Chapter 86 The Capital in the Lake, Tenochtitlan! Superior

The Valley of Mexico in November is peaceful and joyful, just like the flower balls on the Avivite tree by the water, exuding the fragrance of pines and cypresses in the breeze.

The fleet carried Avit's king's flag and warriors, and went all the way south along the Tampen River, with the warm sunshine rippling on the river. Sailing in the breeze and flowing water, it took only two or three days to enter the prosperous and beautiful Valley of Mexico, the territory actually ruled by the empire.

The Mexica villages along the way have already completed this year's harvest and tribute, and the fields are sown with beans. Wealthy villages have enough bean seeds planted to restore the fertility of the soil for a more prosperous next year.

With the villagers watching and saluting along the way, the king's fleet continued southward and entered Lake Hartokan a week later. Shulot looked to the east from a distance, which was the direction of the holy city of Teotihuacan. One day away is the place where I was born and raised.

This is already the core area of ​​the Mexica people, and the boats of the Mexica people are constantly swaying, carrying the village elders along the way, offering fresh vegetables, fruits and precious light wine to the fleet.

The melodious singing surrounds the fleet all the way, which is the bold confession of the girls' love for the samurai. They are like floating lotuses in the water, wearing only a thin white dress in the autumn wind, dancing gracefully on the bow of the boat, showing their graceful figures to the warriors. When night falls, warriors slip away from the rear of the fleet from time to time, and tryst with girls on the boat, enjoying the bright moon, the galaxy and singing together.

Arriving in the safe hinterland of the empire, Avit did not restrain the warriors.

As the fleet continued south, it entered the root of the Mexica people, the Texcoco Lake District with a population of 1.5 million, the territory directly under the three capital cities, and the most prosperous and affluent place in Central America.

Villages are densely covered along the way, cooking smoke rises continuously from both sides of the river, and distant ocarinas and low-pitched drum rhythms are faintly heard in the autumn wind, accompanied by the singing of warriors and priests in the community. Xiulot took a few sniffs, and smelled the spicy aroma of roasted turkey and the fragrance of roasted corn, and suddenly felt a little hungry.

It is a feast given by the elders of the village in the community hall, where the villagers assemble for various ceremonies, offering food, birds, ears of corn, sage, beans, and wild flowers. The samurai and the village chiefs gathered happily to enjoy the various festivals in autumn.

Xiulot savored it carefully again. Among the food aromas not far away, there was also a special fragrance, similar to burning sandalwood, with a simple and long-lasting charm.

"What kind of aroma is this? Are the villages in the Lake District rich enough to use expensive spices?" Xiulot was a little surprised.

"Spice is not an expensive item. In addition to the output of Chinanampa and the collection in the forest, the Alliance also continuously receives from the Mixtecs and Zapotecs in the south and the Wastecs in the northeast. A large amount of spice tribute has been levied. In the rich lake area, even civilians, senior warriors, and wealthy ordinary merchants can afford spices."

The noble priest Ugos answered with a proud smile. In the army, Avitt must maintain his majesty, while Gilliam has always been serious. The noble son Ugos from the capital became Shulot's tour guide, telling him about the beauty and richness of the capital's lake area.

"This should be a blessing banquet for the elders of the village community. At the end of the banquet, priests and high-ranking warriors will light the fragrant copal resin and pray to the gods and ancestors for a good harvest in the coming year."

The Lake District is the foundation of Union rule. The villages here are all tightly grouped to form a community with a definite population, Calpoli, similar to the registered households of Qimin in the Qin Dynasty. Each community is governed by four elders, usually feudal military nobles, commoner senior warriors, and temple priests appointed by the capital.

Whenever the horn of war sounded, each village community needed to provide a 200-strong warrior plus militia team, and the level of well-equipped warriors was proportional to the wealth of the village. Generally speaking, villages closer to the capital are richer and have more samurai.

This is already the hometown of many warriors in the fleet. They were born here, received military training in the capital, completed the selection assessment, and then joined the legion directly under the royal family to become a noble warrior.

The fleet continued to sail south, and there were various comfortable floral fragrances in the air, as well as the freshness of lemons after the cocoa fruit ripened. Shulot looked around. In the lake area here, the foundation of the prosperity of the Mexica people can be seen everywhere, the floating fields in the lake, Chinanampa.

