Eighty. 8. Cortez's "Western Observations" (II)

“…… November 8, 1519. Early this morning, we finally arrived at the capital of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan.

It's an island city in the middle of Lake Texcoco, and if you want to get to the city from the shore, you either have to take a boat or take one of the three causeways that connect the island to the lakeshore. The width of the causeway is enough for eight horses to walk side by side, and there is a horizontal canal at certain distances on the embankment, and a wooden suspension bridge is erected over the canal, which can be retracted at any time like a suspension bridge on a moat, to prevent foreign invasion. Next to the causeway is an alabaster canal that supplies the city of Tenochtitlan with clean fresh water, much like the remnants of the Roman Empire I saw in Italy.

Although the causeway was quite wide, it was crowded with people and it was difficult to find a place to stay, and thousands of merchants, monks, nobles and commoners used the causeway to travel between the capital and the suburbs. Whether it is the honor guard of the Chinese, or our soldiers, they can only navigate through the crowd with difficulty.

Commerce was thriving, but like the rest of Mexico, the Aztecs had no vehicles or livestock to spare. They carried their goods either on rafts and canoes, or on their shoulders, and at most they dragged them on the ground with ropes, but it never occurred to them to invent a wheel.

Although the Chinese have some trolleys, they also have no horses to travel. When I asked about this, the Chinese replied that they had originally prepared horses and donkeys, but they had been plagued by the plague during the voyage and all died, so now they had to let the natives carry palanquins for them.

However, the Chinese trolley is actually made of steel as a whole, which is really extravagant!

You know, in the countryside of the Iberian Peninsula, even an iron ploughshare is a valuable asset to a farmer...... It seems that in addition to spices, tea, silk and porcelain, we can also do iron business with the Chinese.

By the time we reached the end of the causeway, the nobles of Tenochtitlan had been waiting in two lines on the side of the road. In the middle of the road is a magnificent palanquin encrusted with precious stones, on which the Emperor of Montezuma sits and welcomes us.

Montezuma, which means "one who speaks" in the local language. The emperor was a slender and well-proportioned old man with long hair with a sparse beard and shawl. He wears a crown decorated with many colorful feathers that looks like an open folding fan, and a pair of jade earrings that symbolize high status. He had a surprisingly expressive face, and seemed benevolent, dignified, and dignified at every turn.

Montezuma first gave each Chinese official a gold necklace and gave me a jewel necklace, and then chattered about it. I had to stand there smiling because I didn't understand it at all, and Marina said she couldn't translate it, because Montezuma used a lot of obscure words that only a learned priest could understand. When Montezuma finished speaking, Chinese took out another stack of paper and replied with even more nagging, but I still didn't understand it at all, so I could only continue to stand there and giggle......

The Chinese speech is very strange, and the tone is always undulating, as if there is an indescribable magic that can urge you to fall asleep.

Anyway, by the time they finished speaking, I was so dazed that I was about to fall asleep on my feet.

By the way, because the Chinese speak so long, Montezuma seems to really fall asleep sitting on the palanquin, and I can faintly hear snoring.

Next, we entered the city and saw many magnificent pyramids, temples, magnificent palaces and well-groomed houses. The facades of the buildings are mostly plastered and sparkle like silver in the sun. …,

According to my estimates, the city is inhabited by 200,000 to 300,000 people, with tens of thousands of houses, most of which are built directly on the water. The houses are connected by a single wooden beam, which is as strong as a fortress. The city is very much like Venice, with canals and boats dotted with grain, cloth, crafts and other goods, as well as a constant stream of travelers. Others planted flowers and fruits on rafts, decorating the city of Tenochtitlan like a large garden.

What interests us the most is the city's big bazaar. A few streets away from the market, we were intimidated by the hustle and bustle of the crowd. The market was full of goods, and at the food stalls, we saw not only baskets of corn, vegetables and fruits, but also all kinds of birds and animals, including fish, turkeys, rabbits, deer and castrated dogs. This dog does not bark. Fat as a suckling pig. Locals also enjoy eating many kinds of insects with hot sauce.

At other stalls, I saw furs, pottery, obsidian tools, necklaces made of honey, beeswax and shells, and cloth spun from agave and cotton, decorated with colourful feathers. Silk and matches were occasionally seen, but much more expensive than those sold by the Chinese, apparently purchased from them, while steel knives and axes were completely missing, and seemed to have been collected by buyers.

In addition, I saw some clothing and ornaments that were clearly European, and even leather armor and helmets that resembled those used by ancient Roman legions, and bloomers worn by Arabs, and they were extremely gorgeous in color, more dazzling than I had seen before. I was surprised that these items were not supposed to be here, and I learned that they were also resold from Chinese......

For this reason, the impression of this group of Chinese in my mind has become more mysterious.

In short, the bazaar is indeed commendable, and some of us have been to Constantinople and Rome, and traveled all of Italy, but we all say that we have never seen such a prosperous bazaar: so large, so well managed, so many people, so rich in goods.

While I marveled at the prosperity and splendor of the city of Tenochtitlan, the white-haired Chinese royal ceremonial officer told me disapprovingly that the city was about the size of his homeland, and that the population was probably smaller, because the Aztecs had built their houses too thinly. And there are four or five markets of this scale in front of him on the outskirts of his hometown (the urban-rural junction). When I asked him if his hometown was the capital of the Chinese emperor, he said it was just an ordinary small seaport city, not even the capital of any province.

