Volume 8: The Sword Points to the Far East Chapter 259: Big Pie
A smiling human merchant, an expressionless snow leopard, a group of pure-faced snow wolves, and twenty ashamed and disappointed lion warriors entered the village of the Tea Bear tribe.
That night, the lions were inhumanely watched by the tea bears, both young and old, in the village.
The human merchant had a very pleasant conversation with Elder Kuku.
The Snow Wolf Clan opened a cooking class, protected by a large group of adult tea bears.
The snow leopard was pushed into a corner by the fat tea bears.
rosemary:"……"
Thinking back to the time when she went to St. Bridget's and was treated like a star by all the noble ladies, and then thinking back to the cold reception she encountered along the way after entering the Orc Empire, Rosemary felt very sad... He and the Far East were definitely not compatible!!
After a night of good sleep, Elder Kuku and Primo happily reached an agreement on cooperation in the field of condensed milk and agreed on the terms of the cooperation.
First of all, neither of them really believed in the conduct of the Lion Clan. After all, these guys were so lazy that people lost trust in them... So in order to obtain condensed milk smoothly, Elder Kuku simply bought sugar directly from the snow werewolves on the grassland, and then went to the Lion Clan's territory to buy fresh milk.
In this regard, Primo said that the Snow Wolf Tribe was very kind and would not just sell sugar, but would also bring the equipment for making condensed milk - the traditional method of making condensed milk was time-consuming, laborious and prone to failure, so it would be better to grab a few distillation machines from the Hilly New District to save some trouble for the Tea Bear Tribe, and also make it easier to tie the Tea Bear Tribe to their own chariots... ahem!
The small-scale farming equipment in the hilly new area is of no use in the Doshi Mountains. This place really cannot carry out large-scale planting, unless the Tea Bear Clan spends twenty years digging around in their own territory... This is very impractical; so if you want to establish contact with the Tea Bear Clan, the best way is naturally to start with their traditional tea industry.
In the industry of making tea with condensed milk, or milk tea for short, the Snow Wolf Tribe has also made a "long-term plan" for Tea Bear - within five years, the condensed milk produced by Tea Bear can only be supplied for its own consumption and resold to surrounding territories; five years later, if the Snow Wolf Tribe has opened up a land passage to the York Mountains (or a sea route, cough), then the Snow Wolf Tribe can promise to help Tea Bear sell milk tea to other parts of the entire Bloomfield continent, and will only charge one-tenth of the freight, and will never be as black-hearted as Lamia~!
Well, this is still an empty promise for now. Primo has also confirmed this to the elders of Lion City, but the lions did not take it seriously... It is good enough that these guys who live a particularly easy life can consider things for the coming year. We cannot expect them to make long-term plans.
Elder Kuku was very different. When he heard Primo "tell" about the long-term plan of the Fire Department of the Snow Wolf Clan (in business), this honest-looking fat man's round black eyes smiled into a crescent shape and he became more friendly to Primo - the races living in the Dosi Mountains who did not understand the importance of long-term planning would have gone bankrupt long ago!
Yes, the Snow Wolf Tribe was exiled by the Beast King, but after the Beast King openly showed up at the Frank Feast with the Tiger King, the silly-looking but smart Tea Bear didn't care if dealing with the Snow Wolf Tribe was not giving the Beast King face! If the Beast King wanted to point a finger at them, then at least three fingers would be pointed at himself~!
The next day, Elder Kuku was in no hurry to transport the new tea to sell. Instead, he traveled lightly with the merchant Primo, their "good friend of the tea bear clan," and rushed to the mountain city of Aalborg.
It's a bit shameless to call Aalborg a mountain town, but in fact it's just a relatively large mountain stronghold - a concentrated residential area that has been luxuriously "wasted" on more than 20 acres of flat land and a whole hillside with a low slope. Its scale is only slightly larger than the first and second districts of Isaac's Knight Territory combined.
Due to the harsh living environment, the tea bear tribe also has traditional customs similar to "those who do not work shall not eat". As the only largest mountain stronghold among hundreds of thousands of tea bears, Aalborg has only a few hundred tea bear warriors who are specialized in combat and are free from production - even the elders have to cross mountains and to plant tea trees.
When Primo and others entered Aalborg under the leadership of Elder Kuku and several adult tea bears, Primo, who had a sharp eye, saw that on the hills around Aalborg, as long as the land was not so steep, it was covered with neatly trimmed tea trees.
In Aalborg, crops such as radishes, green vegetables, garlic and shallots are planted in every possible space in front of and behind the houses.
