Aztec Eternals

The breeze drifts among the mountains, stroking the new buds on the treetops, and bringing moist water vapor. This is April when all things germinate. It has been half a year since the city was besieged, the dry season on the plateau has passed, and the new rainy season has not yet arrived.

After returning to the siege camp, Xiulot first rested in the hut for a few days, and then his father Xiu Suoke came to see him and exchanged information about the expedition with him.

Palms in the north was almost burned to the ground, and many Chichimek nomads went south. After the city-states of Guamare and Parmes were defeated, the Otomi's attack on the army weakened rapidly, and the number of militiamen decreased greatly.

Although the Otomi guerrilla continues, the intensity has changed from flies to mosquitos. Mexica casualties fell to well over a hundred per month. The warriors of the city-state were still somewhat dissatisfied, but after all, they were within the limit of tolerance. The food supply has been able to keep up with the consumption, and the food stock in the camp has also begun to increase.

The days of the siege seemed a little leisurely. After several months of expedition, Xiusock had higher expectations for his son. He had a secret conversation with the senior warrior Berthard for a long time, and then resumed the family military training of Shulot.

Every day at dawn, Shulot has to get up, accompanied by the new rising sun, and start training as a warrior, and Bertard is his teacher.

The Aztec city-state alliance is a typical classical military society, and every teenager in the Mexica city-state is required to participate in military training. Home training begins at the latest at the age of twelve and is influenced by the financial means of the family.

Shulot's training began at the age of ten. His father provided him with the most abundant food supply, including fine corn cakes and rare meat, and then asked Olosh to teach him martial arts.

At the very beginning, Shulot, who has adult memory, was resistant to training. He would use various hiding methods to test Olosh's IQ of finding people, thereby delaying the time to start training.

In order to increase the teenager's interest in martial arts, under the protection of the warriors, the jaguar warrior showed him the "stunt" of the number one warrior: single-handedly defeating the jaguar with one stick. Humans can dodge the pounces of big cats sideways with extraordinary agility, and then swing the obsidian baton with both hands fiercely, knocking out the tiger with one stick, and killing the tiger with ten sticks!

From then on, the shocked Xiulot finally obediently completed Olosh's training requirements, and all of this was finally transformed into the muscle lines under the boy's single clothes.

When the youths of the city-state reach the age of fifteen, they will enter the city-state's strict community military school, Terpoccarli, to receive practical skills and military instruction. The teachers of the military academy are senior soldiers of the fourth rank, just like a jaguar taking care of a group of kittens, they can definitely give every teenager an unforgettable "good" memory.

The "good" memories last five years until graduation from military school. Outstanding teenagers were awarded the status of young warriors and became the preparatory ruling class. Then, they started the promotion process of captives and upgrades. From youth to middle age, the brave move forward fearlessly, until the ceiling of common people's struggle. qualifications.

The failed teenagers have never had anything to do with the ruling class. They will become artisans, merchants, or the lowest level of farmers. Top craftsmen can participate in the construction of pyramid temples, and excellent businessmen will be absorbed as Pochitka intelligence scouts, and they also belong to the fringes of the ruling class.

A small number of descendants of nobles and priests will enter the high school directly under the city-state, Kalmyak. There, military instruction becomes a secondary item, and the main learning content is noble literature and politics, astronomy and theology, and finally obtains a higher "starting point", a young noble warrior or assistant priest.

Young aristocratic warriors and priests still have to upgrade their ranks by capturing prisoners. The fourth-level senior noble warriors usually join the jaguar or eagle battle group more easily and become the first-level military nobles. The first-level military nobles belong to the small noble class, and if they go up, they will enter the ranks of the big nobles. The upper order is the second-level hereditary nobles, the third-level honorable nobles, and finally the royal family and kings of the sun god descendants. And the nobles of glory already have the qualifications to rule the city-state and be the city lord.

The apex of the priests' capture and promotion is the fifth-level coyote priest. As for the elders of the city-state priests, the high priest of Teotihuacan, and the chief priest of Tenochtitlan, they all belong to the top of the ruling class with a radish and a pit. .

