Halfway through September, the rainy season comes to an end. In the fertile fields of the Tehuacan Valley, green and golden colors intertwine, and there are already signs of a bumper corn harvest. The north and south of the valley are full of life, but the busy crowds are missing.
Flocks of painted buntings fell from the sky, boldly perching on the corn. They swayed their gorgeous head feathers, broke open the tender green skin, and pecked at the newly ripened pods. The fluffy-tailed raccoon also emerged from the mountain forest, with a cute and sad face, cautiously stretching out its long arms to steal grain from the fields.
The rude Pi Zhu doesn't care so much. They rushed out of the muddy swamps in groups, covered in a lingering stench. The Central American skunk pig is also called "collared tuan" or "skunk pig". Their appearance is similar to the wild boars of the Old World, but they are slightly smaller, have sharp tusks and are more aggressive.
This skunk pig is more like a "skunk" than a "pig". Their meat smells so bad that even the tribesmen who are accustomed to eating insects and ants find it difficult to swallow. Similarly, they are extremely numerous and very powerful in combat. Without the terrifying bipedal beasts, they have almost no natural enemies in the mountains and forests of the south. At this moment, this group of hogs rushed into the cornfield, using their powerful thick hooves to dig down the mature plants, and then ate large chunks of them.
"Woo!...Woo!..."
The desolate horn sound suddenly sounded from behind the valley in the south, startling a crowd of birds. The raccoon swung its long tail, hugged the corn, and ran away. The pigs gathered together and hid in the cornfields. They narrowed their eyes warily and looked at the dirt road trampled by pedestrians not far away. After a while, a large group of terrifying bipedal beasts appeared in their eyes.
"Ha! Grrrrrr!"
The pig raised its fangs and growled in a low voice to demonstrate to the approaching bipedal beast. More and more bipedal beasts were approaching, and they were emitting terrible shrill howls from their mouths.
"Gulugu!"
"Oh, oh, the rain god who controls the storm! Please let down your thunder, kill the brutal northern barbarians, and save your devout people! Ugh!... Ho ho..."
The shining copper spear thrust out quickly, startling the pig on the roadside. They know the terror of the tusks of this bipedal beast, which can easily kill large numbers of its kind. The dozen or so pigs that gathered turned around and fled, leaving behind only a group of howling Mixtec tribesmen and the corpse of a leader who slowly fell to the ground.
"Pfft!"
The red-haired canine hunter Chabo stared, and pulled out a sharp copper spear from the leader's neck. Then, he wiped the bloody spear tip on the leader's hair, avoiding the other person's clothes. Then, he stared at the blood-stained coarse cotton robe on the leader, feeling a little pity.
"This kind of strong cloth robe is a rarity in the wilderness. Even if it is stained with blood, you can still wear it after washing it..."
The red-haired hunter Chabo thought for a moment and looked at the escorting prisoners. With a flick of his finger, he selected a naked and hunched-over tribesman.
"You, take off his clothes, put them on and carry them with you."
"Ah? What? Clothes? Belt?"
After hearing what the barbarian warrior said, the tribesman Didi stayed where he was, at a loss. He couldn't understand the Nahua language in the north, and could only barely understand a few common words, namely "clothes" and "belt".
"you!"
Hunter Chapo waved his spear and glared. He couldn't quite understand the words of these southern tribes. He simply took matters into his own hands and peeled off the leader's robe, then threw it to the tribesman Didi and started wearing it again.
"Ah, this! These are the clothes of a noble person. I, I, am a lowly ant citizen, how can I wear it?..."
Didi understood the movements of the barbarian warrior, but his expression became more and more frightened. In Mixtec, his name is "didi," which means ant on the ground. Among the Mixtec tribe, he is also the humblest lower-class tribesman, and he does not even have his own clothes.
"You! Wear it, take it with you! Mine. If you don't wear it, you will die!"
