Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1461 - 1014: Scholar’s Maritime Journal—Juneau Great Gold Mine, Golden Mountains and Streams!
"Praise the Chief Divine! The Haida mainly reside on Haida Gwaii opposite the Tsimshian coast and on scattered islands to the north, with an estimated several tens of thousands population across over a hundred tribes. In the Haida language, ’Haida’ means ’Sea Bear People of the Ancient Islands’... They are excellent fishermen and sailors, and among the northern tribes, they are one of the few skilled in craftsmanship! It is said that on Haida Gwaii, the strongest tribe of a thousand people is the Sea Bear Tribe, who worship the sea bear. Their totem pole features a humanoid sea bear, transformed from their ancestor. Unfortunately, our fleet did not go to Haida Island but set out from Eagle Island for the northern coastline of the Tlingit people’s territories..."
"Early June, at 55 degrees north latitude, we found a peninsula harbor just 300 li from Eagle Island’s coast, a great port location! This area is the confluence of the Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit territories, far from large thousand-person tribes, eliminating fishing and hunting disputes, making it suitable for the Kingdom’s initial establishment. Likewise, the fishing conditions at the port are excellent, especially for the Kingdom’s longships, as the warm ocean currents where fish gather are only one to two hundred li from the west into the open sea! On the north side of the peninsula is a fresh water lake where potatoes might be planted..."
"Around this harbor, there is a small Tsimshian tribe of Divine Eagle believers, with just over a hundred people, who are exactly our ’Jiao People Brothers’ lost for hundreds of years! We warmly welcomed the brothers’ ’return’, held over twenty weddings in three days, and had a grand conversion ceremony, merging with this brother tribe as ’one’... Subsequently, the Kingdom left a longship, sixty Kingdom Warrior sailors, and over a hundred tribespeople to establish the Kingdom’s Divine Eagle Harbor!"
"In early June, eight longships headed north from Divine Eagle Harbor, with the help of Tsimshian guides, entering the extremely complex island coastline. There were scattered islands everywhere, divided straits and seaways, and many small Tlingit tribes! This location was already at latitude 56-57 degrees north, and I had a strong premonition that the Juneau Islands gold mine foretold in Your Majesty’s Divine Revelation was not far from here! Therefore, the fleet kept looking for larger Tlingit villages and sought village elders to inquire about the tribal epics regarding the ’golden mountains and streams’..."
"The fleet visited several fishing villages but never received clear information about the gold mine, and no one had ever heard of ’Juneau’. However, the elders of the villages unanimously mentioned an ancient large tribe, the Raven Tribe! In Tlingit legend, the raven is the most intelligent Divine Bird, the creator and enlightener of the tribe. A tribe named ’Raven’ is the oldest tribe with the longest heritage! If the golden mountains and streams foretold by prophecy truly exist, then only the grandmother of the Raven Tribe is most likely to know!"
"Thus, we recruited two Tlingit guides to lead the Kingdom’s fleet to visit the northern Raven Tribe. The location of the Raven Tribe, at the ’confluence of four rivers and the coast’, was actually not far away! Upon arriving, we immediately understood why there was a long-lasting thousand-person ’Great Tribe’ here because the near coastal region was indeed abundantly rich with fish! The azure-and-green seawater was dotted with patches of seaweed and algae, with schools of fish swimming about. In the sky, flocks of birds attracted by the fish circled and sang amidst the springtime mountain ranges!"
"The Chief Divine bears witness! The Raven Tribe has over a thousand tribespeople, capable of gathering three hundred able-bodied men, making it the strongest Tlingit tribe within a few hundred li of the coast! However, this force is still far from enough compared to our eight longships and five hundred warriors... We presented some bronze axes as gifts and easily met the grandmother of the Raven Tribe, the elderly Black Raven Mother..."
"Black Raven Mother’s hair was grizzled, her eyes equally strangely pale, yet her gaze was both aged and sharp. She scrutinized me and Zuwaro, listened to our inquiries, and heard about Your Majesty’s Revelation prophecy... After a long silence, she finally spoke, her eyes turning white, her expression mysterious, and her voice hoarse, telling us: ’The golden mountains and streams are over 500 li to the north, around Wolf Island, beneath the golden mountains where the wolf totem once stood!’ As for ’Juneau’, she had never heard of it, nor was it recorded in the tribe’s epic..."
