Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1225 Epilogue Mayan Envoys Enter Beijing

"Okay, today's class ends here. There are still a few minutes left, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask them right away."

Xie Yan closed his lecture notes while the teaching assistant was packing up the experimental equipment.

Li Dunshi was very active and raised his hand and asked, "Sir, is there any rule in the order of writing molecular formulas?"

Xie Yan shook his head: "There is no rule. It was decided by scholars at a meeting. Oxygen is written last and metal elements are written first. After everyone agreed on it, it is easier to read, write and remember. If all chemists agree, this set of rules can also be reversed."

"Oh." Li Dunshi sat down.

Another student asked: "Sir, how do atoms of different elements form molecules? What rules can be followed for the change of the number of atoms?"

"This needs further research, maybe you can solve the mystery." Xie Yan certainly knew, but he couldn't explain electrons.

He didn't know how to produce cathode rays, which would have allowed the discovery of electrons.

Of course, there is no way to talk about valence or anything like that.

Even the molecular formulas of many common compounds are still being studied by scholars today, because the atomic number of each element is still unclear.

After answering two more students' questions, Xie Yan left the classroom with his teaching assistant.

It’s only mid-afternoon, quite early.

Xie Yan returned to the East City Gate in a carriage. When passing through the streets and alleys of Dongcheng District in the suburb, he found many people shouting and running towards the dock.

He asked the driver to stop and sent his followers to inquire about the situation. He learned that a fleet was returning from America and brought some foreign envoys back to Beijing.

It is difficult for ordinary foreign envoys to cause a sensation in Luoyang.

And it is said that these envoys from American foreign countries were dressed in fancy clothes.

Xie Yan parked the carriage at the only way into the city, and soon saw a group of soldiers coming with the Americans.

The American walking in front has a hat with two layers, each with a long nose mask. Behind the hat are a lot of colorful feathers, similar to the feather crown of an Indian chief.

She was not naked, she was fully clothed, and even had pants under her short leather skirt.

In his hand he held a snake-shaped scepter, and on his feet he wore wooden-soled leather sandals.

……

While Xie Yan was observing these Americans, the American envoys were also looking around curiously.

At this time, the Mayan civilization was in a brief period of revival.

Internal decay, invasions from surrounding enemies, and perhaps the impact of the Little Ice Age led to the decline of Mayan civilization during the Northern Song Dynasty. Many cities were burned and looted, and some even became ghost towns in the jungle.

For example, the famous Mayan city-state "Chichen Itza" was destroyed by the Toltec civilization, and the newly built temple was dedicated to the feathered serpent.

Thirty years ago, the enslaved Mayans launched an uprising and recaptured Chichen Itza which was occupied by foreign races.

It has a bit of the flavor of King Wu's conquest of King Zhou.

The city-state that led the uprising was called "Mayapan", and its leader was elected as the king of all Mayans.

The declining Toltec civilization not only faced the Mayan uprising, but also the invasion of northern barbarians.

The Chichimecs from the US-Mexico border killed the Toltec city-state alliance and replaced it, similar to the Qing Dynasty entering the country. They have accepted the advanced culture of the Mexican region and quickly changed from a fishing and hunting nation to an agricultural nation.

Soon, they will be invaded by another barbarian tribe - the Aztecs!

Manco Capac, the founder of the Inca Empire, also led his people to migrate to Cusco and settle there ten years ago. They would establish the famous Inca Empire with Cusco as the capital.

Coco Kaba held the snake-shaped scepter in his hand and looked around curiously.

By the time he reached Luoyang, he was already past the shock stage.

In other words, I have been shocked to the point of being almost numb.

Coco Kaba came from the Mayan royal family (Coco family) at that time. He was the nephew of the current Mayan king (second generation) and also a relatively young priest.

The snake-shaped scepter in his hand is not of Quetzalcoatl, but of the Mayan "phantom snake".

The Mayan priests performed bloodletting ceremonies, which may have caused them to lose consciousness due to excessive blood loss or they may have taken some kind of hallucinogenic food. Anyway, they could use the "illusion snake" to cross multiple layers of space and time to communicate with gods or ancestors.

As early as four years ago, when the Ming Dynasty's round-the-world fleet was looking for rubber on the east coast of Central America, it had already come into contact with the Mayans in the Yucatan Peninsula - the current ruling core of the Mayan civilization is in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Coco Kaba still clearly remembers the scene when he first met these Ming people.

The other party came to Mayapan City to meet the king in strange clothes, holding swords and sticks. They gave the Mayans many gifts and asked the Mayans to take in the two patients.

One of the patients died, and the other lived for two years and insisted on going west to find his fellow tribesmen.

After the Toltec city-state alliance was overthrown, the Maya gradually resumed trade with the western and northern city-states. A Maya trade team set off with the surviving Ming man, and after more than two months of trekking, they actually found out the Ming man's tribe.

