Aztec Eternals

A February wind blows across Lake Texcoco, bringing a bit of a chill. The winter sun is sunny and dry, and it makes people feel warm.

Early in the morning, Shulot took more than a hundred guards to inspect the production of soil salt and gunpowder in a large navy boat. Dozens of boats rowed through the morning sun on the lake, and within two quarters of an hour, they arrived at Tianhuo Island in the Eastern Salt Lake.

The small boat had already reported in advance, and Esco, the steward of Nitrogen, had already led the people to wait in advance at the simple port. As soon as the fleet docked, the warrior captain Bertard waved his order. More than a hundred warriors boarded the port immediately, quickly checked the surrounding situation, and then dispersed their vigilance and strictly guarded it.

Shulot shook his head. More than two weeks ago, the Noble Law was just promulgated, and there was a lot of discussion at the moment. Soon, the royal family and priests dispatched thousands of warriors, arrested more than a dozen hereditary nobles of Tracopan, and directly sentenced them to sacrifice. Facing the thunderous coercion, the nobles around the lake area were shocked again and forced to silence.

Later, in the fiefdoms of the nobles, according to the new noble law, the village priests began to intervene in the management and participated in the collection of New Year's tribute. These tributes were twice as much as in previous years, and they were continuously transported from around the lake area to supplement the alliance's increasingly tight treasury. But under the calm surface of the capital, there are undercurrents everywhere.

Shulot's guards doubled accordingly, and the boat changed from a fast boat to a stable boat. The warrior commander became more and more vigilant, guarding His Highness day and night. At this time, Shulot was not able to go ashore until all the warriors had finished checking.

More than half of February has passed, and it has been almost a month since he came last time.

Shulot looked around, and there were patrolling sailors outside the island, and a simple port by the lake. Strands of green smoke rose from the outside of the island, which was a bonfire for cooking nitrate. Short-clothed salt workers are working hard beside the salt pond and campfire, and a little distance away is the hut for rest. In the center of the island, there are already dozens of large wooden houses and dozens of small huts. At the big wooden house, women workers in long clothes can be vaguely seen, holding various clay pots in a hurry.

Between the outside and the center of the island, there is a circle of simple fences, dozens of erected wooden frames, and several flying god flags. The Mexica warriors patrolled inside and outside the fence, sternly supervising and supervising.

Xiulot nodded, and held up Esco, who knelt down to salute. He smiled, approvingly.

"I haven't seen it for some days, but it is orderly and prosperous here. How much soil nitrate is in stock now? How much is the daily output?"

According to the memory of his previous life, the teenager roughly revised the weights and measures system. Now inside and outside the Divine Enlightenment Institute, the weight is measured in catties, the length is measured in meters, and the time is measured in quarters and hours. Of course, none of these basic units can be accurately measured, but it is enough for now.

Hearing His Highness's inquiry, Esco showed panic. He bowed his head deeply and fell to his knees again.

"Your Highness, the number of salt workers has increased to more than one hundred. The production of nitrate has been improved. The current output is slightly more than 100 catties per day, and the consumption of 2,000 jin of nitrate is slightly less. As for the stock, there are about 1,000 jin of nitrate in existence. less than"

Hearing this, Xiulot frowned slightly, with a stern tone.

"Esco, it has been in production for 20 to 30 days, why is there only a thousand catties of soil nitrate in stock?"

Manager Nitro touched his head to the ground and replied in a low voice.

"Your Highness, this is my fault. About ten days ago, a salt worker entered and exited the warehouse. For some reason, the accumulated soil salt suddenly burned violently. The flame rose and expanded, and the entire wooden house was blown apart, and large pieces of wood flew to the ground. The salt worker died on the spot, and his body was scattered everywhere. The surrounding salt workers also died and injured several people.

Your Highness, I have beheaded all the salt workers in that group, hung their heads on a wooden frame, and urged the salt workers to speed up production day and night. Now the island has been divided into inner and outer layers, the outer layer is nitrate soil leach, hundreds of salt workers sleep next to the nitrate pond. Half of the inner layer is soil salt storage, and the other half is gunpowder trial production. The warehouse is managed by a special person, and idlers are not allowed to enter."

Shulot looked serious. He stared at the kneeling Holy City warrior for a while, then raised his head and looked inside and outside the island. The salt workers and female workers are orderly, with dozens of heads hanging on the wooden frames inside and outside. The samurai were patrolling back and forth without any slack.

After a long silence, Shulot calmly spoke.

"Receive twenty lashes yourself, and make meritorious deeds. Step up production, and don't do it again!"

