Empire

The road stretched on and on, the journey home far away. Perhaps because they were escorting captives, perhaps because they had run into creditors, or perhaps because he had learned some news from the military nobles of the city-states, Olorosh's roar urged everyone from their beds early the next morning. They headed south along the smooth dirt road beside the river.

Ever since entering the Mexican Plateau, the road south had been comfortable and safe.

The end of Mexico's dry season was still cool and arid. The sky was high, the clouds thin; there was none of the lowland jungle's bothersome rain, and the roads were flat enough. The villages along the way teemed with life, fruit trees cast shade, and cacti and yucca were crops unique to the highlands.

On both banks of the broad river lay countless high-yield Chinampa floating fields. Canoes darted across the river, while merchants and travelers came and went without cease.

This was the actual territory controlled by the Aztec City-State Alliance—the imperial core formed by more than a dozen Mexica city-states, encompassing the finest lands of the Valley of Mexico. Once they entered this region, Olorosh's mood visibly improved. Whenever he had time, he would tell Xolotl stories of the "Great City-State Alliance."

By Xolotl's understanding, Lake Texcoco was "the heart of the Alliance," swiftly linking the city-states around its shores.

At the very center of the empire stood the sacred three cities. Tenochtitlan lay in Lake Texcoco, Texcoco on the lake's eastern shore, and Tlacopan on its western shore. According to the original agreement, the rulers of all three city-states jointly served as sovereigns of the Alliance. In Xolotl's understanding, it was three kings standing side by side, one principal and two deputies. As for whose status was higher, that naturally depended on the military strength each city could mobilize.

To make them easier to remember, Xolotl silently gave the three cities labels based on their locations and present circumstances. Tenochtitlan, the Lake Capital: the central Xianyang, the heart of the empire, an unparalleled giant city of stone. Texcoco: the eastern Anyi, a flourishing cultural center with an independent heritage. Tlacopan: the western Yongcheng, a strategically vital stronghold near the former capital of the Tepanec.

Beyond the three cities of Lake Texcoco, within three or four hundred li of the Lake Capital and no more than two weeks' journey away, lay the many Mexica city-states that formed the empire's core—the lands it could truly control!

According to Olorosh, the Alliance's northeastern boundary was roughly marked by the Metztitlan City they had just passed, namely Prickly Pear City. Farther northeast were the Huastec, "loyal dependents" of middling strength who had submitted more than a decade ago. Every year, the empire collected vast quantities of grain, leather, and feathers from them.

Xolotl drew a circle in his mind and noted: "Similar to Yan; northeast; medium forces; tributary diplomacy."

To the northwest were the Otomi People, the "hyenas and coyotes" whom the Alliance continuously campaigned against and drove away.

Over the past century, the Otomi People had been driven from the fertile Valley of Mexico by the Mexica People and the various Nahua tribes. They scattered across the north, yet time and again managed to establish new city-states on the frontier. They were numerous, and their direct military strength was not especially formidable, but they were tenacious and patient enough, intermarrying with the Chichimec Dog-kin who hunted and roamed farther north.

At that thought, Xolotl drew another circle to the northwest and noted: "Similar to the Xiongnu; north; medium forces; hostile diplomacy."

The Alliance's southwestern boundary was marked by Lazico City, or Sun City. Farther west stood a tough enemy, the Tarasco people, "hard stones." They possessed "unbelievably hard" bronze weapons, as well as rare copper mine sources among the known lands.

The Alliance's only crushing defeat had come in its war with Tarasco two years earlier. Several bloody pitched battles had erupted in succession, at least three legions of eight thousand men had been routed, and casualties had numbered in the tens of thousands.

Tenochtitlan, the Lake Capital, had once issued a city-state mobilization order: one able-bodied man from every household, forming a vast army of one hundred thousand. The Tarascan City-State Alliance had likewise been intimidated by the Alliance's terrifying war potential and withdrawn from Alliance territory. They then turned west and north to deal with the small city-states of the Tecos people.

A tacit yet stable peace had endured between the two nations. Xolotl drew a large circle to the west and noted: "Similar to Chu; west; numerous forces; neutral diplomacy."

A little farther south, in the mountain valleys on both sides of the Talsas River, lived the Chontal, "like weeds in the wind." They were few in number and had submitted to the empire for many years. Some small Mexica migrant towns had already begun to rise in this region.

Xolotl's label was: "Similar to the Rongdi; south; few forces; subordinate diplomacy."

Farther south, all the way to the Pacific Ocean coast, lay the "weak and powerless" southern city-states: from west to east, the Tepanec, Mixtec, and Zapotec. All these city-states called themselves the "People of the Clouds" and possessed ancient lineages. Closely related by blood, they had been forced to submit and pay tribute to the Alliance under the campaigns of "the Great Conqueror, Montezuma I." Yet in private, they formed alliances with one another to resist the pressure of the northern Alliance.

