Chapter 11 The Army

The sun in early summer is already a bit warm, and the humid wind blows across the lake of Khartokan, and it seems that the breath of the midsummer rainy season can already be smelled.

Shulot followed his father, and his father followed his grandfather. The high priest stood at the forefront, wearing a formal sacrificial attire. The nobles and priests clustered around, their bright feathers connected together, and they were dressed in gold and silver, shining brilliantly. Everyone put on the most formal, brightest, and heaviest costumes, and waited for the king's army outside the south gate of the city-state.

Shulot was also forced to wear a priestly crown with blue feathers. The long feathers drew an elegant arc on his head, and he was half a meter taller out of thin air.

If it is a warrior's feather crest, the feathers can be inserted upside down and hang down behind to facilitate fighting. Fortunately, he specially picked this feather crown. It is relatively simple, without gold, silver or precious stones inlaid, and the weight is acceptable. The feathers all around poked his face, itching, he quickly walked away from the crowd, came to the edge and sneezed.

"What's the use of this feather? Wearing it on your head is like a bird." Shulot complained dissatisfied in a low voice. Speaking of which, as mentioned in the previous history books, the Indians have never understood why the colonists loved only shiny gold and silver, but did not value the more precious feathers.

"Feathers are a gift from the gods, and they are also a favorite tribute of the gods. The more gorgeous and slender the feathers, the more noble and sacred the symbol." Akap came out from the side again with a smile.

"It is said that the twin brother of the god of death Shulotel, the Feathered Serpent God Ketsalcoatl has the most beautiful feathers in the world. He uses the feathers to control the hurricane, drives the huge snake body to fly into the waters in the east, and sleeps in the rising sun. The place where He started. One day, He will wake up, return from the waters of the East, and bring peace and prosperity to the world."

"The Feathered Serpent God is a flying feathered snake?" Shulot asked curiously, startled.

"This is the conclusion drawn by the priests of the city-state from the ancient murals in the holy city of Teotihuacan." Acap pondered for a moment and said.

"But in the murals of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, the Feathered Serpent God has a human figure, tall, white skin, and a beard. He was defeated and exiled by other gods, and sailed to the mysterious East on a snake raft Trapalan, and promised to return."

"God's fucking white beard." Shulot expressed strong dissatisfaction with this myth. One day in the future, the Spanish colonist Hernán Cortes will use this myth to successfully win over the first batch of Nahuas to lead the way and establish a leadership position over the Tlaxcala servant army.

Then on the day when the Feathered Serpent promised to return, he pretended to be the Feathered Serpent, and was introduced by Montezuma II to Tenochtitlan, the capital of the empire, with the etiquette of worshiping the gods. He lured and captured Montezuma II, and then massacred the priests and The nobles destroyed the ruling center of the empire in one fell swoop, and then deliberately left countless clothes and blankets stained with smallpox virus, and fled away.

Smallpox spread rapidly through the densely populated capital, and the Mexica were unprepared and without a strong organization to deal with the outbreak. Smallpox could no longer be controlled, and it directly destroyed the core ruling group of the empire, wiping out 80% of the population.

The city-state alliance was disintegrated immediately, and the dragons had no leader. Two years later, the troubled capital was captured by the Conquistadors and Tlaxcala's servants during the second siege, announcing the demise of the Aztec civilization.

Then came Tarasco, Miztec, Zapotec, Maya, and on to the whole of Mesoamerica. The returning Feathered Serpent brought nothing but death and destruction.

"Diseases, myths, servants, cavalry, and warships." Shulot pointed his fingers, "Five weapons for colonists to conquer the new world. Come one by one, eliminate potential servants first, and then carry out religious reforms."

The boy fell into an ideal beyond his ability, until Akap patted him on the shoulder. "Look south."

Shulot looked to the south, and a majestic army appeared at the end of his field of vision, crowds of people covered the sky, and the red battle robes were dyed through the clouds. That is the color of cochineal, a dye tribute belonging to Wangcheng. After a full month, Shulot finally saw the army of the empire.

King Tisok first mobilized in the three cities of the capital. Ten Hikipilli, or 8,000-man legions, gathered into the army directly under the royal family, half of which were elite regiments from the city-state, including a full 2,000 jaguar fighters and Eagle Warrior. This is an army that no city-state can resist.

Proclaiming the majesty of the new king, the army first marched west for a week, deterring Tarasco and the western cities, and gathering the coalition forces of all states.

Tepanikapan's army joined first, followed by Tolocan, Lazico, and five regiments of 8,000 men. Then the army turned southeast for ten days, passing through Cuonahuac and Huacitepec, adding two more regiments of 8,000 men.

The team then stayed for two days to meet with the leaders of the Chuntals, and threatened the southern frontier of the Tlaxcalans along the way, startling a wave of fleeing villagers. Finally, the army turned north, marched for a week, and pulled out three more 8,000-man regiments from the wealthy Sarco. Among the armies of these city-states that have joined one after another, the proportion of elite regiments is slightly lower, about two-fifths.

