"Wait! Izel, I’m getting confused! Explain clearly, don’t use this ’Flower Battle Chess’ metaphor, be specific!"

"...You said it first... cough!... Alright!"

Izel shook his head, reached out, took out a handful of cocoa beans, and threw them in front of the bonfire, counting them one by one. Each cocoa bean represented a legion, regardless of its military strength.

"Witness of Chief Divine! The current southern expedition forces of the Alliance consist of six royal legions totaling eight thousand soldiers, one four-thousand-strong Tonsured Guard, one thousand Eagle Jaguar warriors, two thousand Lake Kingdom Guards, plus forty thousand City-State Army soldiers, and additional logistical civilian workers conscripted from each state..."

"I’ll allocate seven and a half cocoa beans to Divine King based on the number of legions, half a cocoa bean to the Prophet, five cocoa beans to City-State Nobles... Hmm, I might have given too much to the City-State Nobles’ combat capability... whatever, let’s count it like this! Altogether twelve and a half cocoa beans, right?"

"Hmm... not bad!"

"Now, I, you, plus Spruce, which means ’us’. Three private troops from the Glory family, combined, are actually only equivalent to two cocoa beans. However, with half conscripted by the Divine King and disorganized, but no matter what, if assassination is successful, together we can indeed gather two beans! And then, it’s about vying over the royal legions’ cocoa beans left by the Divine King, other City-State Army’s cocoa beans, best to acquire half!"

"Hmm... Izel, your analysis is very interesting! But our power should be more than this? If the Divine King dies, the Southern Three States will naturally join, and then rally the other city-states... aren’t these five cocoa beans of the City-State Army all ours?"

"No! That’s all undecided! Other City-State Legion Commanders may not necessarily side with us! If the assassination charges are pinned on us, they might stay away from us, or even betray us... So, they’re uncertain counts!"

Izel lightly shook his head, his eyes gleaming with cunning contemplation. He actually had some reverence for ’Prophet’, and carefully collected, studied, and pondered all of the ’Divine Revelation Books’ put forth by Xiulote. Therefore, when it came down to planning, he saw more clearly than General Xintle, trapped in the scene.

"Hmm? The assassination charges pinned on us... Izel, are you saying we should avoid this charge?"

"Of course not bear it! This is a life-threatening matter, taking it sooner or later is demise! Such a charge, either let ’Knife and Dagger’ shoulder it, or push it to ’the Asar Lineage’, ’those in the Temple’, or even push it to ’the Prophet’... we two must never bear it, mustn’t jump out first either!"

"Chief Divine! This?... You mean, let the Asar Lineage, or the temple’s Elder Priests, enter first?"

"Exactly! Just drag them into the water first! How can we let them stand on the shore watching while we retrieve nuts in the sun’s big fireball for them?"

"How is the sun a big fireball? Clearly it’s the Hummingbird Chief Divine... cough! Get ashore them into the water, how is this possible? Why would they act first?"

"Xintle, we’ll discuss these specific plans later... let’s finish counting these cocoa beans first!"

Izel touched his smooth chin, dodging Xintle’s pursuit. Actually, he hadn’t thought it through yet; he just had some broad ideas. But no problem, he could endure and wait. Within Divine King’s centralized sequence, he was actually far back...

"In the Southern Expedition’s Land Amidst the Clouds, Divine King holds seven and a half cocoa beans, including two from the Asar Lineage, half a bean from one thousand Eagle Jaguar warriors... Prophet holds half a bean, we hold two beans, other Great Nobility hold three beans... that constitutes ten cocoa beans, present in the scene!"

"And outside the Southern Expedition’s Cloud Land, within the Mexica Alliance... the Lake Capital City’s High Priesthood holds one bean for Temple Guards. Little Prince, supported by Gillim, controls the mobilization rights of Lake Region’s human and material resources, withholding quite a number of noble citizens, holding up to three beans! A royal reserve legion, an elite long spear militia, a Recruitment Army from Cloud Snake Sealed Land. Divine Son Princess grasps half a bean for two thousand Elder Guards. Plus a neutral half a bean, remaining thousand Eagle Jaguar warriors, uncertain whom they’ll lean towards, perhaps closer to the High Priesthood... this makes five more cocoa beans on key outside areas, ready to impact the overall situation!"

"And further outside, Prophet’s Kingdom of the Lake, creating that Totonac Alliance... the specific legions are unclear, let’s count it as six cocoa beans! Only if Prophet dies, these beans remain outside, without an alliance title, they won’t enter the scene, might not choose to enter... if they do enter, they only become the common enemy of all allied big forces!"

Izel’s expression turned somber, mapping out three circles, totaling twenty-one cocoa beans, representing the Greatest Alliance’s full mobilizable power. With all these beans spread out, the strengths of friends and foes clearly emerged, the situation became very apparent.

"Xintle, what do you see from these cocoa beans?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Izel, Divine King’s power has an overwhelming advantage over us. As long as he lives, he can command royal forces, Little Prince’s forces, Princess’s forces, even Prophet’s forces in the field, at least ten cocoa beans! No matter if it’s the Asar Lineage in hiding, High Priesthood in secret, or the Great Nobility in the public eye, none gather any confidence for direct confrontation... If the assassination fails, we provide a legitimate reason, will suffer Divine King’s purge, might even uproot several lines of Honorable Nobility!"