NOVPUB"In the King’s heart, there is an eternal Divine Tree... For the military nobility at the border, the Royal Family has summarized a strategy, that is, to control the tribute and establish checks and balances. Among these, controlling the Kingdom’s tribute is of paramount importance, the foundation for establishing balances!"
"Your Majesty, please observe the second, third, and fourth paintings!"
Xiulote moved closer to inspect. The second painting was quite artistic, at first glance resembling a simple landscape painting. At the top of the image was still a sun, at the center of which was a Divine Eagle. Below in the image, there was a mountain with trees, a lake with fish, and a valley with mines.
The third painting was easier to understand. A majestic pyramid stood in the center, surrounded by a bustling market, and beyond that, a city without walls. Countless merchants arrived from all directions, their backs laden with gold and silver, gemstones, obsidian, cloth, feathers, food, salt, spices, and shiny bronze ware. On the roads passed by the merchants, many noble advisors holding albums were inspecting and taxing the goods. Notably, on the merchants themselves, there were also emblems of the Divine Eagle.
The fourth painting abstracted once more. A burly deity emitting radiant lines of light was coiled at the center of the design. He had large round eyes, narrow and flat mouth, with an unusual red-backed chair behind him. Around the deity, various busy craftsmen were depicted. Some held stone tools, others held pottery; some made weapons, others sewed leather armor; some lit flames to craft gold and silver ornaments; others mixed two metals to forge precious bronze!
Xiulote paused, observing the deity in the fourth painting closely. The figure always gave him a strangely familiar feeling, possessing facial features akin to a toad...
"Eh, where have I seen this before... Chief, who is this deity?"
"Haha, Your Majesty must have seen him! This is the Toltec’s deity of craftsmen, master of music, dance and art, lover of flowers, plants and beauties, skilled in metallurgy, painting and craftworks, Sochipili! He is both the craftsman god of the Prepetcha, with the body of a lake frog, and simultaneously the craftsman god of the Mexica, the Prince of Flowers!"
"So it is! The Prince of Flowers, a deity common to both peoples... "
Xiulote nodded in sudden realization. He finished looking at the paintings, waiting for Jatili’s explanation.
"Your Majesty, these three paintings depict the central control of the Kingdom over national finances and tribute collection. The second painting’s meaning is that the King, like the sun, shines upon the land, owning everything upon it! Whether it’s the trees on the mountains, the turtles in the lake, or the minerals in the valley, they all belong to the Royal Family. The Divine Eagle Royal Family owns the water sources, forests, and minerals of the fief, and maintains possession of these resources with a strong legion.
Under the leadership of successive kings, the Royal Family selects valuable industries to deploy large manpower for development, just like the salt springs in the East, the copper and gold and silver mines in the South, and the Stone of the Dead in the West. As for other resources, the rights to exploit and utilize them are granted, for a fee, to local nobility and merchant groups."
"Your Majesty, through the development of these resources, the Kingdom can obtain long-term and stable additional tribute beyond field taxation, to support more loyal Royal Warriors!"
"Excellent! The treasures of mountains and lakes, the industries of forests and marshes, all belong to the state, transforming into the power of governance!"
Xiulote smiled, these measures coinciding with his own plans. Since the Prepetcha people have such traditions, the ’official mountains and seas’ fief policy will be even easier to implement.
"Please continue, Chief!"
"Your Majesty, the fourth painting depicts the Kingdom’s control over trade. The city of Ihuatzio in the South is the economic center of the Kingdom, as well as a necessary passage for merchants from all directions. Your Majesty may recall, as previously mentioned, the Kingdom has set up specific Trade Tax Officers to take a proportion of the goods in transit and to tax large transactions.
The Kingdom stations troops to patrol the strategic locations along the shoreline of the Lake Region, strictly cracking down on private trade and protecting the taxed merchants, limiting local nobility’s interference in commerce. Moreover, for the profitable foreign trades, the Royal Family actually forms specialized merchant fleets."
The wise elder paused, placing his hand on the merchant with the Divine Eagle emblem.
"Copper merchants from all over the world generally have the backing of the Tarasco Royal Family. They also simultaneously serve the function of gathering intelligence. Before the western conquest, the Tarasco merchants in Tenochtitlan had sent back warnings, advising King Su’angua to be wary of the new king’s coronation war of the Mexica Alliance. However, afterward, they lost contact. It was said that for committing the unforgivable crimes of rising above their station, wearing jade, and offending the gods, they were publicly executed by the Mexica people!"
Upon hearing this, Xiulote was slightly startled, and memories surfaced.
He recalled his meeting with the Mayan merchant Tikalo. At that time, to develop stable copper trade routes, control the military supplies within the Alliance, and to intimidate the Mayan merchants, he had ordered the Monkey Kuluka to deal with the Tarasco merchants... The young king merely thought for a moment, then focused on a more practical issue.
"After the fall of the Tarasco Kingdom, where did these royal-controlled merchants go?"
"Your Majesty, although the merchants possess wealth, they are merely beautiful birds bred by the Divine Eagle. Without the protection of the Divine Eagle, what fate could beautiful birds have in front of predators? If they were wise enough to abandon most of their wealth, they might escape the claws of the greedy nobility of various countries. If they were not wise enough..."
