Prev Next

Chapter 557 - Hawk King Mountain

The Hawk King quietly listened to Zhao Hai's words. To be honest, he already had a bit of understanding about Zhao Hai's affairs. Back at the war, when Zhao Hai gave the Beastmen information, the Beast King had asked the Hawk King to look into Zhao Hai, so naturally the Hawk King would know.

Since the Hawk King found out before hand, therefore he knew that Zhao Hai's words were true. In the Human lands, Zhao Hai was like a living legend. Turning a fallen clan into one of the most powerful families in the Continent in just one short year wasn't something that ordinary people could achieve.

The Hawk King asking Zhao Hai about his relationship with the Markey Family was just a decoy in order to probe Zhao Hai. In the Beastman Prairie, there were a lot of rumors about Zhao Hai. Majority of them were about how Zhao Hai treated the Beastmen with sincerity, something a friend would only do. The Hawk King just wanted to see if the rumors about Zhao Hai were indeed real.

And Zhao Hai's reply didn't disappoint him. He looked at Zhao Hai and laughed, "Why would mister regret it, you're already here in our Golden Ringed Hawk Tribe. To be honest, compared to the Markey Family, I'd much better prefer doing business with mister."

Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I thank the Hawk King for your uplifting words. Today, I came to the Hawk King's tribe because I have something to ask for the Hawk King's help with."

The Hawk King stared, he was curious, so he looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Mister is the Beastman Race's friend. Tell me your request, if I can offer help, then I would help."

Zhao Hai smiled faintly, then he told the Hawk King about his plan off cooperating with the Hawk Race. This cooperation involves him providing the Hawk Race with Space Bags. But these Space Bags are to be used to store Milk Wine. Every five days, the Hawks would go to the various tribes and collect Milk Wine while carrying some money along the way. The Milk Wine can be exchanged with grain, gold, or Argali. If they wanted grain or gold, then they can exchange it on the spot. On the other hand, if they want Argali, they would have to pick them up at Beast God City.

After the Hawk King heard Zhao Hai, he immediately knew that this cooperation would bring huge benefits to the Hawk Race. His eyes couldn't help but light up as he looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Will Mister really give our Hawk Tribe some Space Bags? Are we going to need a large number of them?"

Zhao Hai smiled and said, "It's not really a lot, 20 Space Bags should be enough." The reason why Zhao Hai was so sure of this was because when the Space levels up, the capacity of the Space Bags that it produces would get bigger. Right now, their capacity had already reached about a thousand cubic meters, give or take a few cubic meters.

When the Hawk King heard Zhao Hai, he was finally convinced. Zhao Hai really did want to give the Hawks some Space Bags in order to transport Milk Wine.

The Hawk King stood up and then laughed and said, "Alright, since Mister is confident enough, then I won't say anything more. Mister can take a rest in the camp in the meantime. Tomorrow, I shall bring Mister to the main camp of the Hawk Race."

Zhao Hai stood up as well and gave a bow to the Hawk King and said, "I give my thanks to the Hawk King."

The Hawk King laughed and said, "Mister doesn't need to thank me. Instead, it should be me who needs to express gratitude. This cooperation would surely bring big benefits to my Hawk Race."

Zhao Hai didn't dare accept it, but the Hawk King didn't care. The Hawk King just laughed again and said, "Right, since Mister has come to visit my tribe, how could I not invite mister over for a drink. Come, come, let's drink a cup."

When he knew that Zhao Hai was coming, the Hawk King immediately had people prepare. And now that their discussions were finished, it was time for food and drinks.

The night went by without any disturbances and the next morning, the Hawk King sent someone to look for Zhao Hai. After the Hawk King and Zhao Hai had their breakfast, the Hawk King immediately told Zhao Hai that they'd be heading towards the Hawk Race's main camp.

Zhao Hai would certainly not decline. But the Hawk King also informed Zhao Hai that in order to go to the Hawk Race's main camp, riding a Hawk would be a much better option. Therefore, Zhao Hai immediately called over his Blood Hawks.

When the Golden Ringed Hawk King saw how beautiful Zhao Hai's Blood Haw was, his eyes couldn't help but express his envy. He had heard that the Humans were now starting to develop their Air Force, moreover, the Magic Beast used for the Air Force was provided by Zhao Hai.

Zhao Hai, Shun, and Shue rode their Blood Hawks and followed behind the Hawk King and his 1000 Golden Ringed Hawk Knights. After they left the Golden Ringed Hawk's camp, they immediately went straight for the Hawk King Mountain.

