Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!
Chapter 1003 - 603: Kingdom of the Lake: A Slave-Based Military State with Centralized Divine Authority

Chapter 1003: Chapter 603: Kingdom of the Lake: A Slave-Based Military State with Centralized Divine Authority

"The printing technique of the Alliance... A powerful tool for the dissemination of religion and culture!..."

Xiulote stroked the resilient bark paper in his hand, lost in thought. After nearly six years of development, the Alliance’s papermaking technology had achieved significant progress, and the scale of papermaking had rapidly expanded. Both Tenochtitlan in the Lake Capital City and Qin Chongcan City in the Capital City housed large-scale papermaking workshops. Smaller papermaking workshops also emerged across the Alliance’s various City-States. The papermaking technology was spreading swiftly throughout Central America’s realm.

The extremely convenient bark paper, reed paper, and grass paper had already become indispensable everyday consumables among the Priest and nobility classes. Merchants and trading groups from various regions also had an equally strong demand. However, most people still communicated and wrote primarily using traditional graphic symbols on paper.

As for the Alliance’s script, it was spreading alongside the papermaking technique, particularly the kana characters that fit the order of the Nava language, spontaneously simplified from Nava pictographic script, were easiest for the ordinary nobility to grasp. High-ranking nobility and Priests studied the scriptures printed by the High Priesthood, seeking the mysteries of the Divine from the intricate square characters. The use of these scripts had spontaneously begun the process of Mexica localization, with their sentence order and recitation pronunciation differing from that of the Celestial Empire.

"The priesthood of Kingdom and Alliance masters the woodblock printing technique and is keen on printing religious texts and illustrations. Thousands upon thousands of illustrations and scriptures of the Chief Divine are being printed rapidly! Even in the sacrificial altars of Prepetcha villages, illustrations of the Chief Divine are posted, and volumes of the ’Book of Ama Colley’ are maintained. Belief in the Chief Divine is flowing to the City-States conquered by the Alliance at an unprecedented pace, like a divine miracle... The faith of the Kingdom of the Lake has already taken root among the Prepetcha! The current priority is to swiftly spread belief in the Chief Divine among the migrating two hundred thousand Telascallan people..."

With this thought, Xiulote picked up a pen and wrote a new Royal Decree.

"Kingdom Priesthood, quickly select Priests to go south and evangelize among the Telascallan. Divine Power University recruits two hundred Priest apprentices from the two hundred thousand new immigrants... Additionally, send the Divine Revelation Priest with hot air balloons to two counties in the South to perform divine miracles again!..."

In the spread of belief in the Chief Divine, "miracles" are naturally the most striking and effective means of evangelizing! Each "miracle" following the ascent of hot air balloons results in a wave of religious fervor. At this moment, the evangelizing effort was overwhelmingly successful. Of course, divine "fireworks" of various sorts also served as auxiliary effects.

As he thought of hot air balloons, Xiulote paused slightly, recalling the towering Cloud Serpent Mountain City. However, the Alliance’s hot air balloons were not yet capable of carrying people; the altitude of ascent was rather limited, and the time could not be too long, making it difficult to use in actual battles.

"This is a psychological weapon, to be used at the most critical moment to demoralize the enemy—the final straw... But, preparation can certainly be made in advance; let’s first craft one..."

The King pondered for a moment, then looked at the Sage’s document, turning to the last portion.

"Your Majesty, the Kingdom of the Lake now has a population of over one million, resembling the old Kingdom in its heyday. However, the number of military merit nobility and warriors supported by the kingdom far exceeds that of the old dynasty! Seven thousand Imperial Guard Legion, eight thousand Jingji Legion, eight thousand Guajili Legion, eight thousand first Spear Legion, eight thousand second Spear Legion, eight thousand Purple Grass Army... Six legions totaling forty-seven thousand warriors, all have received land and agricultural slaves! In addition to these, counties also have a considerable number of local Militia camps, such as the several thousand Canine Warriors of Rivermouth County and the several thousand Tekos warriors of Apa County... These border Militia require periodic training, their farming is scant, and they do not take part in labor duties. Once they succeed in an expedition and achieve merit, they will be promoted to warriors..."

