Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1716 - 1225: Calpulli, Springtime Flying Bird

The molten iron solidified into iron billets and was hammered into the shapes of various tools and farm implements. Iron hammers and iron axes for road construction, iron plows, iron hoes, and iron sickles for cultivation, all loaded onto fleets of ships. Some of the tools were transported back to the port in Zicao City and distributed to the militia and flag teams enlisted for road construction and farming. Others continued upstream along the Great Lake and were then transported via the well-built Three Rivers Road to Apa City on the Apa Plain.

"Praise the Chief Divine! Distributing farm tools!..."

"Stand properly! The High Priest is personally here to distribute the farm tools to you! Everyone, behave!..."

"Ah! Praise the Chief Divine! Praise the Priest Lord!..."

Seeing the wheelbarrows arriving with the farm tools, a noisy cheer erupted outside the city. At this moment, several hundred militiamen from over a hundred villages in Apa County, led by their respective village priests, gathered outside the city according to their village flag teams. According to the kingdom's regulations, these iron tools were never brought to the city market but were directly distributed to the villages as public property of the village sacrificial altar, then lent to the able-bodied men in the villages for use.

The village commune system at the bottom tiers of the kingdom actually originated from the traditional "Calpulli" system of Central America, adjusted by some mysterious Eastern force with reference to Qin law. "Calpulli" was the traditional clan commune of the Nava people. The ownership of all arable land in the village belonged to the Calpulli clan commune, with each family only having usage rights. Any adult able-bodied men and women could receive a piece of land from the commune to cultivate permanently until they were no longer able to farm. Besides cultivating their own allotment, each family also took turns farming the public land of the clan commune to support the priest and chieftain, as well as to reserve grain for war, disaster, and tribute.

According to the ancient clan commune tradition, private property within the village commune was very limited. Even the village head or chieftain could not seize the commune's land or privately use the village's collective granary. This tradition was also reinforced in the proclaimed laws of the Divine Church. The tribute levied by the kingdom was also undertaken by villages or flag teams rather than specific households. On one hand, this saved a lot of manpower and costs for tax collection. On the other, the households in the village indeed had little property to tax, except when wealth was gained through warfare. The basic composition of the entire kingdom was thus the villages occupied by priests and the warrior fiefs around towns and the larger fiefs of the Third Level nobility.

In the kingdom, village communes, military service landlords, and enfeoffed nobility coexisted in terms of land distribution, with the majority of the population centered on village communes, followed by military service landlords. At least until there was an explosive growth in the kingdom's productivity and village population, this village commune system, evolved over a long time and modified by religious law, would not easily change.

"Praise the Chief Divine! Take the tools and go prepare for spring plowing! The rainy season is coming, maintain the roads each village is responsible for! The kingdom's warriors will be patrolling!"

"Yes! Praise the Chief Divine! Praise the High Priest Sir of Apa City!"

As the administrative center of a county, Apa City was an important transport hub, extending three bustling highways. One ran east, connecting to Atoyac Lake a hundred li to the East. Another ran northeast, connecting northeast to the coal and copper mining area of Blackstone City two hundred li away, and then further east to the capital region of the Prepetcha Lake District.

The last road extended westward until it reached the end of the Apa Plain two hundred li west, where it split at Tepalcatepec by Olive Lake into two routes, leading respectively to the upstream Chapala Great Lake in the north and the Colima Tribes in the southwest mountain region. Currently, the road leading to the Colima Mountain Region had already been completed. The road construction civilian conscripts summoned this year needed to head northwest and completely finish the road leading to Chapala Great Lake County.

Around ten li outside Apa City, these three main roads were built to the highest Third Level stone road standards, with large and small stones as the base, mineral slag and natural sand as the filler, and volcanic ash cement binding, compacted by civil laborers with stone rollers, resistant to the easily damaging tropical rainy climate. Although the standard for Third Level stone roads was high, the width was just enough for ten people to walk abreast, akin to the "two tracks" in Xiulote's impression, allowing two horse carriages to pass comfortably, although there were no horses in Central America yet...

