Aztec Eternals

The empty hall was solemn for a moment, and the fallen leaves rustled outside the window. The samurai wore armor and stood guard silently, witnessing the king and businessman in the center.

Ticaro saluted deeply, and Xiulot accepted it calmly. He sat upright for a while, and then stretched out his hands, kindly supporting the Mayan businessman. At this time, the upper and lower positions have been decided, and the two sat opposite each other again, and the atmosphere became more harmonious.

Shulot summoned the guards, brought a cup of cocoa drink for nobles and warriors, and handed it to the Mayan merchant. The businessman was taken aback for a moment, then respectfully accepted. He took a sip of traditional cocoa lightly, bitter, spicy and sweet, and all kinds of flavors flowed into his heart.

Afterwards, Shulot pondered slightly, showing majesty on his face.

"Tikalo, I will secretly list you among the military merchants of the alliance. This business law reform is the general trend, and the supervision of merchants is the alliance's national policy, and it cannot be changed at all. I will give your Mayan business group a chance to participate in the negotiation of business laws. Quota, go to the group of priests and elders to make a consultation arrangement, so that you can go back and explain to the business group.

You don't need to be involved in the following things, just concentrate on copper mines and military affairs. I will naturally take care of your caravan and give you preferential treatment for buying and selling. If you move your family to the capital, I will send people to guard it to ensure safety. Send a few trustworthy people to me to be in charge of contacting.

I will give you a hundred warriors to serve you in the caravan from now on. The Mexica boat division will also dispatch forty ships and civilians to transport copper ore and other supplies for you. Remember, your actions are extremely important! If you encounter any obstacles, send someone to tell me, and the royal warriors will clear it up for you. If there are other merchants competing with you on copper mines, the royal family will help you deal with it too! "

Ticaro smiled unwillingly at first. Once the powerful nobles enter the arena, they will immediately control the wealth and lives of the merchants and the overall situation of the caravan. Immediately, he regained his spirits, backed by such a powerful force group, no businessman could compete with him again.

The Mayan businessman thought for a moment, and several names flashed out one by one. He looked at the handsome young man in front of him, thinking about the behavior style of the Mexica, and his mind was full of thoughts. After pausing for a moment, he tentatively reported a name, "Takuria".

"Takuria? This seems to be the name of the Tarasco?" Shulot thought for a while.

Ticaro nodded, quietly looking at the boy's response.

"Takuria is a big businessman from the central part of Tarasco. He is the biggest opponent of the copper mine trade in the southern city-state. Behind him are some nobles in the central part of Tarasco. Relying on the advantages of the local nobles, he can lower the price. Forcibly purchased a large amount of copper mines from the south and made them into exquisite bronzes."

Shulot pondered for a moment, then asked slowly.

"Will Tacuria sell the bronzes to the Alliance?"

Ticaro shook his head affirmatively, silently paying attention to the boy's expression.

"The Mexica alliance is the biggest threat to the Tarasco Kingdom. Takuria will only use spices and dyes to buy cotton and salt from Mexica, and sell bronzes to the distant Tlaxcalans, Mister He has a trade route that goes around the south of the alliance, and the end point is the religious holy city of Cholula. This is also the channel for the Tarascos to contact the eastern forces."

Shulot nodded slightly. His face remained unchanged, and he looked up at the portrait of the patron saint in the hall. The boy's eyes skipped over the green and prosperous long feathers, and finally stopped on the dazzling red spear.

"Tikalo, since you mentioned Takulia, it means that he is in the capital in the lake?"

"I just met him yesterday. Taking advantage of the New Year's gathering, he is buying cotton cloth in the largest market in the world in Tlatelolco in the northern city."

Ticaro was sure of it. His eyes flickered, Takulia was still competing with himself for goods yesterday.

Shulot moved his eyes down and looked at Tikalo. The Mayan merchant squeezed out a sincere smile, then bowed his head respectfully.

The boy didn't speak any more. He took a deep look at the merchant, then summoned a guard and whispered a few words. The guard nodded and left in awe.

The hall fell silent again. After a while, Ticaro brows sweated. He had a lot of thoughts, trying his best to think about the king's preferences, and then he smiled and opened his mouth.

"Your Highness, in fact, copper mines are not limited to the Tarascos. There is a place full of copper mines, and there are even some kind of black hard stones, which are difficult to break even bronzes!

What's more interesting is that near the black stone, there is an equally hard brown translucent spar, which shines brightly and cannot be melted by fire. Like gemstones can attract each other. I also brought you two of these gemstones as a gift. "

As he spoke, Ticaro dug out two translucent crystals that flickered darkly from the wooden box of gems. The appearance of the spar looks like a meteorite, with a collection of lumps or granules, shining iron-black light in the sun, carefully distinguishing, there are faint red and green in the black light.

