There was a moment of solemnity in the empty hall, and the fallen leaves rustling outside the window. The warriors were wearing armor and holding soldiers, silently guarding the surroundings, witnessing the king and businessman in the center.
Tikalo bowed deeply, and Shulot accepted it calmly. He sat upright for a moment, then stretched out his hands to support the Mayan businessman kindly. At this time, the top and bottom had been decided, and the two sat opposite each other again, and the atmosphere became more harmonious.
Shulot called the guards, brought a cup of cocoa drink for nobles and warriors, and handed it to the Mayan merchant. The businessman was stunned for a moment, then accepted it respectfully. He gently took a sip of traditional cocoa. It was bitter, spicy, sweet, and all kinds of flavors flowed through his heart.
Afterwards, Shulot pondered slightly, his face showing majesty.
"Tikalo, I will secretly include you among the military businessmen of the alliance. This commercial law reform is the general trend. Supervising merchants is the national policy of the alliance and cannot be changed in major aspects. I will give your Mayan business group a person who participates in the negotiation of commercial laws. For 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 need to participate in the rest of the matter, just concentrate on the copper mines and military affairs. I will naturally take care of your caravan and give you discounts on buying and selling. If you move your family to the capital, I will send people to guard it to ensure safety. Send a few more trustworthy 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 Navy will also allocate forty ships and civilians to transport copper ore and other supplies for you. Remember, your actions matter! If you encounter any obstacles, send someone to tell me, and the royal warriors will clear it for you. If there are other businessmen competing with you in the copper mines, the royal family will help you deal with it! "
Tikalo smiled reluctantly at first. Once a powerful noble enters the scene, they immediately want to control the merchant's wealth, life and the overall situation of the caravan. Immediately he regained his energy, and with such a powerful force group behind him, no businessman could compete with him.
The Mayan businessman thought for a moment, and several names flashed one by one. He looked at the handsome young man in front of him, thinking about the Mexican way of doing things, and his thoughts were changing. After a moment of pause, he still tentatively announced his name, "Tacuria".
"Tacuria? This seems to be the name of the Tarascan people?" Shulot thought for a moment.
Ti Carlo nodded and quietly looked at the boy's response.
"Tacuria is a big businessman from central Tarasco. He is the biggest rival in the copper trade of the southern city-state. Behind him are some nobles from the central Tarasco region. Relying on the advantages of the local nobles, he is able to keep prices down. They forcibly purchased a large amount of copper mines from the south and made exquisite bronze wares."
Shulot pondered for a moment and asked slowly.
"Will Tacuria sell the bronze to the Alliance?"
Ti Carlo shook his head affirmatively, silently paying attention to the boy's expression.
"The Mexica Alliance is the biggest threat to the Kingdom of Tarasco. Tacuria will only buy cotton cloth and salt from Mexica with spices and dyes, and sell bronzes to the distant Tlaxcala people, Mist Croats, and Zapotecs. He has a trade route that goes around the south of the alliance, ending at the religious holy city of Cholula. This is also the channel for the Tarascans to contact the eastern forces."
Shulot nodded slightly. His expression remained unchanged as he looked up at the portrait of the patron saint in the hall. The young man's eyes passed over the green and prosperous long feathers, and finally stopped at the dazzling red war spear.
"Ti Carlo, since you mentioned Tacuria, does it mean that he is in the lake capital?"
"I just met him yesterday. Taking advantage of the New Year's village gathering, he was buying cotton cloth in Tlatelolco in the North City, the largest market in the world."
Tikallo was convinced. His eyes flickered. Yesterday, Tacuria was still competing with him for goods.
Shulot lowered his gaze and stared at Tikalo. The Mayan businessman forced out a sincere smile, and then bowed his head respectfully.
The young man said no more. He took a deep look at the merchant, then called a guard and whispered a few words. The guard nodded and left solemnly.
The hall became quiet again. After a while, Ti Carlo's brows started to sweat. He was thinking a lot, trying his best to think about the king's preferences, and then he smiled and spoke.
"Dear Your Highness, in fact, copper mines are not limited to the Tarascans. There is a place full of copper mines, and there is even some kind of black hard stone that is difficult to break open even bronzes!
