Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1452 - 1005: The Scholar’s Nautical Journal, Masterpiece of the Kingdom’s Shipbuilding, and the Dawn of Deep-Sea Adventure
"In early March, a Kingdom longship traveled day and night without switching ships, arriving urgently at Whale Harbor! This longship is noticeably larger in size than the two longships at Whale Harbor; it is a new ship just launched by the Kingdom’s Southern Shipyard! I carefully measured the length of this longship, which is an astounding 28 meters long, 7 meters wide, and the hull is extra reinforced with iron hoops and copper nails, capable of bearing a weight of up to seventy thousand catties! In comparison, the two old longships at Whale Harbor are only 24 meters long, over 6 meters wide, and can carry over sixty thousand catties..."
"With the Chief Divine as my witness!! This large longship is the vanguard of the Kingdom’s second batch of support fleets and is the smallest and fastest among this batch of ten large longships. The flagship of this batch of large longships is said to be an astonishing 36 meters long, 9 meters wide, capable of bearing more than eighty thousand catties!... Allegedly, the giant timber keel running throughout this large longship was harvested from a forty-meter-tall giant spruce at Tekos Mountain in the South, then dragged by hundreds of civilians along the river for hundreds of miles to Atoyac Lake, and finally processed and built by dozens of senior artisans, representing the highest level of craftsmanship at the Kingdom’s shipyard!... Furthermore, Divine Revelation Director Talaya also specifically ordered this brand new large longship flagship to be named ’Great Snow Wolf’..."
"Of course, the 36-meter-long large longship is not the limit of shipbuilding for the Kingdom. It’s said that when the support fleet set out, the third batch of the Kingdom’s large longships under construction included a gigantic 50-meter-long, 12-meter-wide oar-sailed giant ship! This wondrous gigantic ship involved over a hundred senior artisans in its construction, aided by hundreds of apprentices and civilians, consuming thousands of catties of precious copper and iron materials for reinforcement, becoming a divinely crafted gigantic ship never before seen in the world!..."
"Praise the Chief Divine! This soon-to-be-launched divinely crafted gigantic ship has already been named in advance by Director Talaya, symbolizing Your Majesty as the ’Snow Wolf King’! To build this gigantic ship, the Kingdom even mobilized banners, felling the tribal Divine Trees around Hand Snake City, including a giant spruce over fifty meters high, to be used as the ship’s main keel. Subsequently, the Kingdom mobilized hundreds of civilians, dragging it for months along the river, to transport this heavy timber imbued with divinity to the Southern Shipyard!...
White and brown cliffs surrounding a blue bay, the three Kingdom longships are anchored within a naturally indented harbor stretching dozens of miles. Among the three longships of the exploration fleet, the flagship ’Great Snow Wolf’ is positioned at the center, noticeably larger than the vessels on either side. Compared to the other two battered longships amid the storm, this sturdy flagship is riddled with scars yet remains with a robust skeleton, seemingly capable of withstanding an even greater storm.
"Praise the Chief Divine! Bless us with strong, lightweight, and rot-resistant divine wood! Praise Your Majesty! Guide us in building unprecedented large ships!..."
Scholar Mikki stood atop a height, gazed toward the flagship in the bay, and offered a devout prayer for a moment.
The spruce felled by the Kingdom’s shipyard is posthumously extremely expensive Mexican spruce. This high-mountain tree species’ wood is extremely hard, very durable, and naturally rot-resistant, allowing it to be used in water for extended periods without decay. Similarly, it is relatively lightweight, effectively reducing the ship’s self-weight and increasing cargo capacity... It’s almost the best shipbuilding material!
"Praise the mighty Chief Divine! Praise the powerful Kingdom!"
Looking at the three longships, Exploration Captain Zuwaro lowered his head, sincerely marveling aloud.
Regarding shipbuilding technology, he knew very little. At this moment, what truly amazed him was the thousands of shipbuilding craftsmen and apprentices behind the construction of these longships, and the tens of thousands of farming peasants and robust loggers! All this – whether it was the conscription of robust men, the dispatch of labor, the collaboration of craftsmen, or the management of the warriors – demonstrated the Kingdom’s powerful organizational and mobilization abilities, showcasing a robustly operating classical military state!
"Praise Your Majesty! This is an unprecedented Kingdom, like the rising black smoke from Blackstone City’s mining area, like the iron blocks forged from Black Rock Mountain iron ore, filled with burning, hard strength!..."