The perimeter of these floating fields is tied tightly with fences, and the bottom is mixed with soil and wooden stakes. Although it is autumn, the farmers are still busy planting on the floating fields. In addition to corn, beans, and pumpkins, Schlott saw cocoa trees being harvested, avocados beginning to bear fruit, and various carefully tended herbs, which were food for the nobles.

The chinampas on the lake can be cultivated all year round. Lake Texcoco guarantees the water for crop growth, and the silt in the lake provides sufficient nutrients, and there will be no low temperature and snow in Mexico in autumn and winter.

Now is the dry season, and the canal runs through neatly arranged Chinanpas, and the water surface is no more than one person deep. From time to time, there are wealthy farmers in white clothes, holding boats and fishing nets, salvaging the silt from the bottom of the lake and canals, and then spreading it evenly on the floating fields.

Surrounding the floating fields are submerged fermenting stalks and leaves, and there are faintly visible fish swimming on the lake, chasing the scattered grains. From time to time, boats full of excrement manure came from the southern capital and added to Chinanampa. This may be the earliest ecological agriculture.

The boat continued to travel south for a day, and finally reached the northern gate of Tenochtitlan, the village of Tepiiaga, where ten thousand warriors landed. Next, Xiulot will walk to the capital city in the lake along the long bridge several miles away.

Shulot walked out of the wealthy North Shore village and came to the shore of Lake Texcoco. He stopped involuntarily, and saw a beautiful long white stone bridge, accompanied by a dark soil embankment, across a boundless rainbow, connecting to the magnificent stone city not far away. Pedestrians on the long bridge come and go like ants. From time to time, priests and nobles wearing feathers walk by, cutting gaps in the ants.

He estimated in his mind that the stone bridge under his feet was about ten meters wide. Along with the embankments of the same width on both sides, there was a full 30-meter road that could accommodate sixty people walking in parallel, extending for five or six kilometers. And when he looked around, more long bridges and embankments spread in the distance, like the brush of the gods, dividing Lake Texcoco as much as possible.

Under the sun, there are sparkling waves on the surface of the lake, and the long white bridge shines with the lake water, like a kingdom in the sky. Thousands of small boats, carrying goods and people, came from all directions and passed through the stone bridges deftly. Xiuluo took a closer look, only to find that the stone bridge and embankment are exquisitely designed, with special arc-shaped holes left at intervals, and the boats will shuttle under the feet of pedestrians along with the lake water.

"The long bridge is lying on the waves, what is the dragon before the cloud? After the road and the sky, what is the rainbow without the end?"

Shulot's eyes were filled with the lake and water, the pedestrians on the long bridge, the white stone palace at the end, and the red-roofed temple. This is the magnificence he never imagined!

"Priest Shulot, what are you talking to yourself?" Ugos looked at Shulot with a smile. Every resident of the capital is happy to see the shock and loss of mind when foreigners see the capital for the first time.

"I'm counting how many long bridges there are." Shulot smiled and quickly regained consciousness.

"There are two main bridges in the north, leading to the villages on the north bank. There are two main bridges in the west, and four sub-bridges. From north to south, one leads to the old capital of the Tepanek people, Azgabozark, and two to the Tlacopan in the middle, and Chapultepec to the south.

There are two long canals in the west! From the foot of the Prepeca Highlands in the west, it is really a huge project to go all the way across the mountains and divert water to the capital! Usually only one channel is open for transporting fresh water and one channel for cleaning is closed. In the south, there is a main bridge and two branch bridges, which lead to the city-states on the south bank respectively.

On the east side of the capital, there is a long embankment extending the entire lake, like the embrace of a goddess, protecting the majestic water capital from the flood in the rainy season and the salt water of the outer lake.

This is the dwelling place of the gods in the world. As the immortal sun, Trakaelel listens to the will of the gods and builds the kingdom of God on earth! "

Ugos described the magnificence of the capital in the lake with emotion. Unknowingly, he used the gorgeous accent of the capital, singing the priest's praises.

"This is the island surrounded by the eight bridges and the long embankment, the place where the eagle falls, the place where the white stone is in the lake, and the home where the cactus blooms, Mexica-Tenochtitlan!"

Xiu Luote admired in his heart, and he also used the low tone of the holy city, and chanted to it clearly.

As far as he could see, bridges and long dikes divided the lake as much as possible, interspersed with floating fields scattered all over the lake. Hundreds of canoes flowed like a shuttle, bringing wealth and tribute from all over the world. At the end, there are endless stone houses, bustling crowds, and the unusually tall twin pyramids and the Great Temple.