"Hmm... as Your Majesty said, his prophecy was like looking at the vast sky through the gaps of leaves, there might be inaccuracies... But without a doubt, learning of the great gold mine from the prophecy, the entire fleet’s morale was once again invigorated! With the Raven Tribe’s guides, we left the Raven Tribe the very next day. Everyone gathered strength, rowing five hundred li over three days, finally reaching around Wolf Island. It is said there were many snow wolves here and once a strong Wolf Tribe. However, several decades ago, this Great Tribe was destroyed by a terrible cold snap, leaving only a few scattered small tribes..."
"Blessed by the Chief Divine! The eight longships dispersed, thoroughly searching this coastline for three days! Finally, on the afternoon of the fourth day, truly good news arrived, we found the ’golden mountains and streams’ foretold in the Divine Revelation, the vast and gleaming Juneau gold mine!"
The moon set over the Western Sea, the darkness before dawn was at its deepest and most desolate. The stars in the black sky shone exceptionally bright. Scholar Mikki looked up, gazing at the celestial stars, suddenly experiencing a wondrous feeling, softly chanting.
"Ah, Chief Divine! The stars in the heavens correspond to the heroes on earth. Among those shining stars, perhaps there is one that corresponds to me!"
"Hmm? Are you a star of Divinity?"
Hearing this, Exploration Captain Zuwaro, with a half-smile, gazed at Scholar Mikki, whose face was full of yearning and asked in a deep voice.
"What about me?"
"Uh!... Zuwaro, among these stars, there is naturally one that corresponds to you!"
"Haha! Mikki, are you so confident?"
"Of course! Witnessed by the Chief Divine! Not to mention our exploration and opening of the northern sea route, just the reserves of the Grand Gold Mine at Jinxi Port..."
Scholar Mikki blinked and smiled in response.
"That stretch of shining golden mountains, the innumerable golden stones beneath the stream! ... No matter what, there must be at least a hundred tons of gold reserves?"
"Haha! Blessed by the Chief Divine! Your Majesty’s Divine Revelation! A hundred tons of gold, there is surely that much... maybe far more!"
Exploration Captain Zuwaro raised his head, recalling the magnificent scene of discovering the Juneau gold mine area, his eyes seemed to sparkle with golden light. He did not know that historically, the Juneau gold mine area was discovered at the end of the 19th century, sparking Alaska’s first gold rush. In just over a hundred years of mining, this open-pit gold mining area produced at least 15 million ounces, or 420 tons, of gold! This was just the recorded figure, and as for unrecorded private mining quantities, there was no way to estimate. It was an era filled with legends of getting rich overnight, attracting countless people from far and wide, unafraid of the harsh cold and death to come...
Thinking of those endless golden mountains, thinking of the astonishing wealth hidden on that island, Zuwaro couldn’t help but instinctively recite two lines of poetry.
"Ah! Golden mountains, the golden light, golden streams, golden sea! The Chief Divine’s Divine Blood scattered upon the land, transforming into gold mines on islands and earth, golden light shining everywhere!... Ah! With one shovel, I could buy a house in the Capital City!"
"Uh?!"
Scholar Mikki was about to record and upon hearing this, black lines immediately filled his mind.
"Zuwaro! What nonsense are you singing? With one shovel, you’re at most getting a dozen jin of sand gold. Although the gold content of northern sand gold is shockingly high, reaching as much as one-tenth, when refined into the Kingdom’s gold bricks, it’s only about seven or eight taels! This less than one jin of gold, where can it buy a mansion in the Qinchongcan Capital? At most, you could buy a thatched cottage outside the city! To buy a brick-and-stone mansion, you’d need at least a dozen jin of gold bricks, requiring hundreds of jin of sand gold to refine!"
"Hmm, also right! Mikki, your math really isn’t bad! Haha, then I should slightly change it!"
Exploration Captain Zuwaro grinned, slightly altering the lyrics, expressing people’s most simple expectations through the ages. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
"Ah! Guided by the Chief Divine, to find the golden gold mountain, standing on the golden gold mountain! ... Ah! With one sack, I could buy a house in the Capital City! With another sack, my son would have a house!... Ah! And my grandson too! So many big houses!"
The confident and heroic song echoed under the starry sky as if even the stars were shining with golden light. Juneau gold mine region, Blood River gold mine region, Yukon gold mine region... In this desolate and cold far north, such astounding wealth lay dormant, embodying the most honest and shining power!
And this golden power, once acquired by the Kingdom, known across the ocean, it would suffice to leverage the nation across the sea! It was like the starry sky, like bonfire flames flashing along the coast, attracting countless moths to the flame, disregardful of cost, uncaring of life and death!~
