Chapter 126 Spice Islands

The "Skuna" set sail in the morning and by noon it had spotted Qin Mo's "Ternate" island.

Ternath, also known as Dena, is a ring-shaped island with a radius of about five kilometers. About twenty kilometers to its east lies the larger island of Halmahera. As for why Qin Mo chose Ternath, it is because the island has volcanoes and forests with lush vegetation, which can be used to grow crops. More importantly, it has enough harbors to shelter from the wind, and its larger size makes it easier to send people to occupy and colonize.

"Your Highness, there really is pepper. As long as we find a few brothers and sisters who are good at communicating with plants, this place will soon be covered with pepper." Before the ship even docked, Ximan launched a boat into Liangzhong. By the time Qin Mo found the port on the southeast side of the island, he had already found the pepper and asked Qin Mo to send elves over.

“Syman, we are now an expedition team. Future development must be carried out by Allen. After all, the safety of our brothers and sisters is the most important thing. Now, let’s start by leading people to explore what resources the island has, and then we… will continue south.”

"Your Highness, why do we continue south? Isn't this island enough for us to grow pepper? Your Highness... you've never been to Xizhou. Do you know how precious Xizhou pepper is? Even in the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, it's an expensive and rare commodity."

“Syman, I know the uses of pepper and nutmeg, otherwise I wouldn’t have risked sailing here, but… don’t give up the whole forest for one big tree.”

The reason why pepper and nutmeg were once so expensive in Europe was because they could be used to make delicious jerky. In the days before refrigerators, spices were essential for removing the gamey smell from meat during the jerky-making process. They were also needed for seasoning when cooking meat and preparing meals. As the largest nutmeg-producing region on Earth, this archipelago is known as the "Spice Islands".

Seaman stared blankly at Qin Mo for a long time before he understood what he meant. He quickly dispatched people to explore the entire island of Teltena. His crew members were all half-elves who had often gone on sea expeditions before, and they had a unique affinity for the wild. They were able to quickly find out what was different about the island.

"Your Highness, we have found this."

When it got dark, Ximan gave Qin Mo a gray stone, and Qin Mo, who had worked in a steel mill for many years in her previous life, knew at a glance that it was iron ore, and a rich one at that.

“That’s great, this is an unexpected bonus. We’ll investigate again tomorrow, make a good note of the port’s location and latitude, and then head south.”

Qin Mo's ultimate goal for this expedition was Ambon Island, which in Qin Mo's previous life was the largest and most important spice cultivation and trading port in the Spice Islands.

After departing from Teltner, the Skullner embarked on a difficult voyage through entirely new and unknown waters, teeming with undercurrents and reefs. Without the skilled navigator, First Mate Seaman, even with the Skullner's exceptional capabilities for its time, a safe voyage might not have been guaranteed.

The "Captain," the highest leader on the ship, only provided the latitude 3°42′S, southeast. How to get to that location was the First Mate, Seaman's problem. The great captain was having a great time fishing the whole way.

"Your Highness...is that the island ahead...?" Just as Qin Mo was fighting a huge mackerel, Seaman ran over with binoculars. The noble elf had suddenly become a lackey. If Allen saw this, he would definitely give him a good beating.

"In the message my mother left me, there are two bays to the south of the main island. The one to the west is very long and narrow, while the one to the east is the deepest. Based on this characteristic, we should be able to find it, right?"

Qin Mo's casual remark was enough to energize Seaman, who then directed Sikuna to sail south towards the archipelago. Once they spotted the largest island, Sikuna personally launched the boat and led his men to find a suitable port.

Qin Mo was also excited. If this place was no different from her previous life, then it was a real treasure trove. As long as she occupied it, it would be enough for her descendants to squander for hundreds of years.

To maintain his princely dignity, Qin Mo sat upright at the bow of the boat fishing, but by the time it got dark, he hadn't caught a single fish, which was hardly befitting of his noble demeanor.

Just as Qin Mo finally caught a large yellow croaker, Ximan returned. His boat was loaded with cargo, and even with the sails full of wind, it was still moving very slowly.

Ximan jumped onto the deck from a distance and said to Qin Mo, "Your Highness, there is pepper and cloves up there, but the most abundant thing is your kind of 'nutmeg,' which is everywhere. Because it was late, I did not continue to investigate, and I don't know if anyone is there."

As the half-elves carried the ship full of pepper, cloves, and nutmeg onto the larger vessel, Qin Mo's lips curled into a wicked smile: "Since we're here to colonize, we can make the island populated or deserted as we please, hehehe."

Many years later, someone unearthed a stone tablet on an island. On it was an autobiographical account by the indigenous people, in which they recounted with immense grief and indignation the evil deeds of the cruel and murderous Qin Mo, who not only seized their land but also forced them to become the lowest-ranking subjects of the empire, worse than slaves.

As soon as the stone tablet was unveiled, it was met with fierce criticism and rebuttal from well-known scholars. "The text on it is clearly in Chinese. When did the indigenous people have their own writing system? This is a conspiracy to overthrow the great Qin Mo descendants' rule over the Spice Islands."

Even many descendants of the local indigenous people eventually said that it was the great Prince Heng who freed them from their ignorant and backward way of life, gave them clothes, fed them, taught them arithmetic, and made them useful people.

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