The night was deep, and after a day of exhaustion, Shulot fell asleep under the stars.
Dreams under the starry sky are always bright and gorgeous. There were countless shining stars in the medieval Milky Way, just like the great figures of this era, emerging from his dreams one by one, with distant fighting and shouting. It wasn't until the huge Clark sailboat came from the horizon, and the sea and shore, east and west, white-skinned and yellow-skinned gunners fired at each other amidst the roar, that the young man suddenly woke up.
He opened his eyes suddenly, and the sky fell into his eyes. The evening star shines in the sky, and the morning light shines in the east. Death has escorted the sun, crossed the long darkness, and risen from the sky again, bringing light to this land!
Shulot lay on the soft hay, watching the sunrise quietly, smelling the smell of dead grass and salt.
Bertard's eyes were slightly closed, as if sleeping but not asleep. He opened his eyes as if aware of it, looked at the dazed boy, and smiled slightly. The warrior captain was already used to the boy's "divine revelation", and was only slightly moved by what he saw last night. He believes that Xiulote is the dawn of the Mexica people and the only hope for the common people. He is willing to follow him and protect him until he grows old.
The old carpenter Kuaud slept lightly. He had been watching silently last night, staring blankly at the deep smoke. From the young man's excited expression, he smelled an ominous smell, the smell of more life and death.
Far away from each other, Moreno slept with his brothers and had a sleepless night. The leader of the salt workers tossed and turned, looking at his hands worriedly from time to time, and sighing deeply. He thought of the burning "salt", the purple-green smoke, and the flames under the moonlight, and was filled with worry.
"Have I been cursed by His Highness the Priest and exchanged my future life for the gift of the evil moon?"
The fierce Moreno once again fell into unknown fear and confusion. Facing the morning light, he secretly looked at the priest, only to see that he had already stood up and was practicing martial arts with the terrifying warrior captain.
When the sun rises, Shulot finally completes his daily training. He had a simple breakfast at the salt farm, and the warriors were already getting ready.
The young man first looked at the supervisor, Cavare, who was standing by with a smile of awe.
"Cavare, yesterday you said that this brown fluffy salt soil only appears on cold days?"
Cavare looked at the salty soil on the ground in fear. Now, he has completely believed in the legend of the earth spirit.
"Your Highness, the spirits in the soil will only wake up from the end of November to the end of February, the coldest time of the dry season, leaving behind this kind of divine soil. At other times, this kind of soil is difficult to see. And when the rainy season comes, the spirits will Sleep and this soil will disappear completely.”
Shulot pondered for a moment, thinking about the key points. Then he made a decision and gave the order to the supervisor with a solemn expression.
"Kavare, it's January now. From today to the end of February, you have to command the salt workers and do your best to collect this fluffy salt soil! The alliance's priests will use this sacred soil to perform the important task of summoning the gods. Sacrifice! You are allowed to recruit surrounding villagers to dig. The collected sacred soil must be stored dry and not mixed with other salt soil."
Upon hearing the sacrificial ceremony, Cavare's eyes showed deep awe. But soon, the awe of the myth was replaced by the interests of reality. He looked at His Highness respectfully and replied in a low voice with rejection.
"Here, Your Highness...the large salt mine has a daily quantity requirement for salt mining. The salt workers also have a lot of work..."
"Kavare, kneel down!" Xiulote looked at the overseer, his majesty not allowing him to refuse.
The elite warriors on both sides immediately stepped forward and held Cavare's shoulders down. They raised their legs and kicked Cavare accurately in the hip. The supervisor fell to his knees in pain and frowned in pain.
"Kavare, don't think that I don't know what you are doing with the merchants! The priestly rituals are related to the gods, and those who destroy the rituals will be punished by death regardless of their status! Do you want to be sacrificed on the sacrifice stone of the great temple?"
Hearing this, Cavare lowered his head in fear, sweat dripping down his round face.
"I will seek instructions from the king and the high priest. Starting today, most of the overseers will be dismissed, leaving only four or five for handover. I will send sixty warriors again to supervise the collection of the salt field. Recruit the surrounding villagers! The Alliance will allocate a batch of cotton cloth as compensation. General Casal is idle at home, you must understand the value of your survival!"
Hearing this realistic threat, Cavare finally couldn't hold on any longer. He crawled to the ground and killed himself.
