Nova Roma Chapter 28 - New Annex

In the city of xicalango the Mayan king of the city was supervising the counting of cocoa seeds to carry out trade with the nearby communities, while he was doing the work was interrupted by his guards who reported that some white men were on the coasts affirming want to start trade with us.
In the small palace of the Mayan King was seated Marked the commercial leader appointed by Flavio to establish the first contact, of course it is not only accompanied by Nahil the Mayan priest who predicted the arrival of Flavio.
At the negotiating table there was dried salted fish and salt, for the Mayans and in general any town in America getting salt is quite complex, that's why the King was surprised when he saw the amount of salt they wanted to trade with him, that's why mentioning only the salt when you saw the dried fish could only swallow, even as king consume salt is a luxury no longer talk about having a salty and dry fish that can avoid hunger when the gods do not bless with a good harvest.
The terms of the negotiation were quite clear, if the city of xicalango wanted to have trade with Nova Roma this had to be annexed to the empire as an autonomous city but to follow the rules of the empire, Marco only had the order to start trade not to annex the city but he knew that in conversations like this show strength could assure the interests of the empire, what he did not think is that the king of the city heard from Nahil about the deity of Flavio and how he will save everyone, of course his first choice was doubt but taking advantage that the iron was client Marco took the king of the city to a small demonstration on the beach.
The gunpowder was developed by Flavio from the siege that occurred after the death of his father and was saved as a deterrent that planned to take to the new world during the stay in Rome did not show his grandfather as it is a weapon that marked a time , and he wanted to have the full power over that time, in Origin Civitatem he began to build reservoirs of excrement to obtain crystals of saltpeter an important element in the production of gunpowder the other two are sulfur and coal.
The boats that were not ramshackle by Flavio had bronze cannons not very large but efficient enough to defend and shield in case some tribe with canoes wanted to attack them, since these operate as commercial vessels, their security is essential.
On the beach Marco showed the king a pile of wood that his men gathered, not really surprising in the eyes of Rey Maya which surprised and made him place his knees on the ground and accept being annexed was the rumble that sounded and the destruction that caused, in just seconds, what was a pile of wood was reduced to chips, this left a great psychological shadow on the King wondered if these white men can destroy a pile with a great ease that will happen when there is a human or an army, The only thing he can be sure of is that he prefers to be an ally rather than an enemy.
The treaty was signed and the king was demoted to "Duke", in nova roma the flavio aristocracy suppressed it to have a complete power but neither did it eliminate something that not many know is that there are 3 social classes, Aristocracy (Nobles) Bourgeois (People rich) and Proletariat (Peasants), the world where Flavio was won by the Bourgeois and with it the aristocracy disappeared and the proletariat was suppressed, but for Flavio the Bourgeois wins means the end of his descendants and we do not speak of the proletariat, it is for that created laws that generate counterweights between classes so that none can have more than another.
For example the aristocracy is suppressed because it is only a title that affirms that the person is of noble blood and therefore have a divine role in the empire, but has no control over people are prohibited the serfs, the bourgeoisie will always seek the benefit over all therefore the best way to repress them is to empower the proletariat and finally if the proletariat is happy there will be no problems in some future, of course these laws at this time will not show any substantial impact but as technology and education progresses They will show their value.
After the annexation of xicalango Marco asked that they send some troops for the construction of a wall in the city, had a slight feeling that perhaps it would occupy it.