Aztec Eternals

On the second day, the noon sun brightened the hills in the mountains, and the rustling autumn wind blew the leaves in the distance. The sky is high and the clouds are light, which is suitable for climbing and meeting friends.

On the rare and empty mountain hills, the scouts of Mexica and Otomi explored and looked around, and had a clear view of the surrounding miles. The forest is far away and sparse, and there is no ambush at all. After confirming the safety of the location, surrounded by hundreds of elite warriors, the commanders of the two armies climbed up the hill to formally meet.

For this meeting, Xiulot deliberately brought the Longbow Guards and Jaguar Warriors. The former is to take the initiative. If the negotiation fails, the other party's commander will be targeted. The latter is to ensure that in the event of an ambush, they can break out of the encirclement.

Wearing two layers of leather armor, Xiulot climbed up the hill, and his pupils constricted. At first glance, he saw hundreds of elite warriors holding a single Tlaxcala bow and copper arrows among the Otomi guards on the opposite side.

The commanders of the two sides looked at each other for a moment, smiled awkwardly and politely, understood each other, and were cautious in their hearts. In the chaotic world of endless battles, warriors always put utilitarianism first in order to achieve their goals, and they will not be bound by moral dogma.

Shulot took the shield from Bertard, and under the guard of a group of shield-bearing warriors, he looked at Commander Otomi on the opposite side. Although they had fought each other before, this was the first time Xiulot saw each other.

Giova, in his late forties, was imposingly built, with an odd-looking head-shaking coyote-like pair of narrow, piercing eyes. He was wearing a thickened leather armor, his steps were steady when he moved, his lower body swayed slightly, and he maintained a posture ready to exert strength at any time, obviously he was also an excellent warrior.

Seeing Shulot wearing a helmet, Giova narrowed his eyes and laughed loudly:

"The majestic commander of the Mexica legion hides his face like a squirrel hiding in a hole, not daring to let the warriors see his face!"

Xiulot ignored it. Most of this kind of ridicule was a deliberate temptation to grasp the opponent's psychology. He carefully looked at the opposite team, and unexpectedly found another acquaintance next to Giova, the old priest of the roaring groundhog of the city-state of Guamare. The old priest looked much older, but he was still aggressive, wearing a black and white priest robe, looking fiercely at the Mexica opposite.

Shulot looked around for a moment, and there was only one priest in the opposite team, obviously with a special status. He guessed in his heart, and shouted loudly: "In the name of the sun god Vitzilopochtli! I, the commander of the Mexica Legion, Shulot, represent the new king of the Mexica Alliance, Avit Sotel, and Negotiate with the people of the God of the Night during the day and discuss peace talks!"

Giova also answered sternly: "In the name of the original god Omet Ottel! I, the commander of the Otomi Legion, Giova, represent the city-state of Ottopan. This is the Priest of Chaos Olt, On behalf of the city-states of Guamare, Palmus and Xilotepec, negotiate with the people of God of War to stop the war!"

Both parties recognize part of the priesthood of the other's main god, but disagree with the supreme position of the other's main god. This distance of belief means that the Mexica and the Otomi are actually in the same cultural circle, but they have different mainstream cultures. The two legion commanders then saluted each other, and the hostile atmosphere eased.

The old priest Oort was also unusually quiet. He didn't rant on purpose, and he clearly had peaceful sincerity.

Shulot signaled to Giova to put forward the conditions first, and the coyote commander did not hesitate.

"People of the God of War! What you are facing is a united and huge Otomi city-state alliance! You cannot capture the invincible Ottopan city! Your new king killed the old king, and the kingdom is in civil war! You You can’t stay on this land for long! Let’s leave! The two sides negotiate peace, withdraw from all our land, and compensate 30,000 people for ten months of food! In the name of the original god, we will also return the captive 1,000 Mexica warriors! "

Xiuluo nodded, then shook his head again. He responded sharply.

"People of the god of day and night! Ottopan City only has three or four months of food, and it is simply unable to fight for a long time! The Tarascos are watching the south, and they will send troops to Ottopan City at any time! Chichimek dog descendants Invading the north, Guamare and Palms are unable to support! You have run out of troops and food! The two sides negotiate peace, use this mountain forest as a boundary, and release each other's prisoners! In the name of the sun god, I promise peace for a generation!

"Damn Aztecs! Hand over the food and quit our land! Otherwise, the 20,000 Otomi here are ready to fight you to the death!" Giova roared loudly.

"Then let's fight! Cowardly Otomi dog! Even if 10,000 Mexica warriors here die in battle, there will be more warriors coming next year to completely turn the Otomi land into ashes!" Shulot threatened loudly without hesitation.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and the bow and arrow warriors drew their bows and set up arrows, aiming at the opposing commander. The warriors in close combat raised their batons and shields, bowed slightly to gain momentum, with infinite killing intent.

The first short exchange soon stopped, and the two sides were silent for a while. It seems that the two sides have already found out the situation on the other side, but there is no room for deceit and threats. The old priest and Giova exchanged a few words, and then spoke on behalf of the Otomi people.

"What do you want?" The old priest Oort's face was cold and his tone was cold.

"Hilotepec City." Xiulot said bluntly.

"Hilotepec City is part of the alliance, we can't give it up." The old priest Ort shook his head resolutely.

"But it's impossible for you to guard it across the forest." Shulot looked into the eyes of the old priest.

The old priest was silent, and he glared at Shulot angrily. After a long time, his expression gradually disappeared, and finally he lowered his eyes and responded calmly.

"Ten months' food for 30,000 people."

