Chapter 276 New Year Festival, Grand Scene of the Alliance!

The winter sun rises from the long lake in the east, sparkling on the vast lake, and dyeing the white stone city of Tenochtitlan golden. The cool breeze blows from the northern plateau, lifting the brightly colored curtains of the gods in the houses, and also blowing the gorgeous feathered clothes of passers-by. When the morning light fades, hundreds of priests light the sacred smoke of celebration at the same time, and a faint scent of pine fills the air.

Today is an auspicious day for the New Year Festival. The sky was just dim and bright, but the capital city in the lake had already woken up from its slumber. The noise of hundreds of thousands of people was so deafening that even the clouds in the sky dispersed! Soon, morning prayers began in various community shrines, announcing the beginning of the ritual of worshiping the gods. The praises of the community priests were high-pitched and clear, accompanied by the desolate bone xun, flying bamboo flutes, and heavy leather drums, and then turned into waves of cheers!

The thundering sound carried away from the eighty neighborhoods of the capital to the lake of Texcoco. The waterfowl migrating south also woke up from their slumber. They screamed loudly, spread their wings of various colors, and circled and danced in the sky over the Lake District!

With the help of his concubine, Shusoke had already finished dressing up and was standing in the courtyard of his home, looking up at the boundless blue sky. He has long been accustomed to being in charge of the house alone. After returning to the capital, he did not stay in the high priest's house, but only went to greet him regularly.

At this moment, he was wearing tight-fitting leather armor, a high-end battle suit with eagle feathers, and a gorgeous eagle helmet raised high on his head. He looked extremely majestic. After watching for a moment, the resolute warrior took out his long bow, aimed at the white wings flying above his head, and suddenly drew the bowstring.

"Buzz"

The half-opened bow string made a heavy sound and made a low trembling sound, but there was no flying arrow. Turns out, it was just a shot.

"The white bird is flying freely in the sky, and the long bow is stored alone in the house. It is an auspicious day for the New Year and the sacrifice ceremony, but the sky is so beautiful!"

Shusoke muttered two lines of poetry, then smiled and shook his head. He put the long bow on his back, put a war stick on his waist, touched the dagger tied to his leg, and strode out of the door.

As the deputy leader of the Eagle Chapter, his duty today is to lead the legion to defend in formation under the Great Temple, which means standing there fully armed for the entire day. For a determined samurai, such a duty is not difficult, not to mention there is a festival to see.

Walking out of the courtyard, you are faced with the boiling hustle and bustle. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets, forming circles. Both nobles and commoners were dressed in the brightest and most colorful costumes, laughing, singing and dancing, praising the glory of the Lord God and celebrating the victory of the Western Expedition! This is the boundary between the aristocracy and the common people, and it is also where the procession celebrating the gods will pass.

Soon, the procession came from the temple area. Hundreds of warriors were the first to clear the way. Under the guidance of the high-ranking priests' chants, two hundred civilians marched forward slowly and steadily, with their backs bent and a broad and gorgeous wooden altar on their shoulders.

The cheers of the crowd suddenly became louder, and the praises mingled like drum beats! From time to time, nobles bowed their heads and came forward, placing fruits, flowers, gold ornaments, silver ornaments and precious stones as tribute to the gods on the edge of the altar. On the inside of the altar, there is a circle of cactus flowers symbolizing sacredness, followed by a circle of turquoise symbolizing immortality. In the center stands the symbol of the supreme god: a golden sun with a diameter of more than one meter and a weight of more than one ton!

In Europe of this era, a ton of gold was a huge wealth that made all kings salivate. But for the Mesoamerican civilizations located on gold and silver mines, a ton of gold was just a ritual vessel for worshiping the gods. Tenochtitlan, the capital city in the lake, is the center of Central America and has the most wealth in the world! Excluding silver and precious stones, the gold reserves alone amount to hundreds of tons, scattered in every noble manor, courtyard and tomb!

Shusok stopped and bowed his head to the leading third-level priest. The priest sat high on the shoulders of eight people, with a solemn and majestic face. It wasn't until he saw Shusok's face clearly that he put on a full smile.

