Aztec Eternals

The starlight shines in the distance, and the night is quiet and silent. Only the soft crowing of eagles and hissing of snakes.

In the wooden box on the stone platform in the bedroom, little Avelot spread out his short gray wings, held his white-haired head high, and his small black eyes were piercing. Across the two-meter-high stone platform, it poked its head out, looked at Xiaoqing on the ground, and uttered a triumphant "Yo Yo".

The little green snake raised its head, and the snake eyes with vertical pupils silently stared at the little bird on its head for a while. Then, it followed the rough edge of the stone platform, hissing and winding up, and arrived at the wooden box in a short while. Then, it opened its big blue mouth, rushed towards the little golden eagle that was close at hand, and made a high-frequency threatening "shh" sound.

Little Avelot froze for a moment, and "Jiujiu" called for help in fear. It flapped its short wings and struggled hard, but it was only slightly off the ground, and then fell back into the wooden box. After struggling for a while, it could only hide in the corner of the wooden box in fear, covered its eyes with its wings, curled up into a fluffy ball, and then shivered.

Shulot was awakened by the rapid eagle cry. The young man quickly got up half naked, revealing a growing and resolute silhouette. He quickly glanced around, his right hand tightly holding the long dagger that never left his body. Then, he carefully moved the brazier in the corner, and finally saw the confrontation between the eagle and the snake, and couldn't help laughing.

The boy stretched out his hand, touched the little golden eagle's soft head, comforted the terrified little Avelot, and whispered with a smile.

"You, you, be obedient and don't make noise. The task now is to save the wings and wait for the day when they are fully grown!"

Then, he wrapped his arms around the dissatisfied little green snake from the side, feeling the smoothness and delicateness of the snake's body, and smiled lightly.

"As for you, you should restrain your voice and posture, lurk silently, and wait in a low-key manner. The fatal attack is only a moment, so what's the point of confrontation and deterrence?"

Speaking of this, Xiulot was slightly stunned, as if thinking of something. He looked at the first ray of morning sun rising in the east, his gaze was secluded and distant.

Now that he was up, Shulot went to finish the daily morning training. Then he waited for a while, and the craftsman director Kuod finally rushed over. After a brief discussion, the two decided on today's itinerary to check the mining industry around the capital. The old carpenter accompanied me for half a day yesterday, and it will probably take a whole day today.

Shulot ordered the guards to wait for the craftsmen holding the jade talismans to arrange them properly. Then, he took the warrior chief and the old carpenter and rushed to the port in the southwest of the capital.

Rafting in the sun, not far to the southwest from Lake Texcoco, at the confluence of the Leman River, there are many small rivers. When the boat entered the fork of a river, it saw dozens of warriors on armed patrol, and hundreds of miners bent over and busy by the river bed.

A few hundred meters further on, the clear river suddenly shone. Layers of golden light emerge from the half-deep river bottom, like stars dotted in the night sky. This is the placer gold mining point closest to the capital.

Due to active volcanic activity, Central America is one of the richest areas in the world for gold and silver. The vast Mexican plateau has the world's largest silver mine reserves, and there are hundreds of gold mine mountains in the north, south and west, and there are continuous stretches of gold and silver mine belts underground.

The gold and silver reserves here are calculated in tens of thousands of tons, and they are distributed in layers of different depths, which are higher than those in Japan, which also has frequent volcanic activities. Historically, the Caribbean Treasure Fleet set off from Veracruz in eastern Mexico, loaded with Mexican gold and silver that made pirates and navies crazy, assembled in Havana, Cuba, and then sailed to Seville in southern Spain. The original source of financial capital expansion in Western Europe and the inexhaustible driving force for social and economic development.

Gold mines have been mined in various parts of Central America for thousands of years, and the accumulated gold is incalculable. The capital city of Tenochtitlan is the center of wealth in Central America. According to what Xiulot saw every day, the gold in the capital is about hundreds or even thousands of tons, and many of them are buried deep in the tombs and temples.

Usually, the mining of precious metals is divided into digging caves and panning in rivers and streams. Mining rock gold is very inefficient and expensive due to the lack of metal mining tools. The Mexica are similar to other tribes, mainly panning for gold placer in water. Among the rivers in the west and north of the Mexica Union, there are a large number of Jinsha Rivers, where thousands of miners work, providing the city-states with a steady stream of wealth.

Shulot stopped the patrolling warriors from saluting, signaling for the miners to continue collecting gold placer. Then he strode forward and watched the miners working by the river.

The main area of ​​work for the miners is a cut river. The water of the river has been drained, revealing the river bed gleaming with gold. They dug river mud with simple stone shovels, and gathered them into golden mounds by the river. Then, the miners took out a simple gold pan, put the dug out gold mud into the basin, and washed it with river water continuously by the river.

The gold pan is about the size of a washbasin, made of wood or pottery, and has a circle of special grooves on it. When the light silt is dispersed and the useless stones are removed, what remains are heavy and bright gold grains. The golden sand is like dust, and the gold nuggets are like rice grains, shining and flowing together in the sun, making a crisp rustling sound, which is fascinating.

