In the next few days, Shulot was still in a hurry. He was like the breeze blowing across the surface of Lake Texcoco, running around the capital city in the lake, chasing the light that cut through time and space.
Outside the southeastern embankment of the capital city in the lake, there are two fairly large islands, one is called Zacatela Manco and the other is Itacata. The names of the islands are roughly the same as "salt water", "salt-alkali land" and "reeds".
Related, this also shows the desolate appearance here.
These islands are located in a saltwater lagoon and have not been developed into Chinampa, so they have been uninhabited. There are only resident waterbirds and the occasional businessman. Now, Avit has given both islands to Xiulote
, used as a testing ground for gunpowder research and development.
The young man took dozens of guard warriors and came by boat in the early morning. He boarded the island to the north and looked around. It was about an hour or two away from the capital, and it was quiet and uninhabited. Looking to the north, you could see the great god in the center of the capital.
The temple is majestic and tall, and Chinampa is green and green a few miles away. The merchant fleets on the lake are constantly coming and going, and it is a scene of prosperous civilization. And looking to the south, there is another island of its own not far away.
Xiulote watched quietly for a while, then continued to evaluate the two small islands. Each of the two islands was hundreds of hectares. The North Island was slightly smaller and closer, so he named it Tianhuo Island, which is specially used to store nitrate and extract soil.
Nitre, try gunpowder formula. The South Island is larger and further away, so it is called Tianhuo Second Island. It is used to test future firearms and is temporarily idle.
The young man led the guard warriors around to check and judge the topography of the island. The lower edge part may be submerged in the rainy season when the lake floods. It is necessary to raise the soil in the center of the island, build a high platform, and then set up the research and development site on it.
A backlit dry warehouse must also be built to store the extracted soil salt and prepared gunpowder.
A group of people were patrolling, but Bertard's expression suddenly changed, and he took a step forward to block Hulot. The warrior commander pointed somewhere with his thumb, then silently took out his long bow and equipped it with an armor-piercing copper arrow.
Shulot looked carefully into the distance with a solemn expression. Two to three hundred meters away, a small section of the ship's hull was exposed in the reeds. He also took out his shield and war club and got ready for the battle. Several people behind him
The warriors of the Ten Guards were well-trained. Half of them bent bows and arrows, and the other half held sticks and shields. They gradually spread out into a circular formation, protecting His Highness in the center.
The guard warriors approached carefully and entered the optimal shooting distance of about a hundred steps. Bertard asked the warriors to stop. He first changed to a whistle arrow, took a slight aim, and then fired a quick arrow, and the sharp whistling sound was immediately heard.
It was reported that a bone horn whistle was added to the arrowhead of the whistle arrow, and it had a specially made blunt tip to avoid accidental damage.
A rustling sound came from the reeds. The guard warriors were all equipped with bronze arrows. As long as an unidentified warrior appeared, they would take action without hesitation. Bertard waited for a long time with his bow raised. After a while,
The movement in the reeds disappeared again. He frowned slightly and yelled at the reeds.
"Who is that in the grass? Come out quickly! If you don't come out, we will shoot!"
There was another shaking in the reeds, but the person inside still didn't show up.
Bertard waited no longer. He solemnly waved his left hand forward, and more than twenty copper arrows shot out, striking aggressively around the wooden boat in the reeds. Several exclamations came from the reeds, followed by panic.
response.
"Stop, stop! We are not enemies, we are hard-working and loyal citizens of the capital!"
The warrior commander frowned again. He looked at Shulot. The boy pondered slightly and nodded. He certainly didn't look like an enemy.
"Come out of the grass, all of you!" Bertard shouted again.
After a while, five or six shivering people emerged from the reeds. The longbows of the guard warriors were immediately aimed at their vital points.
Shulot first looked at their hands. They were empty and without weapons. They only had short daggers on their waists. Then, the young man looked at their clothes. No one was wearing armor. They were only wearing robes and hoodies to cover their bodies.
