Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1604 - 1141: Columbus’s Astonishing Discovery—Glass Beads from “Japan”…

"October 12, Friday. Under the Almighty's guidance and blessing, the distinguished, wise, brave, and resolute Expedition Commander, along with three Kingdom ships, discovered and declared possession of San Salvador Island... We found a tribal village on the island and made our first contact and trade with the tribespeople on the island..."

"The tribes on these islands are very friendly, with very gentle temperaments. Seeing our large ship, they're not afraid or intimidated; instead, they come to greet us with food and water, praying, welcoming, and singing on the shore... They are all tall, under thirty years old, well-proportioned, and quite good-looking. They seem very impoverished, without any clothes, as if newly born, even the women are the same... Their skin is neither dark nor white, similar to the yellow-skinned natives on the Canary Islands. However, the latitude here is indeed not very different from the Canary Islands, so it is understandable..."

"The Almighty bears witness! The tribes here are not only peaceful and friendly, kind and enthusiastic, but also very intelligent! Although we don't speak the same language, they easily understand our meaning. They gesture and sing to express welcome to us and bring out their gifts to exchange with our items... For us, just taking out some colorful small glass beads, small iron bells, red sailor hats, or even broken pottery shards... They become ecstatic and almost bring everything to us, letting us choose at will!..."

"They have plenty of food, several types of fruits never seen before, and brightly feathered parrots, along with some cotton thread balls of different sizes... On the first day of trading, we did not see gold, silver, or any porcelain or silk... It's possible these are primitive islanders out at sea from India or Japan who have never contacted the outside world... But the Almighty blesses us! These islanders appear to have no religious sects and do not have the fierce habits of desert barbarians or nomadic herdsmen, let alone should they easily convert to Christianity!..."

The night is vast, with three sea ships anchored by the coastline, distant village bonfire glows orange, close by is the torch set up on the ship's rail. The faint light flickers dimly in the night wind, stretching gloomily all the way until in the dark captain's room it becomes a small oil lamp.

At this moment, the fleet's Commander Columbus is bent over the captain's desk, a quill dipped in ink, furiously writing in his diary. He is a truly proper person, and the contents of this diary are rightful and destined to be passed down to future generations, letting posterity revere and behold…

"The merciful Almighty bless! The tribes on these islands do not have swords, nor do they know what a sword is! When we showed them the iron blades, they ignorantly held the edges with their hands, causing bleeding and injury... Clearly, their villages have no ironware, only woodware and stoneware. And the only thing that can be called a weapon is a stick bound to fish teeth or flint at the tip!..."

"The Almighty bears witness! Such peaceful tribes, without armor, without weapons, pose almost no threat to our exploration fleet! In reality, they are so weak and unskilled in fighting that they could be easily conquered by the Kingdom of Castile! We only need twenty people to conquer the entire island and freely command the island's hundreds of tribes..."

At this writing, Columbus pondered slightly, looking to the other side of the desk. There, lay three items acquired from the islanders: a palm-sized ball of cotton thread, a small finger-length gold ornament, and a shining, colorful large glass bead.

Columbus's eyes showed intense greed, gazing past the two valuable items until the last colorful glass bead, when he suddenly furrowed his brow and fell into contemplation. After a while, he picked up the pen again, writing the second day's record.

"October 13, Saturday. This is our second day of contact with the islanders, with more islanders paddling canoes coming from various parts of the island. Their canoe is quite simple, carved into boat shapes from a whole log. And the size of the canoe depends on the size of the tree dug out, able to carry a few to dozens of people... Undoubtedly, they lack the technology to build ships and cannot use iron tools. Such canoes are no more than cats beside lions compared to our ships, merely amusing to look at..."

"Certainly! These islanders also brought new trade goods on their canoes. The Almighty bears witness that it's quite delightful they brought many valuable cotton thread balls, though not yet woven into fabric. These island tribes evidently produce a lot of cotton, identical to the rumored Indians!… And they are unaware of the true value of the goods..."

"Praise the Almighty! On the largest canoe, a chieftain brought a full two hundred pounds of cotton thread balls, yet exchanged with us only for a handful of shiny copper coins, about thirty or forty at most. And these cotton threads are of high quality, if transported back to the port of Seville and woven into fine cloth, they could be worth more than twenty Ducat Gold Coins, totaling over ten thousand Maravedi coins!… The Almighty bless! According to the exploration agreement, these ought to be my possessions, at least a quarter of them are mine!..."

Thinking of this hundredfold profit, Columbus couldn't help swallowing, sincerely thanking the Almighty. Then, he picked up that small finger-length gold item, weighing its heavy amount while greedily biting twice, feeling the gold's soft, flavorless texture… like the most alluring bosom of an Apennine beauty!...

