Aztec Eternals

Chapter 1547: Huh! This West Sea book copies His Majesty…

“May the Chief God bless us! If trade development in the West Sea continues smoothly, we'll need more gold and silver goods… Hmm, I must write a letter directly to His Majesty, reporting on the situation in the West Sea, the development of Zuwaro, the divine descendants' marriages… and also ask His Majesty to send more gold, or even worthless silver! For example, 20,000 catties of silver, which is about twice the size of 20,000 catties of gold, or about the size of an old god statue. Silver mining in the Sacatecas Wasteland can indeed be planned in advance…”

The long discussion affecting West Sea trade continued in the Whale Island Temple. A bonfire blazed in the stone temple, its light reflecting on the faces of the three priests. Chimel wore a riding robe for convenience, Micky wore a sacred dark cloak, and Losanda wore a thickened protective leather robe. All three wore brightly colored priest crowns adorned with feathers, shimmering in the firelight.

“Losanda! Besides gold and silver, what other goods are needed by the large tribal alliances of the West Sea Continent?”

“Well… my two teachers, the large tribal alliances in the south of the West Sea Continent, whether it's the He Country we've already connected with, Joseon which produces doctors and shipwrights, or the rumored powerful Great Ming, all regard gold and silver as the most precious ‘gold and silver currency’! This small, one-catty gold amulet can be exchanged for enough grain to feed dozens of people for a year!”

“Therefore, gold and silver will be the most ‘portable’ and ‘reliable’ trading goods. And as long as we have this ‘gold and silver currency’, we can buy rice and salt, armor and swords from the He people, and then transport them to the Blackwater Forest Sea in the northwest, where we can trade with those fierce and skilled forest Jurchen tribes, and recruit tribal members to fight for the kingdom. As for besides gold and silver, well, godsmoke should also be very popular, greatly pleasing to nobles and priests… Right! And jade, they love jade as much as we do…”

“Yes! Currently, only the He tribal alliance can provide us with a large amount of supplies! Apart from them, the nomadic tribes in the Ice Snow Peninsula and the Blackwater Forest Sea cannot provide any supplies, only recruit fierce tribal warriors… And further south, Joseon and Great Ming should also be good trading partners. However, the trade route south is long and dangerous, and the kingdom's power in the West Sea is limited, so we haven't opened it up yet. We can't directly trade with Joseon and Great Ming directly at the moment, we can only go through the He people…”

“Good! Very good! Losanda, tell me more about the landscape of the West Sea Continent, the characteristics of those tribes!”

“Yes! Teacher Micky… The Mountain Tribe and Deer Tribe are migratory tribes, grazing deer herds and hunting nomadically. They are tall and resemble the various tribes on the far north coast, such as the Unangan people. But they can make bows, have dog sleds, and can move with their deer herds, making them fierce fighters, and far more cunning and cruel than the tribes on the far north coast… The Ainu tribes are semi-fishing and semi-agricultural tribes, short in stature and mild in temperament. They are not as good at fighting as the Mountain Tribe, and worship the guardian spirits of bears, birds, and fish, roughly similar to the Miwok tribes on the west coast. But after they converted to the Chief God, they showed great piety and are truly reliable devout believers! …”

“The He people are numerous, divided into distinct samurai and peasant classes, and also have temple priests in their city-states. They value martial prowess and have a common leader, much like the Nawa tribes. But they possess excellent ironware technology, and ironware is very common and cheap! A one-catty gold amulet can be exchanged for hundreds of good knives and spears, or several sets of iron armor… The He people's craftsmen are excellent, the samurai are fierce and cruel, the peasants are very obedient, the nobles are cunning and flexible, and the priests value gold and silver. Their faith, from top to bottom, is very… um, flexible! They easily convert and change their beliefs, but apart from the poor peasants, they are obviously all superficial believers who value practical benefits more.”

The erudite Micky carefully recorded the first-hand information Losanda brought back with a charcoal pencil. And Losanda earnestly dictated, recalling all the details. Chimel watched for a while, silently shaking his head in his heart.

This student from the Tecos Mountains still hasn't caught on, only knowing how to work hard tirelessly. If the other party had caught on, they would have written and drawn, preparing these intelligence reports into tree bark paper scrolls, or woodcut boards, and then printing their own graphic symbol on them. In this way, when Micky takes the intelligence he compiled back, at least half the credit would have to be given to him. But now, with him dictating and Micky writing it down to take back to the kingdom, the distribution of credit will mostly be Micky's…

“May the Chief God witness! Besides these tribes we've already contacted, there's also the Joseon tribal alliance in the southwest. Their culture seems to be very prosperous, and they have particularly excellent craftsmen, especially shipwrights and doctors. And in the mouths of the He people, the Joseon tribal alliance seems to be both rich and poor, both strong and weak! …”

“Huh? Both rich and poor, both strong and weak?”

