Under the early morning sun, Lake Texcoco is undulating with bright light. And in the bright light, there are reflections of countless flowers. This is the Great Botanical Garden of Tenochtitlan, a place that symbolizes the royal family and nobility.
Under the sun and unknown shadows, in the sea of flowers and trees, a beautiful lantern crabapple is blooming. The flower branches are entangled with deep gold edges, and the red flowers are like hanging upside down lanterns, exuding a pleasant honey fragrance.
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A young blue-green hummingbird was attracted by the fragrance of honey. It danced quickly among the flowers, causing the sound of flapping wings, like brilliant lightning. Then it suddenly stopped and hung in front of the flowers, stretching out its slender beak.
Suck the sweet nectar with joy.
However, at the moment when the hummingbird stopped flying and drank happily, the golden edge of the flower branch suddenly jumped up and turned into a golden stream of light. The stream of light swept through the flower in the blink of an eye, and the hummingbird disappeared, leaving only a golden javelin snake.
The javelina snake closed its bright red mouth, and a bulge slowly slid down from its throat to its abdomen. Then its forked tongue stretched out, licked the mouth, and exhaled the air in its belly with satisfaction. It felt lazy after being full.
Comfortable. At this moment, a shrill sound of wind came from the sky, and the shadows in the sky quickly expanded until it was submerged. It raised its head in shock and was about to open its red mouth with fangs.
An old eagle fell from the sky, pounced at lightning speed, and pecked seven inches of the javelin snake. The red beak trembled, and its long tongue dropped weakly. Then, the eagle held the golden snake in its mouth, and just pulled it out.
And gone, leaving no trace behind. Only the lantern flowers trembling slightly in the wind.
The murderous intention is hidden in the beautiful capital, but who knows his identity?
When the sun slanted slightly in the east, two thousand family warriors gathered outside the Montezuma Palace. Afterwards, Avitt said goodbye to his daughter and took away Xiulote. Surrounded by the family warriors, the group went to the palace of the chief minister.
And go.
The chief minister's palace is not far to the east of the Great Temple. The palace is not large in scale, but very high, almost the same as the Great Temple. There is a special passage directly between the temple and the palace to facilitate communication between people on both sides.
In fact, during the decades when the elders were in power, the palace of the chief minister was the center of imperial politics. Envoys went to the great temple through this passage to convey orders to the priests at all levels. And the great temple
The warrior guards also obeyed the orders of their elders.
When he arrived at the chief palace, Shulot saw hundreds of elite warriors at a glance. These warriors held sharp and strong copper weapons, wore leather armor, and wore face-covering animal helmets, motionless in the sun.
This is the Elder Guard, equivalent to the King's Royal Guard.
The family warriors stopped here. Avitt and Shulot continued to go up with their important entourage. After climbing dozens of meters on the stone steps of the palace, they found another heavily guarded hall. Then the messenger stepped forward to announce that the elders
Only Avitt and Hulot were summoned. Intelligence officer Gillim, personal guard Stanley and warrior captain Bertard could only stop here.
The two of them put down their weapons, took off their leather armor, and wore only the noble clothes. They walked into the corridor behind the hall. Behind them were the elder guards holding gifts. On both sides of the corridor were huge murals with majestic paintings.
There are gods, magnificent temples, tall kings, and simple warriors, and at the bottom are various fallen enemies.
Xiulote observed the murals, which were all chapters of the patron saint Huitzilopochtli. From when he defeated the gods on the Snake Mountain and became the god of war, to when he replaced the sun god and ascended to the sky, and then descended to earth to promise the ancestors of Mexica.
, granting the Mexica leader the power of the world, then issuing an edict to surrender the Toltecs and Tepanecs, and finally the king's majestic sacrifice to conquer the south. There is still a large blank space waiting to be filled in.
Xiulote nodded. These murals are a treatise on how gods were created. This is the development history of the Mexica people and the most immortal achievement in the elder's life.
Then, the long corridor reaches the end. On one side is the flat roof of the large temple in the west, facing the red temple of the patron saint. On the other side, level with the temple, an elder who has spanned centuries is sitting quietly.
Sitting on the stone seat, he cast his gaze on the crowd of people entering.
Shulot quickly looked around and saw that the elder on the stone seat was extremely old, reminiscent of an ancient sacred tree. His face was calm, as indifferent as the lightless deep sea. His body was tall and straight, and his momentum was like a towering mountain. His gaze fell, giving people
With heavy pressure, cold and without any emotion. In his hand, he held a small copper bell.
Behind the elder, stood the smiling Kechar with his hands tied, and the slightly fat Ugel. Behind them, there were the elder's guards, as well as the sculpted warrior at the head and his clay pot.
Seeing the elder, Avitt looked solemnly and kneeled down respectfully with Shulot to salute.
"The great Civacohuatl, the immortal sun of the Mexica people, the supreme elder! Your most outstanding descendant, Avit, offers you the most sincere respect and blessings! May the patron saint be with us, and the sun will always be with us.
Don’t fall behind!”