Hearing this, Esco was relieved. After kowtowing vigorously, he stood up, took off his shirt, took a whip dipped in water, and whipped himself on his chest and back without hesitation, with a muffled and forceful crackling sound. After a while, blood oozed from the warrior's front and back, continuously dripping on the ground, and then stained his feet red.

After twenty lashes were drawn, Xiulot gave a slight signal. The samurai commander immediately stepped forward, applied the wound medicine that had been prepared to Esco, and wrapped it in steamed cotton cloth.

Esco's complexion twitched, gritted his teeth and thanked reluctantly. Immediately, he only paused for a moment, and led His Highness to investigate the island. After a while, everyone arrived at the largest nitrate production point.

Moreno, the leader of the salt worker, knelt respectfully in front of the bonfire. On the bonfire was a clay pot for cooking nitrate, and there was a burst of pungent breath. At this time, he lowered his head slightly, his face became much thinner, and the fierceness in his expression was deeply hidden, just like a docile domestic dog.

While bowing his head, the leader of the salt workers glanced at Esco, who was covered in blood, from time to time, feeling relieved with joy and subconscious fear.

Shulot gave Moreno a serious look, and ordered in a deep voice.

"Moreno, what improvements do you have? Tell me in detail!"

"Dear Your Highness, I discovered that these nitrate soils can actually be nitrated repeatedly. Just put a bird's egg in the brine after nitration, and you will know whether it has been leached. In fact, we used to have a similar method for boiling salt, but recently tried It was only later that I found out that it was feasible.”

Moreno replied respectfully and quietly. He sneaked another glance at the terrifying warrior commander, and his heart trembled.

"Honorable Your Highness, I also discovered that in addition to adding plant ash, you can also add small pieces of pumpkin when cooking nitrate, and the purity will increase. It seems that adding bird eggs will also work."

Speaking of this, the leader of the salt workers was slightly ashamed. In fact, he originally just wanted to secretly cook some bird eggs while working, but he discovered something by accident.

Shulot pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly. He has a vague sense of familiarity with these methods, and they should be feasible. Repeated nitrate leaching, and the salt content in the nitrate water can be judged by the degree of suspension of the eggs. Porous media such as pumpkin and radish can absorb particulate impurities in the brine and improve the purification effect.

After a while, Shulot smiled.

"Moreno, you did a good job, what reward do you want?"

The leader of the salt worker secretly looked at His Highness's face again, feeling that the other party was in a good mood, so he made a suggestion nervously.

"Your Highness, I haven't been home for a month. I wonder if you can let me and my brothers go home to see if I'm more familiar with the trade routes in the south than salt."

Xiulot smiled, nodded, and interrupted.

"Okay! Moreno, you will be promoted to a senior craftsman and rewarded with gold and silver cloth for your contribution! Summarize your experience in tanning, and I will send a deacon to record it in a book and put your name on it. This In two days, I will send people directly to move you and the relatives of the salt workers to the community of the Divine Inspiration. You don’t need to go home to visit your relatives, they will come to see you!

Next, a batch of toilet soil will be delivered. I have a new request: You have to experiment with different methods to extract qualified soil nitrate from these soils. This is very important! From now on, you can settle down here, study and work hard, and the Divine Enlightenment Institute will not treat you badly! "

After finishing speaking, Shulot looked calmly at the leader of the salt worker.

Moreno looked around at the warriors around him, then at Esco, who was covered in blood, and crawled weakly on the ground. His heart is still longing for the vast world in the south, but his people will be imprisoned on a palm-sized island for a long time.

"Your Highness, according to your will, can you build me a wooden house here?"

Shulot nodded with a smile, then turned around and headed for the island.

Passing through the wooden fence separating the inside and outside, the young man raised his head slightly, glanced at the head on display, and continued to move forward. Under the guidance of Esco, he first checked the stock of Xiatu Nitrate, and then tested the purity of Xiadi Nitrate, nodding his head slightly. Although he was not sure whether this purity could meet the requirements of black powder, but it was indeed slightly better than before.

Next, Shulot came to the newly built gunpowder workshop. There are several warehouses here, storing pitch-black charcoal, bright yellow sulfur, snow-white soil salt, and a small amount of freshly made black gunpowder. The young man looked around, and a group of female workers had been waiting for a long time, kneeling down and saluting together.

Shulot nodded slightly and smiled.

Now, these female workers are responsible for the configuration and management of gunpowder, and they also manage the storage of soil nitrate. These female workers are all potters from the capital city. They have been firing pottery for many years, with patience and meticulousness, and dexterity in their hands. They need to configure clay in proportion, so they are also good at mixing gunpowder. The production of gunpowder is a delicate job that requires the craftsmen to be meticulous and precise, so these potters are the most suitable.

