Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1755 - 1256: Southern Expedition, Cloud Mountain City, Great Calamity
"Hmm? You're asking me to go to the Mistec frontline and request a decision from the Divine King?..."
The hall was solemn, and the head on the altar gazed up at the tall divine statue, as if witnessing an epoch-making meeting across the ages and the sea. Elder Priest Acap hesitated slightly, turning over countless thoughts before nodding solemnly without any pause.
"Yes! At your command, High Priest Uguel! I will set off tomorrow, carrying the High Priesthood's opinions to meet the Divine King at the Cloud Mountain City frontline! Praise the Supreme Divine King!..."
"Praise the Chief Divine! Praise the Divine King!"
Many elders nodded in agreement, saying the same line. Heading south to the Mistec frontline, traveling over more than a thousand miles, was laborious work. Its symbolic significance far exceeded the practicality.
After all, the Evil Demon's head was being ceremoniously and slowly passed through the City-States, making the entire highland well aware of it. The Avit God King over there must have received the news early on. And since the Divine King has not sent an envoy, this in itself shows a neutral stance, neither proactive nor suppressing.
The Elder Priests are all seasoned, able to discern a leaf and know autumn. With a little taste, one can feel the hesitance in which the Divine King is both apprehensive and trusting yet somewhat helpless. In such circumstances, going south to meet the Divine King is obviously thankless exertion. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
Yet in politics, form always outweighs substance. The High Priesthood knows the Divine King must have already known but still sends someone solemnly to communicate, showing confirmation and emphasis on the "Evil Demon Prophecy," and expressing respect and obedience to the "Divine King's authority." The Divine King must also make a show of just hearing the news, holding a frontline sacrificial rite to spread the message of "Evil Demon arriving at the Eastern Sea, the end-time Divine War commencing" across the army in the name of the Chief Divine. Doubtlessly, the person who made and fulfilled the prophecy would be enveloped in the true divine aura, etched in the hearts of the nobility from then on!
"...To actually predict the future!… The Chief Divine's favor is indeed unreasonable and quite intimidating! If a living prophet truly appears, the influence of divine blessing... What exactly is the Divine King's plan?..."
Sun God Elder Tonaltiliu squinted at the head and items of the "Evil Demon," then secretly assessed Acap's expression. He didn't believe that the flag placed by the Divine King within the High Priesthood hadn't received secret instructions from the Divine King beforehand. But the calm and steadiness on the other's face, atypical for someone in their thirties, made him unable to guess the other's thoughts.
"When the Rain Divine sends down storms, not a single tall cocoa tree remains unmoved... the structure of the High Priesthood is likely to change again!"
As if sensing the gaze upon him, Acap sharply turned his head, smiling and nodding gently at Tonaltiliu. Tonaltiliu nodded in return, their gaze briefly meeting, all thoughts pressed down in their hearts.
"Ah, Divine King! He ultimately favors His Highness, just as bias leans toward fate, just like the Chief Divine's favoritism..."
Acap's smile remains unchanged, yet a wave of bitterness rises within him. He indeed had encountered Avit's Secret Guard, knowing the Divine King's next plan to introduce Xiulote into the High Priesthood, make him the thirteenth Elder Priest, and later the fourth Deputy High Priest, walking purely the path of divine authority. Although no further words were spoken, it was naturally understood. This is a predetermined acquisition of the highest divine authority, earmarked for the position of the Alliance High Priest! What kind of imprisonment or persecution is this? It's evidently favoritism!
"Destiny, destiny!... In the face of destiny, in the presence of noble birth and divine favor, all human efforts seem so trivial!"
Acap slightly pursed his lips, an uncontrollable resentment gnawing silently at his hopes like ants. He and Xiulote were acquainted from a young age, very close, initially arranged by Xutel to be a companion reader for his grandson Xiulote. Interestingly, he never envied the other before, genuinely protecting and feeling close to them.
Yet all these past relationships slowly faded like smoke with each step he took upwards with Avit's support, each fortuitous event appointing him as Deputy High Priest within the High Priesthood, even prospective for the highest High Priest position. His current triple identity speaks first as Avit's representative within the High Priesthood, second as the inheritor of Quetzal's political legacy as Elder Priest of the Chief Divine, lastly a Kapana husband closely tied with traditional royal nobles. As for those Holy City past events, they are truly like jade sunken in the lake, crystal-clear yet never seen again...
"Tsk tsk! Young people truly are ambitious! Daring to think and want it all... pity they don't enjoy wealth pleasantly, making a lazy turtle instead, they spread their wings to fly high, trying to be a white egret pursuing power... Quetzal, do you see this from above? This grandson-in-law of yours resembles you when young, doesn't he!"
High Priest Uguel smiled benevolently, glancing slightly at Acap. Others couldn't discern the Elder Priest's thoughts, but this old, declining log understood clearly. He slightly shook his head inwardly, still displaying a benevolent face while addressing everyone.
