Chapter 38
The Olmeca and the Maya, 18-9 K
(Eastern Mexico, Yucatan, 1386-7)
I stopped in Chalca so that I could see if my merchant spies had found out anything about Tezozomoc. They did not disappoint. They found that he had indeed been busily visiting all the surrounding people and stirring them up to fierce resistance against us. He was now in Mayapan, the capital of a sort of kingdom in Uluumil Kutz (Land of Plenty), the northern part of the Maya peninsula. He had stirred up the rulers against us and even managed to convince the people that we were impious, godless barbarians who would bring the wrath of all the gods against ourselves and any who surrendered to us. Even now, the gods were planning a horrible vengeance against us for denying them the blood they needed. In any event, there was a large army gathering around Mayapan, and we could expect resistance every step of the way. On the other hand, the ruler of Mayapan (his title was Halach uinic, “true man”) had forbidden Tezozomoc from leaving Mayapan, so we might finally catch up with him there. It looked like I would have to be very careful during the upcoming campaign. Fortunately, we already had extensive maps of the area, and ideas were quickly coming to mind. I went on to Cholula.
Cholula was thriving once again and was already free of an appointed governor. Their army was training in Huexotzinco with elements from the other cities in the plateau. They had together formed a tumen called the Quetzals and would be able to join me on my campaign if the Pheasants felt they were ready. A second tumen was also under development, but would not be ready for a while. I was taken up to the temple so I could see that no blood had been spilled there, but only incense burned as I had instructed. I also had to endure a “religious dance” they had composed to honor the triumphs of Tengri over the “lesser” local gods. There were then a few more entertainments in the form of acrobatics and demonstrations of skill, then some rather annoying music, and finally a large meal. I left early the next morning to avoid any more fanfare and headed for Huexotzinco.
At Huexotzinco, Taska-abi, a Pansfalaya and the commander of the Pheasants, greeted me warmly and assured me that the Quetzals were ready to go with me. I thanked him and remarked on the marvelous performance in my last campaign of his fellow Pansfalaya who made up the bulk of the Pigeon Tumen. He identified several of his relatives among them, and I commented favorably on all of them much to his pleasure. I suggested he invite his relatives up to visit him since they were only a week or so away. Then I asked him about the campaign his Ordu had just finished.
“It was a brutal affair. Resistance among the Tya Nuu was bitter. Many of our scouts never returned; ambushes were frequent in the mountain passes; traps were encountered everywhere. Our losses were quite heavy, about a quarter of my tumen, worse in the others. Even their women and children fought us like cornered wildcats. It would have been easier to conquer all the Southeastern Tribes with one Ordu than these people with five. I’m glad it’s over.”
“How is morale?”
“Good. We won, killed all our enemies, covered ourselves with glory, and are now enjoying this wonderful peaceful plateau, full of very comely and friendly women, much in need of men. We are enjoying this assignment.”
“You earned it. How is Juchi doing?”
“He seemed troubled most of the time, not the happy, carefree carouser I remember from past campaigns. But he led us confidently and well and continues pushing eastward.”
I told him I would remember him to Juchi when I met him eventually and authorized him to stay in Huexotzinco as long as he felt either the locals or his men needed it. I gathered up the Quetzals and continued on my way nearly retracing my journey of three years before. There was no trouble anywhere along my path; we had, indeed, brought peace in our wake. I passed quite a few merchant trains, and all of them thanked me as a representative of the Mongols for making their lives much easier. I supposed that was what Tlacuectli had in mind, but I used the occasions to ask about the Olmeca and the Maya. I got a little more information. They all felt that the Olmeca would not resist us very much and perhaps the Putun Maya would even welcome us, since both relied heavily on trade and knew how we had made it much easier and safer. Mayapan was armed to the teeth and lying in wait for us just across their frontier with the Putun. The other Maya would all likely fight since they enjoyed fighting, but it was hard to predict with how much intensity. There would be less resistance in most other areas since Mayapan had hired so many Ah Canul, or mercenaries from their neighbors to the south and southwest. I was beginning to finalize my plan of attack.