"Praise the Lord God! Captain Shusoke, the New Year Festival has begun. May the Lord God bless you!"

"Praise the Lord God! As the chief priest, can I offer gifts and pray for blessings under the sun of the Lord God?"

"Of course! The empty space under the golden sun is reserved exclusively for noble people like you."

The third-level officiant waved his hand, and the procession stopped. Shusok thanked him sincerely. Then, he took a step forward, took out two pearls from the Mickencho Lake area, carefully placed them under the golden sun, and then bowed his head and prayed silently.

"Lord God bless you! My father, may you be in good health. My son, may you spread your wings and soar."

After a while, Shusok ended his prayer and greeted the officiant with a smile.

"Priest, thank you for your kindness. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"

"Haha, I am Yareli from the Glory Priest family in the capital. My father Yazar is a colleague of the high priest, and is also one of the twelve priests and elders."

Hearing this, Shusoke's eyes flashed. The root of the word "Aza" is related to war. This priest family should have an ancient heritage of serving the God of War and is deeply rooted in the capital.

"May the God of War bless you! Chief Priest Aleili, I am going to guard the Great Temple, and I will say goodbye to you now!"

"The God of War bless us! Captain Shusok, the priests and elders are all in place in the main temple. The immortal elders should appear after the sun rises. You should be a little faster!"

"Thank you for the reminder! Praise the Lord God!"

“Praise the Lord God!”

The two lowered their heads, saluted each other and said goodbye, and the procession continued to move forward.

Shusok walked as fast as the wind and quickly arrived at the entrance of the temple area. Thousands of people from the Eagle Regiment have gathered here, all fully armed and waiting for the two leaders. He looked around, but Stanley hadn't arrived yet, and only the captains of each battalion greeted him.

Shusok smiled warmly and returned the greetings one by one, then walked to the head of the team and stood still. The towering Great Pyramid Temple is right in front of you. The priests have lit the blazing sacred fire, and large groups of blue sacrifices have been escorted out from the cells of various temples. He looked at the gradually brightening sky, looked at the endless offerings of sacrifices, and thought of his elderly father preparing sacrifices in the big temple, and sighed softly.

"The New Year Festival will last for three full days, and the high priest will personally operate my father's body."

While he was thinking about it, the giant bear-like Stanley had appeared at the end of the street, his brows and eyes full of flying spirit. He roared loudly to greet everyone, and then hugged Shusok's shoulders.

"Haha, praise the Lord God! Shusok, my old friend, we meet again!"

"Praise the Lord God! Greetings to you, Captain Stanley!"

"Haha, the sun is dazzling, the clouds have dispersed, and the sacred festival is today! It is such a good day of flowers and blood. I have been looking forward to it for a long time!"

Stanley is in a high position at a young age, and his eyes are full of unbridled publicity. Facing Shusok, who has a similar status, he is quite close to him.

"I just watched a human sacrifice game on the road. There were a few wonderful shots. The opponent was hit with blood and fell to the ground with broken bones. Not to mention, although the Tekos warriors are barbarians from the mountains, they are really brave when they play the ball. Very good, much better than the Tarasco Warriors! I watched two games in a row, and the Tarasco team lost and the whole team was sentenced to sacrifice, and someone actually peed his pants! Ha ha!"

Hearing the wonderful game, Shusok also smiled and nodded. Then, he asked with some confusion.

"Stanley, isn't the Human Sacrifice Stadium in the temple area? Where were you looking just now?"

"Oh, Shusok, you have only been in the capital for two or three days, and I don't know many of the arrangements. Among the captives escorted to the capital after returning from the Western Expedition, there were four thousand Tekos warriors and four Tarasco warriors. Thousands, and the number of noble men is more than 2,000."

"There are too many captives participating in the sacrifice! The priests and elders have a distinguished status and are only responsible for sacrificing the nobles of Tarasco. The remaining two warriors all devoted themselves to the human sacrifice field. The respected king is kind and generous, Four new courts have been added to the aristocratic area and the common area, so that all the people of the capital can party together!”

"Ah, what? In this big sacrifice, ten thousand people are going to be sacrificed?"

