Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!
Chapter 998 - 599th - : Sailing on dry land, heading to the Eastern Sea!

Chapter 998: 599th Chapter: Sailing on dry land, heading to the Eastern Sea!

"Hey, yo hey!"

On an autumn day, the vast plains stretched wide. Thousands gathered, chanting in unison, dragging land vessels. With the laborers’ arduous steps, seven longships slowly moved forward on the flat plain. As the longships dragged forward, there were rustic logs rolling underneath. At both ends of the longships, laborers continued busying themselves with moving the round logs passed underneath the ship to the front.

"This is Your Majesty’s idea, saying that rolling logs will save effort."

Puap, wearing leather armor, accompanied by a hundred Prepecha Warriors, supervised the thousand laboring civilians. Tikalo stood by, looking at the rope harness on the laborers and the rolling logs under the longship, somewhat enlightened.

"Praise the Chief Divine! Your Majesty is truly divinely inspired!"

"Praise the Chief Divine! Praise Your Majesty!"

Puap bowed his head, muttering a prayer. Then, with a stern gaze, he surveyed the toiling crowd, and laughed while speaking to the Mayan merchants.

"Your Majesty is benevolent, telling us not to rush. By divine inspiration, he cherishes these captives and invented such an efficient method!... But actually, each longship isn’t very heavy! If tens of wooden beams were placed beneath each longship, and four hundred laborers carried it from the river without resting, in just three days, it could cover these thirty miles!... At most, it would just mean a few hundred laborers might die of exhaustion after finishing..."

The kingdom’s latest crocodile oar-sailed longship is now 25 meters long and more than 6 meters wide, with a length-to-width ratio of about 4:1, and draught just over 1 meter. It has a single bottom deck, a top deck, and two masts at the front and back. This longship resembles the Vikings’ and can carry over 80 sailors, a load of about 30 tons, and weighs less than 50 tons itself, or about a hundred thousand pounds. Its size and weight are about twice that of the Viking Snekkje ship from a thousand years ago, and compared to the Ottoman ships, which are often tens of meters long and hundreds of tons heavy, it is insignificant.

And a hundred thousand-pound ship, placed on supporting wooden beams for more than four hundred laborers to carry, means each person bears a burden of around three hundred pounds. Such a burden would be hard to endure for an ordinary robust man in a modern gym. However, in this era, it is a weight that short and lean laborers can continuously bear. Because they carry it with their lives! Failing to carry it would result in death...

"Hey, yo hey!"

The uniform chant resounded from the laborers’ mouths, bearing a distinctive Mistek accent. Among the crowd, the tribesman Didi was bending low, with a bowed waist, tilting his body forward, laboriously dragging along. He had bare shoulders, a piece of fabric wrapped around his waist, and his right shoulder covered with thick calluses, held in a circle of coarse, hard sisal rope. The indentations from the rope cut deeply, almost biting into his flesh, causing pain just to look at.

Large droplets of sweat trickled one by one down Didi’s cheeks, falling onto the moist plain beneath. The slightly salty sweat rolled over his forehead, stinging unbearably. He tilted his head slightly, revealing a blood-red mark on his forehead, a newly inscribed "Sun Hummingbird."

This "Sun Hummingbird" was tattooed on his forehead by the Canine Descendant hunter Chabo. After the Dog Clan Army escorted thousands of captives to Water Valley City, two Canine Descendant hunters took him, removing the heavy bamboo basket from his back, along with his chieftain’s garments, leaving Didi with nothing except a chieftain’s loincloth.

However, before departing, the red-haired hunter Chabo thought for a moment and decided to bind him, then took out a sharp obsidian dagger. In Didi’s terrified gaze, Chabo carved with firm strokes onto his forehead, inscribing a sacred divine emblem with excruciating precision, leaving Didi in agonizing pain, unable even to scream.

"Little fellow, this is our wilderness’s coming-of-age ritual! The sacred symbol is like a water pit in the wilderness, able to receive the divinity fallen from the sky! This symbol is red, it is blood, and it will turn you into a real man, a fearless wolf!"

As he spoke, Chabo pointed to his own forehead, where a red divine tree was also inscribed. The branches of the divine tree extended across his face, almost covering the entire visage.

Didi glanced, fearfully lowered his head. He didn’t know how painful such marking would be; it was only when Chabo used red dye he carried to color the mark on Didi’s face that the pain overwhelmed him, and he fainted.

"Haha! Only with the red of the wilderness will your wounds not fester. Though it stings a bit! Farewell, may the Chief Divine protect you, little wolf ant!"

The hunter Chabo laughed heartily, giving Didi’s face a light smack at the end. This red mineral dye contained copper salt commonly found on the wilderness, plus readily available silver powder. These two heavy metals effectively disinfect, but naturally will also leave indelible scars—forever.

