"Oh sorry sorry, it's my fault."
The young child said this with a slightly tense tone.
After all, the sun has an extremely important meaning in the Central and South American world.
"It's okay. Can you tell me what you and he just said?"
"Hmm..." The young child fell into deep thought, then said carefully, "Can you promise not to tell Master Favia?"
"I promise."
The child breathed a sigh of relief after receiving Tlaloc's promise, and then looked at the direction where Favia left with shining eyes. "I just told Master Favia that I want to become a warrior to assist him and participate in the story he wants to create, but Favia refused."
"....reject?"
These words puzzled the black-haired girl. She thought that given Favia's personality, she would directly agree to the child's request. She didn't expect that he would refuse so directly. However, she didn't see any disappointment in the child, which was a bit strange.
"Well, Master Favia didn't say that I couldn't assist him. He just said that he hoped I could have my own story as the protagonist."
".....Yeah?"
"Lord Favia said this—"
A little while ago, the silver-haired young man said to the confused child,
"I'm very happy and proud of you for having this idea. If possible, I hope that a peaceful era will come before you grow up. I also hope that you can write your own story stroke by stroke. I believe that the story you write with your own choices will be an extremely wonderful and meaningful story that I will witness."
He says,
"By the way, let me tell you a name—"
Many people have blessed the man who abolished human sacrifice on his way forward, and so he will respond to their blessings.
"Quauhtemoc, it's not God's gift, Master Favia said--"
The child said,
“This is the pronunciation of courage that the great ‘Sun’ has bestowed upon all of us throughout our lives.”
After listening to Cuauhtémoc's explanation, Tlaloc couldn't help but close his eyes quietly.
........gradually filling up.
Something dazzling was gradually filling Tenochtitlan.
Light is hope.
Hope is people.
As time passes, people are born, shine and give off heat, but their short lives will eventually disappear.
The light of life is brighter and nobler than any gem, and you never get tired of looking at it.
The guy of unknown origin cherishes but also pities these lights.
Even though these starlights are so weak and powerless to drive away the darkness, just like no matter how hard the stars try to shine, the true dawn will never come.
The darkness of the eternal night is deep and thick like ink, and can easily cover up the tiny and scattered starlight.
The ancient and cruel world both hates and desires a star that is as bright as the sun and can drive away darkness.
Therefore, Tlaloc truly felt at this moment that on this land, this ancient and cruel world would give birth to a new future different from the past.
".......Indeed, it is a name with a good pronunciation, very, very good......"
She looked up at the sky and saw the sun in the vast, blue, unchanging sky.
"Cuauhtémoc, it's a really good name."
......
Half a month later, Favia in Tenochtitlan learned the news:
A group of people with strange weapons and costumes arrived on the east coast of the Aztec Empire.
That's right, these were the eleven ships and more than six hundred soldiers led by Hernán Cortes, a colonist of the Spanish Empire.
239: Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light (5k5)
The morning light gently shines on the tranquil sea in the southeast of the Aztec Empire, creating golden ripples.
A total of six hundred people stood on the eleven ships that were about to land. Everyone's eyes passed through the hazy sea fog, staring at the new land in front of them. Their faces were filled with complex emotions, with curiosity, expectation, fear and determination intertwined.
"I must succeed..." The man standing on the bow had a fanatical look on his face, holding the sword tightly in his hand, "Damn Velasquez, I will definitely kick you out of the position of Governor of Cuba when I return!"
The man was Hernán Cortés, who gained the trust of Montezuma II with the help of the legend of the "Return of Quetzalcoatl" and united with other countries that resented the Aztec human sacrifice to destroy the Aztec Empire.
On the day Tenochtitlan was completely conquered, the Aztecs lacked food and were tortured to death by the smallpox epidemic brought by the Spaniards. Eventually, three million Aztecs died of smallpox.
Therefore, he was hailed as "the adventurer who conquered the New World with guns, horses and smallpox" during the Spanish colonial period.
However, Cortes lived in poverty in his later years, and the Spanish royal family basically ignored his request for aid. He had no choice but to return to Mexico, after all, he had children born to him and the locals there to rely on. But he died of illness after arriving in Seville, Spain.
In his will before his death, he stated that he was not sure whether it was morally right to own Indian slaves, which made him feel uneasy. Objectively speaking, this attitude was nothing more than knowing that he was doing unjust things with the help of others' trust, and was afraid of being punished by "God".
He didn't think about these things when he used Montgomery's trust to destroy the Aztecs, he didn't think about these things when he used smallpox to kill millions of Aztecs, he didn't think about these things when he used muskets to carry out large-scale massacres. He only thought about the enormous wealth he would gain afterwards.
Even after finding an excuse to hang Cuauhtémoc, the last leader of the Aztecs, Hernan would suffer from insomnia from time to time and would mutilate himself while wandering at night... This moral condemnation that had long been buried deep in his heart could not stop his extremely greedy desires at the time.
