Chapter 666: East, West, South, North, the Kingdom Continues to Expand!

There are thick vines and lush grass. Migratory birds are heading north, and cardinals are singing in courtship. It's a spring day, and the Tlaxcala Plateau is filled with life. Birds and beasts rejoice in the sparsely populated basin. They fly all the way to the west, singing happily. It wasn't until they bumped into the continuous camps, met the patrolling Mexica scouts, and accurately struck the hunting bone arrows that they let out their dying screams and became the fragrant meat of the warriors at night.

"Good! The meat is crispy and tender, neither greasy nor fishy. It is delicate and pure, with a unique taste and a long-lasting aroma. You will have a long aftertaste after taking one bite. It is really the best game!"

Smoke rose from the main camp of Shushen City, and it was dinner time. Shulot sat cross-legged in the big tent, tasting the wild goose carefully cooked by the chefs. He stretched out his chopsticks, added a piece of goose meat, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly, with satisfaction on his face.

The goose meat is very tender, similar to chicken, but with a little more chewiness and flavor. The prey was hunted by the scouts at noon. In the afternoon, they used spices to remove the fishy smell, marinated it with sea salt to add flavor, then simmered it in a copper pot over low heat, and then added chili peppers to stir-fry until fragrant. Then in the evening, it is delivered to the king's table to ensure that it is fresh and tender enough.

"Smell the aroma of wild goose meat, the gods want to break their hearts."

The aroma spread in the big tent, and the aroma of wine and fruit blended together. Shulot ate the tender goose meat, drank a light tequila, then ate a soft tamale, and tasted some sweet dried fruits. Finally, he let out a long breath of relief and waved the dinner away. Then, a maid brought refreshing scented tea, lit refreshing incense, and then massaged the king's head. It was really a decadent aristocratic life.

The aroma of food dissipated from the ceiling, and the comfortable incense rose again in the tent, which also meant that the short-term enjoyment came to an end. Shulot sat cross-legged, straightened his spine, looked solemn, and began to deal with the reports from various states.

"Okay! Five days ago, Black Wolf captured Wushan City, captured 20,000 people, and collected 3,000 surrendered troops!"

The first document was the good news from the black wolf Toltec, who came from three to four hundred miles to the east. Shulot looked at the crooked words and pictures on the document and raised the corners of his mouth. The artillery battalion of the Guards has been temporarily handed over to the Black Wolf Legion under the leadership of battalion commander Tupa. Tupa was originally a personal guard of Toltec, and the two sides cooperated tacitly. Within ten days of its arrival, the artillery battalion captured Wushan City, the important western town of the Totonac people.

"In the past few months, the Southern Route Army captured 30,000 Tlaxcala old and weak men, and another 30,000 Totonac young men. Add to this the 20,000 people here, and there are another 80,000 people."

Xuellot found Bertard's letter from a few days ago, flipped through it, and nodded.

The garrison camp outside Shuigu City has been prepared. The 50,000 or 60,000 early prisoners have been divided into camps and are under the management of priests and warriors. Two thousand Tlaxcalans who were stationed last year were left in the camp. On the one hand, they could appease the captives, and on the other hand, they served as the backbone of the camp to facilitate organization and work.

In short, the Tuntian camp is operating in an orderly manner and has strong digestion. It opens its hungry mouth, waiting for more captives!

"Now that the Five Mountain City has fallen, the Totonac people have lost their western barrier, and the rich seaside land has opened its doors. All the coastal Totonac states will be shaken! At this moment, I am afraid that the envoys from the coastal states are all here On the way to Trochititlan, the capital of the lake, the coalition forces of various states will be truly formed."

Shulot unfolded the map and pointed eastward. He walked further east from the plundered Five Mountain City Valley, passed through the lowland hills for a hundred or two hundred miles, and arrived at the Totonak coast. And here, various parts of Totonak are scattered and gathered near various city-states, with tens of thousands of people!

"Going east from Wushan City, one hundred and fifty miles due east is the holy ancient city of Quetzalcoatl, and more than two hundred miles to the southeast is the prosperous Jinwan City. Black Wolf requested that he want to continue sweeping eastward and capture more people! "

Shulot stretched out his finger and rubbed it for a while on the unfolded map of the world. The eastern coast has never been so close before his eyes! This "accidental" military action happened very suddenly and quickly reached its climax.

