The rain fell continuously in July, so warm and calm. The drizzle moistens everything on the earth: there are lush vegetation in the mountains, singing birds in the woods, green buds in the fields, and the vitality of early summer everywhere.
Hulot was wearing a thatched raincoat and stood quietly in the rain by Lake Patzcuaro.
He looked toward the low sky. The pattering raindrops form intermittent lines, falling on the cloud-shrouded mountains, and then flow down from the mountains, converging into streams between basins. He looked towards the stream at the foot of the mountain. The clear stream flows slowly, nourishing the shallow trees that sprout along the way, and also soaking into the cultivated farmland.
The young king's eyes patrolled the neat farmland, and finally landed on the village at the end, by the lake.
"Let's go there and have a look."
Shulot gave a deep command. Bertard nodded and left quickly with dozens of guards. He wanted to take the first step and go to the village to inspect it himself. 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!"
Xiulote gave the order loudly and then walked leisurely across the field ridge. He looked down at the cultivated acres on both sides, carefully observed the new seedlings in the fields, and calculated the time for sowing.
After corn seeds are sown, they will absorb water and germinate within a week under suitable soil temperature and moisture conditions. The germinated new shoots will first take root, branch out three or four fixed radicles into the surrounding soil, and then poke out the germs into the air above.
Thinking of this, Shulot squatted down and measured it carefully with his fingers. Then, he held 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 and are only about the length of a little finger. Even the first pair of unearthed cotyledons have not yet unfolded and are still wrapped in a tube shape. The collected rainwater flows through the field, passing through the young corn seedlings, causing it to tilt slightly.
"The seeds only germinated for a week, and the sowing was completed two weeks ago. Well, it was completed before the heavy rain came. It's still qualified!"
Shulot looked at the tender seedlings and fell into deep thought. If the seedlings grow for another week, the roots of the seedlings will be firmly rooted into the soil, and the cotyledons will open into a leaf-like shape. The corn seedlings will then be fully formed and will not be damaged too much by the heavy rain. Rainwater pouring into the soil will reduce the oxygen in the soil and cause damage to the roots of crops, which also requires deeper and longer root systems to overcome
Generally speaking, the timing of agricultural activities needs to be coordinated with rain and temperature, and this year's spring plowing is indeed a bit late. Fortunately, it seems that the military and civilian villages around the capital have generally completed their farming tasks, and there will be no problem. The fall harvest is affected.
While Hulot was thinking about it, Bertard had quickly returned from the village and was standing by quietly. He looked up and the warrior commander nodded seriously. The young king then stood up, clapped the sandy soil 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 dark crowd, surrounded by dozens of supervisory guards and an accompanying translator. There are not many differences between Tarasco and Mexica, and many words and pronunciations are very similar. 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. Shulot nodded calmly and waved his hand, signaling the priest, village chief and militia captain to get up and ask questions.
This is one of more than eighty villages in the Patzcuaro Lake District, located on the northern shore of the great lake. The village is large in area and once had a large and prosperous population. Only last year, the village was conquered several times by the Kingdom of Tarasco, and then was attacked by the defeated army. It was once severely damaged.
After conquering the royal capital of Qincongcan, Shulot counted 60,000 civilians in the city, nearly half of whom were villagers who had fled. The young king organized these 30,000 people, and together with more than 100,000 old and weak people around the royal capital, placed them in villages around the lake area, and then directly dispatched priests to manage them, setting them up as direct community villages. The size of each Mintun village is about 2,000 people, and there are 80 in total, about 160,000 people.
Community management is a Mexican tradition and the foundation of the alliance's strong mobilization power. The essence of community villages is to organize households and people, strictly supervise farming, and direct agricultural activities. It's just that Shulot's men lacked reliable grassroots management personnel and low-level priests who were proficient in calculations. The organization of the community had just begun and was still at a very rough stage.
The Young King only sent low-level priests who had recently been trained to each village community, selected local village chiefs, and supplemented them with stationed militia teams, barely controlling the 150,000 to 60,000 villagers around the lake area.
