ocr: The Aztec goalon the battletield was to take prisoners for use as sacrifices. The gods needed human blood to survive, so thousands ofvictims were sacrificed each year. Theretore, the Aztecs fought what they called"flowery wars" wars whose main purpose was to capture, sacrificial victims, not for military conquest. One adviser to the Aztec emperors recommended that they always allow one or another nearby kingdom to remain independent. The Aztecs would fight with them to take prisoners who could be used-to satisfy the gods' needs for sacrificial blood.
