Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!
Chapter 854 - 475: Exploration of the Kingdom of the Lake, First Encounter with Various North American Tribes

Chapter 854: Chapter 475: Exploration of the Kingdom of the Lake, First Encounter with Various North American Tribes

The mountains undulate in the east, extending toward the sea in the west, transforming into gradually gentle hills. The winding Yaqui River comes from the mountains, carrying turbulent currents that flush out vast fertile plains. Between the plains and the hills, many grayish-brown knolls are scattered across the yellow-green earth, silently telling the ancient life journey.

Old militia Chiwaco climbed a knoll, bent down, and picked up a piece of grayish-brown stone. He grasped it firmly, the hard gray stone resisted his grip, neither deforming nor breaking.

"Hey? The firestones of your Yoeme Tribe seem much harder than those of the Yaolem Tribe?"

"Hahaha! Outsider, how can the firestones of the Yaolem Tribe compare with ours from the Yoeme Tribe?"

Upon hearing this, the mountain eagle Viejo burst into loud laughter, proudly announcing.

"We, the Yaji People, are the descendants residing under the Divine Mountain! Our firestones can burn for a very long time, far surpassing those of other tribes! The reason lies in the fact that the spirits of our Yaji ancestors are the strongest, always protecting our tribe!"

"Uh... yes, true."

Chiwaco scratched his head, feeling that the logic was somewhat off but couldn’t pinpoint why. He didn’t understand the difference between bituminous coal and lignite. Moreover, he didn’t know that the firestone fields here were prime bituminous coal deposits, and even contained a surprising amount of anthracite... The old militia just kept nodding, following Viejo’s words, his old face smiling like a flower.

"Friend, good, good! The Yoeme Tribe, powerful, a great tribe!"

"Hahaha, naturally! Our Yoeme Great Tribe has a whopping three thousand warriors, the most powerful tribe in this area!"

Viejo nodded in satisfaction, extending his arm to indicate. He pointed from the plains in front of him, all the way to the small hills in the east.

"From here, to there, the distance one can run in a day, is all our firestone fields! Further east, there is an even larger firestone field. These two best and largest firestone fields are all ours from the Yoeme Tribe!"

"Three thousand warriors? The most powerful?"

A few steps away, Puap heard this, raised his eyebrows, and his lips curled into a strange smile. He once commanded the samurai camp of Qinchongcan, with two thousand elite warriors from the capital city, enough to crush the so-called Yoeme Great Tribe! But now... The Huitu warrior sighed and his eyes flickered as he heard the next sentence, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"What, a day’s run! Such a large open-pit coal mine, and there are two of them!"

The gray-brown knolls spread out endlessly before everyone’s eyes, stretching for dozens of miles. The coal mines here, compared to the Qinganbate mining district of the kingdom, had many times the reserves, probably enough to burn for hundreds of years. Moreover, the coal produced here was much harder than that of the kingdom.

"Hard coal is good coal! The higher the hardness, the stronger the fire, because it contains more divine power! Two large coal mines, and one large copper mine, several scattered small gold mines... This northwestern coastal land is truly a rich land abundant in minerals!"

Puap lowered his eyes, concealing the joy in them.

The fleet had stayed at the Yoeme Great Tribe for two days now. Although they hadn’t yet been received by the chieftain, they had gone to the local tribal market and traded with surrounding tribes. The Yoeme Tribe was a large settled tribe, and their tribespeople cultivated the fertile lands along the Yaqui River and fished near the sea and river mouth.

When food was plentiful, the tribe would allocate people to dig the nearby mineral deposits for daily use or trade with other tribes. They mainly produced firestones, followed by copper stones, and lastly some Jin Shi.

The Yoeme Tribe was strong enough and conveniently located to be the trading center for various tribes. At the Yoeme market, besides the Mayo People, the kingdom’s warriors also encountered the Opata People from the mountains and the Macurawe People from the edge of the wilderness.

The Opata People lived in the valley upstream, north of the Yaqui River. They could conveniently trade with the Yoeme Tribe by simply traveling downstream on canoes. Indeed, the location of the northwestern Divine Mountain was approximately between the Opata People and the Yoeme Tribe, forming a wide belt of coal production. To the east of this coal belt, there were abundant copper mines with astonishingly high copper content. The whole region’s copper smelting techniques were learned from the Opata People.

From the Opata merchants, they also learned about the powerful Apache tribes further north, and the Tohono O’odham desert people in the northwest. These two major groups were mostly nomadic, chasing after migrating game, and were very warlike and combative.