"Cough! Since everything has been decided, today's High Priesthood meeting shall conclude here!..."
"High Priest! The matter of sending Chief God Priests to the land of the Otomi and the Silver Raven Vastec, was previously discussed? Also, some arrangements about the discussions with the Lake Sealed Country..."
"Hmm? The matters related to the Lake Sealed Country?... Hmm, let's discuss them later! Discuss them later... yes, later."
High Priest Uguel gently waved his hand, swaying his plump body like a slippery fat catfish. He initially stood up, ordered the Temple Guards to erect long poles to hang the four Evil Demons' heads high beneath the Temple Pyramid, so all passing Nobility and Samurai could see. Then, he turned and walked into the back hall, under the helpless gaze of the Elder Priests, to indulge in the first batch of fresh spring fruits and nectar...
The long wind blew across a thousand miles, from the Alliance villages beginning to burn the wastelands, through the newly cultivated fields of the Tlaxcala Basin, passing the garrison preparations in the Divine Stone City Valley, until it reached the desolate and grim Mistek front line. The southern expedition of the Mexica army resembled a dark green swarm of ants devouring everything along the way—City-States, Temples, and Nobility manors—burning the blood-fire of the old order, all the way to the southern ancestral land of the Highland Mistek people, reaching beneath the Cloud Altar at Cloud Mountain City!
"Oh Chief Divine! Four regiments, thirty thousand troops marching southward, have conquered seven or eight villages... Finally clearing the way to the Cloud Mountain City Valley, arriving at the ancestral origin of the Highland Mistek people, beneath Cloud Mountain City!"
Xiulote, carrying a basket of kui grass and wearing a high Feather Crown, ascended a small hill on the west side of the valley, escorted by hundreds of Tonsured Guards. Within the narrow mountain valley, the Alliance army of thirty thousand stretched for miles, their march kicking up dust that reached into the clouds, the Samurai's clamorous march intimidating the hovering flying birds. Then, his gaze turned forward to the south, where he saw Cloud Mountain City in the highlands and the Cloud Altar Temple completely resembling a fortress. Carefully scrutinizing the terrain of the city and the fort-like altar, examining the half-mountain height of Cloud Mountain City and the Temple sitting atop the mountain, he couldn't help but suck in a breath.
"What a Cloud Mountain City, what a Cloud Altar Holy Land!..."
"It's a Ping Shan City, coupled with a Mountain City!? Like a small-sized Cloud Serpent Mountain City, paired with a larger White Snake Hill City..."
"Oh Chief Divine, Cloud Mountain City lies on the west side of the half-mountain, Cloud Altar Temple sits atop the eastern mountain, surrounded by mountains to the north and east, only leaving the west and south to deploy our regiments... This sort of fragmented uphill terrain, these mountain fortress defenses, how many lives must be sacrificed to breach them?..."
Xiulote, seasoned in warfare, quickly estimated the heights of Cloud Mountain City and the Cloud Altar. Cloud Mountain City remained within the barely reachable range of siege cannon, but one must brave the strike from the city wall, pushing the heavy cannon up the slope. As for the mountaintop Cloud Altar Temple, it can only be besieged or stormed at great human cost...
"Mistek people defending obstinately, several thousand warriors remain in Cloud Mountain City... A full assault would require filling in over ten thousand able-bodied men and militia, breaking all surrounding villages, exhausting the city's arrows, javelins, and quicklime... Then using heavy gun to blast open gaps, filling in several thousand Samurai..."
Having calculated this, Xiulote pressed his lips, appearing somewhat grim. Among the Highland Tribes of Central America, preference runs toward building cities upon mountains. The more critical the ancestral land, the more precarious the location. Without gunpowder weapons, attempting a siege with cold arms was virtually unattainable, only prolonged besiegement could work...
"Respected God of Death Elder Priest! The Divine King has ordered, the army has arrived beneath Cloud Mountain City, but the Mountain city is overwhelmingly daunting, everyone hesitates... It is hoped that you will perform divination to inspire the army!"
"...Alright!"
Xiulote pondered for a while, then nodded solemnly. He gazed at the "Spirit King's Banner" bearing the skull design not far away, at the erected Chief Divine Sacrificial Altar, and at the dozens of Mistek Divine Race detained before the altar. He gently touched the kui grass on his back, sighing silently.
"Xun offers the image of the cloud, the wind as the master of martial prowess... Sacrifice, death it implies, is an ominous sign..."
"Oh Chief Divine! This place shall be irrigated with blood, with cries in the wind. The Divine Race within the clouds will die out, the fierce wind scattering the clouds, the ravens landing upon the bones..."
"This southern expedition, akin to the Qin conquering the Chu, extending to Yue..."
