Chapter 36
From Anahuac West to the Coast, 17 K
(From Mexico City to the Pacific Coast, 1385)
Since I had so little time to clear the surrounding area, I decided to split my forces. I had the Beavers under Smoking Mirror move north, and I went west with the Wildcats. I took along a group of auxiliaries from among the Mexica, so I could get a better feel for them as well as the newly trained Chalca, fully outfitted like Mongols. I integrated the latter into the Wildcats and sent a cadre of the Wildcats to train some auxiliaries from among our new allies, the Tlalhuica. A group of Alcolhua would accompany Smoking Mirror and the Beavers as auxiliaries. We wouldn’t organize the Alcolhua into tumen until Quinatzin returned from his visit to Kuyuk, and I was satisfied that they could be trusted. I sent Smoking Mirror northeast toward the independent town of Tulancingo while I crossed the mountains to the southwest toward the town of Tenancingo. He would then head west and north, and I would head north bringing us together again somewhere around the town of Atlan. Late winter was a bad time to begin a campaign over mountains, but at least we would not be expected.
We threaded our way through the cold mountain passes, grateful for the lush covering of pines to deflect the wind. Fortunately, we only had the single row of mountains to cross before we found ourselves in the valley named for Tecaxic, the city at its center. It also had a lake in the center, and a snow-covered volcano (Tolotzin) brooding over it. We entered the valley through the southern highlands coming upon the town of Ocuilan. Taken by complete surprise, they surrendered without a fight. We hurried on to Tenancingo. It was a fairly large town on a river near the southern terminus of the valley. A few tried to escape the town by means of the river, but it was sluggish at this time of year, and our arrows found their marks. It, too, surrendered. I set up a garrison and took their army with us as auxiliaries. We now turned north up the valley in a broad band, demanding and receiving the surrender of all the small towns. Eventually we arrived at something of a fortress town, Teotenango, in the southwestern foothills of the valley. It was occupied and refused to surrender. We quickly surrounded it and brought up the cannon. A few massed salvos breeched the eastern wall, a few more softened up the town, and the slaughter commenced. The lesson was not lost on our auxiliaries.
No further resistance was encountered until we approached Tecaxic. There a small force tried to engage us, but then quickly fled north into a forested area. Sensing a trap, I sent half the Ordu around the forest to the north between it and the city and moved slowly toward the wood with the rest of my forces. Once everyone was in place, I had a large number of rockets fired into the woods. The resulting panic exposed the trap, and we moved in to flush out the rest. Those streaming toward the city found a formidable barrier to their retreat. Not many got away, and we took no prisoners. We now moved on to Tecaxic. As we neared the city, a delegation came out to meet us. It consisted of five men and a retinue of attendants. This proved to be the Tlatoani and the Council of Four, the rulers of the Matlatzinca, a grouping of cities centered on Tecaxic. All five prostrated themselves before us and begged for mercy on their people. I bid them rise and explained their options. Since they had resisted us, they would need to fill some wagons with reparations, and I would have to appoint a governor to make sure they remained true to their word. Further, they would have to give me what was left of their army. If all went well, they would be returned rule of their cities as Mongols. The alternative was, of course, we would destroy them and their city. They accepted my terms with gratitude. It seemed that they had been warned that I usually tortured anyone who surrendered to death, but had taken heart from reports filtering in from the south. It turned out that Tezozomoc had tried to recruit them, but they trusted him less than they feared us. I set up a governor and a garrison and continued north.
As we neared the central lake, it became clear we would have to cross a good-sized river, known locally as the Lerma. On the far side of the river, there was an army prepared to contest our crossing. They had cleverly removed all boats from our side of the river, and the river was a bit too deep for fording under fire. I sent a group of men to fell trees for dugouts and pontoon planks. Meanwhile, I brought up the cannon and set up a defensive perimeter in case they might try an attack. While some of the men worked feverishly on the pontoon bridge, I had others keep the enemy off guard by feigning attacks and scouring the lakeshore for boats. In a few days, all was ready. Under cover of darkness, we put most of the bridge into place. Then, at first light, we fired cannon and rockets over and into the enemy while the last few boats were put in place and the first contingent raced across the bridge and fanned out to surround the enemy. Some brave soul among them noticed what was going on and got any who would listen to rush the bridge. This unsupported attack was quickly beaten back with heavy losses.