By mid fall, I arrived at Chalchicuelan, a Totonac city on the coast about ninety li north of the Olmeca frontier. It would serve as the supply depot and staging area for the campaign. The Manati, Dogs, and Martens were already encamped to the south of the city, while the Lizards, Monkeys and Vultures were even farther south near the frontier. Scouts had already been sent into the Olmeca country, and early reports indicated no organized resistance from them. I called in the Ordu commanders and explained the first leg of the campaign to them.
The Quetzals would cover the right or southern flank along the mountains; the Martens would be on their left (north), followed in order by the Lizards, Manati, Monkeys, Dogs, and Vultures. Each would advance along a broad front of about forty-five li in width, staying in contact with each flank and with a full complement of scouts in advance. They would visit each town and village found by their scouts with a force sufficient to destroy it if needed and either accept their surrender or destroy them. Should they surrender, their army would be impressed into service as auxiliaries, and if the town was large enough, a governor would be appointed and a garrison left with him. In addition, the yam system was to be extended along the coast and up the major rivers, but that would be done in our wake by a group of Totonaca trained for that purpose. I would wander among the tumen and coordinate any action that required more than one. We would continue until we reached the Putun frontier at which point I would have further instructions for them. I sent them all to their step-off points and told them to start the campaign in six days. When they left, Smoking Mirror came over to me.
“The Olmeca will not resist us and neither will the Putun. The Maya, however, are a great people, very learned and skilled and most brave. It is wrong to destroy them.”
“I thought you had never visited them. Why are you so taken with them?”
“One of my father’s fellow merchants who often traveled with him was from Temax, a town northeast of Mayapan nearer to the coast. He told me marvelous stories about the Maya and their wondrous cities of old. They studied the skies and knew all the movements of the stars. They knew when to plant and when to harvest, when the earth would move and when the storms would hit. They could even see into the future and foretold their own deaths. Still their wisdom is preserved in many books filled with their marvelously expressive picture writing.”
“The Hanjen astronomers were always trying to predict the future by looking at the stars and believed one’s moment of birth determined his destiny.”
“An interesting thought. I have often wondered how much we really control our destiny.”
“I happen to believe that our destiny is entirely in our hands and the result of decisions either we or others make. The stars are most helpful for navigation, but nothing else.”
“Perhaps or perhaps not, who can say?”
“Anyway, if the Maya are so enlightened, why are they susceptible to Tezozomoc’s lies?”
“They are good lies. We have stopped the human sacrifices. The Maya leaders are also the chief priests, and we have greatly reduced the importance of priests. But the Maya have been corrupted by the Itza, who conquered Uluumil Kutz long ago. They are said to be Toltec, but my father always insisted that they were not. In any case, things are much changed under them, and the old arts do not flourish. At least so said Poot, the merchant from Temax.”
“Perhaps we will have a positive effect on them. Once we have removed the tyrants, might not the arts again flourish?”
“Is this your latest justification for our unprovoked aggression? We are fighting to free art?”
“I told you before, the Khan does not need me to justify his orders, just to carry them out.”
He almost seemed to regard me with pity as he left, but I didn’t let it bother me. I had the campaign to consider. The Olmeca did not call themselves by that name; it was merely a Nahual name for “people of the land where there is oli,” (oli was the name for the black material produced from the sap of certain trees, out of which they made the balls for their ball game). They called themselves a number of different names like Cupilco and Coatlicamac. As predicted, when the campaign started, there was almost no resistance, and that which occurred was by accident. We rolled through their land in a few weeks. There was a lot of huffing and puffing among the elite, but little else. The merchants were delighted that we had finally come. The peasants were indifferent to us. The towns were much like those of the Totonaca. There was a central plaza with a temple on one side, the residence of the leader on another, and a ball court on a third. Smaller houses surrounded the central plaza. The people were a mixed lot; this seemed to be something of a melting pot of surrounding tribes. The prevailing language was a Mixteca dialect, but so many of the people spoke other languages that there was no need to learn it.
We next swept into the Putun lands. Here there was no pretense of resistance, and everywhere we were warmly received. All of the leaders immediately allied with us. The Putun towns were much like those of their neighbors, although it was clear that the merchant class was the most important. Indeed, their rulers were taken from the merchant class. Their major city, Xicalanco, was the preeminent market town. They actually called their land Acalan, but were not offended at being called Putun Maya. They had been very helpful to our mapmakers when they passed through and had let them join their merchant expeditions and so map all the trade routes. They were quite excited about the maps and had been using them ever since. They helpfully pointed out anything that had changed since the maps had been made. They were not really organized into a kingdom, but were a loose confederation of towns bound together by self-interest. I assured them our governance would be benign, and we would in no way interfere with their commerce. They organized a large group of guides to help us and set up a system to assure us of all the supplies we needed.
