Starlight shines in the distance, and the night is silent. Only the gentle cries of eagles and the hissing of snakes.
In the wooden box on the stone platform in the bedroom, little Avelot spread out its short gray wings, held its white-haired little head high, and its small black eyes were bright. Across the two-meter-high stone platform, it poked its head out
, looked at Xiao Qing on the ground, and let out a proud "yo yo" cry.
The little green snake raised its head and silently stared at the bird above its head for a while with its erect snake eyes. Then, it hissed along the rough edge of the stone platform and reached the wooden box in a moment.
Then, it opened its big green mouth, pressed towards the little golden eagle that was very close at hand, and made a high-frequency threatening "shhh" sound.
Little Avelot was stunned for a moment, and "chirped" in fear, calling for help. It flapped its short wings and struggled hard, but only slightly lifted off the ground, and then fell back into the wooden box. After struggling for a moment, it could only cry out in fear.
He hid in the corner of the wooden box, covered his eyes with his wings, huddled up into a fluffy ball, and then shivered.
Shulot was awakened by the rapid cry of an eagle. The young man stood up quickly, half-naked, revealing the outline of his strong growth. He quickly glanced around, holding the long dagger that never left his body in his right hand. Then, he carefully moved the brazier in the corner.
, finally saw the confrontation between the eagle and the snake clearly, and couldn't help laughing.
The young man stretched out his hand, touched the soft little head of the little golden eagle, comforted the frightened little Avelot, and whispered with a smile.
"You, you, be obedient and don't make any noise. Your task now is to accumulate your wings and wait for the day when they are fully grown!"
Then, he hugged the dissatisfied and twisting little green snake from the side, feeling the smoothness and delicateness of the snake's body, and smiled softly.
"As for you, you should suppress your voice and posture, lurk silently, and wait in a low profile. A fatal attack only lasts a moment, so what's the point of confrontation and deterrence?"
Having said this, Shulot was stunned for a moment, as if he had thought of something. He looked towards the first ray of morning light rising in the east, his eyes dim and distant.
Now that he was up, Shulot went to complete his daily morning training. Then he waited for a while, and the craftsman director Kuaud finally came in a hurry. After a brief discussion, the two decided on today's itinerary to check out the mining around the capital.
Yesterday, the old carpenter accompanied me for half a day, and today it will probably take a whole day.
Shulot ordered his guards to wait for the craftsmen holding 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.
We were boating under the morning sun, not far from Lake Texcoco to the southwest. At the confluence of the Leman River, there were many small rivers. When the boat entered the fork of a river, we saw dozens of armed patrols.
Samurai, and hundreds of miners hunched over and busy beside the river bed.
A few hundred meters further, the clear river suddenly shines. Layers of golden light rise from the bottom of the river half a man deep, like a sky full of stars dotting the night sky. This is the placer gold collection point closest to the capital.
Due to active volcanic activity, Central America is one of the most gold and silver-rich regions in the world. The vast Mexican plateau has the world's largest silver mine reserves, as well as hundreds of gold mine mountains in the north, south and west, and continuous underground areas.
gold and silver mineral belt.
The gold and silver reserves here are measured in tens of thousands of tons, distributed in strata at different depths, and are higher than those in Japan, which also has frequent volcanic activities. Historically, the Caribbean treasure fleet set out from Veracruz in eastern Mexico, loaded with gold and silver.
The Mexican gold and silver that pirates and navies were crazy about gathered in Havana, Cuba, and then sailed to Seville in southern Spain, becoming the original source of the expansion of Western European financial capital and the inexhaustible driving force for social and economic development.
The tribes of Central America have been mining gold mines for thousands of years, and the amount of gold accumulated is countless. The capital of Tenochtitlan is the center of Central American wealth. According to what Xiulote sees every day, the gold in the capital is about several thousand.
Hundreds or even thousands of tons, many buried deep in tombs and temples.
Usually, the mining of precious metals is divided into digging rock holes and panning in rivers and streams. Due to the lack of metal mining tools, the mining of rock gold is very inefficient and costly. The Mexicans, like other tribes, mainly pan for water
Mainly placer gold. In the rivers in the west and north of the Mexican Union, there are a large number of gold sand rivers. Thousands of miners work here, providing a steady stream of wealth to various city-states.
Shulot stopped the patrolling warrior from saluting and signaled the miners to continue collecting placer gold. Then he strode forward and watched the miners' work by the river.
The main working site of the miners is a cut-off river. The water in the river has been drained, revealing a glittering golden river bed. They used simple stone shovels to dig out the river mud and gathered it into a glittering mound of soil by the river. Then,
The miners took out simple gold pans, put the excavated 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, with circles of special grooves on it. When the light sand is dispersed and the useless stones are removed, what is left are heavy and bright gold particles of various sizes. The gold sand is as small as a microscopic
Dust and gold nuggets are like grains of rice, shining and flowing together in the sun, making a crisp rustling sound that captivates people's hearts.
