On the way to the king's tent, Shulot looked at the sky. The sky is deep, the clouds are high, the sun is no longer warm, and the wind is cold.
"It's already the end of December, and it will soon be the bad day at the end of the year." Shulot thought.
The king in the big tent is still high on the throne, his face is like a god, his eyes are slightly closed, and he looks calm. The war priests were not present at today's meeting. On the right side of the big tent are still the Chinese army commanders wearing sunstone double-sided cloaks, while on the left side of the big tent are the city-state army commanders wearing feather crowns and different cloaks.
Shulot saw his father standing at the front of the left side of the tent, his face full of determination and worry. It wasn't until he saw the two people coming in that Shusoke smiled happily, exchanged a look with Shulot, and then nodded to Avitt next to him.
Afterwards, Shulot followed Avitt to the right side and stood still. He looked around. Most of the generals in the big tent were worried. The familiar leaders couldn't help but whisper to each other. The atmosphere seemed a little restless for a while.
After a while, when the commander and the heads of each legion had arrived, Tisok opened his eyes and glanced around with a sharp gaze. The sound in the big tent gradually became quieter until it became completely quiet.
Shulot recalled the previous scenes of the king's meetings and observed everyone's demeanor and quiet time. It seems that the king's prestige has declined.
"I have called you here this time, firstly to understand the casualties of each legion, and secondly to discuss the next plan." Tisok looked at the city-state legion commanders, "How are your casualties?"
The generals reported the losses of the legion warriors in turn, cursed the cunningness of the Otomi people, complained about the lack of food and grass, and hoped that the king could distribute another batch.
Shulot saw Tisoke's brows frowning slightly.
The siege has lasted for more than three months, and the casualties during this period have indeed been much greater than expected. Due to the unsuitable climate and guerrilla warfare during the rainy season, more than 50,000 Mexica warriors have died of illness, more than 600 of them, and more than 400 of them have been killed in battle. The total number of soldiers killed was nearly two thousand, and even twenty Jaguar warriors, nobles and nobles with military merit, died.
In more than three months, the elite warriors suffered casualties of 3,000 people. Shulot was a little surprised by this number. Fifty thousand Otomi warriors may not be able to inflict such casualties on the army.
It can be seen that logistics and environmental damage to the army are sometimes far greater than large-scale battles.
Commanders paid little attention to the militia, so there are no specific casualty figures. Xiulote only knew that the militiamen in the main camp and the rear also suffered losses of three to four thousand people, most of whom were concentrated on the troops maintaining transportation in the mountains and forests. Half of them died in the difficult mountain forests during the rainy season, and half were injured in the guerrilla action of the Otomi team.
Tisok's frown deepened.
"What are the casualties of the Otomi?" The king looked at Totec.
Totec hesitated for a rare moment, then took a step forward and said loudly: "We found the bodies of more than 2,500 Otomi militiamen. As for the remains of warriors... less than a hundred."
There was an uproar in the big tent. Ottomi's militia actually had a casualty ratio of two to one to three to one with the Mexica warriors. This was a completely unacceptable number. It seems that the Otomi have finally found a way to deal with the Mexica warriors, Xurot thought.
The king tried to calm down and asked the generals in the tent to be quiet.
Later, Tisok asked Avitt seriously: "Where do these Otomi people come from? How many more are there?"
"The militiamen come from Guamare and Parmus. In addition to these two places, there are also a small number of warriors from the more distant west or northern city-states." Avit also responded seriously, "The number of warriors is estimated to be more than a thousand, and the militiamen It’s hard to count, because the villages in these two places can mobilize tens of thousands more people.”
After hearing the number of tens of thousands, the generals started making noise again. Everyone was clamoring to show off to the Otomi people. Shulot listened attentively for a while and found that no one had mentioned withdrawing troops yet. The Otomi people's inability to fight head-on gave everyone a sense of weakness and an illusion that victory was in sight.
This time, not even the king could quell the commotion in the tent, and he had no intention of doing so.
Tisoke asked Totec to come forward, and the two discussed a few words in a low voice. Then, Shulot saw Totec nodding heavily with a cold face, his eyes showing a cold light, and then he slapped his chest heavily with his left arm to express his commitment.
After a long time, the big tent became quiet. Tisoke nodded, and Totec strode to the center, stood behind a chest-high stone platform, and announced the king's decision to the generals.
"The king decided to separate two partial armies to attack the city-states of Guamare and Parmus. One is directly under the royal family, and the other is handed over to the city-state coalition. Each of the partial armies has eight thousand warriors, and at least one thousand jaguars or eagles. Regiment, all put on the attire of ordinary warriors."
