The night falls from the clouds, covering the undulating forest sea and the whereabouts of the hunters.
In the continuous mountain forest, an Otomi warrior was trekking westward with difficulty, rushing to the mountain camp two days away. His steps stumbled a bit, the cotton armor on his body was damaged, and there was a bandaged wound on his leg. A faint smell of blood spread from the wound, drifting far into the night forest full of murderous intent.
More than twenty meters behind the warrior, a black beast sneaked quietly. With smooth black fur and perfectly streamlined muscles, this is a jungle panther about one and a half meters long. It followed all the way and had been observing the two-legged beast for a long time.
Bipedal beasts are often dangerous, coming in extremely large numbers and possessing extremely sharp long claws. There are some very powerful individuals among the adult beasts, and they are also very vengeful. Therefore, the two-legged beast is usually not within the hunting range of the jaguar (also known as the jaguar). But today was an exception, it had been hungry for two days before meeting this lone bipedal beast. The other party seemed to be injured again and seemed to have an opportunity.
The jaguar approached slowly, its black spotted fur blending into the night, and its soft paw pads made no sound. Seeing that it was approaching within ten meters of the prey, it opened its mouth slightly, revealing its sharp and thick premolars, and its sharp eyes were already fixed on the neck of the prey.
Under the faint moonlight, the bipedal beast in front of him suddenly turned around. Years of fighting on the battlefield always give people a keen sense of danger.
The Otomi warrior Osina crossed his left arm to protect his neck, pulled out the dagger from his waist with his right hand, and looked at the nearby mountains and forests with vigilance. He scanned carefully inch by inch. His aristocratic family background allowed him to consume enough animal livers, so he could see at night.
The forest became quiet for a moment, and the jaguar lowered its body and waited quietly. Under the faint moonlight at night, Oceana tried hard to identify the faint shadows in the forest. He always felt that something was wrong, until he saw a few small black figures not far away.
Oceana roared loudly, imitating the sound of a jaguar. The small black figures were suddenly frightened and hurriedly jumped out of the grass and ran. They turned out to be several fur-rumped agouti rats. They have a 60-centimeter-long body, a small tail, and three-pawed hind feet that move quickly.
Oceana just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a swift black lightning flash across his eyes. The black jaguar pounces at the nearest agouti at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. It opened its mouth to bite, and the bite force of 560 kilograms fell instantly. The agouti only had time to let out a half-whining cry before it died immediately. The rich blood immediately dispersed in its mouth.
Holding the food in its mouth, the jaguar glanced at the two-legged beast in front of it gracefully and dangerously, then quickly turned away and disappeared into the dark forest. It's time to enjoy tonight's food. Now that there is an easier target to deal with, it no longer has to risk injury by attacking a bipedal beast with sharp claws.
Cold sweat broke out on Oceana's back. He nervously watched the jaguar leave, and when he was sure that the danger was far away, he quickly turned around and ran staggeringly towards the camp in the west. He wanted to quickly inform Commander Giowa of the Mexican Legion's westward march again.
This is the truest law of the jungle. The hunting of ferocious beasts always prioritizes targets that can be easily defeated to ensure an 80% certainty and prevent oneself from being injured. Because in the dangerous jungle, no matter how ferocious a beast is, it will become the prey of other beasts once it is injured.
Civilizations and civilizations, countries and countries, and armies and armies also follow the laws of the jungle.
Just like the Portuguese at this time, they brutally plundered the ignorant tribes on the Gold Coast, but maintained respect and courtesy to the Kingdom of Songhai and the Kingdom of Congo until one hundred and fifty years later.
Just like the tribute wars of the Mexica League in the past, they always bypassed the troublesome Tarascans in the west and the dangerous Tlaxcalans in the east, and tended to hunt the loose city-states in the north and south.
And going on further, is the mission of Shulot Legion's expedition, to try to hunt, or to negotiate peace.
Under the same night, beside the warm campfire. Shulot had just finished two tortillas and drank some water with tequila. He had just had a detailed chat with Paramo and was convinced that this was a talent.
During the siege of the Otomi people, Páramo took the initiative to restrain the warriors and maintain a similar food supply with the militia. Then, with warriors as the backbone, a brave and strong elite militia was organized, equipped with two hundred pairs of spare cotton armor and war clubs, to defend the camp layer by layer, and repelled several attacks by the Otomi people.
"Not bad! Born as a commoner, he can win the hearts of the people, is good at calculations, and yes, he can also recite poetry."
Shulot still wore the majestic helmet. He thought for a moment and looked down at Paramo.
"Paramo, are you willing to follow me?"
Paramo's melancholy eyes lit up instantly. He smiled brightly and made an elegant gesture.
"I swear to you, my Commander-in-Chief: I will offer you all I have in the world, and that will be perfect, my devotion to you."
Under the helmet, the young man couldn't help but roll his eyes. With a wave of his hand, he decided to leave Páramo under the control of Quartermaster Bergere. Throw the poet warrior to the logistics camp for a period of time to polish and deal with the complicated general affairs. At the same time, he also allows the three hundred warriors under his command to take a good rest and strengthen the defense force of the logistics regiment.
