Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1708 - 1218: From the Mountain Forests of the Southern Expedition to the Great Lake of the Kingdom, There Are Three Old Men...

The red sun illuminates all directions, witnessing the narrow and prosperous seaside, the vast and fertile highlands, the dense and murderous mountain forests, and the shimmering light on the lake.

The head of the Evil Demon reached the seaside, attracting countless nobles, warriors, and tribespeople who exclaimed and prayed. The light of the miracle spread faith, and under the vigorous promotion of the Coastal Priesthood, elevated the Prophet of Divine Revelation to an incomparable height. In the Lake Capital City on the highlands, hundreds of twin-hulled war canoes set out from the Lake Region, delivering provisions for an army of a hundred thousand to the shore, and then via the overland transfer of more than a hundred thousand civilians, sent to the three southern front lines. The civilians stretched for five to seven hundred miles, with warriors marching southward for the nation, while priests prayed day and night, soothing the hearts within the Alliance.

At this moment, the war machine of the Alliance was operating at its peak, aiming to completely conquer the Cloud Central Tribes and annex the almost equally vast southern mountain forests!

"Xiulote, my student... The sun is rising! Its light, so dazzling!"

The supreme Divine King sighed in the camp, dreading and revering the divinity of Divine Revelation, no longer able to overlook from on high. In the southern mountain forest, the warriors' fighting seems endless, battling to the death for the "divinity" in their hearts, for the rewards of military merit.

"Boom! Boom!..."

Southward from Divine Stone City, the thundering mortar cannon fired at the solid Mountain Pass Fortress, launching heavy stone projectiles like thunderbolts falling from the sky. These thunderbolts occasionally struck between the mountain cliffs on either side, and whenever they hit the city walls, they made a dull sound of destruction. But this not-so-large Mountain Pass Fortress, situated in a narrow high place and integrated into the mountains, was thickly built with mountain stones. This fortress was indeed difficult to be destroyed by bombardments from the lower ground, and the gunpowder required was excessively large.

"May the Chief Divine protect! Stop the Thunder God mortar cannon... Move up the shield cart archers, prepare for a fierce attack!"

The Vanguard Legion Commander Kwahu, fierce in appearance, personally stood at the front line of the fortress, with a battle flag with a skull erected behind him. He looked up at the stone fortress above for a long moment with a cold gaze, then issued the order to storm the city.

The Royal Warriors of the Eastern Army pushed the heavy shield carts up to the fortress before stopping, then took out longbows to engage in counter-shooting. Then, under the cover of a rain of arrows, several hundred City-State Warriors holding shields and ladders rushed to the base of the city walls with small steps. They set the ladders up on the city walls, issuing a shout of resolve to climb like ants. The narrow mountain pass did not allow for much deployment of troops, nor did the small northern wall of the fortress hold many ladders. Both sides fought savagely with only a few hundred people, yet the brutality surpassed that of a mountain of corpses and sea of blood.

"May the Chief Divine protect! Fight to the death for the Chief Divine, fight to death for the Divine King!"

"By the Divine King's order, as long as they break through the Mountain Pass Fortress, the warriors will be generously rewarded! The first to mount the fortress among the Chief Divine Warriors, regardless of origin, will be directly promoted to Hereditary Noble! The first ten to reach the city will be elevated to First Level Military Merit Nobility, bypassing ranks. The first hundred to enter the city will be promoted by three warrior levels, reaching Veteran Warrior!"

"Roar!!..."

The fervent Mexica Warriors shouted wildly, climbing up the ladders one after another to fight desperately upon the walls. The defending Mistek Warriors also glared red-eyed, wielding war clubs and long spears, battling the advancing Mexica. Both sides engaged in brutal combat with no retreat. They screamed together, tangled, falling like rain from the stone walls, then suddenly went silent, transforming into blooming twin red lotuses...

The brutal assault began at noon and stopped at dusk. Any Collapsed City-State Nobles were sealed by the Alliance's Military Judge, awaiting the judgment of sacred divination. Such brutal assaults continued consecutively for four days, giving the Mistecs no respite!

