Chapter 33
The Huaxteca and Totonaca, 15-6 K
(NE Mexico, 1383-4)
It took almost two months to get to the delta of the Thanuge, and I made use of the time by having Smoking Mirror teach me the Nahual language that was so widespread in the south. The Pelicans and Horses had already been at the delta for several days by the time we arrived. The scouts reported that the first Huaxteca villages were still some days’ march to the south, just across a moderately sized river. The villages near the Thanuge were all confederates of ours and eager to help. Those who had already trained with us were allowed to come along. I set up a small garrison to guard the depot, and with most of our supplies started across the Thanuge on a hastily constructed pontoon bridge. From the scouts and Smoking Mirror, I learned that the Huaxteca were organized into towns of various sizes with varying numbers of smaller villages subject to them. The towns were usually at war with each other as well as their neighboring tribes. The largest towns were along the coastal plain and in the south, but smaller ones could be found for some distance inland among the foothills and even into the mountains. I decided to first deal with the coastal plain and hit the mountains later when I had all the other tumen with me. I spread the tumen out a bit over several li, and we headed south with our scouts in advance. We arrived at the “border” river a week later. We crossed at first light along a broad front, and I sent minghans to each of the nearby villages our scouts had found, while I proceeded to the largest nearby town with about four thousand men. We came upon the town near midday and quickly surrounded it while remaining out of their bowshot.
To my surprise, rather than a negotiating committee, a shower of arrows flew out from behind the town’s low wall. They all fell harmlessly in front of us. Next, a group of warriors jumped over the wall and rushed toward us. The men calmly cut them down with arrows. The survivors retreated back to the town. Noticing thatch roofs on their houses, we let loose a shower of fire arrows and quickly set them ablaze. There was no wind, but the town seemed to be all aflame. Still, there was not the usual last desperate rush. Undaunted by the fire, they remained behind their wall waiting our attack. I brought up the cannon and trained them on one side of the wall. The plain shook with the barrage, and the mud wall disappeared in a cloud of dust along with the warriors behind it. The rest of the people of the town threw down their weapons and marched toward our lines. When they got fairly close, they fell to the ground and awaited their fate. They were short but rather thick of stature, reminding me of the Mongols. Their heads were misshaped, and there was a fair amount of tattooing. Many of the men wore a sort of “armor” made of quilted cotton and carried a round shield made of braided reeds. The men seemed to have a tube stuck in their nasal septum, in which they wore feathers. There seemed to be a great deal of feather ornamentation, especially yellow and red ones. Many of them were also bedecked with trinkets and jewelry of gold, silver, jade, turquoise, and shells. Otherwise, the women wore skirts and the men loincloths, capes, and leather bands, all decorated to varying degrees. Many of the men wore their hair in dangling locks dyed yellow or red and favored a strange conical hat. They were a sturdy, brave, and impressive-looking people.
I asked Smoking Mirror what usually befell them in a situation like this, and he said that the warriors expected to be sacrificed to our gods while the women and children expected to become slaves. I approached the prostrate group and asked if any of them understood Nahual. One of them got up on one knee, but kept his head bowed. I instructed him to translate to the others for me.
“It is not our custom to sacrifice captives,” I began. “Nor is it our practice to take slaves. You must decide for yourselves your fate. You have two choices. Either you join us without any reservations and serve our Khan loyally or you die here and now on the field of battle. If you choose to join, and later betray us, you will suffer an ignominious death too horrible to contemplate. So choose well and choose carefully. Those who wish to join us may go back to your town and rebuild it; we will appoint a governor for a time to make sure you remain loyal and to take care of your needs. Those who wish to die remain on the field, and I promise you a quick death.”
My words were translated, and the people began to steal furtive glances up at Smoking Mirror and me. He had donned his foot, but I was just arrayed in my armor with the snake helmet. A murmur began to pass among the people, and soon the majority of them got up and returned to the town with the heads still lowered but casting nervous glances back to see if we would follow them, or perhaps to see if we were real. I asked the translator to tell the remaining few to stand up and face their deaths proudly. They rose, raised their hands to salute me, and died singing some sort of battle hymn punctuated with shouts. I asked the translator if he chose to live. He replied that he did, and I assigned him to help the new governor, Inoli, an Ani’ Yun’-wiya. He was one of my more patient men, ideal for the job. I sent along with him a small contingent of guards one of whom understood the Nahual tongue. I urged them all to learn the Huaxteca language as soon as possible. We set up camp outside the town and waited for the others to report. Most of the villages had surrendered immediately, but two of them fought and were wiped out. Since I had all the cannon, there were some moderate losses.
