Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

Chapter 2117 - 1546: Western Sea Trade, the Black Hole of Gold and Silver (Part 3)

"Ah! Teacher Chimere, we don’t know the specifics about the Japanese very well yet. But it seems that it’s indeed happening!"Chimere and Miki exchanged a glance, both showing a thoughtful expression. They carefully asked about many details regarding the Japanese and the specifics of the gold trade. Then, Loshanda finally spoke of the Kingdom’s third official outpost in the Western Sea Continent, the largest port, Divine Kutadai Port.

"Witness the Chief Divine! Divine Kutadai Port has gathered over two thousand tribespeople from various tribes, with a full contingent of six to seven hundred warriors! Among them, there are about two hundred Kingdom’s Warriors, over a hundred Mountain Part Lu Bu archers, more than a hundred Jurchen warriors and cavalry, and two hundred Japanese defectors... And when the thousand-plus tribes from the northern Mountain Part and over three hundred strong men migrate south this year, the West Sea Warriors of the Kingdom capable of battle could even reach a thousand! These are all battle-ready warriors, fully equipped with armor and iron weapons obtained from the golden trade..."

"Are you saying that this newly established Divine Kutadai Port of the Kingdom will soon have three to four thousand tribespeople, a thousand warriors?"

"Indeed, Teacher Chimere!"

"Chief Divine! So many tribes... Does this port produce enough food?"

"Hmm, the potato fields and fishing/hunting can probably meet more than half of the food consumption... As for the remaining half and even the food given to the Maha tribe in the Forest Sea, all of it has to come from the golden trade with the Japanese! Before I left, Divine Kutadai Port was hastily opening up potato fields and planting easy-growing turnips, hoping to produce more food supplies..."

Chimere listened patiently, with eyes flickering, and roughly understood the importance of the Japanese ’golden trade’ for maintaining the Western Sea outpost. And without a doubt, the lifeline of Zuwaro’s expansion and development was precisely the "gold" transported from here!

"Blessings of the Chief Divine! How much gold is left in the West Sea camp?"

"For the first sailing of the Zuwaro High Priest, two thousand jin of gold were taken. During my second support mission, I transported another two thousand jin. Several times of golden trade with the Japanese, along with gifts from Zuwaro High Priest, and the golden tree enemy luring tactic... about fifteen hundred jin were spent? If we wait for the ’Prince Bloodline’ and ’Honorable title’ and ’Gunpowder’ trade with the Japanese to complete, another thousand jin will be spent..."

Loshanda calculated carefully and realized that over a ton of gold had already been spent. Of course, compared to the ships, craftsmen, livestock, and resources acquired by the Kingdom, this consumption is virtually insignificant. But one ton or more of gold flowing into Japan, no one knows what will happen, or where it will eventually end up...

"Witness the Chief Divine! Divine Kutadai Port’s camp should still have fifteen hundred jin of gold left! And this gold can probably support three or four more times of golden trade? Previously, the Great Merchant who traded with us left Japan, so the trading scale in the past two years might decrease..."

"Loshanda, the golden trade with the Japanese must not stop; the more craftsmen, livestock, and resources we can get in exchange, the better! As for the gold... when you head west for support in a few days, pack another two thousand jin of gold! Bring it to the Zuwaro High Priest and several Head Warriors, and let them trade freely... Come next spring and summer, you should bring more craftsmen and livestock back!"

Chimere lightly stomped his foot, nine tons of gold remained firm under the earth like Taishan. Yet, given the pace of spending eight hundred jin per year and accelerating, nine tons of gold will likely only support the West Sea trade for a dozen years.

In fact, the gold reserves of the Kingdom of the Lake are far from matching the Mexica Alliance. The mining costs of the West Coast Gold Mountain and Alaska Gold Mine are slightly higher, requiring some technical expertise. However, the Kingdom is rich in copper mines, with large silver production accompanying copper, which is frequently used to build statues and decorations.

Most critically, Qingqiu Jiedu, Poet Balamo has already controlled half of the Zacatecas Desert, controlling the "prophesied" vast "tens of thousands of tons" of open-pit silver mountain ore belt, notably the future "hundred thousand ton" scale Fresnillo large silver mine!

During the entire three hundred years of colonial times, the Spaniards extracted a total of a hundred thousand tons of silver in Mexico, producing over three hundred tons annually, with more than half transported to the East, flowing into the silver black holes of the Ming and Great Qing. And based on the Kingdom’s current manpower and mining technology on the desert, it is estimated that four to five tons, over ten thousand jin of silver per year, can still be easily extracted.

Of course, this requires food supply from the rear at Lake River Entrance County to support mining in Qingqiu County on the desert by Balamo. Then, transport the silver to Lerma River to load onto ships, and sail all the way west to the mouth of Lerma River, then exit from the Great Lake County of the Monkey, to load onto the Ocean Shielding Ships of West Sea Route...