The Grand Army

The early summer sun had already grown somewhat fierce. A damp breeze blew over Lake Xaltocan, carrying what seemed to be the scent of the midsummer rainy season.

Xolotl followed his father, and his father followed his grandfather. The High Priest stood at the very front, dressed in formal ceremonial regalia. Nobles and priests clustered around him, their vivid feathers joining into a single blaze of splendor amid gold and silver. Everyone had donned their most formal, brightest, heaviest garments as they waited outside the southern gate of the city-state for the king's army.

Xolotl had also been forced to wear a blue-feathered Chief Priest's crown. Its long plumes traced elegant arcs above his head, making him seem half a meter taller out of thin air.

A warrior's feather crown could have its feathers inserted backward to hang down behind the wearer, making combat easier. Fortunately, he had specifically chosen this crown himself. It was relatively plain, without gold, silver, or gemstones, and its weight was bearable. The feathers around him kept poking his face, making it itch. He quickly stepped away from the crowd and sneezed at the side.

"What use are these feathers? Wearing them on your head makes you look like a bird."

Xolotl lowered his voice and grumbled with some dissatisfaction. Come to think of it, history books had once mentioned that the indigenous people of the Americas could never understand why colonizers prized gold and silver, which had only a gleam, while disregarding the far more precious feathers.

"Feathers are gifts bestowed by the gods, and offerings beloved by the gods. The more magnificent and slender the feathers, the more they symbolize nobility and holiness."

Acap emerged from the side again with a smile, voicing the view held by priests and nobles.

"They say that Death God Xolotl's twin brother, the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl, possessed the most beautiful feathers in the world! Through his feathers, he commanded hurricanes, carrying his immense serpent body as he flew into the eastern waters and slept in the east where the sun rose. One day, he would awaken and return from the eastern waters, bringing peace and prosperity to the world!"

"Huh? The Feathered Serpent is a flying feathered snake?"

Hearing this, Xolotl perked up and asked curiously.

"This is the conclusion the priests of the Holy City drew from ancient murals in the holy city of Teotihuacan."

Acap pondered for a moment, then spoke softly.

"But on the murals of Tenochtitlan's Great Temple, the Feathered Serpent has a human form. He is tall, fair-skinned, and bearded. Defeated and exiled by the other gods, he sailed upon a Snake Raft to the mysterious eastern Tlapallan, leaving behind a promise to return!"

"Damn it! A goddamn fair-skinned, bearded man."

Hearing such a myth, Xolotl felt intense dissatisfaction. On some future day, the Spanish colonizer Hernan Cortes would use this myth to successfully win over the first batch of Totonac collaborators to guide him and establish leadership over the Tlaxcalan auxiliary army.

Then, on the day the Feathered Serpent had promised to return, he would pretend to be the Feathered Serpent and be ceremoniously welcomed by the god-fearing Montezuma II into Tenochtitlan, the imperial capital. He would trick and capture Montezuma II, slaughter Mexica priests and nobles in the Great Temple, and destroy the center of imperial rule in one stroke. Finally, he would deliberately leave behind countless garments and blankets contaminated with the smallpox virus, then flee amid the Mexica People's attack on the Night of Sorrows.

Smallpox spread rapidly through the densely populated Lake Capital. The Mexica People were wholly unprepared, and they had lost the effective organization needed to confront the epidemic. This dreadful plague could no longer be contained. It directly destroyed the empire's core ruling class and wiped out eighty percent of the population.

The City-State Alliance immediately collapsed. Leaderless, it fractured into more than a dozen states. Two years later, the chaotic Lake Capital fell to the conquerors and the Tlaxcalan auxiliary army during the second siege, proclaiming the destruction of Aztec Civilization.

Next came Tarasco, the Mixtec, the Zapotec, the Otomi, the Maya, until all of Mesoamerica! The returning "Feathered Serpent" brought nothing but endless death, slaughter, and destruction!

"Disease, myth, auxiliary armies, cavalry, warships."

Xolotl counted on his fingers, assessing the colonizers' advantages in order of importance.