This Hawk King Mountain was actually a boundary mountain. The south side of this mountain was the Beastman Prairie while at its north was the Northern Ice Fields. The Northern Ice Fields were also one of the continent's great regions. There was almost nobody who entered deep into the  Ice Fields who managed to return. Even if it was the Ice Hawks, the Great TIgers, the Polar Bears, and the other Royal Tribes, nobody would dare venture too deep into the Ice Field. Otherwise, they would have no other way out.

At the same time, the Hawk King Mountain was also the highest mountain in the Prairie. It was most commonly known to the Beastmen as the Divine Mountain. It was because the mountain's position allowed it to keep the Northern Winds away. If the Northern Ice Field Winds were to reach the Prairie, then the Prairie would definitely turn into a huge snowy plain.

Zhao Hai and the others flew in the sky for a good three days before they saw a faint image of the Hawk King mountain in the distance. With how high the mountain was, one would even think that it was connected to the sky.

The top of the mountain was azure white, very beautiful. These three days of flight also showed Zhao Hai the tenacity of the Beastmen. The Hawks ate their meals while flying and did so for three days without even going to sleep.

To be honest, flying in the sky wasn't a very fun activity. Perhaps it might feel good in the beginning, but as time goes by, you would begin to be tired of it. Not only because of the cold air, but the buffeting of the wind was something very uncomfortable as well.

Zhao Hai thought that the Hawks wouldn't be able to fly long distances like from what he heard. But this flight completely broke his misconception. The Hawks clearly chose to fly short distances and low altitudes in order to fool the Humans.

The Beastmen Race were known to be tough and strong, they can endure even the most rigorous tasks. This time, Zhao Hai was asked to follow the Hawks, so he couldn't decline. However, when things go bad, he would just go to the Space when nobody's looking for him.

So in three days, Zhao Hai and the others finally arrived at Hawk King Mountain. When he was close to his destination, Zhao Hai came out of the Space, the Golden Ringed Hawks should be looking for him right now.

After coming out of the Space, Zhao Hai immediately placed some Wind Magic on to his body as well as Shue's and Shun's, making it possible for the harsh winds to evade them.

Just after doing that, the Hawk King arrived at Zhao Hai's side. The Hawks had special leather equipment, a tight leather jacket as well as special gloves on their hands. This way, they wouldn't be affected by the cold harsh winds.

When the Hawk King saw Zhao Hai, he couldn't help but feel envious. It was really a pity that the Beastmen were unable to use Magic.

Hawks have the ability to speak in the air, so the Hawk King turned his head to Zhao Hai and said, "Mister Zhao Hai, in a while, a guard of the Ice Hawk King would be coming to meet use. Don't go anywhere they else until they arrive."

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Alright, the Hawk King can rest assured, I definitely won't make any careless actions." The Hawk King nodded, and then before long,  a shadow came from the mountain and slowly flew towards them.

It didn't take a long time before the shadow appeared in front of Zhao Hai. The mounts that these people were riding on were bluish hawks. They were much slimmer than the Blood Hawks, but they appeared much more alive. The Beastmen that were riding on them looked just like the Golden Ringed Hawks but their head feathers were blue in color.

These blue Hawks surrounded the Golden Ringed Hawks and escorted them into the Hawk King Mountain.

They didn't go to the mountain's summit, it was too high and too cold. Their destination was instead somewhere along the middle of the Hawk King Mountain. The mountain's halfway point had big trees growing in them. The trees were so tall it seemed like they were piercing the skies, like swords stabbed on the ground. Most importantly, these trees were very thick, with most of them having a diameter of over 20 meters.

Some houses can be seen on these trees. The houses were constructed in a hole carved into the tree. Zhao Hai can even see a couple of Ice Hawks moving in and out of these houses.

After flying over the trees, Zhao Hai can see a large canyon. The canyon was very wide and it seems like it's ground was covered in grass. On the walls of the canyon, caves were carved out. The people who lived here were Ice Hawks as well.

However this canyon wasn't Zhao Hai's destination. After flying over the canyon, Zhao Hai can spot a very enormous cavern halfway up the mountain. It's entrance was similarly large, about a hundred meters tall and 60 meters wide. The Hawks then flew towards this cavern along with Zhao Hai and the others.

Zhao Hai discovered that although there were Hawks flying in and out of the entrance, their flight was also very orderly. The left side of the entrance was for entering while the right side was for leaving. This arrangement made the entrance quite organized.

As the group entered the cavern, Zhao Hai came to understand how large this hole in the mountain was. And even if it was 10 degrees inside, there weren't any winds at all.

