It had been five days since the mission arrived on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan, and all the farces and embarrassments that had erupted during this time had already taken place, but the Emperor of Montezuma in the city had strangely been unresponsive to it.

During this period, Wang Qiu and others saw other incredible strange things.

- For example, the civil war in the Aztec Empire.

In the cold mountain wind, on a wooded hill on the shore of Lake Texcoco, Wang Qiu and Wen Dehei, wearing steel helmets and camouflage uniforms, were watching through the high-powered binoculars in their respective hands, confusedly watching two Aztec armies in the same costume, facing each other on the desolate lake beach.

Like other early civilizations, the Aztecs' tactics were simple – after the sound of drums, clashing weapons, and shouting insults, the warring sides engaged in long-range strikes, drawing bows and arrows at each other, and throwing javelins and stones like drops. Then the archers, dressed in salt-soaked cotton armor, withdrew, and the main army formed a phalanx, using obsidian machetes "Macquawits" to engage in hand-to-hand combat, like the ancient Greek phalanx of heavy infantry.

However, slashing and slashing with a "maquawit" is a very physically demanding task, and even the strongest samurai cannot last long. Therefore, both sides arranged their armies in many echelons. Every 15 minutes or so, the recruits in the first echelon are already exhausted and must retreat to rest under the cover of their comrades so that the veterans who can be substituted in the back row can come up to replace them.

Since both sides were dense infantry phalanxes under the cover of javelins, there was no cavalry, and the mobility was very poor, so it was difficult to engage in some complex tactics such as flanking and outflanking, which was basically a hard-fought phalanx battle. Commanders at all levels generally supervise the battle behind the battle line, using war drums, flutes and horns to issue orders to attack or retreat, and when the battle line is about to be breached, they will personally swing their swords into battle and desperately plug the gap.

- Cannon fodder is the first, the main force is second, and the elite will not be on until the critical time, which is the military common sense of all shijie.

It is worth mentioning that when the Aztec army was fighting, it had learned how to deploy a reserve, and not rush like a herd of bison.

On the lake, not far from the battlefield, there were many canoes and rafts, on which sat a larger number of Aztec soldiers, also fully armed, but never intended to join either side, but only watched the battle from a distance across the water, and cheered from time to time.

“…… This was a real evil, and the two Aztec armies fought each other on the shore, and the battle was dark and bloody. There were more Aztec troops floating on the lake, but they watched as if they didn't care about themselves. Less than ten miles away, hordes of Aztec traders were doing business as if nothing had happened. There was also no atmosphere of war in Tenochtitlan...... What happened to the Aztec Empire right now? ”

Faced with such a strange phenomenon, Wen Desi, Wang Qiu, and Professor Yang Wenli were all puzzled, but they didn't dare to listen at will, so they could only find the defected Aztec lord Achinbona and let her see what was going on.

However, Achin Bona was also puzzled by the battle not far away, and only after observing it for a while, she told Wendesi that the two sides fighting on the shore belonged to the same city-state, and both were the army of Texcoco, the second largest city in the Aztec Empire, and the main feature was a military uniform decorated with blue feathers. And the soldiers who floated on the lake in boats to watch the battle and play soy sauce were the troops of Tracopan, the third largest city in the Aztec Empire. As for the boss of the Aztec Empire, the army of Tenochtitlan simply ignored it and shrank in the city without moving.........

- The army of Texcoco is in the civil war, the army of Tracopan is fighting soy sauce, and the army of Tenochtitlan is being a turtle.

The fierce battle lasted only half an hour before ending with the commander of one side being stabbed to death with a javelin. The defeated army threw down their weapons and fled in a hurry, and the victors did not chase after them, but tied the prisoners with ropes and rewarded them on the battlefield - the warriors who fought hard were rewarded with rich booty, while the cowards who escaped were stoned alive by sharp stones in front of all the soldiers.

As for the soldiers of Trakopan, who were watching the excitement on the lake, when they saw the end of the battle, they also rowed away, and they had no intention of participating at all.

What was Emperor Montezuma II, who ruled the Aztec Empire, doing? Watching your own people kill each other?

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Although they were still confused about this strange Aztec civil war, through reading various history books and conducting actual investigations in the Valley of Mexico, Wang Qiu and his team still found out the basic situation of the empire, especially its military strength.

