Aztec Eternals

The rain in July is falling, so warm and calm. The drizzle nourishes everything on the earth: there are lush vegetation in the mountains, singing birds in the forests, green shoots in the fields, and the vitality of early summer everywhere.

Shulot, wearing a thatched coir raincoat, stood still in the rain by Lake Patzcuaro.

He looked at the low sky. The pattering raindrops formed intermittent lines, fell on the cloud-shrouded mountains, and then flowed down from the mountains, converging into streams between basins. He looked down to the stream at the foot of the mountain. The clear creek flows slowly, nourishing the shallow trees along the way and soaking the plowed farmland.

The young king's eyes patrolled the neat farmland, and finally fell to the end, the village by the lake.

"Come on, let's go there and have a look."

Shulot gave an order in a deep voice. Berthard nodded and left quickly with dozens of personal guards. He wants to go one step ahead and go to the village to check in person. The remaining more than a hundred warriors were wearing cloaks, holding shields and axes, guarding His Highness.

"Be careful, don't step on the new seedlings!"

Xiuluo gave an order in a loud voice, and then walked across the field ridge leisurely. He looked down at the plowed fields on both sides, carefully observed the new seedlings in the field, and calculated the time for sowing.

After the corn seeds are sown, under the appropriate soil temperature and moisture conditions, they will absorb water and germinate within a week. The germinated new shoots will first take root, separate three or four fixed radicles into the surrounding soil, and then stick out the germs to the sky above.

Thinking of this, Xiu Luote squatted down and carefully measured with his fingers. Then, he took a handful of the sandy loam in the farmland, felt the texture and viscosity of the soil, and nodded.

At this time, the corn seedlings have just emerged, about the length of a little finger, and the first pair of cotyledons unearthed have not even unfolded, and they are still wrapped in a cylindrical shape. The collected rainwater flowed across the field and over the young corn seedlings, giving it a slight slope.

"The seeds germinated only a week ago, that is, the sowing was completed two weeks ago. Well, it was completed before the heavy rain. It's still qualified!"

Shulot stared at the delicate seedlings, lost in thought. If it takes another week to grow, the root system of the seedlings will be firmly inserted into the soil, and the cotyledons will open into a shape of one leaf and one heart. The corn seedlings will be fully formed at that time, and will not be damaged too much in the heavy rain. The influx of rainwater into the soil will reduce the oxygen in the soil and cause damage to the roots of the crops, which also requires deeper and longer root systems to overcome

Generally speaking, the timing of agricultural activities needs to be coordinated with the rain and temperature. This year's spring plowing is indeed a bit late. Fortunately, from this road, the military and civilian settlements around the capital have roughly completed their farming tasks. The autumn harvest caused too much impact.

While Shulot was thinking, Berthard had returned quickly from the village and stood quietly by the side. He looked up, and the warrior commander nodded seriously. Only then did the young king get up, patted the sandy loam in his hands, and strode towards the village.

The village chief, priests, and villagers were already waiting at the entrance of the village, forming a black crowd, surrounded by dozens of supervisors' personal guards, and an accompanying interpreter. Tarasco and Mexica are not very different, and many words are very similar in pronunciation. Even without a translator, Shulot was able to roughly communicate with the Prepecha people.

Seeing His Royal Highness approaching, everyone fell to the ground and saluted at the same time. Xiulot nodded and waved calmly, signaling the priest, the village chief and the militia captain to stand up and ask questions.

It is one of more than eighty villages in the Patzcuaro Lake District, on the northern shore of the Great Lakes. The village has a large area and was once populated and prosperous. Only last year, the village was confiscated several times by the Kingdom of Tarasco, and then it was harassed by the defeated army, and it was once dilapidated.

After conquering King Qincongcan's capital, Xiu Luote counted 60,000 civilians in the city, and nearly half of them were fleeing villagers. The young king organized these 30,000 people, together with more than 100,000 old and weak around the king's capital, and placed them in the villages around the lake area, and then directly dispatched priests to manage them and set them up as community villages directly under him. The size of each Mintun village is about 2,000 people, and there are 80 villages in total, about 160,000 people.

Community management is a Mexica tradition and the foundation of the league's strong mobilization. The essence of community villages is to organize all households, strictly supervise farming, and direct agricultural activities. It's just that Xiulot lacks reliable grassroots management personnel and low-level priests who are proficient in calculations. The community formation has just begun and is still in a very rough stage.

