Struggle in the Steam Age

As Lanhua said, when the members of the mission turned the hill on the side of the road, they saw a forest clearing beside a stream at the end of the path. Settlements surrounded by built walls. There was a curl of light smoke rising from the settlement.

On the open space around the settlement, some very rough farmland has been opened up, and it is full of small trees two to three meters high. The trunks of these small trees are bare except for the green, claw-shaped leaves on top. Some tauren are walking around among these crops, as if they are tending to these crops.

"What is this?" The doctor accompanying the team with a large bag of medicine on his back exclaimed. He is a student of Liszt, because he owes a huge favor to Liszt. According to the Federation, there is a ceiling for the rise of a doctor like him who is a real commoner. It is better to fight in this emerging territory.

However, because he was born in a dock worker family in the city since he was a child, he didn't know much about agriculture, so he was a little curious after seeing the tall plants planted outside the tribe of this group of people. These crops are obviously different from the various fruit trees and low-growing rice in Lawrence's farm. Not only do they have no fruits, even these small trees don't even have flowers.

"It's cassava, a crop grown by indigenous peoples and later turned into a tropical specialty. Like potatoes, sweet potatoes eat their starchy roots, which grow below the ground. "Because of the previous knowledge instilled by the God of Knowledge, Lawrence easily recognized these uncommon crops.

"Then why don't we plant it?" The doctor accompanying the team asked a little puzzled. "I think it's easy to grow these things, and the fact that these tauren people are willing to grow this thing means that the yield of this thing should not be low."

"The main reason is that this thing is not only poisonous, but also tastes bad." Lawrence glanced at Lanhua who was walking towards the tribe and said. "Especially, although the cassava grown by this group of tauren has a large yield, it does not require careful management. But the problem is that it is also very toxic, and even the residual toxin after treatment is dangerous."

"Then why did the tauren choose this thing as their crop?" the doctor then asked. "Since there is such a big defect, why don't they choose some better crops?"

"Actually, we want to change it too, but we couldn't change it before." At this time, a big black-haired tauren walked out of the cassava field, carrying a large spear on his shoulder. There was also a wild boar hanging on the spear shaft, dripping blood dripping down.

"Our place used to be haunted by goblins. Except for the cassava, which is difficult for them to destroy, other crops will be eaten by them." Passing the spear to the other members of the hunting party behind him, he spoke to Lawrence. "You are the mission sent by the human side, thanks to you who helped us solve more than half of the goblin problems, and sold us so many weapons and tools we needed."

Hearing what he said, Lawrence realized that the spear he was holding just now was the batch I sold by myself before. At that time, because human weapons were not suitable for their size, the spearheads of this batch of spears were actually modified from a batch of shovels that were advanced. Fortunately, the quality of this batch of shovels ordered by the New Island Republic was very good, so After being transformed into a spear, it has good performance and can meet the needs of these tauren people.

"After all, this kind of trade meets the needs of both of us, and is actually beneficial to both of us. And we came to you this time to find more products that can be used for trade between the two sides." Lawrence finished speaking and held out He clasped his hands, and then introduced himself, "I am the head of the mission and the lord of this island, Lawrence August, Earl of Sauer."

"Ah, welcome." The big black tauren on the opposite side probably only knew that humans would send an envoy to them to discuss the recent events and exchange their vision for the future, and made some preparations accordingly. "Welcome to the Great Horn Tribe. My name is Tomahawk Giant Horn. I am the leader of this tribe." After speaking, he shook hands with Lawrence.

But after introducing himself, the tauren named Tomahawk just stood there in a daze, as if he didn't know what to do next. Obviously, he had made some preparations for the arrival of the human mission, but he did not expect that Lawrence, the highest-status human on the island, would lead the team here in person, so after finishing the welcome speech and self-introduction he had memorized before, It seemed a little stupid to stand there, as if he didn't know what to do next.

"Can we go into the stockade and take a look?" Lawrence hurried to smooth things over after discovering the tauren's predicament. "Standing in this place is not a good place to talk."

"Of course, please come in." Lawrence said. The tauren chief named Tomahawk also suddenly came to his senses, and then said. "Of course we welcome friends to come and chat with us in the village, and then we will eat barbecue and drink rum around the fire."

After speaking, he led Lawrence and the others to the stockade. At the gate of the stockade, I saw Lanhua talking to Lanhua with a white-haired tauren wearing gorgeous costumes and various jewelry. After seeing Chief Tomahawk approaching with a human mission, this man should be An elderly tauren who was a tribal shaman made a welcome gesture with open arms. .

"Welcome, welcome. Friends from afar," the tauren said in an aged voice, "I have heard the omen from nature and my ancestors that you will bring us peace and prosperity .”

This kind of tribe often enshrines the ancestors, and before they do anything, they will ask the ancestors by the shaman and listen to the sounds of the surrounding nature for divination. According to this shaman now, the ancestors of the tauren tribe should be very supportive of their cooperation with humans this time.

This is a very good sign. If these tribes want to cooperate, if there is the support of the clergy, the cooperation will be much smoother than expected. Because in these tribes that have just entered civilization, the shamans have a very high reputation in the tribe. If they and the chiefs agree on certain things, these things are basically confirmed.

After walking into the tribe surrounded by walls, Lawrence realized that the tribe was not a tent made of large animal skins like the tauren tribe he had imagined, but a room with trees as the frame, and then with dry leaves and some tents. The long grass is bundled into bundles and used as some thatched houses built on the roof.

These thatched houses are also very characteristic. All of them are erected by the trees to a place more than half a meter above the ground to avoid the moisture on the ground. At the same time, these houses have thick roofs, thin and low walls and Doors and windows that take up roughly half of the wall. In short, this is a kind of architecture that is quite suitable for the local area.

At the beginning, some people in the mission felt that the only disadvantage of these Tauren buildings was that they were easy to attract all kinds of mosquitoes, and it would be bad if they were infected with diseases after being bitten. But later they discovered that the tauren would use a kind of smoke to smoke away most of the mosquitoes, and the remaining few mosquitoes had no way to break through the thick hair of the tauren.

After Lawrence and the others sat in the largest house in the tribe, everyone sat by the firepit in the middle of the house and chatted. According to what Tomahawk said just now, he has sent the most elite hunters to other tribes to inform the arrival of the human mission. It is estimated that the tauren tribes scattered throughout the hilly area will be able to arrive tomorrow.