"Goddammit, it's said that there was once a trade in coarse salt in Thunder God City. The price was not cheap and it was very rare. I guess people from far away came here occasionally to resell it. The price was as high as what we saw in Sun City back then..."
"There is also corn trading in the core area of Lei Shen City. Generally speaking, there are many people who eat corn and potatoes here." Chun Wu began to report the intelligence he had obtained during his trip to Lei Shen City.
It's a lot, but if you want to use it as a staple food, you have to increase your yield, right? With current farming capacity, the only thing you have outside the Red Deer Branch of the Hai Tribe is twenty mu. In my previous life, the average yield per mu was a thousand kilograms. In this life, is it only five hundred or six hundred kilograms? Even if we harvest ten thousand kilograms of potatoes, how many days will it feed the over a thousand people in the Red Deer Branch of the Hai Tribe?
The limitations of production tools are too great, and without sufficient livestock to supplement them, people have to go out fishing and hunting constantly for a living.
"There are probably quite a few people raising sheep in this area."
That's right. When it comes to animal husbandry, sheep have strong reproductive capacity and are almost the most suitable.
"Goddammit, I've found out clearly that this area doesn't produce salt."
"Oh? You mean, the most powerful Thunder God Tribe doesn't produce salt?" Ma Yue became interested. Then, where does the salt traded in this area come from?
"I inquired and found out that the major tribes in the core area of Thunder God City don't produce salt at all. There are no salt mountains or anything like that."
Damn! This Thunder God Tribe doesn't even have salt.
"That's pretty good. You can find out so much. Can we do further transactions and inquiries?" Ma Yue didn't want to get it done in one go.
At least, the Thunder God Tribe has no intention of attacking the Sea Tribe's Red Deer Branch. It is estimated that they have not yet received the information that the Red Deer Tribe has disappeared.
If that were the case... Ma Yue had a new idea. Just treat the original Red Deer Tribe as if it had disappeared. After all, no one knew where the Red Deer Tribe had gone.
This time, Chun Wu went to Lei Shen City to trade under the name of "Haifan Tribe". So, from now on, there will be no need to call this place the Haifan Tribe Branch, and we can just call it "Haifan Tribe".
If they appear under the name of a new tribe and do not involve the original Red Deer Tribe, the Thunder God Tribe may not necessarily send troops to retaliate, right?
Confidentiality is very important!
Fortunately, so far, no one in the Red Deer Branch of the Hai Tribe is missing, and the confidentiality work can continue in the future.
Because he has participated in and led the hunting team's battles many times, Ma Yue now has a very high prestige in the Red Deer Branch of the Hai Tribe. At least, his prestige is extremely high among the able-bodied men.
The original half of the tribe, who had little faith, had gradually dwindled to fewer than a hundred. This was a good sign; keeping the presence of the hundred ungodly under control was not difficult.
Of these one hundred ungodly individuals, the proportion of able-bodied men was the smallest, and there weren't many among the deputy soldiers either, but the elderly and the weak made up a significant proportion. Of course, it was normal for very young children to not understand anything about worship.
Ma Yue decided to do the opposite and summoned Bai Ying to give him some instructions.
Soon, the salt-making team changed. Except for the thirty or so children who were too young, the remaining sixty or so ungodly people all joined the salt-making team, becoming the first salt-making team. "You will spend your whole lives making salt by the sea. That way, won't it be completely secret?"
How much willpower can someone who's been accustomed to being a slave have to resist or escape? Haha!
Ma Yue once again held a grand sacrificial ceremony and publicly stated that from now on, we will be the "Haifan Tribe".
Military training still had to be persisted, but Ma Yue increased the salt boiling power and the second salt boiling team was established.
Ma Yue found the high priest and two leaders of the former Red Deer Tribe and told them his intentions. The three leaders naturally had no objection to the idea of not exposing the Red Deer Tribe and threatening retaliation from the Thunder God Tribe.
As for not being allowed to show up in public, it doesn’t matter. We were slaves before, so what’s there to show off about?
The people who are usually in charge of the current 'Haifan Tribe' are Chair and White Eagle, and it is not their turn.
So, the important task of boiling salt by the sea was handed over to these three people. They were also repeatedly reminded of the importance of confidentiality and that the salt-boiling team must not get lost.
Both the high priest and the two leaders really lacked courage. They were thrown to the seaside and responsible for boiling salt. They were honest and obedient, which was a good way to put their talents to good use.
The Haifan tribe had just been established, and Ma Yue's "miracle" sacrifice activities had become a little more frequent. There was no other way, so he had to integrate them as soon as possible. Gradually, things became more organized, and Ma Yue was relieved of a lot of worries.
Potatoes are harvested only once a year, and once the busy spring plowing season is over, there's essentially no major business left. Salt-making and military training became the main themes of the Haifan Tribe. To strengthen their defenses as much as possible, a defensive ditch between the two walls was gradually dug.
Harumi took part of the salt harvest and went to Thunder God City.
Ma Yue had instructed not to trade crude salt directly with the Thunder God Tribe, but to first find another large tribe to trade crude salt, similar to the original model of Sun City.
Chun Wu understood what he meant. He had been to Lei Shen City twice and had some idea of the tricks.
Trading is one thing, but I also need to learn as much as possible about the surrounding area. What if I can find my way home by land?
There seem to be many varieties of sheep in this area, some with curved horns, some with right horns, and some even have horns as long and beautiful as those of sika deer. After all, they are all sheep, so as long as you can raise them, it's fine.
Potatoes alone are not enough to fill us up, so let's get more sheep.
The large animals here are mainly deer of considerable size, of which the red deer is just one species. They are all roughly the same size, with the differences being larger in antlers. There are even deer with antlers up to two and a half meters wide...
Just exchange for whatever you can. Coarse salt is very expensive, and there are many tribes here, so there is always room for exchange.
Slaves were relatively inexpensive, meaning it was easiest to exchange salt for slaves. After all, no tribe had an abundance of food, right?
Well, it's good for people. If we get more slaves in exchange, our tribe will be stronger.
Ma Yue kept questioning the slaves he'd bought. They came from all over the world, but he had barely heard of their tribes. Disappointing, wasn't he? Finding a way home by land was incredibly difficult. From here, I had no idea how far away the Sea Tribe was.
Ma Yue had no intention of developing this business long-term, so the slaves he exchanged for the coarse salt were basically adult men and women. The strong ones served as regular soldiers, while the weak ones became deputy soldiers.
The days of peace passed little by little. By late autumn, the potatoes were ready for harvest. Over two hundred slaves were purchased, adding one hundred and fifty regular soldiers and fifty lieutenants, with a roughly equal ratio of men to women, as Ma Yue had requested.
There are a total of 550 able-bodied regular soldiers and 250 deputy soldiers. With more troops, Ma Yue will feel more secure, right?
There were so many people that it was difficult to feed them. Fortunately, Ma Yue had set the goal of producing salt as the main business, which could at least provide some food.
Ma Yue didn't think much of it. These former slaves, half-starved, felt like they were living in paradise. The most important thing was salt; it gave life its energy and vitality. Even if there was nothing else to eat, a bowl of salty fish soup was still delicious.
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