"Hey! The stone road around the big city is truly magnificent and smooth, no worries about hurting your feet... But once you're ten li out of the outskirts, there's no such good road anymore!"

Beyond ten li from the city outskirts, the stone road disappeared, transforming into the kingdom's most common road standard: the Second Level composite earth road. Some of the more affluent, battle-hardened militiamen hesitated for a while, then took off the straw sandals hanging around their necks and put them on. Most of the able-bodied men and militiamen, however, continued walking barefoot.

The composite road starting from here was constructed with clay and loam at its base, bonded with slaked lime, and natural sand as the filler, thoroughly compacted. Apa County received plenty of rain during the rainy season, causing the composite earth road to be easily affected, necessitating the militia and flag teams along it to dispatch workforces to maintain their respective sections annually. River-adjacent sections required coal slag and gravel to be laid down to prevent overly vigorous weeds from thriving.

"Phew! The sun is blazing. Let's take a drink from the canal, rest a bit, and then hurry back!"

After walking for a while, the sun rose high. The village priest paused for a moment, leading the group to the canal near the road, where each person drank some of the channeled river water. At the extension of the earthen canal, there lay the endless fields of the Apa Plain, waiting for the spring plowing two months later!

The grand infrastructure plan of the kingdom had been underway for a full three years. Every off-farming season, from November to March, tens of thousands of able-bodied men from the militia, tribal flag teams, and feudal agricultural slaves were summoned to perform corvée labor, constructing roads, digging canals, building reservoirs, clearing wasteland, and opening new fields on the periphery. The vast southern hinterland of the kingdom, especially the Apa Plain with its over 3,000 square kilometers, half the size of the Chengdu Plain, was gradually developed through such extensive labor, turning into a land of... oh no, more like a land of the cornucopia of corn!

"Blessed by the Chief Divine! We've rested enough, let's get moving!"

"Priest, what are they doing over there? They seem to be applying that supposedly impressive stone fertilizer!"

Startled by the militia's exclamation, the village priest paused, looking towards a nearby village to the north. The village appeared significantly more grand, with several wood houses, and even a few brick buildings. Even the chief divine sacrificial altar at the center of the village was a circle larger than their own village's! This village evidently prospered greatly from the kingdom's expeditions, its grandeur envied by all...

On closer inspection, even though it wasn't yet time for the spring plowing, people in the village were already planting black beans in the fields, and sprinkling a kind of white powdered "stone fertilizer." The village priest immediately understood that this was "guano rock fertilizer" transported from the sea by the kingdom, ground up and scattered on the fields to increase yield for up to two or three years! The priest of this village must have connections in Apa City... And with this remarkably effective stone fertilizer as a foundation, the village could plant two seasons of crops. After all, even in late February to early March, it was already quite warm. In the past, two-season planting was avoided because the land's fertility couldn't keep up, often necessitating fallow rotation. But if fertilizers were adequately replenished, the Qinanpa Floating Fields could be cultivated year-round, harvesting four seasons a year!

"Priest, is that stone fertilizer?"

"Yes. It's guano rock fertilizer."

"Ah! When will our village get to use such stone fertilizer?"

"Bless the Chief Divine! This... depends on when the kingdom's fleet can transport more stone fertilizer... I will bring it up to the High Priest Sir after the autumn harvest tribute... sigh!"

For a while, everyone gazed enviously at the flowing canals, the fertilized fields, and the sprouting seedlings, taking one last look before continuing to push their wheelbarrows and heading toward the iron farming tools, moving toward their homes several tens of li away. Although the spring plowing had not yet begun, with these tools, a better harvest than last year's seemed within reach! Of course, having stone fertilizer would be even better, like the flying birds of the spring day~~