"People from Tlaxcala? Eat our tacos?!"
The sun is high and blazing. There is no winter on the Mexica Plateau, and the late autumn sunshine at this time can still make people sweat. Tai Shishan, the leader of the army, was sweating. His eyes widened and he stared at Luo Duju, the postmaster in front of him, and shouted sharply.
"Lao Luo! This is the food of our village! The pancake of our village! Why should the people of Tlaxcala come to eat it?!"
"Taishan... This is a military crossing, a war! Marshal Kuruka, on behalf of His Majesty, issued a royal order for the Western Expedition! Fully mobilized to attack the Chapala Lake area in the northwest... This time the expedition is going to take place, a big of!"
The postmaster Luo Duzhi stretched out his only hand and made the sign of "big" vigorously. His expression was serious and his tone was firm and unwavering.
"You know! In our kingdom, fighting comes first! When fighting, warriors come first! The marshal's scout ordered the logistics supply, so I had to do it!
"
Hearing the stationmaster's categorical words, the leader of the field, Tai Shishan, opened his mouth and was speechless for a moment. The kingdom in the lake is based on farming and warfare. It conquers east and west, and there is no war every year. As a retired third-level warrior, he is very clear about the military requirements during wartime.
The kingdom's military machine is all operating for war! Without war, there would be no serfs, no enfeoffed land titles, and no upward path for ordinary civilians and tribal warriors!
Without war, hundreds of thousands of tribes that have recently surrendered will become a destabilizing factor within the kingdom. If those warriors who are good at fighting in various tribes are unable to stand out and have no chance to be awarded military honors or join the kingdom's ruling class, they are likely to become bandits and rebels everywhere... Therefore, for the Lake Kingdom, the war cannot be stopped.
Although Tai Shishan, the leader of the field, did not understand these principles, he understood that the kingdom attached great importance to war. Once the war begins, villages everywhere must serve the kingdom's army, and meeting the needs of the army is the first priority. Whether these troops are the legions of the county, the militia of the hometown, the troops of other counties, or even the messy Tlaxcala people.
"Damn! Damn the Tlaxcalans... aren't they captive serfs? Do such tribes also have legions?..."
The voice of the leader of the field, Tai Shishan, became smaller, but the anger on his face did not disappear.
"Witness the Lord God! Since I have led the team, I must keep my word! I have promised to reward the teams with the hardest and best work with corn cakes! If I break my promise, how will I lead the team in the future? These stupid turkeys!...Old Luo, no matter what, you have to leave some tortillas for me!..."
"Ha! Tarzan, the Tlaxcala people, of course have legions. Their warriors are very good at fighting! We marched eastward and captured the mountains and valleys. The Tlaxcala tribe... There are many warriors who can fight. !... When I was charging into the city holding the divine power ball, the arrows on the opposite side were missed, just like heavy rain in the rainy season!..."
As a veteran of the Imperial Guard who had participated in the Eastern Expedition, the postmaster Luo Duju waved his hand vigorously. He was spitting everywhere, talking about the battlefield of the Eastern Expedition more than a thousand miles away, describing the excellent shooting skills of the Tlaxcalans, and repeating his glorious experience of being wounded. Although he is uneducated, he also knows a simple truth: if you can catch rabbits and eat them, it may be a cat or a jaguar. And the only one that can catch wolves and eat them is the jaguar... Only the stronger the enemy is, the more glorious it will be to defeat them!
"His Majesty made a decree last year to form an entire regiment of 8,000 people from the hundreds of thousands of captured Tlaxcala tribesmen in the two counties in the south! ... And today, a whole regiment will come, especially La Scala Thousand Man Camp! I have to feed them first, there won’t be enough tortillas!…”
Speaking of this, the postmaster Luo Duzhu paused. He looked at the dissatisfaction on Tai Shishan's face, thought for a while, and suddenly came up with an idea.
"Witness the Lord God! Taishan, you just said that those who ask for corn tortillas...are not to be full, but to reward those who do well?"
"Yes! I patted my chest and made a promise to them! If you do well, you will be rewarded..."
"Well...since it's a reward, why not change it to meat? It doesn't have to be much, just one or two bites per person! I'm afraid the young men in the village haven't eaten much meat all year round..."
The postmaster Luo Duju blinked his eyes and looked at his clan brother.
"Luocang, take out the twenty or thirty kilograms of marinated meat you got from hunting, roast it...oh no, stew a big pot of broth!...Don't worry, don't make it now! Wait for the Tlaxcala people Let’s do it after the battalion has passed. To avoid being smelled by those warriors and causing any trouble..."
After giving instructions to his clan brothers, the postmaster Luo Duju looked at Taishi Mountain again and grinned "evilly".