Shulot narrowed his pupils and thought of something. He took this "black gem" and groped it carefully, feeling the grainy hard texture. Then he asked the guards to hack with a copper axe, leaving only shallow scratches on the "black gem". He brought the two "black gemstones" closer together, felt a weak repulsion, then turned their direction, and attracted each other again.

Seeing this, Xiulot looked up in shock. He fixed his eyes on Ti Carlo.

"Tikalo, where did you get these two ores? Tell the truth!"

Ticaro was slightly taken aback. He swallowed, and answered honestly.

"Ore? I bought these two gemstones from other Mayan merchants. I drove a Mayan galleon from Ekabobang, the most northeastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, to the endless great lake in the east. It can take six or seven days, or slow Then, in more than ten days, passing through some islands and reefs, you can reach the end of the world. The snake-shaped continent where the Feathered Serpent last stayed and left.

There are many savage tribes on the mainland. They grow tobacco and love the shining gold and silver. We can exchange a bag of gold dust for dozens of bags of tobacco leaves. Then make Shenyan and sell it inland, which is more than ten times the profit.

The Feathered Serpent God left a snake body on the Serpentine Continent, and the earth solidified for it. Open-pit copper mines are the scales of feathered snakes, which can be seen everywhere. And the hard black rocks are the teeth of feathered snakes, which are only found in the most eastern snake heads where the mountains undulate. From the snake-shaped continent to the east, there are many large and small lands and islands, which are hundreds of snakes who left with the Feathered Serpent God! "

Hearing this, Shulot stood up, turned his back to the Mayan businessman, and paced forward, hiding his expression of drastic change. He pondered for a long time: Further east of the Yucatan Peninsula is the rich Cuba, Haiti and the Caribbean islands. At this time, it is the paradise where 200 to 3 million Taino people live!

Cuba is the most ore-rich region in Central America, and almost all the mountains contain copper mines. There are 3.5 billion tons of iron ore in the eastern mountains of Cuba, accounting for more than 20% of the iron ore reserves in Latin America, and it can be mined in the open pit! Similarly, Cuba is also the largest chromite mining area in the world.

Thinking of this, Xiulot paced back and sat down slowly, his face calmed down.

He picked up the "Black Gem" again. If it is not bad, this iron-black shining stone is chromite spinel. The only chrome ore that can be mined! One of the most important strategic materials in the industrial age. The black hard rock mentioned by Ticaro is a large-scale open-pit iron mine.

"How long does it take by sea from Papantla in Vastec to Ekabob in Maya?"

Xiulot asked in a deep voice, trying to keep his voice calm and calm.

Ticaro looked at Shulot in confusion. He was a little surprised by the boy's reaction, and he didn't know what the black ore represented.

"Along the sea route from Papantla State, you must first pass through the city-state of the Totonak people, then the Joel corn people in the central part, and then the Yucatan corn people who were fighting in the north. You should bring enough guards along the way. Walking along the edge of the continent, it is best to use a giant canoe with paddle sails. Find the right route, sail the boat for one to two months, and replenish several times in the city-states along the way before reaching the most northeast Ekabobang. If there is a storm, you must promptly Dodging, if you are not careful, the ship will be destroyed."

Hearing this, Xiulot sighed in his heart. Papantla to Ekabobang and back to Cuba. For such a long journey, it is impossible to transport large quantities of iron ore over long distances with the load capacity of canoes. The long-distance trade of the Mayans was usually based on precious luxury goods and gold, silver and gemstones.

"Unless." The young man thought secretly, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Ti Kalo meaningfully.

"Establish a stronghold on the coast of the Mayan states to smelt copper and iron ore in Cuba!"

Shulot pondered for a moment, smiling.

"Tikalo, you are a Mayan nobleman, a descendant of the holy Kokom family? What is the current situation of the prosperous Mayan states?"

Hearing this, Ticaro looked sad. He took off his feather crown, stroked the head of divinity, and paid homage to the gods and ancestors.

"The kingdom of the sacred corn people is declining! The nobles with bloodlines of hundreds of generations are falling into the dust, the inheritance left over from the millennium is broken and scattered, and the flags of common people are planted on the temple! Just like my holy Kokom family.

Seven hundred years ago, the gods abandoned us. The earth cracked, the rivers dried up, the corn harvest failed, and the nations fought. The beautiful Tikal, the royal city of the gods, has perished! Thousands of pyramids and altars were reduced to dust and drowned in the depths of the jungle. The last chronological stele of Tonina ended six hundred years ago, and the golden age of glory was over.

More than ten million corn people can only migrate north and south, drifting like tidbits in the wind, and are divided into three parts: north, middle and south. Then the three parts split apart, dozens of states fought endlessly, and the civil war was extremely cruel. Farmlands and villages were reduced to ashes in the civil war, temples and aqueducts were ruthlessly demolished, and corn people died all the time! "

"Wait, you just said that there are more than ten million Mayans?" Xiulot was a little unbelievable. In his impression, the tropical rainforest should be barren and sparsely populated, and the Mayans of later generations were only in the millions.

