The Valley of Mexico in November is peaceful and joyful, just like the flower bulbs on the Avivit tree by the water exuding the fragrance of pine and cypress in the breeze.

The fleet carried Avit's royal flag and warriors and went south along the Tampon River. The warm sunshine rippled on the river. The boat sailed in the breeze and flowing water. In just two or three days, it entered the prosperous and beautiful Valley of Mexico, where the Empire

The territory of actual rule.

The Mexica villages along the way have already completed this year's harvest and tribute, and the fields are sown with beans. The wealthy villages have enough bean seeds sown to restore the fertility of the soil to welcome a more prosperous future.

next year.

With the villagers watching and saluting along the way, the king's fleet continued southward and entered Lake Haltocan a week later. Xiulote looked to the east from a distance, which was the direction of the holy city of Teotihuacan. One day

Outside, it is the place where I was born and grew up.

This is already the core area of ​​the Mexica people, and Mexica boats are constantly coming, carrying village elders along the way and offering fresh vegetables, fruits and precious light wine to the fleet.

Sweet songs surrounded the fleet all the way, which was the bold confession of the girls' love for the warriors. They were like floating lotuses in the water, wearing only a thin white dress in the autumn wind, dancing gracefully on the bow of the ship, showing off their graceful figures to the warriors

.Whenever night falls, from time to time a warrior slips away from the back of the fleet and has a tryst with the girls on the boat, enjoying the moon, the stars and singing songs together.

Arriving in the safe hinterland of the empire, Avitt did not restrain the warriors.

As the fleet continued south, they entered the Texcoco Lake area, the home of the Mexican people, home to 1.5 million people, the direct territory of the capital's three cities, and the most prosperous and wealthy place in Central America.

There were densely packed villages along the way, with smoke rising continuously from both sides of the bank. The distant ocarina and the low rhyme of drums could be heard vaguely in the autumn wind, accompanied by the singing of community warriors and priests. After a few sniffs, Shulot could smell the aroma of roasted turkey.

The spicy aroma and the refreshing aroma of roasted corn made me suddenly feel hungry.

This is a banquet held by the village elders in the community hall. The villagers gather here to perform various sacrificial rituals and offer food, birds, ears of corn, sage, beans and wild flowers. Warriors and village leaders gather together.

Enjoying the many festivals in autumn with joy.

Shulot tasted it carefully again. Among the aroma of food wafting not far away, there was a special fragrance, similar to burning sandalwood, with a simple and distant charm.

"What kind of aroma is this? Are the villages in the Lake District rich enough to use expensive spices?" Shulot was a little surprised.

"Spices are not expensive items. In addition to the output of Chinampa and the collection in the forest, the Alliance also continuously receives supplies from the Mixtecs, Zapotecs in the south, and the Huastecs in the northeast.

A large amount of spice tribute has been collected. In the fertile lake area, even common people, senior warriors and wealthy ordinary businessmen can use spices."

The noble priest Ugos answered with a proud smile. In the army, Avit had to maintain his dignity, and Gillim had always been unsmiling. Ugos, the noble son from the royal capital, became Shulot's tour guide and told him about the lake area of ​​the capital.

Beautiful and rich.

"This should be a blessing banquet for the elders of the village community. At the end of the banquet, priests and senior warriors will light fragrant copal resin and pray to the gods and ancestors to bless the harvest for the coming year."

The Lake District is the foundation of alliance rule. The villages here are tightly organized to form communities with clearly defined populations, Karpoli, similar to the Qin Dynasty's household system. Each community is managed by four elders, usually enfeoffed military nobles.

, senior civilian warriors and temple priests appointed by the capital.

Whenever the horn of war blows, each village community needs to provide a warrior and militia team of two hundred people. The sophistication of the warriors' equipment is directly proportional to the wealth of the village. Generally speaking, the closer the village is to the capital, the richer it is.

, the more warriors there are.

This is already the hometown of many warriors in the fleet. They were born here, received military training in the capital, completed the selection examination, and then joined the legion directly under the royal family to become a noble warrior.

As the fleet continued southward, there were various comfortable floral fragrances in the air, as well as the light freshness of ripe cocoa fruits, similar to lemons. Looking around, Xulot looked around and saw the prosperity of Mexica people everywhere in the lake area here.

The foundation of the lake is Chinampa, a floating field in the lake.