I called together the tumen commanders to explain the next leg of the campaign. I ordered the Quetzals and the Martens to move directly to the Maya frontier in the northeast from the coast. They would spend about two weeks pretending to get organized, and then they would begin a painfully slow advance. They should take all the time they needed to make sure they didn’t walk into any traps or ambushes. The rest of us would march southeast and secure a wide steamy river valley north of a small range of mountains. Juchi had sent word that he was well into the valley south of the same range, so we needn’t worry about that. Once our valley was secure, we would continue east to the sea, then advance north in a broad front to clear the large peninsula of all resistance. Unlike the decoys in the north, we would move as quickly as possible.
I arranged the tumen in a broad front stretching from the foothills of the small range about three hundred li a little north of east. Each Ordu had to cover a front of sixty li. It was no coincidence that the campaign started in the dry season. Of course the term “dry” was only relative. It was still a dank humid jungle, but at least it didn’t rain most of the time, and the rivers and streams were fordable. Wagons were of no use at all in such terrain, and all supplies had to be moved by boat and horseback. Our horses were not at all accustomed to such conditions and many sickened and died. Insects were always present, but various local concoctions repelled them adequately. Snakes and ocelotl (the Maya called them balam) were also a problem, although only to our scouts. Fortunately, all animals shied away from large groups of men.
The jungle proved to be our main adversary all along the valley. We encountered only a few scattered small villages at first which offered no resistance at all; then later on, in the south near the main river, we ran into larger villages and endured a few pitched battles. These were messy affairs difficult to control or coordinate, involving mostly our trying to encircle the enemy and them trying not to be encircled. Visibility was limited and range restricted by the vegetation. Still, we generally got the best of these, and eventually the locals agreed to meet with us. We were to meet at a location they considered to be holy, near the main river.
The site was on the south side of the river at the top of a horseshoe bend in the river. It was a hilly place and covered with dense vegetation. As we drew near, we could see that there were stone buildings visible in the vegetation. It turned out to be ceremonial center that was once part of a good-sized city carved out of the jungle. The hills had been terraced to accommodate the temples. From what we could see, the temples were heavily carved with figures and inscriptions in the Maya picture language. The inscriptions either appeared by themselves or with the figures. No one was able to decipher enough of the writing to make sense out of it, but Smoking Mirror and some of our Putun guides knew a few of the pictures. Smoking Mirror said he saw a date that he calculated to have been five hundred years ago.
The locals seemed to be proud of the site as though they had something to do with it. They called themselves Lacandon and looked rather primitive. Their leaders were adorned in feathers and jade, but they were still a rather rude lot. It seemed inconceivable that they had anything to do with the place. Still, they insisted that their forefathers had built the city as well as others in the area, but they had abandoned them in the distant past, and no one remembered what the city was called. I decided not to press the issue, but got down to the matter at hand. I assured them that our governance would be benign, and we would help them and ensure the free flow of trade. I went through the usual pitch at length and could see that they were impressed. Finally they wanted to know if we were the same people who were fighting their way up the valleys of the Ixil and Jacalteca in the south. Assuming they were referring to Juchi’s campaign, I told him we were. They then agreed to join us, since they could see there was no choice. I left a small group with them for communications and took most of their army with me to serve as auxiliaries. I would have liked to explore the ruins, but we had to keep moving.
East and north of the Lacandon and with their help, we found the Chol Maya. These people proved to be spread out over a large area in widely scattered villages and towns. Their resistance was spotty, and only a few villages had to be wiped out. I decided to spread the tumen into the positions we would need for our final assault on the north, and only have two tumen clear out the rest of any resistance from the Chol. I sent the Lizards and Vultures, the southernmost Ordu on to the east in a still broader band, since they could break into smaller groups and the Lacandon could guide them to all the Chol villages. The Lizards were to quickly sweep the southernmost line to the sea and then turn north along the coast. The Vultures would sweep a broader area gradually turning their direction from east to north and moving north on the Lizards’ left. The Dogs, Manati, and Monkeys then pivoted to the north and began to sweep northward while broadening their front considerably.
