Chapter 250: The Inheritance Slate, the Rise and Fall of the Kingdom

"Eh?.This is"

Listening to Jatiri's serious words, Shulot also took two steps forward and looked at the second stone slab.

The picture on the slate is simple and clear. At a glance, you can see a large black cloud in the sky. The black clouds extended out countless black lines, falling like endless heavy rain. Wherever the heavy rain falls, there are endless wavy lines, like a vast lake. There are some small islands emerging from the lines, and in the middle, there are people paddling canoes. There were nobles, warriors and villains in civilian attire in the crowd. They were holding up a richly dressed man and throwing him into the lake together!

The young king looked carefully for a moment. Many graphic symbols are depicted around the picture, including the sun, clouds, water, earth, corn, sacrifice, death and destruction. And the picture itself always gave him a familiar feeling and reminded him of a lot. he asked thoughtfully.

"Is this... a great flood? A sacrifice?"

Jatiri smiled and nodded.

"Exactly! Your Highness, you might as well guess who is offering the sacrifice?"

"The clothes are gorgeous, and the painting is of an adult. He must be a prominent divine noble."

"Haha, that's right. It's the place in the lake, the prince of the Kingdom of Urishu!"

"What! The prince of the last kingdom in the lake?"

Shulot looked surprised. Sacred sacrifices sometimes used divine nobles as sacrifices, but the sources of sacrifices were often prisoners of war or rebellious subjects. If the prince of the kingdom is chosen as a sacrifice, it can only prove one thing that he looks towards the knowledgeable elders.

"The king of the Later Urich Kingdom lost control of the country? This is a precursor to destruction!"

"Your Highness is wise!"

Jatiri smiled and praised. Then, with a solemn expression, he explained seriously.

"This happened two hundred years ago. It can be seen as the end of the Fourth Era and the beginning of the Fifth Era. According to epic records, at the end of the Fourth Era, there was a heavy rain that lasted for 99 days! The downpour of rain fell from the sky Falling, and then gathering from the mountains on all sides, when the water level is highest, Lake Patzcuaro rises to a height of nearly ten people, Lake Quetseo rises to a height of six people, and the lower Lake Chapala even rises. More than ten people tall!”

"The water level has risen to the height of ten people! The lake will flood directly to Qin Congcan's city!"

Hearing this, Shulot was shocked. Even in this era, the average height of people is relatively low, with ten people being about 15 meters tall. There are no dams around Lake Patzcuaro. If the water level rises fifteen meters, the area of ​​​​the lake will expand several times!

"Exactly! At that time, Qincongcan City was not the center of the Kingdom in the Lake. The center of the Kingdom of Urishu was on the west bank of Lake Patzcuaro, near the Tacuro Plain. That was the resting place, where the birds came from Where the sky falls."

The knowledgeable elder looked at His Highness and smiled meaningfully.

"Your Highness, you fought with the Feather Prince of Chapala there. It is now a rich village farmland, and before it was a lush puddle meadow. But earlier, under the soil brought by those floods, in fact, The ruins of the ancient kingdom are being buried. The biggest threat to the lake area and the most important reason for the demise of the ancient kingdom is floods!”

"Two hundred years ago, a great flood swept through the land in the lake! The water levels of the lakes in the lake area rose and even connected together to form a vast lake. The higher hills and peaks turned into islands of different sizes; the terrain The lower valleys and basins have become part of the great lake, and when the fertile lakeside farmland and the rich lowland villages are flooded by the lake, the turmoil in the kingdom in the lake can no longer be suppressed!"

"The gradually rising water level slowly submerged the densely populated lakeside communities, and also forced the people in the lowlands to migrate. These places were once the essence of the kingdom in the lake, with the largest population! The powerful nobles lost their fiefdoms, and many The warriors and civilians lost their farmland. They united in a rare move and marched to the untouched highlands."

"However, these lands already had owners. Irreconcilable conflicts soon arose, and then turned into war! The nobles of the lowlands and highlands fought to the death, fighting for the land to survive. The raging floods hindered the kingdom's transportation, and also The movement of the army was cut off. Under the impact of the flood, the king lost the power to rule the situation! Even he was forced to move with the royal family in the capital. "

"Then, the sudden reduction of farmland and the downpour of rain made the food harvest that year almost impossible! Where the heavy rain gathered, loose barns would also be flooded, causing the stored food to quickly become moldy. Famine almost followed. Later, the flood came and lasted longer than the flood!"

