Aztec Eternals

The dry north wind blows across the Mexica Plateau, bringing a bit of cold. Now, in the blink of an eye, it is the beginning of December. There is no winter in the tropics, only long late autumn. In the north of the Tlaxcala Valley, there is an extremely deep autumn atmosphere everywhere. At a glance, the four fields are half withered yellow, half cold green, and there is an endless sky.

Under the high sky is the towering top of Cloud Snake Mountain. Cloud Snake City is still solid and majestic, like an unfallen fortress, but it is stained with bleakness and dark yellow.

Further down, the White Snake Hill City stands eight or nine miles away. Among the rolling hills, the vegetation is yellowish, and there are no birds or animals. A circle of deep moats and camps distributed at intervals have already surrounded the entire city of White Snake Hill. Looking down from the top of the White Snake City, the Mexica trenches looked like huge mouths opened by worms from the abyss, and their camps were like fangs full of fangs, trying to devour the entire hill city bit by bit.

Going out of Qiucheng, there are evergreen trees on the flat ground, and the tree snake city among the green trees. The Shuigu River flows quietly to the northeast. The camp of the Mexica Legion stretches for miles along the river, like an anaconda waiting patiently.

Shulot stood seven inches from the "Anaconda", and set up the head of the tree snake city with the king's flag. He looked to the northeast, and his thoughts drifted away. The kingdom's expedition fleet entered the water a few days ago. At this moment, after supplementing with sufficient food, the fleet hoisted the flag of the Alliance, and just set sail for the lower reaches of the Owl River. Their first goal was four hundred miles away, the southern ancestral land of the Vastecs, Crow City. And the one who controls Crow City is the Silver Crow tribe, the Huastec tribe that the alliance is about to marry.

"The kingdom's fleet brought the alliance's envoys to pass on the good news of the royal marriage. Silver Raven Papata has always been obedient and will definitely follow the alliance's orders to help the fleet repair and replenish."

Shulot thought for a moment and relaxed a little. In addition to the Silver Crow Tribe, he also sent envoys of the Alliance to the Totonak states along the coast.

At the moment when the Eastern Expedition was victorious and the Tlaxcala Four-State Alliance had just collapsed, there should be no city-state that dared to openly rebel against the alliance and attack the kingdom's fleet. As for further, more than a thousand miles to the east, after passing the easternmost Hidden Snake City of the Totonac people, it is the Mayan city-states in the western Yucatan

"That is not what the current alliance can affect. All they can rely on is the Mayan guides in the fleet and the axes and spears in the hands of the warriors."

Xiulot looked at the eastern sky with a carefree expression. He hastened and rushed, rushing to rush to dispatch this fleet, but he didn't know what the result would be?

"Maybe, they will all be submerged in the storm in the Caribbean Sea. Or maybe they will be attacked by the coastal Mayan city-states and disappear. Even, they may lose their way, drifting to Florida in the north, or Panama in the south, until Decades later, the last remnants were found by the Alliance"

"In this season, the ocean currents go north and the monsoon goes south. Everything is possible. May the Lord God bless you!"

Shulot closed his eyes and prayed in a low voice for a while. Then, he turned around and walked down the top of the city to the temple in the city.

One month has passed, and the Tree Snake Temple has not changed much, except that there are more black persimmon furniture in the center, and more pictures of the main gods on the walls, all of which are the king's preference.

Soon, Xiulot sat down in the middle, drank the hibiscus tea presented by Naxiu, and read the documents of the kingdom from afar.

The first document was written by Bertard, describing the progress of the transfer of prisoners in the last three months.

"Respected Your Highness, since September, the South Route Navy has transported another 60,000 Tlaxcala young and strong men and women. These captives have been garrisoned outside Shuigu City for several months. harvest. Their people’s hearts are relatively stable, they rarely escape, and they are easily assimilated by the kingdom.”

"Your Highness, perhaps you can select two battalions of warriors and militiamen from these captives to govern the newly established village of Tlaxcala, and practice the various ministries of Tlaxcala during the slack season. They all have the foundation of bow and arrow, and they are very good archers. source."

Seeing this, Xiulot thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. So far, more than 180,000 of the 210,000 Tlaxcala captives have been transferred to the Kingdom of the Lake. Counting the loss of garrison and transshipment in the towns along the way, about 160,000 people should have arrived in the hinterland of the kingdom, and they were divided into battalions in the two southern counties to establish villages for reclamation. As for the remaining captives, plus the more than 20,000 Mixtec youths brought back by the Black Wolf, there are still about 50,000. These young and strong population will also be completely transferred within three months.

"The expanding area of ​​the kingdom is getting bigger and bigger, attacking from all directions, and the troops needed are getting bigger and bigger! In a few years, Bertard will go to Cuba and need to take away thousands of warriors. The establishment of a new legion is imminent! This new one The population of more than 200,000 is enough to support a half-time army of 8,000 people, well, at least 8,000 people."

Thinking of this, Shulot stroked his chin, thinking about the composition of the 8,000 Tlaxcala Legion.

