The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
After the internal organs of the king were taken out, the king's body was carried to the sacrificial chamber of the palace. Under the supervision of the high priest Chalkuchma, the craftsmen in the palace cleaned the body with water, dried it in a warm room, and then used it. Some highly dry and dehydrating flowers and plants absorb the moisture from the body and decompose and dissipate the unpleasant odor in the body. Then, various plants and aromatic plants such as mint, kibeo, and ichu are placed inside the body. These plants and aromatic plants can not only absorb body fluids exuded from corpses, but also prevent fungi from multiplying and the remains from deteriorating.
The dead ancestors were mummified with spices and special hay, and placed in gold containers at home. This is a common custom and habit among the Incas. They use this method to express that their ancestors are not dead and are still living with them. Because they firmly believe in the superstition that the soul survives after death, the Sapa Inca and Campak Inca were mummified after death. The mummies not only continued to enjoy the original land ownership, but also had women to accompany them at night. sleep.
In order to make the mummy appear vivid and lifelike, craftsmen made the mummy into a peaceful posture of squatting and resting in accordance with regulations and requirements. The mummy was wrapped in many cloths or cotton cloaks to absorb moisture, and was finally worn by the king. Wear a shroud suitable for your identity and put it in a golden coffin.
Early the next morning, the golden coffin was carried to the palace gate and tied tightly to the camel's hump. Dozens of tall camels and palace guards have lined up waiting here. Prince Atahualpa, Princess Anna and others came to see off Prince Manco who was escorting the golden coffin. Prince Atahualpa wiped away the tears of the teenage Prince Manco, while he was picked up and placed on a high camel, and then waved goodbye.
Although Prince Manco's camel team only had a few dozen people, there were nearly a thousand concubines and slaves who came to see him off after hearing the news. As they followed the camel team, they cried loudly, alarming many citizens. Therefore, when the camel team escorting the king's body passed through the narrow streets of the city, more and more people followed and saw it off. When the escort team walked out of the city and arrived at the river outside the city, there was already a sea of people seeing them off.
At this time, it was already noon. Prince Manco wanted to hurry up and didn't want people to follow him like this anymore, so he asked a few guards to guard the small bridge to prevent people behind him from crossing the river and following him. Although people no longer followed the escort team, the more tragic ending was something they never expected. Several concubines who were crying so hard suddenly jumped from the bridge into the river. The river was turbulent and flowed very fast. Immediately, the concubines and virgins who jumped into the river screamed and rolled a few times in the rapids before disappearing.
But instead of frightening the other concubines, this tragedy seemed to be a call and summons to them. Immediately afterwards, groups of virgin concubines were seen jumping into the river one after another, as if they were There is a diving competition going on. After hundreds of concubines and virgins jumped into the river, some officials and slaves who had followed the king in the past also cried and howled, muttering words that they would follow the king into the Sun Palace, and followed the tragic concubines. They jumped into the river together. Because they firmly believe that after their death, they can follow King Inca into the glorious Palace of the Sun, and continue to be with their revered and beloved King Inca.
After leaving Quito, the king's body, escorted by Prince Manco, was transported non-stop by the camel team at the inn day and night. It is about more than 1,500 kilometers from Quito, the northern capital, to Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire. The camel caravan has been heading south along the Andes mountain road. The Andes Mountains are 8,900 kilometers long from north to south. They are the longest mountain range in the world, almost three and a half times longer than the Himalayas. They run through the western part of the South American continent and are known as the "Backbone of South America". The mountain range has many peaks with an altitude of over 6,000 meters and the tops of which are covered with snow all year round. But the Andes are not composed of many tall peaks along a single line, but of many continuous parallel and transverse mountains, with many plateaus and depressions in between. Sometimes, people are still walking on plateaus or depressions, and suddenly they have to go up to the top of a peak several thousand meters high, and then quickly descend from the top of several thousand meters to the plateau and mountains. Therefore, although the Incas built marching roads or mountain paths in the Andes, sometimes the stone steps up the mountain were almost vertically upward. People with a fear of heights should not dare to walk there. However, the Incas could carry heavy loads or lead camels across mountains thousands of meters high. This cannot but be breathtaking. Walking 1,500 kilometers in such mountainous areas and mountains can be described as a difficult and long journey. But the postmen along the way still transported the king's golden coffin to the capital city of Cusco in the fastest and most efficient way.