First of all, it should be clear that the Aztecs were an empire in name only, and Montezuma was only an emperor in name only.

In the modern concept, the word "empire" basically means a vast territory, a large army, countless subjects, a huge amount of wealth, strict laws, and a strong international influence...... And the Aztecs are clearly not qualified in these respects. Even at its peak, the Aztec Empire's "theoretical territory" was only 10-150,000 square kilometers, which was only equivalent to the territory of modern Korea.

As for the real core hinterland of the Aztecs, it is in fact only about 10,000 square kilometers of fertile soil in the Valley of Mexico.

Moreover, the Aztec Empire had very crude internal rule, never having a uniform law and bureaucracy, but leaving the vassals completely autonomous. The so-called 38 provinces are actually only 38 tax collection areas. Except for a few undercover agents, the Emperor of Montezuma did not appoint any official officials, and only sent envoys to apportionment of various tributes when he collected the tribute every year.

As a result, the only cities that could truly become the core of the Aztec Empire and provide a solid foundation for this military empire with a large number of loyal soldiers were the three cities of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tracopan, with a combined population of less than 1 million.

In short, the Aztecs were not a unified empire, without a unified military and administrative structure, and at best they could only be said to be the prototype of an empire. In addition, the glorious history of the Aztec Empire is not very long, strictly speaking, less than a century. In essence, it remained a city-state, or rather, a military alliance of three cities united in the western part of the Valley of Mexico, led by the city of Tenochtitlan.

The main job of this military alliance is to unite to wage war, subdue one tribe, make them pay tribute, and then tie the prisoners to the pyramid for blood sacrifice to please the gods, and then move on to attack the next tribe...... Until the conquest of all of Mexico.

In fact, by the time the Aztec Empire fell, they were almost one step away from accomplishing this great cause.

Therefore, the hegemony of the Aztecs was based entirely on protracted preparations. With the three allied city-states as the core, they radiated their influence to the surrounding Mexican Valley through bloody and brutal wars, and then continued to influence the whole of Central America through expeditions...... Frequent rebellions and endless conquests of vassal states, as well as bloody and brutal human sacrifices, formed the leitmotif of the Aztec Empire's politics. …,

In general, the Aztecs were not at all organized in the form of a powerful empire with smooth decrees, but rather had some similarities with the Hellenistic Navy, the Athenian Maritime League, and the Spartan Peloponnesian League, which were both one or more dominant city-states, plus a bunch of politically unaffiliated vassals. The only link between the vassal and the Emperor of Montezuma was Nagong. The reason for Nagong was only the fear of the Aztec conquest, but it did not allow them to integrate into the Aztecs...... Therefore, this backward political system and narrow traditional concepts have hindered the further development of this military power, so that it has not been able to become a real empire.

With the hegemony established throughout Mexico through a century of bloody conquests, the Aztecs were able to extract an incredible amount of tribute from each of the dependent city-states, including 7,000 tons of corn, 4,000 tons of beans, 4,000 tons of potatoes, 2 million bales of cotton, 30,000 bales of feathers, thousands of human sacrifices, and a number of luxury goods such as furs, spices, and precious stones.

This amount of food taxes is spread over the 15 million people in Mexico, and it seems that the per capita burden is not very heavy. However, if we use the new varieties of crops cultivated in the 21st century, the average yield of corn per mu is more than one ton, and the yield of sweet potatoes per mu is two or three tons, which is even more insignificant.

But the problem is that the yield of corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes bred by the early Indians was nowhere near as high as it is now. Although compared with the wheat and oats in Europe during the same period, their yields are already good, but the yield per mu is two or three hundred kilograms per season, and the resistance to certain pests and diseases is very poor, and there are often serious failures...... Therefore, under the exploitation and oppression of the Aztec Empire, most of the affiliated city-states along Lake Texcoco were poor and white, and often could not bear it anymore and openly rebelled - the Aztec rule in the Valley of Mexico was never stable.

