The rainy season in August is intense, with showers accompanied by strong winds and dark clouds covering the sky. There was darkness between heaven and earth, and it also dimmed the face of the messenger from Xilotepec City.
Shulot habitually stood on the edge of the tent, but was pulled by Totec's strong arms. The commander-in-chief with his shaved hair and tattooed face gave Shulot what he thought was a kind smile. Shulot trembled and had no choice but to stand beside him.
This time, the leader of the envoy was a noble. He wears a blue pointed leather hat, a green striped cloak, and a white robe embroidered with the sun, perfectly avoiding all colors related to the gods of day and night.
The figure of a noble is naturally much softer and more flexible than that of a priest. He first paid tribute to the divine king who was "holy as the rising sun, as great as the mountains, as brave as the flames, and as wise as the great lakes." Then, the Aztec myth of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and successor to the sun god, was sung in praise of a giant hummingbird from the south.
Immediately afterwards, the nobles began to wholesale honorifics and compliments to the commanders and priests on the scene as if they were free of charge.
Shulot subconsciously glanced at Avitt's sincere smile, and then rolled his eyes with black lines on his head. Because he also got a complimentary title: "The Breeder of Behemoths." A very fantastic sounding name.
It was hard for him to forget the expression of surprise and puzzled awe on the messenger's face when he found out that he was the maker of the "Behemoth" trebuchet, as if he should not be a young boy, but should be a man from the mythical First Sun. giant.
Too many mythological ideas still remain in the hearts of various Mexican tribes, and the flames of the dawn of civilization have just been ignited.
The growth of flame requires the accumulation of civilization. Shulot mused: "Perhaps, I should invent a set of words as soon as possible."
In the big tent, the nobles' words may be able to change many things, but at this moment they cannot change the essence of the war between the two sides.
When the messenger of Xilotepec carefully expressed his intention to surrender, the old priest of the sun cloak stood up again.
"Thirty years of tribute, sacrifices of six thousand men, severing the Otomi covenant, handing over the inheritance sacrificial plate, handing over the descendants of the gods as protons, and converting to the great sun god." The Mexica army occupies a huge advantages, the conditions become more stringent.
"The benevolent King of Mexica." The envoy pleaded to the expressionless Tisoke on the throne: "The city-state has decided to sever the alliance and change its faith, and hand over the inherited sacrificial plate. As for the tributes and sacrifices, can we further negotiate. Proton I also need to report back to the city-state about the matter."
The king finally nodded: "Hand over the inheritance sacrificial plate that records all myths immediately. The tributes and sacrifices can be reduced to half. This is the last chance!"
The noble envoy immediately bowed to thank him and then left in a hurry. Suddenly, he thought of something and hesitantly said to Shulot: "Dear beast breeder, during the city-state negotiation process, can you make the giant beast stop attacking?"
Shulot looked at the king. Tisok nodded, and Shulot said: "Okay!"
The nobleman breathed a sigh of relief: "I will bring you a satisfactory gift!" and then left sadly.
As soon as the envoy left, everyone in the big tent showed joy, and the city-state of Xilotepec was finally about to surrender.
Xiulote also breathed a sigh of relief. Three consecutive days of bombardment had seriously worn out the trebuchet's gun shaft, especially the connection with the gun tip, which suffered the greatest stress and was also the most fragile.
Xiulote has told Totec that if the bombardment continues for another day, the trebuchet will be damaged, and it is estimated that it will require a week of repair before it can be used again. At the same time, these three days of stone-throwing only caused hundreds of casualties among the Otomi people. As the soldiers on the city wall adapted, this number was rapidly decreasing.
Now whenever they see stones thrown, warriors and militiamen will kneel in the corner, bow their heads and pray to the giant beast. Because some smart people discovered that if they do this, the giant beast will not hurt them.
The king was very clear about the current situation and had already left room for retreat on the terms of negotiation. Fortunately, Xilotepec's morale had collapsed before the city wall.
Tisoke nodded with satisfaction to Shulot, then stepped down from the throne and stroked the boy's hair. This seemed to be a hint of swearing allegiance?
"The trebuchet is very good, keep studying it." The king said with a smile, "Is there any reward you want?"
Schlott was unaware of the hint. He thought for a while and said: "I want some copper axes and copper tools, as well as some excellent craftsmen."