What's even more interesting is that near the black stone, there is an equally hard brown translucent spar that shines brightly and cannot be melted by fire. The same gemstones are attracted to each other. I also brought you two of these gems as gifts. "
As he spoke, Tikalo pulled out two darkly shining translucent crystal stones from the wooden box of the gem. The appearance of the spar looks very much like a meteorite, with a collection of lumps or granules. It shines with iron-black light in the sun. If you look carefully, you will see that the black light also has a hint of red and green.
Shulot's pupils shrank and he thought of something. He took the "black gem" and groped it carefully, feeling the grainy hard feel. Then he asked the guard to chop it with a copper ax, leaving only shallow scratches on the "black gem". He brought the two "black gems" closer together and felt a weak repulsive force. Then they turned and attracted each other.
Seeing this, Shulot looked up in shock. He stared hard at Tikallo.
"Ti Carlo, where did you get these two pieces of ore? Tell the truth!"
Tikalo was slightly stunned. He swallowed and answered honestly.
"Ore? I acquired these two gems from other Mayan merchants. I drove a Mayan paddle boat from Ekabo State in the northeasternmost part of the Yucatan Peninsula to the endless lake in the east. It would take six or seven days as fast as possible, or as slow as In more than ten days, passing through some islands and reefs, you can reach the end of the world. The serpentine continent where Quetzalcoatl last stayed and left.
There are many savage tribes on the continent. They grew tobacco and loved the glittering gold and silver. We can exchange a bag of gold dust for a dozen bags of tobacco leaves. Then the sacred smoke is made and sold inland, which is a profit of more than ten times.
Quetzalcoatl left a snake body on the serpentine continent, and the earth solidified. The open-pit copper mines are the scales of the feathered serpent and can be seen everywhere. The black hard stone is the tooth of the feathered serpent, which is only found in the easternmost part of the undulating mountains. Further east from the Serpentine Continent, there are many large and small landmasses and islands. Those are the hundreds of serpents who left with Quetzalcoatl! "
Hearing this, Shulot stood up, turned his back to the Mayan merchant, and walked forward to hide 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 Taíno people live!
Cuba is the richest ore-rich region in Central America, with almost all mountains containing copper deposits. There are 3.5 billion tons of iron ore in the mountainous areas of eastern Cuba, accounting for more than 20% of the entire Latin American iron ore reserves, and can be mined in the open! Likewise, Cuba is the world's largest chromite-producing region.
Thinking of this, Shulot walked back and slowly sat down, his expression having returned to calm.
He picked up the "Black Stone" again. If expected, this iron-black shiny stone is chromite spinel. The only chromium ore that can be mined! One of the most important strategic materials in the industrial era. The black hard rock Tikallo mentioned is a large-scale open-pit iron mine.
"How long does it take to travel by sea from Papantla State in Huastec to Ekabo State in Maya?"
Shulot tried his best to keep his voice calm and calm.
Tikalo looked at Shulot in confusion. He was a little surprised by the young man's reaction and didn't know the meaning of the black ore.
"Along the sea route from Papantla State, you must first pass through the city-state of the Totonac people, then the Joel Corn people in the center, and then the Yucatan Corn people fighting in the north. Along the way, you must bring adequate guards and stick close to them. Walking along the edge of the continent, it is best to use a giant canoe with a paddle sail. Find the right route, sail for one to two months, and resupply several times in the city-states along the way before you can reach the northeasternmost Ekabo state. If you encounter a storm, you must be in time. If you avoid it, the ship will be destroyed and everyone will be killed if you are not careful.”
Hearing this, Shulot sighed in his heart. Papantla to Ekabobon and back to Cuba. With such a long journey, it is impossible to transport a large amount of iron ore over long distances with the carrying capacity of a canoe. The long-distance trade of the Mayans usually focused on precious luxury goods and gold, silver and gemstones.
"Unless..." The young man thought secretly, looked at Ti Carlo meaningfully with his eyes shining brightly.
"Establish a stronghold on the coast of the Mayan states and smelt Cuba's copper and iron ore!"
Shulot thought for a moment and smiled.
"Tikallo, are you a Mayan noble, a descendant of the Holy Cocom family? What is the current situation in the civilized Mayan countries?"
Hearing this, Tikalo looked sad. He took off his feather crown, stroked the divine head, and paid tribute to the gods and ancestors.
"The kingdom of the sacred corn people is declining! The nobles with centuries of bloodline have fallen into the dust, the inheritance left for thousands of years is scattered and cut off, and the flags of the common people are planted on the temples! Just like my sacred Cocom family.
