The sky in March is clear, like the waters near the sea, with a distant light blue and endless depth. The bright skylight falls, and the wilderness is vast, intertwined with gray and dark brown. The narrow sea
The land suddenly opens up here, extending to the east, west, and north, turning into a boundless desert. And some green mountains undulate in the north, extending into the depths of the desert, turning into brown at the end of the sky!
Chihuaco stood on the sand dunes along the coast, staring blankly at the vast world he had never seen before. He had never imagined that the north of the world was so vast! The fleet had been at sea for several months and finally reached the end of the ocean.
The end, this endless northern continent!
"Priest Mecat, where are we now?"
"Captain, we are between 31 and 32 degrees of the North Star, 18 degrees from the mouth of the North Star of the Talsas River, and have traveled 13 or 14 degrees!"
Mecat opened his eyes wide and looked at the wilderness in the north and the mountains at the end of the sky. He couldn't help but exclaim in wonder.
"O Lord God! We have traveled all the way to the northwest. In the past four months, we have traveled nearly five thousand miles! And according to the songs of the Sri people, this vast northern continent may still be five thousand miles away!"
"Blessed by the Lord God! Such a vast land! If we can explore it, it will be a great achievement!"
Puap looked excited, holding the sun amulet around his neck tightly and praying in a trembling voice.
"O Lord God, O Ancestor!...The tribes in the North are so barbaric, but they occupy such an endless continent! If the kingdom goes north...maybe, I, Huitu Puap, can also have the opportunity to live in this far north
, be the king of a country!”
"Five thousand miles of coast, five thousand miles of land... How could there be thousands of miles in the north of the world?!"
Chihuaco murmured to himself. It was hard for him to imagine what a vast distance thousands of miles was. I'm afraid it would take seven or eight months just to row a boat, right?... In Pikam's words, this boundless northern continent,
Where will it extend to? What kind of scene will there be at the end of the mountains and sea? And what kind of tribes will there be in this boundless land?...
He thought for a long time, with a hint of hidden yearning, a bit of curiosity to explore, and an inexplicable fear that exceeded his cognition. After a while, he let out a long sigh and cursed in a low voice.
"Hey! Blind God, how could you create such a big land with your eyes closed?... If your blind majesty knew... I might not be able to live well in the rest of my life!"
Puap raised his head, squinted his eyes, and looked at the strong sunlight above his head. It was already mid-March, and more than ten days had passed since the battle on Shantiao Island.
That night, Old Man Qi and the captured chief, Lobster Pickham, swore a blood oath and made a promise to each other. Afterwards, Pickham told him everything he knew about the situation in the North.
The Sri people occupy the coastal Sonora Desert, and their footprints extend from north to south and east to west. In the mountains directly to the east of them are the Opata people who established a city-state and occupied the Copper Mountain. To their northeast, there are distant basins and plains.
, is the hunting and brave Apache Alliance.
As for the north of the Sri tribes, there are desert people who are more barbaric and do not understand the language, Tohono-Odum. The desert people are entrenched in the northern desert. They are similar to the Sri people, except that they cannot fish and have a larger population.
They are rare and have a more aggressive temperament. They will go south from time to time to fight with the Sri tribe in the north of the bay and rob food and women.
Pickam said that the desert people were even poorer than the Sri people and did not even have feather hats! The location where the fleet landed at this time was approximately the junction of the Desert people and the Sri people.
The northwest of the Sri people is the place of origin in their songs. According to legend, there are bays, fertile soil, rivers and mountains. The northwest boundary that the Sri tribes have actually visited is about five hundred miles northwest of here.
A huge salt lake.
"The ancestors said that the lake water there is salty! However, there are two large rivers flowing in from the north, but the river water is not salty. Farming can be done along the river, and a lot of food is harvested every year. Crops cannot be grown around the salt lake, but there are many wetlands, grass and trees
With prey, it can feed many tribesmen! I remember, there is an owl song, which tells the legend of the northwest! The owl wakes up at night, hungry. He flies down from the top of the low tree and pounces on the hare and lake fish.
Enjoy a hearty meal..."
When it comes to the Salt Lake, Pikam's eyes are shining. All tribes in Sri Lanka are aware of the wealth there. However, such a rich place is naturally occupied by powerful tribes.
"The people who occupy the Salt Lake and the northwest mountains are the Kumeyaay! They use the Salt Lake as their ancestral home. They have the legend of the spirit at the bottom of the lake and prohibit all tribes from migrating to the lake. They are numerous, good at archery, and good at running.
They are a powerful northern tribe living in houses built of branches and stone and mud! They can also fish, ride reed rafts, and occasionally come to the bay. By the way, they also have extremely sharp stone weapons, and yours
The dagger looks very similar!...And further to the northwest, there are the Chumash people who speak the Hokan language!..."
"Rich salt lakes, obsidian weapons? The Kumeya people in the northwest, the Chumash people further northwest?"
Thinking of these strange tribal names, Puap felt dizzy. As the fleet explored, news about countless tribes flashed out one after another like stars in the sky from the endless continent.
"Huh! They are just small tribes with tens of thousands of people! As long as your majesty gives me a legion, I can crush them one by one and conquer them all!"