Inside the cavern were smaller caves where the Ice Hawk King's family lived in. In the middle of the cavern, there was a square, and in the middle of the square there was actually a very big pool.

The group slowly descended to that square along with Zhao Hai's group. When Zhao Hai came down from his Blood Hawk, he pretended to move his hands an feet as he carefully looked around the cavern.

The hole in the cavern was very much like the underground city that the Dwarves had built under Iron Mountain. But compared to Iron Mountain, this cavern was much bigger. Moreover, there weren't any stairs that can be seen. Anyone who wanted to move anywhere needed to ride a hawk, it was a very unusual sight.

After Zhao Hai got down, the Golden Ringed Hawk King welcomed him to the place as he smiled and said, "Mister Zhao Hai had to endure the hardship. This matter is really too important for our race, I ask Mister for his forgiveness."

Chapter 558 - Price

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "Hawk King is too polite. In fact, I want to thank you. I really am quite anxious about this matter. Haha."

The Hawk King smiled and said, "This is the Ice Hawk King's place, this is where he lives and does his work. I don't know if Mister Zhao Hai has noticed, but the royal tribes of the Beastman Warring Races are all situated in the vicinity of the Northern Ice Fields. Legend has told us that the Northern Ice Fields contain formidable Magic Beasts that can cause a calamity to the Prairie. This was the reason why the Royal Tribes decided to move here, it was in order to protect the entire Beastman Race."

Zhao Hai nodded, he had developed a habit to not disregard the legends of the Ark Continent. It was because these legends have high probabilities of being true, quite unlike the legends back on Earth.

At this time, an Ice Hawk arrived in front of them. The Ice Hawk issued a salute and then said, "Golden Ringed Hawk King, Mister Zhao Hai, the Hawk King invites you in."

Zhao Hai and the Golden Ringed Hawk King immediately complied, they rode their mounts and then followed behind the Ice Hawk. The space inside was truly high, even if they had already flown 500 meters, they were still heading up.

In the uppermost lever, Zhao Hai and the others stopped in front of the sole cave entrance present. The cave's entrance was about 10 meters high, and had a platform protruding out from it. The platform was about 30 square meters. Zhao Hai and the others landed their mounts on this platform.

This time, only three people had come here. When the three of them came down from their mounts, the hawk mounts immediately left. Then the Ice Hawk escorted Zhao Hai and the Golden Ringed Hawk King inside the cave.

After entering the cave, Zhao Hai couldn't help but stare at the scene. Inside the cave were a lot of ignited braziers, completely illuminating the entire cave.

In this cave, an Ice Hawk can be seen sitting on the innermost part, reading a sheepskin scroll among the numerous scrolls around him.

However, this Ice Hawk didn't actually process these documents, he was just simply looking through them. This Ice Hawk didn't have much of a difference compared to the others of his race. He even looked thin, thinner than the common Ice Hawk. He had a golden crown on his head, sitting there as he turned his pair of cold hawk eyes towards Zhao Hai and the others. His mere gaze made Zhao Hai feel like the surrounding air just dropped a couple of degrees.

Zhao Hai didn't know, but this was actually an innate ability of the Ice Hawk Tribe. Once this ability was in full use, it would send forth a beam that can freeze anything in its way. It's intensity was just like an attack from a 5th rank mage, and it was quite difficult to deal with.

The Golden Ringed Hawk King immediately issued a salute and said, "Golden Ringed Hawk King has see the Ice Hawk King. This is Mister Zhao Hai, mister wants to cooperate with our Hawk Race regarding his Milk Wine business. Therefore, I led him here to see you."

The Ice Hawk King nodded and said, "Right, I have heard about Mister Zhao Hai but this is my first time meeting mister, please have a seat." Although his gaze was very cold, his expression was actually quite temperate.

Zhao Hai immediately responded courteously, "I thank the Hawk King." Then he sat on a chair after the Golden Ringed Hawk King.

After sitting down, the Ice Hawk King looked at Zhao Hai and said, "The Beast King has sent word out about mister's Milk Wine business. Before everything, this King here wants mister to accept my gratitude in behalf of the entire Beastman Race."

Zhao Hai replied, "I don't dare. This business also makes me money. Haha. This time, I wanted to see the Hawk King because I need help from the Hawk Race."

The Hawk King looked at Zhao Hai and smiled faintly, "Mister can say it freely. As long as we can be of help, then I wouldn't decline immediately. For the sake of the Beastman Race, I shall provide mister with a helping hand."

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "I'll thank the Hawk King in advance." Then he told the Ice Hawk King about the details of his intended cooperation with the Hawk Race.

