Chapter 621 Black Wolf’s Request, Unexpected Discovery!
Sunset and moonrise, two days have passed in a blink of an eye. The round moon rose to the middle of the sky, and the moonlight fell like water. The high mountains in the north, the fortresses on the mountains, the long river in the south, the ships on the river, and the continuous Mexica military camps in the middle, all fell silent under the moonlight, temporarily hiding the cruel fighting and blood and fire in peace.
In the deep night, Xiu Luote sat cross-legged in the big tent of the main camp. Next to him was Eckart, the chief guard in charge of grinding ink, but Naxiu was nowhere to be seen.
"What a strange little fox! She was seducing in every possible way in the first two months, but she has been hiding in the past two months."
Xiuluote glanced at the loyal and resolute chief guard beside him, and felt a little complaining in his heart.
Three months ago, after the "World Painting" that night, he and Naxiu had a lot of fun several times, and they were quite addicted. However, during this period, Naxiu was a little strange, often saying that she was not feeling well and went to bed early at night. Xiu Luote was a little doting on her, worried that she would get sick, so he agreed to everything. However, in this way, it is no longer the graceful red sleeves who add incense and grind at night, but the strong warriors.
The warriors stood guard in silence. The blood at the door of the big tent has been cleaned up. During this period, in order to command the legion nearby, Xiuluot did not continue to live in the comfortable temple, but rested in the barracks. At this moment, the high bright moon fell from the top of the tent, and the shining bonfire cast light and shadow from the corner, illuminating the map and letter in the king's hand.
"My supreme wolf king, the Guakili Legion, all listen to you! We are in the forest in the east, recruiting those fleeing Tlaxcala tribes. Everyone has been in the forest all day, although it is very tiring, but 10,000 people have been recruited and are being transported to the southern Water Valley City."
Xiuluot looked at the crooked letter from the black wolf, and the corner of his mouth rose. He stretched out his hand to unfold the latest kingdom document, and at the same time checked the report from the two southern counties.
By February, the Tuntian Camp in the southern Water Valley City had transported another 40,000 men and women, almost empty. In the camp that stretched for more than ten miles, there were only 10,000 young and strong Mixteke captives left. The Lake Kingdom in the lower reaches of the Changhe River was in a state of food shortage after "swallowing" 220,000 young and strong men and women from various tribes in one year. The two southern counties could no longer accept more immigrants or serfs before the autumn harvest.
According to Xiu Luot's will, the two southern counties were now making a large number of bronze and iron farm tools to prepare for the critical spring plowing three months later. There are also large copper mines in the north of Zicao County, which belong to the huge and narrow Qinganbat copper belt. These scattered copper mines are being developed nearby by veteran Etalik for small-scale mining and smelting. The smelting of bronze vertical furnaces also risks the spread of technology and is promoted among the craftsmen in the two southern counties to obtain the maximum production capacity.
As for the iron ore in Black Rock Mountain, iron has begun to be produced in the vertical furnace. The amount of iron produced is not small, but the quality is low, and it is basically used to make farm tools. The iron farm tools produced in the first year will be given priority to the Mexica and Purépecha villages, the pillars of the kingdom. The expensive bronze farm tools, according to convention, will be handed over to the priests of the main god for management, and then lent to the devout villagers by the priests. The manure collected in the village will also be distributed by the priests.
Under the governance system of the kingdom, the piety of faith will be specifically considered, and there will be tangible benefits to promote faith as soon as possible!
Now, the two southern counties of the kingdom are trying to maintain stability and strive to reclaim lake fields, and everything is based on agriculture. Only when the autumn harvest this year, with the most basic harvest, can the hundreds of thousands of captive immigrants who are being transferred be slightly relieved. The grain produced in the two southern counties should be self-sufficient after the autumn harvest. After reclaiming the cultivated land for another two years, there will definitely be explosive growth.
The fertile Apa Plain is the land of abundance and the land of fish and rice in the kingdom's positioning. When the two southern counties are developed sufficiently, they can continuously provide a large amount of food! This also means that the attack range of the Kingdom Legion can rely on the Talsa River to sweep thousands of miles from east to west, and even go further!
Thinking of this, Xiu Luote stretched out his finger and groped on the west side of the world map. At this moment, a small merchant fleet of the kingdom should have obeyed his will and set out from the emerging Trout Town at the mouth of the Talsa River to the northern coast.
