"Royal Decree: In the villages of each tribe’s civilian garrison, establish militia battalions with the surrendered tribal armies as the main force! Select loyal Coastal Warriors and the resettled Kingdom’s Warriors as militia captains! The village militia will follow the command of the Kingdom’s legion and the Seaside Alliance, maintaining village order and quelling the rebel commoners in the surrounding jungle... Additionally, the conscription and transportation of food after the autumn harvest will be the responsibility of the militia battalion, with the participation of village priests in the statistics..."
The Snake Woman Miyava widened her eyes and read the royal decree docunt carefully, several tis over. She had an innate sense for the politics of the alliance. From these simple words, she could see the king’s intentions and plans for the future.
"The surrendered tribal army refers to the various defector armies that have surrendered over the past two years. I rember His Majesty ntioning that these defector armies, which surrendered at different tis, once numbered forty to fifty thousand!... And the resettled defector army should be part of a plan His Majesty began to implent after the autumn harvest... Selecting the best from the defector army, a vanguard of five thousand, twenty thousand surrendered troops... And the remaining twenty thousand would be dispersed in various garrison villages according to their tribal origins, establishing an imrsive village managent order..."
Reading this, the Snake Woman Miyava pondered for a long ti, lost in deep thought. She knew that the garrison villages were practically made up of various surrendered tribes, with the original chieftains and noble chiefs removed, randomly reorganized. These hundreds of garrison villages, with hundreds of thousands of village tribespeople, were the power that the Kingdom of the Lake and the Seaside Alliance directly controlled!
In terms of the garrison villages, it was similar to the xican Plateau, with three village leaders: the Priest, the Village Head, and the Militia Captain. However, in the newly surrendered Seaside lands, the ranking of these three was completely different from on the plateau with the xica Alliance and the Kingdom of the Lake.
"In the garrison villages, the most important leader is the Militia Captain who controls the militia battalion! Their role, in reality, is like that of a tribal chieftain or headman. And their origins are from the resettled and enfeoffed Kingdom’s Warriors, including xica, Purpecha, and even Tekos. Most nurous among them, however, are the Totonac Warriors who first surrendered and proved their loyalty by taking part in the bloody conquest of many city-states, especially defectors from Five Mountains City..."
"Ha! Even the village militia captains have bypassed the noble chiefs and headn of various tribes and appointed the Kingdom’s Warriors!... Ruthless man! Strong man!..."
Thinking of this, the Snake Woman Miyava bit her lip and cursed silently. These Warriors loyal to the kingdom, especially the bloodstained Totonac Warriors, were hardly acceptable to the original noble chiefs and headn of various tribes. Their loyalty was directed at the supre God of Death, and also to the Black Wolf Commander who cultivated and selected them personally!
Though Miyava held civil power over the Seaside Alliance, she could only command the other two figures in the village: mostly village priests from the garrison assistant priests, and the village heads responsible for local affairs.
The language of the Totonac people is quite different from both the xica Alliance and the Kingdom of the Lake. The kingdom’s expansion in the Seaside was incredibly swift; currently, there are far too few village priests that can be deployed to various tribes!
Thus, most village priests in garrison villages are locals from the Totonac tribes. About half of these priests co from the Priest Academy in Snake City, just having completed half a year of training as assistant priests. Miyava has reviewed most of these assistant priests at least once; they are tribal sages, minor tribal leaders, and fireside storytellers united around her, loyal to the kingdom.
The king chose the Snake Woman to give birth to a divine descendant with Totonac blood, mainly to win over these Totonac elites and integrate them into the Seaside ruling echelon!
"These garrisoned assistant priests, local tribal village priests... These elites loyal to His Highness and , more loyal to the child in my belly... are truly the scales of the Sun God Serpent!... Yet, even such scales must be monitored and controlled by the religious inquisition, unable to shine with their original brilliance..."
Thinking of this, Miyava bit her lip, feeling uneasy. She knew that whether in the xica Alliance or the Kingdom of the Lake, village priests ranked first among the "three elders"! But in the Seaside, they had beco the last among the "three elders," even ranked below the village heads responsible for managing the garrisons.
These village heads, so originating from the kingdom’s warriors who conquered various tribes, and others from the loyal defectors who fought for the kingdom, were an erging class elevated by the God of Death and the Black Wolf Commander from among the commoners! They were intimidated by the kingdom’s force, satisfied with their newly gained status, loyal to the mighty God of Death and the Black Wolf Commander...