"Nominally, the Totonac people are vassals of the alliance. This crusade is to punish their divine nobles for accepting the Tlaxcala people. After more than two months of fighting, Black Wolf captured the fortified city with a small force. The Five Mountains City sacrificed the gods and nobles in the city. After receiving such shocking news, the Totonac states would definitely mobilize a large number of militiamen to defend the city, form a tribal coalition, and at the same time send peace envoys to the capital in the lake. "

Xiulote tapped the ebony table and deduce the development of the situation. Two months ago, he reported to King Avit about the conflict on the eastern border. The king remained noncommittal and maintained his acquiescence. But according to some letters sent secretly, the next target of the alliance must be the Mixtecs and Zapotecs who directly rebelled during the Eastern Expedition.

"After all, the Alliance has many vassals, and the Totonac people did not openly rebel against the Alliance. In order to appease the hearts of the many vassal tribes, they waited for the envoys from the Totonac states to arrive at the capital city in the lake, crying everywhere, lying on the ground and promising more tribute. The king's decree of mediation will probably arrive in one month! And within two or three months, this 'unexpected' military expedition should be over in due course!"

"Just accept it when you see it. You can't really use a partial army to march thousands of miles to attack the more than 800,000 Totonak tribe. Oh, after the fall of Wushan City, the Totonak tribe should only have more than 700,000 people. ”

Thinking of this, Shulot made a clear decision and made a decision.

"Within two or three months, Black Wolf must gain a solid foothold on the eastern coast! With this foothold, the kingdom can build ships along the coast and project more warriors to the Eastern Maya and Cuba! And! This is a foothold that needs to be conquered.”

Shulot stretched out his finger and wandered between the Ancient City of Quetzalcoatl and Golden Bay City for a long time, thinking and weighing.

Which city-state has weaker defenses? There is no doubt that it is the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl. The ancient city of Quetzalcoatl is a religious city-state, attracting believers from all tribes, and it is also an open market city-state. It has no walls, just simple wooden palisades. Jinwan City has low stone walls and is a central town similar to Wushan City.

Which city-state has fewer armies? Or the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl. The number of tribes in each state should be similar, but the area around Jinwan City is richer and the tribes are slightly better. Likewise, it is closer to the east and has access to more tribal reinforcements.

From a military perspective, the answer is clear. But from a popular point of view, the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl is the western holy land of the Totonak people. According to legend, the city of Quetzalcoatl goes out to sea and crosses eastward! The capture of this place means that the kingdom of the lake and the divine nobles of Totonac, regardless of the east or west, have completely formed a great feud!

Facing thousands of fierce kingdom warriors, the Totonak people in the west could only grit their teeth and endure. And if the expedition fleet of several hundred people returns and stops in the city-state of the Totonak people in the east. At that time, what will happen to the descendants of gods who are hostile to each other?

"Phew! I don't know where the kingdom's expedition fleet has arrived? It has been more than four months and it must have arrived in Maya, but have they found Cuba?"

The divine smoke curled up in the tent, the moonlight fell from the ceiling, and the night was exceptionally bright. Shulot stood up and looked at the eastern sky, thinking about the expedition fleet going out to sea, just like thinking about a kite with a broken string. In this era, sailing on the sea always risks the test of life and death. However, the era of great navigation has begun, connecting the entire world together!

"The Great Navigation Quetzalcoatl, the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl."

After a moment, Shulot thought of something and his expression became stern. Killing intent appeared in his eyes, he turned around and sat back down, his fingers came down heavily, and he pointed at the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl. Then, he picked up his pen and wrote, using the most common language, to give orders to Black Wolf.

"Hei Lang, you captured Wushan City and captured tens of thousands of prisoners. I am very happy! When you come back, you can ask for any reward you want. But you have to continue to fight eastward. Within two months, give it to me Fight to the seaside and capture the ancient feathered serpent city! Don’t leave any of those ancient feathered serpent priests and divine nobles behind!”

As he wrote this, Shulot lowered his eyes slightly. This simple sentence announced that thousands of heads would fall to the ground. But the spread of faith is always accompanied by blood and fire, and unifying the world also means cruel killing. Now, it is the end of the Warring States Period in Central America and the beginning of the Age of Discovery!

"Go ahead and do it. Clear out the upper levels of the Ancient City of Quetzalcoatl! I'm here in the Alliance to guide you. When you take down the Ancient City of Quetzalcoatl, don't destroy it, keep the temple and the walled city, and station and defend on the spot. Okay. To counterattack, you can continue to capture prisoners, but do not further attack the Totonak city-state and trigger a full mobilization of all ministries. King Avit is likely to intervene. As for the specific situation, it will be clear when the alliance envoy arrives! "

"And if there are tens of thousands of captives captured, there is no need to transfer them all back. You can station your legion on the spot and let the prisoners farm, cut down trees, and dry the wood. The shipwrights of the Kingdom will come east within two or three months. . The kingdom will establish a new shipbuilding company on the coast of the East China Sea to build long ships that can cross the sea as soon as possible. "

After writing this, Shulot pondered for a moment. He turned his head to look south, with a bit of reluctance in his eyes, but he still wrote.

