Aztec Eternals

"Captain, I have asked clearly! The nearest Portuguese town is Coimbra, which is three days away from the village, about a hundred miles away!... The capital Lisbon is in the south, how many hundreds of miles away is it? No one in the village has been there... But according to the villagers, the merchant fleet of the Kingdom of Portugal and the tax officials belonging to the royal family can often be seen here..."

The rainy season has just passed, and the wet coast reflects the clear sky, like a luxurious Venetian silver mirror, flashing blue and white water. The northern Portuguese coast is covered with yellow and white sand beaches, but it is not wide and flat, but there are many rugged cliffs. And a small Portuguese fishing village is located at the valley and river where the cliffs are disconnected, like a green grape falling on a branch in early summer.

The tattered Santa Maria sailing ship is parked outside the fishing village, and the sails are being repaired by the crew. As the fishing boats in the village passed by, the Portuguese fishermen on the boats turned their heads curiously, pointing and whispering from time to time.

On the deck of the big ship, Castilian Captain Dela Cosa sat cross-legged, holding a local fishing village specialty, also a "special delicacy" of the Portuguese, a dry and salty pickled cod (Bacalhau), and chewed it slowly. The expression on his face was always calm, even in the eyes of the fishermen watching the excitement, there was no change. It was not until the sailor Luis who could speak Portuguese and was sent off the ship brought back a seemingly insignificant news that he was stunned, put down the delicious dried fish, and asked in a deep voice.

"Hmm? Louis, are you sure it's the tax collector directly under the Portuguese royal family, not some other lord?..."

"Uh... the villagers said it was the great master sent by the king, all riding spirited horses, carrying the great master's 'Seven Castles Flag'... I didn't hear the names of other nobles..."

"Hmm?! The Seven Castles Flag of the Portuguese royal family? Could it be... this is the direct territory of the Portuguese royal family? Then will our appearance alarm the sheriff here? Or even alarm the Portuguese royal family?..."

Captain Delakosa clapped his hands and stood up with a frown. He walked to the side of the ship, looked at the river that flowed into the sea, and then followed the direction of the river to look at the manors and lush wheat fields distributed along the river in the distance.

"Light green wheat fields, water wheels along the river, irrigation ditches, wine-making manors... What a beautiful and prosperous village! The Portuguese are really good at business, even richer than northern Castile..."

Delakosa murmured, staring intently. There is no doubt that these villages and manors are all fiefs of a noble. And looking at this wealthy posture, it must be a wealthy noble!

The Iberian Peninsula, especially the Portuguese coast, is strongly affected by the Mediterranean climate, and rainfall is usually concentrated in winter and spring. Wheat consumes a lot of water and must catch up with the rainy season, so the Portuguese mostly plant winter wheat. They sow in late October, and after half a year of rainy season, they harvest in summer between June and July. As for April now, many wheats have begun to bear fruit. Looking into the distance, it is a sea of ​​light green wheat. The tiny tenants are also busy, working from sunrise to sunset, creating the only source of wealth in this era for the manor owners and nobles, the wealth from the fields.

"Coimbra City?... Then this should be the Dukedom of Coimbra?... Wait! This familiar name?... Grand Duke of Coimbra? 'Prince of the Seven' Peter?!..."

De La Cosa's thoughts raced, and he finally thought of a name that was famous on the Iberian Peninsula half a century ago. That was one of the heroes of Portugal's "outstanding generation", "Prince of the Seven" Peter (Pedro), who participated in many holy wars, and was also the elder brother of the Portuguese seafaring prince Henry, and the grandfather of the current King of Portugal, John II.

"Emperor John I of Portugal had two queens who gave birth to a group of outstanding sons, forming two Portuguese royal families: the line of Edward, the Philosopher King, born to Queen Philippa, and the line of Alfonso, the first Grand Duke of Braganza, born out of wedlock with Princess Ines. The two Portuguese royal families quarreled with each other and even had a civil war... Prince Peter is from Edward's line, and his grandson, King John II, is naturally also from Edward's line..."

"According to court rumors, Prince Peter eventually died in the internal strife of the Portuguese royal family and was assassinated by the Braganza royal family... And a few years ago, King John II personally ordered the execution of the contemporary Duke of Braganza Ferdinand, and also executed several great nobles! It is said that this cruel and inexpensive The purpose of dealing with the family was to avenge his grandfather Peter... and under the terrible pressure of King Joao, the Braganza family had many secret dealings with the Castilian royal family in order to protect themselves. The letter that the archbishop asked me to deliver before..."

"Ah! The internal disputes between the two Portuguese royal families are not important at the moment... The most important thing is that this was once the fief of King Joao's grandfather! And there is no doubt that after this fief was passed on to King Joao, it is now the direct territory of the Portuguese royal family! Once the news of our appearance is discovered by the sheriff here, it is likely to be presented directly to King Joao! And once this happens, if King Joao directly mobilizes the Portuguese royal navy to search..."

Thinking of this, Dracosa's heart skipped a beat, and his face instantly became solemn. If they were just ordinary merchant ships and were caught by the Portuguese navy, at most they would be forced to seize a batch of goods and lose some money. And if they are the official navy of Castile, then based on the current neutral truce and hostile relationship between the two countries, they are likely to be detained, interrogated for a period of time, and then released to the Kingdom of Castile.

But now, they are an exploration fleet returning from the ocean, possessing vital and priceless new route information! What the Portuguese have been working tirelessly on is to open up new routes and reach the prosperous East! The value of this information and the serious consequences are enough for the Portuguese to abandon all potential rules of the Catholic world... Under such circumstances, once they are caught by the Portuguese navy, there will be dire consequences...