Seven hundred years ago, the gods abandoned us. The earth cracked, the rivers dried up, the corn harvest failed, and the nations fought. Tikal, the royal city of the gods, is destroyed! The last monument of Tonina ended six hundred years ago, and the glorious golden age had ended.
More than ten million corn people could only migrate north and south, drifting like fluff in the wind, and they were divided into three parts: north, middle and south. Then the three tribes split up, dozens of kingdoms fought endlessly, farmland and villages were reduced to ashes in the civil war, temples and canals were ruthlessly demolished, and corn people died all the time. "
"Wait a minute, you just said that there are more than ten million Mayans?" Xiulote was a little unbelievable. In his impression, the tropical rainforest should be a barren and sparsely populated place, and the Mayans of later generations only numbered in the millions.
Tikalo nodded seriously.
"Documents from the Golden Age record that at that time, there were water canals all over the rainforest, the farmland on the plains was completely cultivated, and people began to plant terraces on the mountains. The city-states were prosperous and rich, and the population was as rich as the capital city in the lake. There were dozens of Mayan states. , with a population of at least 10 million, and may even reach 15 to 20 million!”
Shulot looked at Tikalo's sincere and bright eyes, savored the sadness in his eyes, and nodded slightly: the lost Mayan civilization, the lost golden age.
Tikallo continues with the history of the Maya.
"In the northern Yucatan, our sacred Cocom family inherits the knowledge from the royal city of Tikal, and the noble bloodline rules the dazzling Mayapan. It is the continuation of the glory of the gods, the "model of the Mayans", and a new era of prosperity. !My name comes from Tikal, the city of the gods.
However, more than forty years ago, the Tuturxiu family led warriors and civilians to launch a rebellion, completely destroying the great Mayapan, renaming it Tuturxiu, and establishing a new capital, Mani. Since then, the Cocom family has withered and scattered. The main branch led the remaining tribes to the southeast and established a new small city. And branches like me wandered around and became businessmen and civilians.
From then on, my family could only live in foreign countries, relying on the inherited knowledge of mathematics and astronomy to take risks and travel by boat to trade among various countries. Other Mayan merchants admired my bloodline and made me the leader of the merchant group. After all these years, it seems that they have a lot of money and a good life, but in fact they are precarious, and life and death only depend on the thoughts of the noble ones. "
Having said this, Ti Carlo lowered his head and closed his eyes slightly. Thinking of the glory of his ancestors and his own experiences, all kinds of feelings came to his heart, and his nose felt sour.
Shulot was speechless for a moment. He really didn't expect that the Mayan merchant in front of him actually had a glorious ancestral heritage.
In this way, the Holy Kokum family has a history of the reign of Tuturshu-Mayapan. They are former rulers that the current Mayan lords cannot tolerate, but they are the most suitable agents for the Mexica people!
The young man thought for a moment, smiled, and looked at Ti Carlo with more admiration.
Next, Shulot continued to ask for news from afar. Tikallo possesses knowledge from the upper levels of the Maya, has traveled far and wide, and knows a lot about the vast world.
"The great corn man drove the largest galley and headed south into the dense rain forest. He exchanged bundles of cotton cloth for bags of turquoise from the local residents and made dozens of times the profit. In the far south, we arrived at Qi The Butca region, where loose tribesmen exchanged cheap salt and gold, also made tenfold profits.”
Xiulote thought in his mind that the Chibutsa area is today's Gran Colombia area. The Mayans met tribesmen along the coast, but did not go up the river and missed the powerful Muisca kingdom deep in the jungle, which was the source of the legend of the El Dorado.
The Muisca people are also a people of salt and are rich in salt and gemstones. The Muisca people are also a people of salt and are rich in salt and gemstones. Their cultural beliefs have become the historical source that all Colombian countries will pursue together in the future.
As for the Inca Empire further to the south, separated by mountains, jungles and oceans, it is now only a passing legend. However, with the navigation skills of the Mayans and the directions predicted by Shulot, the connection between the two major civilizations can be realized.
Shulot felt happy in his heart, and the unknown world once again unfolded in his eyes. In prosperity there is lost glory, in wilderness there is potential hope. He asked his guards to bring him fine wine, and he drank with the merchants.
The young man has the world in his mind, his thoughts are flying at this time, and he is looking towards the endless future.
