Aztec Eternals

There was a moment of solemnity in the empty hall, and the fallen leaves outside the window rustled. The warriors are wearing armor and holding soldiers, silently guarding the surrounding, witnessing the king and merchants in the center.

Tikaro gave a deep salute, and Shilot accepted it calmly. He sat for a moment, and then stretched out his hands and kindly held up the Mayan merchant. At this time, the top and bottom have been settled, and the two sat down again, and the atmosphere became more harmonious.

Shirott summoned guards, brought a cup of cocoa drink of nobles and warriors, and handed it to the Mayan merchant. The businessman was stunned for a moment, then respectfully accepted it. He lightly tasted the traditional cocoa, bitter, sweet and astringent, and all kinds of tastes flowed through his heart.

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

"Tikalo, I will secretly list you among the alliance's military intelligence businessmen. This time the commercial law reform is the general trend. Supervising businessmen is the national policy of the alliance, and it cannot be changed at all. I will give you Mayan business group a member who participated in negotiating the commercial law. Quota, go to the priests and elders to make a consultation arrangement, so that you can go back and explain to the business group.

You don't have to participate in the latter matters, just concentrate on the copper mine and the military situation. I will naturally take care of your caravan and give you preferential deals. You relocate your family to the capital, and I will send someone to guard it to ensure safety. Send a few more trusted people to me to be in charge of liaison.

I will give you a hundred warriors to serve you in the caravan from now on. The Mexican navigators will also dispatch forty ships and men to transport copper ore and other supplies for you. Remember, your actions are extremely important! If you encounter any obstacles, send someone to let me know, and the warriors of the royal family will sweep it away for you. If there are other merchants competing with you in the copper mine, the royal family will deal with it for you too! "

Tikalo smiled bitterly at first. Once the powerful nobles enter the field, they will immediately grasp the merchant's net worth and the overall situation of the caravan. Immediately, he was refreshed, backed by such a powerful military group, and no businessman could compete with him again.

The Mayan merchant pondered for a moment, and several names flashed one by one. He looked at the handsome young man in front of him, thinking about the way of doing things of the Mexicans, and his mind was full of thoughts. After a pause, he tentatively reported a name, "Takuria".

"Tacuria? This seems to be the name of a Tarasco?" Sherlot thought for a while.

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

"Tacuria is a big businessman from central Tarasco, and the biggest opponent of the southern city-state's copper trade. Behind him are certain nobles in the central area of ​​Tarasco. Relying on the advantages of local nobles, he can drive down prices, A large number of copper mines were forcibly purchased from the south and made into exquisite bronzes."

Shilot pondered for a moment and asked slowly.

"Will Takuria sell the bronze to the Alliance?"

Ticarlo shook his head affirmatively, silently watching the boy's expression.

"The Mexica Confederation is the greatest threat to Tarasco. Thacuria will only buy cotton and salt from Mexica with spices and dyes, and sell bronzes to the distant Tlaxcalans, Mist. The Ke, and the Zapotec. He has a trade route that goes around the southern part of the Alliance and ends in the religious holy city of Cholula. This is also the way for the Tarrascos to connect with the forces of the East."

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

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

"I only met him yesterday. Taking advantage of the New Year's gathering of the villagers, he was buying cotton fabrics in Tlatelolco, the largest market in the world, in the northern city."

Tikalo was sure. His eyes flickered, and yesterday Takuria was still competing with himself for goods.

Shiroute lowered his gaze and looked at Tikalo. The Mayan merchant squeezed out a sincere smile and 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 became quiet again. After a while, Tikalo brows with sweat. He thought about it, trying his best to think about the king's preferences, and then smiled.

"Respected Your Highness, in fact, copper mines are not only owned by Tarasco people. There is a place full of copper mines, and even some kind of black hard stone, even bronze wares are difficult to break!

What is even more interesting is that near the black stone, there is an equally hard brown translucent spar, which is bright and incorrigible. The same gems can attract each other. I also brought you two of these gems as a gift. "

Saying that, Tikalo dug out two dimly shimmering translucent spar from the wooden box of gems. The appearance of the spar looks like a meteorite, with block or granular collections, and it flashes an iron-black light in the sun. If you distinguish it carefully, the black light also has a touch of red and green.

