Chapter 465: Alliance, Kingdom and the Sea

The sun was high, and the birds were singing. The warm sunshine illuminated the green forest, and the valley of the hot spring was brighter. The autumn wind blew from the forest, carrying the fragrance of grass and trees, and the water vapor of the hot spring, as if it was a fairyland on earth.

Xiuluot lowered his head, gently kissed the sleeping Alyssa, and got up from the straw bed covered with cotton blankets. He walked out of the wooden house beside the hot spring, and the bright sunshine came towards him, making him squint his eyes.

"I slept until noon"

The young man murmured, stretched his body, and did a simple warrior training, and then felt his waist and back sore and difficult to exert force. He looked back at the house and couldn't help sighing.

".Alas! The gentle land is really a hero's tomb. No matter how brave you are, you can't stand the day and night obsession."

Naxiu came silently with breakfast. Hearing the low sigh of His Highness, she couldn't help blushing and pursing her lips.

A few days ago, His Highness took some supplements and was a little too brave. The princess begged hard, but she couldn't bear it, so she had to resist a few times. Although she was proficient in martial arts, it was her first time in battle. She was killed and bleeding, throwing away her armor and weapons, and crying.

The next day, when the princess regained consciousness, she was ashamed, annoyed, and regretful. But as His Highness's shadow slave, she was not an outsider after all. According to the customs of the alliance, she had to serve His Highness after all. In the next few days, with an extra helper, the princess was gradually able to fight His Highness to a draw.

In the past two days, she finally got some tricks and used the priestesses' teachings one by one. The vocal music of the raccoon and the dance like a jellyfish made His Highness unable to resist.

Thinking of this, the cold female warrior stretched out her tongue and licked her upper lip gently. Then, she lowered it a little, put the tray under the ups and downs, and said gracefully.

"Your Highness, please have lunch."

Xiu Luote tilted her head slightly, saw Naxiu standing gracefully, and nodded. Then, he saw two avocados next to the tortilla, and his heart tightened inexplicably. In the Nahua language, avocados are also called "egg trees", which have special implications and effects.

"Naxiu, you."

"Your Highness, you need to replenish your body, otherwise at night."

Naxiu smiled and winked playfully. Then, she curled her red lips, stood on tiptoe, and made a fox call.

"Master, good master. Wow~"

"Uh!"

Xiu Luote's scalp was numb, and he felt a dull pain in his waist and back. He quickly changed the subject.

"Have the envoys of the kingdom left?"

"Not yet, but soon. The envoys rested for a night, and after lunch, they will travel day and night to return to the kingdom in the west."

"Well, very good!"

Xiu Luote nodded, stretched out his hand, and took out a document from his arms.

"Add another royal order to the commander of the Chihuaco Battalion of the Tuntian Corps."

"Yes!"

Naxiu put down her lunch and took the latest royal order. She glanced at it and saw only the pattern of a ship and the undulating waves.

The female warrior hurried away, and Shulot looked westward, his mood fluctuating.

The envoy of the kingdom brought news that this year's autumn harvest was good, and it was another bumper year from south to north. After the autumn harvest, the legions participating in the Eastern Expedition began to gather, and the footsteps of war were just around the corner!

The main forces of the 8,000 Guakili Legion and the 4,000 Guards Legion were all gathered at the estuary fortress on the banks of the Leman River in the north, waiting for the transportation of the kingdom's fleet. The 5,000 Tekos tribal warriors who surrendered during the southern expedition were all gathered in Zicao County on the banks of the Talsas River in the south, and were transported by the alliance and the kingdom's southern navy. The two routes in the north and south, plus the 3,000 guards in the Texcoco Lake area, are the kingdom's 20,000 troops!

According to the plan, the logistics of the 20,000 legions will be provided by the alliance nearby. The veteran general Etalik of Zicao County led the Zicao Legion and sent 500 warriors to the important place in the upper reaches of the Talzas River, Tal Village, to garrison last month. They will build a camp as soon as possible to control the upper reaches of the river and provide another guarantee for the logistical support of the southern army.

As for the internal defense of the kingdom, the monkey Kuluka guards the north to guard against the Chapala Lake area in the lower west; Ezpan guards the southwest to appease the Tekos tribe in the southwest; the jaguar Olosh guards the capital and takes charge of the situation of the kingdom. The three legions will not move lightly, nor will they participate in the eastern expedition.

After the miracle of the hot air balloon spread, the people's hearts in the kingdom became more stable. After the first batch of grain was harvested, the development of the Apa Plain in the south gradually got on track. At Lake Atoyak in Zicao County, the Southern Shipbuilding Company has been operating for more than half a year, launching several batches of catamarans and the first batch of crocodile paddle boats.