We ceased firing and prepared to bring the cannon across, once most of the Ordu was in place in an arc around their position. As soon as the smoke cleared and they could see their situation, they reacted variously. Some dropped their weapons and ran in whatever direction seemed to suggest safety. Some tried to withdraw in good order toward the lake. Some dropped to the ground in submission. And some turned and tried to fight their way north toward their city. Only those who reached the lake and launched the boats they had hidden there escaped. The rest were wiped out. Then, while our lead elements rushed to surround the main city, Xiquipilco, I had the auxiliaries take up the pontoon bridge and bring it along with us. We were barely in position before a sheepish delegation approached us from the city. This time it was one leader with a few advisors. Again, all prostrated themselves and begged for mercy. Once more, these people represented a group of cities this time they called themselves the Mazahuaca. I was irritated at being held up by them and told them that if they delivered all the cities in their group to me with no further trouble, they would be spared the destruction they richly deserved. But still, they would have to fill many wagons with riches, obey my governor without question, and turn over what was left of their army to serve as auxiliaries.
They immediately agreed, and it proved quite beneficial, since their league consisted of quite a few towns north of the lake. I left the wagons for them to fill and continued north. This proved to be little more than a march since we met no resistance for some days. Even after we left Mazahuaca territory, the scattered nonaligned towns surrendered without a fight. We did lose a few scouts to roving bands of warriors, and we wiped out the few of these we could find, but they were not associated with any towns, so retaliation was impossible. This was a wild rugged country with forested mountains cut by ravines and only occasionally, valleys. In one of these valleys, we finally reached Atlan. It was not much of a town and offered no resistance. I sent out men to the few surrounding villages, and they also quickly surrendered. I sent out mappers and eventually realized that this river was a tributary of the Panuco, which watered the Huaxteca lands. The mappers also ran into Smoking Mirror’s scouts downstream and sent them on to me. A few days later, he and I ran into each other at almost the same spot. His campaign had met more but less organized resistance than mine. A few smaller towns were destroyed, and several cities were now lacking armies, but all the northland was in our hands. The Otomi we had contacted during the Huaxteca campaign had joined us as had most of the Ralamari. He had run into elements of the Ralamari and had cleverly organized a yamlike communications system with them. He felt they would prove invaluable in this rugged mountain country and would help ensure that our new allies would remain loyal. I immediately extended his system to cover the area I had just taken in the north as well. The Tecaxic valley was better served with horses, however. I sent the Beavers back to the Anahuac Valley while the rest of us set off for Tecaxic, which would be our base for the campaign in the west. En route, word finally reached me that the new tumen had arrived and would be waiting for me at Tecaxic.
It was already spring by the time we regained Tecaxic. The Deer and the Foxes (Juchi’s old tumen) were camped around the city, and their scouts met us well before we were in sight of the city. When I reached the city, Chagatai and Wanbli Sapa, the commanders of the Deer and Foxes, met me. They assured me that the men were ready and eager to get started. They had already taken the liberty to send out scouts, and there were no hostile forces in the area. I thanked them for their efficiency and told them we would move out in two days. Smoking Mirror and I decided to keep most of the auxiliary forces with us for the campaign and called on the Tlalhuica to send their army.
Not long after the Ordu commanders had left, I was informed that there was a messenger from Cholula to see me. I bid him to be shown in. To my surprise it was George, my oldest son. He was now fourteen years old and looked every inch the Mongol warrior. He saluted me properly; then we embraced. He first assured me that all were well at home and then said that Juchi had sent for him while en route from the northeast, and he had accompanied him all the way to Cholula. He then was sent to give me Juchi’s message. It was to be an oral message, but he had written it down in the old language, and since only our family understood it, Juchi didn’t mind.