Hearing this, Jiowa's face changed drastically. He strode excitedly and wanted to say something to the old priest, but the old priest shook his head firmly.

"Giova, don't interfere in the subsequent negotiations. I will be in charge of today's negotiations! All the consequences will be borne by me alone!"

Giova's long and narrow eyes were wide open, and he stared silently at the old priest's old face for a while, finally nodded, bowed silently and stepped back.

"It's impossible! Even if you don't agree, we can encircle the city of Hilotepec across the forest." Shulot shook his head affirmatively.

"Without this food, we will starve to death 30,000 militiamen and even half of the warriors this year." The old priest said the facts calmly.

"I will let all thirty thousand die in the war with the Mexica. How many casualties are you prepared to suffer, and how many people are you going to keep in Xilotepec?"

"It's impossible for you to spend 30,000 people in the war with us. Otherwise, once the Tarascos go north, you can't stop them at all. Ottopan City has no defensive force, so it can't be kept!" Xiulot said the same calmly retorted.

"Without food, we couldn't stop the Tarascos going north. When the Tarascos capture the city of Ottopan, they will become a threat to you Mexica!" The old priest was determined. wry smile.

Xiulot was silent, everyone was talking about facts, and facts cannot be changed by words.

"The food for 30,000 people for five months, half of which will be exchanged for luxuries of the same value. This winter will not be too cold, and now we will replant a season of kidney beans and sweet potatoes, which will be enough for you to harvest in five months." After a long time, the young man promised.

"If the Tarascos go north and attack you, the Mexica sailors will harass their food routes."

A desolate wry smile appeared on the face of the old priest. "Yes! When will it be delivered? We are willing to spend double the price to buy more food! Over the past year, we have a total of two thousand Mexica warrior captives, and we can hand them over to you now."

Shulot nodded solemnly, and the old priest really kept half of the captives as bargaining chips.

"I'll hand it over to you in installments, and we won't be able to produce too much food for a while. The total amount of food will only be so much! As for the captives, I have 900 Otomi warriors in my hands, and we can exchange them now."

"That's impossible!" The old priest shook his head and flatly refused. "Food for prisoners. We only want food! We don't want your captured warriors! We can't afford them either."

Shulot sighed. He pondered for a moment, then looked at the old priest again: "Then change the condition, how many warriors from Hilotepec City are there in your army? I will exchange them with captives."

The old priest pondered for a moment, then nodded: "This is also a solution. There are a thousand warriors in Xilotepec in the coalition army, and I will hand them over to you, but in addition to the nine hundred prisoners, I also need a thousand and five soldiers." Food for the month!"

"Okay! Let's exchange today!" Xiulot agreed directly.

For the Mexica Alliance, the warriors of the Thousand Hilotpec City are very important, and they are the leading party who are preparing to surrender. They were thrown out to join the coalition forces, and most must have been of minor noble or commoner origin. Then it was betrayed by the Otomi Alliance, and it was naturally easier to lean towards the Mexica, thus facilitating the assimilation of the alliance.

The two agreed with each other on the details of the grain transfer. From the completion of the negotiations, the Otomi will withdraw all guerrillas, leaving only 500 warriors and 3,000 militiamen in the mountains to carry the food sent by the Mexica. The two sides ceased fighting with the mountains and forests as the boundary.

Ottopan would not harass the Mexica who besieged Xilotepec. Grain is handed over in May and handed over once a month. With 30,000 people's food for a month, in exchange for 300 Mexica captives and half the value of gems, gold and silver, feathers or exquisite clothes, the last handover is expected to occur after the fall of Hilotpec. The Otomi would hand over the last eight hundred captive warriors.

The old priest then repeatedly pestered the Mexica to provide an additional ration of two thousand Mexica captives.

Shulot didn't care about it, and after getting the old priest's promise to treat the captives kindly, he nodded and agreed. He wanted to laugh a little, but also felt the deep desolation. Famine, lack of food, death. The disappearance of the lives of these Otomi people was originally planned by the Mexica army. Now, the result of the plan is coming as expected, and the two generations of Otomi people are being ruthlessly erased, but the boy has no joy.

Negotiations started at noon and ended in the evening. The war that lasted for a year and a half finally came to an end, and the city of Xilotepec was completely abandoned in exchange for enough food for the city of Ottopan. At the end of the parting, Giova and Shulot looked at each other, but couldn't say a word of ceremonial blessing.

Shulot then looked at Oort, the old priest of the groundhog, and looked at the suddenly hunched back of the other party, with a different emotion in his heart. He remembered the conversation in Guamare.

"Oort, even if you burn the grass all over the field, it's better to keep a sacred cocoa?" The boy took off his helmet and said an old saying.

Hearing these familiar words, Oort's eyes widened. He looked at the boy again for a moment, and finally recognized the coyote priest he had seen before.

"What exactly is the grass?" The young man looked at the old priest and his face that had lost his momentum.

"The green grass is a commoner, a warrior, a nobleman, a priest, and the city of Xilotepec. It's also me." After a moment of silence, Oort turned his head slightly, avoiding the boy's gaze, and answered faintly.

"In this case, what exactly is cocoa?" The young man thought for a while, then continued to look into the eyes of the old priest.

"That is the hope for the continuation of the Otomi people." Oort replied.

This time, he calmly looked into the boy's eyes.

Looking at each other for a moment, the boy nodded solemnly. He bowed slightly, thanked the old priest for his answer, then turned and left.

The negotiations for a truce are over. Soon, the setting sun sank into the earth, and the world was dark. And hope is bred in darkness.