"Great Emperor above! Crossing through the territory of the Haixi Clans and heading south from the Jilin Shipyard, entering the Liao River Hun River Basin, there you truly reach the Great Ming Border, spanning thousands of miles of border wall! Around those walls, the Great Ming Fortresses, one after another, all are situated by mountains and water, and difficult to attack. They are as unyielding as ’Golden Alin’ white mountain ranges! It is impossible for any Jurchen Tribes to break through by force!..."

Speaking of the solid defense of the Liaodong Border Wall, Chief Ali of the Harman Tribe was quite moved, as if recalling the towering Small Xing’an Ridge. In this era, the Liaodong Border Wall indeed was an unyielding group of fortresses, never broken by the mighty Mongolians, and even less by the scattered Jurchen Tribes. Moreover, Liaodong Town had the most solid defense among the Nine Border Towns, even surpassing Xuanfu and Datong of ’Mountain and River.’"

"As for Kaiyuan Guard, it’s located approximately four hundred miles north of Liaoyang City, quite close to the border pass. Once you cross the continuous, solid Liaodong Border Wall, you can see it from Zhen Nan Pass at a glance. Of my five tribute missions before, except for the first time when I visited Liaoyang and met the Liaodong Chief Soldier...the other four times were all at Kaiyuan Guard, not allowing ’deep exploration.’ There, Kaiyuan Guard has specialized personnel to check the Copper Seal Tributary Books and manage tribute affairs, with the Inner Eunuch and Chief Eunuch responsible. They represent the Great Emperor, receiving tributes from various tribes, granting two high-quality banquet drinks, and finally bestowing a court’s return gift..."

"From meeting for tribute to bestowing the return gift, it’s roughly ten days to half a month, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. And this period is the only time tribes are allowed to trade within the border wall. Kaiyuan Guard has a large market town, with many fur merchants and horse merchants of background...They will ’purchase our goods at high prices,’ allowing us to exchange for ample food, salt, and cloth, and even lets us take away some ironware!"

When speaking of the prosperity of Kaiyuan Market, Chief Ali of the Harman Tribe showed longing, with hope even in his eyes. That large market town with tens of thousands of people was, apart from Liaoyang Military City, the most prosperous place the Shushu Jurchen Chief had seen in his lifetime!

As for the legendary ’Capital’ where the Great Emperor resides, it’s said to have hundreds of thousands or more people, with just a single city surpassing the total population of all the Northeastern Jurchen Tribes! That was entirely unimaginable for him, even in dreams, it appeared as just twenty Kaiyuan towns connected together...

"Ali, at Kaiyuan’s large market, can ironware be bought?"

"Yes, Kaiyuan has lots of ironware! There, the affluent Han people tribes, each household uses iron pots! But ironware is difficult to carry out beyond the border wall, only our tributary tribes can take some away..."

"Praise the Chief Divine! At Kaiyuan’s large market, are there various craftsmen? Including shipbuilding and blacksmithing?..."

"Of course! That is a large market town, with all sorts of craftsmen! However, many of them belong to garrisons as military households or are in crafts households, under various Ming garrisons, just like tribespeople of tribal affiliation. After the Jilin Shipyard was dismantled, the original shipwrights should have dispersed into nearby garrisons. As for blacksmiths, the best ones must be in Liaoyang City, where the finest iron armor and iron blades are produced!..."

"!...Tribute...Trade...Craftsmen..."

Upon hearing this, Zuwaro’s eyes flickered with obvious contemplation. After a while, he stood up, walked behind the altar, retrieved something that shone, and returned.

"Ali, take a look, hold this!"

"Ah! This, is it?! Could it be?!..." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Correct! This is the gold loved most by the Southern Great Tribal Alliance in Your Majesty’s prophecy! Look, this gold talisman weighs exactly one jin. If I carry ten bags of this gold on ten pack horses to the Great Ming Liaodong for tribute...could I reach the capital of twenty Kaiyuans and meet their Divine Emperor, handing over a tributary nation letter? Then, I don’t want any rewards; I just ask their Divine Emperor to grant me a batch of the finest craftsmen!..."

"What!"

Seeing the heavy Chief God Golden Token in his hand, shimmering golden light, Chief Ali of the Harman Tribe was shaken, with desire in his eyes. As a member of the Shushu Jurchen Tribe with a legacy of annual tributes, he knew the value of gold and knew this small piece of gold could exchange for many valuable ironware and cloth at Kaiyuan Market! His mind then blurred, not hearing the latter part of Zuwaro’s words, only lingering on the incredible descriptions.

"Heavenly Divine! Ancestors! Ancestor Shaman, you just said...how...how much gold? Ten...pieces?..."

"?...What can ten pieces do? One person carrying them away; is ten pack horses really needed? I mean, ten bags! A grass bag weighing one hundred jin, ten bags totaling one thousand jin!..."

"Ten grass bags? One thousand jin? Gold?!"

"Yes! Is it enough? I can only take out this much for now, still have to leave five hundred jin for trade to the East...If it’s not, there is still more later..."

"!!..."