Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

The pattering raindrops fell from the coastal sky. Acrid black smoke rose from the broken walls and ruins. The embers of the fire that burned on the pyramid for ten days finally extinguished on the charred and broken Temple of the Feathered Serpent. The rain fell among the dilapidated thatched huts, gathering on the muddy streets, where large dark red congealed bloodstains slowly spread out, forming meandering streams.

The pale red streams flowed eastward along the streets, passing broken arrows, tattered cloth, and clumps of severed hair, trickling downward. It flowed out from the wall-less Feathered Serpent Ancient City, crossed a newly dug and filled burial pit, and finally, at the gray-white tidal flats by the shore, it merged into the boundless Eastern Sea along the trampled lowlands.

This trampled lowland was the legendary departure point where the Feathered Serpent Divine rode a serpent raft to the Eastern Sea. Here, during the annual Feathered Serpent Festival, thousands of Tototanak people prostrated in prayer, and hundreds of Feathered Serpent Priests offered sacrifices to the Divine, releasing the sacred statue of the Feathered Serpent and wooden rafts!

Now, the piety and prosperity of the Feathered Serpent Festival months ago had been mercilessly erased by the power of bronze and flame. The revered Feathered Serpent Priests, the noble Totonac nobility, and even the tribes' warriors and militia who dared to resist had all turned into layers of corpses in the burial pit. The ancient and sacred Feathered Serpent Ancient City had also been conquered by the Chief Divine's legion from this day forth!

As a marker of the army's conquest, a brand-new tall stone stele was just erected at the holy site of the Feathered Serpent Divine. Black Wolf Toltec, wearing leather armor, carrying a greatbow, holding the scepter of a Legion Commander, and having a bronze sword at his waist symbolizing his rank, stood in front of the two-meter-tall stone stele. He stood tall and proud, with a confident smile, reading the newly inscribed inscription word by word.

"Holy Calendar, Year 10 House (Calli), Moon 1 Deer (Mazatl), Day 4 Dog (Itzcuintli)…"

Year 10 House, Month 1 Deer, Day 4 Dog, when converted into the Gregorian calendar, is May 18, 1489, which was also the day ten days ago when the army captured the Feathered Serpent Ancient City.

"Chief Divine bless! Black Wolf General Toltec, capturing the holy land of the Feathered Serpent Ancient City, overcoming tens of thousands of Tototanak, records his merits at the holy site! Praise the King, praise His Highness!"

Black Wolf, brimming with pride, read it multiple times without a single mistake. Satisfied, he nodded, looking towards the boundless Eastern Sea, letting out a hearty breath.

"Ah! I've followed His Highness for just over two years, from the Western Sea, where all the Tekos tribes reside, to the Eastern Sea of the Totonac people! Haha, which of the kingdom's generals can compare their achievements to mine? … It's not boasting, to pacify the Mistek people and Zapotecs of the South and to conquer the distant Eastern Maya tribes, they still need me, Black Wolf!"

"Praise the Chief Divine! Black Wolf Great Chief, conquering East and West, is the mightiest Great General!"

Upon hearing this, all the legion generals bowed their heads in unison, praising the illustrious military achievements of the Legion Commander. Black Wolf turned around, eyes shining, surveying the group of generals who bowed in turn according to their ranks, feeling truly triumphant.

The foremost young general was Tupa, a camp commander born from Black Wolf's Personal Guard, commanding the thousand Imperial Guards artillery camp. Next were three Canine Descendant generals standing side by side: Red Frog Kaka, Red Deer Masate, and Red Monkey Ozoma, leading the main force of the 8,000-strong Guajili Legion.

These two army units were the most reliable 9,000-strong main force in the vanguard. The Guajili Legion was responsible for routine array suppression and crucial assaults, while the artillery camp was employed for bombarding fortified mountain villages.

Black Wolf's gaze paused slightly on Tupa's excited face, sighing quietly.

"The resistance from the Totonac people, from Five Mountains City to the Feathered Serpent Ancient City, was beyond my expectations!"