The elder nodded and waved. The two stood up and presented the gifts.
"May flowers always accompany you and your elders be immortal!"
Avitt first presented flowers, which he had picked in the royal botanical garden early in the morning.
The elder's eyes were calm.
"This is the flag of the Otomi Legion-level commander, which I captured during the war."
Afterwards, Avit presented a three-meter-long command flag. Apart from the Xilotepec sacrificial plate, this was the highest-grade trophy in the entire Otomi War. Trophies of this level have been used by the Mexica for decades.
In fact, it is not uncommon in vast wars.
"This is the equipment of the high-ranking warriors of Tarasco, from a hearty victory!"
Finally, Avit presented a bronze helmet, a pair of bronze shoulder pads, and a bronze axe.
The elder's eyes finally wavered. He stared at the bronze helmet and shoulder guards, and nodded slightly. This was a new creation of the Tarascan people in the past ten years.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Then it is Shulot's turn to give a gift.
"This is the trebuchet I invented. It can throw 20-pound stone projectiles to 300 meters and 50-pound stone projectiles to 150 meters." He first presented a small trebuchet model.
After a series of structural optimizations, the trebuchet's range and power have been improved. Xiulote has sent people to the market to purchase copper nails, customize copper connectors, and try to further improve and strengthen the trebuchet.
The elder nodded. A stone bullet weighing fifty kilograms cannot effectively destroy a solid stone wall several meters high, but it can destroy the simple wood and stone walls of the southern city-states.
"This is the longbow I invented. It can injure unarmored militiamen within a range of 160 steps. It can injure low-level warriors in armor within a range of 120 steps. It can injure low-level warriors within a range of 90 steps.
Leather-armored elite warrior."
Shulot presented a gilt and carved longbow, and then confidently declared its power.
The elder's eyes narrowed. He stared at the longbow and Xilot for a moment, looking at his Teotihuacan clothes. Then he waved, and two warriors came forward, placed the leather armor, and tested the power of the longbow.
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The main hall plus the corridor is nearly a hundred paces long. The warrior who made the test shot was in his prime. His upper body spine was slightly arched and his hands had obvious calluses. He was a veteran who was good at the Tlaxcala bow. He made the test shot first.
Twice, I felt the strength of the bow, and was quite surprised. Then I drew the bow to 70%, and an arrow shot through the leather armor at 70 steps, and was nailed to the wall. The tail of the arrow kept trembling.
The elder's eyes stayed on the leather armor. He stared at the two arrow holes on the front and back of the chest, and he was silent.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kechar bowed forward with a smile and whispered softly: "Elder, the power of the long bow is indeed impressive. King Tisok died under the arrow of the long bow."
The elder's eyes lowered slightly, he said nothing, just waved briefly.
The warriors put away their long bows and bowed to retire.
"This is the paper I invented. It can be used to record all kinds of information. Just cheap bark, jute, bamboo, and reed can be made into tens of thousands of papers. These three loads of paper only require ten craftsmen and two weeks.
time, and it will be even faster in the future!”
Shulot presented three loads of paper and a scroll with a thousand-character script written in Chinese characters. He pulled the scroll open to show the writing effect, and then pulled it again to prove the toughness of the bark paper.
The elder motioned for Shulot to come forward. He took the paper and looked through it, then carefully looked at the paper with Chinese characters written on it. This time he did not nod, but was just thinking about something.
"This is a script I invented. It has clear condensation of meaning, writing standards, and combination shapes. Nobles, priests, warriors, and even village residents in distant city-states can clearly understand the writing on paper as long as they master this script.
laws and orders, myths and history, and major events of the alliance!"
Shulot finally presented a set of wooden boards corresponding to hieroglyphics and regular Chinese characters, and pointed at the paper book in the elder's hand, proudly declaring the great writing. This is the true foundation of the empire, and everything will change from here!
The elder lowered his eyes and fell into deep contemplation, and the hall was filled with solemnity.
Kechar looked closely at the text in front of him. He had many thoughts, and then his eyes became serious, his face was serious, and the smile disappeared from his face for the first time. When he looked at Shulot again, he also had the same intention.
He lowered his eyelids to cover up the deep coldness in his eyes.
Ugel next to him was completely unaware. He just touched the soft paper and felt that if this thing was cheap, it would be convenient to use in some daily life. Well, it must be better than leaves and branches!
After a while, the elder finally waved his hand. Shulot respectfully resigned. He was full of pride and confidence to open up a culturally brilliant future!
Suddenly a bell rang. When Shulot heard the sound and looked over, he saw the elder shaking the small bell in his hand. While he was puzzled, the sculpture-like warriors in the hall seemed to have heard a spell and instantly gathered in front of them.
Beside people.
"Take it!" The elder spoke for the first time. His voice was like an eternal rock, old and without any emotion.
The elder guards swarmed forward and subdued Avitt and Hulot. Then, a side door opened, leading to the deep inner layer of the palace. Hulot was led into unknown depths in confusion and shock.
Before entering the door, Avitt glanced at the expressionless elder, but he was confident and calm.