"Praise the Almighty! These islands' tribes likewise do not know the sanctity and value of gold!… Some older men have gold ornaments hanging from their nostrils or necks… and we merely used a few multicolored glass beads to exchange nearly half a pound of gold from them! They were overjoyed, singing and dancing around us, even happily stringing the glass beads with cotton threads, wearing them around their necks as if wearing some precious gemstone..."

"According to the gestures, we understood from the local tribes that in the Northwest, Southwest, and the South of these islands, there is more land and islands. And in the Southwest and South, there is a very long land, seeming very much like a Great Island! And the tribes on the Great Island have a lot of such gold... As for the Northwest tribes, according to the islanders, they seem quite ferocious and would paddle many small boats to raid and capture people... So I decided to avoid the Northwest barbarians and lead the fleet Southwest to find the Southern Great Island producing gold!"

"Actually, we acquired more clues! That is from exchanging with the islanders, a very vivid colorful large glass bead! This colorful glass bead is as large as a pigeon egg, supposedly traded from the Southern Great Island... Obviously, on the Southern Great Island, there is a tribe able to fire glass beads... And according to my wise prediction, there is a good chance this area is around Cipangu, probably not yet to Seris..."

At this point, Columbus slightly furrowed his brow again, taking up that large glass bead in his hand, examining it closely for a while. This bead's color is evenly fired, translucent bright green, even somewhat resembling a gemstone..."

"Guidance from the Almighty! A cultured tribe that fires glass beads, a Great Island abundant in gold... Could this be the Japan Kingdom on the Great Island?… But didn't Marco Polo say, West Pan Gu Japan is north of India, east of Khitan? How could it be south of the Indian Islands?... Well, tomorrow sets out southward, personally going to see the Southern Great Island! If that place is truly Japan, then I am the envoy sent by the Kingdom of Castile for trade! There's also the Queen's national book on this ship… If I can obtain a batch of gold, porcelain, or silk, then it truly becomes prosperous!"

Columbus's lips curled up just as he's imagining the beauty of wealth when suddenly he's startled by the "bang, bang" knocks on the door. He promptly puts away the nautical log book, hand clasped on the rapier's hilt, asking in a deep voice.

"So late, who is it?!"

"Boss! It's me, Navigator Pedro! The latitude you asked me to measure..."

"Hmm, come in!"...

Navigator Pedro carefully stepped into the captain's cabin, wearing the senior sailor's hat. Seeing that it was indeed his close ally, Pedro, Columbus slightly relaxed but still kept his hand on the sword hilt.

"How is it?"

"Almighty bless! Boss, I measured it three times, it should be around 24 degrees north latitude here. The weather is clear, not many clouds. The wind direction is from northeast to southwest, mild to moderate wind... As for the longitude, it needs to estimate the entire westward voyage..."

"Hmm... 24 degrees north latitude, few clouds, light wind. Longitude... According to my calculated radius of the earth and the fleet's course, it's approximately 100-110 degrees west longitude, which is around the West Pan Gu Japan and Indian Islands area... Further west is the northern Khitan and the southern Seris!"...

Columbus released the sword hilt, picked up the feather pen, and "swish swish" noted down the latitude and longitude and sea conditions on the semi-open nautical records. But due to his calculated earth radius being too small, the calculated longitude was clearly more than the actual.

It is worth mentioning that in this era, in the eyes of European scholars, Khitan and Seris are often considered two large northern and southern countries. The northern Khitan flowed with milk and honey, while the southern Seris was everywhere with silk and porcelain. And the map's India, was not a whole subcontinent, but rather a peninsula with islands terrain...

"Woo woo! Ah! Ah woo!"...

The corners of Columbus's mouth curled, marking on the sea chart, but faintly heard the cries of a woman. He hesitated, listened again, then tightly furrowed his brow and asked sharply.

"Pedro, did you hear, a woman's crying?"...

"Uh... Boss, I heard it..."

"Vaffanculo! What's happening? Who brought a woman aboard?!... According to maritime rules, there's absolutely no allowance for women on board! This is an offense to the captain!"...

Columbus suddenly stood up, a fierce glare in his eyes. He looked harshly at Pedro, then realized something.

"Pedro! Do you know who? Tell me, no lies!"...

"Uh!... Boss, at first it was... it was Sailor Chief Qia Chu... and your Captain of the Guard, Alana. As for now, the involved sailors, it's hard to say exactly..."

"Verdammt! Qia Chu, that fool with sheep intestines in his head! And Alana, the idiot whose head was hit by a bull!"...

Hearing this, Columbus's anger surged, cursing loudly twice, then he sternly ordered.

"Pedro, I trust you... Go call Alana for me!"...

"Yes! Boss!"...