Further southwest, outside the mouth of the Talzas River, the iron mines of Black Rock Mountain have been set up and began to mine and smelt iron ore in small quantities. The age of iron is looming in the dawn!

According to the instructions left by Xiu Luote, the kingdom's senior bronze craftsmen were drawn out to explore the initial iron smelting technology together. They built a kiln and spent three months to produce the first furnace of iron - block smelting. The quality of the Black Rock Mountain iron ore is very low, and there are many impurities in the smelting of block smelting. The iron that came out of the furnace is very soft and sponge-like, and cannot be used directly.

Then, the craftsmen stuffed plant ash into the gaps in the iron blocks, repeatedly smelted and forged them, knocked out the impurities inside, and improved the quality of the iron. After two months of groping back and forth, it was not until the beginning of September that the first batch of usable iron blocks were produced. These iron blocks are still just wrought iron of insufficient quality, with insufficient hardness and strength, and cannot be used to make weapons, but only farm tools.

"Iron smelting technology is always slow from scratch. But as long as there is a beginning and a direction, there is hope for the future!"

Xuluot thought about it for a long time, his face was full of longing, and his body was filled with strength. After lunch and eating avocado, he saw the kingdom's envoys set off from the camp. The envoys bowed to the king in the distance to the south, and then ran to the north.

The long wind blew, and the autumn leaves turned slightly yellow. The group carried the king's order, crossed the mountains and ridges, and ran steadily all the way, almost without stopping.

They passed the edge of the capital in the lake and saw thousands of alliance warriors gathering from various city-states. They passed the villages on the shores of Lake Texcoco and saw thousands of civilians carrying autumn grain and transporting it to the granaries in the north and south. They boarded the paddle boats of the kingdom's navy, went west along the river, and traveled the 500-mile Leman River waterway to the estuary county in the north of the kingdom. Along the way, there were villages being mobilized on both sides of the river, and the militiamen trampled on the empty fields and headed east in groups. On the convenient river, countless canoes carrying warriors from the western city-states and tributes from various states marched to Lake Texcoco to gather.

The tribes of Tlaxcala are the old enemies of the alliance! The hatred of nearly a hundred years of fighting is deeply engraved in the hearts of the nobles of various states. Almost all the nobles of the city-states have relatives who died in the hands of the Tlaxcalans. For this eastward expedition, all the states of the alliance have mobilized and sent out warriors and militias! The goal of the war is not only to make the other side surrender, but to completely wipe out the descendants of the hunting god from the world!

The messenger continued to travel west and landed north of the river mouth fortress. Black Wolf Toltec, fully armored, led the Guakiri Legion and had been waiting by the river for a long time. He took the king's order for the eastward expedition, read it once, and then laughed with his head raised!

"Haha, the Eastern Expedition has finally begun! Brave warriors, skilled fighters, follow me east with your spears raised high! Kill all the nobles of Tlaxcala, rob all their wealth and women, and capture a group of serfs for the kingdom! I, Black Wolf, swear to the Lord God that I will give credit fairly and never rob anyone of their credit! Military merit will grant land, military merit will grant titles, and killing enemies will be rewarded! Awoo! Kill, kill, kill!"

"Awoo! Kill, kill, kill!"

Hearing the commander's mobilization, thousands of dog descendants excitedly howled, their killing intent boiling, like crazy. The wolf howls spread far away, echoing in the vast world, and also reaching the river mouth fortress not far away. On the fortress, the monkey Kuluka suddenly stood up, looked at the black wolf and the kingdom envoy by the river, and his eyes showed some envy and yearning.

"Let's go! General Barda, the king's order is coming soon, we have to go out of the city to greet it!"

The eagle warrior Barda stood aside, listening to the wolf howls of the dog descendants, frowning slightly. Then he nodded in response.

"That's right! Kuruka, I will send someone to gather 4,000 guards and prepare for boarding. The Eastern Expedition is long. When your highness's army returns victorious, we will have another drink together!"

"Okay! With the blessing of the Lord God, the Eastern Expedition will surely win!"

Kuluka responded with a smile, his eyes moving. He has been in charge of one side for many years and is no longer the ordinary civilian warrior he was back then. Among the six legion marshals in the entire Lake Kingdom, he is the most approachable and has good relations with all the generals.

"With the blessing of the Lord God, the Eastern Expedition will surely win!"

Balda nodded solemnly and strode out. Your highness is invincible in every attack and battle. As long as your highness is in command, the victory of the Eastern Expedition will be beyond doubt!

After a while, 4,000 elite guards gathered from the fortress barracks. These senior warriors were simple in their movements and indifferent in their expressions. They had long been accustomed to life and death. Compared with the dog-born warriors, their killing intentions were not obvious, and they used weapons to declare death!

The messengers sent two people to pass on the king's order and continued to run south. They walked through the vast fields, passed through the villages full of vitality, and then came to the capital city where the morning prayers were thundering in the morning light.