Ticaro nodded seriously.

"According to the documents of the Golden Age, at that time, there were water canals all over the rainforest, the farmland on the plain was completely reclaimed, and people began to plant terraced fields on the mountain. The city-state was prosperous and rich, and it was as rich as the capital city in the lake. Dozens of Mayan states , at least tens of millions of people, including the complete Guatemala, may even reach twelve million!"

Shulot looked at Tikalo's sincere and bright eyes, tasted the sadness in his eyes, and nodded slightly: the lost Mayan civilization, the lost golden age.

Ti Kalo continues to tell the history of the Maya.

"In Yucatan in the north, our sacred Cocom family inherits the knowledge from the royal city of Tikal, and the noble blood rules the dazzling Mayapan. It is the continuation of the glory of the gods, the "model of the Mayans", a new era of prosperity My name is from Tikal, the capital of the gods.

However, more than forty years ago, the Tutulxiu family launched a rebellion with warriors and civilians, completely destroyed the great Mayapan, renamed it Tutulxiu, and established a new capital, Mani. Since then, the Kekemu family has withered and scattered, and the main branch led the remaining tribes to the southeast to establish a new small city. And branches like me are scattered all over the place, becoming merchants and commoners.

From then on, my family could only live in a foreign country, relying on the inherited knowledge of mathematics and astronomy, taking risks by boat and trading among various countries. The other Mayan merchants admired my bloodline and made me the leader of the merchant group. After these years, it seems that the luggage is rich and the life is good, but in fact it is precarious, and life and death are only in the thoughts of the honorable. "

Having said that, Ticaro lowered his head and closed his eyes slightly. Thinking of the glory of our ancestors and our own experience, all kinds of feelings came to my heart, and my nose felt sore.

Shulot was speechless for a moment. He really did not expect the Mayan merchant in front of him to have such a glorious ancestral inheritance.

In this way, the Holy Kokom family has a history of Tutulsiu-Mayapan's rule. They are ex-rulers intolerable to the current Mayan lords, but the most suitable agents for the Mexica!

The boy thought for a moment, smiled, and looked at Ti Kalo with more appreciation.

Next, Xiulot continued to inquire about news from afar. Tikalo has the knowledge of the upper Maya, has traveled far and wide, and knows a lot about the vast world.

"The great corn man drove the largest galley to the south of the dense rainforest. From the hands of the local residents, he exchanged bundles of cotton cloth for bags of turquoise and pepper, and made dozens of times the profit. Along the long shore , at the southernmost point, we reached the Qibuta area. There, there are countless loose tribes, who can exchange cheap salt, gold and precious stones, and the profits are also tenfold."

Xiulot thought to himself, emeralds from Guatemala and peppers from Honduras are both rare and expensive products. In a broad sense, there are about 700 species of pepper plants in the Americas and more than 300 species in Southeast Asia. Among them, Jamaica's native pepper is the most famous, aromatic and spicy, also known as allspice. In the Age of Discovery, these gems and spices meant wealth that drove Europeans crazy.

Further down, past Panama, is Chibuta, the future Gran Colombia. The Mayans encountered the tribal peoples along the coast, but not up the long Magdalena River, missing the mighty Muisca kingdom deep in the jungle, the source of El Dorado legend.

The Muisca people are also a people of salt, rich in salt, gold and precious stones. Their cultural beliefs have become the source of history that all Colombian countries will pursue in the future. Tejo, a popular throwing sport in Colombia, is derived from the Tulmek movement of the Muisca people.

As for the Inca Empire in the farther south, it was separated by mountains, jungles and oceans, and now it is just a legend. However, with the Mayan's navigation level, coupled with the location predicted by Shulot, the initial connection between the two civilizations can be realized.

Xiulot was delighted, and the unknown world unfolded in his eyes once again. In the prosperity is the lost glory, in the wild is the potential hope. He asked the guards to bring fine wine, and drank the world with the businessman. Until the sun went west, the rays of the sun reflected in the eyes of the two of them.

"Facing Jieshi in the east, you can see the sea."

The young man has the world in his mind, and his thoughts are flying at this time, looking at the endless future!

Through the window, he looked to the far east. There, Texcoco's lake is like the sea, shimmering with sparkling waves.

Recommended again this week! This time it is on the six-band, sincerely ask for support, let us hit Sanjiang!

Note: Regarding the peak population of the Maya, I checked the foreign language websites in the past two years, and also asked relevant researchers. Was amazed at the amount I got. You can search: Lidar survey 'compels' evaluation of aspects of ancient Maya society The estimation of this radar detection. However, in the era where the protagonist lives, Maya has already declined in the second round, completely shattered into pieces.