Chapter 487: The Siege of Shuigu City, the Fall of the South

"Hua! Hua! Hua!"

The black masses of young men carrying bamboo baskets came to the burning southern wall like moths flying into the fire. Soon, a large pile of mud and sand rushed over, the blazing flames were extinguished, and the pungent poisonous smoke was still spreading. From time to time, "moths" fell to the ground, unable to die quickly, but just fluttering on the ground in vain.

Seeing the death of the moth people, the Tlaxcala warriors who were supervising the battle turned a deaf ear. They just drove the moth people from a distance while looking nervously at the top of the city. Hundreds of corpses had fallen on the entire wall, and the blood flowed and solidified, like a dark red swamp.

"Boom! Boom!"

The golden beast spit out thunder again, hitting the top of the city where people's hearts were shaken, and hitting the rows of wooden shields. The solid wooden shields were like thin pottery, and they shattered in an instant with a "bang"! Countless sharp wood chips splashed and shot towards the warriors behind, bringing a scream.

"Ah! It's the evil beast of the Mexica people, it's the evil thunder!"

"Quick! Quick! Let the priests and elders of the holy city of Cholula come here! Hold a sacrificial ceremony, ask for the power of the god of hunting, and suppress the enemy's evil beast!"

The Lord of Mizutani, the glorious noble of Tlaxcala, "Black Snake" Turcot roared angrily. He was wearing gorgeous leather armor, a long feather crown on his head, and hundreds of personal guards, standing on a high platform behind the city wall. From this position, he could clearly see the situation outside the south city, and was out of the enemy's shooting range. Of course, you still have to be careful of the terrible thunder bronze beast.

"Quick! Warriors fill the vacancies! Militiamen carry shields and arrows! Everyone take the pottery jars of lime! The Mexica are assembling, they will attack soon!"

"Black Snake" Turcot gave orders quickly. He looked around and estimated the tens of thousands of Mexica troops, and his heart was full of regret. He pursed his lips, suppressed his strong anxiety, kept an eye on the enemies outside the city, and thought about the current situation.

"Too many! Too fast! How could the Mexica come so many and so fast!"

The Mexica's official eastward expedition began in December last year. In fact, the four states of Tlaxcala received intelligence from the priests of the holy city of Cholula as early as July and August that their old enemies had mobilized in large numbers.

In order to prepare for the war, the states harvested all the food in early October and then carried out a thorough mobilization. All tribal warriors were recruited, and the border fortresses were filled with warriors and militia. The noble descendants of the "Cloud Snake" gods of the Tlaxcala state also sent four messengers for help, rushing to the Huastec tribes in the north, the Totonac tribes in the east, the Mixtec Alliance in the south, and the Zapotec Alliance in the southeast.

At the end of October, the Mexica scout team began to operate on the border. In early December, King Avit of Mexica held a grand sacrificial ceremony in the capital of Tlatoani, announcing the departure of 100,000 warriors to launch a war of gods against the Tlaxcalans!

For the "100,000 warriors" and "war of gods" claimed by the Mexica king, "Black Snake" Turcot did not take it seriously before, and only regarded it as a false threat.

The "Flower War" between the two sides has been going on every year, and has been fighting for half a century. The Mexica people have made many large-scale eastward expeditions, but have not broken the Four States Alliance. And the Water Valley City he guarded is an important town in the south, located deep in the narrow valley of Tepeyacak State, and is a stone-built strong city!

Water Valley City is more than 100 miles away from the border fortress group, with towering walls and dangerous terrain. It is surrounded by mountains in the east and west, and the Talsa River flows through the north and south. It is not afraid of long-term siege and is extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack. In the past half century, the Mexica people have invaded Tepeyacak State many times, and they have stopped their troops at the foot of Water Valley City, and they can do nothing about the strong city.

At that time, when the news of the Mexica invasion was first heard, the city's priest elder Shilo laughed out loud and left a bold statement that he would let "the Mexica sacrifice 10,000 warriors' hearts to the God of Hunting under the Water Valley City!"

"Hey! Elder Shilo priest!"

Thinking of this, "Black Snake" Tercot sighed. He looked at the enemy camp in the south, and a white-haired feather crown head just appeared on the several-meter-long spear. Elder Shilo's body fell outside the city. As a senior priest who was shot, he would naturally receive the "honor" of hanging his head.

"God of Hunting! How can you bear to watch the people of Cloud Snake fall into despair!"

Tercot was desperate. He looked outside the city, and the mysterious black wolf king flag was flying high on the distant mountains. And the unfamiliar hound flag was erected in the siege camp outside the south city. As for the east and west sides of Water Valley City, different Mexica city-state flags were erected, symbolizing the familiar old rivals of each state. Only the north side leading to the hinterland had not been surrounded.