"More than a month ago, Hei Lang had returned from the south, and there were more than 2,000 soldiers in the Tlaxcala surrender camp in his hands. These surrender soldiers were all desperate warriors with blood on their hands after fighting. Now the war After a short pause, the Guajili Army was repairing in Shuigu City, just to separate this drop barracks. Then, from the Guards, war priests and officers were transferred to retrain."

"Two thousand desperate warriors, as the backbone, equipped with leather armor, copper axes and copper spears. Then, from the imperial guards, a thousand kingdom warriors were drawn as the commander's pro-army. Then from the 100,000 tribes who participated in the farming for half a year , recruited 2,500 bow and arrow militiamen, equipped with paper armor, long bamboo bows and short spears. Finally, from the remaining 100,000 people, recruited 1,500 bow and arrow militiamen. Together, this is a full-scale army of 8,000 !Of course, in order to appease the 2,000 core warriors, we still have to grant them land and slaves.”

The purpose of drawing warriors from the Guards Corps is to strengthen the control over the Corps. After the transfer, the remaining vacancies will also be selected from the surrendered army and placed next to the king for training. This model, partly borrowed from Khitan's palace tent army, aims to strengthen the king's control over the legions in various places.

Shulot decided to pay attention and stretched out his hand slightly. Naxiu just bowed her head, sent the paper and pen knowingly, and mixed the black and blue ink. The king nodded slightly, dipped in the black ink, and then picked up the pen like a dragon and snake dancing, and wrote it like a ghost drawing amulet.

"Wang Ling: Form the Long Snake Legion, with a rated number of 8,000 people. The 2,000 Tlaxcala Battalion will be conferred with the rank of second-level warriors, 20 acres of land, and 1 slave. Among the 2,000 people, according to the level of military achievements, the selection will be made. Out of 500 warriors, the knighthood of the third class, 100 acres of land, and 5 slaves were awarded. One thousand kingdom warrior battalion, selected from the Praetorian Guard Corps, of which Mexica and Prepecha warriors were divided equally, and the knighthood remained the same .Five thousand longbow militiamen, selected from among them who fought bravely and excelled in archery, will be awarded the title of first-class warrior!"

In this way, among the 200,000 Tlaxcalans, 8,000 people with the most combat effectiveness were drawn out and included in the ruling class of the kingdom. These people left their hometowns for thousands of miles and settled down again. They are stationed in the hinterland of the kingdom where the heavy troops are stationed, and they have new samurai identities and field servants, so they will have much less desire to resist and flee.

"Of course, the fastest way to completely subdue the hearts of this legion is to let them get real benefits! Let them participate in battles with less damage, plunder other tribes, gain more military titles, and more The slaves in the field saw the channel for upward promotion with their own eyes! And these things were monopolized by the hereditary descendants of gods and nobles in the original four-state alliance, and it was impossible to distribute them to them."

"As long as they make military exploits and become part of the kingdom's rule, even if they are second-level warriors or third-level warriors, their loyalty will be greatly stabilized, just like the current Prepecha warriors!"

Thinking of this, Shulot showed a little complacency on his face. The way to rule the kingdom is actually not complicated, just fight, fight, fight! As long as the continuous victories are achieved and the military promise of granting land and slaves is fulfilled, the military group of the Kingdom of the Lake will become more stable and stronger!

"In this case, the Long Snake Legion is stationed at the mouth of Talsas, near the Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine. From there, go north, along the river, and you can plunder more than a dozen city-states in the northern Turkos tribes, dozens of It has a population of 10,000, and there is also the Haenyeo City on the southeast coast! It is time to settle the old account of the Kingdom Expedition Team being attacked. And the neighboring Huohe City tribes must gradually expand their influence and slowly come under control!"

Thinking of this, Xiu Luote's thoughts turned and he quickly wrote Wang Ling. Soon, the Wang Ling for the formation of the seventh legion was written, and there was only one last difficulty left: the choice of the head of the legion.

"The head of the Black Snake Legion. Well, the legion is mainly about surrendering soldiers and taking prisoners, so the leader needs to be loyal. Only the eagle warrior Balda and the temple guard captain Elvi have such qualifications and abilities in the kingdom. At this moment, they are all in the Imperial Guard, who should be chosen as the battalion commander?"

Shulot closed his eyes and fell silent. Seeing His Royal Highness who was thinking, Na Xiu knew how to smile softly. She lit the relaxing agarwood, brewed another cup of vanilla tea with honey, and knelt patiently beside her, bowing her head and waiting.

"Loyal, loyal, and loyal. If I raise an army. Facing the supreme. Which of the two will not waver and follow to the death?... Hey! Why do I have such disrespectful thoughts?!"

The agarwood is delicate and falls into the heart. Shulot tightened his lips, feeling guilty in his heart. But when he opened his eyes, he no longer hesitated, and wrote directly.

"Wang Ling, the Black Snake Legion is stationed in Haikou, Talsas. The head of the legion is..."

Naxiu quietly opened her eyes, and looked at the Wang Ling on the paper. Then, she raised her lips and smiled slightly.