Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1550 - 1091: The Divine King’s Eyes, Watching from the Shadows

"This pleasure is such that it makes one forget Shu..."

The eagle enters the cage, singing like a sparrow. The sun sets into the valley, dimming like the crescent moon. As Xiulote entered the Royal Capital, he was prepared for this. He had to indulge in wild pleasures, allowing all those secretly watching and wary of him to let their guard down!...

"Qiewami, during the month I was away from the Lake Capital City... how are things in the capital?"

"Your Majesty the God King, everything is stable in the Lake Capital City. The Great Nobility and the Elder Priests have followed your decrees, focusing on the spring farming in the Lake Region, accumulating supplies for the Southern Expedition. Meanwhile, the craftsmen in the city are tirelessly working day and night, producing newly replicated gunpowder and casting three different kinds of bronze cannons..."

The blood-red Mexica Royal Banner stands tall in the High Mountain City of the Vats teppek State. It is a full two hundred li away from the Lake Capital City in the center of the Alliance, located at the easternmost edge of the Southern Three States, neighbored by the Vastek people to the southeast.

At this moment, a total of three Royal Legions are stationed in the Southern Three States. Coupled with the Royal Legion accompanying the God King's inspection, the three thousand six hundred Mexica Warriors, together with four thousand Tonsured Guards... are enough to subdue all the City-State Nobles in the southern Alliance and the disloyal Mistek Tribes!

The setting sun descends behind the mountains, casting a bloody glow across the land. Avit, draped in the blood-red Sun Cape, stands in the Main God Temple of the High Mountain City. He gazes calmly and indifferently at the Sacred Fire on the temple altar, observing the dozen charred heads burning in the flames, as if he were watching dead "ants."

However, the owners of these heads are far from being mere ants. On the contrary, they are nobles from the Southern Three States of the Alliance, once towering "Cocoa Trees." Their demise came because they either paid lip service while secretly resisting relocation to Tlaxcala Land, or engaged in marriages with the Mistek Tribes, becoming too closely aligned with the Cloud People...

Of course, to God King Avit, these sacrificial, insignificant nobles are of no concern. What truly worries him, keeping an eye open, is...

"What about Xiulote? In the past half month, aside from meeting with Uncle Cacamatzin, what else has he done?"

"Your Majesty the God King, His Highness Xiulote spends his days with Princess Alisa, focusing on the continuation of the Royal Family... He has not met with the nobles of the Lake Sealed Country or secretly rendezvoused with the Envoys of the Seaside Alliance. Aside from the chief, Cacamatzin, he hasn't met with any other Royal Elders..."

Qiewamiter, dressed in an inconspicuous black robe, kneels behind the God King. In the Navajo language, "Qiewamiter" means a dagger in the shadows. His duties, evidently, also involve being the "eyes in the shadows."

As the newly appointed leader of the Secret Guard, Qiewamiter replaced Snake Woman Gillim's intelligence role, becoming the deeply hidden "eyes of the God King" within the central Alliance. Meanwhile, Snake Woman Gillim remains in the Lake Capital City, overseeing the Alliance's various administrative affairs.

In actuality, upon deciding to establish Xiu Hua as the Sun God's son, Avit divided Snake Woman Gillim's extensive duties into three parts—administration, logistics, and intelligence—entrusting them to different people...

"Hmm? Focusing on the continuation of the Royal Family? Not meeting secretly with Elders, Nobles, or Envoys?"

Hearing this, Avit furrowed his brows, though he felt somewhat relieved. He cast another look at the respectful and extremely ordinary-looking Shadow Dagger, Qiewami, and asked once again in a deep voice.

"What does the Secret Guard report? Has Xiulote expressed any dissatisfaction? Any resentment?"

"Your Majesty the God King, aside from being somewhat sullen in the initial few days, His Highness Xiulote has been otherwise... ahem... indulging in pleasures, singing day and night with the Princess... The Secret Guards haven't detected any dissatisfaction or resentment from him—it might be deeply concealed..."

"Indulging in pleasures? Singing day and night with Alisa?"

Avit's frown deepened as he pondered in silence. This didn't seem like Xiulote's style. Had he truly given up on power, wishing to reside peacefully in the capital? Or was this merely a show intended for him to see?...

"Qiewami, is there any other news?"

Upon hearing this, Shadow Dagger Qiewami hesitated for a few moments before cautiously responding while prostrating himself.

"The Secret Guards in the residence report... that in recent days, the Princess is preparing to accompany His Highness Xiulote to the Goddess of Spring's Temple to summon the Priestess of the Goddess and hold a prayer ceremony for offspring... "

"What?! Alisa is to summon the Priestess of the Goddess and hold a prayer ceremony for offspring for the Goddess of Spring?... Nonsense, sheer nonsense!"