At this time, the army of twenty legions was so powerful that it covered the sky and the sun, and traveled all the way north to reach the ancient city of Teotihuacan, which is only three days away from the capital. There are more than 70,000 warriors among them! This is the power to deter the entire Mexican tribe.

"Shimai Qibang, Haotian and its sons, there are weeks in the right order. Thin words are shocking, and they are all shocking." Looking at the magnificent army that is gradually approaching and has filled the entire field of vision, Xiu Luote couldn't help but tugged. sentence ancient Chinese.

"What are you talking about?" Akap asked curiously.

"I'm talking about being shocked to see the king's army." Shulot made a shocked gesture. "It seems that the king is not in a hurry to attack the Otomi people, but mainly visits the cities and declares his majesty."

"You're right." Akap smiled and hugged Shulot's shoulder.

"Each city-state is a descendant of a god, and independently decides things in a radius of tens of miles. Although the king is the leader of the alliance, he cannot directly command the military affairs of the city-states, and he cannot even completely control the great nobles in the capital. Let the city-states obey , we have to rely on the military power of the capital, the prestige of the monarch, and the blood relationship of our city-state."

"So when the new king takes the throne, the first thing to do is to establish prestige in the hearts of the city-states. First gather the army, and then patrol the states. At the same time, they will meet with the tribute and deter the opponent. The crusade against the enemy and sacrifice to them is the last step in the declaration of prestige. .”

"Kill a turkey to frighten a group of monkeys." Shulot thought of a familiar idiom.

"Turkey, monkey?" Acap was stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud, "This metaphor is so interesting."

Then Akap lowered his voice, looked around, and said with a low laugh: "If you compare the city-states to monkeys, then the king who occupies the capital is the monkey king. Only when the monkey king is strong enough can he command the action." Monkeys nearby."

"So, if the monkey runs too far and becomes a wild monkey, or a group of wild monkeys, it has to be beaten from time to time to hand over the fruit on time."

"Yes. But the Otomi are not monkeys of the same species, nor are they stupid turkeys. They are cunning dogs. If the situation is not good, they will hide themselves in the hole."

While he was talking, the vanguard of the army had already rushed towards him. A whole group of four elite 8,000 men walked across the southern road, and then camped by Lake Hartokan.

More than 30,000 warriors of all levels gathered together. At a glance, red and black pointed hats and yellow animal helmets were crowded, and obsidian battle sticks reflected a sea of ​​light. The camp was full of voices, eager and confident faces, infected by the strength of the group, at the peak of morale.

On the lake, thousands of canoes loaded with food came all the way from the capital Texcoco Lake District. The ten-year grain stockpile was released to ensure the supplies of the troops.

Afterwards, a whole army of veteran soldiers, lined up in the most orderly formation that Shulot had ever seen in his life, approached silently. All staff in leather armor, throwing spears on their backs, 1,000 jaguar fighters, 1,000 eagle fighters, and 6,000 fourth-level warriors. No need for words, the attitude of being relaxed and ready to fight at any time can prove that this is the core strength of the empire.

Shulot and Akap both shut up and fell silent. In the face of absolute power, no fearful language is powerless. Xiu Suoke stepped forward and pulled Xiu Luo back to the team. Obviously, the king would not be too far away from his trump card. Shulot noticed that Xiu Suoke's body was solemn and tense.

After the most powerful legion in Central America, the royal servants of Tratoanitisok came slowly under the escort of five hundred "hair-breakers". These guards, who resembled the Huns, shaved off most of their hair, leaving only the top of the skull and a pinch on the left and right. Wearing a thick green cotton armor and a mesh cloak on his back, there is also a flag on the cloak, with an abstract symbol of the sun god painted on it.

Shulot simply understood them as the Guards, and their combat effectiveness seemed to be very strong.

Unfortunately, there are no suitable camel animals in America at this time, and ox carts, horse carts, and elephant carts cannot be counted on. Tisok, the blood of God, can only sit on the shoulders carried by dozens of people. He is wearing a white robe with red stripes and a white skull-shaped helmet, which is particularly eye-catching. The helmet also has green long feathers. This image is taken from a powerful evil spirit in ancient mythology.

Behind the shoulders, there is a row of feathered flags. The flag fluttered high, also eye-catching and unusual, with various hieroglyphs painted on it. Shulot was struggling to identify the sun, cactus, eagle, snake, lake and giant above, when he saw a messenger coming in a hurry.

"The supreme sun god, the god of war, the descendant of the patron saint Vitzilopochtli, the master of the city of Tenochtitlan in the lake, the great and glorious Trato Anitisoc, shall be the same as the flowing The relatives of the blood, the administrator of the ancient holy city Teotihuacan, the High Priest Shutel, meet!"

Thanks to Zeng Zhihao for providing the Aztec military information.