"Chief Divine's protection! The potato fields at Divine Kutadai Port have planted a total of about two hundred acres. The craftsmen from the Japanese have also been assigned work in the port. I can finally lead the fleet northward to visit my brother-in-law Aguda of the Maha tribe! It's been almost seven to eight months since we last met, he should've gathered one or two hundred Fish-Skin Warriors by now?"

June on Kutadai Island is a season full of spring vitality. The lush potato fields have been cultivated to the north of the port. Although it's only two hundred acres, the potato seedlings emerging with sharp tips symbolize a new hope. To the south of the port, Ainu fishing boats resemble pointed lotus leaves, extending into various strange shapes. Some boats have added a small sail, some have cast new fishing nets, and some have reinforced the ship's planks with iron nails, all changes brought by the craftsmen.

The "ding-a-ling" workshops are all built on the east side of the port. Besides the blacksmith's, carpenter's shops, there are also leather shops, tailor shops, wicker shops, a shed for making carts, a charcoal burning spot, a brick kiln, and two pottery kilns under construction.

Of course, the port camp is still in a state of tribal division of labor. The entire Divine Kutadai Port is like a large tribe of seven to eight hundred people. The craftsmen population, including apprentices, is as many as seventy to eighty. There is no trade or transaction of goods in the port, food and supplies are distributed per capita. The tribes provide the craftsmen's food rations, the chieftains assign tasks, and the craftsmen work diligently, teaching apprentices is enough. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

To the west side of the port is a large pasture. Twenty or thirty cattle, over fifty horses, enclose several hundred acres of pasture. Water buffalo and horses are large livestock, equivalent to six or seven sheep, requiring large pasture areas.

Among them, a water buffalo needs to eat one or two hundred pounds of fresh grass a day, it's either eating or pulling. The cow dung produced can be dried as fuel or used to fertilize the potato fields. As for the diet of horses, it's similar to that of cows, but horse manure is acidic and can't be used directly as fertilizer; it needs to compost for a long time. These horses are left to graze near the swamp, as far as possible from the potato fields.

Behind the cattle and horse pens are the pens for chickens, ducks, and geese. Among them, chickens are the least picky in diet and breed the fastest, while ducks and geese are raised by Japanese farmers by ponds. Through the past winter, quite a few of these poultry were frozen to death. Zuwaro ate chicken, duck, and goose, feeling only chicken was tasty, the other two were either fishy or tough, similar to turkey. Honestly, these poultry grow faster than turkeys and are more suitable for breeding in the kingdom...

"Great Chief! Here! Little Antelope's kidney, just roasted!... Henü the Female Chief said you weren't doing well at night, you need a good supplement!..."

"...!"

Zuwaro was inspecting the pasture but saw Hu Nu, carrying a freshly roasted roe deer on his shoulders, rushing over excitedly.

In spring, the grass is lush and green, and the deer, roe deer, and wolves on Kutadai Island are all running around. The Shengshu Jurchen Tribe and the Kamchatkan Mountain Deer Tribe love to go hunting whenever they're free. According to tribal tradition, in spring they spare the female beasts and only hunt the males. The best part of a male beast, such as the roe deer's loin, is offered to the chieftain...

"Hmm... This Little Antelope meat is red and thick, quite tasty, and not so fishy. This roe deer is enough to eat for several days... How did you manage to hunt so many Little Antelope on just one hunt?..."

"Haha! Great Chief, Little Antelope are dumb! You fire a few sound arrows, make some noise, and after a while, they come peeking around. But these guys run incredibly fast, if they get startled and run into the forest, even with dogs they can't be caught... The local tribes, without using traps, can hardly catch them. Only with our heavy arrows can they be killed instantly!"

Hu Nu boasted smugly about his archery skill in hunting deer. He then handed the skewer of roasted kidney to Zuwaro and said.

"Great Chief, why are you just eating meat and not the kidney? Henü the Female Chief instructed..."

"Ahem!... I've already eaten. Hu Nu, stop constantly mentioning Henü, I am your Great Chief!"

Zuwaro lightly coughed, his expression a bit unnatural. Just thinking about facing that tigress tonight made him somewhat afraid. Since returning from the Japanese Land, he was shocked to discover that with the sledge unusable once the snow melted, the horse-riding Maha Henü proved her superiority, defeating Musuona in hunting and becoming the "true tigress," the sole great wife among his wives!

Subsequently, Maha Henü, confident and justified, took control of all Zuwaro's concubines. She monopolized Zuwaro's large tent and forcefully imposed that two days a week, Zuwaro must spend time exclusively with her. Since then, Zuwaro's once blissful life was transformed into an intertwining of pain and pleasure, gradually becoming overwhelmed...

"Hu Nu, where is Henü? Has she gone hunting again?"

"No, Great Chief. Henü the Female Chief has gathered Chief Sonna and your three concubines, practicing archery at the range. Look, it's in that direction, past the forest, you'll see!"

"..."

Zuwaro rubbed his nose, somewhat speechless. The northern tribal warriors in the port only recognized the strong "Henü" and "Sonna" as female chieftains, but the three Ainu wives didn't receive such recognition. They served more as representatives for the Ainu tribesmen, closely intertwining with the Beiyu Various Factions. As for the Japanese tribesmen, they currently held no significant power within the tribal hierarchy. They were avidly gravitating towards the Temple Priests, converting their beliefs, while also surrounding a few vital master craftsmen, eager to take up apprenticeships.

Overall, the three vastly different tribal groups at Divine Kutadai Port were cobbled together to form a large fishing, hunting, farming, and pastoral tribe on Kutadai Island. To thoroughly integrate these tribes of different origins into one entity, deep faith in the Chief Divine and the concept of the Gummy People's unity were essential…

Of course, aside from these, integration through tribal warfare is also a feasible path. But the targets that the kingdom can campaign against...

