Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1813 - 1302: First Clash with the Wa People, Spear Tip to Spear Tip!

July in Ezo land is warm and bright, almost the best season of the year, with hopes of verdancy and vitality everywhere.

In the southernmost Wa-jin Land, meandering irrigation channels slowly lead the cold mountain streams, warmed by sunlight, to irrigate the emerging rice fields. Rice is the staple food of the Wa People and the most valued "Rice God." Under the careful care of Wa People farmers, these fields in the warm narrow strips at the southern islands, painstakingly cultivated, are the hope most cherished by all Wa People. As long as they are not affected by the cold currents moving southward before the autumn harvest, they can achieve an "astonishing" yield of one hundred and thirty to fifty jin per mu, nearly three times that of millet fields!

"Bodhisattva bless! This year it must be warmer, with more rain… If an acre can yield one hundred and fifty jin, enough for one person to eat, that would be a true good year! We will definitely offer incense and tribute to you…"

Yes, a yield of one hundred and thirty to fifty jin per mu is the harvest for the rice fields along the north and south coasts of the Tsugaru Strait. In the increasingly barren Ouu as one moves north, this is already a superb number! Even the fertile lands along Lake Biwa in Omi or the fertile lands occupied by the Oda Clan in Owari at this time yield only about two hundred jin per mu of rice per season. Across Wa Country, the most widely cultivated grain is still millet, with an average yield of fifty to sixty jin per mu.

Currently, in the southernmost part of Ezo land, around the Wa People villages and hall residences, there are also few paddy fields, mostly dry millet fields. And in this barren Northern Country, the yield of millets is very low, one mu yields three to four times, at most fifty jin. And this depends on the blessings from heaven, without the climate being too cold, leading to reduced or failed yield...

Therefore, in the eyes of the powerful daimyo in Ouu and Deha, Ezo land truly is a synonym for poverty and wilderness! Here, there will occasionally be Ezo People rebellions, which after suppression, yield little oil, not even enough to cover the cost of the Samurai's long expedition. Whether it be the Nanbu clan or the Ando Family, they have little interest in these territories, which is why they have allowed the local Kaozaki Family to merge and control the Twelve Halls.

"Poor Ezo land, even poorer Ezo People… That place is cold and destitute, unable to grow even rice or millet! Ezo People even eat weeds, eating unpleasant barnyard grass!... "

Continuing north from the Twelve Halls of Wa-jin Land, past the "Mount Fuji" of Ezo land, across the Korobetsu River that flows from east to west, is the territory of the Ainu Tribes.

The climate here is even colder, with winter arriving earlier, making rice crops very prone to failure. Millet yields often decrease to only double what was planted, and with pest and bird damage, often fail to recover the investment. Before cold-resistant crops from the New Continent were introduced, a purely agrarian lifestyle could no longer sustain the tribes here. Thus, all Ezo tribes were both hunting and fishing while planting some cold-resistant gathering plants, mainly "wild millet" and "barnyard grass."

Among these, the cold-resistant, flood-resistant, and quick-growing "barnyard grass" is the most important "staple crop" for each tribe. This semi-domesticated wild crop is much more resilient than fully domesticated grains. However, its yield is similarly appallingly low, with twenty or so jin per mu being a blessing from the Guardian Divine Might!

"Barnyard grass, Xifu Bail…" is the favorite tribute of the Shamans and the forest and swamps' gift to the Jurchen Tribes! Without it, there would be no thousands of Jurchen Tribes...

At this moment, in the west at the same latitude, in the vast Outer Northeast, those many Wild Jurchen Tribes also plant barnyard grass! In this era, Outer Northeast is cold and damp in the Jurchen lands, frequently flooded, almost entirely covered with endless swamps and forests. The only crop that the Jurchen Tribes can cultivate is "barnyard grass," just barely sustaining a semi-nomadic semi-agricultural lifestyle.

And when the climate becomes colder, the Little Ice Age truly arrives, even barnyard grass fails to grow, it will be the time when all the Jurchen Tribes in the Outer Northeast must move southward! From the end of this Fifteenth Century, waves of harsh Wild Jurchen begin migrating southward, continually triggering battles and mergers among the Jurchen Tribes. The loosely organized Jurchen Tribes gradually consolidate, with tribes gathering more and more, becoming stronger yet hungrier... 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Eventually, these waves of initial ripples will gather into incredibly powerful booms, surging southward, shaking the warmer Ming Dynasty and Korea further south! And at this time, no one knows if this originally destined course will be altered? In the cruel battles of the future, will there be a new, survival-oriented direction to divert these harsh survival-seeking Jurchen tribes?…

"Young Master Yoshihiro, this is Ezo People's 'field', planted with 'barnyard grass'! And when these fields appear in large numbers, it proves that a large Ainu Great Tribe is near!…"

"Ah! Ezo People's shallot and salmon are mouth-watering delicacies. But these weed fields full of barnyard grass are truly indescribable!… If Samurai were stationed here, eating barnyard grass daily as food, even the most loyal retainers would probably flee south!... "

"Indeed! Young Master Yoshihiro. To occupy these northern Ezo People territories, sufficient surplus grain must be sent continually from the southern Twelve Halls. And this occupation's maintenance must face resistance from northern Ezo tribes, enduring their tribal guerrilla warfare, definitely causing great losses… Therefore, this place is suitable for periodic tribute collection, but truly occupying it, the costs are something our Kaozaki Family cannot bear!... "