Xiulot's gaze was attracted by placer gold, and the color of gold seemed to have a natural charm. Fortunately, he was used to seeing gold, silver and precious stones on weekdays. But after a few breaths, the boy regained his composure.

He calculated the placer gold that the miners worked hard to wash out each time, but it was only a shallow tenth of an ounce. Look at the gold sand and mud piles by the river. A miner can collect at most a few ounces a day. Finally, he looked at the long river bed covered with golden sand, and the golden shining river channel in the distance, where tons of gold were buried.

The young man was silent for a long time and shook his head. This kind of collection consumes too much manpower, and in the city-states of Central America that are rich in gold and silver, the value of gold is far lower than that in Eurasia, and there are not many things that can be bought. The sudden wealth of the gold mining industry has become a de facto luxury industry, which has little positive significance for the Mexica society.

Next, Xiulot turned his attention to the miner's physical fitness and expression.

The main sources of miners are civilians and slaves. Their work is strictly supervised by the warriors of the city-states. They have to work more than ten hours a day and must complete the minimum collection requirements.

The young man skipped over the ragged, numb, emaciated slave consumables, these people had no military value. He just concentrated on looking at the civilian miners in coarse brown clothes.

Most of these civilian miners came from nearby villages and were summoned by local nobles. They have stoic faces, lean bodies, and slightly arched upper bodies. Low body fat and high-intensity labor outline their sharp facial contours, and their eyes are pure and simple.

The miners endure long and boring collections every day, and their obedience and discipline are much higher than ordinary farmers and citizens, and even stronger than some young warriors. And the required number of collections gave them a rough idea of ​​some simple numbers. At the same time, they need to cooperate with each other in work, often grouped in villages, sometimes conflict with each other, and have sufficient teamwork ability.

Xiulot looked around for a moment, and then he attracted a simple and honest young miner to ask a simple question.

The young miner was only in his twenties, and his face was already weather-beaten. He has thick knuckles and thick calluses on his hands and feet. He answered the priest's question with embarrassment, his language was simple but clear.

Shulot nodded slightly. He ordered calmly.

"Stand here, keep your back straight, look ahead, and don't move."

Hearing this, the young miner stood like a stake, restless and motionless. Sweat slid from his cheeks, washed away the dust all over his face, and then dripped onto the ground, splashing a cloud of dust. His pupils diverged slightly, staring blankly at the unknown distance of the river.

Shulot didn't speak. He sat down relaxed in front of the miner. Then he took the tequila light wine from Bertard, raised his head and drank it slowly, and the aroma of the wine wafted by the river beach. His eyes remained fixed on the expression of the young miner.

The young miner's throat moved slightly, as if he swallowed the wine-scented air, but he still didn't dare to move. The boy slowly ate another piece of corn tortilla with chili sauce. The miner's gaze was always attracted from time to time, and then moved away in fear.

After a long time, Xiulot nodded in satisfaction.

"May I have your name?"

"Master Priest, my name is Guzman, and I come from the village of Coyohuacan."

The young miner replied nervously, his eyes lowered, and he still didn't dare to move. Coyohuacan is a small city-state near the edge of Lake Texcoco, connected to the south bridge of the Seven Bridges of the capital.

"How long have you been a miner? Do you know all the miners in this area?"

"My lord priest, I have been a miner for three years. I have been trained in the community military academy for several years, but I can't pass the hurdle of selecting warriors. The lord asked our village to send people to mine, so I came here. The miners here are all from around In the village, everyone knows each other a little, and there are probably one or two hundred people."

The young miner blinked in recognition. He actually knows some concepts of numbers.

Shulot pondered for a moment. The villages belong to the fiefs of nobles from all over the country, and the villagers are also under the jurisdiction of the nobles. However, with his current status, the nobles should not refuse to ask for some miners.

The young man nodded slightly and waved his hand as a signal.

"Guzman, you go down."

Miner Guzman dared to bow his head. He knelt on the ground and saluted, heaved a sigh of relief in his heart, then turned around and left in a hurry without saying anything. He hasn't finished his gold digging mission today.

Shulot's eyes were deep. He looked at the hundreds of miners on the bank of the river and asked a serious question.

"Kood, how many miners are there in Texcoco Lake District?"

Craftsman Director Kuod thought for a moment and answered cautiously.

"Your Highness, there are nearly ten gold and silver mining sites around the lake area, and there are more than 2,000 civilian miners, and the slaves cannot be counted. There are several large mines farther out, and there are about 2,000 to 3,000 civilian miners."

Xiulot frowned slightly, this number was much less than he expected. He thought for a moment, then stared at the old carpenter, and opened his mouth slowly.

"Let's go see the salt and quarry mines. I need more miners!"

Kuod felt the meaning in the boy's eyes. He thought for a moment, bowed his head respectfully.

When the young man gave an order, everyone left without hesitation and went straight to the south. Behind him, the golden sands are shining brightly, and the golden river is still shining.