The cloaks, cloaks and robes all have low-key colors and simple patterns. At first glance, they are of civilian shape, but upon closer inspection, they are made of fine fabrics. Some people also wear wide-brimmed conical hats on their heads, half covering their faces.
The young man was a little confused. This shape... always gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Bertard looked at it for a moment and determined that this was just a group of civilians with suspicious identities. He looked at the reeds again and found that there was no movement. So, the warrior commander waved his hand forward, and five or six strong leather-armored warriors swarmed up.
.They took off the conical hats of the suspicious characters, pulled off their broad cloaks and robes, put away the daggers around their waists, and after groping up and down for a while, they nodded to the warrior chief.
Bertard nodded slightly and changed the direction of the long bow. He pointed to the dense reeds, and ten more warriors cautiously entered. After a moment of searching, they brought several small clay pots and two deep
Colored cloth bag returns.
"Your Highness, there are two boats inside. One boat contains more than a dozen jars of luxury goods such as herbs and spices, and the other boat contains a bag of gold sand and several bags of salt."
The guard warriors came to report. Shulot looked at the warrior captain.
Bertard took a jar with a mark on it and opened it, reaching out to fumble for a while. A strong fragrance came out, and it was just allspice. Then he opened two more cloth bags, one of which contained heavy and dazzling gold sand.
, one bag is white and slightly gray table salt.
The warrior commander breathed a sigh of relief. He nodded to the boy to confirm.
Shulot pondered slightly. The alliance has recently promulgated commercial laws and levies heavy taxes on luxury goods. Obviously, this is a private luxury transaction and will not pay taxes in accordance with the law. One party is a big businessman with connections, and the other party carries a large amount of money.
Pens of gold sand and table salt should be big nobles in the capital who own fiefdoms.
Shulot took a few steps forward and carefully observed the faces of several people. When two of them saw the young man's high-level priest uniform, their expressions changed and they immediately lowered their heads subconsciously. The warriors then grabbed their chins and forcibly lifted them up. The young man looked at
After looking at these two people for a long time, without any impression in my mind, I looked to the other side.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After looking at it for a moment, Shulot said "Hey", there was an old friend among them.
"I remember you. You were a big businessman in the urban market. You had a luxury store. What's your name?"
What the young man didn't mention was that he had personally seen the other party buy honey at a low price and then sell it again. In just a quarter of an hour, it was three or four times the profit, so he was deeply impressed.
"Ah, no, I'm not...Dear Sir, you must have remembered it wrong..."
Before the big businessman finished speaking, he saw the young priest in front of him frowning slightly. Then, his hair was lifted up, and the middle-aged warrior behind him had already placed the war stick across his neck. A chill went down the big businessman's neck.
Then there was a slight sting, the sharp blade had already scratched the skin, and bright red traces slowly oozed out.
"Yes, I am! I am Ocatel from the urban market!...Sir, you remember me. I must have served you, please spare my life!"
Ocatl was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder burst. The big businessman looked at him in horror: a high-ranking priest in black, fifty or sixty elite leather-armored warriors, and dozens of powerful longbows. He wanted to cry but had no tears.
Under the powerful long-range threat, even the prepared escape cannot be carried out.
I just sold a few cans of vanilla to old customers and secretly earned some hard-earned money. Even if it violated the newly promulgated commercial law, I wouldn't use so many high-level temple guards, right? Look at this equipment and the number of people, they are just attacking ordinary people.
The noble manor is enough!
Thinking of this, the big businessman finally shed tears of grievance.
Shulot looked at the big businessman with an expressionless face. He first raised his hand, and the middle-aged warrior who threatened the big businessman stopped. Then he pointed at the two people who had lowered their heads just now, and the warriors pushed them aside. Then,
The young man approached Ocatel. The middle-aged warrior immediately hit his knee, and the big businessman knelt down in pain without His Highness looking up.
