The setting sun sets in the west, reflecting the picturesque red clouds. The breeze blows eastward, filled with the fragrance of flowers.
After leaving Montezuma Palace, Shulot went to his new home not far away. After passing through the Beast Zoo and passing the city lake in the palace area, you came to a white stone priest's residence with a red roof.
Not long ago, his grandfather moved from Teotihuacan, so he moved out of the house in Avitt and lived here. Avitt was quite busy after he came to the throne. Except for a night of banquets when they first came out, they had not seen each other a few times in the past few weeks.
In crowded situations, the king must maintain solemnity and dignity, and Shulot must maintain etiquette. If it weren't for the lovely Alyssa as a link, the two would probably gradually become different from each other.
The new mansion is not big and there are not many servants. There were quite a few warriors, about one to two hundred, and a dozen longbowmen. Most of the warriors are familiar faces from Teotihuacan, and the longbowmen are followers of Shulot. After all, the family has been away from the capital for a long time, so they still have to bring trustworthy people from the Holy City. The warriors were still wearing their armor and were fully armed. When they saw Shulot returning home, they all saluted. Shulot also returned the greeting slightly.
Beneath the capital's calm exterior, there are turbulent undercurrents. Nobles, big and small, have private armies and family warriors. It is impossible to settle in the center of Mexica's power without a certain amount of force. What's more, my grandfather is carrying out a huge religious reform, which will definitely damage the interests of the great nobles and some priests in the future, and there will definitely be no shortage of enemies.
Before entering the house, Shulot heard a continuous "chirp" sound. He was surprised: The little golden eagle actually knew that he was back and shouted welcome?
Then the young man strode into the house and saw little Avelot hiding in the innermost layer of the wooden box nest, screaming in terror and helplessness. Not far away, there was a little green snake with its head held high, hissing at the little golden eagle through a wooden board.
Shulot laughed dumbly. Well, a golden eagle terrorized by a water snake.
Across the wooden box, Xiaoqing couldn't do anything. It hissed for a while, and when it saw Shulot returning to the house, it swam over nimbly. Then it got into the boy's trousers and wrapped around his calf to rest warmly.
After regaining his freedom, Shulot went to the elders to ask for the little green snake. Snakes were a common pet among priests and indicated the favor of the gods. The elder pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly and said nothing. He just gave the boy two bottles of light yellow medicine for external application of snake venom. A bottle of light green potion is for internal use and needs to be carried with you.
Later, Shulot kept the little green snake at home and put a priest's copper ring on its tail to prevent it from being accidentally injured by the servants. The little green snake would swim in the lake in the city during the day, steal beautiful tropical ornamental fish, and sometimes even bring one to the boy. It comes back on time at night, scares the little golden eagle, and then finds a warm place to sleep.
Xuelot looked at little Avelot again. The little golden eagle is already five months old and its body is gradually growing. Its wings are covered with new brown feathers, which can flap for a short distance. When the feathers become fully grown black, they can fly freely in the sky. Its size is many times that of the little green snake, but it is still a little timid and does not know its own strength.
Seeing Shulot coming over, little Avelot flapped his wings happily, ran into the boy's arms, and kept yelling "Yo yo". The young man's hand sank and he quickly caught the little golden eagle, feeling the warmth and softness of its feathers. Then, the young man gently rubbed its head, and the little golden eagle moved back and forth in response. Well, Avitt trained it well. It's just that he has been too busy recently and has no time to be distracted by this.
"Perhaps, Avitt should be invited here and have a relaxed chat." Shulot thought secretly.
Nothing to say all night, I slept well. Early the next morning, Gilliam came to visit wearing simple casual clothes. Shulot put the little golden eagle on the high stone platform, and then called Bertard and a few followers. The group of people simply went out in a low-key manner.
The market in Tenochtitlan is still bustling. Businessmen come from all directions and disperse like water. It seems that nothing has changed.
However, Hulot knew that merchants were the most common spies used by Mexican tribes. The royal family of Texcoco was destroyed, and the power of the Mexican Federation was consolidated. This amazing news must have been spread by businessmen in various ministries. On the other hand, the religious reform had just begun and was still brewing, so it was not too eye-catching.