We moved inland a little to the next set of towns and subject villages. The results were much the same. Again, they didn’t negotiate first but immediately attacked, we fired their roofs, they resisted anyway, we blasted one side of their protective wall with cannon, and they surrendered. Again, only a few of the unfortified villages resisted. I asked Smoking Mirror why they didn’t negotiate first, but he only said that he had always heard they were rather warlike, indeed that they thrived on war. We continued in this way clearing a band about thirty li wide south of the border river. Finally, the other tumen began coming in. I sent the Horses and the Pelicans to deal with towns in the western highlands since they were more used to the dry rugged western land, and I strung out the others along a broad front to sweep the coastal plain south of my cleared band. I gave each tumen about sixty li of front to clear and positioned them in order from the coast inland, the Otters, Cranes, Owls, and Cormorants. I stayed with the Owls since they had the newest commander, Tsakaka-sakis, a Hewaktokto, who had just replaced Kuyuk. The northern part of the coastal plain was split in two by a small ridge running parallel to the coast. There were a few villages on the lower slopes of the ridgeline, but it still managed to impair communications and movement for a time, especially at its southern terminus where it spread out toward the west. Fortunately, there were no real problems in dealing with the Huaxteca along this stretch as we reduced or accepted the surrender of each of their towns and villages.
From the reports, the trend was continuing as we moved south beyond the ridgeline, although the towns were getting larger, more populous, and better fortified, and their villages were getting more numerous in what appeared to be a very broad river valley. We had advanced some forty-five li into the valley, when the scouts reported that a large body of warriors was up ahead. They were waiting for us in a broad open area, not in ambush. Such folly was hard to understand, but was not unexpected given all the Huaxteca bravado we had witnessed so far. The plain was in the path of the Cranes, so I joined them to see the spectacle. We reached them near midmorning. They were arrayed in ranks in the open field. There were about ten thousand of them, all in line with no reserves held back. We approached and rapidly fanned out to surround them. We then advanced to just out of their bowshot and waited to see if perhaps this time they would talk first. They stood for a while in solid ranks with the most gaudily attired in front. Some of these were dressed in headgear designed to look like an eagle with feathered armor and even eagle feet around their ankles. Others were decked out to look like some sort of spotted lion or lynx creature. It turned out that there were special military orders among all the peoples in this area dedicated to the eagle and the spotted lion (it was called ocelotl in Nahual). One of them began a sort of chant, and then they all started singing one of their war songs, and then with a shout, they rushed us. Our usual tactics cut them to ribbons, with little loss on our part. Since this was a pitched battle initiated by them, we took no prisoners, but left them all dead on the field, their finery covered with their blood.
Eventually we reached the town that had sent out the army, and they surrendered without any further ado. Their ruling class had been wiped out, but they seemed to be more at a loss than relieved. They were greatly confused when we didn’t take them as slaves. Since the town was intact, I decided to have a look at it. The houses seemed to be either mud or wood with thatch roofs. The town had a central court around which were ball courts (where they played a game similar although more elaborate to that of the Taino) and platforms holding temples or the chief’s house. These were made of elaborately painted blocks of stone with wood and thatch roofs. The paintings were in very bright colors and featured warriors, gods, rulers, or mythical beasts. The figures were quite well executed and animated, although some were anatomically preposterous. They had a real talent for using color. Many of their houses were also brightly painted, as was their pottery. The overall impact was quite cheerful. That was until we looked into the temples. These looked and smelled like charnel houses, with dried blood and gore smeared everywhere. There were piles of sculls and what looked like human skin that had had been dried. Smoking Mirror told me that the main Huaxteca god was Xipe Totec. This was a sort of spring god, connected with rain and planting. Then he told me that the usual sacrifice was accompanied with flaying of the victim, and the priest would wear the skin to symbolize the earth putting on its new skin of green in the spring. I mentioned to the town’s new governor, Kahkewaquonabe, an Anishinabe, that he was not to allow any more of their bizarre religious practices. Also in the temple we found a small pile of their “books.” These were written on a kind of bark paper in vibrant colors. They used the picture writing Tlacuectli had shown me long ago. The books dealt with astronomical observations and heroic legends—rather dry stuff.
