Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1742 - 1245: The Most Poisonous Iron
The waves roiled in the sea, and schools of fish gathered by the lake. From the Kingdom's West Mountain Port Golden Bay, which in later generations would be known as the San Francisco Bay, heading north for eight to nine hundred miles, one arrives at the Lake Bay where the Wiyot people reside, reaching the Kingdom's Lake Bay Port.
This Kingdom Port was established by the brave sacrifice of a young Eastern Priest, who after marrying the Wiyot Female Chief, absorbed hundreds of tribes to form it. Currently, it has a population of fifteen hundred!
In just a year, Lake Bay Port's population increased by seven hundred. Among these seven hundred, over sixty were supplemented by longships, four to five hundred were local assimilated Wiyot through marriage... and over two hundred able-bodied Miwock were specially transferred from West Mountain Port, migrating with a year's worth of food supplies.
This level of preferential treatment was unprecedented among the many Kingdom outposts along the Western Sea Coast, making the priests in various regions envious and red-eyed. The reason Lake Bay Port received such benefits was due to the iron mine mountains in the Eastern mountains, and thanks to the smelting blast furnace established by the blacksmith Otani before he left! Currently, this two-meter blast furnace for smelting has finally accumulated enough, seven to eight thousand pounds of pyrite, to fire up and start smelting!
"Bless the Chief Divine! Light the fire, start the furnace! Produce more iron…!"
With the Eastern Priest's shout, the furnace fires leapt up. Charcoal burned rapidly, the blower continuously pumped air, and the thick, black smoke gradually rose, becoming increasingly acrid.
The Kingdom's ironsmith apprentices all bowed their heads and busied themselves, nearly everyone wrapped in simple, damp cloths to cover their noses and mouths. In the initial few batches of iron, several apprentices inhaled too much smoke, resulting in them fainting, and one even died from severe illness. After careful evaluation, the Eastern Priest determined that the acrid smoke came from burning pyrite, carrying a distinct "volcanic death aura"! He might not have known what sulfur dioxide was, but based on the Highland Tribes' knowledge of the Sulphur of the Dead, inhaling too much of such uniquely pungent smoke would surely bring about "extinction of vitality and death"!
According to the experiences of various tribes, from a "theological" perspective, the solution to this problem was simple. As instructed by Your Majesty at the Divine Power University, "the death aura of a volcano will be neutralized by the life force of the Water Serpent, blocked by water"… so, just soak a towel in water and wear it over the face to cover the nose and mouth.
"Praise the Chief Divine! After starting digging at the start of the new year for two months, we finally accumulated enough pyrite for one batch, barely producing two to three thousand pounds of iron... Calculating this way, working all year could only return iron ore for six times, producing over ten thousand pounds of iron. Compared to that giant Iron Mountain, it's like a hair on a rabbit's tail! 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
Looking at the black smoke rising from the blast furnace, the Eastern Priest stepped back a bit, showing both joy and a bit more urgency on his face. Seven to eight thousand pounds of iron ore may sound like a lot, but it's actually less than half a cubic meter. Yet just this bit of iron ore required over two hundred tribespeople, toiling for two months, which is truly absurd!
However, this is the current situation of tribal production capacity and transportation. The location of the Iron Mine Mountain is not near the seaside, but in the continuous mountains four to five hundred miles east. From Lake Bay Port to the iron mine, the round trip is nearly a thousand miles, each person carrying dozens of pounds of iron ore and dry provisions, taking over a month just to walk. As for setting up camp under the Iron Mountain, arranging people for guard duty, fishing, hunting, and assigning others to mine, crush, and sift the ore, it would take nearly another month… This means it takes two months just to fire up the blast furnace for smelting once!
"Witness Chief Divine! Two hundred tribespeople for mining and transport, fifty samurai for guarding and escorting, twenty ironsmith apprentices for blacksmithing, and another hundred people for chopping trees and charcoal burning… while over a thousand tribespeople have to fish and farm to support these four hundred iron smelting workers… Counting repeatedly, there is still a shortage of manpower!"