Shulot looked at the supervisor with an expressionless expression for a while to make sure that he really obeyed. He looked at Moreno, who was silent.
"Moreno, take your cronies with you, carry the saltpeter collected yesterday, and follow me to the capital. Think carefully on the way, how to boil more burning powder!"
Moreno wailed in his heart. His Highness ignored the southern trade routes flowing with the golden river, and instead brewed this evil and weird salt soil. I have never heard of a sacrificial ceremony using this kind of soil. I am afraid it is not a sacrifice to the original evil Sipactli... Thinking of this, the salt worker leader shuddered. He just nodded respectfully and did not dare to say anything more.
Afterwards, the saltmen got busy again. Not long after, more than two hundred temple guards in dark suits, wearing noble wolf-headed beast helmets, hurriedly appeared at the entrance of the salt field.
Shulot stepped forward surrounded by guards. He was slightly surprised to find that the leader of the temple guard was a warrior he had known since childhood, a guard of the Butterfly Palace in the Holy City, and Hervé who liked the "ferocious" smile the most.
"Hervé, did your grandfather send you here?"
Elvi smiled kindly from under the wolf's head.
"Your Highness, I feel relieved when I see you. After receiving the notification from the guards, the high priest was quite worried. The new law was about to be promulgated, and the situation in the capital was unpredictable. The high priest asked me to bring a whole team here, just in case. .”
Xiuluo nodded. Two hundred elite temple guards were enough to protect themselves from most attacks by nobles. The young man thought for a moment and then gave instructions to Elvi.
"Leave sixty temple guards and take over the work of the large salt mine immediately. I will go back and report this to the king and the high priest."
Elvi accepted the order without hesitation. Immediately, he named three twenty-man teams, dispersed most of the complaining supervisors, and directly and strictly controlled the inside and outside of the salt field.
Seeing the actions of the temple guards, the supervisor, Cavare, did not resist at all and cooperated with the work honestly. The salt collectors stayed away from each other and watched the situation for a while before Cavare scolded them loudly and started collecting brown salt soil again.
Seeing that everything was on track, Xiuluo nodded and rushed to the lake capital with two hundred warrior guards and dozens of saltmen carrying salt and soil on their backs.
While walking in a hurry, Shulot thought carefully.
He completely distrusted the rotten overseers of the big salt mine, and the time for collecting saltpeter was extremely short. So after a little hesitation, he made a decision and directly took over control of the big salt mine.
The large salt mine was originally controlled by the royal family and nobles. This time the incident occurred suddenly and the takeover was forcibly carried out on the grounds of sacrificial rituals, which resulted in an actual conflict between divine power and royal power. He must now go back, report to King Avit, complete the due procedures, and at the same time face the dissatisfaction of stakeholders.
As everyone headed northeast, the saline-alkali land gradually disappeared, and neat farmland appeared in front of them. Due to frequent volcanic activity, the soil here is light gray and rich in fertile volcanic ash, resulting in extremely high crop yields.
And on the side of the hill at the end of the dust is a colorful obsidian mine. The early morning sun shines softly, flowing among the shining stone mines, reflecting the changing light of blue, green, purple, black, gold and silver, like a rainbow, which is extremely gorgeous. Obsidian itself is a naturally occurring volcanic glass.
This stone mine was already on the inspection list. Shulot then entered the mine, stopped for a moment, and watched carefully. Dozens of mine guards were alerted by the group of warriors and took out their weapons vigilantly. Craftsman Director Kuaud stepped forward quickly and informed these familiar guards that it was His Highness who was coming to inspect.
Obsidian is one of the Alliance's most important military supplies. It is a dense volcanic glass that was formed in rhyolite lava flows because the lava cooled so quickly that solid crystals did not form. Volcanic glass has no regular structure and breaks internally into smoothly curved interlaced shapes. The intersection of these fractures can form an edge that is sharper than a steel blade, and can easily cut animal leather and flesh and blood.
Therefore, the ancestors of Central America used obsidian to make sharp arrowheads and war stick blades, turning them into weapons for fighting on the battlefield. In modern times, these obsidian flakes were also used in surgeons' sharp surgical blades.