"Hei Lang, you have to establish a solid foothold on the Eastern Coast and manage it patiently for several months. The Eastern Coast is more than 600 miles away from the main camp of Tree Snake City. Everything depends on your own decision! If the food supply is insufficient, Ask the Silver Crow tribe in the northern Crow City for support. After the autumn harvest, Bertard will lead his troops east and replace you!"

Shulot finished writing the long letter, stamped it, and handed it to the captain of the guard, Eckart. Eckart skillfully sealed the royal order and then personally handed the letter to Shanpao's bodyguard. The personal guard hid the letter in his uniform, and then ran toward the east overnight, escorted by a team of twenty warriors. They will travel eighty miles a day and arrive at Wushan City within five days. And this is already the fastest messenger in the kingdom!

"With the current level of communication, if it exceeds four to five hundred miles and takes more than ten days to go back and forth, power must be decentralized. And if it is further away, eight to nine hundred miles apart, each department can only govern itself! As for Maya, which is three thousand miles away, five thousand Cuba inside and out”

Shulot's thoughts drifted away and his expression was gloomy. After a while, his thoughts returned to the wilderness a thousand miles away.

At this moment, Qingqiu County, established by Otomi Palms State, is under the autonomy of Poet County Yinbalamo, and there has been only one round-trip communication for two months. According to Paramo's latest letter, he has formed a tribal army of 8,000 people, attacking in the wilderness to subdue the canine tribes migrating south. He also sent two thousand tribal warriors, led by the red cat chief Mizli, to quietly go east, join the Red Crow tribe's raiding team, and go south to plunder the northern tribes of the Huastec people.

However, Qingqiu County has insufficient food, barren land, and a low degree of development. It cannot support many retired warriors and must obtain the support of the Southern Kingdom.

After the New Year, the poet Balamo went to the southern estuary county and transported four or five thousand poor dog tribesmen, and exchanged a large amount of food, hundreds of armors, and thousands of spears from the monkey Kuruka. The monkey added these four or five thousand dog tribesmen to the various flag teams, and pulled out more than a thousand tribal warriors. After all the equipment was complete, they were incorporated into the dog militia.

In early February, the monkey Kuruka dispatched another four thousand spear warriors and recruited eight thousand dog militiamen to plunder the Chapala Lake area downstream. The Guamal dog tribe in the north sent out 20,000 tribal warriors and marched south in large numbers. The two sides attacked from both sides, looting wantonly, and the flames were surging. The Feather Prince was forced to shrink to the southwest, abandoning the north and east of Lake Chapala, and relying on rivers and lakes to defend with difficulty.

The letter that just arrived was a war report from the monkey Kuruka. The army looted and traded with the Guamal Dogs, and robbed 20,000 young and strong men and women of Purepesa, preparing to settle them in the county.

"Your Highness! After continuous battles, Hekou County has prospered and has a population of 280,000 to 290,000. It will be restored to its peak of 300,000 before the Western Expedition in just a few years. The endless spoils of war also flowed from the battlefields of the east and west into various towns and villages, making the flags of the Dogs rich. If you return to Hekou County, you will be surprised!"

After reading the monkey's letter, Xiu Luote smiled. The prosperity of Hekou County is naturally built on the decline of the Chapala Lake area. The monkey Kuruka went west to plunder repeatedly, echoing with the Guamal people, making the Feather Prince stretched and unable to resist. Over the years, although there has been no major war, the Chapala Lake area has become like a bare dead tree, with branches cut off one by one by an axe, leaving only the last rotten wood.

"As long as the kingdom mobilizes three legions and marches along the Leman River, it can completely eat up the ripe fruit of the Chapala Lake area! However, I can't leave such a great feat of conquest to others, I must lead it myself!"

Xuluot looked at the map of the kingdom and fell into deep thought. It is easy to conquer the Chapala Lake area, but it is more difficult to establish the rule of the kingdom across 600 miles than war, and it requires a huge investment of manpower and material resources!

"Huh, a thousand miles of wasteland in the north, a distant seashore in the east, the lower reaches of the Leman River in the west, and the mouth of the Talsa River in the south. The kingdom's hand has stretched too long, so long that it can't be clenched into a fist. And am I too greedy and too eager?"

Xuluot reflected on himself and looked towards the south of the kingdom again. The fertile Apa Plain with a thousand miles of land and the Talsa waterway extending for two thousand miles are the focus of the kingdom's efforts. At this moment, in order to consolidate the kingdom's internal structure, establish faster connections, and consolidate the kingdom's long-term ruling foundation, a new construction plan has already emerged from his pen!