Before the ovoo, banners flew and white bones loomed. Zuwaro and Ali stood gazing, yet no one could see through time and glimpse the future of history. They could only rely on their own experience and horizons to imagine certain possibilities, and then decide the choices of fate.
"Ancestor Priest! You are a benevolent priest, but the laws of the north often have nothing to do with benevolence. Potatoes can be planted in the far north, are far more cold-resistant than wheat, and are a true weapon of state and war! As for spreading them, please, you must be cautious. Although as long as we plant them in Jurchen lands, sooner or later they will get out. But with Blackwater Forest as a barrier, that time can be delayed by ten or twenty years, until the tribal strength in our hands can grow powerful by relying on this rare advantage!"
At this point, Ali spoke with genuine sincerity, his tone rather solemn.
"Once potatoes spread, the first to grow strong will be the northern tribes near water sources. The Three Guards of Duoyan occupy the Nen River, and the Haixi Jurchens hold the middle reaches of the great river; their strength will swell rapidly! They are all our neighbors, and in this bitterly cold land of the northeast, before our own strength has become strong enough, the emergence of extremely powerful neighbors would probably be no good thing at all!"
"And later on, when potatoes spread to Hulun Lake in the upper reaches of the great river, to North Lake in the Northern Desert, and to Hetao in the Southern Desert, Western Sea in Xining... they will all cause the strength of the Mongol tribes in those places to surge, greatly increasing the power on the grasslands! The Little Prince