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   Chapter 989 985 [Rubber and Mayan Temple]

  Seeing the roaring steam engine, Zhao Han thought of rubber again.

  He has already written to the Four Seas Trading Company, asking Li Quan to inquire about rubber by the way when he goes to America for trade.

  Because I don’t know the Latin name of rubber, and I don’t know what rubber is called in America, I can only describe its characteristics: it is extremely flexible and comes from the sap of a kind of tree.

  Li Quan issued a reward last year. If anyone can provide accurate information, he can purchase a batch of his goods first.

  Although this violated the agreement with Mexican officials and bypassed the auction for private transactions, Li Quan promised to compensate the officials for some loss of benefits.

   In just one year, Li Quan came to America again and obtained relevant information very smoothly. Moreover, there were more than one or two cluers, and a total of six merchants brought definite news.

   Town of Banderas (Puerto Vallarta).

  A Spanish mixed-race businessman from Costa Rica held a small ball bigger than a fist and said: "This kind of ball is very common in some indigenous tribes. They are used for kicking and playing. It is a toy for children."

  Another businessman from Guatemala took out a pair of rubber-soled shoes and said, "These are Mayan indigenous shoes, and the soles are similar to what you described."

  Rubber products were discovered by Spanish colonists more than a hundred years ago.

   Moreover, not only from South America, but also from Central America in large quantities. The aborigines in Central and South America applied rubber juice to cloth to make clothes to prevent rainwater from drenching. Or make it into a long strip and tie it to the handle of the tool, which is a stretchable rubber rope. The Mayans even used rubber as the sole.

  Native Americans certainly didn't understand vulcanized rubber, but they added various organic compounds to achieve a similar effect. The most common way is to directly mix the juice of a certain kind of vine of Convolvulaceae with rubber. This mixture is very durable after solidification.

  The first unlucky Portuguese who brought a rubber-coated waterproof suit back to Europe was treated as a wizard and sentenced to religious trials. The Spaniards, who were the first to see rubber **** in America, also thought they were witchcraft.

   It took another thirty years before French scientists and military officers could find out the origin of rubber.

   It took another seventy years before French scientists brought back detailed information on rubber trees from America.

   It took another hundred years before French scientists invented a solvent that can soften rubber.

   It took more than a hundred years before British scientists made rubber into an eraser, which was specially used to erase pencil writing.

  Rubber is used in industry, and the time is even later.

  Li Quan asked: "How are these things made?"

  Mexican businessmen shook their heads one after another. They had only seen indigenous people using it, but they didn't know the source of rubber products.

  No matter what, as long as there is news, this is a task assigned by His Majesty.

  Li Quan fulfilled his promise and sold a batch of goods to these merchants before the auction. Moreover, each businessman provides a buddy, and Li Quan hires these people to lead the way to find rubber trees.

  The expedition leader is Wang Lian, a veteran with a primary school education.

  The vice-captain's name is Cheng Jingming, who is the brother from Suzhou. The friends all went to study electricity, but he couldn't stay idle, and went to America as an adventurer with the ship.

  In addition to the two of them, there are four other crew members, two of whom have been farmers and soldiers, one is an experienced sailor, and the other is a translator who is proficient in Spanish.

  The rest of the team members are temporarily hired, six are Mexican businessmen's buddies, and more than ten are Japanese bodyguards who have settled in America.

  Li Quan's trading fleet is not allowed to go to the port of Acapulco, which is the exclusive trading place of the Spanish fleet. Therefore, the expedition team could only take a Mexican merchant ship to go south, all the way to the Guatemala region, which is also the jurisdiction of the governor of New Spain, but there is a second-level governor who is in charge of Central America.

   A group of people first visited the governor and gave them exquisite gifts. The governor was very happy and sent two guides to guide them.

   "Bang bang bang!"

  In the tropical rainforest of Guatemala, several gunshots were heard, and a jaguar fell to the ground, with a snapping turtle killed by it lying beside it.

  Confirmed that there was no danger, Cheng Jingming rushed over quickly, circling around the body of the jaguar.

   "This thing looks like a leopard but not a leopard, and it looks like a tiger but not a tiger. What the **** is it?" Cheng Jingming muttered for a while.

  Captain Wang Lian said: "Whether he is a tiger or a leopard, he is a beast anyway."

   Ordered people to carry the bodies of the jaguar and snapping turtle forward, and in the middle of the afternoon, they chose a place to camp. The plants that repelled mosquitoes were lit, and fresh water was brought in to boil.

  The weather in the tropical rainforest is extremely bad, and poisonous snakes and beasts emerge in endlessly.

  If the governor hadn’t sent two guides, the expedition team would probably have been downsizing, and they didn’t know a lot of basic local knowledge.

  Cheng Jingming finished drawing the picture of the jaguar, and then asked the guide to inquire about the habits of this animal, and finally wrote a text note:

   "Dongfan leopard (or Dongban tiger), its pattern is like a leopard, its shape is like a tiger..."

  The expedition team did not bring a scale, but only a tape measure, so the data only recorded the size of the animals.

   Recorded the perfect leopard, and Cheng Jingming also recorded the snapping turtle: "The bully turtle is big, fierce, and looks like a bully, so it is named..."

