NOVPUBThe young King remained silent, not saying a word. He lifted his head, gazing at the pristine tent as if seated above the clouds. Xiulote waited patiently for a long while before asking again.
"Your Majesty, what are your thoughts?"
"How will the Mexica Alliance deal with me?"
Su’angua watched the youth, asking with a cold expression.
Xiulote lowered his eyes slightly and continued speaking softly.
"The Alliance will try to satisfy your demands. You will be the most sacred guest of the Alliance, until you depart for the Divine Kingdom in glory."
"Satisfy my demands, depart in glory to the Divine Kingdom?... Damn, greedy jackals! You see me as a sacrificial offering?! Cough, cough..."
Su’angua thought for a moment before suddenly realizing. He roared angrily, flailing his arms, then started coughing violently.
The Mexica warriors on both sides immediately drew their war clubs and stepped forward. Xiulote gestured for the warriors to step back. Then, he looked calmly at the King of Tarasco, his eyes showing a hint of pity.
That gaze seemed to have the power to stab with pain. Su’angua coughed and turned his head to avoid the young man’s eyes. The young King continued to ponder for a long time before looking at Xiulote again.
"If Qinchongcan City surrenders, can the Tarasco Royal Family be spared?"
At this, Xiulote slowly shook his head.
The young King fell silent once more. He thought deeply for a long time and then looked at Xiulote with hope.
"In your hands, my fate is already sealed, but the bloodline of the Divine Eagle must not perish by my hand. I can give you Qinchongcan City, and I can persuade the nobles of the South to surrender! I seek not the preservation of the entire Royal Family, but to leave a single bloodline, to be enfeoffed in the remote southwest. I implore you, your Highness of Mexica, with a heart as merciful as the Feathered Serpent, to grant my reasonable request!"
This time, Xiulote thought for a long while. To preserve the Royal Family went against the elders’ directive; to enfeoff the southwest clashed with his own plans. And such a promise would have to be sworn to the gods, witnessed by the nobility and priests... After careful consideration, he still slowly shook his head.
"Your Majesty, please consider another condition!"
"This is my only condition! If the bloodline of the Divine Eagle is extinguished, everything about the Kingdom is meaningless! What does it matter if all of Qinchongcan’s commoners die?! If the Mexica break the bloodline of the three gods’ Royal Family, they will surely suffer the wrath of the three gods! All the tribes in the world will unite and attack you, the savage Aztecs!"
Su’angua’s words turned into a roar. He clenched his fists and struggled to rise from the grass bed, lunging at Xiulote. Xiulote remained calm, taking two silent steps back. Beside him, Head Warrior Bertade stepped forward and firmly subdued Su’angua, pressing him down onto the grass bed. The eyes of the King of Tarasco turned red as he recognized Bertade’s identity, and he started to struggle fiercely again.
"It’s you! The warrior who killed Yuku! Damn you, Mexica prince who has sunk into the Abyss! I am the King of Tarasco; give me back my kingdom, my legions, my great generals!!"
Seeing the frantic King of Tarasco, Xiulote helplessly shook his head. He signaled an old Priest, who once again took out a jar of pale green potion and forcibly opened Su’angua’s jaw, skillfully pouring it into his mouth. In just over a dozen breaths, the King of Tarasco suddenly fell silent, his body went limp, and he fell back into a quiet sleep.
"Let it be. Take good care of him; I will come to see him in a few days."
After giving a couple of instructions, Xiulote turned and left. There was much to attend to after the battle; he needed to reorganize the legion and send troops to the Capital City as soon as possible!
The long wind swept through, stirring the pines and cypresses by the lake; the sunlight poured down, turning into ripples on the surface of the lake. The Alliance’s messengers ran across the plains of the Lake Region, spreading the news of the Alliance’s decisive victory far and wide. With the spreading news, people’s hearts were trembling, the world was changing, and the Alliance was advancing.
Prisoners were sent northwards, food came from the south. Only two days after the decisive battle, the Mexica legion, like a surging flood, moved northwestward, arriving at the shores of Lake Patzcuaro, eyeing the last bastion, Qinchongcan City. Soon, five thousand of the southern vanguard arrived first to encamp below Qinchongcan City, cutting off the surrounding roads and sealing off the western lakeshore. Afterward, more than ten thousand from the Northern Army arrived in succession, completely surrounding the Capital City!
With the Royal Army destroyed and the enemy surrounding the city, the shocking news came all at once, and the majestic Capital City of Tarasco was thrown into utter chaos, full of frantic nobility and priests. Sacrificial rites atop the Akatla Pyramids continued through the night without rest, and the ceremonies of offering Sacrifices never ceased. The Chief Minister immediately took all of the Royal Family’s heirs into the Royal Palace and then forcefully reorganized the city’s military.
In Qinchongcan City, counting the retreating defeated army, there were just over two thousand Samurai. Most of these were private armies of the nobility and Divine Guards of the priests, with only a quarter being directly loyal. The Militia in the city numbered close to twenty thousand, nearly half of whom were restless tribesmen from the Tekos Tribe.
Facing this situation, Jinjinni displayed a level of firmness never seen before. He dispersed his loyal Samurai, took control of the Militia within the city, and then suppressed the restless nobility and tribesmen. In just two short days, hundreds of heads fell. Under the Chief Minister’s authority, the city’s defenses were barely established. But beneath the calm surface of Lake Patzcuaro, there were invisible raging currents.
Another day passed, and the flag of the Black Wolf appeared to the east of Qinchongcan City. More than four hundred Jaguar Warriors, over two thousand archers, all escorted the highest Commander of the Mexica, arriving three hundred strides from the city walls.
Xiulote stood beneath the towering walls, observing this grand city. At the end of April, after a full year of campaigning, the Mexica legion had finally arrived below Qinchongcan City, besieging the Capital City of Tarasco! The Kingdom of the Prepetcha people was on the brink of extinction, and the extensive western campaign was about to reach its final conclusion!
