Chapter 1349: Chapter 1349

The autumn night was quite peaceful, and the scent of pine resin made people feel relaxed. Regardless of whether the village militia was asleep or how the tribal archers in the encampment were sleeping, Military Merit Nobility Aitz was comfortably asleep on the village chief’s grass bed anyway!

"Praise the Chief Divine! This sleep was so comfortable that my whole body feels relaxed... Ah, not bad, truly not bad!"

The next morning, Woodpecker Aitz was smiling as he ate the village’s flatbread and made "promises" to the garrison leader Tagu beside him.

"Chief Divine bless! When I return from fighting next year, if I pass through here again, I will definitely come and sleep once more!..."

Upon hearing Woodpecker Aitz’s words, the garrison leader Tagu felt as if struck by lightning. His hand trembled, causing the warm flatbread to fall to the ground. He glared at Aitz with wide eyes, wishing he could pick up his spear and stab Aitz right in the face.

Well, the garrison leader Tagu indeed possessed a two-and-a-half-meter legion spear. He was actually an retired warrior from the first spear legion of Rivermouth County. He wasn’t wounded, nor was he old; he retired according to the orders of Legion Commander and County Magistrate Yinkuluka.

When the kingdom established Rivermouth County’s civilian garrisons, each garrison needed a few village leaders and warriors for management. Monkey Kuluka, having a plebeian background, had neither Mexica nobility nor hereditary family warriors under him. Therefore, his solution was to transfer a group of reliable veterans from his legion to manage each village, especially those near Rivermouth County, close to the Canine Descendants’ flag team, they placed trusted personnel.

And after the veteran spear warrior Tagu became the garrison leader, he implemented simple drills for the able-bodied men of the village according to the legion’s training methods. This was how Woodpecker Aitz received the grand "welcome" he saw yesterday.

"Cough! Chief Divine bears witness! Esteemed Military Merit Nobility... I followed the Legion Commander in raiding... oh, campaigning in the Northwest Chapala Lake Region. The Feathered King of Chapala is very cunning; I’m afraid he’s not so easy to deal with!..."

The garrison leader Tagu picked up the flatbread and brushed off the dirt. He kept his head down, hiding his expression, but his voice trembled slightly.

"This expedition is to completely occupy that Northwestern lake region. That lake region is vast! There are many City-States by the lake, lots of Barbarian Children from the North, and many chaotic tribes in the mountains... next year, you might not be able to finish and come back!..."

"Haha! The Thunderbolt of the Chief Divine shelters us! No village, no City-State can resist the kingdom’s attack!" The most update n0vels are published on NoveIꜰire.net

Upon hearing this, Woodpecker Aitz laughed heartily, with both pride from the Capital City and unconcealed smugness when facing these information-deprived warrior bumpkins.

"Chief Divine bears witness! This expedition isn’t just Rivermouth County alone; there’s also an eight-thousand-member long snake legion, advancing north directly from the southwest, piercing the heart of the Chapala Lake Region! Moreover, behind our camp, there’s an unbeatable legion head, which is the newly formed Thunder... cough!"

"What? Thunder what? Is it the cannon regiment from the northern campaign?"

"Haha! Different, it’s different. They will also travel along the county road, just slower. I can’t say much, but keep an eye out at the relay station, you’ll see!"

Woodpecker Aitz shut his mouth in time, stopping his words mid-sentence. Then, he glanced at the inquisitive face of the garrison leader Tagu, who seemed eager to stab him, and stood up with a smug look.

"Chief Divine bless! Finished eating! It’s time to set out!... Tagu, see you next year!"

"Er... Chief Divine bless! Next year... let’s talk then..."

The garrison leader Tagu lowered his voice, muttering to himself. He watched as the Tlaxcala troop stepped over the harvested field ridges onto the newly built dirt road, cursing angrily in his heart.

"High-and-mighty Capital City nobility! Only speak half the truth... May you fall into a pit while squatting and struggle to climb out!..."

"Tagu, next year I want to sleep on your grass bed again!... By the way, I’ll also bring you some spoils of war!"

Woodpecker Aitz lifted his chest and once again hoisted the camp’s battle flag, leading his archers towards the northeastern Rivermouth County. As they moved forward, the terrain gradually elevated, with hills and small mountains beginning to appear on both sides. The road beneath Aitz’s feet transitioned from a secondary county road made of compacted gravel to a simple, leveled dirt road. This section of the road clearly required difficult construction and a lot of work, and the secondary county road in the county was not yet completed here.

"Hmm? There are woods on both sides, and birds flying around... Right! Once we cross these small mountains and hills, we should be able to overlook the Cuitzeo Lake at Rivermouth... I recall, the Canine Descendants Tribes that moved southward should have quite a few flag teams settled in this area..."

Woodpecker Aitz mused as he looked around at the hills on both sides. Around the dirt road, he could vaguely see a large area of low huts and straw houses, gathered in the small valleys around a stream flowing down from the mountains. By the riverside in the valley, there were also roughly cultivated fields, which were noticeably disorderly.

