There are thick vines and lush grass. Migratory birds are heading north, and cardinals are singing in courtship. It's a spring day, and the Tlaxcala Plateau is filled with life. Birds and beasts rejoice in the sparsely populated basin. They fly all the way to the west, singing happily. It wasn't until they bumped into the continuous camps, met the patrolling Mexica scouts, and accurately struck the hunting bone arrows that they let out their dying screams and became the fragrant meat of the warriors at night.
"Good! The meat is crispy and tender, neither greasy nor fishy. It is delicate and pure, with a unique taste and a long-lasting aroma. You will have a long aftertaste after taking one bite. It is really the best game!"
Smoke rose from the main camp of Shushen City, and it was dinner time. Shulot sat cross-legged in the big tent, tasting the wild goose carefully cooked by the chefs. He stretched out his kuaizi, added a piece of goose meat, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly, with satisfaction on his face.
The goose meat is very tender, similar to chicken, but with a little more chewiness and flavor. The prey was hunted by the scouts at noon. In the afternoon, they used spices to remove the fishy smell, marinated it with sea salt to add flavor, then simmered it in a copper pot over low heat, and then added chili peppers to stir-fry until fragrant. Then in the evening, it is delivered to the king's table to ensure that it is fresh and tender enough.
"Smell the aroma of wild goose meat, the gods want to break their hearts."
The aroma spread in the big tent, and the aroma of wine and fruit blended together. Xuellot ate the tender goose meat, drank some tequila, then ate a soft tamale, and tasted some sweet dried fruits. Finally, he let out a long breath of relief and waved the dinner away. Then, a maid brought refreshing scented tea, lit refreshing incense, and then massaged the king's head. It was really a decadent aristocratic life.
The aroma of food dissipated from the ceiling, and the comfortable incense rose again in the tent, which also meant that the short-term enjoyment came to an end. Shulot sat cross-legged, straightened his spine, looked solemn, and began to deal with the reports from various states.
"Okay! Five days ago, Black Wolf captured Wushan City, captured 20,000 people, and collected 3,000 surrendered troops!"
The first document was the good news from the black wolf Toltec, who came from three to four hundred miles to the east. Shulot looked at the crooked words and pictures on the document and raised the corners of his mouth. The artillery battalion of the Guards, under the leadership of battalion commander Tupa, has been temporarily handed over to the Black Wolf Legion. Tupa was originally a personal guard of Toltec, and the two sides cooperated tacitly. Within ten days of its arrival, the artillery battalion captured the Totonac people's western town, Five Mountains City.
"In the past few months, the Southern Route Army captured 30,000 old and weak men from Tlaxcala, and another 30,000 young men from Totonac. Add to that the 20,000 people here, and there are another 80,000 people."
Xuellot found Bertard's letter from a few days ago, flipped through it, and nodded.
The garrison camp outside Shuigu City has been prepared. The 50,000 or 60,000 captives in advance have been divided into camps and are under the management of priests and warriors. Two thousand Tlaxcalans who had been stationed last year were left in the camp. On the one hand, they were to appease the captives, and on the other hand, they served as the backbone of the camp to facilitate organization and work.
In short, the Tuntian camp is operating in an orderly manner and has strong digestion. It opens its hungry mouth, waiting for more captives!
"Now that the Five Mountain City has fallen, the Totonac people have lost their western barrier, and the rich seaside land has opened their doors. All the coastal Totonac states will be shaken! At this moment, I am afraid that the envoys from the coastal states are all here On the way to Trochtitlan, the capital of the lake. And the coalition forces of various states will be truly formed."
Shulot unfolded the map and pointed eastward. He walked further east from the plundered Five Mountain City Valley, passed through the lowland hills for one or two hundred miles, and arrived at the Totonak coast. And here, various parts of Totonak are scattered and gathered near various city-states, with tens of thousands of people!
"Going east from Wushan City, one hundred and fifty miles due east is the holy ancient city of Quetzalcoatl, and more than two hundred miles southeast is the prosperous Jinwan City... Black Wolf requested that he want to continue sweeping eastward and capture more s population!"
Shulot stretched out his finger and rubbed it for a while on the unfolded map of the world. The eastern coast has never been so close before his eyes! This "accidental" military action happened very suddenly and quickly reached its climax.
"Nominally, the Totonac people are vassals of the alliance. This crusade is to punish them for accepting the Tlaxcala people's divine nobles. After more than two months of fighting, Black Wolf captured the fortified city with a single force. Five Mountain City, sacrificed the gods and nobles in the city. After receiving such shocking news, the Totonac states will definitely mobilize a large number of militiamen to defend, form a tribal coalition, and at the same time send peace envoys to the capital in the lake. ..”
