The sun in early February rises high, shining like a god, illuminating the east, west, north, and south. The sunlight spans two time zones, nearly ten latitudes, and a full four thousand miles in radius, from the dry and cold southwest coast of the North American continent to the warm and humid southeast of the Gulf of Mexico.
There are dense forests, criss-crossing rivers, a warm climate all year round, and heavy rains in the rainy season. This is the coast of Totonac, the frontline where the eastern seaside tribes and the Kingdom’s legions are fighting, another warm “Golden Bay”.
The camps and military strongholds of the Kingdom Legion fly the flag of the Lord God. They extend for nearly sixty miles from the Shehu Village Camp near the sea in the northwest to Hewan Village near the river in the southeast, forming a semi-encirclement front. More than 6,000 kingdom warriors lead nearly 10,000 conquered Totonak tribe warriors. A legion of 16,000 people were dispersedly stationed in five camps and military villages. They have spent the long rainy season and have been facing off against the Eastern and Western Totonak Allied Forces for half a year!
The East-West Totonak Allied Forces, with the city of Jinwan as the core, and eight or nine surrounding tribal camps and military strongholds, extend for more than fifty miles and are located on the other side of the semi-encirclement front. Before the rainy season last year, the Totonak coalition experienced several disastrous defeats. They were ambushed by the Kingdom's army and fell into two strongholds. At one time, the number dropped to more than 20,000 people.
However, after the rainy season, more tribal reinforcements came from the land of Totonak, seven hundred miles to the east, holding the flags of city-states. The size of the entire coalition army gradually increased to more than 30,000 people.
At the beginning of the war, no one expected that the battle under Jinwan City would last so long! After the rainy season passed, the Kingdom Army still maintained the initiative on the battlefield, semi-surrounding the 30,000 Totonak army with a strength of 16,000 men.
Sixteen and a half thousand people surrounded 30,000 people, which at first sounds seems a bit unbelievable. But after repeated field battles involving thousands of people, the leaders of the Totonac coalition were forced to admit a painful fact. That is the Totonac city-state army with cotton armor, stone axes, and stone spears and short bows. Even if it has twice the numerical advantage, it is impossible to defeat the kingdom headquarters with copper armor, copper axes, and long spears and large bows in a field battle.
However, if the scale of the field battle increases to tens of thousands, and the kingdom's 6,000 headquarters, along with the tens of thousands of levied tribes that are prone to collapse, fight a decisive battle with the 30,000 coalition forces, then the outcome will be somewhat unpredictable. It's just that at the moment, the leaders of both armies, one is guarding the city with peace of mind, and the other is waiting hesitantly, they don't have the idea of putting all their bets to determine the outcome of a battle.
If you don't fight in the field, you can only attack the city. There are only 6,000 warriors in the kingdom's headquarters. Even if there are tens of thousands of cannon fodder troops, it will be difficult to capture Jinwan City and the surrounding military strongholds where tens of thousands of coalition troops are stationed. The situation on the battlefield has reached a stalemate. The kingdom's army set up a camp of long snakes, while the Totonak coalition curled up into a porcupine with thorns. The two armies faced each other and consumed each other.
"Hey! The giant python in the heavy rain, the porcupine in the mud, no one can do anything to anyone, they are all rolling in the water and mud!..."
With the arrival of the rainy season, the black wolf Toltec hoisted the wolf flag and returned to the camp in Snake Lake Village, staying still.
The long rainy season lasted for months, turning the land to mud and creating swamps in the jungle, making all large-scale military operations expensive and impossible to carry out. In a seaside area of more than a thousand miles, the war finally stopped, and there was a rare peace. Only the small boats supported by the Totonac people braved the rain and carried reinforcements along the coast and rivers to Golden Bay City.
When the harvest was harvested in October and the rainy season passed, His Highness's messenger came in a hurry, bringing new instructions and plans. After reading the new plan, Black Wolf Toltec's eyes flashed and he thought for a while before he figured out what it was about.
"Ah! Your Highness treats me, Black Wolf, as a fishing net. He wants to catch all the big fish from all the Totonac tribes!..."
】
Next, the black wolf Toltec changed his past habits and no longer rushed to fight in battle. He even had free time, found a priest who accompanied the army, and worked hard to study the words and teachings in the Ali Sutra. Because he knew that when His Highness came, he would definitely test his literacy level to see if he had improved.
