Aztec Eternals

Early the next morning, Shulot was awakened by the rhythm of his body. He looked out the window, the morning light was twilight, and the sounds of the city could be faintly heard in his ears. In this era, commoners always work at sunrise early to make full use of every minute of sunshine. In the dream last night was the glorious Maya, today is the prosperous capital city, and the fire of civilization is rising.

The boy then got up and came to the courtyard full of flowers and trees. In the cold morning, Bertard had prepared a jar of cold water. First there is half an hour of cold water bath, then one hour of physical training, and one hour of combat practice.

The hard training was long and hectic. It wasn't until the sweat dripped from his forehead to his feet, and the explosive power of his muscles was completely exhausted, that Shulot collapsed on the bench. The guards handed over nuts and boiled eggs to supplement protein, and served cocoa drinks to maintain physical strength. The maids stepped forward to massage the whole body. While relaxing his body, the boy thought about today's itinerary.

The martial arts of a warrior need to be accumulated over time, and the will of steel must be continuously polished. As long as conditions permit, the youth's training will never be interrupted. In his view, the strength of a person lies in self-discipline, and the most important thing is to control his own life. The warrior tradition of Mexica also puts temperance and self-control in the second place, second only to devotion to the gods.

After Shulot had breakfast, the old carpenter Kuod had already brought several craftsmen, waiting in the front yard. The young man put on a senior priest's attire and nodded to the new craftsman director. Under the protection of the head of the personal guard and the elite warriors, the two went straight to the artisan district of the capital.

Today's program is to examine the capital's artisan production and mining industries, referred to simply as "industry".

Shulot was wearing priestly clothes, walking in the bustling market, along the way there were warriors bowing their heads and civilians kneeling to salute.

Scholars, farmers, businessmen. In Mexica society, the priests and warriors had the highest status, and the remaining farmers, craftsmen, and merchants had equal status and belonged to the dominated rulers. The peasants had no freedom at all, and were subordinate to the nobility everywhere. High-level craftsmen have a certain degree of freedom, dominating the royal family and the priesthood. Businessmen have the highest degree of freedom and the least security.

The first stop is the craftsman center in charge of military production, the "Jiangzuo Shaofu" of the Mexica. The crafting center is located in the northeast of the capital, between the Fire Temple Armory and the War Spear Temple, near Lake Texcoco. This location can take advantage of the waterway to facilitate the transportation of raw materials.

The rising sun makes the lake and the causeway golden. Shulot looked towards the lake. Under the supervision of hundreds of warriors, dozens of large boats filled with thousands of civilians were heading north to the Tampen River. Most of their hands are stone axes, and a small part are precious bronze axes. Next, they will go to the logging camp in the north to produce high-quality timber for the alliance's longbow, and they are not allowed to return even in the New Year.

Also setting off, there is also a fleet of boat divisions full of food, heading north to the Hilotpec camp in the north. No matter how the capital changes, the brutal siege continues in the northern city-states. Cilotepec City, abandoned by the Otomi Union, can't last long. And on the more distant lake, there are continuous large boats, dragging long logs, returning from the north upstream.

Shulot's heart skipped a beat. He carefully observed the expressions of the peasants and warriors, but only saw simplicity and obedience. Indistinctly, there was a slight noise in the wind.

The young man took a few steps forward and listened to the conversation of the peasant husbands. Even though several weeks have passed, the peasants still praised the grandness of the enthronement ceremony, regretted the miss of the New Year's sacrifice, and subconsciously sang to the gods. Even as war brought servitude, taxes, and death, Mexica society danced and sang in ritual ceremonies.

Under the comfort of the gods, the Mexica have long been accustomed to war. They yearn for victory and blood, hate defeat, but never tire of war.

Xiulot listened quietly for a while, and finally understood the spiritual motivation the elder said.

"We are a real militaristic society. The Mexica are either preparing for war or on their way to war. The bloodthirsty god is so powerful, he maintains the hearts of the society and makes war a part of life."