Therefore, in the Mintun village in front of us, the highest status is the village priest who directly belongs to His Highness, who can contact the superior priests and is responsible for religious activities, tax collection and decree reading; followed by the locally selected village chief, usually from Ding. A family with a large population actually manages agricultural production, coordinates village affairs, and inspects collective storage; finally, the militia captain is dispatched or selected to control the village's armed forces, maintain village security, guard the warehouse, and dispatch tribute teams on time. Of course, in an alliance that advocates force, the political status of the village chief and the militia captain is actually roughly equal.
Under such a grassroots structure, the old aristocratic influence and their bodies were completely wiped out by the devastating national war. The new civilian managers were able to come forward and became the managers of the village to try their best to implement the will from the power center. In other words, the degree of centralization of power was further increased.
Seeing His Highness's signal, the three people with power in the village bowed respectfully again, and then stood up carefully. The village priest shouted softly, and two young girls came forward, lowered their heads, and presented fresh garlands to His Highness.
Shulot smiled lightly and tilted his head. The warrior captain took the wreath and handed it to the guard beside him. Then, the young king looked seriously at the middle-aged priest.
"Take me to see the altar in the village. How about the spring plowing ceremony? Are the morning and evening prayers completed on time? Have the alliance's religious decrees been read out?"
The middle-aged priest was half-bowed, but he showed a bit of a warrior temperament. He was born in the Alliance, received five years of military training as a boy, and was also good at fighting. He can fluently switch between Tarasco and Mexica, and is the end of the root system of the alliance's dominant tree.
"Dear Priest King, the sacrifice of spring plowing is very grand. According to the latest instructions of the high priests, the main god has replaced the god of harvest. No statues are erected, only emblems are left. Collective prayers will be held in the village in the morning and evening, and the villagers have begun to have some Chaos, and now it is gradually getting back on track. The busy farming season has just ended, and I have just finished talking about the alliance’s decree to promote military merit, encourage farming, and encourage fertility. 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, with a large wooden emblem of the Hummingbird Sun erected on it, for a total height of nearly four meters. Various grains were placed around the altar, as well as some sacrificial feathers, birds and small animals.
Shulot looked at it for a moment, with a slight smile on his face. The alliance takes religion as the core of its governance, and the altar is related to the 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, do not sacrifice humans or animals."
The young king gave instructions in a deep voice. The middle-aged priest blinked and nodded solemnly. Then, Shulot looked at the village chief who was following him.
"How is the spring plowing in the village completed? Has the required number of acres been met? How is the manure collected? How is the construction of the village's granary? The villagers must participate in the work, and you are no exception!"
The old village chief Nuonuo responded, the wrinkles on his face burst into laughter. He replied quietly and respectfully.
"Yes, yes! Your Highness, I have been personally leading everyone in the farming without daring to rest for a moment. The spring plowing in the village was completed three weeks ago, and the farming time 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 men in the village need to cultivate eight acres, the young and strong women six acres, and the old and weak four acres. In addition, several craftsmen have been specially arranged to repair damaged farm tools. A pond for collecting manure has been dug outside the village. , and is also used as a toilet for everyone. They follow the instructions of the priest, and they also make compost. The granary in the village is somewhat damaged, and it is being filled with earth and rocks, and it will be repaired soon."
The old village chief led Xiulote to the granary. This 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 village communities in Central America still maintained a collective village system, which was somewhat similar to the well-field system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Villagers need to work collectively, then concentrate most of the harvest into public granaries, and at the same time save for lean years. Then, the village manager is responsible for the distribution of grain in the granary, paying the lord's tribute, and arranging the labor of the villagers.
Under the protection of Bertard, Shulot walked into the granary. He looked at the corner of the house that was covered in mud and the leaking rainwater in the warehouse. Then he stretched out his hand to touch the slightly damp soil and shook his head slowly.