The message was long. It seemed that Juchi was quite unsure of his father’s intentions. He had, therefore, kept only those he trusted around him and sent the others off on one-way missions. He recommended that I do the same. His suspicions were aroused by a number of things that had happened since Kaidu had died. First of all, there was this campaign. It was pure aggression, and Kaidu would never have ordered it. Next, there was the fact that first I and then he were sent to lead separate elements of the campaign, effectively removing us from the seat of power and putting us in harm’s way. Meanwhile, a veil of secrecy had descended over the Eagle Ordu and his “observers” there had been transferred far away. He had advised Paula to move to the Hawk Ordu and stay with my brother Henry as long as I was away. He would try to send the Antelopes back as soon as possible and suggested that I urge Paula to stay with them.
But there was more. His “observers” had managed to get word to him about several developments before they were sent off. First of all, there was a large store of silk at the Eagle Ordu. It was under guard and only for Kuyuk’s use. There was also a large store of gold under guard. The gold was being sent to the Salmon Ordu, and the silk was being sent from the Salmon Ordu. The Salmon Ordu had an even more impenetrable veil of secrecy over it, but he had managed to pierce it a little. It turned out that they had been trading with the old land. At first, they had sent a fleet of the ocean-going coastal boats over to the old land with a few old timers who knew the coast of the old land well enough to steer them to a major port. They wound up in Koryo and had set up trade with some merchants there. Since then, the latter had sent their larger ships across the western sea to enlarge the trade. The Salmon Ordu was now little more than a trading center. Ogedai kept a sizable guard with him and fortified the position with a walled fort, but sent the rest of the tumen as well as the local warriors south to conquer all the tribes along the coast unless they agreed to join us.
Add to all this the fact that even though Kuyuk had designated Juchi as his successor, he had not once contacted him since Kaidu died until he was given orders to join this campaign. And this message was precisely that, an order, prepared by a staff member and signed by Kuyuk. He was also ordered to keep in touch with no one except Kuyuk during the campaign, since I would be in a different theater and preoccupied with my own efforts. It was for that reason that he had hit on the stratagem of taking my son with him and sending him on to me with a message. The boy was old enough to be on campaign, and he knew he and I could trust him. He urged me to be very careful what I said and to whom I said it.
To say the least, this was a very disappointing message. It seemed that all the intrigue from the old land had found us even before one generation had passed. As usual, I had missed it completely, too ready to think the best of everyone, too slow to get suspicious. It was naive of me to think that everything would be different in the new land. The truth was that everything depended on the Khan. I wondered if Juchi would finally succeed his father and if he did, would he return things to Kaidu’s ways? Time would tell. Meanwhile, I didn’t really think my family was in any danger, but even so, suggested to Paula in my next letter that she go on with Mathilde and Padraig should he return to his base before I got back. I also thought it best to destroy Juchi’s letter. I decided not to burden Smoking Mirror with this message and told George to forget all about it and never mention it again. He was a bright boy and understood the situation immediately. Juchi had not paid any attention to him all along the trip until they reached Cholula when he called him ostensively to greet our old family friend, Padraig, and give him news of his family, which he had left with Paula. George realized that great caution was necessary and never mentioned anything about the message to anyone. He did mention to me that there was a rumor in the Eagle Ordu that Ogedai had been named as second in line after Juchi, since the latter would be on campaign. After passing on this piece of information, he really did forget all about the intrigue and happily immersed himself into the campaign. I tried to do so also, but the situation hung over me like a cloud.
Keeping busy was helpful, however, and I was very busy. The terrain of the western lands was quite varied. In the south, there were thickly wooded mountain slopes plunging down through dense humid forests into a deep tropical valley cut by a very long river called the Mexcala. Farther north, the mountains ascended to a high plateau made up of a series of large shallow basins often surrounding a lake and separated by a rings of low hills covered with pine and fir forests on their higher slopes. Farther north there was the valley made by the same Lerma River we had encountered in the Valley of Tecaxic. This was bordered farther north by more arid lands giving way ultimately to more mountains. The basin land was called Michoacan (The Land Where There Are Fishermen) by the Nahual-speaking people, and indeed, the lakes and rivers did abound in fish and waterfowl, and the surrounding land was quite fertile, much like Lake Texcoco in Anahuac. I decided I would make a three-pronged assault of the land. I would send the Foxes down the Lerma to clear its entire length of all resistance. I would give them the pontoon train and the Alcolhua and Mexica auxiliaries. I would send the Deer to the south to move west in a wide band through the upper slopes and foothills north of the Mexcala River. I gave them the Tlalhuica auxiliaries, who would at least be used to a similar terrain, and some of them even claimed to know the area. I would take the rest of the auxiliaries and the Wildcats and proceed due west into the high plateau and the basin country where most of the Tarascans were supposed to be. We would all stay in contact and be ready to come to each other’s aid if necessary. I figured I would see most of the resistance. I sent the Foxes and the Deer to their jump-off points, and with the scouts well out in front, we all moved west. The great snow-capped Tolotzin brooded to my south until we crossed the rim of mountains and lost sight of it. The first few towns we came upon on my front offered no resistance. The inhabitants were Otomi-speaking people with no particular allegiance to anyone. They did inform us that the Tarascan Kingdom was the only well-organized people in the area and, although not particularly large yet, were rapidly advancing because of the prowess of their warriors. They also mentioned that the Tarascans called themselves Purepecha. We encountered several more such towns in the wooded hills before eventually coming to a shallow basin and our first Tarascans or Purepecha.
