Starting with choosing a wife, creating the most powerful Xia

"Today is the day for the Chu family to choose a wife. All adult members will choose one of the women provided by the Chu family as their wife."

"The eldest son of the direct line, the daughter of Xu Shangxuan, and the resources of a wealthy family form a powerful alliance."

"A son from a collateral branch, married to a daughter of lower rank, will be granted a fief and will strive to be self-reliant."

In the Chu family ancestral hall, the clan elders stood solemnly, their voices booming.

All the Chu family members knelt in orderly worship, their faces beaming with smiles, except for Chu Xuan, who looked worried and distressed.

The Great Xia Dynasty had thirty prefectures under its banner, each prefecture ruled by a king with immense power.

The Prince of Nanjun founded the Chu family, and all ten of his sons were outstanding individuals. Their descendants were also direct descendants who never lacked food or clothing.

Chu Xuan, who happened to be caught in the trend of time travel, ended up in the body of a useless collateral relative born to the tenth son of the Prince of Nanjun and his concubine.

His mother died early, his father neglected him, and he was left with no one to rely on, making him the lowest of the low in the large Chu family.

"The ancestral worship and incense burning are over; the direct descendant should now choose a wife!"

At the elder's command, the direct descendants immediately strode forward with their heads held high.

They scanned the wealthy young ladies present with sharp eyes, as if selecting prey, searching for their ideal match.

For these direct descendants, marrying a noblewoman not only signifies the glory of a family alliance, but also presents them with an excellent opportunity to solidify their position and expand their power.

With the prestige of the Chu family and the abundant resources of their in-laws, they were able to further distinguish themselves within the family and secure a high position.

The situation is quite different for the sons of collateral branches; they are often only able to marry wives of lower social standing.

To make matters worse, they also had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of managing the Chu family's fiefdom, spending most of their time traveling.

This kind of lifestyle gradually diluted their power, almost eliminating the possibility of them competing with direct descendants for family power.

Soon, the selection of wives for the direct descendants came to an end.

After the servants compiled the list, the clan elder announced the start of the selection of wives for collateral relatives.

The model of the fiefdom was brought up, along with many beautiful women dressed in red, their hands and feet bound, and dressed in flamboyant attire.

However, these women did not look very well, and they had black wooden signs hanging around their necks.

This means they are all people who have made mistakes!

Those who commit transgressions will be punished, and those who marry will receive the punishment.

Marrying these women is tantamount to taking on their mistakes, bearing the punishment, and paying their fines.

"Choose a fiefdom first, then a wife. Is there anyone who has already chosen someone? Step forward and give us a good omen."

The elder's words were full of flaws, leaving the people below speechless.

The fiefdoms varied in quality and value, but the fines imposed on these women differed drastically.

For some women who commit minor transgressions, such as losing their chastity, the penalty they have to pay is not heavy. Usually, they only need to pay double the dowry to their former fiancé to absolve themselves of their sins.

Such a fine is at most two hundred taels, which, even for a rather poor collateral branch, is nothing more than a year's worth of hard work.

However, some women were fined extremely outrageously, such as a barbarian woman from a savage tribe who was captured after killing hundreds of people while fighting in the southern border.

With the added advantage of his birth and the massacre of soldiers, the fine was a full 20,000 taels!

Even the best fiefdom might not be enough to pay off this fine.

Therefore, for collateral descendants, choosing a fiefdom was secondary; the key was choosing a wife and paying a certain amount of fine.

Seeing that everyone was avoiding this tricky first battle, the clan elder had no choice but to change his words.

"In that case, let's draw lots to determine the order, and choose one by one according to the size of the number on the lot."

After he finished speaking, he clapped his hands lightly, and the servants who were prepared immediately stepped forward with the lottery box and handed it to the collateral descendants one by one.

"It's over!"

Chu Xuan stared at the glaring number 'one' on his signed slip, feeling numb.

Isn't it said that time travelers are chosen ones by destiny?

Why am I so unlucky?

Upon learning the results of the draw, the clan elder showed no mercy and said, "Chu Xuan, you will be the first to choose your fiefdom."

Under the gloating gazes of the crowd, Chu Xuan walked to the front dejectedly and scanned the model of the layered fiefdoms on the sand table.

"Ok?"

Suddenly, Chu Xuan seemed to notice something, his gaze fixing on a corner of the sand table.

After repeatedly confirming, he said breathlessly, "Nameless Mountain! I want to choose this fiefdom!"

The elder was stunned when Chu Xuan said this.

"Chu Xuan, once you choose a fiefdom, it's for life. I advise you to think it over carefully!"

The nameless mountain is steep and covered with red rocks. Whenever the wind blows, a fishy smell permeates the air.

The mountains are sparsely covered with vegetation, devoid of life, and present a desolate scene.

Although there are over a hundred households living by the mountains and rivers and making a living by fishing, life is hard and opportunities for development are hard to find.

The heavy taxes and levies levied each year barely scraped together a hundred taels of silver, which was like a drop in the ocean compared to the wealth of the Chu family, and could hardly sustain the family's prosperity.

As the first person to choose a fiefdom, Chu Xuan should have made a careful choice and selected a fertile and prosperous land so that he could repay his wife's fine in the future, rather than this barren and dilapidated land in front of him.

Unexpectedly, Chu Xuan was determined, his eyes shining as he said, "Elder, you don't need to persuade me anymore, I've already set my sights on this nameless mountain!"

"puff!"

As soon as Chu Xuan said this, the person standing next to him couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The number he drew was ranked low, so he would definitely have to choose it later.

I was worried that others would choose the good fiefdoms first, leaving me with only the worst, nameless mountain.

Unexpectedly, Chu Xuan turned out to be a philanthropist and took the initiative to choose the worst piece of land. He is truly a compassionate living Buddha!

Seeing that Chu Xuan was determined to do so, the clan elder had no choice but to stuff the token with the name of Wuming Mountain on it into his hand.

"Chu Xuan, you have been granted the fiefdom of Wuming Mountain."

The clan elder loudly announced the settled matter, which was now irreversible.

"Tsk tsk tsk, did this guy get kicked in the head by a donkey? The nameless mountain is full of those stinking big rocks. Not only is it cheap to live there, but the environment is also terrible. I really don't know what he's after."

"His head wasn't kicked by a donkey, but struck by lightning and made stupid. After he was struck by lightning, I felt that something was wrong with him. He was talking incoherently and always saying things that others couldn't understand."

"Alright, forget about him. He picked this bad piece of land, so we got a good deal. The person who picks the land first gets to pick the wife later. He picked this bad piece of land first, so the wife he leaves with will definitely have the heaviest fine. We successfully avoided the risk."

..................

Chu Xuan completely ignored their mockery, took the token to the side, obtained a detailed map of the nameless mountain, and examined it carefully. The more he looked at it, the wider his smile became.

Those large, red rocks that are often looked down upon are actually hematite.

How could such an ignorant fellow understand the value of hematite?

If he were to develop iron smelting technology, he could not only make a fortune by selling ironware, but he might even have the hope of using it to build an army, become a king, and conquer all directions.

At that time, won't money come rolling in?

Moreover, the stench permeating the nameless mountain was not the smell of hematite, but the smell of sulfur.

If saltpeter and charcoal could be mixed in a certain proportion, then powerful gunpowder could be created in one's own hands!

In this era, warfare relied solely on fists and melee weapons.

If Chu Xuan can master firearms, who can stop his path to conquest?

Although the road ahead is long and arduous, with these two raw materials, everything is within reach!