Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!
Chapter 727 - Three Hundred Ninety-One: An Audience

Chapter 727: Chapter Three Hundred Ninety-One: An Audience

The Chief Divine Temple perched atop the pyramid, overlooking the entire city of Kulamo. The King sat solemnly in the temple, governing thousands of his subjects. His expression calm, he received the secret message and went through it one by one.

The content of the first few secret messages was roughly the same as those submitted by the Crow Family. Many warriors from the Prepetcha clan who were generals had been in contact with the rebellious Zicao Family.

The extent of the contact was about three levels; the first level was simple ceremonial greetings, as was the case with Ezpan. The letters merely mentioned a sense of homeland, involving some ordinary gift exchanges. The second level was regularly receiving substantial gifts from the Zicao Family, ranging from gold and silver, gemstones, luxurious feathers, to houses, and entertainment from beautiful dancers. The Zicao Family, historically settled in the south, not only owned land and labor but also controlled the waterways for trading with the southern tribes, and were immensely wealthy. Their gifts were enticing enough that most generals were happy to accept them. The third level was, on the basis of the previous, to agree to mutual support and lookout, forming private alliances, and even intermarrying. There were not many generals at this level, but those who were controlled considerable forces.

Xiulote quickly flipped through these, his expression unchanged throughout; all of these were within his tolerance, until the last two secret messages were received. One of them was written by the hereditary noble Huitu Puapu. The letter contained only a few words, followed by abstract drawings.

The King furrowed his brows, looking at the hand-drawn images, trying to decipher their meaning. The first image was of a huge Divine Eagle, and below the eagle stood several small figures side by side, each wearing the forked Prepetcha Eagle Feather Crown.

The second image depicted a giant holding a Divine Staff, lying motionless in the north of the picture, adjacent to a moon symbolizing death.

Xiulote squinted his eyes and continued to read. In the third image, the same group of small figures held sceptres of the exalted nobility, standing around an abstract person. This time, the Divine Eagle lay beneath their feet.

Upon seeing these three drawings, the King’s face turned a shade of iron blue. He continued to open another letter, which was written by the hereditary noble of the sky, Oorta. Oorta’s letter was more straightforward, filled with large segments of pictorial writing interspersed with the script circulated by the Alliance.

"Beneath the Divine Eagle, the Prepetcha nobility stand shoulder to shoulder, watchful and supportive..."

"If the Divinely Inspired King should unfortunately perish during a northern campaign..."

"The generals of Prepetcha will then unite, elevating the prince of bygone days to control the rejuvenation of the Tarasco Kingdom together! By then, we will all be the pillars of the kingdom, the sacred exalted nobility!..."

"Snap!"

Reading this, Xiulote’s anger could no longer be suppressed. He fiercely slammed the secret message on the table, bellowing.

"Where are Puapu and Oorta now?!"

"Your Highness, after Puapu and Oorta suppressed the Zicao Manor, they each led their warriors to suppress the surrounding nobility’s fiefs. Shall we immediately dispatch envoys to recall them to Kulamo City?"

Old General Etalik, who had already read the contents of the letters, stepped forward respectfully to ask.

Upon hearing this, Xiulote pinched his fingers, suppressing his rage and said calmly.

"The Royal Banner has arrived. Allow them to finish their normal patrol of the nobility’s fiefs and return to report back in Kulamo City. Etalik, prepare the houses and food. From today, the Imperial Guard Legion will take over the defense of Kulamo City!"

"At your command, Your Highness!"

Following this, Xiulote rested in the city. After the Imperial Guard Legion was stationed in Kulamo City, the entire city turned into a massive military camp. Warriors in heavy armor conducted thorough searches, capturing civilians related to the rebellion, and confining them to the north of the city. Soon, the first batch of five thousand rebellious citizens would be sent to the north to serve as agricultural slaves.

At this time, the only one who could change the fates of these people was Yitai, the High Priest of Kulamo. He led a tribunal formed by the War Priests, conducting religious evaluations day and night. Among the twenty thousand rebels, those faithful approved by the priests could escape the fate of becoming agricultural slaves. Nobles and merchants in the city wept and begged, offering bribes to Yitai, but the devout High Priest rejected them all.

Xiulote watched all these events in silence. He had his "eyes" among the War Priests, who reported to him the list of the devout faithful identified during the evaluations. Satisfied to hear that the majority of these faithful were the impoverished townspeople, he finally nodded in approval.

"High Priest Yitai is indeed capable of the task," he noted.