This is the center of civilization where bridges, boats, temples, palaces, warriors, and priests gather. It is the largest city in America, a capital city in a lake with a full fourteen square kilometers!

Shulot once asked Avit, how many people is there in the capital of the lake? Avet told him with a smile that the capital city in the lake has 80 Calpoli communities, with a population of 250,000 that is unparalleled in the world.

When the Spaniards came to the lake capital for the first time, they were shocked by the majestic stone city and praised it as "Venice of the New World". However, in Schlott's view, this is just a narrow metaphor.

In this era, the urban area of ​​Venice is only eight square kilometers, with a population of at most 120,000, which is less than half of the capital city in the lake. The long dike and canal facilities are completely incomparable. Venice can in turn be called "Europe's Tenochtitlan"!

If Schlott were to make an analogy, the capital city in the lake should be Chang'an City of the Han Dynasty with an area of ​​36 square kilometers and a population of 300,000, or the imperial Roman city with the same area of ​​15 square kilometers but a population estimated to be one million people. In any case, this is the undoubted center of the empire, the most glorious place of Central American civilization!

Holding the king's flag high, ten thousand elite warriors lined up neatly and headed south along the long bridge. Where Wang Qi passed, pedestrians on the bridge retreated to the depths of the embankments on both sides, kneeling in the lake water up to their calves.

Avit took the majestic posture of a king, and Shulot accompanied him. The two walked forward, as if entering no man's land.

He carefully observed the two sides, and found that 70% were civilians wearing single-color linen or cotton clothes and no hats, prostrate in the water; 20% were craftsmen and businessmen wearing dyed cotton clothes and cotton hats, kneeling on their knees; There are warriors and military nobles of all levels who wear bright battle clothes and simple feathers and kneel on one knee; there are also a very small number of high priests and nobles who wear decorated costumes and feather crowns, bow their heads and salute.

Wherever Wang Qi went, there were all the subjects of the empire.

"The sun is shining brightly at the beginning, thousands of mountains and mountains are like fire. A circle goes up to the sky in an instant, and chases away the stars and the waning moon."

Shulot had mixed feelings in his heart. Surrounded by thousands of troops, all people kneel down, this is the hierarchical Mexica society, and this is the taste of power at the top!

The young man under the king's flag was slightly drunk, but then he woke up and regained the clarity in his eyes. Then he poked his head slightly and looked at the majestic Avit. The face of the other party was calm as usual, with radiance in his eyes, so he nodded inwardly.

With thousands of people retreating and saluting along the way, the army crossed the long bridge, and in front of them was the northern city of the capital in the lake, the former city-state of Tlatelolco. This city-state is one of the twin cities originally established by the Mexica on the island in the middle of the lake, and its area is about a quarter of the main city of Tenochtitlan in the south.

With the expansion of the Mexica, the capital city in the lake developed rapidly, and the two cities gradually merged into one. Only an arc-shaped canal is left at the junction to provide the most important fresh water for the cities on both sides.

Shulot walked all the way, and in front of him were staggered bridges and waterways. In the northern city of Tlatelolco, most of the houses are built on small pieces of land in the water, and many of them are new islands that were refilled later. These houses are the residences of civilians or ordinary warriors, arranged neatly according to the plan.

The staggered waterways are like a straight chessboard on all sides, and between the chessboards are buildings gathered one by one, like chess pieces dropped by the gods. The foundation of each house is a platform of stone to prevent flooding. The wall base of the house is white granite or red volcanic rock, the ceiling is made of wooden beams and sticks, and the periphery is covered with a layer of plaster. The quarters of the house are equally straight and roughly divided into bedrooms, kitchens, storehouses and quarters for slaves.

Whenever a certain number of houses were gathered into a block, a small community market and a community temple entirely made of stone appeared in the center. The community in the city is similar to Lifang in Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty, with a population of about 3,000. It not only has economic functions, but also has military functions.

This kind of temple is the root system at the bottom of the rule of the imperial sacred tree, the tentacles that go deep into the grassroots, and the cornerstone of the powerful mobilization ability of the Mexica. The same four elders are in charge of a community, pay tribute in normal times, supervise school-age teenagers to join the military academy, and call 100 to 200 samurai in wartime.

Xiulot calculated in his mind that there are about ten communities in the northern city of Tlatelolco, which is far inferior to the eighty communities in the four major districts of the main city. So in the end, it was merged with the main city, accepted the direct management of the royal family, and set up the position of the lord of Tlatelolco. In this era, it is always population and force that determine everything.

