Aztec Eternals

"Eckart, order a refreshing smoke, no messy herbs. Grab some vanilla snacks and make a cup of herbal cocoa tea!"

"Yes, Patriarch!"

The bright moon hangs high, and the king's tent is fortified. Shulot held the letter paper, turned his head, and gave instructions to the chief guard who was on guard with the axe. Then, he closed his eyes, rubbed his eyebrows, and waited patiently.

Soon, the curling smell of tobacco rose from the purple pottery stove and diffused in the large airy tent. These whole tobaccos, from the city-states of the Mayans, are of high quality. When burning, the surface of the air-dried tobacco leaves will ooze a light oil, which makes the tobacco smell extra mellow.

Xiulot took a deep breath, felt the fragrance of flowers in the smoke, and the faint sweetness, and immediately lifted his spirits. He has served as a senior priest for many years, and he often holds celebration ceremonies. He also has some intuitive experience and feelings about the quality of the magic smoke.

"Well, it should be Tabasco's tobacco. After simple fermentation, it has less astringency and bitterness. Oh! It has some almond and raisin flavors, that is, it has been precipitated for several years, and it is very ripe. There are some floral scents!"

Shulot closed his eyes and took a mouthful of rich smoke. He held his breath, savored it for a while, and then exhaled the smoke again. The smell of this kind of tobacco is completely different from that of the cut tobacco of later generations. It is difficult to describe Schlott, but from an intuitive point of view, it may be more like the cigars he has heard of, which are burned in boxes here.

After a moment of relaxation, Xiulot's sleepy brain finally became active. Eckart also returned with a plate of vanilla snacks and a pot of herbal cocoa tea.

This plate of vanilla snacks was specially ordered by Xiulot to invent the chef in order to improve his life. That's aged vanilla pods being pounded and ground to make real vanilla powder. Add vanilla powder to honey, cornmeal, and turkey eggs, ferment and bake.

Simply put, "Vanilla Honey Cornmeal Cake". After adding expensive vanilla powder, it became a precious snack unique to America in this era. And the taste of natural vanilla powder, taste it.

"Very good! The natural tulip has an endless aftertaste, it is not at all synthetic vanillin, it can be compared!"

Xiulot nodded in satisfaction and ate two pieces of vanilla cake. However, vanilla vanilla, although delicious, is rarely produced. Even in its native Mexico, vanilla is still expensive. The natural pollination probability of its plants is usually only one in ten, and it needs bees unique to Central America to pollinate.

Therefore, in history, it was not until 1841 that Edmund, a slave from Reunion Island, discovered the method of artificial pollination of vanilla. Since then, through artificial pollination, vanilla can finally reproduce normally outside of Mexico, and the yield has greatly increased. In the decades since then, vanilla has gradually moved from a royal tribute worth more than gold to ordinary nobles and big businessmen. As for ordinary people eating it, they have to wait another hundred years.

"Well, even if it is to eat more vanilla cakes, we must teach the alliance the method of artificial pollination, so as to increase the bean-setting rate of vanilla by several times! Of course, this method should be advanced to Avit, who has the most Chinanpa the king, and the high priesthood of the capital."

Shulot pondered for a while, and wrote down the matter. Then, he picked up a cup of lukewarm herbal cocoa tea, took a few big sips, and felt instantly refreshed.

Alliance's green herbal tea, although it has a strange name, is a drink that many people in later generations have tasted. That is the "sarsaparilla" made from Mexican sarsaparilla. This is the first medicinal drink created by Native Americans. It is mainly used to relieve fever in summer, and can also be used to treat colds, rheumatism, gout and reduce fever.

Indigenous people in Brazil will be more serious. They infuse herbal tea with zesty cacao (guarana) for a refreshing drink. As for Xiulot, he is more used to adding a little cocoa to herbal tea to refresh his mind.

"Cigar smoke, vanilla snacks, green cocoa tea, this is the luxurious life of the nobles in Mexico!"

Shulot laughed at himself. Then, he finally picked up Talea's letter again, concentrating on drawing pictures and recording, while thinking about new gunpowder improvements.

"My Highness. After obtaining the earth nitrate, sulfur and charcoal, the craftsmen need to weigh the ratio. According to my experiments over the past few years, the explosion of pottery terrestris is most stable when it is about 5:1:1. The most powerful. This ratio is easier to deploy than the 15:2:3 you calculated. Of course, if you want to burn poisonous smoke, you can increase the ratio of sulfur. And the gunpowder arrows that set fire don’t need so much soil nitrate .”

