Chapter 1366: Chapter 1366

"Praise the Chief Divine! The Kingdom soars like a Divine Eagle, and you all are the long feathers of the eagle’s wings, ascending with the long wind of the sea and sky! ...Come! Here is pineapple wine newly brewed by the Seaside Alliance, it tastes excellent, let’s drink a cup together! Thank the Chief Divine for His protection, allowing the longship to return from the voyage!..."

"Praise the Chief Divine! Praise Your Majesty! May the Chief Divine protect the Kingdom!..."

The deep autumn at the seaside is as warm as spring, and the stone palace is not cold. In the center of the palace is a large ebony carved table, with an exquisite oil lamp covered with wood and a ceramic base placed on it. These two pieces of furniture, one simple and grand, the other delicate and beautiful, are almost the highest craftsmanship of the Totonac craftsmen. As for the lamp oil, it is squeezed from sunflower seeds and peanuts, giving off a slight aroma when lit, and can even be eaten.

Beside the oil lamp, there is a simple sea chart spread out, marked with a dense array of texts and illustrations, with a prominent red circle drawn on it. On the other side of the table are four emptied ceramic cups and a whole ceramic jar, overflowing with the fruity aroma of pineapple wine.

The large ebony table is square, with each side seated by a person. Xiulote, dressed in a relaxed short robe, sits cross-legged on a bamboo mat at the head position. To his left is the Guard Commander Ecatl, who at this moment is lifting the wine jug to pour wine for everyone at the table.

On Xiulote’s right side is the Divine Revelation Priest Mekate. He respectfully, and somewhat flattered, accepted Ecatl’s pouring of the wine. Directly opposite sits the old militia man Chiwaco. He, downcast with drooped eyebrows, accepts the ceramic cup and drinks it all in one go, seemingly disregarding etiquette.

"The Chief Divine bless! Mekate, have you found the prophesied large iron ore around the great Tai Nuo tribes and then established Iron Bay Town? What is the scale of those Tai Nuo tribes? Are they friendly to the Kingdom’s fleet? How large is that large iron mine, and is mining easy?..." Follow current novᴇls on Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

Xiulote picked up a wine cup, glanced at the downcast, somewhat rude old militia man, and knowingly smiled, seemingly unconcerned. He took a sip of the pineapple wine, savoring the refreshing sweet taste, and his smile broadened.

Compared to the solemn tequila, Xiulote prefers drinking the less formal fruit wine, because this wine’s taste is sweeter, especially the pineapple fruit wine produced at the seaside. Because this Totonac coast is, in fact, the best pineapple producing region in all of Central America, and even the entire world!

In later generations, this coastal land has been praised as "Mexico’s Golden Pineapple Belt," and the most famous variety is the golden-skinned, sweet, juicy, and smooth-textured golden pineapple! When eating this kind of pineapple, its soft, sweet taste is like eating a melon. As for the other Maya pineapple, it is slightly sourer, with firmer flesh. Xiulote prefers to eat it skewered with deer meat, sprinkled with spices and grilled.

"Your Majesty! The prophesied large iron ore is located in the eastern part of Cuba Snake Island, near the snake’s head position. There is a great Tai Nuo tribe there, called the Mayali Region. The word ’Mayali’ means ’Mother of the Moon’ or ’Moon God’s Mother’ in the local Taíno language...so they can also be called ’Moon Mother Great Tribe.’ Their chief is called ’Anani,’ or ’Water Flower,’ Water Flower Chief..."

Priest Mekate, reverently inspired by the Divine Revelation, dressed in a new Third Level Priest robe, pointed on the Cuba sea chart. This sea chart was drawn by him personally, and was one of his greatest achievements in this voyage.

"As for the size of the Mayali Moon Mother tribe, it is about over three thousand tribespeople, but only a little over a hundred can be considered armed hunters. They have plenty of food, do not like to fight and kill, their temperament is very peaceful, and they are very friendly to the exploration fleet!... They regard us as brothers from the sea, not only providing us food but also helping us plant cassava and build camps! ...Water Flower Chief even allowed his tribespeople to join the Kingdom’s Iron Bay Town and helped us recruit small groups of tribes in the mountain forests, wholeheartedly supporting us!"

