Chapter 1306: Chapter 1306

The western coast of California stretches to the north, while the austere mountains extend endlessly in the East. Most of the time, the coast is lined with steep cliffs, jagged rocks, and towering forests.

For the indigenous people settled here, this was fertile land difficult to cultivate. With no suitable crops, the yield from the fields was very low; without metal tools, the forests were hard to fell. California’s Mediterranean climate meant that the long, warm summers were dry, and the cold winters were filled with storms. Whether it was summer farming or winter hunting, all became extremely challenging. Under such harsh conditions, the average life expectancy of most tribes hovered around twenty years, and knowledge was often lost.

Thus, even with towering mountains blocking the deadly cold currents from the north, the number of California’s indigenous people could not compare to the tropical tribes of the South. In this era, this land, which would later support a population of forty million, only had tens of thousands of Indian tribes at most. Across the entire North American continent, the density of tribes far exceeded those in the central and eastern parts, who were forced to face the deadly cold currents!

In simple terms, the cold but bountiful North America was indeed an industrial era Heaven, but an agrarian era Hell.

The exploration fleet stayed only a day at the Oak Tribe of the Salinan people. Zuwaro, accompanied by a translator, "fairly" exchanged a few bronze axes for many acorn cakes, sea fish, and berries. He then led the fleet north, leaving the cautious Salinans behind, and leaving only a group of tribal huntsmen amazed by the sharpness and resilience of the bronze axes. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel(ꜰ)ire.net

Beyond the Salinan coast lay regions above the latitude of 35 degrees north. This was the place where, according to Your Majesty’s prophecy, the land of the Golden Bay might appear at any moment. As the fleet sailed further north, the drop in temperature became more palpable. Fortunately, after passing a certain part of the coast, the previous south-flowing ocean current suddenly disappeared. Abruptly, a north-flowing ocean current emerged, rapidly carrying the entire fleet north. With this day-and-night persistent current, the speed of the fleet more than doubled!

Two days later, the cliffs along the coast suddenly lowered, transforming into rolling hills, then into flat woodlands. A wide bay suddenly appeared before everyone.

"Ah! A giant bay, flat lands, and many rivers flowing into the sea..."

Exploration Captain Zuwaro gazed towards the eastern shore, seeing several rivers flowing into the coast, flat fields beside the rivers, and blooming torch flowers. The tall flowers, erect with long flower spikes, swayed like torches, resembling colorful corn. The flowers’ colors were bright red, yellow, and orange, mirroring Zuwaro’s current excitement. He danced with enthusiasm, took a few pieces of flower sage acquired from the Oak Tribe, and chewed on them for the first time.

"Mmm, delicious! So beautiful!... Flowers flourishing by the river bay... I must give this place a resounding name!"

Beside him, Miki the Sage, suppressing his inner excitement, remained calm. He pointed towards the rivermouth farmlands and the faintly visible large, round thatched huts, and said gravely.

"Zuwaro, this bay is already occupied by a tribe! Judging by the scale of these huts and fields, it might be a large tribe. The larger the northern tribes, the more knowledge they retain, and the more they understand distant matters... Let’s first land and inquire about them!"

The tribe on the shore was the Costanoan people, a name coined in later times. In this era, they called themselves "Residents of the Seaside", the Beach Tribes. The tribe occupying this bountiful bay was a powerful seaside tribe, the Great Kano Tribe.

The population of the Great Kano Tribe was about two to three thousand, with five to six hundred tribal warriors and tribal priests preserving their faith and myths. With such a tribe size, they could definitely be considered powerful in the entire Bay Area!

The totem pole of the Kano tribe was planted in the bay, carved with images of the sky and sea, Heavenly Divine, and Sea God. Seeing these familiar carvings, Kumeyaay translator Deerbug became excited. During his conversation with the local tribal elder, he was surprised and delighted to find that their languages shared quite a few similarities, making communication not too difficult.

Perhaps it was the ability to communicate, or perhaps the Kano tribe was strong enough, but the Seal Lion Chieftain of the Great Kano Tribe was relatively hospitable towards the arrival of the fleet. He hosted a small banquet for several leaders of the fleet and was pleased to accept a small pouch of "gemstones" gifted by Zuwaro.

Seeing the joyful expression on the other’s face, Exploration Captain Zuwaro also breathed a sigh of relief. Previously, when he presented Lake Gems to the tribal elder of the Salinan people, the other showed little interest, merely staring at his axe. He feared that more northern tribes might lose interest in the bright Lake Gems, which would mean the Kingdom would lose an important trading commodity.

But now it seemed that it was probably just the Salinan’s Oak Tribe being too small, focusing more on practical survival tools, and setting aside the pursuit of "luxuries." As long as the northern tribes were larger and no longer worried about survival, the bright and pure gemstones could still serve as trade goods, exchanged for an abundant supply of food and resources.

"Praise the Chief Divine! The Seaside Tribes’ food is delicious indeed!"

Scholar Mikki sat cross-legged in the Chieftain’s round longhouse, eating the food before the bonfire and exclaiming in admiration.

The evening’s banquet was indeed sumptuous, with dried seal meat, roasted rabbit, stewed salmon, juicy grilled lobster, and various strange roasted insects. These meats were specialties of the California coast, especially the seal and salmon, which were plentiful and easy to catch. As for the vegetables and grains, there were pumpkin mash, beans, acorn cakes, and a limited amount of corn tortillas.

"If they have enough fish catches, their boatbuilding and fishing skills should be decent. Judging by the hunting situation, their Hunting Bow is also adequate... Hmm, there’s not much pumpkin and beans, even fewer corn tortillas. So their agricultural techniques, like other northern tribes, are still quite primitive..."

Miki the Sage pondered as he ate. Observing the items in the chieftain’s longhouse, he noted the large Hunting Bow, flint Long Spears, digging sticks for farming, Stone Axes for felling wood, woven vine fish traps... and most notably, wooden panels carved with Heavenly Divine and Sea God.

"Hmm... polytheistic belief, quite developed for a large tribe. I wonder if there’s a chance to persuade the Seal Lion Chieftain to convert to the Chief Divine..."

Miki was deep in thought when Zuwaro suddenly became excited. He widened his eyes, grabbed the Seal Lion Chieftain’s arm, and, through Deerbug’s translation, incredulously asked.

"Did you say, according to the tribe’s records, there are many shimmering golden rocks in the mountains a few hundred miles to the east?"

The Seal Lion Chieftain, wearing warm clothing made of seal skin, a necklace of seal teeth around his neck, and a seal skin cap on his head, blinked and looked at the tribal leader from the sea with a puzzled expression before speaking again in a deep voice.

"...What? You said there are even more golden rocks in the northern mountains? Even forming into shining hills?"

Hearing the translation, the Seal Lion Chieftain nodded with a smile. He spoke a few more sentences, and Zuwaro couldn’t sit still.

"What?! Five or six days’ journey north, there’s a place the Mivok people mentioned, a massive, deep Great Lake, vast and connected to the sea?"

Upon hearing this, Scholar Miki was also stunned, his eyes suddenly brightening.

"A massive, deep Great Lake, vast and connected to the sea... Doesn’t that sound like a Great Bay?"

"The golden rocks, forming hills... Could it be Gold Mountain?"

"Great Bay and Gold Mountain... Ah! That’s the Golden Bay of destiny foretold by Your Majesty, right to the north!"