The samurai spent a sleepless night in the ruins of the settlement.
It's still the second half of Mexico's dry season, which means it's early February according to the Gregorian calendar, so it hasn't rained overnight. Early the next morning, Shulot got up from the campfire and went to fetch water with Tels.
The most important luggage in the rainforest is food and clean water. It is impossible for a semi-safari settlement to have much food storage. The warriors simply plundered some bacon and cornmeal, but had no interest in the unknown wild vegetables, dried fruits and insects.
Orosh used strong sisal ropes to string the prisoners into two parallel strings, and then led Shulot and Tels, half of the team opened the way in front, and Makali and the remaining half of the team held down the formation at the rear.
The road in the rainforest is always rugged and difficult, with tall trees blocking the sky and colorful venomous snakes among the branches. Swamps and mud pits are spread underfoot, and among the water plants are poisonous frogs and mosquitoes.
This is a green desert, and every still pool contains parasites and poisons.
Fortunately, Orosh is both a brave jaguar warrior and an expert in jungle survival. He applied pungent ointment to everyone, and soon found a river, and the group meandered south along its relatively empty bank.
Walking along the dirt bank of the river, Shulot carefully kept a distance from the "dead trees" in the river to prevent "surprises" like American crocodiles. While curiously asking Orosh: "Teacher, where does this river lead?"
"This river is called Tampon. Going upstream along this river, we will pass through two alliance city-states. It only takes more than half a month for us to return to the holy city of Teotihuacan. We can walk south for three days. The capital of the Great Alliance, the homeland promised by the Sun God to us Mexica people, Tenochtitlan, the city in the lake.
What a majestic and beautiful city it is! There were a thousand canoes loaded with goods, a thousand chinampas filled with corn, a thousand communities filled with Mexica warriors, and a thousand great temples filled with boulders! There is the greatest city-state in the Alliance and the center of the world. That's where your family and I come from. "
Xiulote nodded. Tenochtitlan is the capital of the Aztec City-State Alliance and the richest and most powerful city-state. This magnificent city in the lake was eventually destroyed at the hands of Spanish colonists, which also represented the demise of the Aztec civilization.
Above the ruins of Tenochtitlan is Mexico City, which surrendered to God.
After thinking about the prosperity and beauty of the capital for a while, Shulot asked again: "Teacher, have you been to the lower reaches of the Tampen River?"
This time, it was Olosh's turn to be lost in memories. After a long time, he replied: "Many years ago, I followed the great Montezuma I to conquer the Huastec city-states. From here, we walked down the Tampen River for more than 20 days and passed through the mountains to the plains. .At the end of the plains and forests is the Huastec city-state of Cuxikapan.
Behind the city-state is an endless lake. The lake is the end of the world and leads to every corner of the world.
There were many remote islands in the lake, and tribesmen from the islands would come in small boats to trade feathers, pottery and cotton cloth. Legend has it that in the north of the Great Lake, there is a land of endless forests. There are only savages in the forest, and there will be terrible disasters every year, killing all life with white ashes. "
Shulot was stunned for a moment before he realized that the large lake was the Caribbean Sea, the islands were the Caribbean Islands, and the continent with forests and white snow was North America. There are no mountain ranges running east to west on the North American continent. Whenever winter comes, terrible cold currents will roll down from the Arctic, destroying all settlements and destroying budding civilizations again and again.
To the Stone Age and Early Bronze Age Aztecs, the Mesoamerican city-states with warm seasons meant all the world had to offer. In a rainforest with no roads, carriages or horses, walking for three to four months, up to five to six hundred kilometers, is the limit of understanding the world.
In this world, the Mayan cities in the Yucatan Peninsula in the southeast are foreign countries that are difficult to reach, the Caribbean islands in the East Lake are stories passed down by old people, and the Indian tribes in North America and the Inca Empire in South America are unknown legends, not to mention the distant lands. On the other side of the ocean, the Spanish conquistadors arrived unknown when.
Thinking about the unknown world and future, Shulot stopped talking and just followed Orosh silently. The road in the rainforest also consumed his physical strength greatly.
During the march, the team took a break because the scouts spotted a wild deer drinking water by the river.
Orosh ordered everyone to be silent. He stepped forward alone, took out a two-meter-long wooden spear, put the feathered end on the foot-long spear thrower, then raised the spear thrower with his right hand, and used the cover of the trees to bend his waist. Sneak silently.
