Chapter 581: The Wooden Boat Goes West, the Long Ship Comes East

The long river is surging, heading southwest. The second largest river in the world and the longest river in the southern part of the alliance is the Talzas River. The Talzas River winds from east to west for two thousand miles, and is the only way to connect the eastern and western parts.

At the westernmost part of the long river, it flows out to the sea at Trout Village and merges into the vast Eastern Pacific Ocean, next to which is the emerging Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine. It is the southernmost boundary of the Kingdom of the Lake, and it is also the starting point and end point of the kingdom's first maritime exploration.

The three crocodile god paddle boats, loaded with the harvest of the exploration, returned to the kingdom from here. Then, they went upstream to the north and arrived at the vast and lush Atoyac Lake, where thousands of boats shuttled, and stayed in the Southern Shipyard outside the Purple Grass City for several months.

The shipwrights of Purépecha carefully inspected, repaired the damaged planks, and mended the scattered sails. And when the first catamaran canoe, loaded with the young and strong people of the Tlaxcala people, arrived at Lake Atoyac. The new king's order also rolled in with the dark clouds of the rainy season.

When the Mexica warrior found Chihuaco in a small village outside the shipyard with the royal order of His Highness, he was lying on a pile of straw, wearing a big straw hat, and sunbathing leisurely. Well, there was no sun in the sky, only dark clouds and mountain breeze. The old militiaman was blowing the wind, holding a bag of sunflower seeds in his hand, eating them leisurely.

This time, the fleet exchanged a lot of gold, stone and silver at a low price. After refining them back to the kingdom, everyone divided the gold and silver bars.

Most of the extra income was taken by Chihuaco to his daughter Luwei and son-in-law Wezti in the capital. As for the remaining little, the old militia took it out and built a house near the shipyard to improve the accommodation and food. He was out at sea for too long, rowing and fighting, and the wind and waves were wet. His old waist was sore that he couldn't toss around like before. He had to sleep on the straw to be comfortable.

"Royal Order: The exploration fleet will set off immediately. Within one month, it must arrive at the Shuigucheng camp to receive the new oracle!"

The royal order of His Highness was conveyed, and no one was allowed to disobey it. The warriors left the seal and jade talisman and turned to leave. Chivako was stunned in the same place, looking up blankly, looking at the dark clouds of the rainy season. It was not until the first thunder fell from the sky that the old militia suddenly woke up. He stared, gritted his teeth, threw the straw bag in his hand to the ground, and cursed.

"Ah, God is really blind! Why can't the thunder from the sky hit the harming prince?"

"Boom! Boom!"

Thunder rolled, and the rainstorm came in an instant. The old militia jumped up and down, cursed a few times in the rain, and "poohed" a few times at the sky, and then he lay on the mud in a hurry, picking up the scattered sunflower seeds one by one and putting them back into the straw bag.

"Lord God! Rain God! Three Gods! And all the messy gods, please let my old bones go!"

"Boom! Boom!"

The wind and thunder of the rainy season came from the east, without stopping, just like the king's will. Four brand-new crocodile god galleys sailed out of the Southern Shipyard, carrying 140 sailors and 60 warriors, and joined the original fleet. The entire kingdom exploration team expanded to more than 300 people, with seven galleys, and the number of Purepescha warriors under the command of Gray Earth Puapu also reached 100. Afterwards, the exploration team of the Lake Kingdom stopped for several months and set sail again in the peak of the rainy season.

Sailing in the rainy season is full of difficulties. The further upstream you go, the more turbulent the water of the Talzas River becomes. The fleet passed the 200-li town, the 400-li town, and arrived at the 600-li town of Tal Town, and repaired the boats again. The entire long river was not dredged by river workers, and it often encountered driftwood collisions and reefs under the water. Fortunately, both the paddle boats and canoes have a very shallow draft, and will not be affected by the reefs during this season of surging river water.

Since the Eastern Expedition, the town of Tal along the river has become more and more prosperous as a node of communication between the East and the West. The old general Etalik followed the order of His Highness and sent two hundred warriors and one thousand militiamen to build a simple wooden fort, Sikkim Fort, here. The so-called "Sikkim" naturally has both tin mines and gold mines. There are 3,000 Tlaxcala captives who were transported here. Among them, 2,000 young men and women settled here to cultivate the hills along the river; the remaining 1,000 strong men were used as labor to build simple docks and invest in the tin mines in the surrounding mountains. As for the scattered small gold mines, there are also garrisoned militias who mined privately, but they are not yet on a large scale.