It didn’t look like Smoking Mirror’s idea of us being mistaken for gods was working very well. Those that didn’t fight to the death were given some pause by our appearance, and it may have caused more of them to choose life, but this was not as easy as he thought it would be. Although, to be fair, it might have been different if their leaders ever came out to talk to us before choosing to fight. The other strange thing about them was their refusal to act in concert with each other or at least resort to subterfuge to gain some advantage. It never happened; however, they always fought in the open or behind their town walls or later their citadels, and we never had to face more than one town and its villages at a time. Word began to drift in from the west that the same sort of thing was occurring with the mountain Huaxteca, although they did on occasion resort to ambush in the more rugged mountain passes. The terrain made progress a little more slow, but the cannon assured success against the towns every time.
We eventually got a clearer picture of the large river valley. It was formed by two major rivers joining just before they reached the coast. The northern one rose in the mountains in the west and snaked its way through the coastal plain generally east and south. The southern one turned out to drain the southwest limits of Huaxteca territory and be joined by many tributaries on its way to its rendezvous with the northern river. Between the two, a little west of their juncture was a fairly large lake. The land near the coast in this area and for some distance to the south sported vegetation as lush as that on the large islands of Aiti and Cuba, while previously the terrain was little different from that at the mouth of the Thanuge, more dry and tending to scrub vegetation, although increasingly responsive to irrigation as we moved south. It was obvious that these people heavily exploited the land, but again as in the north, there were no herds at all. They only domesticated a small breed of dog and the large pheasantlike bird. There were some deer, but no other large animals except for the rare incursion of the plains oxen. Of course, there were a lot of fish and other seafood to exploit, as well as a great deal of waterfowl, but one had to wonder how they could support so many people with so little meat. Even when they resorted to cannibalism, it was more ritualistic than predatory and thus rather limited. They seemed to thrive on mostly a combination of beans and the mondamin grain.
As we neared the rivers, the towns got quite large and the resistance even more fierce. Still, they really didn’t have a chance and merely suffered even greater losses. One town on the southern bank of the northern river had to be completely wiped out. They never surrendered, even though we blew away their wall one side at a time, and then had to kill off the survivors as they ran at us from their burning houses. I had their temple blown up and completely leveled the town in hopes that such resistance would not recur. The only towns we were able to take without a fight were those that sent their armies out to meet us. Along the coast there were a few towns surrounded by lagoons that thought themselves to be safe from us, but cannon and rocket fire reduced them. The former exposed them to direct fire; the latter frightened them into surrender. The Cranes conducted that particular siege, and I sent a note of commendation for their commander, Khassar, for his clever use of cannon and rockets in a potentially difficult situation.
The Owls at this point were besieging a large town just south of the southern river. There had been no response to our siege when I arrived on the scene. I suggested that we send a Huaxteca forward to demand surrender in our name. A peasant was found and sent to the town with the message. In due time he returned with the unusual response that the chief of the town would come out to meet our leader. Since there was some risk that it was a trap, I insisted on meeting him. Smoking Mirror also wanted to come along and suggested the time had come to wear full regalia. I reluctantly put on the feathers and rode forward a bit with Smoking Mirror. From the town a pair of figures started forward. As they drew near, I could see that both were heavily tattooed and ornamented. Feathers and bangles hung all about them. They both had the nose tube and the dyed hair we had seen before. When we dismounted and stood before them, they gasped, exchanged looks, and sunk to their knees, bowing their heads to the ground.
“Do you come to surrender?” I asked in Nahual.
“Who are we to resist the gods?” the chief replied in the same language.
“Such considerations did not deter your neighbors,” I replied.
“We are at your command.” The chief kept his head on the ground.
“I am appointing a governor to rule in the Khan’s name,” I began. “You will obey him in every way without question. If any harm comes to him, you will all be destroyed. If you prove loyal and faithful, rule will return to you after a time. If you accept this, there is no changing your mind later. You will be held to this under pain of death. Do you still accept?”
