Aztec Eternals

“Oh, Great Spirit! Such a large fort? This is your village?”

“Yes! I was born in this village, and I've lived here for over twenty years. Of course, this is my village, the village of our Do'er tribe!”

“I mean, is this the kind of village you could build?”

Maha Agudai ate dog meat for one meal and horse meat for two, which made him so angry that he took out his whip and lashed Maha Wushu again. The great chieftain's authority was growing daily, further enhanced by the divine blessing of the kingdom's priest. This time, Wushu didn't dare run away and had to obediently endure it.

After that one-on-one fight, the Do'er tribe's chieftain, Wudu Wen, was crestfallen and became Agudai's horse groom. Although he wasn't the brightest, he was strong and kept his word, so he groomed the horse as promised. Agudai trusted him, seeing his strong physique. He asked Zu Walo for a set of iron armor and weapons and bestowed them upon him, hoping to win over this brave chieftain.

The merging of the Jurchen tribes was this simple and unadorned. Everything was based on strength, and survival was paramount. Large tribes merged with small tribes, and as long as there was food and drink, they would fight and integrate quickly. Wudu Wen hastily buried the tribesmen who died in battle, without much grief, and then continued to groom Agudai's horse.

The next target for the group was the Do'er tribe's "village." According to Wudu Wen, the village was along the river, on the way west, about three or four days' walk away.

August was the tail end of the rainy season. Fine rain fell and stopped, then stopped and fell again, soaking everyone, and the horses were also struggling. The Niu Man River was full of water, surging westward like a silver dragon, winding through the vast Blackwater Forest. It originated in the Xing'an Mountains, with the valleys of the Xing'an Mountains to the east, the remnants of the Lesser Xing'an Mountains to the south, and the Nen River Plain connected to the middle reaches of the Heilong River to the west.

If the Heilong River, running from southwest to northeast, was the best route north in the vast Outer Northeast forest, then the Niu Man River, running from northeast to southwest, was a rare shortcut south.

Where the continuous Xing'an Mountains had an opening, the Niu Man River flowed out of the mountains and converged with another river flowing south in a valley, forming a key location between the two rivers. And this key location, bordered by rivers on two sides, also had a low hill, becoming the key to controlling the upper reaches of the Niu Man River… which was where everyone was heading.

The Do'er tribe's tribal camp was located on top of this hill between the rivers. But when everyone stopped and looked, the earthen walls, stone bricks, watchtowers, and stone fortresses, large enough to garrison a thousand people, were in stark contrast to the hundred or so tribesmen on the walls, barefoot and wrapped in animal skins… No matter how you looked at it, it was impossible for the local tribes to have built it themselves!

“Oh, Lord of the Eastern Sea! Rammed earth walls one and a half zhang high, built on a ten-zhang hill, with brick and stone reinforcements at all four corners? Behind the wall, there are two corner towers for observation and archery?… There should be one at each corner, but half of them have collapsed… Further back, that large building with the exposed roof should be a barracks or a warehouse? There should be more than one, and the others have probably collapsed too… Lord witness! This is not a Jurchen village; this must be a Ming dynasty garrison fort!”

Chief Haar Man, Ali, was excited, looking up at the garrison fortress on the hill with a special sense of familiarity. He muttered, first looking at the surrounding small hills, and indeed saw two incomplete brick and stone remains, which must have been matching lookout posts and watchtowers, but they had also collapsed. Then, he quickly moved forward to the foot of the hill and found the outline of a moat, worn smooth by time, and the weedy barnyard millet fields around it. Afterward, he searched and searched but couldn't find the stone tablet representing the name of the garrison, so he suppressed his excitement and turned to ask the "Bear" chieftain, Wudu Wen.

“Wudu Wen! This must be the Tulu Ting Mountain Garrison, right?! The only garrison fort built on the Niu Man River is the Tulu Ting Mountain Garrison! Was your ancestor the Tulu Ting Mountain Garrison's commander or associate commander?…”

“Huh? Tulu Ting Mountain Garrison? Commander? What's that?…”

“That's a Ming official!”

“The Ming from the southern legends? I've heard of the large Ming tribe, but I've never seen it. It seems very far away… What is an 'official'?…”

Wudu Wen looked blank, listening in confusion, his head aching. Seeing the other's blank expression, Ali helplessly tugged at his short hair and asked again.

“Wudu Wen, can you read?”

“Read? What's reading?…”

“…In your village, are there any grandfathers who are fifty or sixty years old?…”

“Old guys in their fifties or sixties? No! How could anyone live that long?… The oldest in the village is an old cripple who seems to have lived for forty years, and he's probably about to die… But he only knows how to plant barnyard millet and dig wild vegetables, and he's never mentioned any Ming or any garrison… Why are you asking this?…”

“…”

A Li opened his mouth, speechless, a sense of sorrow welling up in his heart, and his emotions calmed down. He silently gazed at the ruins of the empire's former guardhouse, recalling Lin Hai's journey along the way, and sighed softly.

