Answer: c. Both empires established tributary relationships with their peripheral states.
Explanation:
China and the Aztec empire operated a Tribute system in the fifteenth century whereby states or people that they had conquered or were inferior to them (peripheral states) paid them tribute.
These tributes were a source of income for both states and solidified the dominance both states had over the peripheral states.
Personification is when something non-living does humanly actions. The sentence states that the fire "gnawed" ceaselessly at the bark of the tree, and gnawing is a human action.