"If the port were populous enough to establish a new village under the Great Iron Mountain, to farm, hunt, mine, and smelt iron locally, then transport the smelted iron out… it would surely be much more convenient, increasing the output of iron severalfold! … Alas, alas! We also have to consider the attitudes of the dozens of 'singing tribes' in the mountains, those Kahosadi people. After all, the area around the Iron Mountain has always been their hunting grounds. Currently, they've only reluctantly agreed to our mining because of our friendly gifts…"
Thinking about the semi-nomadic, song-loving Kahosadi people, known to future colonizers as "Shaftstashe People," the Eastern Priest touched his smooth chin, a contemplative look on his face. These mountain tribes love singing and are not known for belligerence. Yet each tribe has been long in the mountains, familiar with the terrain, and are too numerous to be subdued by the martial strength of Lake Bay Port alone.
In truth, the Eastern Priest always disliked using force, preferring gentle assimilation and intermarriage methods. The Kingdom's mining and quarrying at the Iron Mountain created quite a commotion, which attracted scout parties from some singing tribes to investigate. The Eastern Priest warmly greeted these tribal scouts, feeding them well and gifting them with several newly made iron axes for chopping trees. These tribal scouts left cheerfully, each singing a song called "Hundred Bird Song," incomprehensible but overwhelmingly impressive.
The singing was extremely joyous and unique, featuring dozens of lifelike birdcalls, with pitches so high it was almost beyond the limits of human capability! These bird call imitations, if passed on to future generations, might each become high-pitched "Divine Comedies" that could ruin one's voice. Each singing Kahosadi scout could probably dominate stages like The Voice! This innate racial talent evolved over hundreds of generations of natural selection and inheritance, something transient effort could not surpass…
"Chief Divine! I don't know how many singing tribes will agree to the marriage and trade proposals I let the scouts take back? Unfortunately, Kingdom priests are limited, if we were to send people for tribal intermarriage, it would only be possible to send young samurai, slowly influencing the mountain tribes..."
Converting the distant mountain tribes is destined to be a long process, even taking several years or over a decade. The Eastern Priest urgently wishes to first reach a consensus with the tribe chiefs around the Iron Mountain, to establish a small mining village there. Then, send dozens of devout tribespeople to constantly mine iron ore there, taking food supplies in one go, or trade with the surrounding singing tribes. As for the remaining hundred or more tribespeople, they'd specifically handle transporting the ore, clearing the channels through waterways and mountain roads equally…
"Witness Chief Divine! By the end of this year, I must increase the output of iron by half! And with such confidence, I can then request more manpower and food support from Your Majesty's high priests, from the South's West Mountain Port, making Lake Bay Port a true large town!"
"Oh Supreme Chief Divine! I will diligently preach, spreading Your glory throughout Lake Bay, all the way to the land beneath the Eastern Iron Mountain! Please, guide me, let my management of Lake Bay Port become a crucial Kingdom post like Black Rock Mountain's iron mining site! … And please, let my two newborn sons grow up healthy, inheriting this promising Kingdom outpost I have forged by hand, and even rise to greater heights!"
The young Eastern Priest's eyes widened, watching the bright eastern mountains under the morning sun, praying with devotion, his heart filled with hope and desire. He's been settled in Lake Bay Port for three years, truly putting down roots. The fertile tribal chieftain Turan not only brought him three adopted sons but also bore him two more children, giving him a legacy from then on…
Witnessing the formation of a brand-new Western Priest family, mingling the bloodlines of the Northern and Southern tribes, ready to branch out from the House of Ravens and establish itself in this vast Northern Land! And the long, bright future of the family is already bound with the infinite vastness of the Northern Land. Rising from the gradually growing Lake Bay Port, extending to the red-topped Iron Mountain, the beginning encompasses five hundred miles of vast land, teeming with life, the lakes and forests vibrant and rich!...