"Before leaving Maoshili Island, I just had a meeting and negotiations with the chieftain of the Beiyu Division and the chieftains of the Ishikari Faction! Six small Beiyu tribes conquered by the Ishikari Faction, totaling more than two thousand people, were all reverted to the Beiyu Clan. Along with that, the 'Liumeng Coal Mine Land' is also jointly shared by the Beiyu and Ishikari Clans, and the Ishikari Clan also regularly tributes trade sand iron ore..."

Zuwaro stroked his smooth chin, recalling the great negotiation initiated and led by the kingdom over half a month ago, involving more than twenty chieftains, including two Ainu Clans.

Facing the powerful "Beiyu Thousand Islands Faction" that defeated the Japanese, the Ishikari Clan finally formally bowed down after more than half a year of observation.

They not only returned several Beiyu Tribes but also relinquished half of the coastal 'Liumeng Coal Mine' territory. The so-called "Liumeng," in Ainu language, means "tide calm river," "river mouth by the sea," located between the Beiyu Cold Shore Division and the Cold Swamp Tribe. Therefore, those Ainu Tribes reverting to Beiyu are also called the "Beiyu River Tribes."

Acquiring the 'Liumeng' open-pit black stone coal mine belt is extremely important for the kingdom's foothold in the Northern Land! By expanding the mining, it can greatly solve the kingdom's winter fuel problem in the north. Therefore, Zuwaro ceremoniously made a blood oath with several chieftains of the Beiyu River Tribes!

The "Beiyu Thousand Islands Faction" will provide protection, trade weapons and equipment, and dispatch samurai to train the tribal militia. Meanwhile, the Beiyu River Tribes, while fishing to support their tribes, must also be responsible for mining coal, then trading it to the kingdom's ships for transport.

The surrounding Ishikari Faction can also trade their mined coal with the kingdom's ships to exchange for food, salt, and iron pots. Regarding the iron spears, iron blades, iron axes, and bows they craved, they need to collect sand iron ore from their territories and then trade them to the kingdom's ships to obtain.

On the entire Maoshili Island, open-pit sand iron mines are very scattered, small in scale, and labor-intensive to collect. However, there are many sand iron ore deposits, especially in the heartland occupied by the Ishikari Faction, which has at least eight or nine small mining sites. This scattered shallow small mine distribution is a major characteristic of Hokkaido Iron Ore. Although not enough to meet the needs of the Industrial Era, it is sufficient for this era...

Soon, the first batch of "Hokkaido Sand Iron Ore" was "contributed" by the Ishikari Faction, and its quality seems very high. Its color is not red but some kind of dark black-gray. The one-armed master craftsman Tietian Zongyi, after seeing it, nodded repeatedly in astonishment. He said, "This iron material is extremely hard, not inferior to the iron from Chuyun," "requires great effort to smelt, harder to burn than ordinary iron," "such good iron must produce excellent Tamahagane"!

"May the Chief Divine bless! The two major clans divide territories, share coal fields, trade sand iron... Through force deterrence, mobilize the manpower of Beiyu and Ishikari Factions to serve the kingdom, gradually establishing a new order on Maoshili Island!"

Thinking about the situation of the five factions on Maoshili Island, Zuwaro pondered for a long time. With the current military force of the kingdom, it can indeed lead the allies of the Beiyu Division to break the Ishikari Faction with a population of tens of thousands. But with the kingdom's sparse population in the Northern Land, wanting to occupy and annex the Ishikari Faction's vast territory of hundreds of miles is simply impossible!

Furthermore, in the south, the Kaozaki Family of Japanese Land has had an alliance relationship with the Ishikari Tribes and much interaction. If truly forcing the Ishikari Faction into a corner, making them turn completely towards the Japanese, becoming a vassal... then should action continue? How would the Japanese react, would they disrupt the current state of balance? It's hard to predict, the risks are unknown.

Therefore, "facilitating the reconciliation between the Beiyu Clan and Ishikari Clan, through trade exchanging coal and iron ores, in the mutual benefit among the Ainu Tribes, continuously sending priests to preach, gradually telling the story of the Gummy People as one" became the best choice after Zuwaro's deep deliberation!

"This is the concept taught by Your Majesty at Divine Power University: 'War serves politics. And the purpose of politics is always to establish a stable new order, thus directing the distribution of interests'... The situation on Maoshili Island will be arranged like this, waiting for the accumulation of time and the kingdom's strength... And Kutadai Port is also ready, it's time to continue the northward expedition!..."

Thinking of this, Zuwaro was full of spirit, patting Hu Nu's shoulder. Hu Nu blinked, nibbling on a spore leg, with a whole roe deer's meat slung over the other shoulder, feeling full of happiness.

And when two days passed, Zuwaro again patted Hu Nu's armored shoulder, that whole roe deer had disappeared. In its place was a thick, long, and extremely heavy wolf fang club!

"May the Chief Divine bless! Raise the sail and row, set off north!..."

"Northward! To the entrance of the Great River, Sahalien Ula! (sahaliyan ula)"

"Northward! To the camp of the Maha tribe, Nurgan Temple Street! (miyoo gašan)"

"May the Chief Divine bless! Northward, farther north!..."

Three oar-sail ships raised their paddles, heavily laden with rice, accompanied by more than a hundred sailors and warriors. The Tungusic songs echoed, accompanied by Nava prayers, heading towards the White Mountain Black Water, to the abandoned edge of civilization, the frontier of wild tribes!~~