Later, Shulot interrogated Ocatl majestically. The big businessman started talking nonsense, and the young man frowned again. The middle-aged samurai knowingly exerted pressure several times, and he got it just right. Soon, in the unpredictable horror of life and death,
, Ocatl's psychological defense finally collapsed. He cried and confessed truthfully.
Within a few days of the promulgation of the Commercial Law, the formal luxury goods trade in the city market was significantly reduced. The local big businessmen were unwilling to bear the high business taxes and began private transactions one after another. They have been rooted in the local area for many years and have long-standing relationships with the capital's nobles.
Due to the cooperative relationship and familiarity with geography and people, the two parties conveniently moved the trading venue.
Now that the capital has been patrolled by temple guards, and the influence of priests in each community is very strong, the private trading locations of local merchants and nobles have finally moved to various hidden islands in the lake. This island is covered with reeds as tall as a person, and is far away from
Not far from the capital, it was spotted by Ocatel as a place for his private trade.
The New Year sacrifices are about to begin, and the nobles have a lot of demand for luxury goods. Almost every day, Ocatel comes here to trade with different nobles, sometimes with a big noble, sometimes with several small nobles. Occasionally,
When meeting colleagues, everyone has a tacit understanding of missing each other, and at the same time, they are careful to guard against reports from each other.
Today, Ocatl came with two guards to trade with the servants of the great nobles in the capital. In the most hidden reeds, he exchanged herbs and spices for gold sand and salt produced in the fief. He also had the means to sell these salts.
Sell it out.
"I heard that there are now big nobles who specialize in trade intermediaries. In their fiefdoms, they provide low-tax guaranteed transactions for foreign businessmen who come from afar and don't know their background."
Finally, Ocatl burst into tears and gave a vague and important message.
After hearing this, Shulot frowned deeply. It seemed that the implementation of commercial law was not going smoothly.
The autonomy of the great nobles is too great. They have enough power and greed to violate the alliance's commercial laws. If inspections are too strict, a large amount of luxury goods trade will be transferred to the fiefdoms of the great nobles. The alliance will
It is difficult to intervene directly without using force.
The enforcement of alliance laws is always closely related to the government's control. The same is true for the alliance's various taxes. Local governments will withhold varying degrees of tribute according to the level of autonomy, coupled with corruption in the bureaucracy.
Ultimately, the government's actual revenue will always strike a balance between local control, autonomy, and corruption, which Shulot calls tax efficiency.
In this era, most of the tax revenue from feudal countries would flow to nobles, officials and gentry at all levels, and this became more so toward the end of the dynasty. For example, the Ming Dynasty more than a hundred years later...
Shulot shook his head and put back his distant thoughts. He looked at Ocatel who was kneeling and crying, and was silent.
Ocatl was shocked and knew that he had reached a critical moment that determined life and death. Mexica society has always been strict, and the priests had just promulgated commercial laws. At this time, if he was captured by the high-ranking priests and returned to the capital, he would be regarded as a model and sacrificed.
A altar for sacrifices, used to scare people.
The big businessman struggled hard, ignoring the sharp war stick, and threw himself at the young priest's feet. He grabbed the young priest's priest's robe with force, and cursed and swore.
"Master Priest, spare my life! In the name of the patron saint, I am willing to sacrifice all my family property, and I am willing to swear allegiance to you to the death!"
Shulot had already made a decision in his heart. He shook his head slightly and looked at the middle-aged warrior.
The middle-aged warrior nodded clearly. He bent down and grabbed Okatel's shoulder with one hand. Then he stretched out his other hand and pinched the opponent's elbow hard. The big businessman suddenly felt pain in his arm.
Numb, his fingers loosened uncontrollably. The middle-aged warrior used a little force and dragged the big businessman forty to fifty meters from the ground. Two more warriors came up from around, and Ocatl was completely controlled.