The contact between different cultures did not take place in a harmonious context, but under the banner of war and conquest.
In the conquerors’ self-portraits, they were like the heroes in the medieval chivalric novels that were very popular at the time, defeating a vast empire with only insignificant force. This was a myth passed down from generation to generation in textbooks and almost no one questioned it for centuries.
After the Mexican War of Independence, the locals hated Hernan, who was promoted as the "Great Cortes" during the colonial period, and Malinche, the "Mother of the Mexican Nation", after learning the truth about them. In the end, the Mexicans regarded Cuauhtémoc, the last monarch of the Aztecs and his unyielding spirit until his death, as a national hero who resisted aggression and defended independence, and he became the most respected figure in Mexico.
A towering bronze statue of Cuauhtémoc was erected at the intersection of Reforma Avenue and Insurgent Avenue in Mexico City.
As the ship slowly approached the shore, Cortes took a deep breath, his chest heaving, as if he was enduring excitement comparable to Columbus's discovery of the New World.
He turned around and said to the people who followed him:
"We are about to step onto this new land, which will bring us wealth, let us get it, glory and wealth, all the wealth will be ours!"
In fact, Cortes was at his wit's end at this moment. It was recognized that he had rebelled against the Governor of Cuba. If he could not make some achievements in time and obtain the permission of the King of Spain, he would be imprisoned once he returned.
On the island of Cuba, Cortes was the financial director. He and the Governor of Cuba had a mutually dependent relationship, but they were also wary of and hostile to each other.
Earlier, Cortes had persuaded the governor to allow him to lead an expedition to Mexico.
As early as 1518, Spanish explorers had discovered Mexico, but no one had ever set foot deep into the land. Cortes decided to explore and see if he could find anything.
The Governor of Cuba agreed to his request, but canceled the mission permission at the last minute before Cortes set off. However, Cortes ignored the Governor's order and resolutely went out to sea.
The 600 so-called soldiers who came with him were basically vagrants, drunkards, bankrupts who could not get any land or Indian slaves. Some were even ruffians. Their most valuable life experience was the rich experience accumulated in the battles with Muslim forces in their homeland.
Some of them had fought in Italy against the French, or had served in the previous colonial war against Cuba. Although they had a low level of education and could barely read, they were veterans with strong religious sentiments and strong execution capabilities on the battlefield.
However, there was an unexpected incident. Hernan frowned and looked at the old man dressed as a priest on the other side. The old man was unmoved by his declaration.
In fact, this guy was also a time bomb in Hernan's eyes. If he hadn't been in a hurry and had no time to care about him, he would never have allowed this old guy to come up.
"Hernan Cortes, I want to warn you one thing on behalf of the great God. The people on this continent have souls just like us."
Compared to everyone who was excited about imagining gaining wealth, the old priest seemed extremely calm.
"Haha, don't tell me about this. If you want to tell someone, tell them. It's obvious that those natives are just a bunch of disgusting beasts who are inferior in culture, technology and spirit."
Hernan retorted to the old priest with a look of disdain.
This is also what most Europeans think, but there are always exceptions.
"No, this is unjust."
The old priest's name is Bartolomé de Las Casas, and he is a "famous" figure in the current Spanish Empire.
After witnessing the suffering of the Indians, he gave up his land, freed his slaves, became a priest, and devoted his life to fighting against violent colonization.
Since Columbus "discovered" the New World, the Spanish royal family hosted a famous theological debate on whether the American Indians had souls. Naturally, most people believed that Spain was the civilized and superior party to the Indians, and that those barbarians were inherently inferior.
Bartolomé, on the other hand, was quite rare and stubborn in his belief that the American Indians had their own souls and should be treated as free people. The civilization of the New World Indians was the same as that of the ancient people of the mainland, and there was no distinction between high and low.
In response to his rebuttal, the King of Spain laughed and declared him the 'Guardian of the Indians', but did not make any changes to the basic colonial strategy.
Although Bartolomé opposed the colonists' massacre and abuse of Indians, due to his historical limitations, he certainly could not understand that colonialism itself was evil. Therefore, he did not oppose colonialism itself, but sought peaceful colonization.
In other words, he just wanted to change the course of violence. He was not busy liberating the locals and condemning the conquerors. He advocated preaching the gospel to the locals, which was itself a kind of conquest, on a spiritual level.
In fact, the spread of the church's faith itself was a dimensionality reduction blow to the religion in the Aztec region. In 1525, when Cuauhtémoc was executed, his last words were:
"Ah, Malinche, I knew you would let Cortes kill me like this, and I saw through your lies, because it is unjust for you to kill me! May God punish you for what I should not have done when I surrendered to you in Mexico City."
From this we can see that it took the Spanish missionaries less than six years to basically completely destroy the local religious beliefs.
