The breeze drifts in the mountains, stroking the new buds on the treetops, bringing moist water vapor. This is April when all things sprout. It has been half a year since the siege of the city. The dry season on the plateau has passed, but the new rainy season has not yet arrived.
After returning to the siege camp, Shulot first rested in the hut for a few days, and then his father Shusok came to see him and exchanged information with him about the expedition.
The Parmus in the north was almost burned to the ground, and many Chichimec nomads moved south. After the city-states of Guamare and Parmus were crippled, the Otomi's harassment of the army quickly weakened, and the number of militia was greatly reduced.
Although the Otomi guerrillas continue, the intensity has changed from a fly to a mosquito. Mexica warrior casualties dropped to more than a hundred per month. The warriors of the city-state were still a little dissatisfied, but they were within the limits of tolerance. The supply of food has been able to keep up with consumption, and the food reserves in the camp have begun to increase.
The days during the siege seemed a bit leisurely. Several months into the expedition, Shusok had higher expectations for his son. He talked secretly with the senior warrior Bertard for a long time, and resumed Shulot's family military training.
Every day at dawn, Shulot had to get up and start training as a warrior with the rising sun, and Bertard was his teacher.
The Aztec City-State Alliance is a typical classical military society. Every teenager in the Mexica City-State is forced to participate in military training. Family training begins at the latest at the age of twelve and is affected by the family's financial ability.
Shulot's training began at the age of ten. His father provided him with the most abundant food supply, including fine cornmeal cakes and rare meat, and then asked Orosh to teach him martial arts.
At the beginning, Shulot, who had adult memories, was resistant to training. He would use various hiding methods to test Orosh's tracking IQ, thus delaying the start of training.
In order to increase the boy's interest in practicing martial arts, under the protection of the warriors, the Jaguar warrior showed him the "stunt skill" of the number one warrior: one man and one stick to challenge the jaguar. Humans can actually dodge the attacks of big cats with extraordinary agility, and then swing the obsidian war stick with both hands with unparalleled ferocity, knocking the tiger unconscious with one stick, and beating the tiger to death with ten sticks!
From then on, the shocked Shulot finally completed Orosh's training requirements obediently, and all of this was eventually transformed into the muscle lines under the boy's single clothes.
When the city-state's teenagers reach the age of fifteen, they will enter the city-state's strict community military school, Telpo Chikarli, to receive practical skills and military instruction. The teachers at the military school are all senior level 4 soldiers. Just like a jaguar taking care of a group of kittens, they can definitely give every teenager an unforgettable "good" memory.
The "good" memories will last for five years until graduation from military school. Outstanding young men obtain the status of young warriors and become the preparatory ruling class. Then, they began the promotion process of capturing and upgrading prisoners. From youth to middle age, the brave men moved forward fearlessly, until they reached the ceiling of civilian struggle as "fourth-level senior warriors", with the potential to join the Jaguar and Eagle regiments and become military nobles. qualifications.
The failed youth will never have any chance with the ruling class. They will become craftsmen, merchants, or farmers at the lowest level. Top craftsmen can participate in the construction of pyramid temples, and outstanding businessmen will be recruited as Pochitka intelligence scouts. They also belong to the fringes of the ruling class.
A small number of descendants of nobles and priests will enter the higher education institution directly under the city-state, Kalmykak. There, military instruction became a secondary project, and the main content of study was noble literature and politics, astronomy and theology, and finally gained a higher "starting point" as a young noble warrior or assistant priest.
Young noble warriors and priests still have to raise their levels by capturing prisoners. It is usually easier for a fourth-level senior noble warrior to join the Jaguar or Eagle Chapter and become a first-level military noble. The first-level military aristocrats belong to the minor aristocracy, and the higher up the ranks, they enter the ranks of the great aristocrats. Going up in order are the second-level hereditary nobles, the third-level honorable nobles, and finally the royal family and king of the sun god descendants. The glorious nobles already have the qualifications to rule the city-state and serve as city lords.
The pinnacle of the priests' capture and advancement is the fifth-level coyote priest. As for the city-state priests and elders, the high priest of Teotihuacan, and the chief priest of Tenochtitlan, they all belong to the top level of the ruling class. .