"This won't work! The granary must be kept waterproof and the foundation must be paved with bricks and stones!"
Shulot pondered for a while. He looked at the frightened old village chief and said comfortingly.
"This is not your problem. I will soon build big kilns around the capital to bake green bricks for building houses. At that time, you can send people directly there to collect the bricks and stones for building the granary. However, these bricks and stones must be used for the granary. , the granary must also be completely waterproof! Otherwise.”
Upon hearing this, the old village chief immediately kowtowed to the ground and responded repeatedly. Xiuluo nodded and strode out of the granary. Then, he waved with a smile on his face.
"Come here. Are you one of Ezpin's militiamen? How are you doing here?"
The militia captain put down the spear in his hand, came to Shulot with his bare hands, and knelt down to salute with a bang.
"Your Highness, I salute you! Yes, I am a militiaman under Captain Ezpan. The Captain often says that you are our only sun!"
"I live a good life here! I married a local wife, raised a group of turkeys, and had a big house. Oh, in terms of the village. Now I have five militiamen who followed me, and there are also local call My twenty strong men will protect the entire village until this autumn harvest, and I will take them to deliver the tribute to the royal capital!"
Shulot listened patiently for a while and nodded slightly. In a village of two thousand people, five senior militiamen and twenty ordinary militiamen, plus the authority of the priests and village chiefs, can almost maintain basic order and capture sporadic bandits. After all, this is the heart of the Lake District, not the borderland where the canines are rampant. Militiamen in the village can receive an additional ration from the warehouse to maintain training several times a month.
"very good!"
After listening to the militia captain's story, Shulot smiled and nodded. He raised his hand and took a red cloak from the bodyguard and gave it to the militia captain himself. The captain put his cloak on himself with some excitement, then knelt down and saluted.
"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 senior warrior!"
Hearing this, Shulot had a smile in his eyes and approval on his face. He stepped forward, patted the militia captain's shoulder affectionately, and said with a smile.
"Don't be in a hurry, be patient and take root in the village and maintain the order of the village community. You are the cornerstone of the alliance. There are still many opportunities for expeditions in the future."
Next, Shulot visited the village again. He stood outside, looked at the villagers' simple and narrow huts, and then looked inside through the door opening. The young king's expression was a little solemn. The development of productivity was limited by the times. The life of ordinary people was just a struggle to survive.
The young king did not give any more instructions. He just stood in front of the altar for a while and looked at the wooden mark of the hummingbird sun. The tall hummingbird spreads its wings and flies towards the sun of hope. Then, under the protection of his personal guards, Shulot turned and left. It wasn't until he disappeared at the end of the field that the villagers lying on the ground stood up, their faces showing respect as if they were facing a god.
The king transformed into a priest from the gods, holding an emerald scepter and seeing everything in the future. Such rumors had begun to spread around the royal city unknowingly.
Shulot returned in the drizzle. He walked through the tall and solid city gate, passed through the empty streets of the royal capital, and returned to the magnificent Wind Palace, all the way to the main hall. The two painters who were painting immediately put down their pens, saluted His Highness, and then bowed and left.
The young king glanced at the mural on the wall, and the pattern on it was being modified. Led by the sun hummingbird, the Prepecha people came to the fertile soil near 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 Qincongcan City. The existence of the "House of Wind" pyramid is a testimony that the Lord God came to the world and issued a decree to completely integrate the two ethnic groups!
Then, Shulot took off his raincoat, wiped off the rain briefly, then sat in front of the wooden table and looked at the latest album.
The monkey Kuruka was half-bowed and busy beside the young king. He helped His Highness hang up his clothes, brought him a cup of hot cocoa with honey, and then sat cross-legged next to him.
"Monkey, have you sent all the latest scout information?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, they are all here. Your fiefdom is so big!"
Having said this, Kuruca took out a huge wooden board and carefully handed it to Shulot. The young king looked at the dense markings on it, read for a moment, and finally showed a satisfied smile on his face!
(End of chapter)
