The priest's palace complex was divided into two levels. The guards on the ground floor wear animal helmets, yellow robes, and are dressed like jaguars and eagles. The acolytes wear solid-colored cloaks or waistcoats and carry wooden boards with images on them.
The three of them climbed up the granite steps to the second floor of the palace complex, and walked in front of an extremely tall palace. Shulot vaguely heard the sound of fierce arguments coming from the palace. There also seemed to be "war" and "Otomi" in the sound.
At the entrance of the palace, a huge colorful curtain was flying. In the center of the curtain is the unusually tall Sun God, God of War, and patron saint of Mexica, Huitzilopochtli, who is the main god of the Mexica Union. Long dark green feathers cover the back half of the main god's body, radiating around like the sun.
Beside the curtain at the palace door are two guards wearing wolf heads and black robes.
One of them cast a questioning look at Acap. Acap pointed at Orosh and Xuelote, and then pointed to the right. The guard nodded and gave Xuelote a message through the gap in the wolf's mouth. A toothy "ferocious" smile. Shulot rolled his eyes. Next to him, Orosh was very worried and didn't know what he was thinking.
Acap then led the two of them to the right. Shulot asked in a low voice: "What are the high priests discussing in the main temple?"
"You'll know later." Akapu smiled, but did not answer, and seemed to suddenly have something on his mind.
After a while, the three of them came to a side hall. There was also a giant curtain at the door of the side hall. On it was a god with hands raised in the air and a human-like dog head, looking up at the sky. He has a bright red tongue, dark black feathers and a crown, as if he is about to leap up from the bright red throne at any time.
This is the god of thunder and death, the night star god who escorts the sun, Shulotel, and the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl.
The guards in the side hall were much more enthusiastic, "Xiao Shulot, are you back? How was the hunting? Was it stained with blood? Did you capture any prisoners?"
Xiulote nodded and shook his head, and followed Acap forward without saying a word.
Entering the side hall, you are faced with a low stone table with a wooden board on it. A burly man in his thirties was sitting cross-legged on the ground, wearing a painted red robe, a dark green feather crown on his head, and a silver guard ring on his wrist. He is holding a wooden pen with a tip made of tough hair. He is dipping it in black paint and tracing two patterns on the wooden board like writing or painting.
Shulot took two steps forward and saw that the square pattern in front was a shield and a club, and the square pattern in the back was a corpse wrapped in a white cloth. He and the man in front of him had studied writing and knew that the meanings of these two hieroglyphs were "war" and "death".
The man raised his head, revealing a chiseled and resolute face. He has deep eyebrows, a high bridge of nose, and a confident look. The man's eyes were piercing. He first fell on Shulot, a smile formed on his lips, then he looked at Acap and nodded. Finally looking at Orosh behind him, laughter burst out.
"Welcome back, my warrior! Welcome back to you, my son! You have come back at the right time." The man stood up, showing his tall muscular body. Then he spread his arms out in a welcoming gesture, "The war is about to begin!"
"Good news, Captain Shusok! When? Who are we going to fight?" Orosh also raised his arms in return and asked excitedly and surprised.
"A few days ago, a messenger came from Tenochtitlan, bringing an order from the new Tratoani: The king wants us to start mobilizing. The coronation war will begin next month, and the target of the expedition is Austria in the northwest. Tomi, on the grounds that the Otomi refused to pay tribute to the alliance.”
Shusok and Orosh exchanged arms, and then asked, "How was this capture?"
"I took Shulot and the newcomers to visit the Huastecs in the north and captured dozens of canine savages. The Huastecs were quite respectful and had plenty of food. It seems that the northeast is the closest. There won’t be any big problems.”
Orosh thought for a while and added: "Xulot's physical fitness and martial arts are both good. In this operation, he killed a quasi-soldier. There are just too many questions and he wants to know everything."
At this point, Orosh grimaced: "There are some numbers and truths. How can I, a soldier, answer them?"
"Haha, he can stump my number one warrior commander. It seems that this boy has grown a lot." Shusok smiled and patted Shulot on the head. Well, it hurt a little.
"Are the city-states planning to send troops this time? How many troops will they send?"
"Of course, as a relative of the king, the city-state will definitely send troops to respond. The priests and elders have been discussing the specific amount of troops sent all morning. They should know it when the high priest comes back. But the king has announced that Tenochtitlan Three elite Hikipili regiments, or eight thousand men, will be mobilized. Texcoco and Tlacopan will each mobilize one elite regiment, and then the villages under the three cities will mobilize five civilian regiments."
"Then the three cities of the capital will mobilize a total of 10 8,000-man regiments, which is 80,000 people?" Shulot took a breath, 80,000 soldiers?
"Oh, Shulot is really good at mathematics." Orosh was also a little surprised. "When the rainy season is coming, mobilizing an army of 100,000 people to go to the north to attack the mountain cities of the Otomi people? This is not a wise choice. "
"Yes." Shusok put away his smile and nodded slowly, "The city-state in Salco in the south can mobilize at least two regiments, one each in Vacitepec and Kuonavac, and one in the north. The two nearest regiments to Weipuchtlan will be mobilized. Tepanicapan, Tolocan, and Lachico in the west can send out at least 4 regiments. In the east, in order to prevent the Tlaxcalans, they cannot be moved. In total, it should be It’s 20 groups of 8,000 people.”
"There is definitely no need to worry about the frontal battlefield. Even if all the city-states of the Otomi people send reinforcements, they will only have about 10 regiments, and their combat effectiveness is incomparable to that of our elite warriors." Orosh patted his chest confidently .
"But 20 regiments require at least 100,000 civilians. And in the wet rainy season, the food consumed every day is countless. The Otomi villages in the north have always been poor and cannot plunder much food. Once the Otomi people hide in the city-state If we stay here and the war drags on, we will be in trouble."
"This is where my worries lie." Shusok pinched Shulot's face subconsciously. Well, it still hurt.
"But the Huastek in the northeast provide a large amount of tribute every year, so it makes no sense and no good to attack them. The three-ethnic city-state alliance in the south has been quite respectful in recent years, and they are connected with each other. Throwing a stone will definitely cause ripples in the pond.
Tarasco in the west has a strong fighting force, and we were defeated two years ago. Not to mention Tlaxcala in the east, if we want to fight, everyone will be mobilized, and everyone is not ready yet. After much calculation, the king probably had no choice but to choose the Otomi people in the north. "
"In the final analysis, we still bully the weak and fear the strong." Orosh said dissatisfiedly, "How can the king not have the heart of a warrior?"
Orosh paused, then lowered his voice and said, "The prestige of the new king has not been established yet. If we fight against the enemy Tlaxcala or the powerful Tarascos, even if we lose, no one will have any complaints. But fighting against the weak and cunning Otomi people won't gain any benefit at all. Not to mention defeat, even if the victory is less, everyone will be dissatisfied."
Shusok smiled and nodded with deep approval: "Olos, your talent is more than enough to be the leader of an elite warrior group."
"It's a pity that our city-state doesn't have eight thousand warriors to bring me." Orosh laughed.
"It will happen in the future, I promise!" The two looked at each other and laughed at the same time.
While Shulot was listening in a trance, he saw Akap walking in from outside the palace. He didn't know when he left.
All I heard was Acap smiling and saying softly: "Captain, the high priest has finished the meeting and is on his way over now."