   Immediately afterwards, Cheng Jingming sorted out the plants collected today, and made leaves and vines as specimens.

"do not touch!"

  The guide sent by the governor shouted, and the two Chinese team members retreated quickly. There was a brightly colored red frog on the blade in front of them.

  Cheng Jingming ran over with the translator and asked, "What kind of frog is this?"

  The guide explained: "Poison dart frogs can easily poison people to death. Aboriginals like to smear the venom on arrow darts."

   "Can you catch it for me?" Cheng Jingming asked.

  The guide picked up the stick, walked around to the direction of measuring, knocked down the poison dart frog with a stick, and then pressed the stick on the frog's back.

  Cheng Jingming took a closer look, and measured the body length with a tape measure.

   "Boom!"

  Thunder rang, and it was going to rain again.

   Fortunately, there is a tarpaulin convertible, and the tent cannot be set up on the ground, so we choose a safe tree branch to rest.

  It rained until the next morning, and the surroundings were wet everywhere, and it was extremely boring, hot and uncomfortable.

  Cheng Jingming smelled his underarms, and his whole body was rotten. But he likes this kind of life very much. Although there are many dangers and life is difficult, it is much more interesting than living in Suzhou. Delicacies from mountains and seas, silk and satin, reciting poems and singing songs, groups of wives and concubines, he has long been tired of such boring days.

   After another two days, the Mayan tribe was finally found.

  These Mayans were very vigilant. As far as the Spanish colonists did bad things, it would be fine if they didn't fight on the spot.

  The guide did not show up, and a buddy sent by a businessman went to contact the Mayan natives. This person should have been in contact with this tribe, buying furs and the like, and he can help avoid conflicts.

  Expedition leader Wang Lian greeted his subordinates and sent him a bag of salt, and the two sides quickly reached a deal.

  The Mayan natives took them to see rubber trees and demonstrated how to cut rubber on the spot.

  Cheng Jingming found that the rubber tree was blooming, so he asked the Maya about the situation. But it has to bloom three times a year, and now it is the third flowering period, and it will take another month for the fruit to mature.

  Wang Lian immediately decided to wait here, get some ripe fruits back, and maybe bring them back to China for sowing.

  Of course, some small saplings will also be dug, planted in wooden barrels and transported away with the ship.

  While waiting for the fruits to ripen, the expedition team stayed in the tribe and paid some remuneration to the natives.

  As long as it doesn't rain, they explore the surrounding area and record all kinds of flora and fauna.

   "What's that?" Cheng Jingming looked at the huge pyramid in front of him.

  The guide replied: "That is the temple of the Mayans."

  This Mayan pyramid has long been abandoned and dilapidated, and even the stones in the northeast corner have fallen down, surrounded by bushes and weeds.

  A group of Japanese bodyguards, carrying sticks to open the way, beat the grass to scare away the snakes, insects, rats and ants in front of them.

  Cheng Jingming followed behind the Japanese **** and came to the bottom of the steps of the pyramid. He saw many strange carvings, some even resembled the Chinese Taotie pattern. In other words, it's not similar, but exactly the same as the Taotie pattern!

   Could it be that the aborigines here really came from ancient China?

  Cheng Jingming continued to wander around the pyramid, and then climbed up the stairs until he reached the top of the pyramid. It's a pity that there are no major discoveries. There are only Taotie patterns here, and there are no Kuilong patterns, dragon and phoenix patterns, and stealing patterns.

   Maybe it's just a coincidence.

  Cheng Jingming directly camped here, and first drew the overall appearance of the pyramid from various angles.

  Going on to draw details here and there, he even found statues.

   Those statues are very weird, human beings wearing bloated clothes and a hood over their heads. In the hot tropical rainforest, such a clothing style is obviously unreasonable.

  If Zhao Han were here, he would definitely blurt out: "Damn, astronaut?"

   Except for these things, Cheng Jingming found nothing, and the valuable ones had already been taken away by the Spaniards.

  He also discovered some pictorial symbols. Cheng Jingming had some knowledge of oracle bone inscriptions due to his subscription to the "Hanlin Journal" all the year round. He subconsciously felt that these patterns were original characters.

  It is a bit of an exaggeration to say that it is a text, and it can only be said to be the prototype of pictographs.

  For example, a certain pattern depicts the head of an animal, and it can be clearly seen that it is a jaguar.

   There are also paintings of human heads with various accessories. I don’t know if they refer to humans in general or to chiefs or gods.

   "Is this a longevity lock?"

  Cheng Jingming squatted in front of a pattern and looked at it for a long time. It looked like a longevity lock worn by a child. But in the blank space in the middle of the longevity lock, three full stops arranged diagonally were drawn.

   This pattern, which appeared several times in the pyramid, obviously represents some important meaning.

   Well, later generations of Mayan philologists understood this longevity lock pattern as the "moon".

   There are also more abstract patterns, such as the Chevrolet logo, surrounded by a rectangle. This should belong to a more advanced text, the ghost knows what it means.

  Cheng Jingming couldn't decipher it after searching his guts, so he copied all of them, took them back and threw them to the scholars of the Imperial Academy for study.

  (end of this chapter)