Maybe it was because he was taking prisoners, maybe he met a creditor, or maybe he heard some news from the military nobles of the city-state. Early the next morning, Orosh's roar urged everyone to get up and walk along the flat river. The dirt road heads south.
Since entering the Mexican plateau, the road south has been comfortable and safe.
It's the end of Mexico's dry season and it's still cool and dry. The sky is clear and the clouds are clear. There's no annoying rain in the lowland jungle, and the roads are flat enough. The villages along the way are bustling with people, shaded by fruit trees, and cacti and yucca are endemic crops of the highlands.
On both sides of the river are countless high-yield floating fields, Chinampa. Canoes shuttle on the river, and business travelers are constantly coming and going.
This is the actual control area of the Aztec city-state alliance. The core of the empire composed of more than a dozen Mexica city-states encompasses the essence of the Valley of Mexico. After entering here, Orosh's mood improved significantly, and he would tell Shulot the story of the "Great City-State Alliance" when he had time.
According to Xiulote's understanding, Lake Texcoco is the "heart of the alliance" and quickly communicates with the city-states along the lake.
The center of the empire was the Three Sacred Cities. Tenochtitlan was in Lake Texcoco, Texcoco was on the east side of the lake, and Tlacopan was on the west side of the lake. The leaders of the three city-states were the Alliance at the same time. According to the words of Shulot's hometown, the co-ruling monarchs are the big leader, the second leader and the third leader. As for who has a higher status, of course it depends on the strength of the troops that the three cities can mobilize.
In order to facilitate memory, Shulot mentally added a label to the three cities according to their geographical location and current situation: Tenochtitlan, Xianyang, the heart of the empire, and the unparalleled stone city. Texcoco, Anyi, is a prosperous cultural center with an independent heritage. Tlacopan, a stronghold of Yongcheng, is close to the former capital of the Tepanec people.
A circle outside the three cities, the dozen or twenty Mexica city-states within two weeks of communication from Tenochtitlan, are the core of the empire and the places that can be actually controlled.
According to Orosh's description, the northeast is roughly bounded by the city of Metztitlan that has just passed by. Further northeast are the "loyal subordinate" Huastec people who have surrendered for more than ten years and have an average population. From there the empire received vast quantities of grain, hides, and feathers every year.
Xiulote drew a circle in his heart and wrote down the words "similar to the Yan Kingdom, located in the northeast, with medium strength, diplomacy and tribute".
To the west and north are the "hyenas and hyenas" Otomi people who are constantly being driven away by conquests.
In the past hundred years, the Otomi people were driven out of the fertile Valley of Mexico by the Mexica and Nahua people, and dispersed to the north, but they often established new city-states on the frontier. They had a large population, and their frontal force was not too strong, but they were tenacious and forbearing enough. Shulot drew another circle in the northwest and noted that "similar to the Xiongnu, located in the north, with medium strength, and diplomatic hostility."
The southwest is bounded by the city of Lachico, and further west is the tough enemy "hard stone" Tarascans, who have "incredibly hard" bronze weapons and are the only source of copper in the known world.
The only disastrous defeat the empire suffered was in the war with Tarasco two years ago. There were several bloody fierce battles in which at least three legions of 8,000 people were killed.
Tenochtitlan once issued a city-state mobilization order, with one soldier per household, forming a large army of 100,000 people. The Tarasco City-State Alliance was also frightened by the empire's terrifying war potential. It withdrew from the empire's territory and turned west and north to clean up the small Tekos city-states.
A tacit and stable peace is maintained between the two countries. Shulot drew a large circle in the west and noted that it was "similar to Chu, located in the west, with many troops and diplomatic neutrality".
A little further south are the Jontal people, who are "like weeds in the wind". They are distributed on both sides of the Balsas River. They have a sparse population and have submitted to the empire for many years. Some Mexican immigrant towns have begun to rise in this area.
Shulot's label is "similar to Rong Di, located in the south, with few troops, and diplomatic ministers."