It was originally a Mayan coastal city-state, which was burned and looted by foreigners two hundred years ago. The Mayans either fled or were taken as slaves.

The whole city became deserted. Hundreds of Ming prisoners were exiled there. They found the land fertile (volcanic ash), so they settled down and formed a village. They also intermarried with two Mayan tribes dozens of miles away.

The two Mayan tribes had been enslaved by the Toltecs and had to provide regular offerings of food and human sacrifices.

The Ming people not only intermarried with them, but also taught them how to smelt iron and make iron farm tools and weapons.

Decades earlier, the Toltecs had been fighting the Chichimecs to the north and the Maya to the east, and their dominance on the west coast was rapidly declining, giving the Ming people and two Maya tribes the opportunity to rise up in rebellion.

A Ming village and two Mayan tribes actually established an alliance.

And through trade and war, the alliance's membership has grown to seven tribes.

Still expanding because you can make your own iron tools!
A few months ago, the surviving Ming patient came to Mayapan again with many of his fellow tribesmen.

He claimed to be an envoy of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and invited the Mayan delegation to visit the Ming Dynasty.

In Coco Kaba's understanding, the Ming Dynasty should be a city-state alliance, and the Ming emperor should be the king elected by those city-states.

The Ming envoys brought many gifts, which made King Maya very happy. He even asked his nephew to lead a team to visit the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming envoy said: "Dear King Maya, Ming is very far away from Mayapan. It will take a full year to travel back and forth. I hope you can wait patiently."

King Maya said: "Your king is very sincere and has brought me rich gifts. I have also prepared the best gifts and asked my nephew to take it to express my gratitude. I can wait for one or two years."

In this way, Coco Kaba followed the Ming people, crossed mountains and jungles to the west coast, and boarded an incredible giant boat.

They sailed at sea for three months.

Coco Kaba arrived at a place called Luzon and landed in a huge seaside city. He thought he had arrived at the leader city of the Ming Alliance, but his companions told him that this was just a small city under the rule of the Ming Emperor.

Soon, they arrived at Taiwan's provincial capital, which turned out to be just a small city.

Then came a huge city called Quanzhou, where Koko Kaba knelt on the deck and prayed before he even got off the ship. He thought he had come to the residence of Komu Kamempus, the king of the gods.

But then, one huge city after another appeared before him.

The shock at first gradually turned into habit, and a deep feeling of awe welled up in my heart.

"This is Sifang Pavilion. You can move in first and wait for the summons from His Majesty the Emperor." The surviving patient now acted as an interpreter to convey messages to the Americans.

There are also people who don't need translation, such as Xue Shan.

Xue Shan is a second-generation native American. His father was a death row inmate who was exiled to the west coast of Central America decades ago. Because he could read and count, his father became one of the leaders in the village.

Xue Shan's mother was a Mayan woman.

Xue Shan can read and speak Chinese.

However, his father's Chinese has a strong Shandong accent. After living in Central America for decades, his accent has changed even more, and occasionally there are some Mayan words mixed in.

When Xue Shan arrived in Luoyang, he could only guess what he was saying.

"Xue, is this the city-state of your ancestors?" Coco Kaba asked in Mayan.

Xue Shan replied: "It's my first time here too."

Xue Shan is very proud, yet somewhat inferior.

He had heard from his father and many elders in the village that far to the west, on the other side of the ocean, there was a greatest country. The cities there were much larger than those of the Maya. There was an endless supply of food and endless clothes.

In this regard, Xue Shan could only rely on fantasy.

Not until he actually returned to his ancestral country did he realize how ridiculous his fantasy was.

……

"Did you really bring back rubber?" Empress Dowager Ye seemed a little excited.

Others didn't know what rubber was used for, but she did. Because the secret manual left by Taizu and Taizong clearly stated that the outer layer of BMW wheels was made of rubber.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "Rubber is a kind of tree sap, just like rosin, it will solidify quickly when it comes into contact with air. This time I brought back 200 rubber tree seedlings, many rubber seeds, and some solidified rubber. Dozens of seedlings died on the ship. I was afraid that the night would be too long and there would be more trouble, so I planted all the living ones in Luzon."

Empress Dowager Ye quickly got a rubber ball, which was soft and didn't look like a BMW tire at all.

She returned to the harem and took out the secret book of Taizu and Taizong. After careful reading, she found that rubber needed to be vulcanized.

But how to vulcanize it?
Empress Dowager Ye summoned the old president and said, "Rubber needs to be vulcanized. We need to gather a group of chemists."

The old president said, "Gather five people first and give it a try."

Empress Dowager Ye said: "Although Prince Consort Xie is young, he is a top scholar in chemistry. Let's invite Prince Consort Xie as well."

The old president asked, “Should we let them see the divine car?”

Queen Mother Ye shook her head: "Not for now."

(There is only one update today.)
(End of this chapter)