The exploration fleet stayed for ten days, avoiding the peak of the rainy season. Chihuaco often stood at the dock, watching the canoes sailing in the wind and rain and venturing westward, silent.

These boats were still loaded with Tlaxcala captives, and they sailed along the turbulent river to the kingdom in the west, regardless of day or night, rain or shine. They sailed westward at a high speed, and in just ten days, they could travel 800 miles! From the town of Babai in the south of the alliance to Lake Atoyac in the south of the kingdom. Of course, it would take more than a month for these canoes to sail upstream again.

"Huh! Sailing at this time, the wind is strong and the water is fast. If you fall into the water, how can you save it?"

"Ha! Old man Qi, what are you worried about? They are all Tlaxcalan captives, not our Purépecha people! I heard from the Purépecha warriors stationed in Sikkim Fort that His Highness has set military laws for each fleet transporting people: for this more than a thousand miles long journey, from Shuigu City to Atoyak Lake, no more than 20% of the captives transported back can die. If the number exceeds this, the leader will be beheaded! If the delay exceeds half a month, he will also be beheaded! If the captives escape, more than 20% will still be beheaded!"

Speaking of this, Puapu smacked his lips and sighed.

"Tsk tsk, your highness's military law is really powerful! By the way, I also heard that your highness's grandfather, the high priest of the alliance, died in the holy city of Cholula. In order to avenge himself, your highness burned down the holy city of Cholula and sacrificed all the twelve priest families! Those were twelve priest families of divine descent, and they have been passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years. I don't know how many divine treasures they have accumulated."

"Ah?! Burned down the holy city of Cholula?"

Hearing this, Chivaco couldn't help but shudder. A thunderous "boom" came, scaring Chivaco. He carefully looked at the dark clouds in the sky, touched his head, and then lowered his voice.

"What? The high priest who was bigger than the sky died? How many people lost their heads?"

"I guess thousands or tens of thousands died? This expedition to the east was called a war between old enemies and gods. The Mexica army fought so fiercely! Look at the boatloads of prisoners. They couldn't stop tens of thousands of people. With so many prisoners, how many people died?"

"Hey! Tlaxcalans, it seems that it's over! His Highness gave us a deadline, but it's hard to go upstream. The rain is heavy and the water is fast. We will definitely miss the deadline. He won't chop us off too, will he?"

"Uh, that shouldn't happen, right? If he chops us off, who will go out to sea for His Highness?"

Hearing this, Puapu shuddered all over. He looked at the dim sky, hesitated for a while, bit his tongue, and advised in a deep voice.

"Old man Qi, I think we should not wait any longer. The peak of the rainy season has passed. Even if there is a risk, the fleet must go north as soon as possible!"

"Yes!"

The two looked at each other and nodded heavily at the same time. The long wind blew across the horizon, thunder roared, and dense raindrops fell, all from the east.

On the second day, the seven paddle-sailed longboats set sail again. Going upstream for two hundred miles, they arrived at another node along the river eastward, Babai Town. Here is the middle section of the upper reaches of the Talsa River. Going further up, the river suddenly rises, and it is impossible to navigate upstream. It is necessary to find the warrior leader in the town and summon hundreds of trackers to tow up the river.

Chivaco pursed his lips, stood at the bow, looked at the turbulent river, and fell into thought.

Kavado, the mountain bird of the Yorem tribe, stood beside him, looking around curiously. He was a hunter from the northern tribe, named after the mountain bird, and had excellent eyesight, so he was appointed as the lookout on the ship by the old militia.

Along the way, the mountain bird saw countless trees, countless people, and temples of unknown heights, and also experienced the heaviest rainstorms that had never been seen in the northern wilderness. He was full of curiosity about everything along the way, just like a wild bird that had broken into a city-state, and couldn't get enough of it.

"What a long river! It's as long as the tail of the mythical fire-transmitting divine rat!"

The mountain bird stared at the long river ahead with wide eyes. A "turtle" that popped out attracted his attention. He squinted his eyes, looked carefully for a while, and suddenly stretched out his hand, pointed in the direction of the "turtle", and shouted in a broken Purépecha language.

"Man! There's a man!"