In fact, instead of enslaving the Indians, Bartolomé suggested using black slaves instead. In his later years, Bartolomé regretted this and believed that "enslaving blacks is as unjust as enslaving Indians."
Although there were some weaknesses in Bartolomé's thoughts, these were inseparable from the historical environment at that time. Defending the Indians and opposing the atrocities of the colonial rulers were ultimately the mainstream of his lifelong struggle. This clear position was fully reflected in his later publication of "A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies", an important document that revealed the atrocities of the Spanish colonists.
"Are you planning to stop me, old man?"
Hernan's face suddenly turned cold. If he had the chance, he really wanted to kill this priest.
However, this is highly unlikely, because the old priest is so firm in his faith that some veterans with a religious complex will not obey him, but they will not do anything without caring about being killed... What's more, Hernan also vaguely knows that this guy has an ability different from the musket, which seems to be called magic or something.
"I just hope you won't kill people, and spread our God's love in a more peaceful way."
"Ah."
Hernan didn't say much about this, but when the boat finally touched the shore, he was the first to jump off the boat and stare at the seemingly endless dense forest. At the same time, bursts of strange bird and insect chirps could be heard from time to time.
The six hundred people who followed him also jumped off the boat and surrounded Cortes, their faces filled with excitement and curiosity. They looked around and sized up this strange land, as if they couldn't wait to get the riches in it.
However, before the excitement on their faces subsided, they swallowed subconsciously because a slight violent vibration came from not far away on the ground.
Hernan turned pale, and even Bartolomé's expression became serious.
Because such a quick reaction obviously shows that they had been discovered by the locals when they were at sea, otherwise it would not have been possible to react so quickly and with such organization and speed. This shows that it is very likely that this is not a place like India, but perhaps some kind of great empire.
In fact, they were not wrong. Although the early Aztec Empire was an empire, its essence was more like a union of city-states. Now, under the leadership of Favia alone, it is necessary to integrate the local countries and carry out all-round reforms. It takes a lot of time, but based on Favia's identity and prestige as well as the charm of personal publicity, it is not a big problem.
The reason why the news of Hernan's landing was discovered in the first place was that Favia had long ago requested more control over the sea southeast of Aztec and stationed many soldiers around it.
“This is troublesome…”
Hernan couldn't help but sigh like this. He felt very disappointed now. His expectation for the future suddenly turned cold.
It's not just him, most of the more than 600 people are like this.
As time went by, although there were many locals surrounding him, Hernan felt relieved.
Because they had no firearms, nor any equipment that could match the Spanish, they only had exquisitely shaped machetes and dressed like the Indians.
Hernan also noticed the group of people's surprise at them. He followed their gaze and found that they were looking at the horses they brought.
The clever Hernan naturally noticed their confusion about horses, so he immediately had a guess in his mind, that is, there were no horses here.
Time passed by minute by minute, and the atmosphere between the two sides was indescribably hot. Knowing that the longer the delay would be, the worse it would be for morale, Hernan made up his mind, picked up his rifle, and fired a shot into the sky. Then, the flame from the muzzle seemed to be able to illuminate everything around in the daytime, making time freeze at this moment.
The echo of the gunshots lingered in the empty blue sky for a long time. The sound was like a heavy hammer, striking the heartstrings of the Aztecs, making them shudder involuntarily. The gunshot and the fire were like a brand, deeply engraved in the memory of these Aztec warriors.
In fact, Hernan was gambling that these aggressive guys, like the Indians, did not understand the principles of the musket and regarded it as some kind of sacred weapon.
After all, although firearms do not have great lethality, they are very deterrent to primitive tribes.
Indeed, as Hernan expected, the Aztec soldiers surrounding them were inevitably frightened when they saw this man with a skin color similar to that of the messenger Favia using a strange weapon to spit out a ball of blazing flames and make a harsh sound.
What is this? Could it be that these people are also messengers of Quetzalcoatl like Lord Favia? Why would they use such a strange thing? Are they here to punish us?
Despite being so frightened, these Aztec leopard warriors still suppressed their fear and stared at the Spaniards motionlessly.
Because they still remember what Favia said, he has already suffered the wrath of the Second Sun, and the Second Sun will never be angry with you again.
Therefore, they, who had complete faith in Favia, would never retreat out of fear.
When Hernan saw that his actions did not cause timidity and fear among the Aztecs, his mood fell into low ebb again.
He couldn't understand why these low-level beings were not afraid of firearms? Could it be that they had seen it before? Could it be that someone had arrived here before him?
All in all, Hernan's confusion would not be answered for a while, because after all, the two sides could not speak the same language at the moment. Even if he wanted to launch an attack by force, he could not guarantee that he could really defeat this group of people who not only had more people but were also afraid of firearms.
The Aztecs and the Spanish remained in a stalemate, and not long after, Hernan saw a silver-haired man with a distinctly different skin color slowly walking out from the Aztec army.