The Mexican Alliance firmly controls the largest obsidian mine in Central America, which is also the source of the alliance's strength. There are three large-scale obsidian natural mines in Mexica, located in Pachuca in the northeast of the union, Otumba in the east, and Chicoloapan in the south. The large obsidian mine Pachuca is located near the holy city of Teotihuacan and was the cornerstone of the ancient Teotihuacan civilization.
Small obsidian mines are scattered throughout the Alliance, near the volcanic mountains in the east and west. This is a small mine that belongs directly to the royal family and is strictly supervised by royal warriors.
In the open-pit mine, hundreds of strong masons stood shirtless in front of the broken obsidian veins, sweating like rain while collecting rough obsidian stones with exposed nodules. They first swung the stone pick vigorously to break the cut surface, and then carefully used the stone chisel to cut out the original stone. Subsequently, these rough stones of various sizes were sent to the rear where they were screened and rough-processed by military craftsmen.
Military craftsmen cut the original obsidian stone according to its texture. The most common way is to make the original stone into a cylindrical shape. Then they placed the black stone pillar between their legs and used fine stone chisels to apply force from the edge of the stone pillar. Each successful excavation along the side will scrape out stone flakes of different sizes from the edge of the stone pillar like a razor.
Armament craftsmen then sorted the stone flakes into different sizes and sharpnesses. The stone flakes are double-sided, single-sided or flaky. Most of them are war stick sharp pieces, and some are used as civilian cutting tools. Only stone chips whose edges are not sharp enough or have worn edges will be used as excavation parts to replace the masonry's rapidly wearing collection tools.
For expensive and beautiful large rough stones, military craftsmen will specially select and retain them. These large rough stones will be sent to the stonemason workshops in the capital, where they will be made into various expensive obsidian utensils through fine excavation, grinding and carving. Lozano, the chief stonemason, got his raw materials from this source.
Shulot tested the sharpness of the obsidian blade. He just gently moved the sharp blade, and then it cut through the rabbit skin hanging in the workshop and broke into the dead flesh.
The young man marveled in his heart. After thousands of years of development, from excavation, use to processing, Mesoamerican obsidian technology has completely reached the pinnacle of proficiency. Obsidian tools have met the daily life needs of Mesoamerican civilizations and fit the corresponding war situation and warrior hierarchy.
Early bronze tools did not provide sufficient advantages over the cheap and productive obsidian tools. To some extent, the advanced obsidian technology inhibited the development of Mesoamerican metallurgical technology, and the bronze tools of the Tarascans were just in their infancy.
Shulot watched for a moment. His eyes first looked at the well-developed upper body muscles of the masons, and then rested on their calm expressions. Then, he called a few masons, measured their discipline again, and then nodded with satisfaction.
"How many masons are there in the Alliance?" The young man looked at Kuod expectantly.
Kuaud thought for a while and reported cautiously.
"The three large obsidian mines each have nearly a thousand miners, and the dozen or so small mines have tens to hundreds."
Then, the craftsman director hesitated to speak.
"But Your Highness, masonry and military craftsmanship are the basis for maintaining the alliance's military force. The samurai's obsidian sharp blades are consumed very quickly, and they may need to be replaced several times in a battle. The art of obsidian mining requires a long time of practice, and these masons must prepare for it. It is impossible to recruit many of the alliance’s one hundred thousand warriors to serve.”
Hearing this, Shulot was slightly startled. He considered it for a moment and asked in a deep voice.
"If the supply of large stones in the masonry area of the capital is reduced, how many masonry workers can be allocated at most?"
The craftsman director hesitated to speak, but finally gave the number.
"It can probably form a battalion of 800 people."
Xiuluo nodded and looked at these outstanding soldiers with a little regret. After getting the needed information, the young man didn't stay too long and went straight to the capital.
When the sun rises to the middle of the sky, the capital city in the lake can be seen in the distance. At a glance, the capital city of Shiraishi is shining with brilliance, and its bright red color is dazzling. It is red volcanic rock that decorates the tops of palaces and large temples, symbolizing the authority of the gods.
Shulot looked towards the east of the capital again. Among the rolling mountains is the towering Popocatepetl volcano.
The boy recalled what he saw along the way: gold and silver, salt mines, obsidian, volcanic ash farmland, and volcanic rocks, all of which are products of volcanic activity. Geological movements determine the geographical environment, and the geographical environment deeply limits the initial development trajectory of local civilization.