Speaking of the peace and friendliness of the Tai Nuo people, Priest Mekate couldn’t help but repeatedly sigh in admiration.

It can be said that Central America is an incessantly fighting jungle, with all tribes being jaguars biting and fighting for territory; the vast Northern Continent is a wilderness for migrating and chasing wolves, with hunting tribes being packs of wolves vigilant against and preying upon each other; as for the warm and prosperous Cuba Snake Island, it is like a peaceful and beautiful garden, with the various Tai Nuo divisions being pure and beautiful rainbow snails in the garden, first come first served, waiting for someone to come and take...

"The Chief Divine bless! Your Majesty, by the time we returned, there are already more than two hundred joined Tai Nuo tribespeople in Iron Bay Town, farming and chopping wood for the Kingdom, building camps! Both the over three thousand people of the Mayali Moon Mother tribe and the similarly sized Red Soil tribe, including the Taíno chiefs of two great tribes, have already converted to the Chief Divine!..."

"Oh! The Kingdom has already converted two great tribes with over three thousand people each on Cuba Island?! And the newly built Iron Bay Town at least has two hundred warriors and sailors, two hundred tribespeople?... The Chief Divine bless! Priest Tomate did very well! So did you all!..."

Upon hearing Priest Mekate’s account, Xiulote’s eyes filled with unexpected surprise, as well as delight and satisfaction with the Kingdom’s expansion. He was contemplating the layout of Cuba Snake Island, the Tai Nuo people’s lack of martial prowess, Cuba’s management being so smooth, and the Kingdom’s expansion progressing so rapidly... It seems that this exploration fleet’s endeavors and the early construction of Cuba were indeed the right decisions! We must not let Western colonizers take it first and establish a foothold in Central America!

"A great tribe of three thousand people, yet only a little over a hundred wield hunting bows, able to smoothly convert... The Tai Nuo people’s nature is very peaceful, they’re really not adept at fighting... Though they are tall, they’ve almost never seen blood and hardly have any weapons... Ah! Such a peaceful and kind tribe, what kind of tragedy would occur if they encounter greedy and brutal Spanish colonizers?..."

The answer to this question was known to Xiulote. Yet he often did not want to think about it, recalling the piecemeal records and that silent period that disappeared into history, filled with brutality and misery.

"Alas! Chief Divine! Such gentle Tai Nuo people...no wonder the millions, or even several million people on these island tribes would be almost wiped out within thirty years of the Spanish colonizers’ arrival! And the extremely greedy Columbus would burn, kill, and loot village by village, demanding gold from the Tai Nuo... he would also create the inhumane ’Encomienda’ system, directly taking their lands, turning them into the colonizers’ slaves!"

"...If any Taíno failed to deliver a specific amount of gold within three months, their limbs would be severed...and merely three years later in 1493, when Columbus returned with a thousand-person fleet, the severed limbs of Taíno people would be amassed into a small mountain. Entire villages and women and children would be cruelly enslaved by colonizers’ laughter, then set ablaze or fed to dogs..."

"And by the end of the 16th century, the Taíno people on the entire Caribbean Islands would dwindle to less than a thousand... an utter extinction!"

Thinking of the future tragic fate of the Tai Nuo tribes on Cuba Snake Island and those records and confessions of Spanish missionaries who felt unbearable remorse, Xiulote lowered his eyes, biting his teeth hard. His chest boiled with killing intent, for the first time yearning for a lively blood sacrifice!

"Witness the Chief Divine! I will become the Protector of the Tai Nuo people, the Sacrificer for evil demons! Three years! ...Build enough longships, break through the Totonac coast, secure the Maya route, transport more legions!"

"Those scum captains and sailors of the Spanish exploration fleet!...That grand blood sacrifice ceremony atop the high pyramid will be the fate I prepare for you!...And to achieve this, I may compromise with God King Avit, willing to be beneath him..."

Xiulote paused, narrowing his eyes, his face revealing coldness and determination.

"The Chief Divine bless!... Let the Alliance and the Warriors of the Kingdom, with axes and sharp blades in hand, greet these greedy and brutal explorers, and decapitate these cruel evil demons!"