This was in the persons of four messengers sent by the leader or cazonci. Their appearance was a bit unsettling since they seemed to have no hair anywhere on their bodies. It turned out they shaved or plucked it all for cosmetic reasons. They spoke Nahual conveniently enough and demanded to know our intentions. I explained their options as usual, and they said that our imminent destruction was in our own hands and withdrew. As usual, I had scouts out but losses among them began to mount and those returning spoke of running into Purepecha scouts, requiring extra vigilance. They also reported that a large concentration of enemy was moving inexorably in our direction. It was still some days away.
Due to the terrain, I decided to steer the battle to my best advantage. I found a very large basin and set up an obvious camp at its western end. I set up all the auxiliaries as bait with a few of my Ordu troops among them to keep them brave. I waited until the Purepecha were close enough that I could predict when they would reach my position and could get a good fix on the size of the force. Seeing that I would be greatly outnumbered by them, I sent a note to the Deer and the Foxes to send me most of their tumen (leaving some men behind to watch the auxiliaries) and have them time their arrival at the basin at just the time I calculated the enemy would arrive. I then had most of the Wildcats withdraw into the woods on the slopes above and behind our camp. I made sure that the Purepecha scouts got close enough to see how small my force was, but not close enough to see the Wildcats behind us.
In a few days, right on schedule, the Purepecha were clearly visible to our west marching right for our position. The size of their force was, as reported, over thirty thousand warriors. As they drew closer, some of the auxiliaries grew restive and began to show inordinate interest in the rear. I found it necessary to remind them that the Wildcats were in the rear and would cut down any of them they found fleeing the battle. This did wonders to return their attention to the front. Most of them had seen the cannon in action, and we set these up to receive the first enemy rush. The auxiliaries were torn between a desire to be behind the cannon for safety and a fear of the noise the cannon made. Their nervousness made me wonder if they could bear any of the enemy assault. I decided to bring up the Wildcats before the attack. I waited until the enemy was about a li away, however, before doing so.
They were really too close to pull back when the Wildcats came into their view, but to their credit they showed no such inclination. They halted when they were about a hundred paces from our perimeter. Even with the advent of the Wildcats, it must have looked to them like they outnumbered us at least two to one. They dressed their lines a bit, and with a blood-curdling scream, they rushed our position while shooting arrows and stones at us. The first barrage from the massed cannon ripped into their leading elements disintegrating most of their leaders and causing some wavering in the attack. This enabled us to get off a second round before they reached our lines. Those that did reach our lines had a blank almost frenzied look to their face and were no match for the Wildcats. They did make some inroads into the auxiliaries, however, and I was glad to see the charging Foxes and Deer explode out of the woods to the north and the south and throw the enemy into complete confusion. Still, they did not panic, but fought steadily and desperately giving no thought to retreat. They had no chance really, but they did do some damage. They were excellent archers and slingers who found some marks among us. More than a few arrows and stones bounced off of my armor. Smoking Mirror was grazed along his cheek, leaving quite a scar. George was knocked off his horse by a well-aimed stone, but only ended up with a few bruises. Quite a few of the auxiliaries were killed or wounded, and many of our soldiers and horses were among the casualties.
