"R-revered Snake Mother! Y-you... you can't be joking, can you?... The Totonac Coastal Legion is on campaign against the Maya, and the Lake Kingdom's Black Wolf Legion has gone to the eastern lands as well... How could the Coastal Alliance possibly still pull out another eight thousand warriors and two thousand Water Fleet men right now?..."
"Haaha! The Totonac Coastal Alliance has a million tribespeople! And Crow City is only a little over five hundred li by sea from Golden Bay City. No matter how slow the fleet is, it would only take ten days of rowing... With a sea route this close, let alone eight thousand warriors and two thousand Water Fleet men—even if that number doubled, even if we sent twenty thousand fighting men, the Coastal Alliance could still bear it!..."
The night gradually deepened. Shadow overcame firelight, making the temple seem all the more murderous. Snake Mother Miawa's smile did not change as she watched the Silver Crow elder, caught completely off guard and thrown into utter panic, while also judging the other party's psychological bottom line. Then her eyes flickered, her gaze dark and distant, and she once again raised the stakes with a heavy blow.
"Mm, the Silver Crow Great Chieftain truly does have it hard! For the Silver Crow Alliance of three hundred thousand tribespeople to get every clan head to nod in approval, to swear a blood oath under the witness of the ancestors, and establish Prince Xolotl's bloodline as heir... relying on only ten thousand Totonac troops probably still wouldn't be enough!..."
"How about this! Qingqiu Great Chieftain Balamo is also His Highness's vassal. In the wasteland upstream of the Great River, he controls a dozen or two hundred thousand Dog-kin tribes... I'll send envoys to invite him at once. As long