Todd took some dried grass leaves from his person and placed them in front of Rachel and Deirdre: "The reason I chose this place as my camp is because of this—tobacco leaves."

"The Froststone Camp is situated in a basin with high surrounding elevations and good sunlight; the soil is red clay, a rarity in the North, and rich in iron oxide; and there is abundant rainfall and strong soil water retention capacity. These three conditions make this place suitable for producing top-quality tobacco leaves."

Deirdre picked up a tobacco leaf and examined it closely: "I know this stuff. The elders in the tribe often chew it to stay awake. I tried it once, and it was bitter and pungent. Would anyone really trade food for this?"

Todd crushed the dried tobacco leaves in his hand, smelled them, and said, "Tobacco leaves cannot be used directly. They need to go through a series of processes, including selection, impurity removal, fermentation, grinding, flavoring, and sealing."

Rachel was a little confused: "It sounds complicated. So what exactly is this thing called 'tobacco' used for?"

"Like alcohol, it's an expensive consumable." Todd recalled the countless nights he spent at the research institute, which he relied on cigarettes to get through. Later, after getting a girlfriend, he finally managed to quit smoking.

"Due to technological limitations, the tobacco products can't be processed into high-end products like hookahs, dry tobacco, or cigarettes at the beginning. We can only try to make snuff." Todd rested his chin on his hand, thought for a moment, and then added, "I also need the Kingdom of Muxi to urgently produce a batch of exquisite crystal snuff bottles. I'll instruct Huggins to handle this in the Soul Space later..."

Deirdre's eyes sparkled with admiration: "You know so much..."

Todd was a little embarrassed: "I used to study tobacco mosaic virus, and I also like to smoke a few cigarettes. So, I have a general understanding of the history and processing of tobacco. I never thought it would come in handy now."

Rachel glanced at the two men, then looked at the unremarkable blades of grass and asked suspiciously, "How much is your snuff worth? Is it worth the trouble for us to manufacture it?"

"value?"

Todd recalled the documents he had read.

Snuff entered China during the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, in the market in Beijing, a bottle of good snuff cost between 300 and 800 silver dollars, which is equivalent to between 90,000 and 240,000 yuan in today's currency.

After doing some mental calculations, Todd gave Rachel an answer: "50 grams of fine snuff would cost around three hundred silver dollars."

Upon hearing this, the latter's mouth gaped open, and he stood there stunned.

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