Aztec Eternals

July is coming to an end, Gulf of Alaska, 58 degrees north latitude. Great Whale Island, Kingdom Port, God Great Whale Port.

The mountains in the distance are covered with lush coniferous forests, and there are goshawks flying on the top of the mountain. The stream at the foot of the mountain flows slowly, and the pink light trees and yellow and blue grass flowers are set off, bathing in the eighteen hours of sunlight during the polar day, and everywhere is full of vitality.

The vitality brought by the stream extends closer, and the long meadow suddenly turns into a cultivated potato field. In the potato field of more than a thousand acres, there are hundreds of tribesmen busy weeding, and potato seedlings several palms high. After two months of planting, green buds have appeared on the potato seedlings, and pink and white flowers are about to bloom. Under the warm summer fields, the growing rhizomes of potatoes are nurturing the autumn harvest and preparing the most precious winter rations.

Although they are at the same latitude, under the protection of the Alaska warm current and the northern mountains, the summer coast of Alaska is much warmer than the Kamchatka Peninsula under the influence of the Kuril cold current, and can even be exaggeratedly "10 degrees" higher. In fact, this is a subarctic marine climate, which may be more suitable for the growth of potatoes than Hokkaido, which is more than 40 degrees north latitude!

"Da... Da... Da... Da!"

Two tall Jurchen horses, stepping on the long summer meadow, "walked" from a distance. The four hooves of the walk alternated in four beats, without jumping in the air, and always had one horse hoof on the ground. This is the slowest and most stable gait of the horse, suitable for beginners and relaxed training.

Looking more closely, each of the two horses was riding a high priest of the kingdom. They all wore short feather crowns in the northern style, round obsidian necklaces, sea otter fur robes with tight sleeves and pants, and tied gold-plated belts, and tucked their trouser legs into deerskin boots. This priest suit, which is more suitable for riding, looks like a fusion of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia, the indigenous people of the Northwest Coast of North America, and the Nahua culture of the plateau.

"The world is just an old inn, In tlalticpac zan huehueyaloya,"

"The sun is just an alternating flame. In tonatiuh zan tlapetlahuilia."

"The night is the home of dreams, In yohualli zan tlahuelilocayotl,"

"Life is like a flower blooming, fleeting! In tlakatl zan cueponi, zan hueyollo!"

Two senior priests stopped their horses by the stream. One of them was not tall, with a vicissitudes of life and a bit of melancholy on his face. He looked at the large field where the stream flowed, and the tribal camp that stretched behind the field, and recited poems in the Nahua language with the accent of the Lake Kingdom. As far as he could see, the rows of wooden houses and huts in the camp had obviously more than a thousand people. Such a tribal scale is indeed surprising for the kingdom strongholds along the coast of Alaska.

In fact, with Chimer in charge, the horse-raising God Great Whale Port has indeed become the largest kingdom stronghold in the entire Alaskan coastal port!

"Hiss! Hiss!"

Speaking of horses, a little further away, seven mixed-blood horses of different sizes are foraging in the meadows near the port. A dozen horse-raising apprentices brought by Sukichiro are carefully serving them.

Yes, the first three horses in the camp, one male and two females, have been bred three times in three years through hot mating, successfully giving birth to six new horses. And the strongest two-year-old foal at the moment, together with the original Jurchen horse "Ati", is riding under the two senior priests.

As for why it is named "Ati"? Because "Atlcahualo" is called "January", which symbolizes "the end of water", that is, "the first beginning".

"Where is the truth? Only the song is gone! Ompa ye nelli, zan oncan cuicatl!"

"Why do flowers bloom? Why do songs fade? Tleipan xochitl huetzca, tleipan cuicatl polihui?"

"Alas! Alas! Ohuaya, ohuaya!"

The melancholy high priest sighed twice, ending the poem. "Ohuaya" is a lament in traditional Nahua poetry, expressing sadness about the brevity of life. The two rhetorical questions in the second-to-last sentence and the self-questioning and self-answering in the third-to-last sentence are also more traditional Nahua poetry styles, all of which lament the brevity of life and have a deep sense of sadness.

In general, the second half of this poem is quite standard, following the Nahua tradition, and is aesthetically pleasing but not amazing. The first half is really amazing...

"Good! Comparing the world to a hotel, the rising and setting of the sun represents time, and the dream of the night makes the soul fly... and our life is like a flower, blooming and falling in this world and time... Lord God! This is really a good poem!"

Chimer, the chief priest, clapped his hands and praised, sitting on the horse with just his legs, showing his confident equestrian skills. He praised loudly, looked at his old friend who was a little melancholy beside him, and said with a smile.

"Praise the Lord God! Mickey, my great knowledgeable... I didn't expect that you would write such a masterpiece after just two years of not seeing you! What other good poems are there, read them together, let me enjoy it!..."

"Ha! Chimer, this is not a poem I can write, it is a masterpiece that has recently circulated in Trochititlan..."

"A masterpiece of the lake capital?!"

"Not bad!"

Talking about the Nahua people's favorite poems, the knowledgeable Miki was slightly excited. He fumbled in his arms and took out a scroll of copied poems, and handed it to Chimer with a smile.

"Here, it's all here! This is the "Poetry Collection" of your Majesty's father, the Alliance's poet, Xiusok, which is a masterpiece in recent years..."

"...Oh?!"

Chimer's eyes lit up, and he took the booklet and opened it happily. The first poem at the beginning was a religious poem praising the Great Temple and the Lord God, called "The Great Temple Standing in the Sky".

"The Great Temple is high, standing as high as a hundred arrows, Huey Teocalli tlacati centzontli mitl,"

"You can reach the stars in the sky with your hands. Niman oncan tlachialoa in Citlalmeztli."