I was with the Dogs when they ran into an interesting group around and on a lake. They called themselves the Itza and insisted that they had been driven out of their great capital Chichen some two hundred years before. They lived on five small islands in the lake and in small settlements scattered on the mainland. They were a stratified society with the priests holding a great deal of power. They had heard of us, had been expecting us, and were willing to talk. I went to their main island (called Tayasil) with a small retinue, but instructed the men to watch carefully for any treachery and be ready with boats to send a strong body of men to our rescue. The island was perhaps five hundred paces long and about two hundred wide. The main ceremonial center occupied the central high ground and was surrounded by houses all the way down to the shore. From the looks of the houses, it was clear that only the highest strata lived on this island. The leader’s title was Ahau, and the high priest, who bore the title Ah Kin, assisted him. One of the Putun guides acted as interpreter for us.
“The Putun have assured us that you are a boon to trade, but we have some concern about your reported impiety.”
“Since we have met only victory since entering this land, it is obvious that the gods do not find us impious.”
“Is it true that you do not give the gods their proper nourishment?”
“No, we do give gods the nourishment we feel is proper.”
“Human hearts and blood?”
“Incense.”
“How long have you been in this land?”
“We have been here eighteen years.”
“The gods have been most patient with you. You are fortunate indeed that others have kept them satisfied for you.”
“We now control most of the land, and nowhere do we allow human sacrifice.”
“There is far more land to the southeast than you think. Do you really plan to conquer all the world to stamp out human sacrifice?”
“I only plan to obey the Khan’s instructions, wherever that takes me. His instructions have brought me here. The rest of the world will have to wait for another day.”
“You ask us to choose between your Khan and our gods.”
“I ask you to choose between life and death.”
“Those who defy the gods have no life.”
With that he jumped up and lunged at me. I quickly moved out of the line of his charge, and we all drew our weapons. The two leaders and most of their retainers fell quickly to our swords, and we fought our way to the shore. The mainland shore of the lake closest to us exploded in boats as some of our men rushed to our aid. The rest began to sweep the shores of the lake destroying all in their path. Our armor kept us alive until the rest of the men arrived. Some stayed in the boats and poured arrows into the Itza, the rest joined us, and we began to drive them back toward the ceremonial center. The men still in the boats surrounded the island to prevent any escape, and more of our men attacked the other four islands. Boats floated in mass confusion all over the lake with arrows flying and hand-to-hand combat breaking out whenever possible. On the main island, we reached the center and began mopping up. When resistance stopped, a house-to-house search was instituted to catch and kill any survivors. I sent word to the forces on the mainland to spare any of the peasants that did not resist, but wipe out all of the priests.
The battle was bitter, and the losses heavier than usual since so much of the battle was hand-to-hand. Most of my small escort was wounded, and a few were dead. Smoking Mirror had a bad gash on his forearm; I had a smaller one on my cheek and was covered with bruises from all the blows my armor deflected. Fortunately, I had left my son on shore. When the fighting ended, we had killed all of the upper strata of their society and only peasants were left. I enjoined them to go back to their fields in peace.
A smaller town called Topoxte was found on islands on another lake to the east, but the lesson of Tayasil was not lost on them, and they submitted to us immediately. The rest of the area was sparsely populated with small farming villages of Chol Maya, none of which offered any resistance. In fact, Tayasil turned out to be the only resistance any of my Ordu encountered on our northward march to Uluumil Kutz. By midwinter we were in contact with the Quetzals and Martens. They had only advanced a few miles from the Putun frontier, and the forces of Mayapan were massing for an attack thinking them timid. The land was drier and more open in the north making our horses invaluable. The Manati and Monkeys cut the massed forces off from behind, and both forces fell on the surrounded enemy. Few got away, and we quickly resumed our northward march.
Along the eastern coast of the peninsula, there was no resistance at all, since they heavily traded with and depended on the Putun. Inland, there was a little resistance in the east but almost none in the center and the most in the west. The farther north we moved, the more the resistance stiffened all along the line except for the coast. Before long, the entire east coast was cleared, and the Lizards were soon moving along the north coast. Resistance began to falter, and people either fled to the city of Mayapan or surrendered. Inexorably, we tightened the noose around Mayapan, and by mid spring, six tumen were camped around the bloated walled city. I already had the Dog Tumen detailed to occupy the land. They set up headquarters near the site of Chichen since it was most centrally located.