"These are the five sharp weapons with which the colonizers conquered the New Continent! We'll take them one at a time. First eliminate the potential auxiliary armies, then carry out religious reform! As for disease, the road is long and arduous. We must begin with smallpox. Hmm, smallpox, cowpox... no cattle, then we'll use the Celestial Empire's ancient method of variolation..."

Xolotl's expression turned solemn as he sank once more into ideals beyond his present capabilities. Such a reversal of fate required the support of supreme power and manpower counted in hundreds of thousands, millions. Only when Acap patted him on the shoulder did he come back to himself.

"Xolotl, look south!"

At those words, Xolotl widened his eyes and gazed southward. It was an army—oh, a magnificent army—appearing at the very edge of his vision! A tide of people carpeted the horizon, their red battle robes staining the clouds. That was the color of cochineal, a dye tribute belonging to the royal cities, more precious than gold in the Old Continent—the rouge of later generations. After waiting an entire month, Xolotl finally saw the empire's army!

King Tizoc had first begun mobilizing in the capital's three cities. He had summoned ten Xiquipilli—eighty thousand warriors and Militia—forming a powerful Royal Direct army group. The army contained more than forty thousand Royal Direct Warriors, along with a full two thousand troops from the Jaguar Regiment and Eagle Legion! No city-state in Mesoamerica could possibly confront such an army head-on.

The surging host displayed the majesty of the new king and suppressed the hearts of every state. They first marched west for a week, intimidating Tarasco and the western cities while gathering the allied armies of the various states.

The army of Tepanicapan joined first, followed by Tolocan and Lazico. One after another, five eight-thousand-man regiments joined them—another forty thousand warriors and Militia. Then the army turned southeast for ten days, passing through Cuauhnahuac and Huaxtepec, where it gained two more eight-thousand-man regiments.

After inspecting the southeast of the Mexica Alliance, the army stopped for two days to receive the Chontal leaders. Along the way, it also threatened the southern frontier of Tlaxcala, sending a wave of villagers fleeing inward. Finally, the army turned north and marched for a week, drawing three more eight-thousand-man regiments from the prosperous Xalco State—over twenty thousand men, mainly Militia responsible for logistics. Among the forces from these city-states that joined in succession, the proportion of warriors was slightly lower, less than two-fifths.

Only then did twenty legions, an army of one hundred and sixty thousand men, come surging north in a vast, sky-covering procession! After nearly a month of inspection, the army finally reached the Holy City of Teotihuacan, only three days away from the capital city in a straight line. And the king's army actually contained over seventy thousand battle-hardened warriors! This was a force capable of intimidating all the Mexica tribes, all of Mesoamerica beneath heaven!

"'As he strode through the states, High Heaven made them his sons, truly aiding and ordering Zhou. When he stirred them, none were not shaken and piled in trembling.'"

Xolotl stared wide-eyed at the magnificent army advancing toward him, already filling his entire field of view. His heart shook, and he could not help murmuring in admiration.

"What a magnificent army! Though it is only at the level of Shang and Zhou, its momentum already shakes the clouds. This is how a true man should be!"

"Xolotl, what are you saying?"

Acap's eyes flickered as he asked curiously.

"Uh, I mean, seeing the king's army left me deeply shocked and full of yearning."

Xolotl tilted his head slightly and changed the subject.

"The king's march is so slow. It seems he is not in a hurry to campaign against the Otomi People, but is mainly inspecting the cities and displaying the new king's majesty!"

"Indeed, you are absolutely right!"

Acap smiled and put an arm around Xolotl's shoulder.

"In this world, every city-state is descended from the Sky God and independently decides all matters within dozens of li around it. Though the king is the Alliance's leader, he cannot directly command the military and government of the various city-states, nor can he even fully control the great nobles of the capital city. To make the city-states obey, one must rely on the capital city's military strength, the monarch's prestige, and blood ties like those of our Holy City royal family!"

"Thus, when a new king ascends the throne, the first thing he must do is establish prestige in the hearts of the leaders of every city-state in the Alliance! He must gather a great army, inspect the various states, receive tribute, and incidentally intimidate possible enemies within and without. Campaigning against enemies and offering them as sacrifices to the gods is the final and most important step in displaying majesty! If this step is magnificent and resplendent, nobles and warriors great and small will submit from the heart!"