The four thousand Mistek warriors and militia of the Mountain Pass Fortress suffered over eight hundred casualties in the brutal siege and inflicted almost the same number of casualties on the Mexica City-State Warriors. But when dawn broke on the fifth day, a thousand Royal Elite led by the brave Moquihuix finally circumvented the difficult mountain passes, suddenly appearing behind the fortress!

The Mexica flag appeared behind the south wall of the Mountain Pass Fortress, aiming to completely cut off the retreat path in the rear valley. The Mexica ladders were then set on the north wall of the fortress, beginning an even more brutal siege. This time, they would attack from dawn till sunset, to let the copper-armored Royal Elite be the first to advance!

The simultaneous pressure from the north and south finally broke the last stand of the Defending Army in the fortress. Yun He, the Divine Descendant of Cloud Mountain City and the Mistek leader, barely held for half a day before fleeing south with five hundred core warriors, escaping to Cloud Mountain City a hundred and sixty miles away. The remaining two thousand plus in the fortress, half fled into the mountains, while the other half surrendered to the advancing warriors. The East Main Force thus captured the Mountain Pass Fortress, with the Cloud Mountain City Valley just to the south!

Three hundred miles southwest from the Mountain Pass Village was the capital of the Mistek Alliance, Mountain River City Huajuapan. On the ancient Rain God's pyramid burned the Sacred Fire, where Mistek priests offered sacrifices day and night, using blood to appease the Rain Divine, and prayed for the protective power of the divine spirits!

Tens of thousands of Mountain River City tribespeople, along with seventy to eighty thousand Puctitlan tribespeople, were all mobilized. Tens of thousands of Mistek tribes from the seaside also followed the narrow Puctitlan mountain route, continuously moving northward to provide support. Over the years, facing the threat of the Mexicas, Great Chief Yun Chen painstakingly managed, trained warriors, and subdued tribes. Through continuous intermarriage with the seaside tribes, he had consolidated his position as the Great Chief of the Mistek Alliance.

"God of Rain, protect us, Ancestors witness! The evil Mexica are advancing south on three fronts, sparing no city-state!... This time, they do not come to demand tribute from the Mistek Tribes, but to completely annihilate the Cloud Divine Race!... The Mistek Tribes are like red leaves in the late autumn rain, at the brink of their survival... Each tribe must exert full force, dispatching warriors and militia for support, or no Divine Descendant will survive!..."

"Our ancient Cloud Ancestors extended us, we are the long branches of the same spruce, the fruit of the same pine... Honored Kings of Oaxaca, esteemed Great Chiefs of the Seaside, in the name of the Ancestors, save your brother tribes, the Cloud Trees!..."

Chief Yun Chen continuously dispatched envoys with the most urgent messages, gathering support from the Southern City-States. He also sent additional envoys to the Oaxaca Valley and the southeastern coast, seeking reinforcement from the Zapotec people. Meanwhile, he personally led sixteen thousand Mistek Warriors, along with an equal number of conscripted militia, setting up encampments at the Red Earth Village in the northwest of Mountain River City, confronting the Alliance's central army camp.

The Alliance's central army, led by Stanley the Giant Bear, also numbered thirty thousand. Yet Chief Yun Chen had no confidence in a direct showdown, afraid to retreat before the enemy or gamble all his forces on an all-out attack!

He could only continuously dispatch hundred-man guerrilla teams to harass the supply lines of the central army, hoping to drag on until the difficult, muddy roads of the rainy season, when the Mexica people would run out of supplies and retreat. Alternatively, he could gather more warriors and militia, waiting for an opportunity for a decisive battle! As for the Cloud Mountain City further to the east, he could only trust in the strategic terrain of this mountain city, relying on the sturdy stone defenses and the Eastern Zapotec reinforcements...

From the two massive camps where the sixty thousand armies faced off, onward three hundred miles southwest, across rugged mountains, beside the raging tributaries of the Tarsas River, lies the riverside Xianggou City. At this moment, Marshal Casal and his twenty to thirty thousand Western army had completely surrounded riverside Xianggou City, readying all preparations for a siege!