The youth's label was: "Similar to Song, Wei, and Zhongshan; south; medium forces; tributary diplomacy."

East of the Lake Capital, beyond the eastern Valley of Mexico and the continuous Sierra Madre Oriental, lay the empire's "mortal enemy": the Tlaxcalan, with whom it had warred without cease for decades!

The Tlaxcalan and the Aztec were both descendants of the Chichimec-Nahua people. Their languages were similar, their cultures connected, their bloodlines intertwined—yet after countless wars, their hatred ran as deep as the sea. Like the Aztec Alliance, the Tlaxcalan revered Cloud Snake, the God of the Hunt, and had formed a city-state alliance. Its core consisted of the four cities of Tizatlan, Ocotelolco, Tepeticpac, and Quiahuiztlan, known simply as the "Four Snake Cities."

Like the Alliance, Tlaxcala possessed a similar military system and could mobilize an army of more than one hundred thousand at the limit. They were the Alliance's most dangerous enemy, and the Flower War between them had continued for decades without ending.

In truth, it was the Tlaxcalan who would eventually bring the Spanish to Mexico. They provided the Spanish with a foothold, detailed intelligence, ample food, and even one hundred thousand servants and cannon fodder.

In the end, taking advantage of the Aztec Alliance's internal strife, the Tlaxcalan and the Spanish were personally invited into the capital city by King Montezuma II. The colonizers seized the Alliance king hostage, while deliberately spread Smallpox nearly destroyed the Alliance's center, Tenochtitlan, the City in the Lake. During the following two years of disease and slaughter, the once-glorious Aztec Civilization perished. The Tlaxcalan themselves could not escape the dreadful Plague either; eight or nine out of every ten died.

For ten years of blood and fire, the Tlaxcalan dyed the throne of the Viceroy of New Spain red with their own blood and that of Mesoamerica's many peoples!

Thinking of history's future, Xolotl felt a shiver in his heart. He drew a circle to the east and noted: "Similar to Zhao; east; numerous forces; war without end." After thinking for a moment, he added four more words: "Greatest threat."

To the east, connected to the Tlaxcalan Alliance, stood the "highly honored" religious Holy City of Cholula. Cholula was the center of Nahuatl religion, a city of temples, beautiful and prosperous. It had few Samurai, yet enjoyed a special standing among the city-states, calling itself the "Toltec," inheritors of Civilization. Hearing this, Xolotl gave it a label: "Similar to the Eastern Zhou; east; few forces; transcendent status."

East of Tlaxcala and Cholula, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico coast, lived another relative of the Mexica People: the Totonac, "the most like the Maya People."

Like the Mexica People, the Totonac had once journeyed south from the Wasteland, driven out the Otomi People, and settled on the Mexica Plateau in the south. They had actually arrived before the Mexica People. Thus, they had migrated farther and settled along the eastern coast, nearly monopolizing trade with the Maya People before reselling goods inland. Their small boats, it was said, had, like those of the Maya People, once reached "a great island in a distant Great Lake."

Geography shaped the course of politics. Decades of coastal trade and a flourishing population had made the Totonac city-states wealthy, but had also stripped them of their relatives' martial and warlike nature. They sold strategic supplies such as salt, feathers, and leather to the Tlaxcalan in exchange for peace, while nominally paying tribute to the Alliance and remaining relatively detached from Mesoamerica's conflicts.

Xolotl happened to have a fitting label: "Similar to Qi; east; medium forces; neutral diplomacy."

As for the more distant Maya city-states, they were remote and unfathomable. Olorosh had only vaguely heard the names of important city-states such as "Mayapan," "Chichen Itza," and "Chactemal," and those only from some Maya merchant he would rather not remember.

The wars among the Maya city-states were somewhat smaller than those among Mexico's peoples, and the scale of their sacrifices was smaller as well. They lay deep in the inaccessible rainforests of the southeast. Xolotl casually found a label for them: "Similar to Baiyue; southeast; specifics unknown." Of course, that label was inappropriate; the Maya People's cultural achievements, their astronomy and calendars, would endure even into later ages.

Several days passed in a blur of idle conversation. Xolotl heard stories all the way and silently memorized a ring of labels. He had nearly emptied all the learning from Olorosh's belly before finally beginning to digest it with satisfaction. But pleasant journeys were always brief. In just one more day, he would return to his home in this life—the ancient Holy City of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico!

This journey had been real and vivid. To Xolotl, this Mesoamerican world was no longer wholly unfamiliar mist, no longer a cold set of numbers and conclusions. His memories now held real emotions: a trace of tenderness, some persistence, a little curiosity, and a yearning to seek and pursue!

"Perhaps, there was also a spirit of soaring optimism."

With that thought, he drew a circle at the center of the Valley of Mexico and gave the central Aztec their final label.

"Magnificent, Great Qin!"