Waking from unconsciousness, Didi realized he had changed, he was truly different. Other captured able-bodied men from the tribe, seeing the red mark on his forehead, no longer dared to touch him, even fearing him somewhat. The supervising Tiger Men, Eagle Men, and Dog Men also softened considerably, no longer striking him at will upon seeing his forehead’s mark.

From that day onward, no one dared steal his food or trample him, urinating on him. When he walked, he started carrying himself upright and began to spit at the strong men of the tribe when they bumped into him. Although he remained frail and unable to win any fights, his heart had gradually transformed. The wilderness’s coming-of-age ceremony indeed infused a humble ant with the ferocity of a wolf!

"Puh!"

Didi spat heavily on the ground, dragging the longship behind him with even more effort, even pushing half a body length ahead of the other civilians aligned parallel to him. That ship was so long, so large, it must be a divine object bestowed by the Chief Divine, possessing immense divinity!

"It is even bigger than the priests and chieftains from the past tribes! No, in front of the supreme and mighty Chief Divine, what are the Divine Descendants of the Rain Divine, what are the Rain Divine priests, they are all tiny and short, just like the severed heads of those they decapitated!"...

The huge mound in front of the Cloud Temple always haunted Didi’s mind, just as it lingered in the hearts of tens of thousands of Mistek prisoners. Only, when dreaming of it in his dreams, Didi slowly ceased to fear. He repeatedly chanted in his heart, encouraging his spirit, just like he did when resting from dragging the ship, chanting to the sun.

"Ah! Larger than the sky, wider than the earth, the Chief Divine who can press the Rain Divine beneath Him! Praise you!... Feed the peculiar radish!..."

"Hmm?"

The old militia Chiwaco, wearing a straw hat, led the Dark Snake, standing not far from the civilians. He heard the indistinct sound of prayers and looked in the direction the voice came from. A skinny, short Mistek civilian praying with his head raised soon entered his eyes.

That civilian was as ordinary as an ant, with no features at all. The only striking thing was that his forehead was inscribed with the emblem of the Chief Divine in blood.

"Hmm..."

The old militia watched for a moment, saying nothing. When the brief rest time passed, the Mistek able-bodied men pulled the ship forward again. And that ordinary civilian, leaning forward, shouting the chant, worked harder than anyone else.

Hauling boats across dry land, heading to the East, day after day. The prisoners tugged at the tow ropes, from the first light of dawn until the last light disappeared. Soon, the sound of rushing water could be heard at night. And the oncoming wind also began to feel increasingly moist.

In just five or six days, they had traveled thirty miles to the northeast, successfully pulling seven longships into the nearest Lake Tenexac (Tenexac). At the northern mouth of the herbal lake, a meandering river extended out. This small river was an upper tributary of the Cat Owl River (Rio Tecolutla). From there, downstream for five hundred miles to the northeast, there was the mouth flowing into the Caribbean Sea!

In the Navajo language, Tenexac means "herbs, a place with many plants," and Tecolutla means "wetland where owls frequent." The names of these rivers and lakes were given by local tribes, related to the geographical environment of the rivers and lakes. Perhaps when the Alliance unites the world, they will rename the mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas of the world!

"Whew! Hauling boats overland, such a hassle... The exploration fleet has finally entered the water again!"

Watching the longships splash into the water, the kingdom’s expedition captain, the old militia Chiwaco, finally relaxed, letting out a long sigh.

"Next, according to the instructions of the blind Majesty, follow the guidance of the local guide, heading to the eastern seashore... And once at the shore, the long-haired merchants said, there will be Mayan guides to again lead the fleet along the coast, sailing eastward..."

"As for the Vastec and Mistek city-states along the way, His Majesty has already sent envoys, demanding support and supplies for the fleet... With the cannibalistic Mexica legion as a backup, these chaotic coastal city-states should not cause any trouble..."

"Captain, I have checked with Priest Mekate. In these days, a few sailors in the fleet have been injured or fallen ill; now we’re short by eight!"

The Dark Snake, panting, came to the old captain’s side, weakly reporting. He was fluent in arithmetic, calendar calculations, and astronomy, so Chiwaco arranged him to follow the Priest Mekate of the fleet, avoiding the hard physical labor.

Priest Mekate, having participated in the first exploration and recorded the northward route and latitude, had been promoted by His Majesty to Second Level Priest, equivalent to the newly boarded "Tomato" priest, Tomate.

Of course, the two priests do not command each other. One is responsible for maritime navigation as the Divine Revelation Priest, the other for preaching as the Preaching Priest. Their merits in promotion vary as well. But regardless, sea exploration, though dangerous, is a shortcut for priests’ advancement!

"Hmm? Still short of eight sailors?..."

Hearing the report, Chiwaco scratched his head. After thinking for a bit, he selected a few strong men from the Mistek prisoners dragging the ships. Finally, he hesitated for a moment, looking toward the corner of the crowd. There, a solitary civilian, forehead engraved with the emblem of the Chief Divine, was muttering his chant.

"The last one, let’s choose him!"