The scale of this merchant fleet is not large, with about thirty catamarans and more than four hundred people, half of them warriors and half of them sailors. They will go north again and take the route recorded in the first expedition of the kingdom. And the tasks they have to complete are, first, to explore the details of the Northern Tekos tribe, give gemstone gifts to the local chieftain, and then land to explore and prepare for future expeditions. The second is to contact with the Yorem tribe, which produces gold and copper, and the Yome tribe, which produces coal and gold, in the far north, and conduct a small amount of trade.
"The kingdom is not short of gold and copper, but it needs high-quality bituminous coal."
Thinking of the various minerals in the Gulf of California, Shulot's eyes flickered and he swallowed silently. The craftsmen of the kingdom tried to burn the samples brought back by the old militia and were amazed at the quality of the coal!
These high-quality bituminous coals have sufficient heat production and do not have the problem of sulfur in the coal mines of the Celestial Empire. They are excellent fuel for iron smelting. The Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine is also on the seashore and can be easily reached by water transportation. But the distance
"3,200 miles along the coast is equivalent to sailing from the capital of the Ming Dynasty to Quanzhou! If it is only 320 miles, the warriors of the kingdom will set out to attack in an instant"
Shulot sighed in his heart. With such a long distance and the kingdom's current level of navigation, it would be difficult to carry out large-scale trade in a short period of time, let alone send troops to conquer. But the Bay of Baja California is sheltered by outer islands and the wind is calm. Even a catamaran canoe can barely make it back and forth. Therefore, small-scale exchanges between the North and the South can still be achieved.
Of course, the kingdom's merchant fleet had a third original purpose in heading north, which was to bring back struvite to the island. The old militiamen brought back too few samples before, and they could not make a name for themselves whether they were trying to make saltpeter or fertilizing the fields.
"There is very little precipitation in the Baja California Islands. The struvite on the islands should be a mixture of calcium phosphate and nitrate. The technology of making nitrate from struvite has been explored for many years. And after grinding it, it is added directly to It is easy to fertilize the fields. If you can build a Chinese sand ship and transport three to four hundred tons of struvite into the fields, there will be enough fertilizer! In the climate of Central America, Milpa can have three crops a year or even more like Chinampa!”
Shulot looked at the northwest sea map and thought about it for a moment, feeling like a cat was scratching his head. He looked toward the unknown south again, thinking about the struvite stones in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, which were almost endless treasures.
"No! For the future empire, endless food is more important than endless gold and silver! And all of this must come from the sea, from the vast north and south continents!"
Thinking of this, Shulot lowered his eyes, and thoughts flashed in his heart. But to achieve a breakthrough in navigation technology, we still have to wait passively. Then, he read Heilang's letter again and soon reached the end.
"Your Highness, the Kingdom's legion is in the east, recruiting the Tlaxcala tribe in the mountains, giving them food, and spreading the faith of the Lord God. But in the past year, many tribes have fled to the land of the Totonac people. They were 'eaten' by those large tribes, large villages, and even city-states. The Totonac people in the east treated many Tlaxcala tribes as serfs, and even the neighboring Wushan City sent a large group of Totonac warriors. , blocked the surrender of the Kingdom Legion and attacked our team! The Guakili soldiers were very angry."
"Um?"
Seeing this, Shulot paused for a moment, looking surprised.
"The powerful four-state alliance of Tlaxcala was all destroyed by the alliance's eastern expedition. Now, six Mexica legions from the north and the south have gathered in the Tlaxcala Valley. The Totonac people in the east still dare to attack at this time. , provoking the alliance?”
Thinking of this, Shulot pondered for a moment and raised the corners of his mouth. He continued to read down, and sure enough, the content behind was as expected.
"Your Highness, your loyal black wolf is asking you! The Totonac village in the east provokes the alliance, provokes the kingdom, and offends the Lord God. They block the kingdom from recruiting the Tlaxcalans, and they also have many, many men. Theirs The warriors have fought several times with the legion's scouts and killed dozens of kingdom warriors! Please allow me to send out the entire legion to severely punish these Totonak people who dare to offend!"
Seeing that the Totonak people were already at war with the Alliance, Shulot frowned and cursed secretly.
"Well, you bellicose black wolf! When you come back, I will punish you by copying the Lord God's Ali Sutra ten times with your own hands!"
Then, Shulot's expression changed, thinking about the pros and cons. After a while, his eyes became sharp and cold. Strong ambition is beating in his chest, with the desire to dominate and plunder, always thirsting for further growth and strength.