Shulot's pupils shrank, thinking of something. He took this "black gem" and groped carefully, feeling the grainy and hard feel. Then he asked the guard to chop with a copper axe, leaving only shallow scratches on the "black gem". He brought the two "black gems" closer again, felt a weak repulsion, then turned the direction and attracted each other again.

Seeing this, Shilot raised his head in shock. He stared at Tikalo.

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

Tikalo was slightly taken aback. He swallowed and answered honestly.

"Ore? I bought these two gems from other Mayan merchants. Drive a Mayan galleon from Ekabobang, the most northeastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, to the endless lake in the east. It takes six or seven days, but slow In more than ten days, after passing through some islands and reefs in the middle, you will be able to reach the end of the world.

There are many savage tribes on the mainland. They grow tobacco and love the gleaming gold and silver. We can exchange a bag of golden sand for dozens of bags of tobacco leaves. Then it is made into divine smoke and sold to the inland, which is more than ten times the profit.

Feathered Serpent God left a snake body on the Serpentine Continent, and the earth solidified. Open-pit copper mines are feathered snake scales that can be seen everywhere. And the black hard rock is the teeth of the feathered snake, only in the easternmost snake head of the rolling mountains. From the Serpentine Continent to the east, there are many large and small lands and islands, which are hundreds of slave snakes who left with the Feathered Serpent God! "

Hearing this, Shilot stood up, turned his back to the Mayan merchant, and paced forward, covering up his violently changing expression. He pondered for a long time: further east of the Yucatan peninsula is the rich Cuba, Haiti and Caribbean islands. At this time, it is the paradise where two to three million Taino people live!

Cuba is the most mineral-rich region in Central America, and almost all of the mountains contain copper deposits. There are 3.5 billion tons of iron ore in the mountains of eastern Cuba, accounting for more than 20% of the entire iron ore reserves in Latin America, and it can be mined in the open pit! Likewise, Cuba is the world's largest chromite mine.

Thinking of this, Shiloh paced back, sat down slowly, and his face had returned to calm.

He picked up the "Black Gem" again. If expected, this iron-black shiny stone is chromite spinel. The only mineable chrome ore! One of the most important strategic materials in the industrial age. The black hard rock mentioned by Tikalo is a large-scale open-pit iron mine.

"How long does it take to travel by sea from Papantra in Vastek to Ekabo in Maya?"

Shilot asked in a deep voice, trying to keep his voice as calm and calm as possible.

Ticarlo looked at Shirault in confusion. He was a little surprised by the boy's reaction, and didn't know the meaning of the black ore.

"The sea route from Papantera passes through the city-states of the Totonaks, then the Joel Cornmen in the center, and then the Yucatan Cornmen who fight in the north. Take your guard along the way, stickers Walking along the edge of the continent, it is best to use a giant canoe with paddle sails. Find the correct route, sail the boat for one to two months, and resupply the city-states along the way several times before reaching the northeasternmost Ekabo State. If there is a storm, it must be timely. Dodge, if you are not careful, the boat will be destroyed."

Hearing this, Shulot sighed in his heart. Papantera to Ekabobang and back to Cuba. With such a long trip, it is impossible to transport large quantities of iron ore over long distances with the load capacity of a canoe. The long-distance trade of the Mayans is usually based on precious luxury goods and gold, silver and precious stones.

"Unless..." The young man pondered secretly, his eyes brightened, and he looked at Ticarlo meaningfully.

"Build a stronghold on the coasts of the Mayan states and smelt Cuba's copper and iron ore!"

Shilote pondered for a moment and smiled.

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

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

"The kingdom of the holy corn man is on the verge of decay! The nobles of a hundred bloodlines have fallen to the dust, the inheritance left by the millennium is cut off, and the flag of the commoners is planted on the temple! Just like my holy Cocom family.