In the end, the Purepecha all lay dead, although some of our auxiliaries wanted to return home with prisoners and were quite upset that we would not allow it. I found out later that they wished to sacrifice them to their gods. In spite of some wavering, the auxiliaries on the whole had acquitted themselves quite respectably in the battle. Many had shown a ferocity and determination in spite of considerable losses. Others had to be goaded into action and took no initiative. I decided that it would be best if I had them stay with me. I congratulated the brave and warned the sluggards that if they continued to show so little interest in fighting, they would have to accompany us for the entire campaign.
Since all had taken part in the battle, only the wounded were excused from cleanup detail. There was quite a bit of gold ornamentation among the leaders, but most of the Purepecha fought naked with only black and red paint and tattoos to protect them. I could see from the booty collected that they knew how to work metal. While there were no swords, they had knives, spear points, and axes of some sort of copper alloy. It was not as strong as steel, but it was much better than the obsidian blades used by everyone else here in the south. It took a few days to gather up and burn all the dead. When we were finished, I sent some men with the booty and the seriously wounded back to Tecaxic. I sent a message to the governor to receive the wounded with honor and send the booty to Kuyuk.
We rested up a day before continuing west. The Foxes and the Deer returned to their areas. They had encountered little resistance so far, except for the town of Acambaro on the Lerma, which the Foxes had to reduce. The scouts reported no further military activity ahead of us, although they still had a few encounters with enemy scouts. We met no further resistance as we advanced toward the Purepecha capital, Ihuatzio, but it took us quite a while to visit each of their small and scattered towns and villages on the way.
By late spring, we were approaching the central lake called Patzcuaro and the cities along its shores, including Ihuatzio. The lake had a sort of bicornate shape with the rounded horns pointing east. Ihuatzio was in the center on the eastern side between the horns. We bypassed the other cities and headed right for it. It was not fortified, nor was it particularly large, but it did have a fair-sized ceremonial center. The leadership of the capital came out to meet us and prostrated themselves before us. The cazonci had not been with his troops but had remained in the city to meet his fate. He identified himself to me and expressed a willingness to be sacrificed to our gods, since they had proven superior to his, Curicaueri (some sort of fire god). I explained that we didn’t sacrifice anyone to gods, not even cazonci. He could save me a lot of time if he would surrender all the towns and villages under his command and fill a few wagons with valuables to atone for his resistance. I would then set up a governor and garrison to rule here until his people had shown themselves worthy of becoming Mongols. Any treachery would be punished swiftly and with no mercy. He could stay here, assist my governor and perhaps succeed him. The alternative was, of course, an ignominious end for him and his people. He quickly chose submission and sent runners to advise all those previously subject to him that they were now subject to the Mongols. He then invited me into his city.
The houses in the city were of wood tightly notched together with high-peaked roofs greatly overhanging the walls of the house. The ceremonial center was on a huge raised platform of dressed stone. On it were houses of wood and temples of dressed stone. The cazonci and his top advisors lived in a huge wooden house in the center. It was of two stories with a high-peaked curly cornered roof. It had a cedar doorway and a terrace made of cedar slabs. All visible wood on the house was carved with mostly curly designs and heavily lacquered. Among the usual temples there were some rather curiously shaped platforms called yacatas. They were stepped and consisted of a circular element attached to a rectangular element by a thin neck. They were faced with very nicely dressed and perfectly fitted stone slabs. It turned out they were funerary monuments to past cazonci. The current cazonci regaled me with tales of the great Purepecha hero chief, Tariacuri, who founded the “empire” and was his ancestor. He had lived in Patatzequa (The Place of Temples) at the southern end of the lake, but his family had moved to this more central position. Ihuatzio meant “Place of the Coyotl” in their bizarre language. I had noticed that there were islands in the lake with towns on them, and I asked him about them. He said that the first Purepecha had settled on the islands for safety, but as time went on, they conquered the surrounding lake and the whole area.
I asked him what remained of his army, and he admitted that it was little more than his personal guard and those few that had missed the general muster, perhaps a few thousand warriors at most. I told him that they would have to accompany me on the rest of my campaign, but I would leave a sizable garrison here to protect our new subjects. In time, we would raise and train a local tumen if all went well. He assured me of his complete cooperation and sent for the commander of his guard to give him his new assignment. I picked Bimiibatod Omasus, an Anishinabe and the second in command of the Wildcats, to be governor. I had him keep half the tumen as a garrison, spread them about the province, and set up a yam system for communications. I left with the rest of the tumen after sending messages to the Deer and the Foxes to continue on to the coast where we would rendezvous eventually.
