Chen Mo was not as greedy as John Jacob Astor and kept the price of furs as low as he did.
After all, compared with the huge profits brought by these furs, the value of the daily necessities traded with the Indian natives is simply negligible.
On this day, the three of them walked through the forest for a long time. Chen Mo did not find any personnel from the American Fur Company, but they did find an Indian tribe, so Chen Mo rushed there with Victor and James.
The tribe is located on a hill. The terrain is flat and open. Through the woods, conical tents made of straight tree trunks and bison skins are scattered on the open land in the forest. Many of them wear rough leather clothes and leather trousers.
, Indian men and women wearing traditional Indian-style decorations are busy in the tribe.
The appearance of Chen Mo and the others made these Indians very wary at first. Nearly ten burly and tough Indian warriors rushed over quickly and surrounded Chen Mo and the others with weapons in hand.
In this wild forest, strange outsiders usually mean danger. The ones who come most often are the armed purchasing teams of the American Fur Company. These people are fully armed, arrogant and domineering. They are more like bandits than businessmen.
However, after they saw the appearance of the visitor clearly, they couldn't help but relax a lot.
Among the three strange intruders, only one adult seemed to have some fighting ability, but his appearance and skin color were not those of white people, but more similar to them, which made the Indians feel much more familiar.
Although the other two people following this man were white, they were two teenage children and did not look threatening.
Moreover, the three of them were all bare-handed and did not carry any weapons except for the three large backpacks on their backs.
Therefore, although several Indian warriors surrounded the three men, they did not launch an attack. They just watched the three men.
Soon, the chief of the tribe received the news and rushed over.
"Outsiders, why did you come to our tribe?"
Wearing a gorgeous black and white feather crown, the burly middle-aged chief walked through the crowd and came to the three of them. He looked at the tall Chen Mo with sharp eyes and asked in a deep voice in Indian.
Chen Mo and the other three had long been accustomed to this scene. They did not panic at all after being surrounded by a group of tough Indian warriors. After the chief appeared and asked questions, Chen Mo spoke in the very standard Indian language that he had just learned.
He replied slowly.
"Buy furs!"
The middle-aged chief's eyes lit up when he heard Chen Mo's standard Indian language, and he felt a lot better at first. But when he heard that Chen Mo was here to buy furs, the chief couldn't help but glance at the two little guys standing behind Chen Mo, and then looked at them again.
Chen Mo's eyes couldn't help but look a little complicated.
"Young people, you'd better leave the jungle as soon as possible. If you are discovered by those armed acquisition teams, they will not let you go."
The middle-aged chief saw that Chen Mo was not very young and had two and a half-year-old children. He thought that Chen Mo did not know the situation here and did not know the existence of the American Fur Company, so he kindly advised him.
Facing the chief's kindness, Chen Mo smiled slightly.
"We've already met several takeover teams."
"Then you..."
The middle-aged chief couldn't help being stunned when he heard the words, but stopped when the words came to his mouth.
I have encountered several, but I am still standing here intact. What does this mean?
The middle-aged chief didn't know if Chen Mo was bragging, but it was obvious that the other party had no intention of giving up the deal as he said.
What needs to be said has been said, and the chief said no more, and turned to look at the huge sad backpack of the three people.
"Let me see your goods."
When Chen Mo heard this, he nodded slightly, took off his backpack, and took out things from inside.
Sharp knives, sturdy and durable metal utensils, high-alcohol liquor exuding the aroma of wine, and many other things they had never seen before.
When he first saw the things in front of him, the middle-aged chief's expression was quite normal. The previous acquisition team also had these things, but the quality didn't look as good as these. As Chen Mo and the two little guys came out of the backpack,
As he kept digging inside and out, the chief found that there were many things that he had never seen before, which made his eyes light up, and the onlookers' tribal warriors couldn't help but beam with joy.
Since the American Fur Company has monopolized the fur trade in the entire Missouri area, it has begun to significantly lower the purchase price of furs, and the things they exchange with them are all the same. In addition to some daily necessities, they mainly watch consumables such as liquor and other items exchanged from them.
fur.
Since this place was completely monopolized by them, no other fur traders dared to come in and trade with them, so they were forced to accept this price and exchange.
Anyway, these furs are just a by-product of hunting for them, and they don't have much use for themselves. Especially the furs of beavers and other small animals will eventually be thrown away if they are not traded. It is better to exchange them for something useful.
However, this tribe is different from other tribes. Their chief discovered that liquor cannot sublimate their spirit as other tribes thought. Instead, it will paralyze their nerves and bodies and damage their combat effectiveness, so they never drink alcohol.
, and the transactions over the years have allowed them to exchange for enough living supplies. In fact, they no longer need much for the transactions with the American Fur Company.
At this time, the large number of new things brought by Chen Mo and the others made their eyes light up.
"What's this?"
The middle-aged chief pointed to a figure about the size of a human head, with a strong metal frame on the outside and a stable prototype base underneath. There was an arc-shaped handle made of thick wire on top, and in the middle, there was an approximately circular transparent inlaid
The glass ball is firmly fixed in the middle by the upper and lower frames.
"This is a kerosene lamp."
As Chen Mo spoke, he gestured to Victor. Victor understood, picked up a box from the side, lit the kerosene lamp, and handed it to the middle-aged chief.
The chief first glanced curiously at the match in Victor's hand that lit up immediately, and then took the kerosene lamp and looked at it.
"This kind of lamp uses kerosene as fuel and can be used for a long time. The flame is protected by a glass cover and is not afraid of bad weather such as wind and rain."
The middle-aged chief's eyes lit up when he heard this. He carefully looked up and down the kerosene lamp in his hand, and blew a few blows on the flame. He found that it was indeed inextinguishable, and he was even more delighted.
Usually they use torches for lighting. If it's windy or rainy, they can only hide in the tent in the dark and have nothing to do. With this kerosene lamp that is not afraid of wind and rain, it will be much more convenient in the future.