Puap looked at the northern sky, his eyes full of desire, greed and confidence.
However, he never seemed to have thought that if a war was launched, how could the kingdom support the supply of food and fodder for a legion in the desolate north thousands of miles away? And if these tribes fled into the rolling mountains and hid in the vast desert,
How to deal with it?
The old militiaman Chihuaco didn't think so much. There was no greed in his heart, only awe of the vast world and persistence in his own responsibilities. He thought of the experience of the past ten days. Before letting Pikam go, he asked him
.
"Lobster, my friend! Are these gray-white stones on the island made of guano? Can they fertilize the fields?"
"Uh, friend, what is a fertile field?"
"It's about letting plants grow vigorously."
"Haha! Friends, look at this big island. It is full of gray stones, but there is almost no green. Although they are made of bird excrement, how can it be possible for plants to grow vigorously? The tribe once tried, in
Plant some things on the island. However, the plants planted cannot grow at all! The priests said that there is the magical power of the spirit whale here, which will kill the creatures that do not belong to the island!"
"...What about the other islands to the west?"
"It's all the same! The islands where the birds inhabit don't get much precipitation, and there is only the desolate gray and white, or the brown and yellow of the soil!"
Chihuaco nodded with concern. Then, as agreed, he sent Chief Pikam to the seaside of the Eastern Continent and gave him a bag of corn cakes. Because the Sri warriors on Shantiao Island were on guard day and night,
There are still small boats watching. If the fleet lands, it will definitely trigger a battle and cause unnecessary casualties.
"Friend, I will follow my oath and return you to the tribe! We are about to leave and will no longer land in your ancestral land! The tribe in the lake, the Konkakesli people, are friends!"
"Okay! I will also follow my oath and tell the chiefs of each tribe what happened! As long as you leave your ancestral land, you will be my friend of the lobster tribe! As for the other tribes, I will try my best to persuade them!"
Pikam held his cut right hand and made a solemn promise. The two of them were full of thoughts and touched their foreheads hard again. Then Pikam carried his bag and headed south alone, heading to Shantiao Island where the tribes gathered.
And Chihuaco led the fleet and continued northward to the end of the bay. Huitu Puap wanted to land in the north so that he could go back and tell his Majesty the merits. As for the old militiamen themselves...
"I've been out at sea for so long, so let's go to the end of the sea and take a look!...I'm afraid I won't have the chance to do it again in this life after such a long journey..."
So, the fleet left the vicinity of Shantiao Island and spent two days to find the large island of birds in the northwest and dug some gray and yellow guano stones. This island is slightly long and narrow, close to the long and narrow peninsula to the west. The island has mountains
It is lower and more arid, without a trace of green, and there is not a river in sight. The area of the island is similar to Yamatori Island.
Chihuaco looked at the seabirds on the island that were also blocking the sky, thought for a while, and gave it a new name.
"Snake Island!"
Because when the fleet landed, they encountered several pythons on the edge of the island. Birds in the sky and snakes on the ground, together, were called "Snake and Bird Island". (Angel Guard Island in today's Baja California, Mexico
Isla ángel de la Guarda)
Then, the fleet set off from Snake Island and sailed all the way north, approaching the Eastern Continent again. They traveled north for eight or nine days, nearly 700 miles away, until the north and south coasts turned east and west, and finally reached the end of the bay!
At the end of the bay, everyone happened to encounter a fight between a deserter and a Sri Lankan team. There were only seven or eight people on both sides. They stabbed each other with short stone spears and shot short arrows with wolf fangs, fighting to the death on the edge of the river.
, bleeding! And the target of their desperate fight was just two wild deer that fell to the ground with arrows in them, bleeding out.
Seeing the huge galley approaching, both the desert people and the Sri people were shocked and looked at the seaside in amazement. They were in awe and panic at the huge ship they had never seen before!
Puap stood on the bow of the ship, dozens of steps away, raised his hand and shot the leader of the desert people to death with an arrow. The desert people were almost naked, with strange lines painted all over their bodies. Only the leader had a
The wolf skin headband can be distinguished at a glance.
The desert people looked at the number of people on the boat, then dispersed and fled to the sand sea in the north. The Sri people did not pursue them, but looked at the ship with vigilance. The feathered leader whispered a few words,
One man lowered his weapon, held the big deer that had been shot by an arrow, and put it in front of the kingdom's fleet. The Sri man himself kept a small deer that he had hunted.
Chihuaco took the warriors ashore and came to the sand dunes. He did not have the prey of the Nasili people, but asked the mountain bird to translate and asked about the location.
Although Leader Sri was vigilant, he did not hide anything. Nearly seven hundred miles away, what happened in the southern ancestral land had not reached here at all. He answered affirmatively.
"Foreigners, this is the end of the bay, the edge of the northern desert! Going further north is the desolate and endless northern continent!"
Hearing this, everyone in the fleet cheered. The captain had already promised that the fleet would turn back after reaching the end of the sea.
"Praise the Lord God! We have reached the end of the sea! We have reached the border of the northern continent! And this is the northernmost point of our voyage!..."
This chapter has been completed!