“Huh? Ryūzōji Iehiro? The southwest clans of the He people, plundering the rich coast of Joseon?… Joseon Kingdom, hereditary upper and lower nobles and ant people, prosperous culture, both rich and poor, both strong and weak… Isn't this just like the Maya tribes in the Eastern Forest Sea? The former Maya Pan Kingdom in the records is very similar to this Joseon Kingdom… Strange, why haven't these Joseon tribes been conquered by the He people across the water, or split into the sixteen clans of Maya? …”

Chimel pondered, drawing a Maya Pan mark on the map at the location of Joseon. And hearing this question, Losanda hesitated for a while, answering uncertainly.

“May the Chief God witness! The He people cannot conquer Joseon, and Joseon has never split into internal strife… Perhaps it's because of the Great Ming Empire further southwest! According to the He nobles, the south of Joseon was originally something called ‘Baekje homeland’, which is the ancestral home of many of their nobles. And as early as eight hundred years ago, they sent tens of thousands of troops to revive Baekje, and to conquer the land of Joseon, which had split into three kingdoms…”

But later, the Wa people's army was defeated by the powerful Tang Dynasty of the 'Central Plains' at a white river mouth, and they had no choice but to abandon the 'ancient lands of Baekje'... As for now, if it weren't for the powerful Ming Dynasty of the 'Central Plains' constantly maintaining and protecting Korea, suppressing the Wa shogunate, then as early as when the Wa Muromachi shogunate was first established, the great Tlatoani 'Ashikaga Shogun' would have crossed the sea to send troops to Korea...

"Hmm? This sounds a bit like the story of the Teotihuacan kingdom eight hundred years ago, when they launched an eastern expedition into the Mayan rainforest and captured the divine city of Tikal. But in the end, Teotihuacan was struck by a divine disaster sent by the gods, suddenly collapsed, and the Mayan tribes restored their kingdoms..."

"Yes! What the teacher says is right... By the way, esteemed teachers, this time I returned, I also brought back many 'inherited books' traded from the Mount Hiei Temple! This part of history, for example, is recorded in those books, it seems to be called... Mirror... Oh, it's 'The Great Mirror'! Besides that, there are also many 'Tang Books' from the Great Ming. The characters they use are very similar to the divinely inspired script, so I can barely understand them and guess their meanings! ..."

"Oh?! There are actually inherited books from the Western Sea? Quick! Bring them over quickly, let me have a good look! ..."

Hearing this, Kimel was stunned, then overjoyed. He had heard many prophecies about these 'inheritances' from the Western Sea continent from His Majesty long ago, and he had worked hard to learn the square characters, making him the most proficient of the three. With these books to study and relieve boredom, he wouldn't have to spend his days riding horses and painting, looking at the moon and stars, but could do some more interesting research on the Western Sea!

"Thump, thump, boom..."

Soon, twenty warriors, panting heavily, carried ten heavy wooden boxes into the temple of the main god. Kimel excitedly opened the wooden boxes, wiped away the waterproof charcoal and lime spread on top, and uncovered several layers of thickly wrapped oil paper. The Western Sea books, packed to the brim, suddenly appeared before his eyes! He pulled out the thickest one from the top, examined it carefully, and found that it was a collection of three brand new books strung together with thread, clearly printed from wooden blocks, just like the 'Alley Sutra'.

"'Mimic Collection'? 'Yijian Zhi'? 'New Tales by the Trimmed Lamp'? ..."

Kimel frowned, quickly flipping through the pages, seeing many characters he didn't recognize. He went to look for the illustrations, but there were very few. And the few pictures he managed to see, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a man and a woman, close together, some even depicting strange 'foxes and men', and 'cats playing with butterflies'.

"...? ? ?"

Kimel was utterly bewildered, and Miki also frowned. The two of them looked at Losanda together, and Losanda's forehead immediately broke out in sweat. He quickly opened the three smallest wooden boxes and hurriedly said.

"Esteemed teachers... Most of the books brought back from the Mount Hiei Temple are not valuable, they are things like 'Popular Monster Tales', 'Strange Tales of Men and Women'... They are all for commoners to read. The truly precious 'Inherited Historical Records' and 'Religious Classics' are mainly in these three boxes! ..."

