Since the engraving was practical, the next step was to print tens of thousands of the Book of Ama Colley and distribute them to each community military school. Once the literacy education for the first batch of priests was completed, they would carry these new ideological weapons to every town and village of the Alliance. They would teach the will of the Chief Divine to every fifteen-year-old boy, spreading new religious thoughts and thereby fundamentally changing the next generation of the Alliance, establishing a Divine Kingdom on earth!
At this thought, Xiulote’s heart surged with emotions. Besides printing scriptures, the engraving could also depict the majestic Great Temple and complete mythological stories. In the form of an album, it would leave the revelations and teachings of the Chief Divine for the illiterate populace. It could also print prayer rituals, legal statutes, calendar knowledge, and agricultural illustrations to guide daily life and production.
In sum, printing technology and religious books would drastically reduce the difficulty of spreading religious ideas and rapidly advance monotheistic religious reform. From the current perspective, paper-making and printing technology had to be strictly confidential, and the production of paper and printing of books could only be conducted in the Capital City.
This matter related to the grand endeavors of the Mexica people. At least within two generations, the core of the Alliance had to maintain absolute cultural dominance and deliver a dimensional cultural blow to the Central American regions where writing was not yet developed!
Xiulote quickly pondered and made a decision. All craftsmen had to be closely monitored, registered, and even isolated from society. Book printing would become a forbidden delicacy of the Priesthood, and anyone who dared to venture into this area, whether commoner or nobility, would face only death!
This measure served both to slow the spread of technology and to prepare for the invasion of The Cross Religion from Europe. Unlike the Celestial Empire, emerging civilizations lacked a diverse cultural accumulation. Thus, the ideological battlefield would similarly be a fierce contest of life and death.
With this in mind, he calmly and indifferently looked towards Aquila. The middle-aged jade craftsman felt a chill in his heart and hurriedly bowed his head, not daring to meet his gaze.
Then, Xiulote continued to ponder about the development of movable type printing in Europe. The accompanying religious reform would determine the fate of the Aztec Alliance’s great enemy, the Spanish Empire.
About forty years ago, in 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing in the Holy Roman states. To this day, this technology had spread to all the major countries in Europe, still rapidly proliferating and fostering opportunities for a new religious reform.
And about thirty years later, almost concurrently with the Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire, the spark of religious reform would first ignite in the Shenluo states, then the United Kingdom and the Roman Church would sever ties, establishing the Anglican Church. The flame of Protestantism would gradually engulf all of Europe.
In history, after conquering America, the Spaniards would possess wealth surpassing that of other European countries, entering their Golden Age. Amid religious discord, the devout Spanish Empire thus became hostile to the Kingdom of England. England then supported the Netherlands in their war of independence from Spanish rule and extensively pirated Spanish fleets in America.
In a double confrontation of religion and monarchy, the Spanish Empire finally dispatched the Invincible Armada in an attempt to conquer England, but unexpectedly ended in a draw. Despite their defeat in the Battle of Graefran, compounded by strong adverse southern winds, the Invincible Armada was forced to drift northward. Eventually, the Invincible Armada lost over two-thirds of its forces, with more than a hundred ships sinking in the ocean, thereby losing effective control over America.
Subsequently came an exceptionally brutal Thirty Years’ War. With the independence of the Spanish Netherlands, the decline of the Spanish Empire was officially declared, ending its Golden Age. And the final act was the Spanish War of Succession fifty years later. After this war, Spain nearly lost all its European territories outside the Iberian Peninsula, marking the end of the first empire on which the sun never set. England, meanwhile, established its dominance, gradually rising as the second empire on which the sun never set.
Looking at the paper printed with ideas, Xiulote fell into deep thought.
The development of history was a dynamic process, entangled with complex clues, and major historical events were just records and manifestations of severe dynamics within the trends. Printing technology fostered the trend of religious reform. The flame of Protestantism was something the Roman Church could not extinguish, and England’s centrifugal force was driven by this trend.
Purely on diplomatic terms without considering religion and culture, the post-Reformation Kingdom of England and the devout Spanish Empire were natural enemies and natural allies of the Alliance. This could be a significant opportunity in the distant future.
After much thought, Xiulote shook his head and withdrew his thoughts from the yet-to-happen history. He once again considered the craftsmanship and feasibility of movable type printing.
Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing consisted of two parts: lead type casting and the wooden printing press.
The wooden printing press here was merely a screw-style wine press, rotated using threads and levers, steadily applying pressure to the board beneath for printing. This technology had already been invented around the Common Era and was not uncommon in the Huaxia Dynasty. In fact, the printing press was never the decisive factor in the application of movable type printing; type casting was!
Gutenberg’s lead type casting technology originated from goldsmith casting, its innovation lay in the step of male and female molds. He first made male molds from hard metals, then used these male molds to engrave on soft metals, thereby creating a mold with female characters. Finally, using the female molds, he cast low-melting lead-tin to produce large amounts of repeatable male characters for layout and printing.