Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

Chapter 2064 - 1507: Red and White—The Funeral of Fate

"Your Highness, the Prophet! After ambushing and defeating the Zapotec army, the Allied Forces did not immediately pursue. We first wiped out those two thousand Zapotec vanguards, then allowed the armored warriors a slight respite, letting hundreds of Jaguar Warrior Brigade pursue with intimidation! We won’t let them have the chance to regroup! Look, along the twenty li of mountain path, there are fallen Zapotec warriors, at least a thousand of them!... These bodies are scattered everywhere, it’s quite troublesome to bury them... But the Divine King says the bodies must be buried quickly to prevent plague...""Chief Divine bless us! Indeed, these fallen Zapotec warriors need to be buried swiftly, preferably gathered together... The burial pits should be deeper, ideally two people deep, to prevent them from being unearthed by wild dogs. And the burial sites must be far from rivers and water sources, at least fifty steps apart..."

At noon, the sun was very warm, and December on the Highland felt like early spring. Xiulote, in a blood-stained ritual robe, stood at the southeastern entrance of the Cloud Mountain Valley, shoes made of cotton cloth dyed from white to red. The mountain path leading directly to Oaxaca Valley was marked by red and white traces, winding before his eyes.

"Merciful Sun Chief Divine! I pray for your attention, pray for your arrival! Pray that you guide the souls of these who died in battle to the Divine Kingdom in the skies. Whether they are Mixteco, Zapotec, or Mexica of the Alliance, they all share a common identity, the ancient Gummy People!..."

Xiulote bowed his head in prayer, not only guiding the souls of the deceased Zapotec warriors but also addressing the War Priests of the Alliance. Hearing the modified prayers by the Divine Revelation Prophet, the War Priests of the Chief Divine exchanged glances, none daring to speak. Only when Xiulote calmly glanced at them and recited the second time did the War Priests bow their heads and join in prayer.

"Chief Divine bless us! Whether they are Mixteco, Zapotec, or Mexica... all the deceased are the ancient Gummy People, going to the Chief Divine’s Divine Kingdom!"

The solemn prayer lasted a quarter hour before everyone continued along the valley path. Xiulote occasionally stopped, picking up a few weapons and equipment left by Zapotecs, inspecting the leather armor of their bodies. His eyes flashed with contemplation, even though he had never directly engaged with the Zapotec army, he had already sketched out their image.

"...Relatively sturdy leather armor, with thin red copper plates embedded at the heart. The cotton war clothes are of very good quality, clearly finely woven..."

"Ranged weapons include slings, javelins thrown by javelin throwers, and similar mid-sized single bows like those of the Tlaxcalans. Whether it’s spearheads or arrowheads, they’re mainly of obsidian sharp fragments, with a few copper arrows. As for melee weapons, they include the Makua Wet War Stick, wooden-handled red copper axe, wooden-handled stone club and stone hammer, and even heavier short-handled copper hammers capable of dealing with medium armor..."

"They have very few bronze axe spears and longbows, which might have been smuggled from the Kingdom, or possibly from the Totonac Alliance... Overall, the Zapotecs produce red copper, cotton, dyes, and obsidian, possessing decent skills in making leather armor, reasonably equipped!"

"As for their organizational structure, it is based on small-scale tribal armies, then grouped into large armies of sixty or eighty together. Warriors of the same tribal emblem often die together, while those of different emblems flee and die separately on the retreat... This shows that warriors from the same Zapotec tribe have strong centripetal force and combat will. In battles with less than a hundred men, they are comparable to the City-State Warriors of the Alliance in combat power. But once gathered into the form of a Xiquipilli large army, engaging in large-scale battle formations, they easily break into separate fights and fall apart..."

"Chief Divine bears witness! The Zapotec Tribes developed in the Oaxaca Valley for hundreds of thousands of years, yet they remain in such a loose tribal allied state. They likely have not faced cold waves or encountered large-scale banding together of the northern Canine Descendants, pushing southward from the wilderness. For daily tribal struggles, a scale of around a hundred is indeed sufficient..."

Xiulote’s eyes flashed, gradually combining the information on the Zapotec Tribes with the bodies on the ground, judging their true combat power. Undoubtedly, this was an instinct of a "seasoned battlefield veteran" and "great Legalist of military art". But soon, he laughed silently, shaking his head in self-mockery. Clearly, in this grand southern expedition to annex the Land Amidst the Clouds, Aweit would no longer give him the opportunity to lead troops. If no accidents occur, his military analysis of the Zapotecs would be of no use at all...

"Let’s move on! We need to hurry, so we can reach the Alliance camp in the middle of the valley before sunset! Then we can rest well tonight, preparing the sacrificial rite for tomorrow morning!"

"Yes! Honorable Elder Priest!"

The War Priests responded in unison. They followed Xiulote’s steps, treading on the dark red earth and flowers, rushing into the mountain path’s depths. And their address for Xiulote remained as "Elder Priest", with few calling him "Prophet".