"I dare not speak loudly, Amo nimitztlahpaloa in nochi tlahtolli,"

"For fear of disturbing the spirit of Huitzilopochtli! Mochipa nicchipa tlazohcamati Huitzilopochtli!"

Seeing this novel four-line poem, Chimer opened his eyes wide, recalling the majesty of the Great Temple, and yearning once again emerged in his heart.

"Lord of the Snake Mountain! The most magnificent temple in the capital of the lake is the closest and most sacred place to the kingdom of God! The immortal wonder that is 'a hundred arrows high' can 'touch the stars' with its hands. And 'Mochipa nicchipa' means 'eternal awe' and 'eternal prayer'... Good poem! Not bad! You are worthy of being the 'poet saint Shusok'!..."

The two chief priests talked about poetry and felt much better. Chimer looked at Mickey's expression and then spoke to comfort him.

"Mickey... Life on the sea is indeed as short-lived as flowers. For the faith of the Lord God, the warriors who died at sea will ascend to the red kingdom and be resurrected there... I drew a new picture a few days ago to commemorate the heroes on the two ships... And I am also going to erect a stone tablet on the sacrificial tower by the sea, and engrave their names and patterns there as a permanent memorial..."

"By the way! The days are extremely long in summer, and it is still early. Do you want to go with me to the sacrificial tower by the sea to take a look and pray again?"

"Well... OK!"

Mickey, the knowledgeable man, was silent for a moment and nodded gently. Then, he squeezed the horse's belly, maintained the beginner's speed, and followed behind Chimer's horse. The two rode to the seaside near the port, one in front and one behind.

"Da... Da..."

The sea surface of the Great Whale Island in summer flashed with a light blue and emerald green luster, like a gem in the lake. Dozens of four-meter tribal boats, full of Sugpia fishermen who converted to the Lord God, pulled fishing nets outside the port to catch fish. Three 20-meter kingdom long ships and two newer kingdom sand ships were also busy fishing in the outer sea. And further away, you can see the occasional passing figure of a whale, and hear the long whale song lingering from who knows how far away.

"Woo~Ah! Woo~Ah! Yo~~"

The whale song came from the sea and sky and floated to the inside of the port. Four large ocean-covering ships were quietly moored in the port that looked like a fishing village. These four ocean-covering ships were extremely large in shape, like truly towering whales. Even the kingdom's long ships were obviously shorter and shorter than them!

Yes, this is the kingdom's fifth support fleet, the second batch of newly built "large ocean-covering ships". And this batch of ocean-covering ships took two years to build. Not only did the shipbuilding time exceed expectations, but the shape of the ship also exceeded the original plan, and the volume was twice as large as before!

With the support of the kingdom's high-quality wood, the tireless guidance of the Golden Ship Craftsman, and the construction of many senior carpenters... The Southern Shipbuilding Company used a 30-meter-long wood as the keel, proportionally expanded the original ship type, used the high-quality wood of a 600-ton ship, and spent two years to successfully build five 400-ton "large ocean-covering ships"! Each of these 400-ton ocean-covering ships has a load capacity of nearly twice that of the previous 200-ton ocean-covering ships, reaching an "astonishing" 120 tons!

Well, although the 400-ton ship used 600-ton wood, and the manpower and material resources consumed were far beyond the estimate, these five "large ocean-covering ships" built without any human effort and materials are each equivalent to the medium-sized caravel "Santa Maria" in Columbus's fleet. The "three-masted Chinese vertical sail" used by the large ocean-covering ship is also more flexible than the European caravels of this era, and it is more efficient in using wind, and the ship speed is faster when sailing along the coast!

Last October, five large ocean-covering ships and twelve sand ships formed the fifth batch of support fleets and sailed north together. Seven hundred kingdom warriors and sailors, and an incredible total load of more than a thousand tons, made the scale of this northbound support fleet far exceed any previous one!

"Lord God! What a spectacular fleet it was when we set sail last year!"

At that time, the knowledgeable Mickey was full of pride. He took the letter written by Shulot to him and personally led the fleet north as the fourth-level chief priest of the kingdom and the captain of the support fleet. And as long as this voyage is successful, then with his achievements, the epic of navigation he wrote, and the connections of the priest group in the lake... then a further step is simply indisputable and just around the corner!

However, fate is always unpredictable, like a storm at sea. The first half of the voyage of the Mickey support fleet, from the Lake Kingdom to Whale Port, was relatively smooth. Although they also encountered a hurricane at sea in Northern California and a large wildfire that burned the entire mountain range...but the fleet did not lose any personnel or ships, and successfully replenished 300 tons of coal from Flint Town, 100 tons of salt from the Ipa Tribe, and ten sand ships to various ports on the west coast of the kingdom.

Everything was blessed by the Lord God until the beginning of May this year, when the ice sea in the north melted. Mickey was full of confidence and once again led five large ocean-covering ships and two sand ships, carrying more than a dozen tons of pickled whale meat and dozens of tons of coal from Whale Port, along the Alaska warm current, to the north of the Arctic coast...

As a result, just last month, the fleet encountered extremely cold floating ice flowing from the north in the last section of the voyage from Shenxue Bay Port to Shenda Whale Island, which was also the northernmost section of all voyages. The deadly danger of drifting silently! And it was a terrible foggy day! In front of the surging underwater ice, even the extremely sturdy large ocean-covering ship was cracked at the moment of impact, with a huge hole that could never be repaired...

"Lord God! The terrible scene that day, the two ships that hit the ice... Please cast your blood-red gaze like the setting sun, and lead the warriors' pious and fearless souls from the cold and bottomless sea of ​​the Far North!..."