In short, in Xiulote's view, the Aztec class system was like the Qin State in the East, with "military merit awards", or Prussia in the West, with "a national army."
Training in the camp always starts with the rising sun. Shulot first took a cold bath for half an hour, wearing only a pair of pants in the cold morning wind, to hone his will. Then, in the morning, you have to participate in two to three hours of endurance training, including running, climbing, moving rocks, lifting shields, and marching with weights.
After a short rest, he will continue to learn the skills of shield and war stick from Bertard. First, he will raise his shield to block, then use the war stick to slash, knock, and slap. He will master the difference between killing and capturing prisoners, and finally One-on-one actual combat.
At this time, Bertard would always use dexterous swings to tell him what it means to be light-weight and what it means to be indefensible. Hulot often feels that his shield is just a decoration, but Bertard always patiently emphasizes that the shield is the life of a warrior. This is especially true in large-scale battle formations. If the battle stick is lost, there is still a spare dagger, and if the shield is lost, the survival time is often less than three minutes.
After the training, there is a sumptuous lunch. After the rigorous training, there must be sufficient nutritional supply. This is also the biggest restriction encountered in the training of civilian warriors.
Lunch starts with a cup of hot cocoa. It was really difficult for Xuelot to get used to the traditional cold cocoa mixed with spices and chili peppers, so he changed it to hot cocoa with honey. The taste was still bitter, but it was very comfortable after drinking it.
Central America is an excellent place for sugarcane cultivation, but sugarcane has not been introduced yet. If you want to taste a little sweetness, you can only rely on expensive and rare wild honey, bland agave juice, and seasonal maple pulp. I heard that the Mayans had mastered the top-secret technology of raising honey, which gave Xiulote another reason to attack Yucatan.
The staple food is tortillas stuffed with black bean puree and green beans to supplement basic carbohydrates and protein. Samurai likes to add chili, avocado and cherry tomatoes. Avocados and tomatoes are generally more expensive. In Mexico, chili peppers are enough.
Next came the time for Shlott's most satisfying complementary meal, seared venison with salt and herbs. In Mesoamerica, where meat is scarce, this is definitely the food of the great aristocracy. Because venison is scarce, firewood-fired turkey meat can often be used as a substitute.
Hearing that the Mayans also invented grilled lizards, grilled conches, grilled turtles, and grilled lobsters, Xiulote expressed his gratitude for being insensitive and not daring to try these dangerous foods. Even if it is a delicious lobster, once you eat the parasite, it will be with you for life in this era, and there is almost no solution.
Finally, lunch ends with a tequila drink, with Bertard having a shot of tequila and Xurot enjoying the slightly sweet agave juice. Agave is almost one of the most important plants in Mexican life. Agave stems can be roasted and eaten, agave leaves are used to feed turkeys, agave juice can be drunk or made, and the leaf fiber can also be used Make rope. Schlott thought that he could also make paper.
After lunch, it was study time that made Shlott happy. Every afternoon, he would sort out the Chinese characters used daily and draw teaching graphics. Sometimes Avitt would come to help and talk about the latest military information.
Then when the sun set in the west, he happily gathered his followers and looked at the majestic warriors under the setting sun, learning words with a confused look on his face. This is also the time when Bertard, the ever-calm warrior of vicissitudes of life, rarely shows a sad face.
After nightfall, there were no candles made of grease and no members of the opposite sex, so the warriors had nothing to do. You can only chat, brag, sing, fight, and drink around the campfire. Of course, the scarce alcohol is generally only served on important sacrificial days.
At this time, Shulot will chat with his followers about daily life, and also listen to the life in the market, the rumors from far away, and the aspirations of the warriors.
When the night got dark, he returned to the hut under the moonlight, lay on the straw bed, and looked at the hazy stars outside the cloth window. My thoughts spread far away, traveling through time and space, and finally fell asleep leisurely.
Bertard would lie on the straw bed in the corner of the house alertly, quietly guarding the past in memories and the future he was looking forward to. In the mountains and forests outside the camp, the battles and killings between the Mexica warriors and the Otomi people were so isolated that they felt like they were separated from the rest of the world.
This is Shulot's day. He rises in the morning sun and rests in the starlight, waiting for the turn of the battle.