Further south, to the Pacific coast, are the "weak" southern city-states, from west to east, the Trapanics, the Miztecs, and the Zapotecs. These city-states were close to each other by blood. Under the conquest of "The Great Montezuma I", they were forced to surrender to the empire and pay tribute, but they also formed alliances with each other to jointly resist the pressure of the empire.
The label the young man wrote down was "similar to Song Wei Zhongshan, located in the south, with medium strength, diplomacy and tribute".
Beyond the mountains in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico, and further east, are the empire's "life and death enemies", the Tlaxcalans, who have been at war for decades.
The Tlaxcala and the Aztecs are both descendants of the Chichimec-Nava people. They have similar languages, cultures, and blood, but they have deep hatred after countless wars. Similar to the Aztec confederation, the Tlaxcalans also formed a city-state confederation, with the core being the four cities of Tizatlán, Ocotolco, Tepetiquepaque and Chiavistlán.
Tlaxcala has a similar military system, capable of mobilizing an army of more than 100,000 people, and is the empire's most dangerous enemy.
In fact, it was the Tlaxcalans who introduced the Spanish to Mexico in the end, providing the Spanish with a foothold, detailed information, sufficient food, and even 100,000 servants and cannon fodder. Finally, taking advantage of the Aztec civil strife, Tlaxcala and the Spaniards were actively invited by Montezuma II to enter the capital. Smallpox deliberately spread by the colonists destroyed the lake city of Tenochtitlan. The disease wiped out the Aztec civilization and the Tlaxcalans themselves.
During the ten years of blood and fire, it was the people of Tlaxcala who dyed the throne of the governor of New Spain red with their own blood and that of other Central American tribes!
Thinking of the future in history, Shulot palpitated. He drew a circle in the east and wrote down "Similar to the Zhao Kingdom, located in the east, with many troops and never ending the war." After thinking for a while, he wrote down four words: "The highest threat." .
To the east, connected to the Tlaxcala League, is the religious city-state of Cholula with "high status". Cholula is the center of the Nahuatl religion, a city of temples, beautiful and wealthy. There were not many warriors, but they enjoyed a special status among the city-states. Upon hearing this, Shulot labeled it "similar to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, located in the east, with few troops and aloof status."
Further east from Tlaxcala and Cholula, to the Gulf Coast, are another relative of the Mexica, the "most Maya-like" Nahua-Totonac.
The Nahua-Totonac people expelled the Otomi people together with the Mexica people, and then settled on the coast. They almost exclusively enjoyed the trade with the Maya people, and then re-exported them inland. Their boats were said to have visited "the great islands in the great distant lakes."
The geographical environment has affected the direction of politics. Decades of coastal trade and prosperity have made the Nahua city-states rich, but they have also lost the martial and warlike characteristics of their relatives. They sold salt, feathers, leather and other strategic materials to the Tlaxcalans in exchange for peace and staying above the disputes in Central America.
Shulot happens to have a suitable label "similar to the Qi State, located in the east, with medium military strength, and diplomatic neutrality".
As for the more distant Mayan city-states, they are somewhat distant and elusive. Orosh had only vaguely heard the names of important city-states such as "Mayapan", "Chichen Itza", and "Chactemal", or he heard it from the mouth of a Mayan profiteer who didn't want to remember it.
The temperament of the Mayan city-state is much more peaceful than that of the Mexican tribes. The scale of wars and sacrifices is smaller, and it is located deep in the rainforest in the southeast, which is difficult to reach. Shulot randomly found a label, "Similar to Baiyue, located in the southeast, the details are unknown."
A few days passed by in small talk. After listening to the stories along the way and memorizing a circle of labels, Shulot almost emptied the ink in Orosh's belly, and then slowly digested it with satisfaction. The pleasant trip was always short. It was only one day before he could return to his home in this life, the ancient city of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico.
This trip is real and vivid. For Shulot, this world is finally no longer a completely unknown stranger and fog, nor is it a cold number and result. There are some real emotions in his memories, a touch of softness, a bit of persistence, a bit of curiosity, and a kind of pursuit and desire.
"Maybe there is still some optimism." He thought, drew a circle in the center of the Mexico Valley, and wrote down the last label: "Magnificent, Great Qin"!
