Chapter 437 Northern Exploration Team

The heavy snow was flying all over the sky, filling the space between the sky and the earth with white.

Stanford looked up at the sky, but he couldn't see anything clearly. There was only a faint light shining through the gaps between the snowflakes.

This made him unable to tell the directions.

This damn place was so cold! I really don't know how those hairy barbarians survived.

He trembled all over, then hurriedly fastened his pants, turned around and walked two steps to a mound of earth that bulged from the ground.

He lifted a thick animal skin, revealing a hole with a yellow light, and the warm breath gushing out from it made him eager to get in.

Alas! Was his decision correct? He sighed.

Stanford, the commander of the northern exploration fleet, was commissioned by Earl Paul Graman, the lord of Alda, to lead three ships from Fulan Port on the northwest coast of the Kingdom of Aldo in June last year to explore the northern seas along the coastline of the continent.

In the process of going north, they were still very smooth. There were three fleets that set out at that time. Stanford and his team were separated from the other two fleets at the edge of the bay, sailing northward and mapping all the way.

Then they found that the northern edge of the Northwest Bay was a huge peninsula that extended into the ocean.

Stanford found a place to personally lead people to land and take a look. The peninsula was full of hills and mountains, and then they found traces of the orc tribe. Due to their consistent bad impression of the orcs, they did not want to take the risk of contact, so they returned to the ship. In fact, people living in the Northwest Bay have long known that there are orcs on the other side of the sea. When pirates were rampant in the past, some of the notorious gangs had tall and hairy guys who were often known for their brutality and bloodthirstiness.

The fleet continued to sail northward along the coastline for a month. Through observation, they found that the trend of the continental edge line was not straight north, but extended diagonally to the northwest.

Along the way, the exploration team also surveyed and recorded the geographical information along the coast, especially those places suitable for building ports. According to Lord Graman's grand plan, there will be fleets from the Northwest Bay in the future, which will be full of craftsmen, food, and militia, and then build docks, warehouses, and shipyards to become supply stations for longer voyages.

The sea-sustaining capacity of the three-masted sailing ship they took was a little more than two months. After sailing for a month, nearly half of the supplies on the ship had been used up. Fresh water could be replenished occasionally on shore (if lucky, rivers and lakes could be encountered), but food was a big problem.

According to the original plan, they should have returned at this time. However, during a certain exploration, they were surprised to find traces of human natives. Before that, the members of the exploration team thought that there were only orcs north of the Rocky Mountains.

However, the first contact between the two strange groups was not enthusiastic. The "giant ship" on which the exploration team was riding shocked the natives paddling canoes, and the two sides confronted each other from a distance.

After a long confrontation, the exploration team took the initiative to take the first step, put down a small sampan, approached the natives and made a friendly gesture-throwing a bottle of honey and a bag of salt from a distance. Originally, I wanted to send some biscuits, but unfortunately, the biscuits on the ship were a little spoiled and had maggots, and sending them over might anger the other party.

The natives opened the two gifts they received, and the sweetness of honey and the deliciousness of salt immediately conquered their noses and tongues, and they waved to the strangers from a distance.

"They should be friendly, and I think we should have a deeper exchange with them."

The captain of the flagship suggested so.

Stanford thought for a while and agreed.

So the first mate on the flagship took the people ashore.

The first mate took out a silver coin with King Rodney's head printed on it and gave it to one of the leaders, but when the other party held the silver coin in his hand and looked at it, his expression seemed to be just looking at a novelty, not money.

When the first mate took out a dagger made of fine steel and gave it to the other party, the big man jumped up happily, and then took off a gem he was wearing and gave it back to the first mate.

This somewhat shy man, with a slightly ashamed expression, mumbled, gesticulated, as if explaining that the most valuable thing on him was this stone.

"It seems that their society is still at the level of bartering."

The first mate said to the people around him.

"Second Captain, there are a lot of broken glass on our ship, which is shiny. Can we use it to exchange for food - if they have it."

A crew member proposed an idea that he thought was very smart.

"This is too unethical. Broken glass is just some garbage. Do you have the nerve to exchange garbage for supplies?"

"What's the matter? It doesn't make any difference to them anyway."

The first mate waved his hand to stop the crew's argument, "Okay! Let Commander Stanford make the decision."

...

"If we want to gain their support to explore a wider area, we can't engage in such fraudulent behavior! As the communication develops in depth, they will definitely find clues."

Stanford rejected the ridiculous proposal.

"Before we set out, Lord Graman once emphasized to me that if we encounter natives with whom we can communicate - whether they are human or not - we must show a friendly attitude."

No mistake, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one forum!

After confirming that the other party had no hostility, Stanford personally led the team to the place where the natives lived.

The buildings in this settlement or village are mostly low wooden houses or mud-thatched houses. The living conditions are much worse than those in the countryside of Arda a few years ago. There is a particularly conspicuous tall wooden house in the middle of the village, which should be where the chief lives. The layout of the entire village has no obvious plan. If you look at it from a high place, it will definitely feel very messy, but there is an open space in front of the chief's longhouse.

Based on the number and density of buildings, Stanford judged that there are about four or five hundred people in this village.

Considering the possibility of dealing with natives in foreign countries, there are scholars who are proficient in language research in the exploration team. In a conversation and observation of guesswork, Stanford was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a certain scale of planting here, but it should still be mainly fishing and hunting. Animal heads and bone ornaments can be seen everywhere on the walls.

People here seem to use wooden and bone tools, and their clothes are also made of animal skins.

So the exploration team took out a lot of metal tools, such as hammers, axes, shovels, nails, needles, etc., as well as three pieces of cotton cloth and several coils for mending clothes, expressing their intention to exchange some food.

An elder who looked very prestigious - probably the leader here - opened his drooping eyelids after seeing what the strangers took out. He picked up each one and looked at it as if he saw some treasure, and gently stroked it with his hand.

The exploration team exchanged thirty bags of grain and five bags of dried meat that had been dried hard. In fact, there was something more coveted by the exploration team - fur. If they took it back and sold it, they would definitely make a fortune, but food was more important at the moment.

After returning to the ship with the traded goods, Stanford summoned the heads of the three ships to discuss the next step.

Now that food is a little more abundant, should we set the voyage to be "slightly" farther?

And they encountered a human tribe that they could trade with. So, in the future, they could also follow this example to easily obtain supplies to support their voyage in other places. There should be more than one human tribe on land.

Sorry everyone, I've been busy recently.