Chapter 679 The Establishment of the Northern Trade Route, a Journey with Ten Times the Profit

The sky was dark and the weather at the seaside was changing. In a blink of an eye, it was about to drizzle again. Priest Zuwaro looked up at the darkening sky, took a wide-brimmed straw hat and put it on, hiding the expression on his face.

"Chief Kalan of the Yorem tribe proposed the Yome tribe."

Recalling the conversation that day, Priest Zuwaro touched his chin, hesitated for a long time, and shook his head.

"The Yome tribe of the Yaki people controls a large tribe in the north with a population of nearly 10,000 and 3,000 warriors. If there is no sufficient supply along the way, how many warriors can the kingdom's fleet transport three or four thousand miles away? Such a bold proposal should be left to your majesty to decide!"

Thinking of this, the new priest's thoughts drifted away, and he thought of what he had seen and heard about the Yome tribe.

Relying on the great river upstream in the east, the Yome tribe has a prosperous trade with the city-state of Orta in the mountains further north and the Makuwi tribes on the border of the wilderness. The ancestral land of the Horta City-State Alliance is the Red Copper Mountain, which produces a large amount of high-quality copper materials and copperware. The various tribes of the Yaqui people, especially the Yome tribe, control various flint coal mines and produce sufficient bituminous coal.

It is precisely because of the open-pit coal mines and the obstruction of the northern mountains that the Yome tribe does not have to migrate when the cold wave comes, and can gradually grow to a scale of 10,000 people. The riverside plains where they live have also become fertile land coveted by various tribes. Even the Guayma tribe, which has always been friendly, has some covetous thoughts, not to mention the Yorem tribe of the same origin.

"The fleet conducted gemstone trade in the Yome tribe and filled more than a dozen catamarans with coal, totaling about dozens of tons. The Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine specifically requires this high-quality coal from the north, saying that this kind of coal is different from the kingdom. After the traditional coking method, the burned iron will not be brittle."

The Zuvaro priest pulled his hair and pondered in silence. What about coal and iron? He had learned about His Majesty's divine revelation at Shenwei University, but he had no idea about the specific smelting.

"The essence of divinity is injected into the mineral deposits of the earth. The more it is injected, the purer it is, the higher the quality, and the easier it is to smelt. Gold, silver, copper, coal, iron, and tin are all like this. There are differences in high and low quality."

Thinking of this, Zuvaro tilted his head slightly and looked at the catamaran carrying coal beside him. In order to facilitate trade, these catamarans are laid with wooden boards that can stand people and carry goods, and there are additional rafts on both sides of the hull to provide buoyancy and carrying.

At this moment, both the wooden boards for carrying goods and the attached rafts are fully loaded with baskets of coal, pressing the hull half into the water. Through such modifications, the maximum load of a catamaran has increased to seven or eight tons. The only disadvantage is that it is not flexible enough and is not suitable for fighting on the water.

"So, the Yomei tribe is the northernmost point that the merchant fleet has reached. The aggressive Sri people further north have no special products, cannot trade, and are too dangerous. The fleet turned west from the Yomei tribe, heading to the narrow peninsula in the west, and excavated the guano designated by His Majesty on the small islands along the coast."

Priest Zuwaro turned slightly again and looked at the other side. Large and small straw baskets were filled with grayish-white and yellow guano.

According to the description of the divine revelation, these guano stones are condensed from the feces of island birds for tens of millions of years, and contain the vitality of cultivating crops. In the entire fleet, more than half of the load of more than 20 catamarans is used to load these natural fertilizers.

"If one ton of guano is ground and added to the farmland, how many tons of grain can be increased?"

Priest Zuwaro stared at the ordinary guano with wide eyes, but unfortunately he could not see anything. But he knew that in the upper reaches of Lake Ato, a small lake had been led out and a floating field, Chinampa, had been built on the lake. This was a unique technology of the Mexica Union, which could be cultivated for a whole year and harvested more than three times, and it also had to rely on sufficient fertilizer to maintain it.

"The islands around the narrow peninsula are full of free-flying seabirds, hundreds of thousands of them. They are producing fertilizer all the time."

Zuvaro squinted his eyes, recalling the overwhelming seabirds, the heart-shaking bird calls, and the "raindrops" falling from the sky, and couldn't help wiping his forehead. He thought of the magnificent scenery and the guano stones that could be seen everywhere, and his eyes showed desire.

"Such guano stones are piled up into mountains and connected into land. I don't know how many tens of millions of tons there are! If guano stones can really increase production, then the kingdom's food will be... Huh! May the Lord bless you!"