This made Primo sigh. If the tea bear tribe could switch places with the lion tribe, these fat guys would definitely make a fortune...
If Elder Kuku knew what Primo was thinking, he might burn yellow paper to swear brotherhood with him right on the spot...
In Aalborg, which is like a mountain village, Primo brought wool and rosemary and visited the chief and elders of the Tea Bear tribe under the guidance of Elder Kuku.
The power structure of the Tea Bear tribe is similar to that of the Minotaur. They adopt the sage system and appoint capable people as elders. The tribe leader is selected from the elders, and only one tribe leader will be appointed, unlike the Minotaur where every tribe must have a tribe leader.
This is also because of the difference between the environment of the Doshi Mountains and the environment of the grassland. The Doshi Mountains are not like the grassland where the tribes are extremely scattered and there may be only two or three tribes within a few hundred kilometers. Elder Kuku's village is only more than 60 kilometers away from Aalborg. The tribes are closely connected with each other and can communicate at any time. Naturally, there is no need for each village to choose a patriarch to take charge of all affairs.
The chief of the Tea Bear tribe was an old bear who was over 130 years old, close to the life expectancy of the Orcs. When Primo and the other two saw the chief, he was lying on the steps in front of his house basking in the sun.
Well, the Tea Bear tribe is not like the Snow Wolf tribe, where even the young children and the elderly have to find ways to arrange work to use their energy. These elderly people who are close to the end of their life span can leave their jobs like warriors...
Elder Kuku asked the three guests to wait for a moment, and walked up to the chieftain and rubbed his round head vigorously: "Chief, wake up, there are guests coming."
The tea bear chieftain, who had black hair on his limbs, a black vest on his upper body and a white torso, was slapped on the head by Elder Kuku for a long time before his closed eyes slowly opened.
The tea bear chief, who was half a meter tall even when lying down, lifted his chin from his paws and sat up slowly... His fat body was even more exaggerated than when he was in human form, his belly almost touched the ground, and his head was as round as a flat oval with a thick middle.
"It's Kuku." The Tea Bear chief hummed sleepily, and glanced at the three foreign visitors at the gate with his round black eyes. When his sight fell on Yang Mao, the chief's thick fur trembled, "Hey, Snow Wolf Man?"
Not all bears are die-hard fans of the Beast King. The Tea Bears, who only want to live a comfortable life and only maintain a staff of a few hundred warriors, have never given the Beast King much face... When the Beast King reached the gate of the Ice and Snow King City, the Tea Bear did not get involved, muttering "Life is not easy for us in the Doshi Mountains" and did not send out a single warrior.
After entering the "main city" of Tea Bear, Wool took off his headscarf to show his sincerity in cooperating with the Snow Wolf tribe. His refreshing white short hair and white wolf ears could clearly prove his identity.
"Hello, I'm the snow werewolf Yangmao." Yangmao raised his head and looked curiously at the huge black and white tea bear, which was more than two meters tall at the shoulder when sitting.
"Hello." Chief Tea Bear nodded his head and looked at Elder Kuku with an inquiring look, "Why did you bring the Snow Wolf Tribe to Aalborg?"
Elder Kuku sat cross-legged and invited the guests to sit on the stone pier in the yard. He then introduced Primo, the merchant who came on behalf of the Snow Wolf Clan, to the clan leader...
Selflessly teaching the technology of turning tea leaves with a smaller audience into condensed milk tea that is more suitable for the public's taste, willing to sell sugar to the Tea Bears at a much cheaper price than the Lamia Chamber of Commerce, and willing to sell machines that can quickly process condensed milk at a low price. After hearing all these benefits, the Tea Bear Chief, who looks clumsy and silly but is actually very smart, had a gleam in his eyes and looked directly at the guests: "What does the Snow Wolf tribe want?"
Primo glanced at Yangmao, who nodded and said directly, "Ayun said that we hope to open up a land passage through the York Mountains, and we want to get help from the Tea Bear Clan in this regard."
"The Doshi Mountains are not connected to the York Mountains, and there is the Winged Tribe's territory in between. If this is what you want, then you should go find the Winged Tribe." Chief Tea Bear said calmly.
"Of course we will contact the Winged Tribe. In fact, we will try our best to contact all tribes in the Far East, not just the Tea Bears and the Winged Tribe." Yang Mao said frankly: "Opening up the York Mountains will benefit both the Northern Continent and the Far East Continent. The flow between us will bring countless benefits to both of us in the countless years to come, so we hope to cooperate with all tribes in the Far East."