From Five Mountains City to the Feathered Serpent Ancient City, there lay over two hundred li of mountain roads, the altitude dropping by more than a thousand to two thousand meters, with extremely rugged and dangerous highland terrain. Throughout this journey, there were more than a dozen mountain fortresses of the Totonac people, relying on challenging terrains to vehemently resist the army's eastward advance.

Under the call of the holy land Feathered Serpent Ancient City, the various Totonac tribes in the mountains truly resisted to the death, like moths to a flame. If it weren't for the artillery camp's bombardment breaking several mountain villages along the way, perhaps until now, the legion would still be blocked at the mountain pass of the Sierra Madre Oriental foothills.

"The army could descend east from the highlands all the way to the coastal lowlands, with Tupa's artillery camp deserving the top credit!"

Looking at Tupa, Black Wolf mused inwardly, nodding slightly. His gaze swept over the obedient Canine Descendant generals, his lips curling upwards.

In hundreds of li of campaign, the 8,000-strong Guajili Legion initially absorbed warriors from the surrendered army, consistently maintaining full strength. While ordinarily campaigning, serving as the army's forerunner, storming cities and mountain villages, engaging in bloody conflicts, fighting various tribal camps, it was the Mistek Vanguard Camp and the newly formed Totonac surrendered soldiers camp doing so.

"Out of four thousand Mistek surrendered soldiers, after two months of fighting, fewer than three thousand remain. These Mistek wolf cubs seem to have been trained quite nicely!"

Mistek's brave general, Woodpecker Lichi, positioned himself respectfully alongside the surrendered Divine Descendant Priest Andiwei, both standing at the back. Woodpecker Lichi commanded three thousand battle-hardened soldiers from the Mistek Vanguard Camp, whose combat power was second only to the Guajili Legion, another force to be trusted.

At the moment, of the 8,000 Guajili Legion, 2,000 men were garrisoned around the Five Mountains City area, 2,000 were stationed throughout various fortified villages along the two hundred li, and near the Feathered Serpent Ancient City, only four thousand-man camps remained. These 4,000 legion warriors, Black Wolf would not easily employ, preserving them as a force reserved for crucial engagements.

"With a vanguard of over ten thousand soldiers, marching against various Tototanak tribes to the east, the more we fought, the more numerous we became, now nearly reaching 20,000!"

Thinking of this, Black Wolf's glance moved back, landing on the last two Totonac surrendered generals.

The robust man in front, wearing a samurai wooden helmet, turned out to be the warrior Muxi, who submitted at Five Mountains City, with more than 2,000 Tototanak warriors under his command. The last lean man, wrapped in a militia headscarf with notably red ears, served as a militia leader, Hong Er, commanding over 3,000 local militiamen forcibly conscripted along the mountain path. These two had their hands stained with Totonac blood, even being coerced into executing Feathered Serpent Priests and Divine Descendants in the Feathered Serpent Ancient City.

"Hmm. Muxi and Hong Er count as just recently trained wolf cubs! These 5,000 Tototanak surrendered soldiers being familiar with the local geography, as long as their wolfish nature is aroused and they are allowed to unleash their slaughter... they could be more effective in suppressing local tribes than the Mistek Vanguard!"

Black Wolf's gaze fell upon the respectful warrior Muxi, his head bowed in reverence, and Chief Hong Er, who knelt beside him, lips tightly sealed, fingertips trembling slightly.

Although they had each beheaded a dozen or so heads on this skull tower themselves, now, seeing over six hundred noble dignitaries laying to rest here, their heads stacked as the Mexica's symbol of conquest and merit... the idols representing the Feathered Serpent Divine faith crumbled thunderously within their hearts!

"Ah!... The supreme Chief Divine who devours all gods, the powerful and irresistible Mexica legion, the fearsome copper beast that unleashes thunderbolts and stone projectiles... perhaps, for hundreds of years, the Feathered Serpent Divine, revered by tribes in devout faith, is truly dead!"

"Thus, as the Chief God Priest mentioned...we are not warriors betraying Divine Spirits and tribes. We are indeed surrendering to the supreme Chief Divine, embracing the glory of the true Divine, continuing the tribal lineage, reverting to the powerful Alliance as... descendants of the Jiao People!"