The fleet in the distance gradually approached, and finally reached the shore of the lake. Then, the wood is replaced here by a small boat towed, and it goes inward from the staggered waterway. The two followed the boat and stepped into the large-scale crafting center.

The crafting center is full of heavily armed samurai. Under the command of the samurai captain, the boat docked at a special location, and dozens of peasants rushed forward, dragged the wood ashore, and sent it to a special place for drying. Shulot waved his hand to stop the warrior captain from saluting, and continued to observe silently.

The place where the wood is dried is a simple earthen kiln. In order to hurry up, the wood is dried manually. Looking at the shape of the earthen kiln, Shulot recalled the passages in some books. He knew that there was a great way to do it, but he didn't know how to do it. In the end, he could only say a few words vaguely, "The hot air is dry, and the temperature should not be too high."

The old carpenter who has been in the industry for decades respectfully said yes, with a half-smile on his face. The young man blushed slightly, and said no more.

Then, the peasants took out the dried wood from the kiln and transported it to the processing point. Xiulot recognized it for a moment, and slightly sighed.

"Coud, is this a fir tree?"

"Yes. Your Majesty, the processing of sandalwood and iron wood is too labor-intensive and tools-intensive, and only a bronze ax can barely handle it. In order to complete the number of longbows that the king and you need, we can only process fir and oak. host."

Kuod replied respectfully.

Xiuluo nodded. He and Avitt have reached a consensus long ago, making longbow production a top priority for the league. For this reason, he even asked the elders for instructions to slow down the expansion of the Great Temple to gather more craftsmen.

The elder stared at him with calm eyes for a long time before nodding his head slightly. He once again told the boy to prepare for war. The enthronement war after the autumn harvest is the first battle after the religious reformation, and it will also be a battle for the country. You can only win, not lose.

"How much is the daily output of longbows?" Xiulot asked seriously.

Kuod calculated for a moment, then answered cautiously and conservatively.

"Now I have two or three thousand civilians, three or four hundred craftsmen, and can make forty or fifty high-quality longbows and thousands of arrows every day. I am also responsible for making paper from bark and wood chips. The main production limitation is skilled bow craftsmen. There is a shortage of metal tools. There is no shortage of good wood supplies."

Shulot frowned slightly. This efficiency is much lower than he imagined. For this alliance expedition, he planned to form a regiment of at least 8,000 longbow warriors. If you count the loss, you will need more than 10,000 longbows. In the future, he also plans to make the longbow a standard equipment for samurai, allowing them to practice from childhood.

After thinking for a moment, the boy laughed at himself slightly. Longbows take decades of practice to truly take shape. Mexica warriors have always despised bows and arrows. Most of the warriors in the Longbow Guard he formed were from civilian backgrounds and their families were poor. Therefore, there will be a bow and arrow foundation for hunting with bows from a young age and subsidizing the family. If we want to form an organic Longbow Legion, it is still unknown whether we can gather 8,000 warriors who are familiar with bows and arrows.

Xiulot had a lot of thoughts. He thought of the old hunter and the girl he had seen when he first took captives. The tribal people and village hunters in the mountains can shoot birds with a simple hunting bow, which is a good source of longbow soldiers. They also don't need to be armored and can be used as a harassment force similar to the Welsh longbow militia.

"I just received a batch of copper mines from Tarasco merchants yesterday, and they will all be allocated to you to make bronze tools! I will give you another two hundred craftsmen, and the daily output of high-quality longbows must be increased to at least sixty. Up to a hundred!"

He made a decision, the more longbows the better. Archers can be recruited everywhere, and if it doesn't work, let the warriors approach and shoot, and the 50-meter coverage shooting should always be able to hit.

"I will send one hundred warriors to supervise. Each bow must be marked with the name of the craftsman, and the rewards and punishments will be evaluated. For excellent and diligent craftsmen, cotton gold and silver, craftsman positions and even land will be rewarded, and the children will be accepted as warriors! For lazy and inefficient craftsmen , flogging, and detaining family members. If the bow breaks three times, the craftsman will be beheaded, and the children will be reduced to slaves!"