"Except for the craftsmen who built the pyramid, you can choose any of the other twenty people." The king withdrew his hand and thought for a moment with no expression on his face. "There are not many Bronze Ax Guards, and together with the tools, I can only give you five sets. I will give you a batch of cotton cloth, and you can buy it from the merchants yourself."
"The priesthood of Tenochtitlan will always reserve a high-level seat for you." Tisok left a final hint.
The boy finally changed from "someone who is a slight threat to the throne" to "someone who is of some use to the throne".
The showers had just stopped, but the sky was still covered with dark clouds. Early the next morning, Shulot in the camp was awakened by the chaos and shouts coming from the distant city.
He put on the sun cloak newly given by the king, and under the protection of the guard Bertad and several warriors, he climbed to a nearby high platform and looked towards the east gate of Xilotepec City.
I saw about a hundred civilians struggling to walk out of the city. They were pulling hard on the ropes on their backs, dragging something slowly.
Behind the civilian husband is a group of Otomi noble warriors dressed in gorgeous costumes. The warriors either blocked or hugged the priests who were wearing black and white cloaks and looking excited.
The priests of Hilotepec watched helplessly as the peasants dragged a huge boulder out of the city and dragged it all the way to the Mexica camp. They finally knelt on the ground outside the city, letting their cloaks get stained with dirt, and just faced the direction of the boulder.
Some of the priests cried bitterly, some confessed in low voices, some swore to the sky, and some even pulled out obsidian knives and cut their cheeks, causing the blood to stain with red streaks.
Shulot stepped forward and finally saw the appearance of the boulder clearly: the boulder was round in shape, about two meters in diameter, and about half a meter thick. It was simply estimated that the weight was close to ten tons. At the center of the boulder is the face of a two-faced god, with both male and female characteristics, which is supposed to symbolize the primordial god Ometeotel.
Below the original god is a monster with a crocodile head, a fish body and frog legs, which symbolizes the original sea monster Sipactli sealed by Ometeotel, the legendary existence that devours the world.
There are four suns surrounding the original god, symbolizing the four lost eras. They are similar to the sun stone in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan. They are "four jaguars", "four winds" and "four rains" in order. ", "Four Waters". Proving the common origin of all Mexican tribes.
On the outermost side of the boulder, there are densely carved pictures of various animals, little people, and abstract gods, interspersed with villages, cities, and huge pyramids.
These pictures are Mesoamerican texts, like tribal epics, recording the development of a city-state from a village to a city, as well as famous warriors or miracles. No one can explain the picture clearly except the priests who have been handed down from generation to generation.
In these graphic words, different graphics have different meanings, the same graphic also has different meanings, and different graphics can also have the same meaning.
This design is not at all for the circulation of knowledge and culture, but more like the inheritance of Tantric Buddhism.
This is the most core power held by the priests: the right to interpret myths and graphics. Without this inherited sacrificial plate, the priests of Hilotepec City lost the most important foundation of the temple in the city-state.
The priests wept for their faith and hated their lost power.
"It's easy to create a written language, but you must be cautious about unifying the written language. This is competing with the priests for core power." Shulot was horrified. "Without the power of the First Emperor, how could we write the same text?"
After receiving the inheritance sacrificial plate, the theologian king was extremely happy and no longer paid attention to other trivial matters. He only summoned the priests who accompanied the army to study it together.
Shulot went there once and then sneaked away. At this time, Tisoke only had the sacrificial plate in his eyes, and for the first time, he didn't care about Shulot's actions.
In the next three days, countless feather clothing, herbs and spices, gold and silver jewelry, and precious gems were shipped from the city of Xilotepec. Shulot also received the gift promised by the messenger, and had the illusion of becoming a rich man.
In addition to tribute, the army also asked for ordinary clothing, fish, meat, food and other daily consumables.
The warriors of Mexica were beaming with joy for the spoils of war, but the eyes of the nobles and warriors of Otomi were filled with increasingly angry flames.
On the evening of the last day, the city gates opened wide. The three thousand sacrifices that were finally decided were finally escorted to the Mexica camp amidst the cries of their relatives.
Dark clouds once again enveloped the surrounding areas, and the August wind and rain never stopped.
At this point, Shulot clearly understood: From the priests, to the nobles, to the warriors, to the civilians, everyone in this city-state was already a complete enemy of the Mexica army.
And how can a few noble protons suppress such a deeply buried flame?
