Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

Chapter 2063 - 1506: Red and White, the Death of Fate

In December, the highland boasts the coolness of late autumn and the splendor of early spring. In the Southern Madre Mountains, red flowers spread across the undulating hills, painting them in a blood-red hue. These are the native red poinsettia and hibiscus flowers, the former exuding a strong fragrance, the latter having tangy petals. From the Cloud Mountain Valley to the Oaxaca Valley, clusters of white flowers bloom in the low valleys, white with a touch of yellow like sunlight. These are the common daisies and ginger flowers, symbolizing hope and purification, respectively."Blessed be the Chief Divine! This season in the Land Amidst the Clouds, without war, would be a beautiful autumn mountain scene, vibrant in ’red and white’!...But now, what I see in ’red and white’ is the death of a splendid view..."

Xiulote wore a light ritual robe, with tough leather armor underneath. He stood quietly in the southeast of Cloud Mountain City, on a hill, overlooking the red and white below.

Dark red was the solidified bloodstains, the dyed war clothes, flowing to form irregular semicircular "petals." Among the sacrificial petals lay the clustered corpses of warriors. Those bodies stripped of war clothes glistened in the midday sun, indeed resembling the yellow and white of ’ginger flowers.’

"Commander Kua Kehu, was it here under this hill you ambushed the Zapotec army?..."

"Yes, Prophet! It was here behind this hill we set the ambush, dressed in the grass clothes of your ’revelation.’ This valley is close to Cloud Mountain City, visible from the Cloud Mountain Castle above, and within the vigilant sight of the Cloud Mountain Tribes... The Cloud Mountain Tribes sent three envoys in succession, telling the Zapotec people it was ’safe here,’ ’the alliance has retreated,’ ’please come to aid swiftly’..."

"Blessed be the Chief Divine! The Zapotec reinforcements indeed marched in columns, rushing here. Although they had scouts on alert, in their haste, they failed to spot our ambush from afar. And when they arrived at the foot of the hill, they finally discovered the ambush, but it was too late!..."

At this, Royal Army Commander Kua Kehu grinned widely, a pure smile of delight following a triumphant victory.

"Praise the Chief Divine! Here below this hill, we first fired a round of mortar cannon, stunning the enemy vanguard, causing widespread chaos. Then, warriors on both sides rapidly fired five rounds of arrows, Jaguar Warriors threw three rounds of spears, damaging the vanguard of hundreds of enemies... Then, three thousand Armored Warriors rushed from the northwest mountain path, launching a frontal assault, breaking at least a Zapotec army within two quarters, eight thousand Southern Warriors! Soon after, a thousand troops rushed down from the mountains on both sides, cutting off the retreating Zapotec army, not a single vanguard warrior escaped! Followed by a full day’s pursuit, deep into the southeastern valley path..."

"Look! In the valley below, the Zapotec bodies, we counted two thousand of them! All elite warriors of the Zapotec people, not just randomly conscripted peasant soldiers... This truly was a refreshing victory, the souls of sacrificed warriors will surely bring delight to the Chief Divine!"

"Indeed! Kua Kehu, your bravery and sacrifice on the battlefield, the Chief Divine saw it, He is pleased! And the alliance army reported losses of only seven to eight hundred, the Divine King is also pleased... Hmm, let’s go to the battlefield to take a good look at what these elite Zapotec warriors are like..."

Xiulote descended the hill, two priest apprentices carrying his Obsidian Feather Crown and divination tools. Behind were over ten alliance war priests, carrying sacrificial fire pit divine smoke, holding high the flags of the Chief Divine, evidently prepared. More to the outer circle, courageous Commander Kua Kehu led five hundred Royal Warriors, escorting the priests, guarding against the non-existent "what if."

"Commander Kua Kehu, are the Zapotec elite warriors’ leather armor and war clothes all red?"

"Yes, Prophet, in the territory occupied by the Zapotec people, a lot of red dyes are produced. Their elite warriors would dye their war clothes in the honorable and costly red, as vibrant as blood. As for the ordinary warriors, they wear cheaper yellow war clothes, adorned with some red patterns... And these patterns, some represent a tribe’s ancestors, some represent a certain Divine Spirit, these I don’t quite understand..."

Hearing this, Xiulote slowly nodded. In hushed tones, he leaned down, picked up the blood-stained garments of a Zapotec warrior, brushed off the shattered corpse fragments, and carefully examined the patterns on them. Each different pattern clearly represented a Zapotec tribe or group. Through pattern identification, one could judge which Zapotec tribes joined the allied forces and how many casualties they suffered in this ambush...