After walking for nearly an hour, the army finally came to the center of Beicheng. The centers of the cities in Mesoamerica are similar to the Roman city-states, with towering temples and broad central squares. After seeing the nearly 40-meter-tall twin pyramids and the Tlatelolco Temple, Shulot turned his attention to the central square as the big market.

Because, in the southern main city that he could see, there was a truly magnificent Mexican Temple.

The North City is far away from the religious and political center of the main city, and away from the huge villas occupied by the great nobles, so there is enough space to gather a large-scale market. The grand bazaar here is twice the size of the main city market, and about 60,000 people trade here every day!

The Grand Bazaar is a flat open space surrounded by connected waterways and bordered by rows of arch bridges. Merchants from the two oceans of the world came by boat and transported goods to the arch bridge. The thrifty merchants camped under the arch bridge together with their goods.

According to different commodities, the market is divided into different blocks. On the edge are the most common staples of fruit and vegetables, various stone tools and pottery containers, wooden furniture, firewood and pine bars, monochrome cotton linen and blankets, and ordinary obsidian knives, bone knives, bone needles and textiles. awl. This is the daily needs of civilians, and it is also the largest area.

Going further inside, there are brightly woven feather cloaks, gorgeous patterned cloth blankets, exquisite warrior battle clothes, obsidian battle sticks and wooden shields, herbal medicines for witch doctor priests, various dried meat and fish, tigers, deer, etc. Deer, coyote, otter skins, finished cold cocoa and tequila, honey and maple candy. Seeing this, Shulot carefully noted down the location and prepared to come when he was free.

Between the center and the fringe is a huge slave market, from a variety of sources. Most slaves had their hands bound with ropes, a noose around their necks, and tied to a long pole to prevent escape. A few are slaves sold by themselves, and these people are likely to be arranged in the Human Sacrifice Field. Of course, there are exceptions. The big slave merchants have enough samurai guards, so they let go of the hands of the young female slaves, allowing them to show freely.

The young man took a few glances, estimated his age in his heart, and then turned his head silently.

Going further in, there is a high-end market with samurai stationed on guard. Not surprisingly, Shulot once again saw the slender heads of the Mayans who thought they were gods, and their shops always carried intoxicating smoke. Then he saw copper axes and copper needles from the West at a glance. The prices of these small copper wares were very high, almost close to gold and silver ornaments. He also took note of the location of the shop.

Not far away is the paving of gold, silver and jade, especially the people in the clouds, the Mixtec people have the most exquisite craftsmanship. All kinds of finely crafted gold and silver ornaments, bracelets, rings inlaid with gemstones, and the most precious jade necklaces. There are also some Huastec and Totonak merchants from the seaside, who are selling shell decorations with shimmering colors. The high-grade rose and light red seashells can even be equivalent to gold and silver, and pearls are often just appendages to shells. giveaway.

Another aristocratic favorite in the high-end market is the luxury store, which sells dyes, spices and brightly colored plants. Tropical blooms are in full bloom, the air is filled with Totonac’s favorite vanilla, magnificent carmine is served in a delicate silver bowl, and pungent earth nepeta, Mexican oregano and taco seasoning.

Shulot walked to the edge of the marching warriors, walked beside the bazaar, and looked at everything in the big bazaar in amazement. In front of him were businessmen of various ethnic groups from all over the world, in his ears were the local dialects peddling enthusiastically, in his nose was the fragrance of unknown flowers and rouge, in his hands was the cool touch of gold, silver and precious stones, and he was dazzled for a moment.

It wasn't until his ears became quiet, and he saw businessmen and civilians of all ethnic groups kneeling respectfully to the king's banner, that he smiled slightly, and walked back to the mighty marching team, and walked back to the majestic and solemn king's banner.

"The car hub hits, the shoulders of the people rub, and the skirts form a curtain, and the sleeves form a curtain, sweating and raining." The young man smiled and sighed, what a man with a prosperous city, a bustling city, a prosperous Yuda, and a peaceful world!

The army did not stop. The elite aristocratic wargroups just glanced lightly at the affluent bazaar, their eyes full of confidence in deciding the life and death of merchants. Then they followed the king's banner, full of honor and reverence, and headed proudly to the south, where was the magnificent main city and the towering great temple.

I've been looking for information for the past two days. There is no particularly detailed description of Tenochtitlan, so we are constantly piecing together details and translating foreign language materials. I will add a detailed map of the capital at the end of the chapter on the starting app, as well as my own simple translation.