The hunter Cha Bo looked impatient and raised his sharp copper spear again, pointing at the tribesman Didi. Didi, an ant citizen, was so frightened that she trembled all over and immediately put the leader's robe on her body, which still had the noble's blood on it. Then, he bent down and carried the heavy basket behind the leader on his back.
The surrounding tribesmen looked sideways. They looked at the fierce red-haired barbarian with deep fear on their faces. Then, when they looked at Didi, who was wearing the leader's clothes, their faces were full of anger and hatred.
Didi, an ant citizen, shivered again as he carried the bamboo basket on his back. However, the hunter Chabo has lost interest in him. He narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the pigs that had gathered again after running away for more than ten steps. His left hand was already touching the big bow behind his back.
"This is a stinky pig from the south. It's the same as the one in the wasteland. It's inedible."
Another red-haired hunter, Mikui, shook his head and held Chabo's hand. If you ask how he knew, of course he had tasted it once. That experience was truly unbearable.
"Guoshuchabo, the food captured in this robbery is enough, there is no need to waste precious arrows!"
Mikui spoke softly to Chabo, but his eyes were looking at the bamboo basket Didi was carrying.
"Stupid pig from the South? Bah!"
Hearing this, hunter Chabo frowned and spat in disgust. In a wasteland where food is scarce, every time he is forced to eat smelly pork is a torture that makes people vomit. The taste is like eating mud that has been rotten for many years in the swamp.
Interestingly, the name of Chapo comes from a kind of fruit tree, tzapoyo, while the name of Miku comes from another kind of tree, mesquite. Both of them were named after trees. In fact, they came from the same wilderness tribe and were now in the same flag corps.
"The corn in the south is good! The stinky pigs in the south are not good! The tribes in the south are rich and crowded and can't be beaten. They are excellent. They are the goods of the Mother Earth God!...Uh, by the way, I also want to praise the Lord God! "
Hunter Chabo stretched out his rough and red hands, held the sun amulet around his neck, and together with hunter Mikui, prayed sincerely. The more than a hundred canine warriors around also lowered their heads, praising the divine heaven and earth and praising the supreme god.
"Praise be to the Lord God, Huitzilopochtli! She is so high and mighty, she is greater than the Earth Mother! Wow!..."
Looking at the barbarian warriors who were praying and shouting, thousands of captured young tribesmen lowered their heads and looked downcast, not daring to make any sound. During these days in captivity, they also prayed to the rain god of their faith. It's just the rain god's blessing, like the passing rainstorm that has yet to arrive. And day after day, they were escorted by the red-haired barbarians, leaving the rich south of the valley and heading to the unknown barbarian land.
The towering Cloud Temple appears in the sky, getting closer and closer, while the towering Divine Stone City is not far to the west. Seeing that they were about to leave the land of Zhawi, they would completely lose the protection of the rain god... Thinking of this, some tribesmen lowered their heads and cried silently and repressedly.
Didi, the ant citizen, did not cry. He just blinked and looked at the barbarian warriors shouting at the sun. He listened to the other party's words and tried to remember a repeated keyword, "It's so strange to feed carrots!"
The short prayer ended quickly, and the return journey was in sight. The canine warriors were in high spirits, shouting in the dialect of the North, and escorting dozens of Mixtec prisoners. The right hands of the prisoners were all tied together with strong sisal ropes. There was no metal or stone on their bodies. The escorting canine warriors were fully armed, carrying bronze spears and axes, and carried large bows on their backs.
The Mixtec prisoners could only lower their heads, dragging bamboo baskets filled with food and belongings towards the unpredictable northwest. The rumors of human sacrifice by the Aztec Alliance echoed in their minds, making the road northward seem particularly difficult and hesitant.
It's just that the rain god's salvation never came. The warriors of the Rain God huddled in the solid stone city, watching the Mexica people looting without daring to disturb them in the slightest. Or perhaps, they had long avoided the Rain God's attention and had secretly reached an agreement to betray the God.