The Ice Hawk King silently listened to Zhao Hai's words. After Zhao Hai spoke, the Hawk King nodded and then smiled towards Zhao Hai and said, "Mister, this is basically giving money to my Hawk Race. So how can we just push this opportunity away? Rest assured, with how broad our tribes are placed in the Prairie, information about mister's Milk Wine business would be delivered much more quickly. Mister cooperating with us is indeed something good. I agree, tomorrow I'll write a letter informing all of the Hawk Tribes, mister can rest assured."

Zhao Hai didn't expect the discussion would go this smoothly. He stared for a moment before he hastily stood up and bowed to the Hawk King and said, "This Zhao Hai thanks the Hawk King. But does the Hawk King also want to help me collect the Milk Wine?"

Zhao Hai knew how arrogant Royals were, so he was afraid that it would be impossible for them to help him collect Milk Wine. If the Hawk King was not willing to cooperate, then the Milk Wine business would have problems.

The Hawk King looked at Zhao Hai and smiled, "Of course, mister doesn't even need to ask."

Zhao Hai became happy, then he immediately said, "That's great. I'll have to ask the Hawk Race to receive the Milk Wine in a radius of three thousand li in a single Space Bag. For the price, one jin of Milk Wine would be traded with five jin of grain. What does the Hawk King think about this price?"

The Hawk King thought for a moment and then nodded, "This price is quite high."

Zhao Hai faintly smiled and said, "The Hawk King can receive the Milk Wine from the other races with the previously stated price. And once the Hawk Race delivers the Milk Wine to Beast God City, I would exchange them for five and a fifth of a jin of grain for each jin of Milk Wine. These extra fifth of a jin can be said to be the transportation costs for the Hawk Race. What does the Hawk King think about this?"[1]

The Hawk King stared before his two eyes lit up. He knew that this 22 liang cannot be underestimated. Once added up, this amount was very big. Keep in mind, those small Beastman tribe can also produce a lot of milk wine annually. A single Beastman household would be able to provide 100 jin of Milk Wine monthly. And when those 100 jin of Milk Wine were traded for 500 jin of grain, the Hawk Clan would get a commission of 20 jins. Now how many Beastmen household are there? And in the end, how much grain can the Hawk Clan gain? With this arrangement, the Hawk Clan wouldn't even need to buy food for themselves in the future.

After thinking about it, the Hawk King still didn't immediately agree, he knit his brows and said, "Mister, in truth, this price is too high. It might be disadvantageous to Mister. If mister owes us, then it wouldn't be good for the entire Beastman Race. From what I can see, Mister can set the price at one jin of Milk Wine per three jins of grain. And then our Hawk Clan would get about a tenth or so jin of grain as commission."

Zhao Hai was shocked, he didn't see someone like this before, lowering his benefits in order to decrease pressure. However, once he thought about the Hawk King's words, Zhao Hai understood what he meant. The Hawk King was afraid of Zhao Hai owing the Beastmen and making him stop his Milk Wine business, causing the Beastmen to lose out on the long run. Also, the price that the Hawk King quoted was somewhat of a fair price for the Beastmen.

Zhao Hai knit his brows and then said, "Lower the price? How much jin of Milk Wine can the Beastman Race produce every month?"

The Hawk King smiled faintly and said, "Mister doesn't need to worry. The average Beastman household would be able to produce not less than 50 jin of Milk Wine every month. This is already quite a large number."

Zhao Hai nodded, he already expected these numbers. He had lived with the Beastmen before, so he knew that they cannot go without Milk Wine. But even if they produce more than 50 jin each month, they would also need to leave something behind for them to drink. They would only sell their excess off. If a household can sell 20 jin of Milk Wine each month, it would produce about one or two jins of Milk Wine after distillation. This is already acceptable.

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Alright, then we'll go with the Hawk King's suggestion. I'll have to trouble the Hawk King to spread the word tomorrow."

The Hawk King smiled and said, "It's not too much trouble, this is something good for the Beastmen. But mister, I'll have to inform you that it would be impossible for the households to sell 50 jins of Milk Wine. Even if we Beastmen can stand not being able to eat, we cannot survive if we don't drink. So the only wine we would sell to Mister would be the excess. I hope mister has prepared his mind for this. Along with the news, I'll also have the Hawks do some statistics in each tribe, getting data on how much Milk Wine each one can produce so that Mister can have a figure in mind. Is Mister alright with this?"

Zhao Hai smiled and gave the Hawk King a bow and said, "Zhao Hai thanks the Hawk King. This matter is truly very important for me."