These floating fields are fastened with fences, and the bottom is made of soil mixed with wooden stakes. Although it is autumn, farmers are still busy planting on the floating fields. In addition to corn, beans and pumpkins, Xiulote also saw cocoa trees being harvested, and

There are avocados that are beginning to bear fruit, and various herbs that are carefully cared for. These are foods provided to the nobles.

Chinampa on the lake can be farmed all year round. Lake Texcoco ensures the moisture for crop growth, and the silt in the lake provides sufficient nutrients. There is no low temperature and snow in Mexico in autumn and winter.

Now is the dry season, and the canals pass through the neatly arranged chinampas. The water surface is no more than one person deep. From time to time, there are wealthy farmers in white, holding boats, fishing nets, salvaging the silt from the lake bottom and canals, and then evenly

The alms were spread on the floating fields.

There are still straw and leaves submerged in fermentation around the floating fields, and fish can be vaguely seen swimming on the lake, chasing the scattered grains. From time to time, boats loaded with excrement fertilizers come from the southern capital and are added to Chinampa.

.This may be the earliest ecological agriculture.

The boatman continued southward for one day and finally arrived at the northern gate of Tenochtitlan, the village of Tepiiaga, where ten thousand warriors disembarked. Next, Shulot had to walk along a long bridge that was several miles away.

, walk to the capital city in the lake.

Shulot walked out of the wealthy North Shore village and came to the shore of Lake Texcoco. He stopped unconsciously and saw a beautiful long white stone bridge, accompanied by a dark mud embankment, crossing the endless

Changhong connects to the majestic stone capital not far away. Pedestrians on the long bridge come and go like a colony of ants. From time to time, priests and nobles wearing feathers pass by, creating gaps in the ant colony.

He estimated in his mind that the stone bridge under his feet was about ten meters wide. Along with the embankments of the same width on both sides, there was a full thirty-meter road that could accommodate sixty people walking side by side, extending for five or six kilometers. And when he unfolded

Looking around, more long bridges and embankments spread in the distance, dividing Lake Texcoco like the paintbrush of the gods.

Under the sun, the lake surface is filled with sparkling waves, and the long white bridge shines with the lake water, like a kingdom in the sky. Thousands of small boats carrying goods and people, coming from all directions, nimbly pass between the stone bridges.

Xiuluo took a closer look and discovered that the stone bridge and embankment were exquisitely designed, leaving special arc-shaped holes at regular intervals, so that boats could follow the lake water and shuttle under the feet of pedestrians.

"If there is a long bridge lying on the waves, what is the dragon if there is no cloud? If the road is restored and the sky is empty, what will be the rainbow if there is no cloud?"

Shulot's eyes were filled with the color of the lake, the pedestrians on the long bridge, the white stone palace at the end, and the red-roofed temple. This was so majestic that he had never imagined!

"Priest Shulot, what are you talking to yourself about?" Ugos looked at Shulot with a smile. Every resident of the capital was happy to see the shock and confusion of foreigners when they saw the capital for the first time.

"I'm counting how many long bridges there are." Shulot smiled slightly and quickly regained consciousness.

"There are two main bridges in the north, leading to the villages on the north bank. There are two main bridges and four branch bridges in the west. From north to south, one leads to Azga Pozark, the old capital of the Tepanek people, and two leads to

Tlacopan in the middle, and Chapultepec in the south.

There are also two long canals in the west! From the foot of the Prepecha Highlands in the west, all the way over the mountains and ridges to divert water to the capital, it is a huge project! Usually only one is open to transport fresh water and the other is closed for cleaning. There is a main bridge in the south

Two branch bridges lead to the city-states on the south bank respectively.

To the east of the capital, there is a long embankment that extends across the entire lake, like the embrace of a goddess, protecting the majestic water capital from the floods of the rainy season and the salt water of the outer lake.

This is the residence of the gods in the human world. It is the immortal sun. Trakaeler listens to the will of the gods and builds the Kingdom of God on the human world!"

Ugos described the magnificence of the capital city in the lake with emotion. He unknowingly started singing the praises of the priests in a gorgeous capital accent.

"This is the island surrounded by eight bridges and causeways, the place where the eagle falls, the white stone in the lake, the home of the cactus in full bloom, Mexica-Tenochtitlan!"

Shulot admired in his heart, so he also used the low tone of the Holy City and chanted to him in a clear voice.

As far as he could see, bridges and causeways divided the lake, interspersed with floating fields dotted in the lake. Hundreds of canoes flowed through the water, transporting wealth and tribute from all over the world. At the end was an endless expanse of rocks.