The young king just sent low-level priests who had just been trained to various villages, selected local village chiefs, and then assisted with the stationed militia, barely controlling the 150,000 to 160,000 villagers around the lake area.

Therefore, in the Mintun village in front of me, the highest status is the village priest directly under His Royal Highness, who can contact the higher priests and is responsible for religious activities, tax collection and law reading; Families with a large population actually manage agricultural production, coordinate villagers’ affairs, and inspect collective storage; finally, the dispatched or selected militia captains control the village’s force, maintain the security of the village, guard the warehouse, and dispatch tribute teams on time. Of course, in the alliance that advocates force, the political status of village chiefs and militia captains is actually roughly equal.

Under such a grassroots construction, the old aristocratic influence and their bodies were completely wiped out by the devastating national war. The new civilian manager was able to take the lead and became the governor of the village to try his best to implement the will from the power center. In other words, the degree of centralization has been further improved.

Seeing His Highness's signal, the three people in power in the village saluted respectfully again, and then stood up carefully. The village priest called out softly, and two young girls stepped forward, lowered their heads, and presented fresh garlands to His Highness.

Shulot smiled slightly and tilted his head. The warrior commander took the garland and handed it to the guards beside him. Then, the young king looked at the middle-aged priest seriously.

"Take me to see the altar in the village. How about the spring plowing sacrifice? Are the morning and evening prayers completed on time? Has the alliance's religious decree been read?"

The middle-aged priest bowed halfway, but he showed a bit of a warrior's temperament. He was born in the Alliance, had received five years of military training in his youth, and was also good at fighting. He can fluently switch between Tarasco and Mexica, and is the root end of the alliance's ruling tree.

"Dear Priest King, the spring plowing ceremony is very grand. According to the latest instructions of the high priest group, the main god replaced the god of harvest, and no statues were erected, but emblems were left. Collective prayers will be held in the village sooner or later, and the villagers began to have some The chaos is now gradually on the right track, and the busy farming has just ended, and I just finished talking about the decree king of the alliance's military promotion, encouraging farming, and encouraging fertility, and the altar is here."

While the two were talking, they came to the center of the village. There is a stone and wood altar several meters square. The altar is two meters high, and on it stands a large wooden emblem of the hummingbird sun, with a total height of nearly four meters. All kinds of grains are placed around the altar, as well as some sacrificial feathers, birds and small animals.

Shulot watched for a moment, with a slight smile on his face. The alliance takes religion as the core of governance, and the altar is related to theocracy and public opinion, which is the top priority.

"The Lord God is bright and benevolent. Try to save manpower and sacrifice birds and animals. Even if it is a major festival, don't sacrifice human animals."

The young king gave an order in a deep voice, the middle-aged priest blinked and nodded solemnly. Then, Shulot looked at the following village head.

"How is the spring plowing done in the village? Has the required number of acres been met? How is the manure collected? How is the village's granary built?...All the villagers have to participate in labor, and you are no exception!"

The old village head, Nuonuoying, smiled from the wrinkles on his face. He replied in a low voice and respectful.

"Yes, yes! Your Highness, the villain has been personally leading the people to cultivate, and has not dared to rest for a moment. The spring plowing in the village was completed three weeks ago, and the farming season was not delayed!"

Hearing this, Shulot frowned slightly, but said nothing. He just glanced at the old village chief lightly. The other party trembled slightly and continued.

"According to your instructions, the young and strong in the village need to cultivate eight acres, the young and strong women need six acres, and the old and weak need four acres. In addition, several craftsmen were specially arranged to repair the damaged farm tools. A pond for collecting manure was dug outside the village. , It is also used as a toilet for everyone. They follow the instructions of the priest, and they will also do some composting. The granary in the village is a little damaged, and it is being filled with earth and rocks, and it will be repaired soon."

The old village head led Shulot to the granary. It is a solid masonry house, and often the most important building in a village. Due to the lack of metal farm tools and cattle and horses, most villages in Central America still maintained a collective village system, which was somewhat similar to the well field system in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The villagers need to work collectively, and then gather most of the harvest in the publicly-owned granary, and save for the lean years. Then, the manager of the village is responsible for the distribution of grain in the granary, paying the tribute of the lord, and arranging the labor of the villagers.

