In early October, the kingdom's fleet set sail once more from the kingdom's North Port on the southern bank of the great Colombia River. By now, the entire fleet had already been reduced to two Longships and a force of one hundred men. Staying behind at North Port were two Longships, a dozen or so Canoes, one hundred warrior Sailors, and more than a hundred tribesmen.
Before they formally departed, Exploration Captain Zuwaro found an opportunity to carefully instruct the two Missionary Priests, Tu Shan and Tu He. Both priests had been born commoners—or, more accurately, they were commoner orphans raised by the kingdom. In the Lake Kingdom, there were quite a few orphans raised like them. And their only place of belonging was the Kingdom Priesthood, and the exploration fleet that obeyed divine revelation. In Zuwaro's heart, he trusted the two of them even more than he trusted the other noble descendants.
"The Main God bless us. Remember what I told you! The situation around these river mouths is complicated, but there are plenty of opportunities too... You need to grasp with both hands, one hard, one soft. Hard sometimes, soft sometimes. Hard in some places, soft in others... Understand?"
"Understood, chief!"
"Ha! What did you understand?"
"The hard thing is weapons, and the soft thing is leather armor."
The sturdy Priest Tu Shan scratched his head and answered solemnly.
"The Main God bears witness! We use hard weapons to face the challenges of hostile tribes, and soft leather armor to protect those tribes willing to submit!"
"Mm... Not bad!"
Exploration Captain Zuwaro pondered for a moment, then nodded. It seemed Tu Shan was better suited to managing the settlement's military affairs. Then he looked toward the other priest.
"Tu He, what do you say?"
"Uh... The soft thing