Chapter 437 Northern Exploration Team
Goose feathers and heavy snow were flying all over the sky, filling the space between the sky and the earth with a vast expanse of white.
Stanford looked up at the sky and saw nothing clearly, only a vague light shining through the gaps in the snowflakes.
This made it difficult for him to distinguish between east, west and north.
This damn place is so cold! I really don’t know how those hairy barbarians survived.
He trembled all over, then hurriedly tightened his trousers, turned around and took two steps to a dirt bag bulging from the ground.
He opened a thick animal skin, revealing a hole with yellow light. The warm breath gushing out from inside made him eager to get in.
Alas! Is your decision the right one? He sighed.
Stanford, the commander of the Northern Exploration Fleet, was appointed by Count Paul Greyman, the lord of Arda, to lead three ships from Port Fulan on the northwest coast of the Kingdom of Aldo in June last year. Set off and explore the northern seas along the mainland coastline.
On their way north, they went very smoothly. A total of three fleets set out at that time. Stanford and the other two fleets separated at the edge of the bay, sailing all the way north for surveying.
Then they discovered that what formed the northern edge of the northwest bay was a huge peninsula that jutted into the ocean.
Stanford found a place to take people to land and have a look. The peninsula was covered with hills and mountains. Then they discovered traces of the orc tribe. Out of their consistently bad image of the orcs, they did not want to take the risk. Risk was contacted and 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, there were some tall, hairy guys in those notorious gangs who were often cruel and bloodthirsty. famous.
The fleet continued sailing north along the coastline for a month. Through observation, they discovered that the trend of the continental edge line was not straight to the 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 Greiman's grand plan, there will be one fleet after another from the northwest bay in the future, which will be loaded with craftsmen, food, and militiamen, and then docks, warehouses, and shipyards will be built to become supply stations for farther voyages.
The self-sustaining capacity of the three-masted sailboat they were traveling on 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 (if you are lucky, you can encountered rivers and lakes), but food was a big problem.
According to the original plan, they should return at this time. But during a certain exploration, they were surprised to find traces of human indigenous people. Before that, the members of the exploration team thought that there were only orcs north of the Rocky Mountains.
But the first contact between the two strange groups was not warm. The "giant ship" the exploration team rode shocked the indigenous people paddling the canoes, and the two sides faced off against each other across a long distance. .
After a half-day confrontation, the exploration team took the first step, put down a small sampan, approached the indigenous people and made a gesture of friendship - throwing a bottle of honey and a bottle of honey from a distance. Pack salt. I originally wanted to send some biscuits, but unfortunately the biscuits on the ship were spoiled and infested with maggots. Sending them there might anger the other party.
The natives opened the two gifts they received. The sweetness of honey and the delicious taste of salt immediately conquered their noses and tongues, and they waved to the strangers from a distance.
“They should be friendly, I think we should have more in-depth communication with them.”
The captain of the flagship suggested so.
Stanford thought for a while and agreed.
So the first mate on the flagship took people ashore.
The first mate took out a silver coin with the image of King Rodney on it and gave it to one of the leaders. However, when the other person held the silver coin in his hand and looked at it, he looked as if he was just looking at a novelty. Stuff, 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, then took off a gem he was wearing and gave it back to the first mate.
This somewhat shy man used a slightly ashamed expression, squeaking and dancing, as if to explain that the most valuable thing in his body was this stone. "It seems that their society is still at the barter level."
The first mate said to the people around him.
"Vice Captain, there is a lot of broken glass on our ship, it's shiny, can it be exchanged for food - if they have any."
Some crew members made a suggestion that they thought was very important. Smart idea.
"This is too immoral. Isn't the broken glass just some garbage? Are you embarrassed to exchange the garbage for supplies?"
"What's the point? It makes no difference to them anyway."
< br>The first mate stopped the argument among the crew with a wave of his hand, "Okay! Let Commander Stanford make the decision."
...
"If we want to obtain them If you don’t support this kind of deceptive behavior by exploring a wider area, they will definitely find clues as the communication develops.”
Stanford rejected that ridiculous proposal.
"Before setting off, Master Graiman once emphasized to me that if we meet indigenous people with whom we can communicate - whether they are human or not - we must show a friendly gesture."
After confirming that the other party was not hostile, Stanford personally led the team to the place where the natives lived.
Most of the buildings in this settlement or village are low wooden houses or mud thatched houses. The living conditions are much worse than those in rural Arda a few years ago. There is a particularly conspicuous building in the middle of the village. The tall wooden house should be the place where the leader lives. There is no obvious plan for the layout of the entire village. If you look at it from a high place, it will look very messy, but there is an open space in front of the leader's longhouse.
Through the number and density of buildings, Stanford judged that there were four to five hundred people in this village.
Considering the possibility of dealing with foreign indigenous people, there were scholars proficient in language research on the exploration team. During some guessing exchanges and observations, Stanford was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a certain scale of planting here, but it should still be based on fishing and hunting. Mainly, animal heads and bone ornaments can be seen everywhere on the walls.
The people here seem to be using wooden and bone tools, and their clothes are also made of animal skins.
So the exploration team took out many metal tools, such as hammers, axes, shovels, nails, needles, etc., as well as three pieces of cotton cloth and several coils for sewing clothes, expressing their wishes The intention of exchanging a portion of food.
An elder who seemed to have high prestige—probably the leader here—opened his lowered eyelids after seeing what the strangers took out. He picked it up and looked at it as if he had seen some treasure, stroking it gently with his hands.
The exploration team got thirty bags of grain and five bags of dried meat in exchange for their wish. In fact, there is something here that makes the exploration team even more eye-catching - furs. If you take them back and resell them, you will definitely make a fortune, but food is what matters right now.
After returning to the ship with the traded goods, Stanford convened the heads of the three ships to discuss the next step.
Now that we have a little more food, should we set the voyage to a "slightly" longer range?
And I have encountered an indigenous human tribe that can trade, so in the future, it will be easier to obtain supplies in other places according to this example to support their voyage. There should be more than one human tribe on the land.
Sorry everyone, I have been quite busy recently.
(End of this chapter)