Shulot's eyes were attracted to sand gold. The color of gold seemed to have a natural charm. Fortunately, he was used to seeing gold, silver and gemstones in his daily life. However, after a few breaths, the young man regained his composure.
He calculated that the placer gold that the miners produced every time was only a tenth of an ounce. Looking at the gold sand mud piles by the river, a miner could collect up to a few ounces in a day. Finally, he looked at it again.
There are long riverbeds covered with golden sand and golden rivers in the distance, where tons of gold are buried.
The young man was silent for a long time and shook his head. The manpower consumed by this kind of collection is too expensive, and in the city-states of Central America that are rich in gold and silver, the value of gold is far less than that of Eurasia, and there are not many things that can be bought. Get rich suddenly.
The gold mining industry has turned into a de facto luxury industry, which has little positive significance for Mexica society.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Next, Shulot turned his attention to the miners' physical fitness and facial expressions.
The main sources of miners are civilians and slaves. Their work is strictly supervised by the warriors of each city-state. They have to work for more than ten hours a day and must complete the minimum collection requirements.
The young man ignored the slaves who were in ragged clothes, had numb expressions, and were as skinny as wood. These people had no military value. He just focused on looking at the civilian miners in coarse brown clothes.
Most of these civilian miners come from nearby villages and were summoned by local nobles. They have stoic faces, lean bodies, and slightly arched upper bodies. Their low body fat and high-intensity work outline their distinctive facial contours.
There is simplicity and simplicity in his eyes.
The miners endure long and boring collection every day, and their obedience and discipline are much higher than those of ordinary farmers and citizens, and even better than some young warriors. The prescribed collection quantity allows them to roughly understand some simple numbers.
.At the same time, they need to cooperate with each other in work, often working together in villages, and sometimes conflict with each other, so they have sufficient teamwork capabilities.
Shulot looked around for a moment, then summoned a simple and honest young miner to ask briefly.
The young miner was only in his twenties, and his face was already weathered. He had thick knuckles and thick calluses on his hands and feet. He answered the priest's questions awkwardly, his language was simple but clear.
.
Shulot nodded slightly and ordered calmly.
"Stand here, keep your back straight, look straight ahead, and don't move."
Hearing this, the young miner stood like a stake, uneasy and motionless. Sweat slipped from his cheeks, washing away the dust on his face, and then dripped to the ground, splashing a cloud of dust. His pupils were slightly dilated.
, staring blankly at the unknown distance of the river.
Hulot didn't speak. He sat down relaxedly in front of the miners. Then he took the tequila wine handed by Bertard, raised his head and drank slowly, and the aroma of the wine spread on the river beach. His eyes
Always watching the young miner's expression.
The young miner's throat moved slightly, as if he had swallowed the wine-scented air, but he still did not dare to move. The boy slowly ate another piece of tortilla with chili sauce. The miner's eyes were always attracted from time to time, and then he was afraid.
of moving.
After a long time, Shulot nodded with satisfaction.
"May I have your name?"
"Great Priest, my name is Guzman, 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 in the capital.
"How long have you been a miner? Do you know all the miners in this area?"
"My dearest priest, I have been working as a miner for three years. I have been trained at the community military school for several years, but I could not pass the warrior selection test. The lord asked our village to hire people to mine, so I came here. The miners here are all from the surrounding area.
In the village, everyone knows each other, and there are probably one or two hundred people."
The young miner blinked to show recognition. He actually knew some concepts about numbers.
Shulot pondered for a moment. The villages all belong to the fiefdoms of nobles in various places, and the villagers are also under the jurisdiction of each noble. However, with his current status, if he asks for some miners, the nobles should not refuse.
The young man nodded slightly and waved his hand.
"Guzman, go down."
Only then did the miner Guzman dare to lower his head. He knelt on the ground and saluted, breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around and left in a hurry without saying anything. He had not finished his gold mining task today.
Shulot's eyes were deep. He looked at the hundreds of miners on the river bank and asked serious questions.
"Kouod, how many miners are there in the Texcoco Lake area?"
Craftsman Director Kuaud pondered for a moment and answered cautiously.
"Your Highness, there are nearly ten gold and silver mining sites around the lake area. There are more than 2,000 civilian miners, and slaves cannot be counted. There are several large mines further out, and there are about 2,000 to 3,000 civilian miners."
Shulot frowned slightly, the number was much less than he expected. He thought for a moment, then looked at the old carpenter and spoke slowly.
"Let's go check out the salt mines and stone mines. I need more miners!"
Kuaud felt the meaning in the young man's eyes. He thought for a moment and bowed his head respectfully.
The young man gave the order, and everyone went straight to the south without any hesitation. Behind them, the golden sands were bright, and the golden river was still shining.