“The gods command, their servants obey,” the chief said.
“So be it,” I said with finality and dismissed them.
I appointed Wihio, a quick-witted Dzitsiista who had long impressed me by his common sense and uncommon grasp of a situation. He also had a flair for language and already had a working knowledge of Nahual. I explained the situation to him and warned him to be careful. It was clear that they thought we were gods, and I wasn’t at all sure that was a good idea. In any case, he should try to run the town like an Ordu, brooking no insubordination or questioning of his decisions. He could allow them to continue with their various cults, but was not to allow any human sacrifice. Their army should be sent out to accompany us as we move south. He could pick a strong guard to be with him. All should remain alert and keep me informed. If this “god” idea was as unwise as I thought it was, I wanted to know before we made the same mistake again. I sent him off, and we camped for the night outside the town. The next morning, their army marched out of the city to join us. Although they were on foot, they really didn’t slow us down since we had them move directly south in a group while we had our men spread over a large area. The name of this first town to surrender completely was Panuco.
We continued southward receiving a few more towns’ surrenders after sending in one of the Panuco warriors to demand surrender or after reducing their citadel positioned near the town and manned exclusively by warriors. A few times the unfortunate messenger warrior was cut down by the town, and we had to wipe them out, and a few times even the reduction of the citadel was not enough to induce surrender of the town. The citadels were just walled fortresses with supplies, but little else. It was a strange idea since an army could easily bypass the citadel and attack the town if he so desired. The Panuco warriors were quite loyal and fearless, making me regret even more that we were unable to win over more of the Huaxteca. I sent word that if any towns chose to talk before they fought, I should be sent for. It was only partially effective. Along the coast, the fighting was bitter and the slaughter great. In the mountains, there was little talk as well. Only inland along one of the tributaries of the southern river (the Panuco) did we find much willingness to talk. Smoking Mirror and I found ourselves shuttling between the Owls and the Cormorants and occasionally the Cranes. The Otters found themselves on a narrow strip of land between the sea and a huge lake or lagoon. It was not heavily settled, but again the vegetation was lush and the resistance stiff, making for slow going.
In the west, the Pelicans and Horses had finally worked their way through the Huaxteca and had encountered elements of a less organized people speaking a language similar to that of the A’-a’tan and calling themselves the Ralamari. Since there were a few A’-a’tan among the Horses, communication was possible, and they agreed to send observers, spread the word about us among their neighbors, and help us find the remaining Huaxteca towns. They proved to be invaluable. Remarkably, they were able to run seemingly without effort over vast stretches of very rough terrain. Soon they were used instead of couriers to send messages between the two tumen, although they still sent couriers to report to me. The Ralamari also knew exactly where to find the Huaxteca towns, warned the Ordu about ambushes, and guided them around the traps. With all this help, the Ordu soon made very good progress and even had a few towns surrender after token resistance. By late winter, they were at the headwaters of the Panuco, and turning east back toward the coast. They had run into a people that lived in rather mean villages or towns and spoke another strange language. One of the Ralamari could speak their language, so communication was possible. They called themselves by the name of their village or their leader. They were hostile toward the Huaxteca whom they claim had displaced them. They were lighter skinned than the Ralamari, and lived by hunting and primitive agriculture. They had no tribal organization, but claimed that some people related to them lived in great cities farther south. Smoking Mirror said that they were elements of the Otomi. A few of them agreed to send along observers.
Near the southern end of Huaxteca country, we came upon four major towns that ruled over large areas. Two were near the coast, Tuxpan and Tuzapan, and two were well inland, Uexutla and Xiuhcoac. Tuxpan was very near the coast on a river, while Tuzapan was some twenty-five li up the river from Tuxpan but a little south of the river itself. Xiuhcoac was along a tributary of the Panuco that flowed north into that river. Uexutla was north and west of Xiuhcoac away from its river. The Otters found themselves fighting it out with Tuxpan. It was the town that had captured our merchants and had refused to surrender or even talk. It required a devastating bombardment before they finally gave in. The town was beyond repair and had to be abandoned, but the survivors admitted that the merchants had been sacrificed to their gods shortly after capture and their goods taken by the leaders. One of the survivors was of the priestly class and was executed in retribution for the murders. The rest were simple folk and were spared and resettled. Tuzapan, surrounded by the Cranes, agreed to talk, but it took us a few days to reach them. Because of the delay, a few hotheads had sortied out of the town and been quickly cut down. One would think it would have been a night sortie, but it was in broad daylight, with full regalia and song. When we arrived, the chief came out and as usual fell to the ground at the sight of the “gods” and apologized profusely for the hotheads. This was the largest town to surrender so far and, as it turned out, was on their southern frontier. South of their lands, beyond a row of hills were another, unrelated people called Totonacs.