In short, in Schlott’s view, the Aztec class system is like the Qin State in the East, “Military Merit Award”, or Prussia in the West, “Army with a State”.

The training in the camp always starts with the sunrise. Shulot first had to take a cold bath for half an hour, wearing only a pair of shorts in the cold morning wind, to hone his will. Then, in the morning, they will participate in two or three hours of endurance training, including running, climbing, moving stones, lifting shields, and marching with weights.

After a short break, he will continue to learn the skills of shields and batons with Bertard. First, he will raise the shield to block, then chop, tap, and slap with the baton, mastering the difference between killing and capturing prisoners, and finally One-on-one combat.

At this time, Bertard would always use his dexterous swing to tell him what it means to lift a weight lightly, and what it means to be hard to guard against. Shulot often feels that his shield is a display, while Berthard always patiently emphasizes that the shield is the life of a warrior. This is especially true in large-scale battles. If you lose your baton, you will still have a spare dagger, and if you lose your shield, you will often not be able to survive for three minutes.

After the training, there is a hearty lunch. After the harsh training, there must be sufficient nutrition supply, which is also the biggest constraint encountered in the training of civilian warriors.

Lunch starts with a cup of hot cocoa. It is really difficult for Xiulot to get used to the traditional cold cocoa mixed with spices and peppers, but it is changed to hot cocoa with honey. The taste is still very bitter, but it is very comfortable after drinking.

Central America is an excellent place for growing sugar cane, but sugar cane has not yet been introduced. If you want a little sweetness, you can only rely on expensive and rare wild honey, weak agave juice, and seasonal maple syrup. I heard that the Mayans had mastered the top-secret technology of raising honey, which gave Shulot another reason to attack Yucatan.

The staple food is tortillas sandwiched with black bean puree and green beans, supplementing basic carbohydrates and protein. Samurai love it with chili, avocado and cherry tomatoes. Avocados and tomatoes are usually more expensive. And in Mexico, chiles can do the trick.

Then it was time for Shulott's most satisfying supplementary meal, grilled venison with salt and herbs. In Central America, where meat is scarce, this is definitely the food of the big aristocrats. Because of the scarcity of venison, it can only be replaced with firewood turkey meat in many cases.

I heard that the Mayans also invented grilled lizards, grilled conch, grilled sea turtles, and grilled lobsters. Xiulot expressed his gratitude and insensitivity, and dared not try these dangerous foods. Even if it is a delicious lobster, once the parasite is eaten, it will accompany it for life in this era, and there is almost no solution.

In the end, the lunch ends with a tequila drink, with Bertard drinking a shot of tequila and Schlotte preferring slightly sweet tequila juice. Agave is almost one of the most important plants in the life of Mexicans. Agave stems can be roasted and eaten, agave leaves are used to feed turkeys, agave juice can be drunk or brewed, and leaf fibers can also be used Make the rope. Xiu Luote thinks that it should also be able to make paper.

After lunch is the study time that makes Schlott happy. Every afternoon, he sorts out the Chinese characters used in daily life and draws teaching graphics. Sometimes Avit will come to help and talk about the latest military situation by the way.

Then when the sun was setting, he happily gathered his followers, looked at the majestic warriors in the setting sun, and studied characters with a confused face. This is also a rare time for Bertard, the eternally silent vicissitudes of life warrior, to show a sad face.

After nightfall, with no tallow candles and no sex, the samurai had little to do. You can only chat, brag, sing, fight, and drink around the campfire. Of course, rare drinks are generally only served on important festival days.

At this time, Shulot would chat with his followers about the daily life, and also listen to the life in the market, the rumors from afar, and the desire of the warrior.

When the night was dark, he returned to the hut under the moonlight, lay on the grass bed, and looked at the dim starlight outside the cloth window. Thoughts spread far away, traveling through time and space, and finally fell asleep leisurely.

Berthard would lie vigilantly on the straw bed in the corner of the house, silently guarding a past in memory and a future that he was looking forward to. And in the forest outside the camp, the battle and fight between the Mexica warriors and the Otomi people was isolated like this, as if it had been a lifetime.

This is a day for Shulot, who rises in the morning sun and rests in the stars, waiting for the turning point of the battle situation.