The Hawk King chuckled, then he helped Zhao Hai up and said, "Mister doesn't need to be so polite. We're now in a partnership, so we would do our best to help Mister. The higher income Mister gets, the higher cut we receive." Zhao Hai smiled at the Hawk King's words.

After a day of rest, the Beast King spread word to the Hawk Tribes in the Prairie. At the same time, he also divided the Prairie into 20 different regions. A Hawk Tribe would be responsible for receiving the Milk Wine in each region.

Upon completing all of these, Zhao Hai returned to Beast God City and waited for the news from the Hawk Race. It shouldn't take too long for the Hawks to tell him how much Milk Wine the Beastman Prairie would produce each month.

And five days after Zhao Hai arrived at Beast God City, the Hawk King sent him the numbers. For the entire Beastman Race, they would be able to sell about 10 million jin. This number was much smaller than what Zhao Hai expected. But in the end, he understood. The Beastmen also had a lot of uses for their milk, aside from making Milk Wine. At the same time, they would also leave behind some milk wine for themselves, which explains the small amount they could sell each month.

Although the Beastmen lacked grain, because of their living environment, they became able to consume milk products while eating their food. After all, they cannot just use up all of their grain before the winter, or else, they wouldn't be able to survive until spring.

But because of this, the Beastmen were very grateful towards Zhao Hai. They weren't looking at Milk Wine as a main source of income, they just use the liquor as some sort of pocket money. It was like those people in the rural areas back on earth. If they have excess eggs from their chickens, then they would sell if off as extra change, if they don't have a lot, then they would keep it for themselves to consume.

Even if it was pocket change, it still helped them out a lot. Plenty of Beastmen decided to not trade their Milk WIne with grain, but in daily necessities instead.

After knowing about this situation, Zhao Hai didn't care. He wasn't afraid of spending 30 million jin of grain. And he was also not worried about not selling the 1 million jin of milk wine to the Human lands.

After taking care about the initial steps, Zhao Hai handed the matter over to Ah Tai. Ah Tai was just responsible for collecting the Milk Wine as well as giving out the payments. He didn't have to do anything else, it was this simple.

When he saw that things had already been taken care of, Zhao Hai returned to Iron Mountain Fort. The winery in the Fort was already finished. The winery was divided into four districts; one was for Fruit Wine, one was for Rice Wine, one was for Beer, and the last one was for Milk Wine.

The machines for these districts were already installed as well. Some of them might be modern equipment, but the workers were already adept in using it.

Now, the Beastmen appeared to be understaffed. The earliest of Zhao Hai's slaves were already sent out to manage the villages. Therefore, the ones left to man the brewery were only the Beastmen. Because of this, Zhao Hai asked the original slaves to help with the situation. And since the new slaves were already settled down and were working on their own fields, there happened to be some surplus manpower in the villages. Therefore, Zhao Hai had those people go to the winery and help, this would also aid the slave families earn a bit more income.

After this was taken care of, Zhao Hai also asked Green to start making the school for the children in the Black Wasteland. There were plenty of idle children right now, so Zhao Hai wanted all of them to be educated at school. Naturally, this was in the premise that they would be diligent in their studies.

When the matters in the Black Wasteland were done, Zhao Hai then returned to the Rosen Empire. He still needed to approach, Randolph, Charlie, Jesse, and the Shelley Family. He wanted them to prepare for the Milk Wine business.

The Milk Wine that Zhao Hai wanted to sell this time was the distilled Milk Wine of the Beastmen. Although it wasn't as good as his Milk Wine, it's flavor was still very tasty. Moreover, it also developed some kind of acidic taste to it. This acidic Milk Wine and Zhao Hai's Milk Wine was different, one could definitely tell just from one sip. But it still gave a very unusual flavor, so Zhao Hai continued on to make this wine.

He also had Randolph and the others taste this new type of wine, and they agreed to sell it. Zhao Hai's new wines weren't priced very high, general commoners would be able to afford it. Therefore, their attraction towards Randolph and the others was quite big.

The grain in the continent was just sufficient for them to eat, moreover, they also needed to supply the Beastmen. Therefore, nobody was thinking about making wine out of grain. What people usually drank was Fruit Wine, but not all fruits can be made into liquor. This made wines quite rare in the Human lands, especially to the cash strapped commoners. If Zhao Hai's cheap wine gets sold to these commoners, how much daily sales could Randolph and the others get? It would surely be an astronomical number.

1 jin is 16 liang
Report error

If you found broken links, wrong episode or any other problems in a anime/cartoon, please tell us. We will try to solve them the first time.

Email:

SubmitCancel

Share