Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!
Chapter 741 - 401 East and West of the Mountains_2

Chapter 741: Chapter 401 East and West of the Mountains_2

Kimari’s grain shortage made it impossible to keep people’s loyalty. He begrudgingly nodded in agreement, and two thousand allied forces left on the same day. Thereafter, he left two thousand warriors from the smaller tribes to block the enemy at the mountain pass. The remaining eight thousand tribesmen quickly headed south, straight toward Hand Snake City.

At the beginning of the month, the allied forces finally returned to the Hand Snake Basin, only to find villages turned to ashes along the way. Everyone was on edge, and upon arriving at Hand Snake City, they were greeted by ruins and the sight of thousands of male skulls piled up into a chilling spectacle!

The strong men of the tribes were gone, the women and children in the city were gone, the chieftain’s hall was gone, the wooden houses were gone... and most crucially, the granaries filled with grain were also gone!

Chieftain Kimari rushed into the city and, upon seeing the burnt granaries, was struck as if by lightning. Those granaries had stored several years’ worth of grain, enough to feed fifty thousand people for a year! Without the grain, the situation would be more terrifying than losing thousands of warriors. It was a dreadful outcome that the allied forces could not endure!

After inspecting the granaries, Kimari became frantic. He led the tribal warriors himself, sifting through the ashes from dawn until dusk, only to find a scant amount of scorched grain. The nearby villages had been destroyed, and the hill people had fled, leaving no grain to be requisitioned.

Now it was time for the dusk of the hero’s journey, the end of the road. Kimari was only the leader of the Tribal Alliance, maintaining control over the various tribes through prestige and strength. However, at this moment, with no victory from the campaign, no spoils from plundering, and the city destroyed, his prestige was nearly gone. Once the people’s hearts scattered, they could not be restrained.

Eight thousand allied troops gathered in Hand Snake City, with only enough personal grain supplies to last another seven or eight days. When the various tribes learned that the granaries were empty, the last bit of their morale dissipated. That day, more than three thousand tribal warriors left, with the majority heading towards the southeastern mountains to return to their hometowns. A small number of smaller tribes fled northwest, seeking relief from the western Colima tribes.

And so, under the sudden attack from behind by the Black Wolf, more than ten thousand brave warriors of the Tekos allied forces gradually disbanded without a major battle. In a few days, only over four thousand warriors from the Shield Tribe remained in Hand Snake City; the other summoned tribes all dispersed.

Kimari dispatched envoys, pleading for help from the Colima tribes over two hundred miles away, promising land and tribal allegiance, and expressing willingness to submit to the Noble Chief of Colima. Meanwhile, he sent tribal warriors into the jungle to hunt, and stealthily set up a concealed slaughterhouse within the city, quietly converting the gathered weak and old into food.

The four thousand warriors stayed in the Hand Snake Basin, suffering immensely yet relying on Hand Snake City’s defenses, unable to leave as the Black Wolf ravaged the rear.

For, to the north of the basin, tracks of thousands of red-haired barbarians appeared once again. These barbarians from the North pursued relentlessly, like a greedy and persistent pack of wolves. The grain-deprived tribal army, if it retreated southwards, would likely scatter quickly under the pursuit of the wolves. And the two thousand Tekos warriors guarding the rear were certainly devoured by the pack.

"The autumn wind sighs, and the yellow leaves fall from the mountains. I thought I was an evergreen pine, but it turns out I’m just a decaying shrub on the mountain top... The last hope of the trees lies in the mountains to the West..."

As the morning sun rose and the chilly mountain wind whipped up leaves, Kimari stood bitterly on the city walls, gazing westward like a stiff wooden sculpture.

The tribes of the western Colima were his only hope. Even though they had not gotten along in the past, now, faced with the pressure of the Northern Kingdom, they should unite. Well, submission is also a form of alliance.

"...Two months ago, I had an army of over ten thousand, tens of thousands of tribal citizens, wealthy cities, plentiful grain, unparalleled prestige with one call to mobilize all tribes. And now... Ah! Black Wolf, I will kill you!! Roar! Roar!!"

The Chieftain Kimari stood for a moment, his face twisting into a ferocious agony. He growled low like a wild beast until a middle-aged Noble Chief came hastening over, his own younger brother, the Herbs Elder Malina.

"Brother, last night, another hundred or more tribal warriors fled!"

Elder Malina looked somber, reporting the grim news as soon as he arrived.

"Damn it!"