Gillim took Shulot to a secluded bay in the capital. There were already two small boats waiting here. Gilliam saluted and invited, and Hulot and Bertard boarded the boat together. The guards were in another canoe. Then the boat sailed quickly, and the three of them headed for the Chinampa group in the lake.
Under the protection of the embankment, the entire Lake Texcocosi is completely controlled, and then divided into several areas by long bridges. The Mexicans built a large Chinampa floating field in the lake, with neat canals in the middle. The Mexica Valley is warm enough and Chinampa has no shortage of moisture. As long as the fertilizer is replenished in time, it can be planted all year round.
The trio boarded the royal Chinampa. As Shulot looked around, he saw hundreds of farmers working in different areas all year round. The floating fields in the lake are labor-intensive agriculture and require intensive farming. The royal family and the great nobility had a large number of attached skilled farmers, as well as slaves engaged in planting. The nobles had strong control over the subordinate peasants, and slaves who were good at farming were very expensive.
It’s December and we’ve just finished harvesting cocoa, avocados and vanilla. The royal chinampa is once again growing corn and soybeans, the staple foods, but pumpkins have yet to be sown. There is also a dedicated area where various spices and peppers are grown. The lush floating fields in the lake are in sharp contrast to the empty farmland on the lakeshore in the distance.
Standing on Chinampa, Shulot smelled a faint smell of river mud and manure. When a new batch of staple crops is sown, soil fertility needs to be replenished again. It was the dry season at this time, and the lake was full of boats cleaning mud. Villages along the lake provided manpower to dig river mud for the royal family and nobles.
"The lake capital has a total of about 9,000 hectares of Chinampa. Chinampa is the foundation of the lake capital and the foundation of the Mexica people. One hectare of chinampa can feed at least twenty civilians."
Seeing the farmers busy planting, Gillim was in a good mood and smiled rarely.
Xiulote nodded. He thought for a while and asked a question that had been in his mind for a long time.
"Whose hands are these chinampas? What is the specific number?"
Gillim pondered for a long time, silently calculating in his mind several times before he answered seriously.
"The land of the princes and nobles of Texcoco is being confiscated recently, and I have also sent personnel to carefully investigate the land situation in the capital. The only people who can master Chinampa are the royal family, princes, great nobles, priests, minor nobles and civilian warriors. Ordinary civilians, craftsmen and businessmen are not qualified to master the highly productive chinampa.”
"Among them, the royal family has about 2,500 hectares. This number is the most accurate. The 20,000 princes have 900 hectares. We have just confiscated 500 hectares of land owned by Prince Texcoco and half of Prince Tlacopan's 200 hectares. Hectares. Of course, the two princes also have village fiefdoms and ordinary farmland outside their respective city-states, so we don’t count this for now.”
"The chinampa of the great nobles is about 2,400 hectares, which is equivalent to the number of the royal family. This number is not accurate. It is possible between 2,000 and 3,000, because it is difficult for us to inventory the fields of the great nobles. The number of priests' lands The estimated value is 900 hectares. You can go back and ask the high priest for specific figures. The land of the minor nobles is about 1,400 hectares, and the land of the common warriors should also be about 900 hectares."
"The land of the big nobles and priests is connected together. The land of the small nobles is smaller. The land of the common warriors is completely scattered, and we can only make a rough estimate."
Shulot nodded seriously. He calculated silently for a moment, and then asked in surprise.
"The royal family and the great nobles each occupy nearly 30% of the land, the princes, priests and civilian warriors each occupy 10%, and the small nobles occupy 15%. So, the land is completely concentrated in the hands of the nobles? Approximately how many people are there in each class?"
Gilliam nodded solemnly. He replied in a deep voice.
"That's true. The nobles occupy the land and wealth of the alliance, and they also occupy the manpower of the alliance. The royal family and the prince each have hundreds of people, and they have hundreds of thousands of dependents. The dozens of noble families in the capital have thousands of people, and they have tens of thousands of dependents. The same goes for priests. There are hundreds of people, and thousands of servants. There are also thousands of minor nobles, with tens of thousands of followers. And the number of civilian warriors is about tens of thousands, including tens of thousands of families."
"These six groups are the real rulers of the capital. For the alliance's towering sacred tree, the royal family is the towering trunk, the great nobles are the thick branches, the priests are the connected bark, and the small nobles and warriors are The outer leaves. And the remaining hundreds of thousands of farmers, citizens, craftsmen, and businessmen are just the roots that provide nutrients."
