Chapter 593 - The Flaming River Trading Point

The Flaming River Trading Point
 
The Flaming Horn tribe decided to construct boats not just because they wanted to trade in farther places. Shao Xuan also had other plans. When their navigation skills improve, he would like to use these boats to explore other parts upstream and downstream. Before, their travel was limited, so they were not familiar with many other places nearby.

And regarding the new trading point.
There indeed wasn’t a trading site nearby. After all, this was a remote area, and the Flaming River used to be very dangerous. Most tribes living on the continent were not willing to travel in this direction, so it was rare for them to meet new people. Most who came by were middle-to-small-sized tribes, like the Drumming tribe and Pu tribe. If they wished to trade, they would go directly to the other tribe’s village instead of any location specified for trading. Their options were minimal.
The Drumming tribe had been cheated by the Pu tribe for too many times. The Drumming tribe knew that they had been mistreated, but they didn’t have many other options. They did not have many members, and every year, there were still many people whose eyes were fixed on their Water Moon Stones. Their warriors didn’t travel afar because they were afraid bad things might happen. So the Pu tribe who lived nearby was their best choice. Back in the old days, maybe the Luo tribe was a potential trading partner, but the Luo tribe no longer existed.
For the Flaming Horns, it was indeed problematic not to have a good trading partner. When they lived by the sea, the trading team would bring their supply of animal fur to trade with the slave masters in their controlled trading point in the city. There were many people there, and every city had a decent trading point, so they had more options and could strike better deals.
But this was a remote area…..
After much thought, Shao Xuan went to discuss his idea with the hunt leaders and shamans.
It was all fine before Shao Xuan mentioned his idea. After he told them his thoughts, all of them were excited and could not wait any longer. Back in the times when they lived in Fearsome Beast Forest, they knew that many large tribes also had trading points nearby. They did not think about setting one up back then. Before, there were still people from the Lu tribe who came over once a while to trade with them, so they didn’t need it. But after the Flaming Horn tribe migrated, the environment was different. If they wanted to trade for something better, their only choice was to travel afar.
The distance between their current residence area and the nearest large trading point was farther than their travel from Fearsome Beast Forest to their nearest trading point back then. If they did not take any action, then if they wanted to make any satisfactory trades, they could only travel to farther places.


Shao Xuan’s idea is not bad,
the shaman with his eyes closed was deep in contemplation.

But the question is, how do we set up a trading point, and where?
Ao asked.

Not where we are living now,
After a while, Shao Xuan said,
I’ll go look for a place on the other side of the river.

If there was a suitable place, it was ideal for them to expand their territory. They definitely would not be able to grow as fast as those tribes that lived in the central areas with a long history of having large trading points. But if they started step by step, they would succeed one day.
They did not wait any longer. Shao Xuan wasn’t travelling with a team this time, so he had time to explore the place.
Now that he thought about it, before when they first migrated here, he only thought about settling down in these areas, so he didn’t check out other places. Now that he had a chance, he wanted to see how much the banks beside the river had changed after the disaster.
He called over Chacha, who usually flew around freely every day, and instructed the eagle to carry him over to the other side of the river. They flew above the shorelines of the other side of the river.
This was a more forested area. Thousands of years ago, when the ground first cracked during the river’s formation, the two shores were still connected. The side the Flaming Horn tribe resided in was all forested, so the other side must have been the same. This was like a second Fearsome Beast Forest, except it was too far from the central trading points, and it was dangerous.
Most tribes that settled here were medium-to-small sized. They were unable to conquer a land that was rich and fertile, so they could only settle in these remote areas.
But some parts of the land here were fertile too. It was just dangerous because it was close to the river. Before the river was formed, it was even more dangerous. With both shores connected, it was one big forest. Middle-to-small sized tribes were not strong in battle, so they could only survive if they hid well.

Shao Xuan looked down at the mountains below. They were not tall, and the forests were not dense, probably because people lived there. He did not see any thick ancient trees.
The disaster had swallowed most of the land on this side of the river. It was very different from what Shao Xuan remembered.
After he looked around, Shao Xuan was not too satisfied with those places so he instructed Chacha to fly above the course of another stream.
This stream was not far away from the Drumming tribe and flowed from the center of the continent to the big river. The Flaming Horn trading boats took this route and traveled from the Flaming River into this stream, which brought them further inland.
After he analyzed the topography, Shao Xuan suddenly said,
Let’s go down and take a look.

Chacha called out in agreement and descended.
As Chacha slowly approached the ground, Shao Xuan leapt off and landed in a small forested area.
Shao Xuan had this place in mind because of its topography and environment. It was very similar to a place he had seen before.
Back then, when Shao Xuan flew over with Chacha to this side of the river, they followed the Pu tribe’s team to the center of the mainland. They rested awhile on the way. There were many wanderers, slave masters, and slaves who lived there back when they rested. It was also the same place Shao Xuan met Shi Shu. Back in those days, there was still Yan Shuo, who was still a wanderer.
That place was the trading point beside the river, and often, many trading teams from faraway places would stop by there to trade.

And this location Shao Xuan landed in was very similar to that place.

This territory probably doesn’t belong to any tribe.

Shao Xuan got on Chacha’s back and flew in circles around the area to make sure this did not belong to any other tribes. Although there were tracks left by people, it had been too long since those tracks were made.
Shao Xuan made a marking on his map. He marked this location as
1
and continued to look for other suitable places.
For three days in a row, Shao Xuan explored  the area. The trading point should not be too far from the Flaming Horn tribe, so in these three days, he studied the areas close by. He found four suitable locations, but in the end, he still preferred location 1.
Once they made the decision, the Flaming Horn tribe started to work.
Other tribesmen who went out to hunt suddenly saw the Flaming Horn tribe members carrying their giant stone plates once again to mark a new location. But this time, it was not merely naming an area. They were marking out their territory!
The stone plates with carved words told the others who walked by the following message,
From now on, this land belongs to the Flaming Horn tribe!

What? Do you not agree?
This land did not belong to any other tribe. What’s wrong with claiming an unclaimed property?
Who said territories had to be connected? We love having two territories that are not connected!
Do you still have other opinions?
It’s okay. You can share your opinions. We can have a friendly little discussion about it…