For people on Earth, before the emergence of the Eurasian Railway, sea transportation was definitely more cost-effective than land transportation.
In this world, that's not entirely true... The various vehicle-type tamed monsters and demons that can walk on land (such as Chimera, the most common six-legged lizard, and Centaur cough) have speeds that are not inferior to green trains, and there is no need to spend time and effort to build railways. As long as the land can be connected, it is definitely easier than sea transportation.
If the North Continent and the Far East could be connected by land, the price of spices shipped from the South Continent by Lamia could be reduced by at least half - even the Adventurer's Guild has an inland sea fleet that transports spices from the South Continent to the North Continent. With more sellers to choose from, buyers would naturally be eligible to bargain.
Chief Tea Bear was somewhat surprised that this young Snow Wolf cub could speak so logically and touchingly. However, after a little thought, he shook his head cautiously and said, "If your tribe has such a lofty ideal, you should contact the Beast King instead of looking for us, Tea Bears."
Yangmao's IQ is not as high as Dahe's, but she is not so stupid that she can't even use the routines that Xiao Yun taught her. She smiled and said calmly: "If the Beast King wants to open up the York Mountains, he would have done it long ago. The York Mountains are not occupied by forest elves like the Elf Forest. It is an unowned land. As long as you are willing to invest money and manpower, there will always be a day to open it up. Since the Beast King has not had such an idea for so many years, what's the use even if our Snow Wolf Clan comes to him?"
The Tea Bear Chieftain looked thoughtful.
It was time for the merchant Primo to appear. He said with a smile, "I have traveled across most of the Far East and visited many territories . From what I have seen with my own eyes, the price of spices in the territories of the lion tribe, winged tribe, fox tribe, rabbit tribe... and even moon bear and white bear tribes is ten times more expensive than in the southern continent. But in the territory of the black bear tribe, the price of spices is only three times more expensive than in the southern continent."
Seeing that the faces of the Tea Bear Clan leader and the Kuku elders had changed a little, Primo pretended to sigh: "I didn't quite understand why there was such a big difference before. After I met the Snow Wolf Clan on the grasslands of the Northern Continent, I realized that... Lamia does business in the Cursed Land. The things sold to the Snow Wolf Clan, the Cat Clan, and the Minotaur are much more expensive than those sold to the Tiger Clan. They even need to pay a four-year-old curved-horn bull to exchange for a small bag of green salt."
The Tea Bear tribe leader remained silent, while Elder Kuku's expression was clearly grim...
The Beast King's own black bear tribe can enjoy relatively low-priced goods from the Southern Continent, so why would the Beast King need to spend time and effort and invest a large amount of money and manpower to open a land passage to the York Mountains?
Other races have to pay several times the price to use the spices from the southern continent and be exploited by Lamia. What does this have to do with the black bear clan and the Beast King?
After a long silence, Chief Tea Bear spoke again, carefully and meticulously asking about the Snow Wolf Clan's plans for opening up the York Mountains... This is probably the biggest difference between the Tea Bear Clan and the Lion Clan. The lions are not interested in this at all, because whether or not this plan is to be implemented will surely be a matter of several years. The lions are only interested in things that can yield results as quickly as possible.
Tea bears are different. Living in a harsh place like the Doshi Mountains, they are used to planning for five or ten years later.
Yangmao and Primo sang the same tune and tried their best to answer the questions of the Tea Bear Chief. Although the Snow Wolf Clan's plan for the opening of the York Mountain Range was only a paper plan and they did not consider implementing it within five years, but they just used it as a pie... But in terms of details, Xiao Yun, Hongye, the Grassroots Chief and others really put in a lot of effort~!
After all, if land transportation between the Northern Continent and the Far East Continent could be opened up, it would indeed bring countless benefits to the Snow Wolf Tribe occupying the Cursed Land - there are a lot of vacant lands in the Cursed Land, and if they just build one or two trade transit cities, the Snow Wolf Tribe can survive for at least a few hundred years.
The agricultural machinery promotion plan allows the Far Eastern races with suitable land (capable of large-scale planting and production) to become wealthy, and have the money, manpower and confidence to sing against the Beast King; the pie-in-the-sky York Mountain Opening Plan is used to target races such as the Tea Bears that are not covered by the agricultural machinery promotion plan... We have to do both, and both hands must be strong~!
The Snow Wolf Clan is serious about making money; they are also serious about digging up Lamia's foundation and doing things for the Beast King~!
