Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

"Rabbit Leg, come over here! First have some stew—fish, kelp, and cassava soup. Then, properly, bit by bit, tell me everything you saw and remember, whether it’s useful or not!..."

The slanting sun sank, and along the shores of West Haiti, all was tranquil and still. The deep blue Caribbean Sea shimmered with rosy clouds, yet beneath that radiance, dark currents were surging and roaring.

Early the next morning, five canoes were made ready; Xiu Maoying took Rabbit Foot and set out at once. The Caribbean Sea was so vast that even from Marine Stone Department in West Haiti to Kingdom Iron Bay Town in Eastern Cuba, the voyage ran close to a thousand li! And from San Juan Bay, where the Castilian Expeditionary Army had landed, to Cuba’s Iron Bay Town, the sea route stretched to nearly three thousand li!

In such a boundless maritime world, whether large ships or small, they were like ants adrift upon the sea. Being able to pass word of the demons’ appearance back within just over two months already proved how swiftly the Kingdom was growing across the Caribbean East Sea, and how deeply its influence was sinking into the hearts of the Taino People.

"O Chief Divine! To cross such a vast distance and launch a legionary expedition of nearly three thousand li... the Kingdom’s mere three light sailing ships will certainly not suffice. And the large oar-sail ships are only slightly faster than canoes; if they carry too many troops they must keep putting in to shore for supplies... I fear the sea voyage alone would take at least a month! If the Kingdom’s main force were all to embark, an all-out sortie, and the demons took advantage of the empty nest to suddenly appear outside Iron Bay Town at that very moment... what then could we possibly do?"

At this thought, Xiu Maoying furrowed his brow again. A vague unease still weighed on his heart: even if the Kingdom’s oar-sail ship fleet held two or three times the numbers, could they truly fight the demons’ cannon-armed large ships at sea? If they met on open water, with the enemy holding both speed and artillery, would they not be kept at range and shelled? Just like nimble Canine Descendant archers shooting apart a formation of Long Spears—unable to catch up when pursuing, unable to escape when fleeing... The mere image of such a scene was terrifying!

"In the end, the Taino East Sea is simply too vast! This Eastern Sea runs six thousand li east to west, four thousand li north to south; it’s likely twice the size of Nava and Maya’s world combined!"

"And oar-sail ships are far too slow! Even with lateen sails, in a day they can go at most a hundred and fifty li, usually just around a hundred—like rainbow-colored snails crawling in the trees. Even if they strain to race ahead with rapid rowing, they can only sustain that on the battlefield for two or three quarters of an hour. As for the demons’ light sailing ships, with a following wind they can probably make three hundred li in a day, and even with a partial headwind still two hundred—clearly much faster. This disparity in speed itself is a major trouble!..."

Xiu Maoying sat cross-legged on the big canoe, gazing at the sunlit sea, and sank into long contemplation. With the Kingdom’s present capacity for transport and communication, to speak honestly, it simply cannot truly control this endless Caribbean Sea.

For now, the Kingdom’s focus of development is still concentrated in Eastern Cuba, which has iron ore and copper mines, and its main forces are likewise massed around Iron Bay Town. As for the vassal Tribes that have widely converted and been assigned Samurai, they run from West Cuba to West Haiti, from Bahamas to Jamaica.

These four thousand li from east to west are the extreme range, in these few years, of the Kingdom’s spread of Chief Divine faith and establishment of vassal Tribes. The speed of this expansion is already frighteningly fast, nearly ten times quicker than the Mexica Alliance’s campaigns across the Nava World, seizing one Mountain city after another.

Further out, Eastern Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the myriad isles held by Caribbean Tribes are all far away. At most, there has been some trade, enough to be called a shared trade and cultural sphere. To truly extend one’s hand, on one side the will is there but the Force is lacking; on the other, the local tribes are not very willing.

Just like East Stone and Eastern Sun Alliance in Eastern Haiti, they have never been very enthusiastic about the Chief God Priests the Kingdom sends to proselytize, merely regarding the Chief Divine as one among All Gods. Under peaceful evangelization, it is very difficult to turn them into the Kingdom’s vassals within a few years. At the current pace, it may well take a full generation.

Perhaps the appearance of the white-skinned Demons—this terrifying and cruel enemy from another race—will drive the distant Taino Tribe to seek change more urgently, to convert to the Chief Divine from the depths of their own hearts! When danger descends, it often also brings a certain kind of opportunity...

"Nēchīchīltīl nimitztlālia in Ilhuicatl in Tlaltikpak, zan chīchīltic tlātzin in Ātlācualo."

"My life, as small as an insect, dwells between sky and earth, nothing more than a tiny grain of maize in the vast deep waters."

Xiu Maoying sighed softly, chanting a line of verse his elder brother had written. For some reason, his brother had been able to compose many splendid poems from a young age, yet never signed his own name, always handing them to their father. Perhaps his brother’s gaze had always been fixed upon the whole world, and he disdained these literary pieces!

"Priest! Priest! Look, a sailing ship! It’s our sailing ship!"

The Taino Militia rowing the canoe cried out in delight, pointing toward the western sky. A sleek light sailing ship, like a sea-swallow, flickered over the waves, with a grace that defied description. Xiu Maoying took out the small Divine Eye Glasses and peered carefully through one eye.

This small Divine Eye Glasses had just been sent from the Alliance, using clear crystal that the Divine King had scoured the whole Alliance tribute treasury to find, one of a dozen natural crystals. As for the crystal’s finishing, the Kingdom had provided a precise model, and then the Alliance’s Jade Craftsmen had carefully ground it with jade sand. In terms of the depth of underlying wealth, clearly the Alliance far surpassed the Kingdom!