"Chief Divine! What are they planting here? Yams? The weeds are as high as the crops, and no one seems to care?!..."

Woodpecker Aitz observed for a moment, his brows twitching. When he first joined the army, he didn’t think much of it, but now that he owned his own manor and had personally managed his fields, he found it unbearable to see these tribal "fields" that were such an eyesore.

"No! No! Damn, it’s already November! Why haven’t these haphazardly planted yams been harvested?!"

At this thought, Woodpecker Aitz gritted his teeth somewhat. He glared fiercely towards the tribal camp in the valley and made eye contact with the tribal chieftain who was also watching from the camp. Immediately, dozens of blue-haired, face-tattooed tribal warriors and hunters rushed out in a mass, charging at the marching camp along the mountain road.

"Ah! Draw your weapons! Prepare for battle!... Drip drip!..."

The piercing sound of horns startled both the marching tribal archers and the camp warriors charging forward. Both sides reflexively raised their long spears and set up their bamboo bows, with identical weapons.

A few breaths later, it was the tattooed tribal flag leader who reacted first. He skillfully pulled out a flag of the Chief Divine from behind him and waved it forcefully. Then, he took out another flag with a wobbly painted stone balance on it, the symbol of the Kingdom’s market.

"Praise the Chief Divine! Praise the one who raises strange carrots!... Down there! Tribes! Oh no! Samurai!... Come! Look! Exchange goods! Good stuff!..."

The tribal flag leader, Babbe, shouted loudly in a halting yet deep and melodious Navajo-accented voice, calling out to the archery camp on the dirt road. The strange tone immediately evoked thoughts of the vast and desolate north. He came from the Bosalous people, a hunting tribe from the far northeastern wilderness that only moved south in early spring the year before last.

In recent years, the Red Crow Great Tribe had been conquering east and west, annexing tribes everywhere, causing disruptions and scattering the northeastern tribes. The northern cold waves frequently moved southward, although they were minor cold waves, not terrifying major ones, but were still difficult for the tribes to endure. Contemplating his situation, having heard that the Great Chief Balamo of Qingqiu County was recruiting, he led his tribe to join.

Who knew the cold-hearted Great Chief Balamo would just chant a few incomprehensible verses and bestow upon him the surname "Ba". Then, Great Chief Balamo picked out a few Divine Archers from his tribe and sent them all south in a package deal, selling... oh, handing them over to the more powerful "Divine Monkey" Great Chief, Kuluka.

"Hey! Why do both Great Chiefs prefer red-haired tribes adept at archery?... Our blue-haired ones are fierce too! We can hunt javelins and chase northern giant beasts!..."

Considering the treatment from both attempts to join forces, Flag Leader Babbe felt quite resentful. Fortunately, though the "Divine Monkey" Great Chief didn’t value them highly, he didn’t treat them poorly either. Not only did he organize them into a flag team, but he also allocated them a patch of mountainous forest and valley, and sent Chief God Priests to teach them farming. His group of just over 400 people perfectly constituted a small flag team.

Being a struggling tribal flag team, they didn’t have to pay the establishment-like strict grain taxes, and in practicality, they were too poor to contribute much. Each year, each flag team only needed to symbolically offer some forest game and tribute to the Great Chief. But in return, they had to adhere to strict conscription orders! Whenever the Great Chief issued a conscription order, each small flag team had to provide 40 able-bodied men, equipped with their weapons, to accompany the Kingdom’s army on expeditions!

"Accompanying the army on expeditions, with provisions and lodging covered. On the battlefield, fight to win spoils of war and captives. After the plunder, sell the goods and people, earn military merit, and even receive rewards... could even join the legion and become the Great Chief’s Warrior... oh no, Samurai!..."

Recalling the perks of expeditions, Flag Leader Babbe drooled. Back on the wilderness, he had never seen stone houses or large villages, let alone "cities" formed by merging populations of dozens of tribes! And in the villages and cities, just grabbing something could surpass a year of farming!...

As for dying in battle, that was common on the wilderness. People were said to live only twenty or thirty years or so. Only priests and shamans who were blessed could live to forty or fifty...

"Hey! Why didn’t the ’Divine Monkey’ Great Chief summon us for this Western Expedition? Does he think we weren’t brave enough in the last battle? Come this year’s tribute, we must ask the Great Chief’s Warrior, oh no, Samurai!..."

Flag Leader Babbe, lost in thought, eyed the camp along the road enviously. Until the moment when a chieftain with a Feathered Helmet, carrying a banner, seemingly wealthy... oh, powerful, approached with several armored warriors. Thereupon, the chieftain curiously glanced around before inquiring in Mexica Language.

"Good stuff? Exchange?"

"Yes, yes! Exchange!"

"Hmm, witnessed by the Chief Divine!... What do you have?..."