On the other hand, in order to cope with frequent wars and make full use of limited human resources, the Aztecs adopted a system of citizen soldiers similar to that of the ancient Greek city-states, in which all the people were soldiers—relying on at least 170 days of agricultural leisure per year, the Aztecs popularized compulsory education and military training within the city-state. All male Aztec citizens were required to carry weapons with them and were required to serve in the army from the age of 15.

In addition, in order to increase the enthusiasm of their own armies, the Aztecs also adopted a military merit reward system similar to that of the Qin state: every soldier who officially served was allowed to be awarded the title of "elite warrior" after he successfully captured four captives. At this time, regardless of his origin, he could enter the samurai class and become a professional officer who was out of production, similar to the samurai in Japan.

In general, elite samurai are divided into 3 categories: Eagle Samurai, Jaguar Samurai, and Bow Samurai. Among them, the status of the bow warrior is the lowest, and the status of the eagle warrior is the highest. In times of war, the elite samurai mentioned above automatically became a junior officer, commanding a small group of his own troops.

Due to the limited number of "elite samurai", the Aztec Empire also had to recruit militia to fight in larger wars, similar to the Japanese "ashigaru" - when war broke out, the emperor would order the chiefs of each tribe to gather a certain number of peasants for a simple "refresher training" (this is because all militias received rigorous military training at a young age). Their farmland will be managed by other members of their tribe. And each tribe also has something like a service schedule, so that the militia takes turns to serve.

The smallest combat unit of the Aztec army was a squad of 20 men, consisting of 4 to 6 squads that could perform tasks such as reconnaissance and surprise attacks. With a squad of 20 men as the basic unit, the Aztecs could form larger troops, such as 200 troops, 400 troops, and 800 troops. The next level of combat unit was the separate brigade "Capulli", which was commanded by a tribal chieftain. There are a total of 20 "capri" in the city of Tenochtitlan, and every 5 "capri" form a larger unit, the legion. …,

The entire army of Tenochtitlan consisted of 4 legions, in addition to a Praetorian Guard serving the emperor. However, these regiments generally have only an empty shelf in peacetime, with thousands of standing officers and no standing soldiers. So on the eve of the war, the Aztecs had to carry out a general mobilization in order to fill the staff. And after the mobilization is completed, the city of Tenochtitlan can muster a total of about 60,000 troops.

As for the other two components of the empire, the city of Texcoco had about 40,000 troops, and the city of Tracopan had more than 10,000 troops. If all the vassal city-states along Lake Texcoco were mobilized, then the entire Aztec Empire should be able to gather an army of 200,000 troops

However, in order to assemble such an army, two prerequisites must be met:

1. The enemy has reached the shore of Lake Texcoco, the army can resist on the spot, food supply is not a problem. Otherwise, with the logistical conditions at that time (no vehicles, no livestock, all carried by manpower on their shoulders), it would not be possible to support an army of 200,000 people for a long-distance expedition.

2. In this critical situation, many vassal countries that have been bullied have not yet defected (this is obviously impossible)!

Thus, in a single battle, the Aztec Empire could barely muster up to 100,000 troops. However, after fighting such a battle overloaded, the Aztecs must have been completely drained and their vitality was greatly damaged, regardless of whether they won or lost.

In the area around Lake Texcoco, the Aztecs were able to take advantage of water transportation to maintain their own supply lines and support an army of 100,000 men. And if they were to leave Lake Texcoco and the valley of Mexico and could not transport food by canoes and rafts, the Aztecs would have to organize an expeditionary force of 20,000 or 30,000 men at most.

For a civilization that did not have animals and vehicles on board, the Aztec army had to rely entirely on the manpower of the accompanying army to carry supplies once it left Lake Texcoco due to transportation conditions. Although an Aztec porter could carry 30 kilograms of goods and walk 20 kilometers in a day, this amount of supplies was far from enough for a large-scale campaign.

Therefore, at this time, the Aztec Empire, under the conditions of the jishu they had, was able to occupy the entire valley of Mexico, and then further radiated to the east and west coasts, and it had basically expanded to the geographical limit. For the more distant Mayan city-states of the Yucatan Peninsula, there is already a lack of power.

Due to the geography of the Valley of Mexico, the Aztecs rarely built castles or bunkers, as the vast lake was the most fortified city of Tenochtitlan, which had once withstood all but the Spaniards.