Hearing this, Shulot pondered the alliance's power structure.
In the Tri-Cities Alliance of Mexico, the royal family is the government of Mexico and exercises the responsibility of leading the alliance. Under the king, the four consuls of the alliance are all public families, and he is likely to join them as the heir. The royal family is also composed of royal nobles of different sizes, divided into many branches, and many are enfeoffed to foreign countries.
Marriages were common among the royal family, the great nobility and the priests, and they were closely linked to each other. This is also the reason why the execution of the Texcoco family was extremely shocking and implicated many people. But after all, Texcoco inherited it alone and had less contact with the royal family. If we take action against the great nobles of Tenochtitlan in the future, I am afraid that even the royal family itself will be divided or even rebel.
In fact, there is not much difference between the military nobles and civilian warriors. Minor nobles with no merit in war were likely to be demoted to civilian warriors and have part of their land confiscated. Outstanding civilian warriors will be promoted to military nobles and rewarded with land. None of them has the ability to inherit hereditary inheritance, and each family has only a few dozen people. These warrior classes provide the alliance with the force of war and are considered the end of the ruling class.
Further down, ordinary civilians are strictly restricted and become the basic unit of rule based on the community. Commoners were required to pay tribute, participate in agricultural production, provide manpower, manufacture goods needed by the ruler, and provide militia in times of war. In this era, civilians have no right to speak.
After a while, Shulot asked another key question.
"One hectare of chinampa can support at least twenty commoners. So, how many warriors can each class mobilize?"
Gilliam thought for a moment, this was also his concern. He calculated in his mind for a while and estimated carefully.
"Theoretically, supporting one warrior is equivalent to supporting three commoners. The royal family's maximum support limit should be 17,000 people. But in fact, the royal family needs to grow luxury goods and support a large number of servants, musicians, and singers. Really. There are only 10,000 warriors attached to the royal land, of which 5,000 are family warriors, and 5,000 are considered enfeoffments. Adding the commercial tax from the capital and the tribute from the alliance, an additional 2,000 warriors will be supported."
"The Chinampa and village fiefdoms of the two princes can support a maximum of 6,000 private troops, which is actually 4,000 warriors. Including the commercial taxes of the two cities, it should be able to support an additional 1,000 people. After this internal purge, There should be only the last thousand private troops left in the hands of Prince Tlacopan.”
"Similarly, the land of the great nobles also allows them to support nearly 17,000 warriors. But the great nobles also need a lot of wealth to maintain a noble life. Their private army adds up to about 10,000 people, which is equivalent to the royal army. At the same time, they can Mobilize the militia in the villages it owns. Since the troops are scattered in the hands of different families, the royal family will win over some of the big nobles and suppress the entire big noble group. Let their military force be under the command of the king."
"The priest's land can support up to 6,000 warriors, but the priest needs a lot of wealth to maintain his life and faith, and many donations have gone missing. Currently, the temple guard only has 2,000 people and is not easily dispatched. It will only be used during alliance wars. Send out guards to protect the war priests as they go out on the expedition.”
"The land of the small nobles can support 10,000 warriors, and the actual number of warriors is also 10,000. Among them are 2,000 elite noble fighting groups, whose equipment is relatively sophisticated. The Chinampa of civilian warriors can support 6,000 warriors. Usually, they would reduce their own benefits and, with the help of community families, try their best to provide additional support for some of the younger generations of warriors.
Villages near the capital will also provide three thousand civilian warriors. Eventually, the number of civilian samurai was around 11,000. The military nobles and civilian warriors are the alliance's most loyal sources of force! "
With Gillim's analysis, the class power in the capital area gradually became clear in Shulot's mind. He gained a deeper understanding of Mexican society.
Based on the proportion of land ownership and the voice coefficient of classes, the influence of all classes in the capital area can be roughly estimated, plus the force of each class.
Hulot then sorted out his thoughts and summarized the land and manpower of each class in Mexica.
"The royal family owns nearly 30% of the land, and its influence is about 35%. It has the power to collect commercial taxes and distribute tribute from the alliance. The specific distribution is in the hands of different levels of royal nobles, and the king has the right to make decisions. The royal family has a firm control of 10,000 taels of force Thousands of people.”
Hulot looked at Gillim, who nodded in confirmation.