The Owls reached the town of Uexutla and surrounded it with part of the tumen while detachments were sent out to deal with their subordinate villages. Resistance was bitter in the villages, and a large force attacked from the town as well. They never had much of a chance, but continued attacking out of the town in uncoordinated rushes. In the end, a pitiful band of survivors surrendered, and, since the town was too large for them, they were settled among the villages that had surrendered. The Owls also confronted Xiuhcoac. There was a citadel on a hill on one side of the town. The Owls had their Huaxteca auxiliaries guard the town while they surrounded and reduced the citadel. The defenders fought to the last man. Once the Owls moved over to surround the town itself, a negotiating team quickly came out to discuss terms. There was no need for an appearance by the “gods” as surrender was swiftlyselected.
A few more frontier towns had to be mopped up, and by early spring, we had completed our conquest of all the Huaxteca towns. I had been sending Kuyuk weekly reports of our progress along with maps of the area. His replies were generally encouraging and congratulatory. Since it took about a month to send dispatches to Kuyuk, his replies were understandably irrelevant until the one that arrived just as we were going into camps to rest up from our campaign before most of us would return. It said that by the time I received the dispatch, I would likely be finished with the Huaxteca. At that point I was to send the two most damaged tumen back home. The rest should prepare to sweep through the people south of the Huaxteca, the Totonacs. Since their terrain was heavily tropical, the Alligator and Parrot Tumen would be arriving soon to assist. He suggested that I leave two tumen among the Huaxteca and proceed against the Totonacs with the remaining four.
I was completely floored! I couldn’t understand what provocation the Totonacs had made, since I had heard nothing. I showed the dispatch to Smoking Mirror. He had a rather knowing smirk on his face as he read the dispatch.
“I’m not surprised,” he said handing it back to me. “I had the feeling Kuyuk planned to conquer this land, with or without provocation. The Huaxteca indiscretion was simply an excuse. What do you intend to do now, Raven?”
“Why, what I’m ordered, of course.” I was puzzled by the question. “Do you feel that Kuyuk is attacking the Totonacs without provocation?”
“I do.” He nodded. “But I bear them no affection. They are an insufferable lot, parading their wealth around and claiming to be the founders of the great old city in the high valley, Teotihuacán. I’ll be happy to help you crush them, but only because I despise them, not because it is somehow ‘justified.’”
“What do mean ‘justified’?” I didn’t understand his point. “It is a direct order to be obeyed, not a suggestion to be bandied about or ‘justified.’ What are you talking about?”
“Never mind, my friend.” He shook his head almost sadly. “Of course, you will obey your orders, and I will help you.”
He continued to bewilder me on occasion by questioning orders from Kuyuk, but in time it became moot. He didn’t seem to grasp the concept of a Khan with absolute, unquestioned authority. I rather hoped his strange ideas didn’t catch on with the men. But he was always faithful to me and without question most knowledgeable and helpful whenever he was with me.
I looked over the tumen and decided to send the Otters and the Pelicans back. I told the Horses to remain where they were on the Panuco River and set up camp. I had the Owls set up camp near the “border” river (I named it the Tuzapan) and the rest of us set up in the mountains on the frontier waiting for the replacement tumen. It was obvious Kuyuk had thought this out carefully, even sending us the most appropriately trained Ordu to deal with a tropical campaign. I wondered who had been keeping him informed and just what he planned for us to do ultimately. I would find out soon enough. I had barely gotten everyone in position when elements of the Parrots and Alligators began filing in. Among the latter was Chekika, the younger brother of the Calusa chief. He had risen quickly in the ranks and was a minghan commander. I was pleased to see a number of the fierce Calusa among the ranks. I put everyone into line, and we started south.