Shulot tapped the ebony wood table lightly and deduced the development of the situation. Two months ago, he reported to King Avit about the conflict on the eastern border. The king was noncommittal and maintained his acquiescence. But according to some letters sent secretly, the next target of the alliance must be the Mixtecs and Zapotecs who directly rebelled during the Eastern Expedition.
"After all, the Alliance has many vassals, and the Totonac people did not openly rebel against the Alliance. In order to appease the hearts of the many vassal tribes, they waited for the envoys from the Totonac states to arrive at the capital city in the lake, crying everywhere, lying on the ground and promising more tribute. Fu...The king's mediation decree will probably arrive in one month! And within two or three months, this 'unexpected' military expedition should be concluded in due course!"
"Just accept it as soon as it's ready. You can't really use a partial army to march thousands of miles to attack the more than 800,000 Totonak tribe... Oh, after the fall of Wushan City, there should be only more than 70 Totonak tribes. Ten thousand people.”
Thinking of this, Shulot made a clear decision and made a decision.
"Within two or three months, Black Wolf must gain a solid foothold on the eastern coast! With this foothold, the kingdom can build ships along the coast and project more warriors to the Eastern Maya and Cuba! And! This foothold needs to be conquered..."
Xiulote stretched out his finger and wandered between the Ancient City of Quetzalcoatl and Golden Bay City for a long time, thinking and weighing.
Which city-state has weaker defenses? There is no doubt that it is the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl. The ancient city of Quetzalcoatl is a religious city-state, attracting believers from all tribes, and it is also an open market city-state. It has no walls, just simple wooden palisades. Jinwan City has low stone walls and is a central town similar to Wushan City.
Which city-state has fewer armies? Or the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl. The number of tribes in each state should be similar, but the area around Jinwan City is richer and the tribes are slightly better. Likewise, it is closer to the east and has access to more tribal reinforcements.
From a military perspective, the answer is clear. But from a popular point of view, the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl is the western holy land of the Totonak people. According to legend, the city of Quetzalcoatl goes to the sea and crosses eastward! The capture of this place means that the kingdom of the lake and the divine nobles of Totonac, regardless of the east or west, have completely formed a great feud!
Facing thousands of fierce kingdom warriors, the Totonak people in the west could only grit their teeth and endure. And if the expedition fleet of several hundred people returns and stops in the city-state of the Totonak people in the east. At that time, what will happen to the descendants of gods who are hostile to each other...
"Phew! I don't know where the kingdom's expedition fleet has arrived? It has been more than four months and it must have arrived in Maya, but have they found Cuba?"
The tent was filled with divine smoke and birds, the moonlight fell from the ceiling, and the night was exceptionally bright. Shulot stood up and looked at the eastern sky, thinking about the expedition fleet going out to sea, just like thinking about a kite with a broken string. In this era, sailing on the sea always risks life and death. However, the era of great navigation has begun, connecting the entire world together!
"The great voyage...the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl...the god Quetzalcoatl..."
After a moment, Shulot thought of something and his expression became serious. Killing intent appeared in his eyes, he turned around and sat back down, his fingers came down heavily, and he pointed at the ancient city of Quetzalcoatl. Then, he picked up his pen and wrote, using the most common language, to give orders to Black Wolf.
"Hei Lang, you captured Wushan City and captured tens of thousands of prisoners. I am very happy! When you come back, you can ask for any reward you want. But you have to continue to fight eastward. Give it to me within two months. Fight to the seaside and capture the ancient feathered serpent city! Don’t leave any of those ancient feathered serpent priests and divine nobles behind!..."
After writing this, Shulot lowered his eyes slightly. This simple sentence announced that thousands of heads would fall to the ground. But the spread of faith is always accompanied by blood and fire, and unifying the world also means cruel killing. Now, it is the end of the Warring States Period in Central America and the beginning of the Age of Discovery!
"Go ahead and clear out the upper levels of the Ancient City of Quetzalcoatl! I'm here in the Alliance to guide you. When you take down the Ancient City of Quetzalcoatl, don't destroy it, keep the temple and the walled city, and station and defend on the spot. Okay. To counterattack, you can continue to capture prisoners, but do not further capture the Totonac city-state and trigger a full mobilization of all ministries... King Avite is likely to mediate. As for the specific situation, it will be clear when the alliance envoy arrives. !”
"And if there are tens of thousands of captured prisoners, there is no need to transfer them all back. You can lead the legion to station on the spot and let the prisoners farm, cut down trees, and dry the wood... The kingdom's shipwrights will be ready within two or three months. Will come east. The kingdom will establish a new shipbuilding company on the coast of the East China Sea to build long ships that can cross the sea as soon as possible."
After writing this, Shulot pondered for a moment. He turned his head to look south, with a bit of reluctance in his eyes, but he still wrote.