"Look! These four copies of 'Four Mirrors', including the 'Great Mirror' mentioned earlier, are the easiest 'Inherited Historical Records' to find in Wa. And this 'Comprehensive Mirror: Events from Beginning to End' is an 'Inherited Historical Record' that was introduced to Wa from the Great Ming... Of course, these are relatively difficult to read. Easier to read are in this box, things like 'Taiping Guangji', 'Remnants of the Xuanhe Era of the Great Song', 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'..."

"Oh?!"

Kimel eagerly stepped forward, flipping through this box of 'Popular Historical Records', and finally a smile appeared on his face. He turned his head, looked at Miki, and said with a smile.

"May the main god bless us! Then leave this box of books on the island for me to read! ..."

". Ah, good!"

Miki thought for a moment, then nodded and replied with a smile, deciding on the books that Losanda had brought back. Then, his expression became serious, his eyes flashing, and he asked Losanda.

"May the main god bear witness! Losanda, did you bring back any 'Divine Illustrated Books' from the Western Sea? Such as witchcraft, medicine, divination? If there are such illustrated books, sending them back to the Lake Kingdom and presenting them to His Majesty would surely be a great achievement..."

The newest novels are at 6_9_book_.

"Divine Illustrated Books, achievement? Yes! Definitely! I remember Priest Zuvaro specifically asked the Wa priest elders for them... Let me look for them..."

Losanda blinked, and quickly squatted on the ground, rummaging through the ten large boxes, hundreds or thousands of books. After a while, a look of joy finally appeared on his face, and he raised a stack of thick and exquisite illustrated books, shouting happily.

"Praise the main god! Here, here! This is the most important set of inherited illustrated books obtained from the Mount Hiei Temple, all handwritten copies, with very exquisite paintings!"

Miki quickly stepped forward, took the heavy illustrated books. The paper was very good, indeed the appearance of precious inherited illustrated books. And after a quick glance, there were not only neatly typeset and clearly copied characters, but also a large number of lifelike figure paintings. The quality of this set of books was much more exquisite than the previously printed market books, and one wondered how much effort the painter had put in?

"Main god! The level of these paintings?! Miki, you must leave me two illustrated books, you can't take them all back! ..."

Kimel widened his eyes in surprise, seeing the Buddhist painting techniques from East Asia in the Western Sea for the first time, opening the window to a new world. He carefully flipped through the pages, and this set of sutra illustrated books even came with a gilded paper slip, writing the name of the illustrated books.

"'Tiantai Great Treasury'? ..."

Kimel and Miki exchanged a glance, secretly remembering these four characters. They did not know the preciousness of this set of Tiantai sect's teaching classics! The 'Lotus Sutra' inside included the commentary of Zhiyi, the fourth patriarch of the Tiantai sect, and the 'Mahayana Cessation and Insight' and 'Tiantai Four Teachings' were also important scriptures circulated within the monastery.

This complete set of classics was originally in Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, and other copies were in various temples of the Tiantai sect, with a maximum of ten sets. If it weren't to redeem himself, Great Monk Juehui would never have secretly taken out this set of 'inherited illustrated books' from Ōmi Temple, handing over the 'foundation of the sect'. In fact, this set of classics symbolized the lineage of the Tiantai sect and could be compared to the ancestral court of the Tiantai sect in Zhejiang, and the Guoqing Temple on Mount Tiantai. As long as this set of classics was there, even if Enryaku-ji Temple was destroyed, another place could be found to rebuild the temple.

"Main god bless us! There's also this set, this set of collections! ..."

Losanda searched for a long time, then with a bright smile, picked up another thick stack of nine volumes, and shouted with a smile.

"These are the 'inherited illustrated books' of the Confucian priests mentioned in His Majesty's prophecies, and they seem to be widely circulated. Although the Wa people believe in 'Buddha Gods', they also read these books... Especially this one about divination!"

The two high priests stepped forward again, looking at the nine volumes in Losanda's hand. Of course, what they were most concerned about was the last and most 'divine' volume, the mysterious Western Sea art of divination.

"'The Analects', 'Mencius', 'The Great Learning', 'The Doctrine of the Mean'... 'The Book of Songs', 'The Book of Documents', 'The Book of Rites', 'The Spring and Autumn Annals'... The last one, 'The Book of Changes'?"

"'The Book of Changes'... 'The Classic of Changes' and 'The Ten Wings'? ..."

"Eh! Isn't this...? This isn't His Majesty receiving divine revelation and listening to the main god's divination omens?! The latest divinely inspired divination from the alliance, these sixty-four hexagrams, all represent the main god's complex revelations... Main god! The Western Sea continent actually has a lineage of divine revelation?! ..."

At this moment, Kimel and Miki were greatly shocked, as if they had found a treasure.