I was not interested in a long siege and brought up the artillery. The wall was about six feet high, but eight to twelve feet thick and followed the rolling terrain. It was pierced by seven large and five small gateways, all of which were currently blocked by whatever they had at hand. The city was rather egg shaped with the point in the northeast. It was almost six li long (east to west) and about four li wide (north to south). The houses seemed rather scattered about from this vantage point, as though the builders had followed the lay of the land. The ceremonial center was just visible in the center of the western half of the city. It was dominated by a pyramid structure.
I decided to use their wall against them. I lined four of the tumen along all but the western walls about two hundred paces away. Then I massed all the cannon all along the western wall with the Manati and the Monkeys at the ready. I did not want another Tayasil on a larger scale, so I waited for a westerly wind. It did not materialize soon enough, but we did get a totally calm day. It would have to do. We began firing at the stone wall. It shuddered and sent showers of slivers at first away but eventually toward the defenders. Before long there were breeches in several places, but we weren’t ready yet. At a signal, a shower of fire arrows rained down on the city from all sides quickly firing the thatch roofs of the city’s houses. As the defenders rushed to contend with the enemy within the city, we fired a few more rounds into the first layer of houses and then fired a barrage of rockets to further the spreading conflagration. Soon people could be seen jumping over the wall and fleeing the fire only to be cut down by the surrounding tumen. As the fire died down, I sent in the Manati, the Monkeys, and the auxiliaries to finish off any survivors.
The slaughter went on for most of the day, for there was quite a large population in the city. By nightfall, the task was done. We dumped those who had died fleeing the city back into it and camped around it once more. I had a few men look for Tezozomoc, but his body could not be found. We did find the bodies of many of the ruling class. They had taken refuge in a cenote, a type of sinkhole with water in it, which was used as a well. There had been one in the ceremonial center, and they cleverly used it to avoid the fire, but were cut down where they cowered when our men found the opening and looked in.
Everything of value was removed from the smoldering city, and we left the dead littering its streets. We returned to Chichen to await further instructions, and I sent off a large treasure train for Kuyuk. I spent the time looking over the monuments left by the Maya. Chichen was quite impressive. The Dogs had been clearing the vegetation away from the abandoned city, and it was emerging nicely. Just north of the ceremonial center was a very large cenote with the water level quite far down. According to Smoking Mirror, the priests would periodically hurl a victim into the water, and if he or she survived, it was expected he or she would have a message from the rain god. Since the victims were usually weighted down with gifts for the god, it was most unusual for them to return with a message. A very steep pyramid with very narrow tall steps dominated the ceremonial center itself. East of the pyramid was a large temple with the same reclining figure with a receptacle we had seen in Anahuac. There were also a great number of columns carved with figures of warriors, their prisoners, and priests. To the west was a small temple with carvings of ocelotl devouring human hearts, and beyond, a very elaborate ball court. To the south were another smaller cenote and more temples. One was curiously shaped round with a circular stairway inside. Beyond it was a most elaborately carved temple. The whole front had figures and symbols carved into it. Other temples had a plain stone first level with an elaborate upper level. There were splashes of color and bits of plaster still visible in spots, indicating that the buildings had been plastered and painted. I was also shown some elaborate frescoes. The style was very distinct. There were depictions of battle scenes, ceremonies, sacrifices, and even everyday life. We had also amassed quite a collection of their books and were trying to find someone to translate them into something more readable.
I had just set off to look over another set of ruins when a messenger from Kuyuk overtook me. Expecting another campaign, I returned to Chichen before I looked at it. The message was nothing I expected. He wanted me to dismiss four of the tumen and take elements of one of the remaining ones, preferably one of the local tumen, and proceed south to Juchi’s headquarters. There I was to arrest him and return him to Kuyuk in chains. He had already ordered Juchi to halt where he was and dismiss all but his staff and wait for me to join him to return home in triumph. His arrest should be very easy for me under the circumstances. My heart sank. I must have stared into space for hours waving off all attempts at communication from my staff. Then I began pacing around the tent debating with myself. Finally I fell into exhausted if fitful sleep. The next morning, I called in George.