Seven hundred years ago, the gods abandoned us. The earth cracked, the rivers dried up, the corn crop failed, and the nations fought. The royal city of the gods, the beautiful Tikal has perished! Thousands of pyramids and altars fell into dust and drowned in the depths of the jungle. The last Tonina's chronological stele ended six hundred years ago, and the glorious golden age has ended.

More than 10 million corn people can only migrate north and south, drifting like tidbits in the wind, and since then they are divided into three groups: north, middle and south. Then the three separate divisions, dozens of states fought endlessly, and the civil war was extremely brutal. Farmlands and villages were reduced to ashes in the civil war, temples and aqueducts were ruthlessly demolished, and the corn people were dying all the time! "

"Wait, you said just now that there are more than 10 million Mayans?" Sherlot was in disbelief. In his impression, tropical rainforests should be barren and sparsely populated, and the Mayans of later generations were only in the millions.

Tikalo nodded seriously.

"Documents from the Golden Age record that at that time, the rain forest was full of canals, the farmland on the plain was completely reclaimed, and people began to plant terraced fields on the mountains. The city-state was prosperous and prosperous, and the population was no less than the capital city in the lake. , at least 10 million people, plus a complete Guatemala, maybe even 12 million!"

Seirot looked at Ticaro's sincere and bright eyes, savored the sadness in his eyes, and nodded slightly: the lost Mayan civilization, the lost golden age.

Tikalo goes on to tell the history of the Maya.

"In the northern Yucatan, our holy 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 comes from Tikal, the capital of the gods.

However, more than 40 years ago, the Tutulsiu family launched a rebellion with warriors and civilians, completely destroyed the great Mayapan, renamed it Tutulsiu, and established a new capital, Mani. Since then, the Kecom family has withered and scattered, and the main branch led the remaining tribes to the southeast and established a new small town. Branches like me have been living in various places, becoming merchants and civilians.

From then on, my family could only live in foreign countries, relying on the inherited knowledge of mathematics and astronomy, to take a risky boat and travel between countries. Other Mayan merchants admired my bloodline and made me the leader of the merchant group. After all 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 between the thoughts of the noble. "

Speaking of which, Ticarlo lowered his head and closed his eyes slightly. Thinking of the glory of our ancestors and his own experience, all kinds of tastes flooded into my heart, and my nose felt sore.

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

With that being said, the Holy Cocom family has the history of the reign of Tutulsh-Mayapan. They are former rulers that the current Mayan lords cannot tolerate, but the most suitable agents of the Mexica!

The boy pondered for a moment, smiled, and looked at Tikaro with more admiration.

Next, Shirot continued to inquire about news from afar. Tikalo has the knowledge of the upper Maya ~www.readwn.com~ travels north and south, and knows a lot about the vast world.

"The Great Corn Man sailed the largest galley, down into the lush rainforest. From the local inhabitants, trading bales of cotton for bags of turquoise and pepper for dozens of times profit. Along the long shore , far south, we reach the Chibcha region. There, there are countless loose tribes, who can exchange cheap salt, gold and gems, and also make ten times the profit."

Shiroute thought to himself, the emerald of Guatemala, the pepper of Honduras. Further down, past Panama, is Chibca, the future Gran Colombia. The Mayans met the tribesmen along the coast, but did not go up the river, missing the mighty Muisca kingdom deep in the jungle, the source of the Eldorado legend.

The Muisca are also a people of salt, rich in salt and precious stones. Their cultural beliefs have become the historical source that all countries in Colombia will pursue in the future. Tejo, a throwing sport popular in Colombia, originated from the Turmec sport of the Muisca people.

As for the Inca Empire in the farther south, there are mountains, jungles and oceans, and now it is only a legend. However, with the seafaring level of the Mayans and the position predicted by Shulot, the initial connection between the two civilizations can be achieved.

Shirou was delighted in his heart, and the unknown world unfolded in his eyes once again. In prosperity there is lost splendor, in the wild there is potential hope. He asked the guards to bring the wine, and he and the merchants drank the world. Until the sun went west, the rays of light reflected in the eyes of the two of them.

"To the east is Jieshi, to view the sea."

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

Through the window, he looked to the far east. There, the lake of Texcoco shimmered like the sea.