Houses, bustling crowds, and the unusually tall Twin Pyramids of the Great Temple.

This is the center of civilization where bridges, boats, temples, palaces, warriors, and priests gather. It is the largest city in America, a capital city in a lake covering an area of ​​14 square kilometers!

Shulot once asked Avitt how many people there were in the Lake Capital. Avitt smiled and told him that the Lake Capital has eighty Calpoli communities, with an unparalleled population of 250,000.

When the Spaniards first came to the lake capital, they were shocked by the majestic stone city and praised it as the "Venice of the New World". However, in Hulot's view, this was just a narrow metaphor.

In this era, Venice's urban area was only eight square kilometers, with a maximum population of 120,000, less than half of the capital city on the lake, and its causeway and aqueduct facilities were completely incomparable. Venice can be called "Europe's"

Tenochtitlan”!

If Shullot makes an analogy, the capital city in the lake should be the Han Dynasty Chang'an City with an area of ​​36 square kilometers and a population of 300,000, or the Imperial Roman City with an area of ​​15 square kilometers and a population estimated to be one million people.

In any case, this is undoubtedly the center of the empire and the most glorious place of Mesoamerican civilization!

With the king's flag raised high, ten thousand elite warriors lined up in an orderly queue, heading south along the long bridge. Where the king's flag passed, pedestrians on the bridge retreated to the depths of the embankments on both sides, kneeling on their knees with their legs up to their calves.

In the lake.

Avitt carried the majestic posture of a king, while Shulot accompanied him. The two of them walked forward as if they were entering a no-man's land.

He looked carefully at both sides, and found that 70% were civilians wearing single-color linen or cotton clothes without hats, lying prostrate in the water; 20% were craftsmen and businessmen kneeling on their knees wearing dyed cotton clothes and cotton hats; and half were kneeling craftsmen and businessmen.

There were warriors and military aristocrats of all levels who knelt down on one knee and wore bright battle clothes and simple feathers; there were also a handful of high-ranking priests and nobles who wore richly decorated robes and high-flying feather crowns and bowed their heads in salute.

Wherever the king's flag passed, there were all the subjects of the empire who had surrendered.

"The sun shines brightly when it first shines, and thousands of mountains are like fire. It ascends to the sky in an instant, driving away the stars and the waning moon."

Xiulote had mixed feelings in his heart. Tens of thousands of troops gathered around him, and all the people knelt down. This is the hierarchical Mexica society, and this is the taste of power at the top!

The young man under the king's banner was slightly drunk, but then he woke up and regained the clarity in his eyes. Then he slightly tilted his head and looked at the majestic Avitt. His face was calm as usual, and his eyes were full of energy, so he nodded in his heart.

With thousands of people retreating and saluting along the way, the army crossed the long bridge. In front of them was the north city of the capital city in the lake, the former city-state of Tlatelolco. This city-state was first established by the Mexica on the island in the middle of the lake.

One of the twin cities, the area is about a quarter of the main city of Tenochtitlan in the south.

With the expansion of the Mexica people, the capital city in the lake developed rapidly, and the two cities gradually merged into one. Only an arc-shaped canal was left at the junction to provide the most important fresh water to the cities on both sides.

As Xiulote walked along, he saw interlaced bridges and waterways in front of him. In the northern city of Tlatelolco, most of the houses were built on small pieces of land in the water, many of which were new islands that were later filled in. These houses

It is the residence of civilians or ordinary warriors, arranged neatly according to the plan.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The intertwined waterways are like a chessboard with straight sides. Between the chessboards are the houses gathered one after another, like chess pieces dropped by the gods. The foundation of each house is stone.

platform to prevent flooding. The wall base of the house is made of white granite or red volcanic rock, and the ceiling is made of wooden beams and sticks, with a layer of plaster on the outside. The roof of the house is also straight.

It is roughly divided into bedrooms, kitchens, warehouses and slave quarters.

Whenever a certain number of houses gather into blocks, a small community market and a completely stone community temple will appear in the center. The community in the city is similar to the Lifang of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty, with a population of about 3,000. It not only has economic functions, but also

More military functions.

This kind of temple is the lowest root system of the empire's sacred tree rule, the tentacles that go deep into the grassroots, and the cornerstone of the strong mobilization ability of the Mexica people. The same four elders are responsible for a community, usually pay tribute, and supervise the young people of school age to join the military academy.

During war, one hundred to two hundred warriors were gathered.
To be continued...