"Praise the Chief Divine! Mikki, the Great Snow Wolf can bear eighty thousand catties, equipped with long sails fore and aft, and sixty oar positions. If we clear out the provisions and firestones from the three longships, prioritizing resupplies on this one, it could allow sixty warriors and sailors to hold out at sea for up to two months!... And in Your Majesty’s prophecy, it has already been clearly pointed out that two thousand miles westwards lies a brand new continent! Therefore, I have a bold idea: if we could harness the northeast wind, set sail fully..."
Upon hearing Zuwaro’s words, Scholar Mikki’s eye corner twitched, and after a brief thought, he repeatedly shook his head.
"With the Chief Divine as my witness! Zuwaro, this chain of ancestral islands has not yet been traversed; it is not yet time to venture recklessly into the deep sea! In fact, Your Majesty has also told us earlier, to cautiously proceed west along the island chain, establishing a stable returnable route, without being rash!..."
"Mikki, it’s already October now! We need to hurry, and before the freeze in November..."
"With the Chief Divine’s blessing! The local Unanga Tribe have already told us that there are still six or seven ancestral islands with tribes that can be used for resupply to the west! No matter what, even if we eventually have to sail into the deep sea on a desperate venture, we must allow our ships to go as far west as possible first!"
"Hmm... alright!..."
"Huh? Adventure?..."
White Bear Gawa widened his eyes watching the dispute between the two longship ’Chieftains’ but could not understand the danger, devotion, and courage hidden behind those disputes.
A moment later, Zuwaro was the first to lower his head, temporarily persuaded by Mikki. He silently looked at Mikki’s unfolded diary, recalling his own longship adventure in spring, struggling to row on the ice-floated sea, constantly searching, eventually bringing back uplifting news...
"In early March, the vanguard longships brought news of the support fleet’s itinerary, as well as Your Majesty’s latest decrees. With the Chief Divine’s blessing! Both Zuwaro and I have been promoted to Third Level Divine Revelation Priests, the Fire Drill ones. But I prefer the title ’Scholar,’ because during this long voyage, I have truly contemplated and learned a lot! I think maybe I’ll have a chance to write a nautical book of the North for Divine Power University, describing those divine-like wonders and mysterious sightings..."
"Praise the Chief Divine! Among the subsequent support fleets, several Kingdom’s Second Level Priests have joined. It seems that sailing westward for exploration has become the best path forward for civilian priests graduating from Divine Power University... I believe Your Majesty’s promotion of us to Third Level Priests is a clear affirmation, allowing the two of us to continue leading the exploration westward! Such trust and honor!... With the Chief Divine as my witness! I am willing to dedicate everything to the Chief Divine and Your Majesty, including my life!"
"As for Zuwaro, he must be thinking the same! Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left the salt-boiling task to me, and before he could handle the support fleet coming in, he set off again with a longship to explore the Northwest’s Long Island. Before last year’s freeze, he heard from the Long Island’s Slaus about a ’Tsimshian’ tribe at an archipelago’s rivermouth and never let it slip from his mind. It’s said that these skilled fishermen, the Tsimshian, share common roots with the far western northern tribes, frequently trading via kayak with the extreme north tribes, and perhaps possess news on the western island chains..."
"With the Chief Divine’s blessing! In late April, this bold fellow Zuwaro finally returned from the northwest coast! He even brought back a wife from the Tsimshian tribe, taller than him by a head!... Of course, the most important thing is, from the elders of the Tsimshian tribe, he heard clear tales that the ’sacred ancestral island chain, the ancestral giants sinking into the sea, lies far, far, far to the west!’..."
"Praise the Supreme Main God! At last, Your Majesty’s prophecy is being fulfilled! I must immediately dispatch a longship to report our intentions to Your Majesty!... This ship’s message will take at least six to seven months to reach Your Majesty’s hands. And by then, perhaps, we will already be situated within the last western island chain!"
"With the Chief Divine’s blessing! By the end of April, the second batch of Kingdom’s supporting longships finally reached Whale Harbor! Those hundreds of Kingdom’s Warriors and the neat, magnificent array of great ships once again moved me to tears, extolling the Chief Divine’s name aloud!... With the divine guidance, our westward exploration will be forcefully advanced once more! The first priority is to find the ’Juneau’ Great Gold Mine, as predicted by Your Majesty!..."
"Praise the Chief Divine! The second batch of supporting fleets also brought news from the Southern Coast. The speed of the Kingdom’s expansion in various ports truly exceeded my expectations!..."