The powerful Apache Tribes were accustomed to fighting, controlling vast areas of land. They were in direct contact with the Opata Alliance in the mountains, frequently engaging in small-scale skirmishes. The Opata People forged primitive red copper weapons specifically to combat several southern tribes of the Apache People.

The Macurawe People were semi-nomadic, semi-migratory, living to the east of the Yoeme Tribe. Their tribe wasn’t very powerful, but their land was rich in gold. However, there was so much gold in the area that no one paid much attention to these useless Jin Shi. Actually, the tribe with the most gold was to the east of the Macurawe People. There, a large number of nomadic, canine-like Tarahumara People roamed.

The Tarahumara people’s land area was also considerable, occupying the northwestern Sakatekas Desert, hundreds of miles upstream of the Mayo River. Essentially, they were not far from the Yaolem Tribe, but the towering Western Madre Mountains formed a barrier that made any large-scale military action impossible. Their land was not only rich in gold but also produced more silver.

Puap suspected that the silver of the Yaolem Tribe likely came from trading with the Tarahumara People.

"All these confusing tribal names, each one harder than the last, really give me a headache!"

The Huitu warrior internally lamented. Along the way, he tried hard to memorize these names and roughly categorize them.

The coastal tribes of the northwest, from south to north, were the Totonac People, Mayo People, and Yaji People. All three lived by the coast, at the rivers’ mouths, were settled farmers, and fished for sea fish, with relatively large populations. As the coast moved further northwest, where rainfall became scarce, there were the yet-to-be-contacted semi-nomadic Seri People and the completely nomadic desert people.

"Hmm, these are the five coastal tribes. To the east is the border of the wilderness, and there are two tribes that resemble the Canine Descendants."

Puap murmured to himself, glancing at the eastern mountains. Having cooperated with the Guajili Legion, he had a deep impression of the resilience of the Canine Descendants.

"I heard the Tarahumara People are better runners, capable of chasing down wild turkeys and exhausting them to death! This sounds just like wild wolves!"

At the edge of the eastern wilderness were the two tribes of the Macurawe and the Tarahumara, both resembling the Canine Descendants, roaming the arid wilderness. They sometimes farmed, sometimes hunted, living nomadic lives, migrating year-round, and fighting each other. Compared to the Macurawe tribe, which was more settled on the edge of the wilderness, the Tarahumara People were more nomadic and sent tribespeople to trade here.

"Finally, there are the two northern tribes, the Opata People and the Apache People. One seems better organized, the other presumably better at fighting!"

In the northern mountains, the Opata People, who established small city-states and initially formed alliances, lived. Their metal craftsmanship was starting to take shape, producing enough cotton cloth and copperware to send caravans to trade with other tribes. Further north were the fierce nomadic tribes known as the Apache People. It was said that this name came from some Pueblo people further north, and in their Zuni language, it meant "enemy." The Opata accepted this name, seeing the Apache as enemies.

"Such a vast northern land!"

Puap took a deep breath, heartily admiring. Absent this journey, he could never have imagined, the sea was so vast, the north so expansive, and the world had so many tribes!... After thinking for a moment, he listened to the conversation between the old man and the mountain eagle.

"Ah! Friend, a basket of firestones for five long spears, or two pieces of cloth? This price won’t do, it’s too high!"

Chiwaco’s face showed difficulty. There was so much coal here; digging it up was virtually costless, yet they were pricing it so expensively. Moreover, coal was a consumable that burned up quickly.

"Ha! Outsider, these are the firestones left by our Yaji ancestors! Though they are plentiful, they are gifts from the ancestors, imbued with the power of the Divine Mountain, and cannot be exchanged lightly! In our Yoeme Great Tribe, trading firestones with outsiders is done this way!"

Viejo’s eyes twinkled with a calculating look. He glanced at the long spear in Chiwaco’s hand and said with a smile.

"The Opata People also sold us similar long spears, with red copper spearheads, also for five pieces for a basket of firestones! Actually, we don’t lack weapons. The Yoeme Tribe is the strongest; there is no tribe nearby that can threaten us. We don’t care about those useless Jin Shi and Silver Ore, all common stones. But your cotton cloth, the tribe likes it very much. If there is a large quantity, we can give you a discount on the exchange!"

"Ah! Our long spears are not the same as those of the Opata People; they are sturdy and sharp!"

Chiwaco explained briefly but seeing that the mountain eagle was unmoved, he said no more. There wasn’t much cotton cloth on the ship, but they still needed to exchange for more baskets of firestones to bring back to Your Majesty... Hesitating for a while, with some caution, he finally asked again.

"Friend, we come from the rich and distant Kingdom of the Lake. The lake tribes produce Lake Gems, green, red, blue, and yellow! Gems, uh, do you want them?"