Jaguar warriors seem to blend into the mountains and forests. He kept sneaking until he was thirty meters away from the target. The wild deer suddenly stopped drinking water, raised its head and looked around, seeming to be aware of it. At that moment, a shrill sound broke through the air, and then the wild deer fell heavily to the ground, losing its life in an instant.
All the warriors cheered together and shouted the name of "Jaguar". The prisoners in the distance couldn't help but show fear on their faces.
Shulot stepped forward to check, and saw that the spear was inserted into the heart of the wild deer, and the power was so strong that it came out through the body.
The boy was shocked by the accuracy and power of this long-range weapon. He said with half admiration and half envy: "Teacher, this spear throwing is so awesome, can I follow suit?"
Orosh also had a smile on his face, smiled, nodded and shook his head.
"I will teach you, but spear throwing cannot be mastered in one or two years. Soon you will enter the temple and start practicing as a priest. The alliance will never lack a Jaguar noble warrior, but every priest is sacred and important. .”
After that, Orosh set up camp by the river and started a fire, and asked Ters to collect the deer carcasses, skin them and smoke the meat. He also asked half of the warriors to hunt in the forest to replenish food. He himself took out an obsidian knife, reshaped the tip of the spear by the campfire, and then dried and shaped it over the fire.
The sharpness of wood and stone weapons may be comparable to that of early bronze weapons, but their durability is vastly different.
After trekking like this for two or three days, the altitude gradually increased, the trees became sparse, and the view broadened.
In the distance, Shulot finally saw a wisp of smoke rising, and sparse corn growing in the vast fields. Through slash-and-burn cultivation, there is only a vague outline of farmland, and a large village gradually appears at the end of the field of vision.
As the warrior team approached, the village suddenly heard the sound of sharp flutes.
Shulot saw chaotic figures gathering in the village, while Orosh led the team to stop in the wilderness about a hundred meters away from the village. Twenty warriors held shields and sticks, waiting quietly.
After a while, the team from the village swarmed out. More than two hundred strong men were holding various wooden sticks and stone spears. A dozen hunters were holding simple and fragile single bows and slings. At the front was a man wearing a feather on his head. The old man with silver jewelry.
The old man looked at the "Jaguar"'s costume, with a trace of uneasiness that could not be concealed on his face.
He hurried forward with several villagers, bowed and saluted: "Dear Jaguar Warrior, I am the elder of the village, what orders do you have for coming to our village?
We Huastecs have been subservient to the Great Alliance for more than a dozen rainy seasons, and the tributes are paid on time four times a year. The tribute gift at the beginning of this year was paid early. It is not yet the harvest season, and there is no food or fur in the warehouse. "
"The great Asiacatel has returned to the kingdom of the gods, and his brother Tisoke has ascended the throne as the new Tratoani. A grand coronation ceremony will be held this year!" Speaking of the coronation ceremony, Oluo Shi glanced at the village elder.
A trace of fear appeared on the face of the village elder, and he immediately knelt down: "We Huastec people have never wavered in our loyalty to the alliance. We are willing to pay more tribute to congratulate the great king on his accession to the throne."
"Very good. As long as you remain loyal to the alliance, you will not become a sacrifice in the sacrificial ceremony. We have just returned from capturing sacrifices in the northern jungle." Orosh pointed at the prisoners in the distance. "Now we need food for a hundred people for ten days, mostly tortillas and the rest black beans."
"Of course we won't take it for nothing." He looked at the unusually ugly expression on the village elder's face, and then looked at the two hundred armed men not far away. Orosh thought for a moment, then took out a bulging cotton bag and handed it to the elder. "Here are two palm-sized pieces of cotton cloth and two handfuls of cocoa beans. We have just returned from capturing prisoners and are in a hurry to return to the city. We will not stop in your village."
This sentence was like the last weight in the balance, and the village elder finally nodded bitterly.
The elder returned to the villagers and shouted a few instructions. There was a small commotion among the villagers, which quickly subsided under the scolding of the elders. Then two villagers went to the largest building in the village, carried two large bundles of corn tortillas, and each came holding a large clay pot in their hands.
Shulot saw them lowering their heads and handing the tortillas and clay pots into the hands of the warriors in fear. When he returned to the villagers, his expression turned angry again.
Olosh weighed the tortillas, opened the clay pot, took a sip of the black bean puree inside, then nodded to the village elder with satisfaction, and then waved back. The warriors put their obsidian war clubs behind their backs and walked away with the food and prisoners.
After walking for a while, Shulot looked back at the village in the distance. The villagers seemed to be gathering together with crude weapons, watching the warriors leave. Smoke still rose slowly from the village, and there seemed to be a fire burning quietly underneath.