"Taishan, how about it? Two pieces of meat per person and a few mouthfuls of broth can finally fulfill your promise of rewards, right?"
】
"Ah this? Ugh!... Praise the Lord God! If there is broth, it is indeed enough! These stupid turkeys can't taste any meat all year round, they will only be happy..."
Upon hearing Luo Duzhu's arrangement, the leader of the field, Tai Shishan, was stunned. The anger on his face disappeared instantly, and he was even a little embarrassed.
"But, uh... Lao Luo, this meat is your own... I took them to eat... that... money..."
"Haha! Praise the Lord God! It's nothing! Just treat it as my invitation to you!..."
The postmaster Luo Duzhi grinned, and the scars on his face were shaking "kindly".
"Since I am sealed here and adjacent to your village, I will have many opportunities to interact with you in the future! When my nephews and nephews come over and join the army in the future, they will be treated as fellow villagers along with the samurai from your village. …”
"That's right! Since you're sealed here, if you need any help from the village in the future, it's just a matter of words!"
Retired warriors from two kingdoms, one blind and one one-armed, laughed and chatted about past battles. They felt that they were so in tune with each other that they even became brothers.
The sun is gradually setting in the west, and a big basin of food is ready. On the newly built Sanhetu County Road in the south, light dust gradually rose. A group of running scouts arrived first, shouting a few words loudly in Nahua language with an eastern accent. Then, a large group of Tlaxcala warriors appeared in front of everyone, carrying long bamboo bows, short spears as tall as a person, and wearing brand-new paper armor.
This Trask warrior battalion does not belong to the newly formed Long Snake Legion, but is an additional archer battalion recruited as a long-range supplement to the First Long Spear Legion in Hekou County. Before they were drafted, they were still busy working in the newly cultivated farmland in the south. When the order to recruit troops was sent to each flag team, Tlaxcala Dinzhuang, who could almost shoot an arrow, participated in the selection.
"The days of opening up wasteland and farming in the south were really hard! During the busy farming season, we had to work in the fields. During the slack farming season, we had to cut down trees and build water canals. I was as tired as a bee all day long. I couldn't straighten my waist, and there was nothing wrong with it. Hope...it's better to come out and fight for the divine king who inherited the 'Death Skull', and if you perform meritorious service, you will be awarded a title and land!..."
Faced with the strong Tlaxcala men who were eager to join the army, the kingdom's recruiting officer had to temporarily raise the standard: forty steps away, he aimed the Tlaxcala bow at the leather helmet in the army, and shot seven out of ten, and the bone arrow did not fall. , to join the legion. Even with such strict standards, a thousand archers were still selected. It seems that even after several screenings, there are still many Tlaxcala warriors hiding among the Tuntian tribe.
In mid-October, a thousand Tlaxcala archers were recruited from the flag corps in various camps and were led to Qin Congcan, the royal capital, almost without stopping. They put on new paper armor, bamboo long bows, and short spears for close combat at the camp outside the royal capital.
Subsequently, a group of Mexica and Prepecha officers were transferred from the Gyeonggi Army and formally organized the archers of a thousand tribes into a thousand-man archer battalion. The commander of the Thousand-Man Battalion is Aipei, a warrior captain from the Holy City under Orosh and one of the family warriors of the Holy City royal family.
"Huh! God bless you! After traveling for a long time, I can finally rest!"
Among the large group of Tlaxcalans carrying bamboo bows and wearing paper armor, a young leader wearing an eagle feather crown, carrying a fir long bow, and carrying the camp flag stood out particularly. He is the battalion commander of the Thousand-Man Battalion, "Woodpecker" Aipei.
In the Mexican Federation, being named after a woodpecker is no irony. On the contrary, "woodpecker" has good eyesight and a beak as sharp as an arrow. It is an honorific title for an archer with excellent archery skills, which is roughly equivalent to "smart archer". Among the Mexica warriors who advocate close combat and do not pay attention to archery, there are actually very few archers with such a name.
"Quick! Tell the stationmaster to bring up all the prepared food! ...Quick! Everyone hurry up! Eat them all and prepare them in one hour, and continue heading north!"
The woodpecker Aipai waved the battle flag in his hand, pointing left and right, with vigorous and agile movements. His voice was very loud, and his intonation was short and powerful, like the "duh" sound of pecking wood.
"Witness the Lord God! Hurry, hurry up! The day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow is the big festival for the expedition!"
"For this grand ceremony, the alliance's high priests even sent a fifth-level priest and elder to come! And the fourth-level chief priest of the kingdom's priesthood will also attend in person! The highest priests of the alliance and the kingdom are both here. I You must arrive on time! No one can embarrass me! Hurry!..."