"Merciful Lord! Please protect us!..."

Dracosa tremblingly clenched his palms and prayed devoutly. Then, without explaining anything, he just gave instructions to sailor Louis with a stern face.

"Louis, I'm a little uneasy...you get off the boat again! Take some cotton balls we packed back and give them to local young fishermen and farmers, and then go find out about the local manor owners and sheriffs...Be careful, don't reveal our information The news says we are a merchant ship!…”

"Yes! Captain!..."

Seeing the captain's solemn expression, sailor Louis also became nervous. He put on the cotton ball, pulled off his sweaty shorts, nimbly turned over the side of the ship, slid down the rope ladder, and returned to the boat from which he had rowed. Behind him, the captain's urgent questions and orders could be faintly heard.

"Pedro! Is the tail sail repaired?...Ah! I don't need you to completely repair it, as long as it lasts two weeks!..."

"Quick! Put the extra fresh water and food into the cabin! Keep food and drink tight! ... In the end, we will have to suffer for ten more days! Just ten days! ... In the next ten days, we will not dock, but go south away from the coast ... etc. Back to Seville safely, I will take you all to eat well, drink well, and play with women! … Witness the Lord! …”

"What, Commander Columbus wants to come out for ventilation? Come out to cause trouble at this time... His injury is not fully healed yet, let him rest in peace and recover!..."

"That's right! Keep an eye on the last two natives! Lock them in the cabin and don't allow them to show their heads on the deck!..."

"Quick! Send a few more people to the mouth of the river to load more fresh water!..."

The sky is getting late, the setting sun is setting in the West Sea, and the fishing boats are returning with melodious folk songs. The pale red sunset blew over the gray-yellow mountain wall, as if it was eager and didn't want to stay. And when sailor Louis appeared in front of Captain De La Cosa again, he brought back a young serf with a red neck. Those innocent eyes glanced around, full of curiosity, yearning and desire.

"Huh? Louis, who is he?"

"Captain, his name is Little Paul, and he said he has important news. He saw our ball of cotton thread and wants to join the ship, follow us, and make a fortune with us!..."

Sailor Louis gestured and patted little Paul's head hard again. Little Paul quickly knelt on the deck, shouted "Sir Captain" several times, kowtowed several times, and talked a lot in Portuguese.

"Huh? News about us and Zhuangtou?..."

As an experienced captain, De La Cosa has been to Portugal many times and of course understands Portuguese. He listened for a moment, looked at the expectant little Paul with a slightly suspicious look, and promised with a smile.

"Little Paul, tell me! As long as the information you tell is valuable, I will accept you and make a fortune with you! ...

"Holy Mother! Thank you, Sir Captain! Sir, for your kindness! Sir, your generosity!..."

Hearing this, little Paul kowtowed repeatedly, with a sincere smile on his face. He didn't care what kind of pirate ship he was on, or whether he joined the national army in 1949. As the most common and numerous descendant of serfs in the Middle Ages, he had signed a personal contract with the manor to sell himself almost from the time he was born, which determined the fate of his life: living in a simple shed and eating food in the manor of the masters. They eat oats and wild vegetables to make ends meet, and do cow and horse work for the gentlemen!

He has no freedom in life, no rights to marry, and can be easily sentenced or even executed by Zhuangtou. He had to be busy all year round, planting fields in the spring, making wine in the summer, digging canals in the autumn, and tending livestock in the winter. He worked for twenty or thirty years until he died of old age and exhaustion. He could not leave the manor for more than twenty miles for the rest of his life, otherwise he would be a runaway slave. No serious village would take him in. He could only escape into the mountains and become a bandit, and then be casually killed by the chasing sheriff or passing knights. And if he is lucky enough to please the village head, he may be able to marry a village girl that the village head despises or is tired of playing with, and gain the opportunity to reproduce. But if his child is born, he will still be a serf in the manor, the same fate as him...

For these low-level serfs in the Middle Ages, the legendary only chance to make a fortune, the only chance to change their destiny, was to join a big ship at sea! Only by taking a big boat can you escape from the unbreakable order of the manor and escape from the pursuit of the owner and the sheriff! Then, follow the captain to get rich, get rich again, until you save enough money, and finally move into a commercial city-state, become a citizen of the city-state, and become a high-class person in the city...

"Praise the Holy Mother! Praise Sir Captain!...Ah! Yes, I don't talk nonsense, I don't talk nonsense...I saw Zhuangtou last night, riding his mule...to the east overnight! I fed the mule yesterday morning, After feeding the beans, you can run for a whole day..."

"Ah? What are you doing in the east? I... I don't know... But the village head watched your big ship for a long time yesterday... Then... Then he suddenly decided to leave at night!..."

"Think about it again?... Uh... Ah!... That's right! The tax collectors used to come from that road! They all rode horses and carried guns!..."

Hearing this, De La Cosa was shocked and his face turned pale instantly. He stared at the east. Behind the cliffs of the coast were low valley plains and undulating mountains and forests. And further east, more than a hundred miles away, was the direct city of the Portuguese royal family, the Dukedom of Coimbra, which must have royal garrisons.

"Damn it! The village chief has informed us! Our whereabouts will surely be known to the Portuguese royal family!..."

"Quick! Raise the sails and take in the anchor! We can't stay here! We will set sail immediately, first flee to the western sea, then to the south... overnight!..."

"Lord! Please bless us! Bless us to return to the Kingdom of Castile... We carry the archbishop's hopes, shoulder the queen's orders, and hold the news of changing the Catholic world... We must not be caught by the Portuguese navy!..."

Ah, I came back with a tan.