In the past half month, the Western army was simultaneously establishing camps and building siege catapults while sweeping through the surrounding river valley tribes, capturing able-bodied men as pioneers for the siege fill. The Alliance's limited number of siege mortars were too cumbersome amid the difficult narrow mountain forest paths... At least Female Snake Gillim said this to Casal, and indeed all siege mortars were sent to the main Eastern forces of the Divine King.

Thus, the Western army under Casal did not possess the heavy siege mortars, and their southward progress was quite slow. But at this moment, facing them was Xianggou City, which also had only six or seven meters high crude walls, and had already lost many Tribal Warriors while supporting Ye Guo City. This empty Lowland Mistek city-state lost its ability for field battle, only barely conscripted over ten thousand able-bodied men, tenaciously defending with the backing of two thousand Tribal Warriors.

Besieged on all sides, the Mexica camp stretched for miles, with the flags of two Warrior Corps fluttering outside the city. The Mistek Divine Descendants of Xianggou stood on the city wall, gazing at the besieging Mexica army, at the sacred oak trees cut down to build siege ladders, all showing faces full of sorrow. At this moment, the Divine Descendants and nobility felt the arrival of doom, sensed the foreboding of death. They ignited Divine Smoke, danced the Ancestor sacrificial dance of the tribe, singing praises of the Rain God in the Cloud, also singing of the destined doom and death.

"O Cloud Ancestors, see the Rain God in the cloud! We beneath the clouds journey into the depths of the cloud sea... The spirits of the Ancestors opened their eyes, shook their heads at us. This Cloud Divine Tree is long inhabited by departed souls; even the Divine Descendants' souls can only fall into the blood sea, sink into the Abyss merging with rainwater!... And the Rain God finally spoke, saying the end of this Era arrives today! My progeny, cast into the Great River, offer blood sacrifices... You must die crying like rivers, let the sacred Blood River stain red the last mountain forest in the Cloud!..."

"Chief Divine protect us! Release the poisoned smoke paper fireballs!..."

"Boom! Buzz! Boom!..."

Hundreds of civilians released the ropes, over twenty fireballs whistled away, shooting toward the Mistek city-state. Soon, dense smoke rose among the city-state, large thatched huts ignited by the flying flames. And the Mexica Warriors drove captured able-bodied men, destroying outer fences, filling dugout pits, clearing siege paths. More Warriors prayed beside the siege ladders before the slaughter.

"Praise the Chief Divine! We fight for the Chief Divine, we die for the Chief Divine! After death, we shall ascend into the Divine Kingdom of Anning, descend as joyful Red Sparrows, flying through this Chief Divine's mountain forest!..."

Panic-stricken cries rose from the city, devout prayers echoed outside. Conquest and slaughter must begin again, but how long can the Mistek struggle persist?

Black smoke rises from the mountain forest in the cloud, beautiful Red Sparrows cheerfully chirp. The Tarsas Long River surges violently, winding through the turbulent mountain channels, flowing to the western downstream... Until thirteen hundred miles away, the kingdom's prosperous Zicao City, the shimmering Atoyac Lake.

The calm lake surface dyed with sunset's red glow, small boats shuttling brought goods and hope. And a strangely styled square-headed large ship, hoisting two large, long fore-and-aft sails, gracefully navigated the lake, attracting curious gazes from many tribespeople. When they saw the ship's two flags, saw the Flying Bird of the Chief Divine and the Divine Revelation Place, they all bowed their heads, devoutly chanting the Divine name.

"Praise Chief Divine Vizilopo! Praise the God Bird Priest who blesses the fields with abundance!"

The mysterious large ship adjusted its sails, nimbly utilizing the wind, without any visible rowing sailors, yet faster than rowing boats. On closer inspection, there were only a few people aboard, besides the Priest from the Divine Revelation Place, there were three differently dressed old men. One robust old man held a Shaman's Scepter, resembling a 'Big Club'. Another old man chewed grass stems, squatting unceremoniously at the bow, astonished watching the ship 'fly'. The last old man adjusted the sails, a joyful smile on his face but somewhat timid, clutching the 'Gold Talisman' of the Chief Divine tightly.