"Hmm, let me see these Divine Spirit patterns! The one with rain patterns and lizards must be the most important rain divine of the Zapotec people, governing rain and crop growth, the First Divine, Cocijo. He is akin to the Alliance Rain Divine Tlaloc and the Mixteco Rain Divine Chaac, except in reptilian form. This divine is an ancient god, already fused by the Chief Divine! Of course, the Zapotec people do not know, still trapped in old ancient beliefs, waiting for the guidance of our Chief God Priests... As witnessed by the Chief Divine! Those able to paint such patterns on leather armor are likely warriors from Silver Peak City!

"This one with sun patterns and recurring ’○’ marks should be their Second Divine, Sun God Coquihani. He is the master of time and the universe, a symbol of daily life and time cycles... Very true! It is indeed a counterfeit divine challenging the Chief Divine’s authority, a belief that must be eliminated..."

"This divinely carved pattern of corn is the third divine of the Zapotec people, Corn God Pitaoctek. He controls the growth and harvest of corn, also fond of the sacrifice of fresh blood for the vivacious cycle of harvest... This divine is not a counterfeit divine, but a group of gods that can be accepted..."

"Huh! A combination of this person and a Jaguar? The spiritual pattern of the Tiger Man? Oh! I remember now! He is the Ancestor God of the Oaxaca Zapotec people, Petela (Petela). Legend has it that after initiating the Great Flood of the Second Era, He led the tribe to the central valley of the Oaxaca Valley and established the original city-state of the Zapotecs, ’Land of Gods Under the Divine Mountain,’ the ’Mountain God City’ Xaguixe (Xaguixe)... This city-state’s power is not strong, only its origin is very ancient, with the influence of the Zapotec ancestral land. Hmm, the ancient tribes of the Mountain God made the wrong choice, standing on the opposite side of the Alliance. But I think the Alliance should give them a chance, just like giving the Cloud Mountain Tribes a chance!"

Xiulote squinted his eyes, looking at the "Tiger Man" on the red leather armor, recalling the intelligence gathered by the long-distance merchants of the Alliance. As the ancestral land of the Zapotecs, Mountain God City is not only the religious center of the Oaxaca tribes but also half of its political center. Surrounding this ancient city are the sacred Monte Albán Great Pyramid, the ’Land of the Dead’ Mitla (Mitla), the Warrior Temple Dainzu (Dainzu), and the Second Era ’Old Capital Ruins’ Yagul (Yagul), all of which are religious imprints of the ancient civilization of Oaxaca.

It can be said that as long as the most powerful Silver Peak City is captured, and then the oldest Mountain God City is taken, mastering the northern valley of this central valley, then the hundreds of thousands of Oaxaca tribes, will lose entirely the "brain" of their tribal alliance. The other tribes of the Southern Valley do not have enough qualifications to lead the Oaxaca tribes. Even the more eastern, hundreds of thousands of seaside Vastec tribes will become scattered sand, losing the motivation to come to aid...

"Mountain God City, the ancestral land of the Zapotecs... It seems, this is also a fortress built by the mountain, very solid? Just hope that the Southern Expedition’s mortar cannon can hit this unknown-high mountain fortress. Or, the Zapotec people might choose to surrender, and avoid another long and brutal siege!"

Xiulote pondered for a long time, then looked around the corpses and was slightly startled, sharply noticing something. He quickly walked to a fallen corpse, staring at the arrow inserted into the heart, and the clearly Mistec styled blue clothes. He carefully examined it, the cloud pattern on the blue clothes was very similar to the Ritual Robes of the Yun Gushan Elder Priest, and had an even more similar tiger claw pattern.

"Is this... a young, Mistec noble warrior?"

Xiulote straightened the drooping head of the corpse, seeing an extraordinarily young face filled with rage and fear. Fear was frozen in the dying eyes, anger ended on the unwilling face. Perhaps until the moment of death, this young noble warrior never knew the truth of being ambushed, unaware that the river of fate was destined for a demise long before it flowed...

"The fate of the smoke, the young death..."

Xiulote silently observed, then suddenly turned and shouted.

"Kua Kehu..."

"Prophet?"

"Send two warriors to ’arrange’ this body and send it back to Cloud Mountain City. If there are other Mistec corpses found, treat them the same way."

"Send them to Cloud Mountain City? Yes!"

"Also tell the Mistec nobles in the city, the kingdom’s priests have already blessed these deceased undeads, guiding their souls to the Divine Kingdom of the Chief God!"

"Understood! Praise the Chief God!"

"Yes, praise the Chief God!"

Xiulote bowed slightly, praying reverently for several breaths. Then he released his hand, letting the young deceased fall into the blood-stained daisy bushes. Thus, he continued stepping on the bloodstains and flowers, walking along the red and white bloody path, toward the southeastern extending valley path.

After all, this was just the initial battlefield of ambush. The true extension of death was over twenty remaining to the southeast, in front of the camp captured and lost by the Zapotec peoples. That brutal battlefield, which left no prisoners, was the destination of the priests’ visit, a new cemetery for holding a funeral sacrificial rite to console both sides’ souls~~