NOVPUBA group strode briskly, passing through the tall greenstone walls of the inner layer and by the bowing samurai standing guard, arriving at an exceedingly spacious open-air workshop, the center for bronze production.
Xiulote surveyed his surroundings, his eyes gleaming. This was his first time seeing a large-scale metal smelting and casting site.
The vast workshop, like a square in its breadth, had an outdoor working area at the center, surrounded by a ring of sturdy storage stone houses. Heaps of red copper materials, white tin materials, and dark charcoal piled up like mountains in the corners, with rows of copper vessels, copper farm tools, and bronze weapons laid out in arrays, emitting red, yellow, and even blue glows. At the outermost layer of the copper utensils, a bronze cannon, just over a meter long, lay silently on the ground, shimmering with a dark golden hue.
Inside the workshop, near the wall, were rows of more than a dozen clay vertical furnaces for refining copper, along with twice the number of small brick furnaces. Dim red flames burned inside the furnaces while billows of hot air rose up beside the vertical furnaces. The air was filled with the smell of copper green powder, the charred odor of burning wood, and the mixed smell of sweat.
Xiulote took a light sniff, his eyelid twitched, and his eyebrows knitted slightly. Then, his gaze lingered on the bronze cannon for a brief moment before he walked expressionlessly towards the center of the workshop.
In the center, dozens of samurai stood solemnly with spears in hand. Hundreds of coppersmiths, shirtless, kneeled on the ground in unison, their sweat already soaking the muddy earth. At the very front of the craftsmen knelt two craftsman leaders in short garments, each with a copper-trimmed leather cap on their heads.
The two craftsman leaders lay prostrate and breathless, watching a pair of deerskin boots approaching closer and closer before their eyes. Although the boots were plain in style, they walked steadily, step by step, in the center of everyone’s attention, until they stopped in front of the two men. Only then did the craftsman leaders simultaneously perform a respectful salute and raised their heads slightly, greeting loudly.
"Master craftsman of Qinchongcan, the person in charge of the Bronze Workshop, master of smelting, Chalape Tiyam (Tilipi Tiyam), pays respects to Your Revered Majesty!"
Xiulote nodded, his expression calm. His mind flashed with many distant memories, as well as the recent narratives of the learned elder.
In the Prepetcha language, "Tiyam" means metal. And the Tiyam family has been the family entrusted with metal matters through the generations. From the recently appointed chief Jatili, Xiulote gained a deep understanding of this family’s origins and development.
At the beginning of Tarasco Kingdom, the "Tiyam" Metal Family was still at the third level of the three-tier system. But with the expansion of copper trade over a hundred years and the invention of bronze technology at the beginning of this century, the significance of the Metal Family gradually increased. Eventually, during the reign of the third predecessor monarch, they were promoted to nobility of the second level in the court, directly subordinate to the Royal Family, although without a fief.
Yes, contrary to many people’s stereotypes in later generations, it was not until he arrived in this era that Xiulote was astonished to find that the civilization of Central America in the 15th century was already in the early stages of the Bronze Age, boasting a very prosperous copper trade. "Chalape" means red, Chalape Tiyam is red metal, copper in the Prepetcha language. This special name was also passed down by the leaders of the Metal Family, serving generation after generation as the kingdom’s Copper Official.
Red copper is the pure copper with a purplish-red color. Throughout the world, the Red Copper Era had lasted for hundreds of years. In the murals of the fourth era, there were scenes of the Urixiu Kingdom engaging in copper trade. The Patzcuaro Lake region of the Prepetcha people and the Oaxaca mountains of the Zapotecs are the two main copper production centers in the world. And the Kingdom of the Lake not only produced abundant copper mines but also possessed the most sophisticated bronze casting technology and was the first to establish specialized copper workshops.
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, sometimes mixed with a certain proportion of lead to overcome the brittleness of bronze. The world’s tin mines are mainly located in the land of Jontal controlled by the Mexica Alliance, along the banks of the Tarsas River, in the Teysiscatlapan state. That place is not far from the land of the lake.
Bronze technology first appeared in the Tarasco Kingdom and was continuously used in weapon forging. At the Qinchongcan site of later generations, a large number of bronze axes and spearheads were found. As the wars continued, bronze technology was gradually spreading to the surrounding nations; recently, the Mexica Alliance has been able to cast bronze weapons. However, the best copper-tin mixing ratio is still considered secret, firmly held in the hands of the Divine Eagle Royal Family.
In the local language, "Tilipi" means gold, Tilipi Tiyam is gold metal, referring to bronze here. This inherited title, which means bronze forger, appeared only a few decades ago and also represents the formal maturity of the Tarasco Kingdom’s bronze technology. And the current Tilipi is the third to bear this title.
Thinking this, the King slightly gathered his thoughts and examined the two men before him carefully.
Smelting and casting bronze is a job that requires both physical strength and skill. The two craftsman leaders, brothers to each other, were both in their strong forties. The elder brother Chalape on the left had a smile in his eyes, slightly older. He was adept at smelting, a senior Copper Official often dealing with the Royal Family and the Nobility, making him a technical bureaucrat. At that moment, Chalape’s demeanor was respectful yet natural, his face slightly plump, with a smooth smile on his cheeks.
"Chalape, the learned elder has mentioned you to me. I hear that after your conversion, you pray day and night, devoutly believing in the Chief Divine, willing to dedicate the rest of your life to the divine?"