Miyava’s influence among these people was far less than that of His Majesty and the Black Wolf... However, the child in her womb, having the bloodline of a king, commanded their great reverence!... This entire arrangent, the balance of power, was laid out so clearly, almost minimizing the power Miyava could control to its smallest. Even if she bore the child of Xiulote, she could not, like so exalted Divine Mother or regent queen, hold sway over the entire Seaside lands... her authority was only a third!...
"Ah! Ruthless, powerful man! Do you truly enjoy binding with bracelets and shackles, fastening to a wooden fra, watching struggle powerlessly?!"
Thinking about all these arrangents by the King, this carefully designed power balance, the Snake Woman Miyava was full of resentnt and cursed bitterly in her heart.
"Oh Chief Divine! Damn! Damn it all!... You would rather trust that cold, stern Black Wolf, than trust soone as warm and gentle as ?!... Black Wolf? What can Black Wolf give you? Can he make you imnsely happy, give you children?... Ha! A man who is heartless once he withdraws!..."
The Snake Woman Miyava secretly gritted her teeth, silently cursing for a long ti. In fact, she could surmise things that Xiulote hadn’t even estimated, seeing the signs of the tis before they beca apparent.
Accepting Totonac elites, establishing militia settlents, arranging the disbandnt of the surrendered army, selecting loyal vanguards and compliant forces... The King’s plan unfolded link by link, and the hearts of the Totonac tribes gradually gravitated towards the Kingdom of the Lake.
"That cold Wolf King, the Black Wolf, only knows how to drive the surrendered army to attack and kill, like driving a pack of wolf cubs... In his eyes, the Totonac tribal warriors either beco fuel for attacking cities, burning out on the battlefield... or they luckily survive, their hands stained with blood, becoming new wolves in his pack..."
Thinking of the cruel and brutal thods of the Black Wolf Legion Commander, the Snake Woman Miyava felt both disdain and a chill in her heart. This way of deploying defectors is a fierce fla, set to destroy everything, yet also a cold beast, with a mouth full of blood... This is a destructive force, with a clear sense of enemy and friend, with a clear purpose to kill, kill, kill! Either completely destroy the enemy or burn oneself out as well, with no room for compromise, leaving her with nowhere to exert her influence...
"The thods of His Highness the God of Death are different! His Highness is the divine tree that controls hearts, and the ancient serpent that devours divinity... You seem to accept the elites of the Totonac tribes, but it is only a temporary compromise. You want to change them, and change the traditions of the Seaside Lands that have lasted for centuries..."
"These nurous settled militia villages, the countless tribespeople brought under direct control, are the order you desire!... Your true intention is to, like a greedy ancient serpent, devour the power of the chieftains and leaders of each tribe, the divine inheritance of each tribe, mouthful by mouthful!..."
"And after selecting the vanguards and dispersing the bulk of the defectors, what you surely want to do next is to form a Kingdom Legion in the Seaside Lands! The Kingdom’s conquest of the Seaside has reached a decisive stage. The elites of the tribes are complying and adhering, the surrendered warriors have a way to stand out, a new order has already begun to establish!..."
"The loyalty of the seaside tribes is currently enough to support a backbone beyond ’fuel’ and ’wolves’, cultivating obedient hounds!... Haha! Although you guard against and haven’t said a word to , I can guess your sches, just as I can taste your heart’s desires... But you will never let get involved, ah! Damn!..."
"Oh Chief Divine! Who are you planning to appoint as the Coastal Legion Commander?!... Damn! Heartless, powerful man!"
Thinking of such power, the Snake Woman Miyava’s eyes reddened, and her legs trembled lightly. She gritted her teeth, her face showing an indescribable longing, her eyes filled with suppressed lust, as if she was burning up inside.
And seeing such a Snake Woman, the scribe Yilian was startled. She was sowhat uneasy, uncertain if there was a mistake with these two simple docunts, or if her earlier attitude had inadvertently angered the pregnant Snake Woman?...
"Uh! What’s wrong with you? Chief Divine as my witness! I... I didn’t do anything!... Oh, it’s so hot! Your forehead is so hot!..."
"Hmm... Yilian... I suddenly have a headache, my whole body feels weak..."
The eyes of the Snake Woman Miyava wandered, and she suddenly looked at the beautifully adorned Yilian, who was touching her forehead. She blinked, licked her lips, and after a brief thought, called out with a soft, smiling voice.
"Ah! The child in my belly seems to be kicking ... Ah! I can’t take it!... Sister Yilian, help to the bed inside!... Ah!..."
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