Chapter 476: Exploration of the Lake Kingdom, Gem Trade and Setting Sail Again

Black and gray coal spread all over the plains and buried deeper under the earth. A group of people stood on the coal hill, looking at the flint field in front of them, discussing the trade between the tribe and the kingdom, which was their first encounter.

"Gemstones? Does your tribe produce gemstones? What colors are there?"

Hearing Chihuaco's words, Mountain Eagle Vijo was a little surprised. He looked carefully at the simple clothes of the old militia and said hesitantly.

"If you really have red or green gemstones, the chiefs and priests of the tribe will like them and are willing to exchange them with flint!"

The Yomei tribe uses flint and worships the flames of their ancestors, so they like red or yellow ornaments. But the tribe is not short of gold and copper, yellow ornaments are very common, and red gemstones are precious. Rubies are also respected by the wilderness tribes in the east, representing the divine world, just like the Guakiri dog descendants.

As for emeralds, they are a common preference of coastal tribes, mountain tribes, Mexican plateau tribes, and even Mayan tribes. It symbolizes eternal life and contains the wisdom of the soul. It is highly respected by noble chiefs, priests and witch doctors! From this point of view, these coastal tribes, regardless of their geographical location, actually belong to the cultural circle of Central America.

At this time, the trade between tribes was not too cunning. Most of the time, both parties frankly expressed their needs for each other and directly exchanged goods. Chihuaco nodded, glanced at Puapu, and ordered.

"Old Pu, give me two of your gems!"

"Huh?! Old man Qi, how did you know that I have gems!"

Puapu was startled. He subconsciously stretched out his hand and pressed his chest, and then he felt the hardness and solidity of the gems under his outer robe.

"Ha! All the materials for trade along the way have passed through your hands. A mouse sneaked into the granary, and you can still be hungry?"

Chihuaco squinted his old eyes and curled his lips. Then, he looked serious and said in a deep voice.

"Don't waste time. Take a red one and a green one, hurry up!"

"."

Puapu smiled embarrassedly. He reached into his arms, touched a few gems, looked down carefully for a few times, and put the extra two back. Then, he slowly handed his hand out, complaining.

"After this life-and-death journey, it's nothing to take some gems. You have to give them to me later!"

Chivaco took the gems, took a quick look, and handed them to the Eagle Weihuo.

"Friend, these are the gems of our lake tribe. Bright and lovely, pure and transparent, good!"

"Huh?!"

Eagle Weihuo took the two gems, looked at them over and over for a while, with a surprised look on his face, and exclaimed.

"Ancestor! The gems of your tribe are really good! The color is very bright, very pure, and so big, just like the eggs of the green quetzal!"

Chivaco smiled confidently. He carefully observed Weihuo's expression, and did not see too much greed in his eyes, so he nodded secretly and felt relieved.

In fact, he still had a few "top gems" as big as goose eggs in his hand. He only showed them once in Sanhe City at the mouth of the Leman River, which attracted the attack of the Northern Tekos tribe. He never dared to take them out again.

Before the fleet set off, His Majesty gave him a bag of gems. He thought it was a small cloth bag, but when he got it, he found that it was a large bag weighing dozens of kilograms, filled with gems of various sizes! The colors of these gems are all the same deep, pure, and the shapes are also very regular!

As the fleet moved forward, Chivaco was cautious and would personally check these precious treasures from time to time. When he saw more and recovered from the shock, he gradually had some guesses about the origin of the "gems" in the lake. But he buried these thoughts silently in his heart and never told anyone about them.

Chivaco smiled at Viho's hand holding the gems and said kindly.

"Friend, these two gems, if you like them, I'll give them to you!"

"Ah? Give them to me?"

Hearing this, Viho's face showed joy. He hesitated for a moment, then stuffed the gem directly into the quiver on his waist. Senior warriors in the northwest tribes are generally proficient in either throwing spears or hunting bows. Relatively speaking, hunting bows are less powerful but safer.

"From today on, you are my friend, Mountain Eagle Weihuo!"

"Friend, good, good!"

The old militia nodded repeatedly, his old face smiling like a flower, making people feel very cordial.

"Good friend, then your tribe..."

"Exchange! Flint for gems, the headman and priest of the tribe will agree!"

"Good! How to exchange?"

"How to exchange."

Hearing this, Weihuo thought for a while and scratched his hair. He was a little undecided.

The flint of the tribe, unlike gold and copper ore, is not too laborious to dig, and it is all open-air mining, without any danger. Just call a few tribesmen over, holding a stone shovel, and you can mine dozens of baskets a day.