"The king asked me to siege the city. I'm afraid this long siege will last for a long time, even until the next autumn harvest. The alliance's food is not abundant, and there will be losses in transportation. And the army harvested a lot from the field last year, so there is no need to The vital logistics are all left in the hands of others."
"We can continue to farm this year. But in the past two months, we have only recruited 10,000 old and weak people in Tlaxcala. The farm camp outside Shuigu City has more than 500,000 acres of mature land and can support 100,000 people. Farming! .”
"The Totonak people have offended the alliance and are at war with the Kingdom's legions. No matter what the cause, in order to maintain the majesty of the Alliance, they must be beaten to ask for peace! What's more, the kingdom needs Dingkou! More Dingkou, more Dingkou Serfs, supporting more warriors means a stronger army!"
After thinking for a moment, Shulot finally made up his mind. He already fully understood that the kingdom's military group he had established himself was a pure war machine.
For such a united and rapidly expanding military group, it needs to continuously plunder enough nutrients from the soil of all parts of the world. There is not much point in maintaining a peaceful and stable relationship with the Totonac people. On the contrary, within the framework of the Mexican Alliance, attacking, plundering and annexing as much as you want is the fastest way to grow!
"Black Wolf, the Totonak people have offended the Lord God. I allow you to severely punish them! I will also write a letter to King Avit and report the details of the Totonak people."
Shulot picked up his pen, dipped it in blue ink, and wrote a letter that seemed to glow red.
"There are still three months left before this year's spring plowing. The kingdom needs men for farming and women for giving birth. The Guakili Army can let go, but don't do unnecessary killings! White Snake Hill City no longer has the ability to break out. . I will send eight thousand Yuyan troops to help you transport prisoners and cover the flanks of Wushan City."
After writing this, Shulot paused for a moment. His eyes flashed and he wrote the last sentence coldly.
"First send out men to explore the population and defenses of the city. The kingdom's fleet has just brought in a new batch of gunpowder and caltrops. The walls of Yunshe Mountain City and White Snake Hill City are too high, and the terrain is too steep, which is not conducive to the use of artillery. If the power is right and the time is right, I will send the artillery battalion of the Guards Corps to the foot of Wushan City."
The rainy season in Central America is too long, there is too much precipitation in the Tlaxcala Valley, and there is too much water vapor in the air. Most of the gunpowder carried by the South Route Army last year expired after the long rainy season. Similarly, during the rainy season, the kingdom's gunpowder production also came to a standstill, and everything had to wait for the rain to pass.
It was not until yesterday that the latest batch of gunpowder was transported to Tree Snake City with the kingdom's transport fleet with difficulty. And along with the gunpowder came a letter from Talea, the deputy director of the Institute of Divine Enlightenment.
Thinking of that beautiful figure standing alone, Shulot pursed his lips and didn't know what he was thinking. After a moment, he finally reached out and unfolded the letter with a faint floral fragrance.
The letter was printed with sun-like flower marks, and there were two mimosa flowers sandwiched inside. In this era, mimosa was considered a spiritual plant because it moved when touched. In the legend, there is a girl's soul that is sealed in the grass and can only be seen by those who miss her when the flowers bloom.
As a priest, Shulot naturally knew this legend. He lowered his eyes with a complicated expression as he read the letter from the girl far away.
"To my Sun God, your great victory in the Eastern Expedition, your loyal servant, I congratulate you on the ground and pray to the Lord God for you! According to your will, the Kingdom's Gunpowder Department has discovered several bat caves and began to extract the bat caves from the caves. Saltpeter is extracted from bat guano. The kingdom's gunpowder production has increased again. Every month except the rainy season, a new batch of gunpowder weapons can be produced, which will arrive in June. The same amount of gunpowder would arrive every month before the heavy rain."
Shulot held the letter and smelled the faint fragrance, feeling inexplicably soft in his heart. Talea was in charge of the Divine Enlightenment Institute for him, and worked hard to supervise the research, development and production of gunpowder. Four years passed in a flash. After a while, Xiuluo gathered his concentration and continued reading. But soon, he gave a sharp look and stood up suddenly!
".Blessed by the Lord God! The rain in the rainy season is the inspiration of the Lord God, and the transportation along the river has brought new discoveries. My Lord, after painstaking exploration, I finally found a way to double the power of gunpowder!"
Maomao wishes everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and a happy family!