problem was solved.

“Let’s go, prepare to return home!”

Chen Jian waved his hand, and the drone rose again.

After confirming the squad’s position, Chen Jian contacted Zeng Yi by radio and agreed on a new rendezvous point.

Twenty minutes later, the five‑person squad met up, climbed aboard the cat‑vehicle, and prepared to return by the original route.

“Any findings?”

Looking at the empty‑handed few, Zeng Yi asked curiously.

“Nothing special, but we found a batch of gold, about fifty‑six kilograms.”

Chen Jian answered offhand.

“Fifty‑six kilograms?”

Zeng Yi was slightly surprised, then continued:

“Was it found in the ruins?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s quite a lot.”

Zeng Yi let out a soft breath and said:

“We used to find gold in the ruins too, but most of it was scattered, and some had already been made into ornaments.”

“It may look bulky, but once smelted there’s hardly any left.”

“This time not bad; securing this gold means Huangshi City’s most pressing food problem can be solved.”

“Food problem?”

Shen Yue repeated it instinctively, puzzled.

“In the short term we lack no food; in the long term…”

“Didn’t Han Shui City promise to supply us with food?”

“Would you dare to take it?”

Chen Jian rolled his eyes at Shen Yue and then said:

“Do you really think they’ll bow down after this fight? Their temporary show of weakness is just buying them time.”

“They can’t destroy us, but we can’t crush them completely either.”

“This is a strategic stalemate—essentially, we remain enemies.”

“I understand.”

Shen Yue waved his hand and said:

“What I mean is, if they poisoned the food, wouldn’t they be destroying the very credit system they’ve built?”

“This world has order and trade; if food isn’t safe, it’s like severing a city or faction’s every link to the outside.”

“Doing that would leave the Machine God cult utterly reeking.”

“Isn’t that self‑destruction?” “You can’t predict a religious fanatic’s actions with normal logic.”

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

“Besides, even Old Jiang dared to blow up the dikes; their poisoning wouldn’t be that strange.”

“So we must be cautious, prepare two fronts, boost grain production inside Huangshi City, and open external trade routes as soon as possible.”

“Moreover, we need to conduct trade with towns as far away as possible to conceal our true trading identity.”

“Only then can we be absolutely safe.”

“It’s too complicated.”

Shen Yue let out a breath, leaned back against the vehicle, and said:

“I’m probably not a competent manager; thinking about this makes my head feel like it’ll explode.”

“But you have to think about it.”

Chen Jian’s gaze grew stern; he looked at Shen Yue and spoke, word by word:

“The responsibility lies on your shoulders; you must take it up.”

“I know.”

Shen Yue sat up straight and then said:

“Don’t worry, I won’t shirk my duties.”

“Even if I step back ten thousand paces, I still want to live well here.”

“To create a good life, you still have to rely on your own hands.”

“Just knowing is enough.”

Chen Jian laughed and cried, paused a moment, then turned to Zeng Yi beside him and asked:

“Regarding opening up a trade route, do you have any good ideas?”

“Your squad has traveled all over; you should be quite familiar with this, right?”

“We can say we’re quite familiar.”

Zeng Yi nodded, then said:

“Besides the merchants of the Machine God Cult and the Holy Blood Hall, the independent towns and powers also organize merchant guilds.”

“For example, the demoness of the Flower Capital we met earlier—actually, demonesses also shoulder a considerable part of merchant duties.”

“They serve as external ‘envoys’ and also organize trade, which is why we thought it was the demoness who brought weapons from the Flower Capital to the Han River vicinity and sold them to the Blood Skulls.”

“This detail can be set aside; I merely mean we have many merchant guilds to choose from.”

“In my view, the most suitable is to cooperate with those neutral merchant guilds.”

“Among the neutral merchant guilds, the largest is the Jiangnan Merchant Guild of Jinling.”

“Their trade routes basically cover the whole southern region, they have their own armed forces; though they can’t be compared to the Machine God Cult or the Holy Blood Hall, their flexibility is strong, so they maintain cooperative relations with all major powers, making manipulation unlikely.”

“Most importantly, I have a cooperative relationship with them.”

“The bounty on the monsters of Chuan Sha was issued by them.”

“Not bad.”

Chen Jian nodded satisfactorily, then said:

“This task is yours; you’ll contact the merchant guild.”

“We have startup funds now; later resources can be sought from the merchant guild.”

“No problem!”

Zeng Yi nodded immediately.

“Perhaps this isn’t difficult for him, but in any case he finally felt he had taken on some responsibility.”

“Is this the sense of mission they spoke of before?”

Zeng Yi pondered this all the way, and without realizing it, the squad had returned to Huangshi City.

The group crossed Lake Dazhi back into Huangshi City, and just as they entered, Huang Yu rushed forward eagerly.

“Captain!”

Seeing his anxious face, Chen Jian asked:

“What’s the situation?”

“Someone’s come, saying they’re a merchant!”

“A merchant?”

Chen Jian was startled.

“Think of something and it appears—want sleep and a pillow shows up, want your natal family and an uncle appears?”

“Could it be that coincidental?”

“And at this critical juncture, someone actually dares to come to Huangshi City?”

“They couldn’t possibly not have heard the terrifying rumors about this place, could they?”

Chen Jian instantly felt something was off, following Huang Yu’s lead, the group, fully armed with safeties off, walked into the room just tidied up, and at the moment they entered, Zeng Yi suddenly grabbed Chen Jian.

He fixed his gaze on the mark on that person’s arm, then spoke in a low voice:

“Circle merchant!”

(End of chapter)