Late May was the busiest season of spring. Zuwaro led the returning merchant fleet at last into Atoyac Lake, where they moored at Purple Grass Harbor south of Purple Grass City. The southern Shipbuilding Department occupied the rear flank of the harbor, and hundreds of shipwrights were repairing and building vessels inside and outside the yards, while even greater numbers of laborers, under the shipwrights' direction, hauled great timbers and planks.
"Praise the Main God! After four or five months, we've finally returned to the harbor we set out from!"
Zuwaro stepped onto the dock and gazed for a while at the busy scene in the shipyard, surprise showing on his face.
"One hand, two hands—there are actually ten Longships of several dozen tons' capacity being built at the same time? Hm? Those two Copper Beasts placed fore and aft on that finished Longship—are they the Rain God's tiger-crouching cannons?"
People hurried back and forth across the dock, each busy with his own tasks, and no one answered Zuwaro's questions. But without doubt, the kingdom's southern shipyard was sparing no cost, building Longships for the expedition at a mad pace.
Zuwaro sniffed, catching the smoke after slash-and-burn clearing, as if he had scented the feverish air of war. He gazed toward the distant fields, where thousands of Tlaxcalan serfs were toiling across the broad farmland. He looked toward the harbor, where a transport fleet returning from carrying grain upstream was disembarking several hundred Totonac prisoners of war under the shouts of Purepecha Warriors.
And several newly completed oared-and-sailed Longships carried not only tiger-crouching cannons, but also several short, squat, thick-bodied bronze heavy guns with extremely broad muzzles. Personally led by Mexica priests, they headed eastward against the current.
"Ah! With muzzles that thick, how heavy are the stone balls they're