"Main God witness us! Bertad, since the Jungle Tribes have already formed their alliance, the kingdom's missionary priests and trade caravans must set out from Golden Bay City and Hidden Snake City as soon as possible. They are to follow the great river deep into the inland jungle and establish ties of faith and commerce among the tribes as quickly as they can..."
"Missionary work is the long-term, steady grand plan, while commerce is the foundation of communication and mutual benefit. Add intermarriage between the tribes to those two, and that is the Coastal Alliance's strategy for peaceful expansion, extending its influence from the coast into the inland jungle..."
"Yes, Your Highness! I understand what you mean. In the inland jungle, where transport and logistics are inconvenient, we use missionary work, commerce, and marriage alliances to expand peacefully. And on the coastal lands, where transport and logistics are convenient, we use the spearheads of the legions to pacify them by force... uprooting the Divine Descendant nobles who originally ruled, then using large numbers of warriors granted titles for military merit as the roots of rule!"
The Sunrise River surged on and on, flowing from the Chiapas mountains in the southern upper reaches to the jungle of the northern coast, then into the boundless Caribbean Sea. Xolotl and Bertad stood one before the other on the hills beside the Sunrise River, gazing out at the vast, endless Eastern Sea, as if even their hearts had opened wide.
There was something distant in the king's eyes, and a meaningful sense of waiting. The Captain of Warriors' expression was much calmer and firmer. In his heart, he held both a will as hard as stone and a belief as blazing as fire, like the green jade and cinnabar produced on the coast. And