Oddly, the area closest to the sea was not always lush jungle, but there was a large band of it inland for some distance. The Parrots and Alligators dismounted and along with the Huaxteca auxiliaries began filtering into the jungle. I placed the Cranes and the Cormorants west of the jungle in what began as scrub plain but was soon replaced with rugged foothills and then precipitous mountains. The jungle cities tended to surrender after token resistance. Some of them claimed to be subordinate to other cities, but we insisted that they decide their fate on their own, and most surrendered. In time, the resistance began to stiffen and become more creative. Bravado was less important to the Totonacs than survival. It was here that the Parrot and Alligator Ordu proved their worth. Only once was an ambush undetected in time to thwart it. Because of terrain considerations I sent Smoking Mirror with the Parrots and Alligators while I stayed with the Cranes and Cormorants. We had fewer towns to contend with, but they were hard to reach and more easily defended. Still, a few rounds of artillery generally broke even the most stubborn resistance, but our losses were mounting. The Cormorants were getting the worst of it since they were in the far west and had to deal with the most rugged mountain terrain. I began to think we would need to develop a mountain Ordu to deal with this. Fortunately, most of the Totonac towns in the mountains were not large. The Cranes covered the area between the mountains and the jungles. There were some very large towns in this area and more than one of them resisted fiercely. In the end they all fell. One of these, with the impossible name, Tlatcauhquitepec, sent out a delegation to demand an explanation for the aggression. I disingenuously explained that they had somehow offended our Khan, and he demanded their complete submission to his rule or they would be destroyed. They appeared bewildered by my words, but after discussing it among themselves, they asked what would become of them if they did submit. I told them the usual, and they agreed to surrender. I hated to admit it even to myself, but I was sure Kaidu would never have ordered me to attack these people.
The scouts reported that we were nearing the Totonac frontier, so I went east with the Cranes to deal with the coastal plain, which the Parrots and Alligators had bypassed. Meanwhile the Cormorants mopped up along the confusing frontier along which it was hard to tell the tribal affiliation. I also had them garrison the more important mountain passes so that we wouldn’t have to fight our way through them should the high valley of the Tolteca be our next target. The coastal plain also had some large cities. One of these, Cempoalla, surrendered without a struggle. It was quite a sight. The houses were plastered and some were covered with vibrant colors. Much of the population turned out to see my staff and me enter. The men were slightly taller and more slender than the Huaxteca, but also resorted to tattooing and piercing their nose septa. They also pierced their earlobes and wore large ornaments there. Some even pierced their upper or lower lips for ornamental plugs like the Inuit, but more elaborate. They wore the usual loincloth, but also wore colorful cloaks. Many of them used the jaw of a strange fish with lateral rows of teeth as a sword and used the carapace of a large sea turtle for a shield. The women wore long brightly colored skirts and some wore cotton vests. In the center of the city was a huge walled square containing large temples, a ball court, and the residences of the city chief and the priests. All were made of highly polished and dressed stone and shone brilliantly in the sun. Oddly, the chief claimed that he was subordinate to the chief of Cotaxtla, a city well to the south of his city. He told me that my forces presented a more immanent danger than those of his master, so he quickly changed allegiance. This made me wonder about his sincerity, but he gladly accepted our appointed governor and sent his army to march with us. By early summer, we reached the limits of Totonac lands along the coast. Smoking Mirror joined me to report that the jungle Totonac towns had also been dealt with successfully. I asked him about Cotaxtla. He said that they had resisted most tenaciously and had to be virtually wiped out. He said that they had been about the strongest of all the Totonac cities.
I sent my final report to Kuyuk and wondered how much time we would have before the next campaign, unless this was all he wanted. Smoking Mirror assured me that he would order us to continue, and he hoped that it would be toward the cooler drier west and the Tolteca valleys rather than the steamy south and the Olmeca jungles. We didn’t have long to wait. Barely a week after I had sent off my last report, our marching orders arrived. He was really quite good at calculating the length of these campaigns. This time he wanted us to ascend the mountains into the high plain and take the towns in the first valley, to the east of the valley of the Toltec cities. He suggested that I leave the