"Great Banner Chief Copilli! Snake Island of Cuba is here! Up ahead is the island's westernmost snake tail—the West Mountain Tribe, converted to the Main God!..."
"Main God bless us! Five or six hundred li of waves—we rowed for five whole days. I've been tossed half to death! Quick! Put ashore, and let the warriors get a proper rest!..."
Six Oared Longships rushed toward the shore, barely slowing before they drove straight into the shallows. The three hundred Kingdom Warriors aboard could not wait to leap onto the beach. Many of them dry-heaved and collapsed all across the sand. And as the leader of the three hundred warriors, Copilli also jumped down from the ship and forcefully planted a great banner that symbolized the camp into the beach!
"Whew! Squad heads, count your men. Once the banner chiefs have confirmed them, come report to me!"
Copilli shouted the order. The Kingdom Warriors who had landed quickly split into small squads of twenty and gathered toward their respective captains. According to the kingdom's military system, the most basic combat unit was the "twenty-man squad." This was also a tradition among the various tribes of Mesoamerica for taking captives and hunting, because fingers and toes together could count exactly twenty people.
The captain of a twenty-warrior squad was often called a "squad head." Above that, one palm's worth—that was, five twenty-man squads—formed one "Century." A Century possessed a banner representing the unit, so the captain of a Century was customarily called a "banner chief." And two palms together made a two-hundred-man battalion. The commander here would be called a "great banner chief."
A "great banner chief" did not necessarily have only two Centuries under him. Like the Black Wolf confidant currently leading the troops, the Totonac brave general Copilli, who commanded three