After all, the nobility and samurai did not understand the religious weight of the term "Prophet" and did not need to answer to the High Priesthood of the Lake Capital City. However, the middle-level priests of the Alliance were very clear. Once they uttered the word "Prophet", it was an unmistakable stance in the secret struggle for divine power within the Alliance...

"Your Highness, the Prophet! Look! This is the mountain camp we seized, completely cutting off the Zapotec army’s retreat! Yes, right there on the red-filled hillside, that’s the wooden camp full of gaps..."

When the sunset fell over the western valley, the blood-like glow cut through the brown mountains, filling the red valley path. Finally, a group of people arrived at their destination, the "Snake Waist Camp" halfway through a mountain path stretching tens of miles. Looking at the familiar battleground, Royal Army Commander Kwahu grinned widely, his sincere and proud joy just like taking a bite of a ripe tomato, almost spilling out from the corners of his mouth.

"Praise the Chief Divine! For this ’Sandwich Trap’, the Divine King had already arranged two mountain ambushes in advance, each with around five hundred elite drawn from various legions. They first lay in wait in the Mixteco Mountains for two days, only emerging when the enemy’s legion passed through the valley to attack and seize the camp in the middle of the valley, thoroughly cutting off the Zapotec Army’s retreat!..."

"The Divine King is wise and brave! Unfortunately, the Zapotec people retreated too quickly. The vanguard was crushed in ambush, and the rear troops retreated without hesitation, much faster than when they advanced to support... The two mountain ambushes, each with five hundred men, had just seized the ’Snake Waist Camp’ from hundreds of Zapotec militia before facing thousands of retreating enemy warriors..."

"Damn it! The first half-battalion ambush was drawn from several city-state armies. They held for two quarters of an hour but ended up being overwhelmed by the Zapotec rear forces, losing half and allowing over a thousand Zapotec rear troops to escape... Fortunately, the second ambush arrived in time! This half-battalion came from the Divine King’s Tonsured Guard, extremely tenacious. They fought to the death, finally closing the gap and leaving a full five thousand Zapotec Army stuck in the valley! Then the Alliance’s main army came from behind, completely annihilating these five thousand Zapotec warriors!"

"By the Chief Divine’s grace! This fierce ambush, like a Jaguar’s deadly bite, severed the neck of the Zapotec people! They lost a full legion, an entire legion of warriors died here! And counting the Zapotecs, along with the tribes from Oaxaca to the seaside, only amounts to three warrior legions... Haha! This battle, planned by the Prophet and positioned by the Divine King, knocked the Zapotec Divine Race to their knees with one swift strike!..."

"Praise the Chief Divine! In this battle, the warriors of the Royal Legion fought exceptionally well! The Chief Divine will surely bless you, and the Alliance will grant you a rich reward!"

Xiulote appeared calm, smiling quietly, listening attentively. He knew Kwahu was taking credit, and indeed felt genuine happiness for the Alliance’s major victory. But quickly, he furrowed his brow, looked at Legion Commander Kwahu, and asked in a deep voice.

"Kwahu! You said this battle was ’completely annihilated’? Did the Alliance’s legion not capture any sacrifices?..."

"Uh... Respected Prophet! Yes... This battle didn’t capture any prisoners... You only need to go around this bend and climb the hill to see the bodies of the Zapotec people..."

"Oh! So that’s how it is..."

Xiulote nodded slightly, his face unchanged, but his pace sped up significantly. When he climbed the red hill and looked at the red and white below, he realized why this mission was not a "sacrifice" but rather a "sacrificial burial!"

He saw thousands of Zapotec warriors and militia, gathered before the camp at a foot of the hill, in an enclosed semicircle depression, turning into layers of corpses. The dark red color gathered into small pools and, like sticky glue, connected the dead bodies into a "Crocodile Demon," resembling chaotic "Sipactri." A full five thousand Zapotec warriors lay dead in this forlorn valley, their former cries etched into the soil, just like their blood, and their outstretched fingers!

"Oh Chief Divine! Five thousand Zapotec warriors and militia, plus the two thousand fallen warriors at the ambush site and along the path, a whole elite Zapotec legion perished in the ambush circle!..."

The sunset fell, the blood-like twilight casting its last rays on the figure atop the red hill. Xiulote slightly bowed his head, gazing at his elongated shadow for a long time, silently whispering to himself.

"This ambush ended the centuries-long alliance between the Mixteco Divine Race and the Zapotec Divine Race abruptly. Their ancient pledge turned into treacherous blood feud from this day on..."

"A full third of warriors from various tribes fell here, adding to the entanglement and slaughter of the past two years, the backbone of the Zapotec people has been utterly broken..."

"And from Oaxaca to the seaside, the Zapotec divisions so weak now... The Alliance Army’s southern expedition, the Divine King’s complete conquest, is now unstoppable, imminent!"