"Oh, Lord! Duo'erbi River Guard, Tulu Pavilion Mountain Guard... these Xing'an Mountains guardhouses established by Emperor Taizong have now completely disappeared!…"

"Chirp! Chirp!~~"

The mountain eagle flew across the vast expanse, overlooking the boundless outer Northeast forest. It rarely saw so many bipedal beasts gathered in the northern forest. Instinctively feeling danger, it flew even higher. From a high-altitude perspective, the Xing'an Mountains in the east, the extending Niuman River, the gradually sparse mountain forest in the west, and the vaguely appearing Nen River grassland together outlined the magnificence of thousands of miles of mountains and rivers!

Only from this height could one know the strategic value of this key location locking the Niuman River!

When the empire completely controlled the vast lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River and the Xing'an Mountains, it could rely on this key location in the mountains to overlook the Mongolian tribes in the middle reaches of the Heilongjiang River to the west and the Nen River Plain. If the empire had enough power to simultaneously control the entire massive Heilongjiang River, it could make the Niuman River a shortcut connecting east and west. However, if the empire retreated from the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, then maintaining this guardhouse far in the remaining veins of the Xing'an Mountains would be of no use, but would only waste money and food…

At this moment, A Li under the dwarf mountain guardhouse did not know these things. But he knew very well that the Duo'erbi River Guard and the Tulu Pavilion Mountain Guard had not appeared in the southward tribute teams for many years, at least he had never seen them. In the impact of the Jurchens going south, the other guardhouses in the north were struggling to take care of themselves, each thinking of moving south. After all, even the empire had withdrawn, who would care about the survival of this remote place?

"Alas! The Yongle years…"

A Li was silent for a long time before letting out a sigh. But soon, he suddenly shook, thinking of something.

"No, that's not right! Duo'erbi River Guard?… Duo'er Tribe?…"

"Great spirit! This is really a dangerous village, it looks very difficult to attack!"

On the other side, Maha Agudai frowned and stood side by side with Zu Wuluo, looking at the camp high on the mountain, their faces showing solemnity. Although this mountain fort guardhouse left by the Great Ming Dynasty was dilapidated and the earthen walls were mottled, it looked tattered. But this terrain and the height of this earthen wall completely exceeded the insignificant attacking ability of the Jurchen tribes in the forest!

At first glance, there were at least eighty or a hundred uneasy tribesmen guarding this earthen wall. Even if there were only thirty strong men shooting arrows, and the rest were half-grown children and strong women who could only throw stones down... If they really had to climb and attack forcefully, I'm afraid that even if the one hundred and fifty elite warriors they brought this time were wiped out, they might not be able to take it down! This guardhouse fortress left by the southern Great Ming Dynasty, whether it was the location or the solidity of the construction, was really impeccable!

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"Wuduwen, you are the chief of the Duo'er tribe, go and call open the gate of your village!… Wuduwen? You silly bear, did you hear me?!"

"Me?… Let me call the gate?…"

"You are the chief, of course it's you!… Your dilapidated village, with its poor and impoverished appearance, is there anything worth plotting for? Go quickly!…"

"Wuduwen, what are you hesitating about? Since you have followed me, you are one of us, I will never harm you!… Open the door quickly! Let the people and horses enter the village to rest for two days! And let your injured strong men lie down and recuperate…"

"This? My lord, the village is poor… so many people coming in, we can't afford to feed them…"

"Great spirit! You stupid thing!… We have brought food, not only will we not eat the village's food, but we will also give you some! We brought our own salt, and we can give your village two bags!…"

"Ah? You won't eat the village's food, and you'll give us salt?"

Wuduwen was stunned, tilting his bear-like head and looking at Maha Agudai for a while. His foolish, stupid, and greedy bear appearance made Agudai laugh. Zu Wuluo also smiled and shook his head, instructing Hu Nu.

"Throw him a bag of salt! Yes! Let him carry it himself, he has strength anyway!…"

"Ah! It's really salt? Huh! Why is this salt white, not gray? Ah! It's so salty, not bitter at all?!…"

Wuduwen hugged the salt bag, stuck his head in and licked it, shouting from the saltiness, but he couldn't bear to spit it out at all. Only then did his eyes light up, hugging the hundred-odd-pound salt bag, and strode to the village at the foot of the dwarf mountain, shouting to the tribesmen on the earthen wall.

"Open the door! Open the door quickly! Your chief has returned from hunting, bringing salt and food back!"

"Yes! The armored leader below is not an enemy!… He is… he is my lord… also your great leader!…"

Hearing such shouts, the scantily clad and sallow-faced Jurchen tribesmen on the village hesitated for a moment, looked at each other, and slowly put down the crude wooden bows and arrows in their hands, and put down the messy bone knives and stone hammers. Then, a chaotic quarrel, accompanied by Wuduwen's bear-like roar, the village's heavy wooden door finally creaked open. Then, more than a hundred kingdom warriors and Jurchen cavalry eagerly poured in. This mountain fort that had stood for a hundred years on the dwarf mountain, the Tulu Pavilion Mountain Guard abandoned by the empire, finally fell into the control of the kingdom!