"The next few years were complete chaos. The original order of superiority and inferiority collapsed, and everything was respected by force. In order to compete for the highlands and islands, the nobles fought with each other, and the blood soaked the great lake! In order to compete for food for survival, warriors and militiamen They also fought with each other. They plundered villages, attacked noble fiefs, and even executed nobles to plunder the manors with savings! "

"Soon, the king's sacred authority was also challenged. The powerful highland nobles openly questioned it, claiming that the king had offended the gods, which led to the disaster! With the help of caring people, such rumors spread quickly and quickly aroused In response to the dissatisfaction of the people during the flood, the priests also divided themselves. They made voices unfavorable to the king and gradually turned to the powerful nobles everywhere. "

"King Urihu was forced to sacrifice his prince in Lake Patzcuaro to temporarily appease the anger of the nobles and warriors. However, when the king lost the people's hearts and power, such actions would only reveal his weakness. A few years later, the king was poisoned by the nobles. Even though the flood had receded and the lowland land could be cultivated again, the collapsed kingdom order was gone forever!"

Jatiri's short words vividly described the decline of the previous kingdom in front of the young king. Xiuluot couldn't help but walk to the window. He watched the heavy rain in the rainy season fall on Lake Patzcuaro, and looked at the flooded fertile land by the lake, and fell into deep thought.

"Heavy rain brings floods, floods gather, the lake level rises, and floods the basin and valley. Water control projects are needed. Similar basin terrain, Dujiangyan in Sichuan and Shu, and the dam of Lake Texcoco."

Xiuluot whispered to himself, once again raising the importance of water conservancy projects in his heart.

The life of the classical kingdom is the water system, the agricultural area along the rivers and lakes. Especially in Central America, where precipitation is concentrated, the amount of precipitation is uncertain, and rain and heat occur at the same time, a few droughts or floods are enough to destroy a civilization. He remembered the story told by the Mayan merchant Tikallo, that the end of the Mayan Golden Age hundreds of years ago and the destruction of the divine capital Tikal were inseparable from the frequent droughts and floods in the Fourth Age.

The young king thought for a moment before raising his head again. He had a vague guess in his heart, but he still asked.

"Two hundred years ago, the great flood disintegrated the order of the Kingdom of Houurixiu. What is the ending of this kingdom in the lake?"

Jatiri smiled and looked at the calm Xiu Luote.

"Your Highness, you must have known it. Look here!"

The knowledgeable elder took two steps forward, stretched out his hand again, and pressed it on the third stone slab.

The third stone slab was a huge realistic picture. The majestic condor soared in the sky in the middle, and the magnificent sun rose slowly from the east. The condor and the sun accompanied each other, looking down at the vast land together. On the ground, a group of people came from the northwest along the river. The leader wore a crown with an eagle's wings spread, which made him look particularly tall and eye-catching. On both sides of their way, there were nobles, warriors and civilians in the lake area who welcomed them with tributes in their hands. They settled together by the lake, built houses in the town, built a huge city of bluestone, and built a towering Akata!

Xuluot looked closer. The brushstrokes of this painting are ancient and old, but also have a kind of vibrant vitality. Around the picture, there are various patterns such as condors, hummingbirds, crocodiles, feathers, turkeys, cocoa, etc. These familiar patterns also appeared on the enemy's flags on the battlefield of the Western Expedition! As for the content of this picture...

The young king spoke in a deep voice.

"The original murals in the main hall of the Palace of Wind?"

"That's right! Your Highness, the unpredictable and terrible climate also forced the northerners to migrate south. The Chichimecs who migrated south came from the northwest and conquered the chaotic and divided Kingdom of Urihu. Although they were few in number, they were brave and unstoppable! The old nobles had already suffered heavy losses in the civil strife. They were either ruthlessly eliminated or surrendered. The warriors and civilians were also tired of the long-term war and longed for a unified order, and surrendered to the strongest one after another."

"The Condor Legion came all the way east with unstoppable force! They recruited rebels, they enfeoffed new nobles, and they grew stronger. The Condor tribe passed through the Chapala Lake area, passed through the Takuro Plain, and came to the city of Chincongchan!"

Jatiri's voice was filled with a chanting tone and ups and downs of emotion.

"The final outcome is undoubted, but the path to it is worth exploring. The new Tarasco Kingdom was established on the fertile soil of the Land of the Lake! The Chichimecs who migrated south brought with them the enterprising spirit and vitality of the northern plateau and established their capital in the southeast of Lake Patzcuaro, a safe highland in the flood, the city of Chincongcan.

Learning from the experience of the fall of the previous kingdom, the Tarasco kings of all generations adopted a series of new measures! They concentrated the power of the king and built new direct strongholds; they managed the nobles of the kingdom and governed the occupied land; they sought the majesty of the gods and controlled the power of the priests; they also merged with the Urish people of the Land of the Lake to form the new Purépecha people!"

At this point, the knowledgeable elder bowed his head and saluted solemnly.

"Your Highness, let me explain it to you in detail! In the past one or two hundred years, these strategies have been proven to be effective and will surely benefit your future governance!"

Note: Most of these chapters on the inheritance tablet are referenced from the book "Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica", especially the chapter "Ruling "Purépecha Chichimeca" in a Tarascan World". The other part comes from foreign links in Wikipedia. ^_^