In the areas far from the city of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs also rarely established permanent strongholds and garrisoned troops, but allowed local chieftains to be self-governing and co-opted by means of marriages and sometimes exempted from tribute. Unless the other party refuses to surrender, they will send troops to fight.

The only exception was the presence of a standing Aztec army of 4,000 men in Chaputpec, where the Aztecs had to keep their drinking water safe because the canal that supplied the city of Tenochtitlan with fresh snow water passed through it.

One of the things that Zuihou needs to listen to is the sacrifice of the living...... Such blood sacrifices were common in Central America, but no one had ever reached such a level as the Aztecs – at least one of the city's 19 major temples held a blood sacrifice every day, with an average of 2,000 to 4,000 sacrifices per year. At its highest, Tenochtitlan dug out 20,000 hearts in four days. In fact, the main reason the Aztecs went to war was to capture captives, sacrifice them, and force their subjects to pay tribute. And the former is often more important than the latter in the early stages...,

The Aztecs used so many living people to perform cruel sacrifices?

Because, in the mythology of the Aztecs, their shijie was full of dangers, and they were often in danger of being flooded, or the sun went out. Therefore, human sacrifices were needed to appease the heavenly gods, and the Aztec gods were basically strange perverts similar to Jack the Ripper.

But this unscientific practice also caused the Aztecs to fall into a real vicious circle: in order to prevent disasters, human sacrifices were required, and human sacrifices could only be obtained through war; Only human sacrifice can ensure victory in the war, but in turn, it is only through war that human sacrifice can be obtained...... As a result, the Aztecs' enemies grew more and more in the war, and once the weakness and decline of this weak-rooted empire were revealed, the next thing was immediately a tragic situation of rebellion and rebellion.

In fact, without knowing Weishenme, Mesoamerican civilizations all seem to have some kind of self-destructive tendency. For example, many Mayan civilizations were destroyed on their pyramid temples – in order to pray to the gods for a good corn harvest, they cut down forests, burned lime, and built taller and taller pyramids; However, in order to build taller and taller pyramids, they cut down too many trees to burn wood and make rolling logs, destroying fragile ecosystems, degrading soils, compacting the soil, and drastically reducing food production. Zuihou forced the Mayans to abandon their city-states and flee to distant lands......

The pyramids built to pray for a good corn harvest ended up making their land no longer able to grow...... This is really self-defeating.

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During the days they were stranded on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan, Wang Qiu and the others were not only dumping modern goods, waiting for opportunities to probe the inner reality of the Aztec Empire, and occasionally performing spatial abilities by the way. He also quietly sent a few clever spies to the Zutara Valley in the guise of foot merchants to try to contact the Tlaxcalans, the allies who were trapped there.

However, all of these people returned in vain - due to the strict orders of the Aztec emperor, the surrounding villages and towns were very tightly blockaded against the Tlaxcala, and they were basically cut off from contact, so that the Tlaxcalas could not send caravans to the outside world, lacked cotton cloth, and could not even eat salt (the territory of the Tlaxcala was inland, not near the sea or salt springs, and was not suitable for cotton growth). It is also difficult for out-of-town traders to approach the Zutara Valley, otherwise they will be detected by the vigilant border residents, and face endless interrogation and pursuit.

And the spies sent by Wen Desi were obviously not up to par, and they couldn't break through the blockade, so they could only come back in disgrace.

As a result, the entire envoy group of the Hungshutizgan Kingdom had no choice but to sell things on a large scale while waiting for news.

Finally, on the tenth day after the arrival of the Hungshutizgan delegation on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan, Elder Rapoza, who had been sent by Wendesi to fight the front station, was finally escorted out of the city by a group of Aztec warriors, with a reply from Emperor Montezuma II:

The emperor said that he agreed to renew the provisional peace treaty with the kingdom of Honshutizgan for the next year, at least for the next year; It was also agreed that the Hungshuitzgans would redeem their compatriots captured in the last war (the dozens of old, weak, sick and disabled who remained after the bloody sacrifice). However, the envoys of the Hungshutizgan Kingdom did not have to enter the city, as long as they left gifts and ransoms outside the city of Tenochtitlan, they could go straight home.

- This ...... Could it be ...... Closed doors?