In early December, the Mexica divided into two armies, north and south, to attack the Four States Alliance. The northern army was led by King Avit, while the marshal of the southern army was His Highness, the "God of Death" of the Mexica, Shulot.

".He is the most noble descendant of the gods, who can listen to the enlightenment of the gods and use the power of the gods of war! He summoned the power of thunder and fire and destroyed the powerful Tarasco Kingdom with his own hands."

"Black Snake" Tercott recited the poems of the Westward Expedition from the Mexica Alliance in a low voice. Soon, a new round of fireballs rose from the enemy camp again, carrying burning smoke and falling into the city!

"Buzz!. Boom!"

Tercot lowered his eyes, unmoved. He firmly believed that under the protection of the "Cloud Snake", this kind of fireball would never hit him. Sure enough, the fireball flew past him on both sides with a roar, smashed into the hut dozens of meters away, and ignited a large area of ​​poisonous smoke. The moth people in the city were once again driven away by the warriors to extinguish the burning poisonous fire.

"Ahem! The breath of the volcano monster. What the priest of the holy city of Cholula said is true, but it's a pity!"

Turcotte coughed as he continued to remember.

From December last year to March this year, the enemy's situation was almost clear. The Mexica's southern army is estimated to number 50,000 people, including four formal legions, all composed of warriors who are good at fighting. Among these legions are Mexico's most elite royal warriors, city-state warriors recruited from the south, conquered Prepecha warriors, Chichimec descendants from the north, and even warriors from the far west. The Tekos warriors!

Thousands of warriors from different origins gathered together and served loyally under the Black Wolf's royal banner, pouring in towards the east like a tide!

At the end of December, the enemy's canine team on the south road was the first to cross the mountains in the west and broke into the valley where Shuigu City was located.

However, the Four-State Alliance of Tlaxcala is a true alliance of city-states, and the city lords of each city-state hold the actual power of the military in their respective states. "Black Snake" Turcotte, as the lord of Shuigu City, is the most powerful tribal leader in the southern Tepeyakake State. Together with the "Water Snake" honorable noble Akotel and the priest elder Shilo, he directly controlled more than 70% of the military and manpower of Tepeyaka State, and ruled more than 300,000 moth people!

In order to resist the Mexica invasion, the entire Tepeyacac ​​state was mobilized. By the end of December, a total of 12,000 Tlaxcala warriors from the state, 3,000 supporting Cholula warriors, and 30,000 mobilized tribal militia had gathered in the Shuigu City area!

Yes, after the Mexica Alliance announced its eastern expedition to the Tlaxcala Four-State Alliance, the Holy City of Cholula officially made the decision to join the Tlaxcala people.

At the end of December, messengers from the Holy City sent messages to all directions, requesting reinforcements from the various departments of the Nahua religion. At the same time, the priests of the Holy City also began to take action, preparing to join Tlaxcala's army and boost the morale of the soldiers.

Facing the cruel divine war of their old enemy, the Mexican Alliance, the Tlaxcala nobles everywhere had no possibility of surrender. There is a bloody feud between the nobles of both sides, and the loser will only be sacrificed. Their only choice is to gather all the warriors and militiamen to fight to the end with the sworn enemy who has been fighting for decades!

The entire Tlaxcala people mobilized and resisted tenaciously. The canine team that took the lead in breaking into the Shuigu City area did not achieve any results worth mentioning. Subsequently, thousands of canine warriors appeared in the western mountains and fought fiercely with the tribes guarding the mountains, staining the mountains with blood. The main force of the enemy on the south road, carrying the Black Wolf's royal flag, appeared in front of the mountain pass fortress group more than a hundred miles away in the south.

In early January, tens of thousands of Mexican troops built large camps and gathered outside the mountain pass fortress group on the border.

After a discussion between "Black Snake" Turcotte, "Water Snake" Akotel, and Shiloh priests and elders, "Water Snake" personally led the team and added a large number of reinforcements to the mountain pass fortress group. A total of 7,000 Tlaxcala warriors and 15,000 tribal militiamen were deployed along the entire southern border, relying on the mountains and fortresses.

In the view of "Black Snake", the southern defense line occupies a favorable location and has the support of Shuigu City. The warriors are full of fighting spirit, have sufficient food, and are equipped with many of the latest longbows. Not only are they indestructible, they are as stable as a rock and can last at least more than half a year!