"Hey! Reading, literacy, and teachings are simply more difficult than fighting in battle! And how can these things improve the level of fighting?"
Black Wolf Toltec complained in his heart, but did not show it on his face. He patiently read those big and troublesome books word by word. Because, he gradually had some feeling, and knowing these words, although it could not help him fight the war, it could help him learn local governance... and thus be better prepared for the war.
"O Lord God! Why is His Highness's march so slow?"
The black wolf Toltec was sitting in the big tent, waiting for His Highness's army. He was almost moldy. However, His Highness's army was slow to arrive. It was not until mid-November that news of its departure came. Every day after that, His Highness marched slowly. Not only did he only travel more than twenty miles a day, he also arranged to rest at every camp along the way.
"This march is only slightly better than a turtle!..."
Black Wolf Toltec complained secretly. From Shushe City to Zhanshe New City, a journey of more than 500 miles, His Highness's army actually traveled for more than 20 days, dragging it until mid-December. However, as the two armies got closer, the exchanges of messengers became more frequent.
"Hey! Encourage the generals and appease the surrendering troops...these surrendered Totonak tribes are weak and vulnerable. What can they do to appease them?..."
Through the messengers that came and went, Hei Lang knew clearly that His Highness was marching so slowly just to meet with the generals of the Kingdom stationed in various places and to summon the surrendered tribal chiefs to have a dinner together. Later, His Highness will also give the alliance a seal of canonization, promise the status of the chiefs, and even divide the territories of each chief, so as to comfort them.
Later, in the Snake-Slaying City, also known as the Ancient Feathered Serpent City, His Highness stopped the royal flag and stayed there for a full month!
It is said that His Highness took care of every detail. He first summoned the generals from all ministries to express his condolences and praises, and appease the surrendering troops. Then, His Highness personally presided over the land granting and knighting, and allocated fields to thousands of Mexica, Prepecha, Mixtec, and even Totonac warriors outside Snake Killing City.
After completing these priority matters, His Highness inspected last year's harvest and inspected the reserves of grain, cloth, weapons and wood. The army also brought dozens of shipwrights from the Kingdom. Under the personal auspices of His Highness, the Kingdom's Eastern Shipbuilding Department was established to prepare for the construction of long galleys for long voyages.
"Phew! Dividing land, cultivating fields and building ships...are the three things that His Highness values most! I must learn to do them too..."
His Highness spent a month carefully sorting out the internal affairs of Snake Killing City before leading his army southward again. He stayed in Qinbo Ali Nishui City for another five days, met with the leaders of the Nishui tribes, and had a banquet with many chiefs. Among them, there were many surrendered noble chiefs of Totonac, who presented beautiful girls from their direct lineage. His Highness did not refuse as before, but accepted them all and sent them to the Kingdom's Divine Power University.
With the arrival of the 12,000 alliance troops, and Shulot's "united front" efforts to appease them along the way, the more than 500 miles of territory that Black Wolf had secured was finally stabilized.
"It's only seventy miles from Nianshui City to here! Even if it takes a turtle to crawl, we should arrive today..."
The black wolf Toltec was sitting in the big tent, holding a book in his hand, but he had no intention of reading at all. The table in front of him was filled with copied scriptures, showing an attitude of studying hard. He was thinking randomly in his mind, his ears always paying attention to the periphery of the camp. Until the red-haired personal guard Uta hurried over and shouted across the tent.
"Captain! Boss! Your Highness, His Royal Highness's royal flag has finally appeared!"
"Okay! Okay! I will go to see His Highness right now!"
The black wolf Toltec jumped up, threw the book in his hand casually, and walked out of the tent happily. As soon as he walked out of the tent, he suddenly stopped and turned back, holding the book upside down in his hands.
"Hey! I, Black Wolf, will hold the book and go to see His Highness! This is what His Highness said, that... that 'hands don't let go of the book'! Haha!"
Thinking of this, Hei Lang smiled proudly. His feet were like wind, his body was covered with armor, he was holding a book in his hand, and he had a copper ax on his waist. He was followed by several red-haired personal guards, and he disappeared outside the tent in a moment.