Xiu Luote's face was majestic, and his tone was already filled with killing intent. The upcoming war puts great pressure on him, and he must do everything possible to improve the combat effectiveness of the army. Because the target of this war is the powerful Tarasco with bronze weapons and equipment.

The intensifying Reformation had begun to displease the nobility. Only a strong central army, and only a glorious war victory, can have absolute power and prestige, and further promote the reform!

Seeing the young man's stern face and feeling the awe-inspiring gaze, Kuod's heart trembled, and he felt deep awe. The once innocent boy has grown into a majestic divine enlightener. Thinking of this, he put away his smile, bowed his head respectfully, and saluted solemnly.

The surrounding was quiet for a while, and the craftsmen knelt down to salute in fear. Xiulot waved his hand to let the craftsmen continue. He continued to watch for a while, and the craftsmen drew marks with rulers, sawed wood with copper tools, made bows, and trained bows one by one. Then hemp fibers are used as new bowstrings, among which sisal rope is the toughest. Finally, it is glued with bone glue.

The completed longbow is sent to a special school field for the longbow warriors to test. Qualified ones are stored in a special warehouse and wait for the guards to pick them up. The remaining bark and miscellaneous materials are transported to the paper mill and soaked in lime water ponds for pre-degumming treatment.

The old carpenter arranged the workshop area in a clear order, and everything was in order. Nuoda's crafting center is full of supervisory samurai, busy craftsmen, and folks transporting raw materials. Further inward from here is the production center of cotton armor, wooden shields and obsidian weapons. For these traditional arms manufacturing, the Mexica have decades of mature experience and do not need lay guidance.

Shulot nodded slightly. He turned around immediately, no longer affecting the military production, but went to the paper workshop not far away.

The scale of the papermaking workshop has expanded tenfold, and there are hundreds of busy craftsmen. Hundreds of peasants continuously transported bark, hemp, bamboo and reeds. Under his suggestion, special sinks and alleys were also built, the former for slopping material into the curtain, and the latter for drying paper.

Loads of paper were made into shapes and given priority to the priests in the capital. Here the papers would be transcribed into the original books by the deacons, which would then be distributed to the noble schools of Kalmykak. Now, the teaching of characters has just developed from the priesthood to the noble schools, and it is still early from the civilian military schools in various communities.

Shulot smiled, words and books are the foundation of the prosperity of civilization. For the fledgling Mexica civilization, investing in education was a top priority. At the same time, he has recruited several excellent pyramid mural carvers and started the preliminary experiment of woodblock printing. When the compilation of religious books is completed, they will be stereotyped and printed as quickly as possible, and spread to the hands of every priest.

Afterwards, the teenager picked up the newly made paper and examined it carefully. Under the strict regulations of Mexico, the toughness of the paper is guaranteed, but it is generally thicker. The color of the paper is still mixed yellowish, grayish or even brownish.

Shulot scratched his head a little. The color of paper comes from lignin in pulp, and papermaking should have a bleaching process. How to do bleach? The young man pondered for a long time. It seems that sun exposure, microbial decomposition, and plant ash treatment can achieve bleaching.

He then continued to give orders, and the old carpenter bowed his hands.

"Offer a reward to the craftsmen! Whoever discovers the paper bleaching craft is promoted to a senior craftsman, recruits a royal warrior from the family, and rewards a hundred pieces of cotton cloth, ten acres of Milpa, and a box of gold and silver! Prioritize the methods of sunlight, soaking, and plant ash. "

Hearing this kind of reward, the craftsmen present were instantly red-eyed. They knelt down to salute respectfully and silently, and their eyes met, but there was a different kind of flicker.

Shulot shook his head lightly. The status of artisans is limited, and Chinanpa can only be granted to warriors, priests and nobles, because the artisans cannot be kept at all.

"Go back and discuss with Avet. The alliance must set up special craftsman warrior titles and formulate a promotion system for craftsmen to accommodate more and more important craftsman groups in the future."

"After all, science and technology are the primary productive forces."

Thinking of this, the boy smiled, turned around and left with big strides. Next, he will examine the production of private industrial and mining industries. At the same time, look for sources of troops to form a new army.