Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!
Chapter 840 - 465: Alliance, Kingdom and the Sea

Chapter 840: Chapter 465: Alliance, Kingdom and the Sea

The sun rose high, and the birds chirped softly. Warm sunlight illuminated the green mountains and forests, adding a few rays of brightness to the secluded valley with hot springs. The autumn wind blew through the woods, carrying the fresh scent of grass and trees, mingled with the mist from the hot springs, creating an almost heavenly scene on earth.

Xiulote bowed his head, gently kissed the sleeping Alisa, and then got up from the grass bed covered with a cotton blanket. He walked out of the wooden house by the hot spring, and the bright sunlight greeted him, causing him to squint his eyes involuntarily.

"I actually slept until noon..."

The young man murmured, stretched his body, and after a brief Samurai training, he felt sore in his lower back, struggling to exert his strength. He turned to look inside the house and couldn’t help but sigh softly.

"...Ah! The tenderness of a woman is truly a hero’s grave... No matter how brave, it’s hard to withstand the day-and-night entanglement."

Nashu came silently with breakfast in hand. Hearing the prince’s low sigh, she couldn’t help but blush and pressed her lips together.

A few days ago, after consuming some supplements, the prince became overly vigorous. The princess couldn’t bear it and had to ask Nashu to resist a few times. Although she was skilled in martial arts, it was her first time in such a situation, and she ended up in a bleak state, shedding tears.

When the princess came to her senses the next day, she felt both ashamed and angry, and extremely regretful. But as the prince’s shadow slave, she was not an outsider; according to the Alliance’s custom, she ultimately had to serve the prince... In the following days, with an additional helper, the princess gradually managed to cope with the prince.

In the last two days, she finally grasped some techniques, applying the teachings of the priestesses with the singing of a cat and the dance of a jellyfish, which the prince found hard to resist...

Thinking of this, the cool female Samurai stretched out her tongue and gently licked her upper lip. Then she bent slightly, placed the tray gracefully on the ground, and said elegantly.

"My lord, please have your lunch."

Xiulote turned his head slightly and saw the graceful Nashu, nodding. Then he noticed two avocados next to the corn cakes and felt a sudden tightness in his heart.

"Nashu, you..."

"My lord, you need to replenish your strength, otherwise tonight..."

Nashu smiled and winked mischievously. Then she pursed her lips, stood on her tiptoes, and mimicked the sound of a fox.

"Master, dear master... Wow~"

"Uh!... "

Xiulote’s scalp tingled, and his back ached slightly. He hurriedly changed the topic.

"Have the Kingdom envoys left?"

"Not yet, but soon. The envoys rested for a night, and after having lunch, they will travel day and night back to the Kingdom."

"Good, very good!"

Xiulote nodded and reached into his robe, taking out a document.

"Add another Royal Decree and give it to the Camp Commander of the Chiwaco Garrison."

"As you command!"

Nashu put down the lunch and took the latest Royal Decree. She glanced at it briefly and only saw a drawing of a ship riding the waves.

As the female Samurai hurried away, Xiulote looked westward, deeply contemplative.

The envoys brought news that this year’s autumn harvest was good, from south to north, it was another bountiful year. After the autumn harvest, various corps preparing for the eastern expedition began gathering, and the sound of war was imminent!

The main force of eight thousand Guajili Legion and four thousand Imperial Guard Legion were gathered at the River Mouth Fortress on the northern bank of the Lerma River, waiting for the Kingdom Fleet’s transportation. Meanwhile, the five thousand Tekos Tribal Warriors who had surrendered during the southern expedition gathered in Zicao County by the southern bank of the Tarsas River, to be transported by the southern naval forces of both the Alliance and the Kingdom. Combining the two routes with the three thousand Imperial Guards from the Texcoco Lake District, the Kingdom had a grand army of twenty thousand!

The logistics for the twenty thousand troops were to be supplied locally by the Alliance. The veteran general Etalik of Zicao County, who commanded the Purple Grass Army, had last month dispatched five hundred samurai to garrison in Tal Village, a strategic point upstream of the Tarsas River. They would quickly build fortifications to control the upper river, providing an additional layer of logistical support for the Southern Army.

As for internal defense within the Kingdom, Monkey Kuluka guarded the north against the Chapala Lake Region downstream to the west; Ezpan guarded the southwest to stabilize the Tekos tribes; Jaguar Olosh guarded the Capital Region, overseeing the overall situation of the Kingdom. These three legions would remain stationed and not participate in the eastern expedition.

After the miracle of the hot-air balloons spread, the Kingdom became more stable. With the first batch of harvest gathered, the development of the southern Apa Plain gradually got on track. Meanwhile, the Southern Shipbuilding Department by Atoyac Lake in Zicao County had been operating for over six months, launching several batches of double-hulled canoes and the first batch of Crocodile God oar-sail ships.

Further southwest, at the mouth of the Tarsas River, the iron ore at Black Rock Mountain had begun extraction and smelting on a small scale. The age of ironware was dawning!

Following Xiulote’s instructions, experienced bronze craftsmen from the Kingdom were summoned to explore the initial iron smelting techniques. They built kilns and, after three months, produced the first batch of iron—sponge iron. The quality of the Black Rock Mountain iron ore was low, with many impurities in the smelting process. The iron was very soft and spongelike, unusable directly.

Subsequently, the craftsmen stuffed charcoal into the gaps of the iron blocks, repeatedly melting and forging them to remove the impurities and improve the iron’s quality. After another two months of trial and error, they finally produced the first usable batch of iron in early September. However, this batch was still just ordinary cast iron, hard and brittle, only suitable for making tools, not weapons.

"The technology of iron smelting, from nothing to something, always starts slowly. But as long as there is a beginning and direction, there is hope for the future!"