Chieftain Kimari cursed softly, his anger silently withdrawing, replaced by a calm that seemed to know what was to come. In the jungle of wolves, a Wolf King that loses its majesty will be devoured, and the tribes are just like the jungle.

"Malina, my brother, go and appease the tribal warriors for me! Tell them we have enough grain for one more month, that the western Colima tribes have agreed to support us, and that the first batch of support grain is already on its way!"

Elder Malina opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated. Now at the end of January, the tribe’s grain stores had already been depleted. The warriors were eating suspicious meat and insects, chewing on barely filling leaves and bark—how could they be deceived?

The envoy to Fire River City also returned without success. The Colima tribes were in disarray, never reaching an agreement. The Noble Chief of Colima did give an unacceptable condition: it was to let the Shield Tribe migrate west and join the Colima tribes.

"Brother, the red-haired barbarians from the North attack the city day and night, and the warriors’ hearts are in disorder. Support from Fire River City is also uncertain as to when it will arrive."

Elder Malina spoke hesitantly, in a low voice.

"At this point, the demise of the Palm Family seems inevitable. Our southwestern tribes do not have such deep-seated hatred with the Northern Kingdom... The Northern Kingdom, no matter how powerful, cannot directly manage a seven-hundred-mile mountain region. Wouldn’t they have to allow the mountain tribes autonomy?"

Upon hearing this, Chieftain Kimari turned abruptly, staring coldly.

"Malina, what do you want to say?"

"Elder brother, as long as the Northern Kingdom is willing to cease hostilities and provide some food support... Even if it means our tribes must once again submit to the North, and regularly pay tribute and labor, just like in the era of the Tarasco Kingdom, it’s not unacceptable... as long as the tribes can survive..."

"Malina, my brother, the Northern Kingdom is ferociously cruel, a beast that devours without spitting out the bones! They don’t even spare their own nobility!"

Chieftain Kimari replied coldly.

"Just look at what they do! They set fire to Hand Snake City, burn all the food they can’t take, destroy all the villages, leaving behind nothing but brutal atrocities... They want our lives, where is there any chance they will spare us!"

"...Elder brother..."

"No more!"

Chieftain Kimari suppressed his anger and shouted sternly.

"You may leave!"

"Yes."

Fear was evident on Elder Malina’s face. With his head lowered, he turned and left. Soon, the roar of a wild beast sounded from behind.

Hearing his elder brother’s roar, Elder Malina paused, his expression changing. After a moment, he pursed his lips and silently walked towards the center of the city.

The houses in the city had been burned down, and people were either living in grass nests and straw huts or cloth tents and wooden sheds. He passed the grass nests and straw huts where the warriors gathered, exchanged a few words, and then left amidst complaints such as, "We can’t get enough to eat!" and "When is the food arriving?" Then, with his head bowed, he walked to his own cloth tent.

The quiet before the tent was unnerving, and the two warriors who should have been on guard were nowhere to be seen. Elder Malina stood for a moment, eyes downcast, before finally lifting the cloth curtain and entering.

"Malina, you’ve finally come back!"

The pungent smell of herbs rushed at him. A burly, middle-aged Noble Chief was sitting cross-legged inside the tent. With blue-green patterns carved on his face, birds and beasts painted on his arms, and his hair intentionally cut short, he reminded one of the jungle at a glance.

"Hunting Elder Topupan, why have you come so early? Get up, don’t sit on my herbs!"

Elder Malina’s tone was cold and his face grim. As the Elder in charge of herbs, he managed the Tribe’s herbs, while Topupan, who also held the position of an Elder managing hunting, was also a famous leader among the Tribal Warriors.

"What am I doing? Haha, you know very well."

Elder Topupan laughed, not moving an inch. Then, his face turned serious, and he asked in a deep voice.

"What did Kimari say?"

"...Elder brother disagrees. He says the Northern Kingdom won’t leave us alone. He’s also waiting for aid from the various factions of Colima."

"Haha! The Northern Kingdom won’t leave us alone? No, it’s only him, the chieftain, they won’t leave alone!"

Elder Topupan laughed coldly.

"Aid from the factions of Colima is nothing but swallowing us whole! Then not a single person from our Shield Tribe will be left, completely divided up by others. Besides, the Northern Kingdom has long dispatched warriors to attack the roads to the west. Even if the tribes wanted to migrate, they would have to be able to go first!"

Elder Malina remained silent. After a long while, he finally spoke up, accepting the verdict of fate.

"Speak, what are the terms from the other side?"