The two people rushed into the city from the north gate with the king's order. One went to the residence of the chief minister, the wise Jatiri; the other went to the military camp in the city to pass on the commander of the Jingji Army, Jaguar Olosh. The rest continued to run south, stepping on the fields after the harvest, to the two counties of Apa and Zicao in the south. When they arrived around the Patzcuaro military city, another person was separated from the team and went straight to the nearby Tuntian military camp.

The morning sun rose into the sky, illuminating the simple camp. The old militiaman Chihuaco was sitting outside the kitchen of the camp with his legs crossed, his waist bent, and a spear under his buttocks, happily eating corn cakes. This year's harvest is good, and the warehouse is full of grain. The garrison troops paid tribute and had enough food reserves, so they could finally grind some corn flour and make some cakes to eat on weekdays.

Chivaco chewed the cake carefully, without spilling even a trace of residue. After a long while, he finally finished a piece of cake, and suddenly felt relaxed all over, and his old face smiled like a flower.

"Huh! Eating corn cakes and enjoying the peaceful times, what a life. Tsk tsk!"

"Uncle, I've been looking for you for a long time, so you're here!"

Vezti, wearing a headscarf, holding his hands, and holding something in his pockets, hurried over. Seeing his uncle and father-in-law, he smiled like a wooden flower.

"Wooden, what are you looking for me for? You're in a hurry, like a thief, and you're not decent."

Chivaco raised his head, glanced at Vezti, and pouted in disdain.

"I'll give you a holiday in two days. You should dress up and look energetic, and go back to see Lu Wei. I have to stay in the camp and can't leave. You should work hard and leave a child for my family as soon as possible!"

"Ah? Another holiday? If I go out for two or three days, what will my brothers think of me! Besides, the matter of having a baby always depends on the blessing of the gods."

"You stupid idiot! If it doesn't work once, just try it twice, if it doesn't work twice, then ten times, but you can finally get it covered once! Besides, everyone in the field camp is just farming for the gentlemen and raising a family, no matter what What are you doing? You finally have a peaceful life, do you still want to lead people to the battlefield with a spear? Huh? Let’s see if I can’t kill you!”

Chihuaco raised his brows and stretched out his hand, as if to strike.

"Uh, uncle, don't fight! I won't go to the battlefield, not anymore."

Weziti was startled and took two steps back. Then, he scratched his head, looked around to see if there was no one around, and then proudly took out half a flat roasted agouti from his arms.

"Hey, uncle, look! I got some corn kernels last night and set up a few stone traps. Look this morning, hey, I got two rat pieces!"

The so-called slate trap is to get a heavy slate, support it diagonally on a thin wooden frame, set a trigger directly underneath, and place a few corn kernels. The greedy agouti will knock down the wooden frame if it wants to eat the corn kernels. Then the heavy stone slab will fall down completely with a "hula", and the agouti will be "snapped" and filmed into "mouse slices".

"Huh? Two roasted rat slices. You ate one and a half slices, so give me half a slice?"

Chihuaco scowled, pretending to be angry.

"No, I just ate half of one piece. There was also one piece that was dried and left for the reeds. She loves meat the most."

"Yeah, I've been talking for a long time, but it still sounds like a human saying."

At this point, both of them had smiles on their faces. Vezti sat close to him, while Chihuaco gnawed on rat slices. The morning sun shone in front of him, making him feel warm for a moment.

However, such peaceful time did not last long. Within a moment, a young militiaman came running from outside in a hurry.

"Uncle, uncle! Oh no, something big has happened!"

"What?!"

Chihuaco stood up with a "swish", an ominous premonition emerged in his heart. Wezti didn't even see it clearly, but there was a spear in the old uncle's hand. Then, Chihuaco looked serious and shouted in a deep voice.

"Xiao Yayuri, what happened? Tell me clearly!"

"The camp gate. Outside the camp gate, there is an envoy from the kingdom!"

"Hey! It turns out to be an envoy from the kingdom. What big deal is this?"

Hearing this, the old militiaman Chihuaco breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tell me, what is the purpose of the envoy? Is it to collect food from the camp, or to recruit soldiers to build canals?"

"None of that!"

Yayuli gasped several times before finishing his words.

"Uncle, he said, he said he wants to conquer you! The king wants you to get on the boat and go to some big lake in the west to find some small island with guano!"

"Ah! Conquer me?!"

Chihuaco was stunned on the spot as if struck by lightning. The spear in his hand "clacked" and fell heavily to the ground. It bounced a few times and sounded a clear copper sound, like the waves of the sea.

"My God, you are blind again."

Chihuaco murmured. After a while, he grimaced and let out a helpless sigh.

"Hey! Damn it. This day is finally here!"