The initial situation was indeed similar to what "Black Snake" had expected. The Mexicans dispatched thousands of city-state warriors and tried to attack some mountain pass fortresses, but they only left hundreds of corpses in vain. However, by mid-January, as the Mexicans built fireball-throwing wooden beasts, many of the lower-lying fortresses could no longer be defended. And at the end of January, when the heavy and large copper beasts were transported from the Texcoco Lake area, they roared like thunder and broke through the wooden camps.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The deafening thunder sounded from the south again, bringing an irresistible bombardment!

"Black Snake" Turcotte closed his eyes in pain and prayed devoutly to the God of Hunting.

"Supreme God of Hunting! Please send down your boundless divine power to shut up the opponent's copper beast and lose its roaring power! Your pious descendants will offer a blood sacrifice for you."

The first appearance of the Thunder Bronze Beast was shocking and even more sowing fear. The most critical mountain pass fortresses, even if they were built with solid stones on high mountains, all fell in one day!

Frightened by the roar of thunder, the Tlaxcala warriors fell to their knees before the power of the God of War, losing all will to resist. Thousands of warriors laid down their weapons and, with even greater numbers of militiamen, walked out of their mountain fortresses and surrendered to their old enemies, the Mexica.

By mid-February, most of the mountain pass fortresses that the Tlaxcala people had built for thirty or forty years and stretched for dozens of miles had been destroyed, leaving only the last few stone fortresses guarded by nobles. Of the seven thousand city-state warriors and fifteen thousand tribal militiamen who guarded the defense line, at least three to four thousand were killed in battle, and more than ten thousand were either captured or surrendered.

Within a month, the solid mountain pass defenses were broken through, and tens of thousands of Mexican legions poured in. "Water Snake" Acotel had no choice but to retreat tenaciously along the Talsas River with seven to eight thousand remaining soldiers.

The Tlaxcala people have the "God of Hunting" as their main god, and the "Cloud Serpent" incarnation of the "God of Hunting" is the noble bloodline of the god's descendants. All honorable nobles are related to "snake".

"Water Snake" Akotel never thought of surrendering. With his divine bloodline status, surrendering to the Mexica people would definitely lead to death. Along the way, he summoned the tribesmen along the way, and as a noble god descendant, he ordered the mountain tribes to resist guerrillas and delay the Mexica's advance.

In late February, the high priests of the holy city of Cholula arrived quickly and calmed the turbulent warriors in time.

".The Mexica god of war has fallen and colluded with the darkness under the ground! Those fire-breathing wooden beasts and thunder-breathing bronze beasts are not the power of the god of war, but the evil power of the volcanic demons! Look, warriors of the hunting god, those evil beasts still exude the breath of the crater! They will spread disease and darkness, and let the people of the hunting god never recover! .Fight, warriors! You must fight for the cloud snake and the land under your feet!"

The priests' words finally calmed the warriors' morale, but they could not change the balance of power between the two sides.

"Black Snake" sent the main force of the warriors in the city to support the defeated "Water Snake". Eight thousand Tlaxcala warriors fought head-on with the enemy's seven thousand dog-born legion, but were defeated by the hidden one thousand bronze-armored guards, losing more than half of their troops, and even "Water Snake" was almost killed in the battle.

In early March, "Water Snake" was forced to retreat to Water Valley City and join the "Black Snake" who was in charge. Together with the remaining reinforcements from Cholula, they only had six or seven thousand warriors left, completely losing the ability to fight in the field. However, the militia defending the city was still sufficient, with 15,000 people.

The southern part of Water Valley City has since fallen. Large areas of towns and villages, numerous tribes and warriors, were swept away by the Mexica army. Billowing black smoke rose from the south, and countless moth people were strung with hemp ropes and escorted to the southern sky, to an unknown distance.

". Where are the cruel Mexica people going to take them? Are the humble moth people worthy of being sacrificed to the gods?"

The roar of the cannons drowned out the desperate cries, and the warriors lined up to prepare for the charge to the city. When trapped in the city of sorrow, a strange question suddenly flashed through the mind of "Black Snake" Turcot. After a few breaths, he shook his head and didn't care about the fate of the moth people. Because now even the noble descendants of the gods can't save themselves!

"Supreme God of Hunting! Your descendants of the gods ask you again to shut up the opponent's bronze beast and lose the power to roar!"

As if they heard the prayer of "Black Snake", the gunners outside the southern city wall finally stopped their actions. They carefully touched the hot bronze cannon, pushed the hardwood gun carriage hard, and pulled the bronze cannon to the rear of the army. A moment later, the fierce sound of war drums sounded outside the south city, mixed with faintly audible pious shouts!

"Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom!"

"Praise the Lord!"

"Dedicate yourself to God!"

"Roar! Roar!"

Note: Black snake, Telcott tlilcoatl. Water snake, Acoatl acoatl.