Hearing his daughter's intentions, Avit's eyelid twitched, and the stern expression on his face instantly slipped away.

He certainly knows what the ceremony of the Goddess of Spring is like, having even personally experienced it, unforgettable whenever he recalls it. Such a ceremony, which combines seductive music, enchanting dance, light and shadow, sacrilegious offerings, mesmerizing intoxication, and joyful singing, is even more intoxicating than Holy Water Divine Smoke, consuming one's soul and eroding will...

"Chief Divine! Damn it! I shouldn't have let Alisa manage the temple of the Goddess of Spring. What have those seductive priestesses been teaching her, all sorts of nonsense!..."

"God King, should we... send an envoy to stop it?"

"...Forget it!..."

Avit pondered for a moment, sighed lightly, and shook his head.

"Just keep an eye on them but don't intervene! After all, those debauched rituals are what the Goddess of Spring favors; they are divine ceremonies to pray for offspring... If those two can settle down and have more children, it wouldn't be a bad thing... The royal family of the Sun series needs more heirs for stability! And little Chimalpahin is only 13 years old, so he's not to be relied upon at present..."

"Hmm, by the way! Cihuacoatl, how is the leader Flying Bird Shah of Nianshui City progressing? And what response has been received from the envoy sent to the Seaside Alliance?"

"God King, Flying Bird Shah has secretly reached Cempoala, contacting his old faction from Nianshui City... The royal envoy has also communicated with the divine descendants of the Seaside Alliance... However, the kingdom has thoroughly cleansed the old nobility of the seaside, scattered the tribes, and established garrison battalions, awarding titles and land based on military merit... For now, no significant progress..."

Shadow Dagger Cihuacoatl lowered his head, showing a guilty expression. Both the open and secret contacts with the Seaside Alliance have yet to yield results.

"The western Totonac tribes seemingly obey the Mexica Alliance but actually follow the royal decree of the Kingdom of the Lake. The influence of the alliance central extends only to Five Mountains City... And the million Totonac tribes of the seaside, nominally revere the Mexica-Totonac Goddess Xiulote Light Snake, while in reality under the combined control of Snake Woman Miyava, Black Wolf Torc, and East Sea Marshal Bertade..." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"The Totonac people's Seaside Alliance, united as one with the seaside tribes... Mexica-Totonac Goddess Xiulote Light Snake?... Xiulote, this is the arrangement you've left!..."

Recalling the situation at the seaside, Avit lowered his gaze, feeling rare difficulty. The difficulty doesn't lie in the military strength of the Seaside Alliance but in the distance to the Eastern Sea!

In the end, the distance to the Totonac coastal lands is far too remote. And such fragmented and challenging jungle terrain severely restricts the army's marching capability.

Within three hundred li around the Mexica Alliance, the alliance can easily deploy a hundred thousand warriors for battle, recruiting more militia to join the campaign. But at six hundred li distance, this number must reduce by at least thirty percent, preferably below seventy thousand warriors. And at a thousand li in the distant lands, without sufficient local food supplies, the maintainable Warrior Corps would be about thirty thousand. And such a force is naturally lacking advantage against the Seaside Alliance of over a million tribes...

"Chief Divine as witness! Since the responsibility for the seaside lands belongs to Xiulote's Kingdom of the Lake, it is not urgent. Hmm, Xiulote had a daughter, Goddess Xiulote Light Snake... A longer-term solution could be applied... And the current Seaside Alliance is undergoing the Chief Divine's evangelism and Mexica transformation, so it can be set aside for now!...

With a moment of reflection, Avit gradually had a clear idea in his mind. However, whether to use this idea, and how to use it... would depend on seeing Xiulote's performance upon returning to the capital city, then making a decision.

Aside from these long-term plans, his most crucial purpose in inspecting the southeast High Mountain City was still to prepare more for the imminent conquest of the Cloud People!...

"Cihuacoatl, send more merchants and secret guards to gather details about the Mistek Tribes and Sapotek Tribes, and make more detailed maps!"

"Yes, God King! The expedition against the Cloud People?..."

"With the protection of the ancestors and the Chief Divine, I have decided!"

Avit narrowed his eyes, gazing at the southeastern mountains and valleys, feeling as if a fierce flame burned within him, so eager to proceed!

"After this year's autumn harvest in October, the alliance army will set off southward to conquer the thousand-mile jungle of the south, to subjugate the last of the Cloud Tribes!"

Upon hearing such an order, Shadow Dagger Cihuacoatl lay prostrate on the ground, suppressing the excitement in his voice, replying in a respectful and deep tone.

"Yes! Following your command, supreme God King! Under your radiant guidance, the mighty Mexica Alliance shall surely unify the world!"