"The prince has 10% of the land and 10% of the influence. After the large-scale purge, it is now temporarily owned by the royal family, waiting for subsequent enfeoffment. Similarly, the prince has four thousand vassal warriors waiting for royal distribution. Prince Tlacopan also has a thousand private troops."
Gillim smiled slightly: "The elder's action was fast, accurate and ruthless. He controlled the two princes day and night. They had no time to react, and they had no time to connect with force and launch a rebellion."
Shulot expressed the same emotion of approval. Then, he frowned slightly.
"The great nobles have nearly 30% of the land and their influence is about 25%. However, they do not pay taxes at all. They even withhold commercial taxes and participate in the alliance's tribute distribution. The great nobles are almost autonomous, pass on from generation to generation, maintain private armies, and accept apprentices. They live with the country and will send troops to fight when the alliance goes to war. Their private army is about 10,000."
Gillim's expression was solemn, and he spoke slowly.
"Although the great nobles are the backbone of the country, their power should be suppressed as much as possible. The alliance's control over the great nobles is too low! Outside the lake area of three cities and four states in the capital, the influence of the royal family is minimal. In the other seven states , the great nobles replaced the royal family and became the actual rulers of the city-state. In the entire alliance, their influence accounts for at least half."
Shulot was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly. In fact, in Teotihuacan, his family was the largest priest and noble family.
"The priests only have 10% of the land, and with the bonus of religion, their influence is about 15%. Similarly, the priest class does not need to pay taxes and is treated well. But the priest class is an important force in maintaining the alliance. Their tentacles penetrate into every part of the alliance. A village and community is the basis of the state-controlled alliance and is equivalent to the affairs officers at all levels.
Similarly, the priest class does not have legal inheritance rights. Low-level priests need to strictly observe the commandments and are not allowed to get married. The military force controlled by the priests is the two thousand temple guards who are well-equipped and have high morale. "
Gillim nodded first. The priest class is the most important maintenance network among the states in the alliance. Then he smiled slightly and looked at Shulot. The marriage tradition of high priests is too common.
Shulot's face turned slightly red and he continued his analysis.
"The small nobles with military merit own 15% of the land, and their influence has been reduced, to about 10%. They cannot be hereditary, so they can be better controlled and commanded by the king. They can provide 10,000 warriors. Civilian warriors have 10% Chinampa. Some warriors come from villages near the lake area. Their influence and voice are the lowest, estimated at only 5%. They can provide eleven thousand warriors."
Bertard listened for a long time before calmly interjecting.
"The life of civilian warriors is very difficult. Samurai need to participate in labor and go out to hunt to earn income and train subsequent family warriors. Although they are slightly inferior in martial arts and have relatively simple equipment. But they have stronger determination to fight, and The strong fighting spirit to change the future is a force truly worth relying on.”
Shulot nodded seriously in approval. Most of his followers are civilian warriors. They fight bravely, are not afraid of death, and have higher loyalty. In their daily chats, the teenagers can feel their desire for victory and rewards. These common people landowners are the future of historical development!
In total, in the three cities of the capital, there are 12,000 royal families, 5,000 princes, 10,000 great nobles, 2,000 priests, 10,000 minor nobles, and 11,000 civilian warriors. A total of 50,000 warriors from the four kingdoms directly under the royal family! This is the core military force of the Mexica people, the absolute power to rule the states.
Shulot looked at the vast Lake Texcoco and the endless floating fields on the lake, and his heart was filled with ups and downs. Land is everything in Mexica society. If you control the land, you will control the Mexica people. The strength of all social strata relies on land, and the struggles of all strata will inevitably revolve around land.
The young man's thoughts flew to the future and the distance.
"Today's Mexica society is one in which kings, princes and nobles rule the world. They are connected by marriage to each other and strive to respect the most powerful."
"The future of the development of the times is the establishment of a truly mature country, the separation of the royal family and the government, the weakening of the great aristocratic class, the strengthening of the priestly class, and the rise of military aristocrats and civilian warriors! When metal tools become popular, productivity will rise again If it improves, the economic foundation of Shang Yang's reform will mature and a new era will begin."
Thinking of this, the Bloody Temple not long ago flashed through his memory again. He sighed quietly.
"Maybe there are better ways to reduce the cost of future reforms."