O gods! This small city is already bigger than Constantinople! What kind of magical country do the Chinese live in?

Alas, back to the point, the same Indians, apparently will also vary greatly in the level of civilization. The Aztecs who lived here built a prosperous city that was richer and larger than the kingdom's capital, Seville. And the Indians I saw on the island of Cuba didn't even have walls, they didn't even wear clothes, and they didn't even have decent streets in their settlements!

However, when I saw the Great Temple in the middle of the city, all the good impressions I had of the city were shattered in an instant.

The opulence and luxury of the Aztecs are indeed dazzling, but their gore and horror are also creepy. In the temple square in the center of the city, the heads of many people were stacked very neatly, at least tens of thousands. Similarly, in the other corner of this square, many scattered bones can be seen, and it is almost impossible to count how many people there are. In addition to this, we see many heads hanging from the pillars on either side. Some of them were rotten and stinking, surrounded by buzzing flies; The other part was fresh, still dripping with blood. …,

We can see similar horrific scenes in any neighborhood of the city...... I have seen with my own eyes some seemingly very kind citizens, killing people and sacrificing gods as if nothing happened, enshrined human hearts in shrines, painted walls with human blood, and boiled human flesh...... Oh, Lord! It's not some fascinating place to behold, but a city worse than hell that only the flames of heaven can purify it!

In the evening we were accommodated in a stone palace near the temple square, a massive, real palace with many courtyards and marvelous buildings; All the halls are decorated with fine wallpaper. It's a pity that you can see those rotting corpses when you open the door, it's really unlucky! ”

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“…… On November 11, 1519, after a few days of boredom in that palace, and apparently because of the success of our negotiations with the kingdom of Hungshutizgan, the Emperor of Montezuma invited us to a banquet with the Chinese this afternoon.

Illuminated by fragrant torches made of smokeless wood, the vast ballroom lit up with us and many other Aztec chieftains sitting behind ornate screens. The table is covered with snow-white tablecloths and napkins, and small plates are lined with sugar, refined salt, honey, and chili sauce, which is indispensable for Mexican meals. There are at least 300 kinds of dishes on the stove, including fish, dogs, rabbits, turkeys, partridges, and quails, as well as many birds and vegetables endemic to the region.

I was relieved to hear that the Aztec chieftains sometimes invited their guests to eat human flesh, but that didn't happen at the banquet.

The scene of the banquet was very luxurious, the atmosphere was very joyful, and there were many beautiful girls dancing and singing and dancing all the time, cheering everyone up. Emperor Montezuma himself seemed cheerful and excited, but he did not have a good appetite, and after washing his hands in a golden basin, he ate only a few tortillas and a bitter drink in a golden cup, and then continued to smoke through his pipe.

This brown bitter drink drunk by the Emperor Montezuma, although quite fragrant, but very astringent, the Chinese call it 'hot cocoa', and must be mixed with a lot of sugar or honey before drinking, it is said to have a refreshing effect similar to tea. There is also a magical mushroom that is eaten with honey, which is said to cause hallucinations and arouse strong desires. After listening to Marina's explanation, I didn't dare to try it for fear of losing my temper in public. But Avarado and the other commanders chewed on a lot of these magic mushrooms nonchalantly.

Towards the end of the feast, Emperor Montezuma read out a peace treaty signed with Duke Wendesi, which roughly meant accepting the mediation of Chinese officials, and from then on making peace with the kingdom of Hungsiutizgan; Recognize the land south of the Valley of Mexico as the property of the kingdom of Hun Hutizgan, and no longer levy taxes thereon; The Honshuitizgans came to the Valley of Mexico and were treated in the same way as the Aztecs; The people of Honshutizgan were allowed to build trading posts in the city of Tenochtitlan to sell and purchase all kinds of goods, but not in the urban area of the island, but only on the shore of the lake at the other end of the causeway...... and so on more than 20 articles, because the terms are too lengthy, I haven't figured out a lot of content, so I won't record it in detail here.

Hearing that the people of Honshutizgan had made peace with the Aztec Empire without authorization, and had reaped a lot of benefits, the nobles of Tlaxcala who had come with me were very indignant, believing that they had betrayed their covenant with them, forgotten their old hatred, and had become shameful traitors.

But the Duke of Wende soon came to them and told them that the people of Honshutizgan had not forgotten their old friends, and that he would soon visit the Tlaxcala League to explain the matter and bring back to their homeland the people who had been forced into exile to seek refuge in the Tlaxcala League when they had been defeated by the Aztec Empire.

The Tlaxcalans reluctantly agreed, saying that they would send someone to inform their chief.

Just like two months ago when I negotiated an alliance with the Tlaxcalas. In accordance with local peace customs, an Aztec princess was married off for a political marriage, in addition to a lot of money as a dowry. But the target was not Duke Wendesi, but a young Chinese official. The shy young man seemed a little overwhelmed, and was stunned for a long time before he blushed and thanked Emperor Montezuma.

So, after the banquet, he was sent directly to the princess's dormitory, and the rest of the Chinese followed for some reason.

At the end of the feast, there were still a lot of aphrodisiac magic mushrooms left, so I took them all and planned to try them on Marina. ”

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