The Royal Banner quietly fluttered atop the city of Kulamo, subduing the nobles of the south. A few days later, Ezpan’s report arrived. The Second Spear Legion had already fully controlled the central part of Zicao County, dominating a population of over sixty thousand. Now, of the more than two hundred thousand people in Zicao County, one hundred and forty thousand were under the control of the kingdom. The few hereditary noble families who resisted had been annihilated, and their clansmen demoted to agricultural slaves. The first batch of Temple Priests from the capital was moving southward, soon to take over various towns and villages.

The rebellion in the southeast had suddenly sprung up and just as quickly been extinguished; the nobles in the south-central region were compliant and submissive, allowing the King’s gaze to finally turn to the southwest. Despite the southward march of tens of thousands of the Royal Army, the rebellion in the southwestern mountains continued to spread—the mountain people always possessed a stubborn valor, similar to the rampant plateau ceratogyrus.

Zotol, the Clan Leader of the Palm Tribe, had mobilized early and gathered more than a dozen mountain nobles. Now, at least three thousand local warriors and seven thousand mountain Militia were gathered within the solid walls of Apachigan City, with numerous hostile villages outside the city. Deep in the mountain regions, the Tekos Tribe had also been persuaded by the related southwestern nobles. Driven by the chieftains, thousands of Tekos began assembling, and numerous impoverished tribesmen surged out from the deep mountains towards what they perceived as lands of wealth to plunder.

When the main force of the Guajili Legion arrived at Apachigan City, they did not besiege or attack. The Canine Descendants Legion operated like on the wilderness, with flexible tactics and avoiding real encounters. Great fires sprang up in the southwest, and thousands of Guajili warriors split into several groups, raiding day and night, plundering extensively throughout the vast mountainous and hilly areas. Several mountain noble strongholds had been leveled to the ground, with clansmen either killed or captured. The vanguard of the legion even raided several assembling Tekos villages, slaying thousands of tribespeople.

Seeing this, Xiulote pondered briefly and then understood Black Wolf’s intentions. He smiled and nodded.

"Small squads wreaking havoc surely unsettles the people inside Apachigan City... After the northern campaign, Black Wolf has finally learned from experience and started to use his brain! Well then, let’s wait a few days before sending the Ezpan Legion westward."

The lengthy November finally drew to a close, and the light-footed December, arriving in the wake of the year’s end, gracefully arrived. After quelling the noble fiefs, Ezpan and Oorta led their troops back to Kulamo City.

The Black Wolf’s Royal Banner waved atop the citadel walls, as Armored Warriors guarded the city walls. Trusted warriors of Qinchongcan and the Divine Eagle were stationed in the camps outside the city, not allowed to enter the city. Subsequently, the King summoned two hereditary nobles for an audience.

At this point, there was no escape, they must face their fate. The two, nervous in their hearts, each with several trusted aides, entered the city. This entrance into the city was entirely different from any before. Along the way, Armored Warriors patrolled the streets, and Longbow Warriors controlled strategic points. Thousands from the Imperial Guard Legion transformed the entire city into a fearsome lair of fierce beasts. And, positioned like a potent beast king, the King occupied the highest point of the pyramid.

Upon reaching the base of the pyramid, their personal aides were stopped by warriors, and their weapons were taken away. Puap and Oorta, unarmed, ascended the towering summit. Hundreds of Jaguar Warriors, arms crossed holding Bronze Great Axes, crammed the Temple’s great hall to the brim.

A foreboding feeling arose in Puap’s heart. He licked his lips and, steeling himself, walked beneath the cold gleaming axes of the warriors. Once within ten steps of the King, he knelt down to pay homage.

"Your Highness, your loyal warrior, Huitu Puap, pays his respects to you!"

"Praise to Your Highness, your loyal warrior, Divine Eagle Oorta, pays his respects to you!"

Dressed in Golden Armor and wearing a Copper Helmet, the King by his side did not speak for a long time, only coldly observing the two. Behind the King was the towering Hummingbird Sun emblem. Light fell from the Temple’s celestial roof, casting the King’s golden silhouette as though a deity amongst them.

"Hereditary Nobles Guramo, Hereditary Nobles Oorta," the King called out.

Xiuolte calmly extracted two secret missives and tossed them on the ground. The lightly fluttering secret missives, landing on the ground, felt as heavy as mountains. Puap knelt down, his complexion turning deathly pale as the missives fell before his eyes. His pupils suddenly constricted, his heart racing, and an overwhelming fear assaulted him. Then came the King’s icy words.

"Who is this Prince of Tarasco Kingdom that you wish to crown?"