The sea breeze is slightly cool, and morning mist rises from the sea and spreads among the mountains. The redwood trees in the mountains blend with the morning mist, and the tall tree trunks disappear and appear, so deep that no one can see the head, and as ethereal as a dream.
Five of the kingdom's longships anchored on the coast outside the Sequoia Department and set up simple campsites. The cries of kingfishers echoed in the villages not far away. The warriors wore armor and carried weapons.
I woke up from a light sleep and started preparing breakfast.
The same is true for the Sequoia tribe in the village. The vigilant hunters carried the newly exchanged copper spears on their backs. While raising smoke, they looked warily towards the coast, observing the southern tribes coming from the sea.
"Hiss! This fruit is so sour!..." Mickey the Knowledgeable yawned, took the berry offered by Zuvallo, threw it into his mouth and chewed it, he suddenly got excited and almost jumped up on the spot.
"This? Zuvalo? This fruit?..."
"Here! I exchanged it from the Sequoia Department yesterday, and there are two straw baskets. His Majesty said that you should eat more fruits when going to sea, so as not to cause bad blood... Haha! Such sour fruits should last for a long time." The exploration captain
Zuvarro suppressed his laughter and used the wooden spoon in his hand to stir the salmon, sea clams, and unknown vegetable roots cooked in the clay pot.
The aroma of seafood rises from the hot clay pot, making your stomach growl.
"Ahem! Zuvalo, are you ready? Can you eat?"
"Cook it for a while longer. The fish and shellfish exchanged by the Sequoia Department have been caught for two days, so they are not very fresh...but it is not a big problem, as long as they are cooked thoroughly."
"Hmm." Mickey the Knowledgeable nodded, looking at the bonfire in front of him and the clay pot being heated, and asked in a deep voice.
"Zuaro, how much food did you exchange with them yesterday that can be stored?"
"Not much. They exchanged all the recent catches and prey for the fleet. But the smoked fish, bacon, beans, and corn that could be stored were only exchanged for a small amount, which was probably enough for the fleet of more than 200 people.
Let's eat people for eight or nine days!" The exploration captain Zuvalo pulled his hair, looked at the tribal villages in the morning mist, and sighed.
"They don't have much salt, not enough to marinate meat, they value grains that can be stored, and they don't want to exchange for gems and cloth... I only got these after I took out twenty bronze spears!
"What?
"Ah?" Hearing this, Mikey, the knowledgeable man, frowned and asked in confusion.
"The size of the Sequoia tribe is estimated to be three thousand people! They have fields by the river, dozens of fishing boats, and so many hunters... Such a large tribe is engaged in farming, fishing, and hunting.
Hunting, how could there be no food stored?"
"Well, the Lord God has witnessed it! They must have food in reserve, but they are wary of outsiders and don't want to give it to us." Zuvalo, the exploration captain, spread his hands and answered helplessly.
"To put it bluntly, they don't trust us... unless we agree to their request and join the war with the Northern Leaf Tribe..."
"Zuvaro, that's a civil war among the Tolova tribes, involving many tribes... The fleet wants to go north to explore, so it's better not to get involved!" Mickey, the knowledgeable man, shook his head and responded softly.
"Witness the Lord God! Yesterday, I took Letian as a translator and chatted with the tribal hunter Tuowu for a whole night...I roughly figured out the situation of this tribal war..."
"Huh? What do you say?" Zuvalo, the exploration captain, straightened his body and listened carefully. The farther north the fleet went, the more serious the problem of language barrier became.
Everyone's eyes were darkened. If they could find someone with whom they could communicate, they would really be grateful to the Lord God for his blessing!
"This coastal valley where the Tolowa people live is about sixty miles from north to south and twenty miles from east to west. It is a very suitable place for settlement. There are more than a dozen large and small tribal villages in the entire valley, with a population of ten thousand to twenty thousand.
The Luowa people. But now, they are divided into two branches: the northern and southern tribes. In the north is the large leaf grass tribe, and in the south is the large redwood tribe. The two large tribes each have seven or eight small tribes, and they are hostile to each other and have been fighting for many years..."
"Ah? There are only ten or twenty thousand of them. How can they be divided into two groups and fight each other for many years?" Hearing this, the exploration captain was startled and asked in confusion.
What?
"Both sides will pull out thousands of tribesmen and fight, won't they decide the winner?"
"Uh, how should I put it?...The fighting of the northern tribes, the large-scale battles on the plateau, and the raids of the canine tribes are all different..." Mikey, the knowledgeable man, rubbed his face and thought for a while.
, replied.
"Witness the Lord God! Their fighting is actually a bit like the flower war between the Mexica Alliance and the Tlaxcala Alliance in the past. It was not that fierce... Although these Tolova tribes hate each other very much,
By blood, just like the Mexica and Tlaxcala people, they are all brother tribes with the same origin..."
"The purpose of their battle is to compete for the hunting grounds and fishing grounds at the junction, as well as the most important salt marsh... Yes, right in the middle of the two tribes, there is a salt marsh that produces salt, which is their main source of salt..."
"Every few months, the two tribes will come out to fight. Usually, at most, a few hundred people will confront each other, shouting and intimidating each other! Then, each group will send a dozen or twenty brave warriors and hunters, either in a melee or in a one-on-one fight.
... In the end, a few dozen lives were left, and the ownership of a place was temporarily decided, and the fight would be fought next time... In addition to this kind of formal battle, the hunter teams on both sides would also fight each other when they met. Of course, if one party does not
If you choose to leave, the other party will only laugh loudly and spread the word, but will not rush to chase you..."
"That's it... what a combative and restrained Tolova! It's so interesting!..." Zuvalo, the exploration team leader, touched his chin and said nothing, his eyes flashing.
In this ritualistic, low-intensity fight between the two sides, does the kingdom's fleet want to participate?
Or what method can be used to participate, spread the faith of the main god, and convert these tribes who often fight with each other?
Otherwise, how about fanning the flames, selling weapons to both ends, and exchanging their prisoners of war? However, there is a language barrier and we don’t trust each other...
"Zuvarro, what are you thinking about?" Mickey the Knowledgeable squinted his eyes and looked deeply at Zuvarro.
Zuvalo touched his nose and smiled guiltily.
"Uh! I'm thinking...the Redwoods don't have much salt, and they're so vigilant. Maybe they were at a disadvantage during the battle between the two sides?...Ha! They definitely didn't grab that salt marsh!"
"Well...that's really the case!" Hearing this, the knowledgeable Mickey was a little surprised. He nodded and said in a deep voice.
What?
"It's true! At present, the Sequoia tribe in the south is at a disadvantage in the battle between the two sides. In the past two years, the Yecao tribe has gained some new and powerful hunters. They suspect that the Yecao tribe has obtained trusts from the mountains farther north.
The Lowa tribe has received support..."
"However, the Lord God bless you! No matter what, our primary goal is to continue exploring northward! We will not get involved in these civil wars among the Tolova tribes if we can!..."
This chapter has been completed!