Zuvaro took a deep breath, his face full of piety, and prayed softly.

The merchant fleet of the Kingdom went south along the narrow peninsula, encountering many guano islands all the way to the southernmost tip of the peninsula. But the fleet would not go to the southernmost tip because there was a lack of large villages along the way that could be supplied. The tribes of the Cochimi people on the peninsula have always been small in size, with the largest number of only a few hundred people, and there has never been much surplus food. After traveling 600 miles south, the merchant fleet replenished food and water at the largest fishing village of the Cochimi people, Chimi Village (now Tripuí). Outside Chimi Village, there is an almost closed lagoon (now Puerto Escondido), where the fish production is very abundant, so it can support a large village.

From Chimi Village to the east, after traveling 300 to 400 miles, it returned to the northern continent again, which happened to be the location of the Yorem Tribe. The merchant fleet of the Kingdom replenished supplies at the Yorem Tribe once more, and then said goodbye to Putu, the gray cat who was reluctant to leave and wanted to escape from the sea of ​​suffering, and set off on the return journey to the south along the way they came.

"This is the complete northern trade route! Starting from Trout Town at the mouth of the Tulsa River, it is followed by the Palm Town of the Southern Tekos, the Three Rivers City of the Northern Tekos, the Tolpan River mouth of the Huichols, the Yushan Village of the Totomé, the Yorem Tribe of the Mayo, the Yome Tribe of the Yaqui, and then west through the Guano Stone Islands to the Chimi Village of the Cochimi, and then east back to the Yorem Tribe."

Zuvarro closed his eyes and summed up in his mind. The distance between these navigation nodes is between 500-700 miles, which is a more suitable supply location. And a coastal voyage is exactly 4,000 miles away, and the 4,000-mile return journey takes about four months.

From south to north, the various tribes along the way, the Palm Town and Three Rivers City of the Tekos, all produce food and cloth, and exchange for the kingdom's gems. The Huichols at the mouth of the Tolpan River have the ability to provide cassiterite, goldstone, and silverstone, but do not accept gems, only cloth and weapons.

The Yushan Village of the Totomai people has sufficient food, accepts daily necessities trade, and is not very interested in gems. The Yorem tribe of the Mayo people particularly prefers bronze weapons and refined leather armor, and can provide high-quality copper stone, gold stone, and silver stone.

The Yome tribe of the Yaqui people produces a large amount of bituminous coal, copper stone, gold stone, and accepts gem trade. Among the Yome tribe, there are merchants from the Horta City-State Alliance who can take out extremely high-purity red copper in exchange for bronze weapons. The Horta Alliance in the mountains is facing the looting of the fierce grassland Apache Alliance, and there is almost no upper limit to the demand for weapons and leather armor.

"The exchange price of the red copper of the Horta people is only one-third of that of the alliance. The coal of the Yome tribe is only the cost of manpower. And weapons, leather armor and cloth can be premiumed several times in various tribes in the northern continent. As for the gold ore that each tribe has, it is usually one-fourth or one-fifth of the value of the alliance, or even a basket of gold stone for a basket of cotton cloth."

Zuvaro made a little calculation, and his eyes were slightly red. The profit of this northern route is at least six times more! The merchant fleet of the kingdom went north with weapons, leather armor, and cloth, and then went south with gold, silver, copper, coal, tin, and guano.

"No, that's not right! If we go north with the gems from the lake, and exchange them for a large amount of cotton cloth on the land of the northern and southern Tekos people, the profit of this route will be ten times! Praise the Lord!"

Thinking of this, Zuvaro was excited, and the corners of his mouth were pious. He rubbed his palms excitedly, flexed his wrists, and his eyes flashed.

"Your Majesty said that 30% of the income from each transaction will be shared by the crew of the fleet! As long as we run a few more times, the warriors and sailors on the ship, and me, will all be covered by the golden light of the Lord! Haha!"

The hearty laughter sounded in the dim sea and sky, with both heartfelt piety and strong desire. Zuvaro made up his mind that after returning, he would rest for half a month in Zicao County and then go north again with full cargo.

The new priest stood up and stood at the bow. He looked at the vast ocean, his heart full of excitement. After a long time, an inexplicable thought came to his mind, and he looked to the distant east.

"The world is so vast, and the tribes are so diverse. After the first exploration of the kingdom, the north is endless. At this moment, I wonder where the kingdom's fleet exploring the east has reached? What do the tribes in the distant east look like?"