"Chiwako, are you certain this cassava can reach a yield of more than five hundred jin per mu after half a year of planting?!"
"Uh... His Majesty... not half a year. It's not a crop, it's, mm... a little tree! You have to let it grow for about ten months first, until the little tree takes shape, before it can grow plump roots! Then, when you see its roots looking bright and shiny, hard and firm, and white inside after you cut them open... that means they're grown! When you want to eat it, you dig it up, dig as you eat... you can't store it! Leave it a few days and it rots..."
November on the tropical coast was still warm and sweltering. The temperature hovered around the twenties, with rain six or seven days a month, somewhere between a tropical rainforest climate and a tropical monsoon climate. It was a very pleasant season.
And on the lush coastal plain, ancient Golden Bay City stood quietly, with no more blood, fire, or slaughter in sight. Throughout the city-state were warriors patrolling with spears, priests weaving back and forth, and craftsmen forging implements. The paths of all their movements centered on the Temple of the Main God in the city. Inside the temple, behind the newly sculpted statue of the Main God, remnants of Feathered Serpent murals could still faintly be seen, not yet completely covered by the Main God's murals.
Outside the ancient city-state lay stretches of neatly reclaimed farmland. The corn stalks piled into little hills and the pumpkin vines not yet fully cleared away were all traces of the abundant harvest in October. And in the villages of the military colonies, the kingdom's farming camp commanders and the Totonac Farming Assistant Priests worked together to preside over