Seeing this ratio, Shulot pondered for a moment, then nodded with satisfaction. The alliance's sulfur purification technology is limited, so add more. He secretly gave Talea a thumbs up, and couldn't wait to read on.

". After the preparation is completed, the three ingredients must be fully mixed, put into the earthenware mortar, and slowly ground with the earthenware pestle. From here, the craftsmen must be careful not to have any kindling. And when the gunpowder is completely ground After it is powdered, it must be sealed in a large clay pot according to your instructions, and the seal should be wrapped with a circle of rubber."

".Since the Eastern Expedition, the Kingdom's gunpowder transportation has to be carried by water, and it has also experienced precipitation in the rainy season. Once the gunpowder is soaked in water in the open air, it will lose its power. You reminded me of the reason. This is because soil salt dissolves in water. , the result of being carried away by water."

"Last year was very wet during the rainy season. Some of the gunpowder in the pots were not properly sealed and got damp during transportation. After the craftsmen found out, they shipped them back to the kingdom. However, the gunpowder in this batch of pots was not seriously damp. The soil nitrate was not carried away by the rain.”

"At the end of last autumn, when the rainy season was over, I and the craftsmen scattered the gunpowder in clay boxes and dried them carefully. After drying, some powdered gunpowder formed into small balls. I used these gunpowder to pack some pottery terrestris, and I wanted to test whether it could still work. As a result, an accident happened! The power of the gunpowder was surprisingly large, and the broken pottery fragments even shot through the blocking cloth bag and cut me cheek."

"What?!"

Seeing this, Xiulot suddenly stood up. He thought of Talea's beautiful face, and his heart tightened. After a while, he took a deep breath and continued to read.

"My lord, my Sun God. I have lived up to your expectations. I have finally discovered a way to improve gunpowder!"

However, Talea's letter did not mention the injury much. Her handwriting is very light, with an upturned tail, and the excitement almost overflows from the paper.

"Your Highness! As long as you add a little water and dry it into small balls, the power of the gunpowder will be doubled! I will never lie to you, it will really double, or even more!!"

"I couldn't believe it at the beginning, and I did many experiments. The power is so powerful, and I almost hurt myself. I added water to the gunpowder and mixed it slowly. As long as the gunpowder showed the texture of thick clay, it was considered to be mixed. ! The ratio of adding water is about 1 part to 20 parts, to 1 part to 10 parts!"

"After the water is added, the gunpowder will stick to a medicine ball. At this time, use a pottery sieve to divide the gunpowder ball into many small parts, into many small particles. Finally, put them on straw paper to dry. Their shape, It will maintain the appearance of small particles, and their power will be like the thunder in the hands of the main god! My sun god, I will kneel on the ground and dedicate the thunder to you."

After reading this, Shulot tightened his lips. His expression changed, he was worried, happy, moved, and suddenly realized.

"That's it! Add water, dry it, and form granules. This is granulation of black powder! This is an improvement that really changes the quality of gunpowder. It is a secret recipe that only appeared on the European battlefield at the beginning of this century!"

".After the black powder is granulated, it will maintain a uniform gap, fully maintain the inflow of oxygen, and facilitate the spread of the flame and the combustion of the gunpowder! In other words, this will greatly improve the combustion efficiency of the gunpowder, and will not be like powdered gunpowder. The same, cannot burn completely. And the doubling of the combustion efficiency means the doubling of the power of the gunpowder!"

"From now on, the firing of the Kingdom's artillery will be stabilized, no need for superb gunpowder loading skills. After granulation, the gunpowder will not be divided into sulfur powder, charcoal powder and saltpeter powder due to the bumpy long-distance transportation. layer, one of the technical bases of the heavy arquebus without needing to be remixed before the war, and here it is!"

In the curling smoke, Xiu Luote wrote vigorously, writing down the thoughts in his mind one by one. After a while, he had only one last thought left. He raised his pen, but he couldn't put it down.

"Talaia, my loyal person. How should I reward you for your efforts and contributions over the years?"

The smoke slowly burned out, rising from the top of the big tent, and drifting towards the bright moon. The king lowered his eyes and put down the pen and paper. A full moon shone on his heart, flickering for a long time before falling into the depths of the heart lake, hidden in the dust and smoke.