I took the Purepecha auxiliaries with me. The accompanying auxiliaries now outnumbered the half tumen, but only if they acted together, and that seemed unlikely. Anyway, everyone wanted to be part of a winning army, and there was no trouble. It took us several days to clear the remaining Purepecha land, but eventually we reached what they considered their western frontier. There was really no difference in the terrain, but they had not seen fit to expand this far. Small wonder, actually, there were only more small villages which raised crops, fished, and hunted birds enough to feed themselves, but no one else. There was some fair craftwork, but on the whole they were barely worth noticing. All we met offered no resistance and assured us that they would henceforth obey all Mongol pronouncements. Since they were most unlikely ever to hear any, that was just possible, but who cared?
Word filtered in from the Deer and the Foxes that they were only encountering occasional towns worthy of the name. The Foxes had found a large lake (called Chapala) at the end of the Lerma with a few sizable towns around it and had to destroy a couple of them. Wanbli Sapa mentioned that the Mexica were proving to be ferocious fighters, but the Alcolhua were more deliberate in their attacks. Still, both had shown courage and skill and had been most helpful. The Deer had found it necessary to travel along the river since the humid forest had given way to a more arid valley. This river was called the Tepalcatepec and flowed eastward to join the Mexcala River just as the latter turned south to the sea. They had encountered a few larger towns also, but little or no resistance, until they reached the town of Tepalcatepec. This town resisted to the end and fought desperately. Chagatai commended his Tlalhuica auxiliaries for their bravery also.
From the maps that were coming in to me, it seemed logical to shift our lines a little to the north. There was a river (the mapper named it after the lake) flowing northwest from Lake Chapala, which looked like a good focus for the Foxes. The rest of us would have move a little northwest to cover the rest of the land. We found ourselves roughly following a parallel river we called the Ameca after a town along its upper reaches. The Deer had the more difficult unrelenting mountainous terrain. We all found that there were independent towns of varying size in each valley, very few of which were inclined to resist us. This made the trip easy but boring. By early fall, we had all reached the sea. I had the men rest a while and went up the coast to meet with the Foxes.
They had reached a fairly populous region near the mouth of the Chapala River. There were several large towns in the area, but only one of them decided to fight. It was called Tepic and was the largest of them. By the time I reached them, the town was a smoldering ruin and the dead were being burned. The Foxes and their auxiliaries had been much reduced by the campaign. They had encountered the most resistance and had been ambushed a few times. They had also left a lot of men in garrisons along the way. I told Wanbli Sapa to stay here with the rest of his men and make sure the lines of communication back to Anahuac remain intact. He should also do some training of the local forces with an eye to setting up a new tumen eventually. I sent the Mexica and Alcolhua auxiliaries back home. When I returned to the Wildcats, there was a message from Kuyuk. He had sent the Pigeons and the Snakes to join me at the mouth of the Mexcala River early next spring. I should dispose of the other Ordu as I saw fit, although I should continue with some force along the coast to the Mexcala. If my mappers were correct, the Mexcala was almost twelve hundred li from my present position, and I was supposed to reach it by next spring.
I hurried back to the Wildcats and sent them back to join the rest of their Ordu in the Purepecha lands. I told them to make sure that a good line of communication was established between Ihuatzio and the incoming tumen. I reluctantly dismissed all the auxiliaries except the Purepecha and the handful I had picked up on the way to the coast. The others had been with me a long time, and I didn’t think they had another campaign in them. I went on ahead to the Deer and ordered the auxiliaries to follow me south. The Deer were encamped near the mouth of a small river and had been exploring the coast to the south while they waited for me. I commended Chagatai for his initiative and gave him the bad news of our orders. I decided to keep the Tlalhuica auxiliaries since they were almost a tumen and they and the Deer had had the easiest campaign so far. My auxiliaries showed up in a few days, and we began to march south along the coast in a band extending well inland.