Shulot looked at the middle-aged warrior with great interest. He was in his thirties, had an ordinary appearance, a weathered face, calm eyes, but was quite smart. In the previous interrogation, he observed his words and applied pressure just right.
.The young man couldn't help but feel a little love for talents.
"What's your name? When did you join the guard?" Shulot waved and asked the middle-aged warrior to come over.
The middle-aged warrior's expression remained unchanged. He walked quickly and knelt down to salute respectfully.
"Your Highness, I am Esco, a warrior from the holy city of Teotihuacan. I once followed Captain Shusok and conquered the Otomi people with you. The high priest came to the capital in the lake,
A group of holy city warriors were mobilized, and I followed the high priest at that time to protect the left and right. Later, I was assigned to join your guard."
Shulot nodded slightly. He didn't have a family name. He turned out to be a civilian warrior from the Holy City. Esco was chosen by his grandfather and sent to the guard around him, so he must be trustworthy in terms of loyalty.
Since arriving in the capital, various affairs have been unfolding continuously, and the young man has become increasingly aware of the lack of talents, especially the lack of people who can take the lead. For him now, when it comes to important tasks, he must first ensure the loyalty of the people he employs, and then
Then consider ability, and don’t care about family background.
Shulot thought for a moment, then looked sharply at the middle-aged warrior and asked questions.
"Esco, how do you think we should deal with this businessman?"
Esco thought for a moment, his eyes flashed, and then he answered respectfully.
"Your Highness, the Nobility Law is about to be promulgated, and the situation in the capital is tense. It is not appropriate to continue to stimulate the nobles with luxury goods. As for this businessman, he can take care of it directly here."
Shulot nodded with satisfaction at first, then shook his head slightly.
Not long ago, my grandfather talked with me all night long and planned a lot for the future. If the big businessman is captured and brought back to the capital, and the priests follow the clues, they may bring out a large group of nobles who violate commercial laws, and I will once again become the center of the capital's turmoil.
.
Now is the time to keep a low profile, and it is not the time for the priests and nobles to completely oppose each other. As for this big businessman, executing him will not solve any problems.
After pondering for a moment, Shulot gave instructions to Esco.
"Esco, I'll give you a few warriors, and I'll leave the rest to you. Confiscate everything on the boat and impose a slight punishment. Then appease the noble's servants, and let them go after we leave.
As for that Ocatl, ask him to hand over the list of trading nobles and let him go. From now on, he will provide us with news regularly. Well, it’s up to you to contact him."
Hearing this, Esco lowered his head deeply. He suppressed the joy on his face and bowed respectfully to the ground. Then, with a strange smile, he walked towards Ocatel not far away.
After handling all this, Shulot looked at the warrior commander and smiled slightly.
"Bertard, it was just a false alarm. This is at the foot of the capital, and today is a temporary route. How can there be so many dangers!"
Bertard was silent. He had been watching all this quietly, with eighty percent of his attention focused on the surrounding environment. He looked at the surrounding dense reeds, uninhabited lakes and remote islands. He passed by.
After a while, the loyal warrior commander spoke in a low voice.
"Your Highness, if someone takes action, this is the best place."
Shulot was slightly startled. He thought carefully about the words of the warrior commander. Who? Who would know this place? Do it? What should you do? The young man suddenly fell silent. After a while, he shook his head solemnly.
"I believe him. Why are you thinking too much?"
Bertard's face was serious. He lowered his head and bowed.
"Your Highness, I don't believe it. Neither does the high priest. Even if he is worthy of trust, the people around him are not worthy of trust either. Your safety cannot be put on trust."
After hearing the warrior commander's words, Shulot slowly closed his eyes, feeling the throbbing and changes in his heart. After a long time, he sighed deeply.
"The most difficult thing in the world is mutual trust. The higher you go, the colder it gets. How can it last long if everyone speaks for gold and destroys bones? It's really scary and scary!"
The young man shook his head. He strode forward, looking at the distant capital, his heart still firm and full of light.