Under the escort of Bertard, Shulot walked into the granary. He looked at the corner of the house covered in mud, and the slightest leak of rainwater in the warehouse, then reached out to touch the slightly damp dirt floor, and shook his head slowly.

"That won't work! The granaries must be waterproofed, and the foundations must be paved with masonry!"

Shulot pondered for a while. He looked at the old village chief who was frightened, and comforted him.

"This is not your problem. I will soon build large kilns around the capital to burn the blue bricks for building houses. At that time, you can send people directly to get the bricks and stones for building the granary. However, these bricks must be used for the granary , the granary must also be completely waterproof! Otherwise.”

Hearing this, the old village head kowtowed to the ground immediately, saying yes again and again. Xiuluo nodded, and strode out of the granary. Then, he beckoned, with a smile on his face.

"Come here. Are you Ezpan's militia? How are you doing here?"

The militia captain put down the spear in his hand, came to Xiulot empty-handed, and knelt down to salute with a "bang".

"Your Highness, I salute you! Yes, I am the militia under Commander Ezpan. The Commander often says that you are our only sun!"

"I've had a great time here! Married a local wife, raised a flock of turkeys, and got a big house. Oh oh, village words. Now I have five militiamen under me, and then a local call The 20 strong men from my family will protect the whole village until this year's autumn harvest, and I will take them and send the tribute to the capital!"

Xiulot listened patiently and nodded slightly. A village of 2,000 people, five senior militiamen, and 20 ordinary militiamen, together with the authority of priests and village chiefs, can almost maintain basic order and catch sporadic bandits. After all, this is the heartland of the Lake District, not a frontier where the dog breeds are rampant. The militiamen in the village can receive an additional ration from the storage to maintain training several times a month.

"very good!"

After listening to the militia captain's narration, Shulot nodded with a smile. He raised his hand to bring a red cloak from the personal guard, and gave it to the militia captain himself. The captain put on his cloak excitedly, then knelt down to salute.

"Your Highness. Marshal! When will the legion go out again? I will fight bravely for you, and I will also be promoted to a respected high-ranking warrior!"

Hearing this, Shulot smiled and showed approval. He stepped forward, patted the militia captain on the shoulder affectionately, and said with a smile.

"Don't worry, and be patient to take root in the village and maintain the order of the village. You are the cornerstone of the alliance. There are still many opportunities to go out later"

Next, Xiulot patrolled the village again. He stood outside, looked at the simple and small huts of the villagers, and looked inside through the door opening. The expression of the young king is a little dignified. The development of productive forces is limited by the times. The life of ordinary people is just a struggle to survive.

The young king didn't give any more instructions, just stood in front of the altar for a while, and then looked at the wooden sign of the hummingbird sun. The tall hummingbird spreads its wings and is flying towards the sun of hope. Then, under the protection of the personal guards, Shulot turned and left. It wasn't until he disappeared at the end of the field that the villagers who fell on the ground stood up, with reverence for gods on their faces.

The gods turned into priest kings, holding an emerald scepter, seeing through everything in the future. Rumors like this have already spread around the royal city unconsciously.

Shulot returned in the drizzle. He walked through the tall and strong city gate, passed through the empty streets of the king's capital, returned to the majestic and gorgeous Palace of Winds, all the way to the main hall. The two painters who were painting immediately put down the pens in their hands, saluted His Highness, and then bowed and retreated.

The young king glanced lightly at the mural on the wall, the pattern on it was being modified. The Prepeca people, led by the sun hummingbird, came to the fertile land by the lake. Then, they joined the powerful and tolerant Mexica Alliance, and together with the Mexica people of the same origin, they built the magnificent and magnificent Chin Cong Can City. And the existence of the "House of Wind" pyramid is the testimony that the main god descended to the world and promulgated a decree to completely integrate the two ethnic groups!

Then, Xiu Luote untied the coir raincoat on his body, wiped off the rain, and sat in front of the wooden table, looking at the latest album.

The monkey Kuluka was half bowed, busy beside the young king. He helped His Highness hang up his clothes, brought another cup of hot cocoa with honey, and then sat cross-legged beside him.

"Monkey, have you sent all the latest scout information?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, they are all here. Your fief is really big!"

Having said that, Kuluka took out a huge wooden board and handed it to Shulot carefully. The young king looked at the dense marks on it, read it for a while, and finally showed a satisfied smile on his face!