"Each road will be accompanied by two thousand directly affiliated village warriors to carry grain and transport trophies. The trophies will be given priority to food." Totec focused his eyes on the faces of the city-state captains, staring fiercely until the captains of each state nodded. agree.
"This expedition has three goals. First, attack directly at the gates of Guamare and Parmus, demanding that the city-states surrender and pay tribute, sever the alliance with the Otopans, and withdraw the harassing militia. The main requirement is to withdraw the troops, and the tribute is optional. "
"Secondly, if Guamare and Parmus are unwilling to retreat their reinforcements and sever their alliance, the partial army will show weakness to the city-states and induce them to fight out of the city."
"Again, if the Otomi people are still huddled in the hole like mice." Totec paused, glanced at the generals again, then removed the long obsidian stick from behind, "Maqua Vittel", and then raised his hands high , the muscles swelled, and he swung down hard.
Xiulote heard a loud noise, and the stone platform in front of Toct exploded with dust, and was shattered by a stick.
The generals were horrified, looking at Totec with fear and obedience in their eyes.
The dust obscured the figure of the commander-in-chief. Shulot couldn't see clearly his red eyes, and could only hear the cold voice speaking word by word: "Let the warriors destroy all the villages and burn everything! No matter men, women, old or young, no prisoners will be taken in this battle. Leave no one alive!”
The generals looked at each other and became speechless for a moment. Then they agreed with a loud voice, and their murderous intent arose.
Shulot was shocked in his heart, as if he saw boundless blood rushing toward his face.
Since coming to this world, Shulot has discovered that although there are bloody human sacrifice rituals, in fact, the Aztec army never engages in meaningless killings.
The Mexica warriors would only capture the sacrifices they could take away, and then release the old, weak, sick, and non-threatening young people so that the village could continue to multiply.
It's like a jaguar hunting, only catching enough food to survive. Rather than like cats, who engage in meaningless killing for entertainment. That is a waste of sacrifice.
The same is true for the promotion of warriors. Only the number of captured warriors is counted, and pure killing is opposed.
Theologically speaking, sacrifices belong to God. Only the lives sacrificed in sacrifices can satisfy God's requirements. The world needs a steady stream of sacrifices as fuel to keep the sun running.
Mexica warriors need a sustainable village and a steady stream of sacrifices. This is a realistic law of the jungle, and sacrifices are food for survival. Usually, unlike the Ming Dynasty, the army massacred villages for wealth and left no survivors alive to avoid pressure from civilian officials.
On the other hand, sacrifices also have different levels. The sacrifices of divine descendants please the gods the most, followed by the blood of nobles, ordinary warriors are considered qualified, and inferior militiamen are just dispensable additions.
This is also the reason why the city of Xilotepec would rather sacrifice all its wealth than open the city gate: sacrificing three hundred noble divine nobles is far better than three thousand civilians.
The wars Shulot has experienced so far have all been low-intensity tribute wars, unlike the brutal wars of conquest of foreign cultures during the rise of the Yuan and Qing Dynasties.
He has been able to face the war, but he is not ready to face the real cruelty.
But at this time, due to the threat of food routes, the army's survival was in crisis. The warriors of Mexica were like wasps that had their nest stabbed, scattering in all directions with murderous intent. They have to put aside their principle of catching sacrifices and respond to rat attacks with the absolute cruelty of a cat.
The generals then dispersed out of the tent, igniting the elite warriors, carrying Hanguang's war sticks, and bringing enough obsidian sharp pieces with them.
Shulot was in a daze. He was pulled forward by Avitt, and his steps were unsteady. In a trance, I saw my father striding towards me.
Then, Shusok hugged Hulot tightly, and then lowered his head to his ear: "Xullot, I know you have always been soft-hearted, but there is no point in being soft-hearted, my son. You must have the strength of a warrior!"
"Life is nothing but the blooming of flowers, and everything will die silently, and you will always have to see blood. The blood of common people, the blood of warriors, the blood of nobles, the blood of priests, even my blood, and yourself!"
"A warrior is calm and regards death as the way home." After saying this, Shusok lowered his head and kissed his son's forehead. Then there was another hard hug, and then he turned around and left. Orosh, who was next to him, glanced at Xilote worriedly and turned around.
In the end, only Avitt was left. He turned sideways, glanced at Shulot, smiled slightly, and continued to half-drag the young man, striding forward.