"Hei Lang, you have to establish a solid foothold on the Eastern Coast and manage it patiently for several months. The Eastern Coast is more than 600 miles away from the Tree Snake City camp. Everything depends on your own decision! If the food supply is insufficient, Ask for support from the Silver Crow tribe in the northern Crow City nearby. After the autumn harvest, Bertard will lead his troops east to replace you!..."
"Rebirth of the Great Era of Fighting Waves"
Shulot finished writing the long letter, stamped it, and handed it to the captain of the guard, Eckart. Ekart skillfully sealed the royal order and then personally handed the letter to Shanpao's bodyguard. The personal guard hid the letter in his uniform, and then ran toward the east overnight, escorted by a team of twenty warriors. They will travel eighty miles a day and reach the foot of Wushan City within five days. And this is already the fastest messenger in the kingdom!
"With the current level of communication, if it exceeds four to five hundred miles and takes more than ten days to go back and forth, power must be decentralized... And if it is further away, eight to nine hundred miles apart, each department can only govern itself! As for Maya, which is three thousand miles away, Cuba, five thousand miles away..."
Shulot's thoughts drifted away and his expression was gloomy. After a while, his thoughts returned to the wilderness a thousand miles away.
At this moment, Qingqiu County, established by the Otomi Palms State, is under the autonomy of Poet County Yinbalamo, and there has been only one round-trip communication for two months. According to Paramo's latest letter, he has formed a tribal army of 8,000 people, attacking in the wilderness to subdue the canine tribes migrating south. He also sent two thousand tribal warriors, led by the red cat chief Mizli, to quietly go east, join the Red Crow tribe's raiding team, and go south to plunder the northern tribes of the Huastec people.
However, Qingqiu County has insufficient food, barren land, and a low degree of development. It cannot support many retired warriors and must obtain support from the Southern Kingdom.
After the New Year, the poet Paramo went to Hekou County in the south and transported four to five thousand Kuhaha dog tribes. In exchange for a large amount of grain, hundreds of pairs of armor and thousands of spears from the monkey Kuruka . Monkey then added these four to five thousand dog descendants to each flag team, and then pulled out more than a thousand tribal warriors. After all of them were fully equipped, they were incorporated into the dog descendants' militia.
In early February, Monkey Kuruka dispatched another 4,000 spear warriors and recruited 8,000 canine militiamen to plunder the Chapala Lake area downstream. The Guamar dog descendants in the north sent out 20,000 tribal warriors and marched southward. The two sides, one from the north and the other from the east, attacked from both sides, looting and plundering, with fierce flames billowing out. Prince Feather was forced to shrink all the way to the southwest, abandoning the north and east sides of Lake Chapala, and only relied on rivers and lakes to defend with difficulty.
The letter that had just arrived was a battle report from the monkey Kuruka. The legion's plundering and trade with the Guamar dog descendants had robbed another 20,000 Prepecha young men and women, preparing to be settled in the county.
"Your Highness! After successive battles, Hekou County has prospered, with a population of 2.89 million. It only takes a few years to return to the peak of 300,000 people before the Western Expedition. And there is a steady stream of loot. , also flowed into various towns and villages from the east and west battlefields, making the flag troops of the dog descendants rich. If you return to Hekou County, you will definitely be surprised!..."
After reading the monkey's letter, Shulot smiled. The prosperity of Bayou County was naturally built on the decline of the Lake Chapala region. The monkey Kuruca continued to plunder westward, echoing with the Guamar people, leaving the Feather Prince in a quandary and unable to resist. Over the past few years, even though it has not experienced a war, the Chapala Lake area has become like a bare dead tree, with its branches cut off with axes, leaving only the last rotten wood.
"As long as the kingdom mobilizes three legions and conquers along the Leman River, it can completely eat up the ripe fruit of Lake Chapala! However, I cannot leave such a great conquest to others. I must Lead it yourself!”
Shulot looked at the map of the kingdom and fell into deep thought. Conquering the Chapala Lake area is easy, but establishing the rule of the kingdom six hundred miles away is more difficult than war, and requires a huge investment of manpower and material resources!
"Huh, thousands of miles of wilderness in the north, the distant seaside in the east, the lower reaches of the Leman River in the west, and the mouth of the Talsas River in the south... The kingdom's hand has been stretched too long, so long that it can't be made into a fist. And I, am I Too greedy, too eager?"
Shulot reflected on himself and looked towards the south of the kingdom again. The fertile Apa Plain and the two-thousand-mile Talsas Waterway are the focus of the kingdom's management. At this moment, in order to consolidate the kingdom's interior, establish faster connections, and stabilize the kingdom's long-term rule... a new construction plan has already appeared on the tip of his pen!
