A Southerner who appeared on the North Island?
Todd looked at the man in his thirties, a Southern pagan who called himself Kendi, with surprise. He had dark skin, deep-set eyes, a thick beard, and a white cloth wrapped around his head.
The elder of the Claw tribe waved to the warriors escorting the man, signaling them to leave him behind while they withdrew. He then said, "We captured him near the Sacred Forest half a month ago..."
The old man thought for a moment, a strange look appearing on his face, and said in an uncertain tone, "...dig a hole."
Kendi was taken aback, then loudly corrected, "God is supreme! I've said it a hundred times! That's not digging a hole, that's archaeology!"
Upon hearing this, Todd's curiosity immediately took over: "Archaeology? What did you find?"
“I heard from others that there are ancient Taro ruins here on North Island, and that something called a crystal relic was unearthed, so I thought I'd come and take a look.” Kendi looked somewhat annoyed: “Unexpectedly, after digging for more than ten days, I haven’t found anything!”
Todd and Hudgens exchanged a glance and gave each other an awkward laugh.
The elder of the Claw Clan glanced at Kendi, then turned to Todd and said, "This southerner, as a heretic, destroyed the Sacred Forest and should have been executed immediately. But... we must admit that his knowledge has helped us a lot."
Kendi puffed out his chest, raised his head, and said proudly, "I helped these North Islanders build cranes, using rollers and pulleys, so they can save a lot of manpower when transporting logs and stones. I also designed airtight compartments for their ships, so even if the bottom of the ship is breached by reefs, it won't sink; and there are water-powered iron saws built on springs that can automatically saw through the wood..."
Todd grew increasingly surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Are you a physicist?"
Kendi shook his head and said, "That's not entirely true. I'm well-versed in philosophy, logic, and theology, and I've also studied medicine, mathematics, astronomy, physics, geography, meteorology, political science, and music theory. Oh, and I've done a lot of translation work."
Todd was amazed and puzzled: "Then how did you end up in the North Island?"
“My father was the governor of the Abbasid Caliphate. I was born in Kufa, Iraq, and educated in Basra. I was once appointed as the treasurer by the Caliph of the dynasty. I came to the North Island this time to help a friend find prehistoric ruins on the mainland…”
The impatient Claw Clan elder interrupted him: "Kendy, because you know so much, I've invited you here to ask you, as far as you know, is there anything rare on North Island?"
Todd added, "Special products that can be traded with other cities?"
"Specialties of the North Island? For trade?" Kendi blinked, somewhat puzzled. "Wood carvings, animal hides, dried fruit?"
Todd thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Are there any North Island specialties that have a large market in the South and can fetch a high price?"
Kendi rested his chin on his hand, thought for a long time, and then suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "I remember now! In the Abbasid Empire, there are indeed some things from the North Island that are ridiculously expensive in the market, and are generally only available to kings and nobles."
Todd quickly asked, "What is it?!"
“Seafood,” Kendi said, pointing to the sea outside. “Seafood from the North Island, such as salmon, North Island shrimp, and seven-colored clams, can fetch astronomical prices in the Empire. This is because these delicious seafoods can only adapt to the water temperature and environment of the North Island. They die quickly during transport and become inedible. Therefore, the Empire sends its fastest fleet to the North Island every year to buy seafood, then packs ice into the holds and sails back as quickly as possible. Even so, less than one-tenth of the seafood transported by the fleet reaches the Royal Palace and is still edible.”
After listening to Kendi's words, Todd pondered for a moment, and suddenly an idea came to his mind.
If Muxi Town mass-produces those dormouses carrying "frozen" bacteria, and then installs these "microbial refrigerators" in the holds of North Island cargo ships, then the seafood from North Island can be refrigerated and transported intact to the Southern Empire, where it can be sold for a large sum of money.
The opening of this trade route had great political and economic significance for Muxi Town.
First, this maritime trade route will bring a great deal of wealth to North Island and Muxi Town; second, North Island will have its own source of wealth and will no longer need to rely on plunder to obtain resources for survival; finally, in order to maintain the trade route, North Island will have no choice but to stand with Muxi Town, and the alliance between pirates and barbarians will collapse on its own!
Having formulated a trade strategy for North Island and Twilight Town, Todd looked up at the people in the room and began to think about the specific operational issues to come.
This trade route has three nodes: North Island, Muxi Town, and the Abbasid Empire. Muxi Town is under my control and shouldn't cause any problems; the Abbasid Empire is downstream in the trade chain and, as a market, should also be fine; the trouble lies upstream in the trade—North Island.
Todd needs to find stable suppliers for this "seafood cold storage logistics" business route.
Unlike the remote tribes of the North Island, the Black Skull Tribe and the Claw Tribe are located near the south, making them the best trading partners for Twilight Town. However, if they only cooperate with one of them, even with Twilight Town's technological advantage in the Microbial Ice Storage, it's hard to guarantee that one party won't become dominant and take the opportunity to raise prices in the future.
Therefore, we need to find a way to bring both tribes into the trade routes and introduce a competitive mechanism between them.
The first step in bringing the two tribes into a healthy competitive environment is to select a suitable chieftain for the Claw tribe.
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