Hearing this number, Shusok took a breath of air. Even though he had been on the battlefield and was used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he was still shocked. You know, in an ordinary city-state, the total number of residents is only about ten thousand people.

"Haha, Shusoke, it turns out your math is not as good as mine!"

Stanley laughed. In his eyes, the lives of his enemies are just weeds on the roadside, and only the brave are worthy of admiration.

"Eight thousand warriors threw themselves into the human sacrifice stadium and competed for three days. Half of the losers became sacrifices on the small pyramid, and the winning half became slaves to build the king's palace. Oh, and the injured in the game were also added. The elders sacrificed The nobles who sacrificed this ceremony probably had exactly one Hikipili sacrificed, and eight thousand people!"

Stanley smiled and patted Shusok on the shoulder. Then, his expression became solemn and his eyes were bright, showing some rare wisdom.

"Xiusoke, compared to the achievement of annihilating the Kingdom of Tarasco, this number is nothing! The Tekos barbarians are unruly and always resist and run away. It is too troublesome to manage, so it is better to send them to the stadium to please the people!

Those who were escorted to the capital were all diehard loyalists of the Kingdom of Tarasco, senior warriors and inherited nobles who controlled power and wealth. We Mexicans destroyed their country, occupied their fiefdoms, killed their relatives, took away their wives and daughters, and divided their wealth. Do we still expect them to be grateful and sincerely surrender?

Haha, only low-level warriors and nobles are worth recruiting, because the alliance can give them more! As for the others, whether they are senior warriors, divine nobles, or the condor royal family, all of them should be brought to the altar and dedicated to the supreme god! "

Shusok thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. After a moment, he looked at Stanley with some suspicion, sizing up his broad forehead and giant bear-like body.

"Stanley, who said this? It doesn't look like something you could come up with."

"Of course it's me!"

Under Shusock's scrutinizing gaze, Stanley shouted the first half of the sentence loudly. Then, he looked embarrassed, paused, and finished his words in a low voice.

".Listen to the honorable King Avit."

Shusok smiled softly, with an expression that showed he had known this for a long time. Stanley blushed slightly, turned his head and roared.

"All Eagle Warriors, get ready! Head to the temple area and guard around the big temple! The immortal elders are coming soon. If any suspicious foreign envoys approach, they will be killed without mercy!"

"Roar!"

The Thousand Eagles roared like beasts and followed the group to set up defenses around the large temple in the temple area. As guards of the Sun God, they were only responsible for the security of the Great Temple. In the temple area, there are already three thousand royal warriors and one thousand Jaguar battle groups stationed. These five thousand most elite alliance warriors are enough to overwhelm everything!

As Xiusok walked forward, the towering Great Temple became taller and taller. The sixty-meter-high twin pyramids were like the Snake Mountain of the main god in mythology, casting a large and magnificent shadow on the ground, which made people feel reverence in their hearts. At the top of the Great Temple, a dozen small dotted crowns were high, wearing solemn and high-level sacrificial clothes. They were like messengers of the gods, looking down at the entire lake capital from a high position.

Xiusok narrowed his eyes and looked at the solemn and old figure at the head. The figure was also looking over. After a moment, the resolute warrior lowered his head and shifted his sight.

He glanced at the human sacrifice courts around. The nobles sat on the carpets with relaxed expressions, eating desserts mixed with maple syrup and honey, drinking cocoa with vanilla and chili, and talking loudly about the exciting game. From time to time, the defeated teams were escorted to the surrounding small pyramids, and then rolled down in cheers, adding a bit of bright red and sweetness to the temple area.

In this cruel era, everyone turned a blind eye to this level of bloodshed and got used to it. The nobles continued to talk and laugh loudly, enjoying the dried fruits of the four seasons, including sweet and sour cactus fruit, pineapple, qilin fruit, mami fruit, soursop, monstera fruit, and the delicious and popular black-fleshed persimmon.

Inside the court is the square of the temple area. The graceful dancers danced gracefully, the dedicated musicians played divine songs, and the solemn singers praised the gods. From time to time, a poet with inspiration would walk up to the high platform and recite a new poem, which would be exchanged for cheers or shaking heads. Occasionally, a great noble in the capital would come forward and show off his style in front of everyone, showing his erudition and heroism.