Then, Kuruka came back to report again. He had interrogated the captured Otomi warriors and learned that outside the first camp in the west, the Otomi people had gathered a total of seven thousand warriors and at least ten thousand militiamen.
Xuelote calculated in his mind that even with the reinforcements from Guamare and Parmus, the number of warriors in Otopan City would only be over 10,000. There are now 7,000 in the first camp and 2,000 in the second camp. This time they are all out, and they must be thinking of consuming manpower. The native dog finally emerged from the hole, but unfortunately the hunter had to go home quickly.
Hulot ordered the Mexica warriors to treat the nine hundred captured warriors kindly and treat those with minor injuries so that they could still be used. He then went to see the hundreds of captured militiamen. The militiamen were all emaciated and emaciated from hunger. These militia prisoners were of no use, and the nobles of Otomi did not care whether they lived or died.
After thinking for a while, Xiulote let these militiamen have a full meal and then released them directly. He doesn't like meaningless killing. Looking at the backs of the militiamen as they thanked and hesitantly left, the young man knew that without food, only 30% of the people who could truly leave the mountains and return to their hometowns would be able to do so.
In the warm night breeze, the young man laughed at himself: "Let me seek some spiritual comfort in my hypocrisy."
Early the next morning, Bertard finally arrived with three thousand men from the rear army and the first batch of food from the quartermaster. Xiulote spent another half day preparing, leaving Paramo and the militiamen to continue to garrison the camp. Then four thousand front troops, three thousand middle troops, and three thousand rear troops, a total of ten thousand Mexica warriors gathered together and rushed toward the first camp.
Facing the large number of Otomi people, Mexica's 10,000 troops were no longer separated, and their whereabouts could not be hidden. The forward Jaguar scouts quickly came into contact with the Otomi sentinels. In order to protect the precious Jaguar warriors, Shulot sent a thousand warriors from the front army and completely controlled the scout battlefield twenty miles ahead. .
The army marched westward for two days in a mighty manner. The Otomi army gathered again and retreated, cautiously keeping a day's distance from the Mexica army. Barda finally made contact with Casal in the camp.
One day later, in the scarred first mountain camp, Shulot finally met the camp's commander, Casal, again.
It has been half a year since they left for the Leman River in May. When we met again, we were speechless for a while.
The Kasar in front of him looked thin and pale. His appearance is much older, his body is slightly stooped, and he lacks the vitality of a warrior. Obviously, the difficult siege and Tisok's death brought a huge physical and mental blow to him.
It was difficult for Shulot to connect the old and depressed middle-aged man in front of him with the high-spirited, confident and arrogant legion commander when they first met last year. After looking at each other for a moment, Shulot took off his helmet and showed the young man's gentle face to his old friend's eyes.
Kasar's expression suddenly became excited. His throat vibrated a few times and he opened his mouth to shout, but only made a sound of unknown meaning, which then turned into a long sigh. He took out the talisman from his arms with a desolate expression, threw it on Shulot, and then walked out of the camp without saying a word.
Shulot shook his head. After all, Cassar was a high-ranking commander born into a noble family. With Tisok dead, there was room for compromise between him and Avitt. The young man sent a hundred warriors from the city-state whom Casal was unfamiliar with to escort him to the city of Xilotepec.
Seeing his old boss Cassar leaving, Barda was slightly at a loss. He was dazed for a while, but then came to Shulot.
"Dear priest commander, there are still 2,300 direct warriors, more than 6,000 militiamen, and a week's food for 10,000 people in the camp."
Shulot put on the face-covering helmet again. He pondered slightly and made a quick decision.
"The two thousand and three hundred warriors are handed over to you. Let's rest in the camp first. You hand over the thousand former troops in your hand to Kuruca and stay in the camp to clean up the commanders at all levels. You must completely control this army! Let more than 6,000 militiamen begin to retreat eastward."
Barda lowered his head, loudly accepted the order, and went to summon the warrior commanders and captains in the camp.
The warriors rested in the camp for a day and replenished the food and grass in the lower camp. Later, Shulot received the latest batch of information: Otopan's army gathered to camp a day away, and together with the remnant soldiers, they had gathered 8,000 warriors and 12,000 militiamen. The 20,000-strong army assumed the posture of a decisive battle. In the second camp at the rear, the Otomi guerrillas appeared again and continued to harass them.
Xiulote nodded. This was the usual tactics of the Otomi people: concentrate the main force to attract the main force of the Mexica army, and then the guerrillas repeatedly attacked the grain roads in the mountains and forests. Once the Mexica army advances westward, the main force of Otomi will definitely continue to retreat until it reaches the city of Otopan. The elongated mountain forest food road will become a fatal weakness for the attacker.
Shulot first sent a negotiating envoy to the Otomi people, allowing the militiamen to embark on the road back east. The army rested for another day, and then the 12,000 warriors began to break out of camp one by one, preparing to retreat eastward.
Shanshan's reply came from the Otomi people. The two sides agreed that the commanders of the two armies would each lead five hundred men to formally negotiate within half a day's distance of the main army.