Xiu Luote gestured for disrespect, and the leading female worker stood up and looked up at the boy with full eyes. The young man watched carefully, she had shining eyes, a delicate face, and slender hands, and she smiled gently at him.

Looking at the familiar face, Xiulot was stunned for a moment. He pondered for a while, guessed something immediately, and turned his head to look at Bertard.

"Why is she here?"

The samurai chief raised his head in embarrassment, looked at the clear sky, but did not find a white cloud for him to hide.

"Talaia is one of the daughters of the hero mother Tanari. After meeting His Highness last time, she was brought into the High Priest's Mansion, and then sent out by the High Priest to serve as the gunpowder manager here."

Berthard was succinct and succinct, pinching the matter from the beginning to the end, and giving a general idea.

In fact, His Highness held each other's hand at that time, and looked at it affectionately for a long time without letting go. He silently wrote down the residence of the potter girl and went back to report it to the high priest. He did this because he was considerate of the young man's heart, and also had some selfish intentions, wanting to put some commoner girls around the young man. After all, Shulot's mother was also born as a commoner, and what will happen next is unknown.

Hearing the warrior commander's report, the high priest frowned slightly, and still sent someone to ask for her name, and brought Talea, a potter girl, into the mansion as a maid for the time being. As a result, after waiting for several days, Xiulot was busy inside and outside the whole day, and he didn't mention this matter at all. It seemed that he had forgotten it. Afterwards, the grandparents talked at night, although the high priest tried to persuade the young man to relax and enjoy, hinting at this matter, but in his heart he was very satisfied with the young man's reply, and he did not want him to come into contact with the opposite sex too soon.

With the operation of Skyfire Island, the gunpowder workshop lacked managers, so Talea was dispatched to manage important gunpowder production on behalf of the high priest and His Highness. With this status, and the prestige of the mother, she is also sufficient to command the older potters.

Thoughts turned sharply, and Xiulot thought about it in a blink of an eye. He gave the samurai commander a hard look, and then remembered the way Tanali, the brick kiln steward, looked at him two weeks ago, and the young man felt embarrassed.

After a while, Shulot calmed down and smiled at Talea.

"Talaia? Take out your newly configured gunpowder and demonstrate the effect of burning. Be careful!"

The potter girl nodded, took another bold glance, then turned and went back to the house. After a while, the female workers took out several clay pots, which contained dark gunpowder. Then, one of the clay pots was placed on the test platform, surrounded by tied straw figures.

Shulot watched carefully. A female worker directly held a meter-long torch, and the oil-soaked cotton cloth at the top was burning. She was close to the clay pot of gunpowder and was about to ignite it directly. The young man was startled and shouted repeatedly.

"Stop, stop!"

The female worker stopped in surprise, but saw His Highness stepping forward, snatched the torch away, and threw it into the distance.

"How can gunpowder be ignited directly? You need to add a hemp rope to guide the ignition, and stay away from the explosion!"

The surrounding female workers looked at each other in blank dismay, and after a while, Talea, who was the tallest, spoke softly.

"Your Highness, this gunpowder only makes the fire burn violently, and there is no explosion."

Shulot was slightly taken aback. He told everyone to stay away carefully, put a fuse on the clay pot, and then ignited it.

After a while, the gunpowder in the clay pot was ignited suddenly, and the raging fire rose suddenly, the fire was dazzling and bright. The bright flame burned for dozens of breaths before it was slowly extinguished. The air was full of smoke and dust, and there was a pungent sulfur smell. When the smoke cleared, the young man observed carefully, the gunpowder was almost burnt out, leaving some black residue, and the pot itself was undamaged.

Shulot stood still for a moment again. He turned his head and looked at the potter girl.

"Talaia, what is the ratio of the formula you use?"

"According to the instructions left by His Highness in advance, it is one nitrate, two sulfur and three charcoals. It is one part of saltpeter, two parts of sulfur, and three parts of charcoal. The charcoal is ground into powder, and carefully mixed with sulfur and soil salt. The next few cans of gunpowder are all It is an approximate ratio, slightly increasing the amount of soil nitrate. It seems that the burning effect is better, but there is no explosion."

The potter girl replied in detail, looking at His Highness seriously.

Xiulot was silent, there must be something wrong. Obviously, the formulas I have heard before have other meanings, not the one-to-two-to-three weight relationship on the surface.

Thinking of this, the boy asked for a pen and paper, and sat cross-legged on the ground again. At critical times, it is still necessary to find the memory in the mind, deduce the chemical formula, and complete the calculation of the relative molecular weight.