Various poems describing the Western Expedition were the most popular, and even foreign envoys tried to listen, asking in a low voice from time to time, and then exclaiming in a low voice.

Xiusok listened attentively for a while, and only heard something like "His Highness the God of Revelation turned into a running black wolf, projecting explosive lightning like thunder, so that the solid fortress collapsed", "The priests prayed to the Lord God to come, and turned the sacred tree into a roaring tree man, throwing indestructible stones". The resolute warrior then smiled with relief.

Xiusok smiled and led a large group of eagle warriors through the lively crowd. Soon, he came to the steps of the great temple. A team of temple warriors dressed in black wolves bowed their heads, saluted the two leaders, and then respectfully handed over two erected spears. This special spear is five meters long, with a large flag of the Lord God in the middle and a head with disheveled hair on each top.

Xiusok sighed softly, and his expression instantly became solemn. He took his spear and held it upright with both hands. Then, the resolute warrior looked up and saw that it was the fresh head of Tepetl. He glanced at Stanley's spear again, but the head on the top was dry and blurred, with the same glaring eyes.

"Who is that?"

Xiusok identified it for a moment and was sure that he had never seen it before.

"Haha, this is the head of Prince Tarasco, the commander of the southern route, Quius!"

Stanley looked at the head and laughed heartily, and then he sighed.

"This guy is a good fighter! He guarded the highest main pass in the southern route tightly and blocked us for almost a year! I led the team personally and charged several times, but was beaten back in disgrace, and even got an arrow in the knee. After Suanga escaped, he blocked us for more than a week. He is considered the most capable marshal in the Tarasco Kingdom!"

"Commander of the Southern Route Quius?"

Hearing this familiar name, Xiusok was a little surprised.

"Didn't he escape?"

"Haha, he escaped to the Mixtecs. If the fence-sitters in the Clouds could be trusted, domestic guinea pigs could fly up trees!"

Stanley looked at the Mixtec envoys in the distance and smiled disdainfully. These nobles in the Clouds were modest, never made big movements, and even spoke slowly. They wore gorgeous robes inlaid with gold and silver, and had shining hollow gold rings on their wrists and ankles, which looked very weak.

"Look, the Clouds entertained Quius with good food and drink for several months. As a result, when the news came that the king had defeated the Tlaxcala Legion, they immediately turned against him, drugged him, cut off his head and sent it to the Alliance to admit their mistakes and show their loyalty. Tsk tsk, look at the expression of his eyes wide open before his death, a hero of his life, how unwilling he must have been before his death!"

After hearing Stanley's words, even Xiusoke was a little emotional. He suddenly remembered a poem his son had said, which fits the Mexica people's concept of destiny and the current scene, so he recited it in a low voice.

"When the God of Destiny favors you, the divine sky and earth will give you the power of victory together! And when the God of Destiny leaves, even the heroes of the world can only sigh helplessly at defeat!"

"Huh? Xiusok, this poem is really good! Who said it? It doesn't look like you can think of it."

Stanley praised loudly, and then looked at Xiusok suspiciously.

Xiusok's old face suddenly turned red. But his son's poem, if he copied it, he could say bad things about me.

"Of course it's me!"

The two held spears in their hands, with their backs to the Great Pyramid Temple, and talked with a smile. The sun soon rose in the sky, and the sky was bright.

Suddenly, a frenzied cheering sounded from the square of the temple area. In a moment, it was like thunder, shaking the whole world! All the people in front of him, whether they were nobles, priests, warriors, or even foreign envoys, all showed sincere awe on their faces and prostrated themselves on the ground like fallen cornstalks!

The two leaders were suddenly solemn. They held their spears, bowed their heads, and knelt on one knee. There was only one possible way for such a show of submission, both inside and outside the home! Soon, hundreds of priests shouted a prayer of praise in unison. The prayer of praise rolled down from the heights, deeply shocking people.

"Praise the Lord! The great Sivacohuatl, the immortal sun of the Mexica people, the incarnation of the noble Lord, the supreme elder, has come to the world!"