Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1739 - 1243: The Western Sea Coast Holy Land Dreamed of by Ming Dynasty Scholars…_2

Under the armament and logistic support of the Kingdom of the Lake, the Black Serpent landed on the coast with the Tlaxcala Tribes, launching a raid. It took only a few days to forcibly annex the Salinan Oak Tribe with nearly a thousand people, officially raising the banner of the Cloud Black Serpent, establishing the new Black Serpent Clan! Then came the large-scale intermarriage of tribes and a complete reorganization of the entire clan.

By the time everything settled, it was already the end of July. The Black Serpent Clan, now with more than two thousand people, had no time to plant the staple corn and could only grow some miscellaneous crops like pumpkins and sweet potatoes, along with some beans for fertilizing the fields, plus traditional lagoon fishing of the Salinans, just barely getting through the first winter in "California"... 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Ancestors bless us! This year's new fields by the river should still use the 'Three Sisters' system. The newly cultivated land can't be relied on for much, as long as we can barely sustain ourselves... These dried oak trees can be used to make some canoes, for better lagoon and coastal fishing! Right, there are many oak trees in this area; we can collect a lot of acorns this autumn, then grind them into powder and mix it with other grains to eat... As long as we endure this year, by the autumn harvest of the third year, our food will be abundant, and we can spend more manpower on building sturdy usable wooden houses. And the clan can have many children, allowing us Tlaxcalans to once again walk the prosperous path walked by our ancestors!"

Black Serpent Teuctli looked around at the newly cultivated fields and the dilapidated huts, his aged face yet full of anticipation and hope. Once a distinguished and commanding honorable nobility, now the corners of his eyes are filled with wrinkles, his black hair showing strands of white, his demeanor steady. He no longer wears any bright feathers, dressed only in plain and worn war clothes, appearing like a common Samurai, without any trace of nobility.

After years of fighting and enduring, personally witnessing the demise of the Tlaxcala Alliance, Black Serpent has long taken things lightly, possessing a taste of returning to innocence. As the clan leader now, his greatest desire is to farm peacefully, allowing the Black Serpent Clan to truly take root, properly continuing the sacred bloodline of the ancestors, reviving the Tlaxcalans...

Indeed! In the minds of these Tlaxcala nobles, though the Four States Alliance is already gone, millions of Tlaxcalans scattered across the land, annexed and ruled by the Mexica Tribes... as long as their branch of divine blood remains, the legacy of the Cloud Serpent continues to be carried on, and the Tlaxcalans are still alive! On the contrary, if this final divine blood disappears, even if tens of millions of common tribespeople survive, the Tlaxcalans are considered extinct!

Ultimately, in the eyes of these noble descendants of the Cloud Serpent, divine blood is the symbol of the tribes, the essence of everything the tribes hold! And the common tribespeople are not particularly important...

"Chief Divine bless us! Neca, there are many oak trees in this area, ample supply for quality bow materials, and the clan has skilled bowyers. We Tlaxcalans must practice bow and arrow profusely, following the traditions of our ancestors. But to make the tribe flourish, metalware is still needed, various copperware, bronze, and the ironware newly crafted by the Purpecha people..."

Black Serpent Teuctli looked to the East, where the verdant mountain trees generally stand tall, possessing a deep, rugged, yet lively aura, starkly different from the dense mountain forests of the Mexican Plateau. He opened his mouth, greedily gazing for a long while, before formally asking his confidant.

"This time, did you, when capturing prisoners, find any metal ore in those tree tribe camps? Such as gold-green, yellow-green copper stones, or gray-black, deep red iron stones?"

"Clan Leader, I personally inspected those camps and found no metal ore. I asked the captured prisoners, and they have not seen any either..."

Black Serpent Samurai, confidant Neca shook his head with some regret. The Mexica Alliance's extensive bronze smelting is not a secret to the rival Tlaxcala Tribes.

Moreover, spreading the faith of the Chief Divine in the clan and guiding composting and farming, Preaching Priest Hummingbird also hails from the Tlaxcalans. He studied for two years at Qinchongcan Divine Power University, being among the first fast-track graduates as a Tlaxcala priest. Due to his devout faith, Hummingbird even abandoned his former Tlaxcala name, using the name symbolizing the Chief Divine instead, ultimately being chosen by the Qinchongcan Priesthood in the Capital City and dispatched to the Black Serpent Clan as a preaching priest!

This Chief God Priest, after arriving at the Black Serpent Clan, truly helped the clan in many ways and also brought much new knowledge from the Kingdom of the Lake, including how to look for copper and iron ore... Unfortunately, seemingly no trace of metal deposits exists in the territory where the Black Serpent Clan settled...

"Ah! May the Chief Divine bless us! May the Ancestors bless us!"

The Black Serpent Teuctli sighed regrettably, knowing that if this place truly had any easily discoverable metal deposits, the Kingdom of the Lake would not have possibly granted him this land. The metal weapons and tools traded by the Kingdom Fleet from overseas are precisely the greatest leverage restricting the Black Serpent Clan! And the Black Serpent Clan has already owed the kingdom many supplies, with only sparse output available to offset debts. Continuing like this...

"Clan Leader! Although we haven't found any metal ore, we did discover this from those tree tribe camps!"

As he spoke, confidant Neca rummaged through his pouch with a jingle, pulling out a small cloth bag. As soon as he opened the bag, several pieces of emerald crystal gemstone, along with a few yellow-green gemstones, reflected dazzlingly under the sunlight, catching the eyes of the Black Serpent Teuctli!