Reading this, Xiulote felt his old face flush, slightly embarrassed. He had not yet informed the Sage of the Kingdom’s plan to establish a seventh semi-full-time Long Snake Legion, also a full complement of eight thousand.

"Once the Long Snake Legion is established, the Lake Kingdom with its 1.2 million people will have fifty-five thousand warriors, plus a large number of border Militia. The proportion of warrior population in both full-time and semi-full-time service will be 4.6%, which can be said as one soldier per twenty people!"

Thinking about it, Xiulote pursed his lips. Perhaps the proportion of warriors to civilians in the Kingdom was indeed a bit high. The land grants and titles granted to the warrior class meant their share of the kingdom’s wealth might be far greater than this... The King reflected, continuing to read.

"Your Majesty, the current Kingdom is neither a Priest’s nation nor a noble’s nation, but a Samurai’s nation! Westward expeditions, northward, southward, and eastward... Not a year goes by without war, with each battle destroying City-States and punishing nations. Military merit is accumulated for titles, warriors are granted land, and slaves. Your Majesty favors warriors greatly, rewarding lavishly beyond comparison throughout the realm, even surpassing the Alliance!"

"Among the fifty thousand in the Legion, there are 1800 First Level Military Merit Nobility! Each is granted 800 acres of land, 40 slaves. The Fourth Level Veteran Warriors alone form a legion. Each is granted 240 acres of land, 12 slaves. Subsequently, the Third Level Elite Warriors number about two legions, each granted 100 acres of land, 5 slaves. As for the Second Level Capture Warriors, their numbers approximate those of the Third Level Warriors, each granted 20 acres of land, 1 slave... Never in history have Warriors of the Kingdom held so much land and controlled so many agricultural slaves. As an elder minister, I often feel anxious, sleepless day and night, not knowing what fate lies ahead for the Kingdom..."

Reading this, Xiulote paused, his expression shifting. He instantly retrieved the Eastern Expedition’s reward plan, and tallied the number of promotions across different levels with the Sage Jatili’s report. Soon, he calculated the exact numbers and wore a look of surprise.

"After the Eastern Expedition, the promotions would include at least seven hundred Military Merit Nobility, two thousand Veteran Warriors... Thus, within the Kingdom, Military Merit Nobility would rise to two thousand five hundred, occupying two million acres of farmland, ten thousand slaves. The Fourth Level Warriors would be ten thousand, occupying 2.4 million acres of farmland, twelve thousand slaves. The Third Level Warriors would be eighteen thousand, occupying 1.8 million acres of farmland, nine thousand slaves. The Second Level Warriors would be fifteen thousand, occupying three hundred thousand acres of farmland, 1.5 thousand slaves..."

Calculating this, Xiulote’s hand shook slightly, nearly sighing audibly.

Throughout the four major expeditions, casualties of the Warrior Corps had been very limited, while the number of enemies killed and captured amounted to tens of thousands! To quickly unite the internal allegiance of the Kingdom by rallying warriors from various City-States and tribes, Xiulote strictly fulfilled the promise of granting land and slaves for military merit. Inevitably, this gave rise to an exceptionally large warrior class.

"Chief Divine! The Kingdom’s warriors and Military Merit Nobility occupy a total of 6.5 million acres of farmland and nearly thirty-three thousand slaves! While the Kingdom’s total acres of land, including rest fields, barely approach twenty million acres. The Kingdom’s total population stands at 1.21 million..."

"In other words, the warriors and military merit class hold at least 33% of the nation’s farmland, 27% of the population! And within the Kingdom, more than a quarter are slaves?!"

Actually, the number of slaves was far greater than this. In the Kingdom’s two major mining regions, thousands of mining slaves were employed. In the manors of Kingdom’s nobility and Priests, there were also numerous laboring agricultural slaves. The overall proportion of slaves in the Kingdom might be close to a third.

Xiulote raised his head, gazing at the towering, majestic statue of the Chief Divine, plunged into contemplation. Through these calculations, he had gained a deeper and clearer understanding of the Kingdom of the Lake he personally established. The young King remained silent for a long time, finally exhaling a deep breath, and murmured to himself.

"Truly, the Western Sea Qin State, America Rome, the Lake military group, a country’s army... a centralized divine authority slave military nation!"