The drizzle of late spring drifted in and out, and lush green long grass grew thickly. Patrolling warriors wore straw sandals as they walked through the green grass, and even the military camp outside Tree Snake City suddenly had a touch more spring about it.
"The situation in the Royal Capital. The king's centralization of power. And my wife and son. Once the two cities fall, I'll have to return to the capital at least once!"
Xolotl looked up at the sky, holding a roll of snow-white family letter in his hand. The handwriting on the letter was delicate, slightly slanted, with a few fine-line sketches tucked between the words. It had only just arrived, yet it had already stirred a ring of ripples in his cold, hard heart. He raised a gentle smile, held the letter, and walked out of the great tent. Then the king climbed the several-meter-high watchtower and gazed toward the western wilderness and green mountains. Beyond that mountain range, hundreds of li away, lay the long-missed Lake Capital.
"Spring has come. The barren fields and valleys are covered in green grass. If there were herds of cattle and sheep, they could be put out to graze!"
Xolotl watched for a while, then sighed softly. The region around the Four Snake Cities had once been the most prosperous heartland of the Tlaxcalan, with villages standing one after another and cooking smoke never ceasing. Now, as far as the eye could see, there were only endless military tents, patrolling warrior militiamen, and empty space spread across the mountains and plains.
The army had besieged the cities for nearly a year and a half, and the Four Southern and Northern States had all been swept clean. At this moment, the Tlaxcalan's final two mountain fortresses were like dead