But the rules passed down by the tribe are that the flint field is the inheritance of the ancestors, and there have always been warriors patrolling and protecting it. Except for the needs of the tribesmen, it cannot be mined at will. When trading with outsiders, you must also ask for enough compensation.

After a while, Weihuo came up with a number that he could decide on his own and felt was fair.

"Friend, after all, flint is a gift from our ancestors, and there are rules in the tribe. So, one gem, for two, three baskets of flint?"

"One gem, three baskets of flint?"

Chivaco was surprised. This number was much more than he expected.

"."

Weihuo pursed his lips, thinking Chihuaco was too little. After all, there were as many flints nearby as there was dirt. It was really too easy for the tribe to dig up the flints. He gritted his teeth and changed his words in embarrassment.

"For the sake of my friends, let's add half a basket! The leader is very strict about the flint trade. One gem is exchanged for three and a half baskets of flint!"

"Uh, three and a half baskets, that's it."

Chihuaco scratched his head. One basket of flint is estimated to be around sixty or seventy kilograms, and three and a half baskets is about two hundred or three hundred kilograms?

Puap looked at Old Man Qi's expression and smiled.

"Lao Qi, why, can't you figure it out?"

Chihuako blushed. After all, he was a militiaman, unlike Puap, who was a warrior and had some arithmetic skills. He glared at Lao Pu, feeling secretly angry in his heart. After returning home, he wanted to ask the priests in the camp for help and learn some math.

"Friend, okay, okay! One gem, three and a half baskets of flint, exchange it! We want to exchange it for twenty baskets, so I'll give it to you... uh..."

"Six gems!"

Puap answered with a smile, his face bright. In the entire fleet, except for the ship's priest Mecat, he was the most educated.

Weihuo clapped his fingers and estimated that it was about the same. Of the six gems, two were given to the chief, two to the priest, one to the witch doctor, and the remaining one was kept for himself.

"Okay! Friends, let's do it! Our ancestors have witnessed that when wild deer in the mountains meet, they will touch their foreheads. We are friends who exchange things, not enemies who compete with each other!"

As he spoke, Weiho lowered his head and pointed his forehead toward Chihuaco. The old militiaman was stunned. Thinking of Chief Kallan's deer head, he suddenly understood. He also lowered his head, touched Weihuo's forehead, and pressed against it hard.

"Ancestors witness! Friend, good deer, good friend!"

The two of them performed the local etiquette and came down from the coal hill. Then, the kingdom's fleet exchanged twenty baskets of coal and added some water, filling the three large galleys to the brim.

After the deal was completed, there was no celebration and Chihuaco didn't stay long. He just looked deeply at the large villages by the sea and the thick black smoke from the burning flint.

"Flint. Coal. Flint field. Large coal mine. Three thousand tribal warriors"

Chihuaco murmured. He had a vague hunch that His Highness might value coal mines more than gold and silver. After a long time, the old militiaman sighed and gave orders to the sailors on the ship.

"Divide into two teams and take turns rowing! Next, stick to the coast and continue northwest! Praise the Lord God for letting us pass through the waves!"

“Praise be to the Lord God for carrying us through the waves!”

The sailors and warriors shouted in unison, full of piety. Afterwards, the kingdom's exploration fleet set off again, heading towards the unknown northwest, extending the boundaries of the world.

Three days later, the fleet arrived at the bay more than two hundred miles away and met the Guaymas, a small coastal tribe. Chief Callan once mentioned that the Guaymas were a tribe of the Yaqui people and showed respect to the Yome tribe, but they intermarried with the Sri people. Their way of life is to settle down by the river and farm while sending out fishermen and hunters.

The Kingdom fleet stopped for a while, replenished some fruits, and with the help of the new guide Shantiao, asked for news about the northwest sea.

"The island full of seabirds, the big island transformed by giant turtles, is not far to the northwest! You will see it along the coast. You will definitely!"

Hearing such news, everyone in the fleet was in high spirits. Chihuaco looked happy, as long as he discovered the holy land of seabirds, his way home would be close at hand! However, he still had some doubts about what the local tribe said.

"You'll definitely see it along the coast?"

The old militiaman pressed his question and continued moving forward with the fleet. This area is calm, the water is extremely smooth, and the boat speed is extremely stable.

The fleet took another three days to travel three hundred miles. The flying birds all over the sky, just like the clouds in the sky, caught everyone's eyes first! The sailors and warriors were excited and mustered up their strength to row faster. Within two-quarters of an hour, a particularly spectacular gray-white island, like a giant turtle perched on the sea, appeared in front of the kingdom's fleet!