"This is killing a Turkey to frighten a troop of Monkeys!"

Xolotl thought for a moment and came up with a familiar idiom.

"Turkey? Monkey?"

Acap froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Haaha! What an interesting comparison! Xolotl, your sights are set high indeed."

Then Acap lowered his voice, glanced around, and only then smiled softly.

"If the leaders of the various city-states are compared to monkeys, then the king who occupies the Lake Capital is the monkey king! Only when the monkey king is strong enough can he command the nearby monkeys to hand over the fruit in their hands!"

"In that case... if the monkeys run too far away, they become a wild monkey, or a troop of wild monkeys. For such distant monkeys, the monkey king must give them a knock from time to time before they hand over their fruit on schedule?"

"Exactly! The farther a tribe lies from the Royal Capital, the more easily it rebels. But the Otomi People are not Monkeys of our own kind, nor are they foolish Turkeys. They are cunning wild dogs. The moment they sense trouble, they hide themselves in their dens!"

The two young men kept their voices low, discussing matters they should not have discussed, their hearts filled with ambition. As they spoke, the army's vanguard was already rushing toward them! Four full eight-thousand-man warrior regiments marched in sequence down the southern road, then made camp beside Lake Xaltocan.

More than thirty thousand warriors of every rank clustered together just like that! At a glance, red-and-black pointed caps and yellow Beast Helmets bobbed in a crowd, while Obsidian War Clubs reflected an ocean of light. The camp roared with voices. Face after face, eager and confident, was stirred by the strength of the multitude, their morale at its peak.

On the lake, thousands of Canoes carried grain all the way from the capital in the Lake Texcoco Region. Ten years of grain reserves had been opened, ensuring the army's supplies through the convenient waterways.

Then an entire legion of veteran warriors approached in the most orderly formation Xolotl had ever seen in his life, marching in silence. Every one of them wore Refined Leather Armor and carried Obsidian throwing spears on their backs. There were one thousand Jaguar Warriors, one thousand Eagle Warriors, and six thousand Level 4 Senior Warriors! They needed no words. Their relaxed yet ever-ready posture alone proved to everyone that this was the empire's core strength!

At this sight, Xolotl and Acap both fell silent. Before absolute strength, even the most fearless words were weak and powerless. The burly Xoloc strode over in two steps and pulled Xolotl back into the ranks. Clearly, the king would not remain far from his core force. He would appear soon. Xolotl keenly noticed that his father Xoloc's body was also straight and solemn, visibly tense.

Behind the strongest legion in Mesoamerica came the royal palanquin of Tizoc, king of the Mexica, advancing steadily under the escort of five hundred Shorn Ones. These Imperial Guard warriors, who closely resembled the Xiongnu, had shaved away most of their hair, leaving only a section atop their heads and a tuft on either side. Each wore thick green Cotton Armor and a netted cloak, into which a back banner symbolizing their status was inserted, painted with the abstract emblem of the Sun God.

Xolotl lowered his head and did not meet the Imperial Guard warriors' eyes. These final forces guarding the king wore cold, murderous expressions, and their fighting power was obvious at a glance.

Regrettably, there were still no suitable beasts of burden anywhere in the Americas. Ox carts, horse carriages, elephant carts—none could be relied upon. Tizoc, descended from the Main God, could only sit in a shoulder palanquin borne by dozens of men. He wore a magnificent robe with a white ground and red patterns, along with a white skull-shaped helmet crowned by long green feathers, making him exceptionally striking. This splendid image was taken from an ancient myth of a powerful evil spirit.

Behind the king's palanquin stood a row of feather banners. The banners flew high, equally eye-catching. They bore all kinds of complex pictographs, like paintings. Xolotl was carefully identifying the sun, cactus, eagle, snake, lake, and giant upon them when one of the king's messengers hurried over.

"The descendant of the supreme Sun God, God of War, and Guardian Deity Huitzilopochtli; master of Tenochtitlan, the City in the Lake; the great and glorious Tlatoani Tizoc wishes to meet with his kin of the same bloodline, Xutl, High Priest and administrator of the ancient Holy City of Teotihuacan!"