When the golden coffin was about to be delivered to Cusco, the Inca capital in the south, Prince Huascar had already received the message sent by the postman, and led thousands of princes, nobles and dignitaries from the capital to go out of the city for more than 20 miles to welcome Huayna. ·The golden coffin of King Capac. Behind them, tens of thousands of citizens followed, crowding the spacious royal marching road to a sea of people. When the king's golden coffin was escorted by a group of dozens of camels and gradually approached from the distance on the road, hundreds of horn horns sounded a sharp and sad cry in unison. Prince Huascar led the crowd to kneel down and bow to King Huayna Capac. For a time, cries broke out everywhere and the earth shook. When the camel team reached the prince, the two young women helped him up. Everyone moved out of the way to let the camel team pass by, and then the prince followed the camel team and walked step by step toward the capital city of Cusco.
Cusco, meaning the place closest to the sun, is located in the Cusco Basin surrounded by mountains in the southern Andes Mountains of southern Peru. It was the capital of a vast empire and the residence of the court and major nobles. Regarding Cusco, there has been a myth and legend circulated among the Indians. A long time ago, the supreme ancestor Manco Capac and his sister Mama Oculo followed the will of God and wandered around with a golden staff. End of the world. One day, they came to the Cusco Basin, and casually inserted the golden rod into the ground, only to find that the golden rod suddenly disappeared. They called the land their home, and began to live and work in peace and contentment, live and multiply, and established Cusco. city.
As the capital of the Inca Empire, Cusco is surrounded by four castles and a strict defense system. These castles and walls are all made of huge stones. In the mountains on the outskirts of Cusco, there are three castles overlooking the city and many watchtowers, which also play a vital role in protecting the security of the capital.
Cusco is a large city with a large population and many large houses. There are as many as 40,000 residents in the urban area, and in the districts and counties 50 to 60 kilometers around Cusco, there are about 200,000 Indians living in total. Many of them come from remote provinces and wear colorful clothes. The clothes form a beautiful picture when walking on the street. These people who come from all over are orderly, kind, polite and carefree.
The Wakai Pata Square in the city is the center of the city. From the square, there are four long and narrow streets radiating to the southeast, northwest, and vertically leading to the suburbs of the city and connected to the empire's marching avenues in four directions. A clear river flows through the city. The nearly 100 kilometers of embankments on both sides of the river are paved with neat stones, and stone bridges of the same width are erected at intervals.
There are many houses in the city. Most of the buildings are made of stone or paved with stones. Among them, the palace building is the most eye-catching. Every king must build a new palace for himself during his lifetime and name it after himself. These Inca palaces of the past dynasties are concentrated around Huacai Pata Square. Although these palaces are not very majestic, they cover a large area. They are all made of stones, exquisitely polished and colorfully painted. The gates are made of colored marble, but the roofs are not tiles, but thatched. It's a bedding, but because the bedding is done properly, it still looks very delicate and beautiful.
Expanding from the central square, the stone buildings of the princes, nobles and famous families in the capital gradually turned into the mud-walled huts of the common people. The different classes are strictly hierarchical, with clear distinctions between rich and poor.
The most luxurious building is undoubtedly the large temple built to worship the Sun God. These temples are exquisitely built and decorated with gold leaf, and the surrounding gardens and huge flower beds also sparkle with dazzling gold. But the most important building in the city is the bunker, which is usually built on the solid rocks on the edge of the city. Looking around from the top of the bunker tower, you can see a wonderful view of the countryside outside the city: under the blue tropical sky, towering rocks, waterfalls, green grass, patches of forest, and endless green stretches as far as the eye can see. To the distant mountains.
The team escorting and welcoming the golden coffin entered the city along the marching avenue, and then walked slowly along the straight street towards the Pachacuti Central Square in the city center. It was around noon that the golden coffin arrived at the square.
At this time, the clergy and priests in the city had carried the mummies of the Inca emperors and the golden statues of gods in costumes one by one to both sides of the center of the square, and placed them on the golden thrones with a golden base.
Under the overlooking of the bronze statue of the late King Pachacuti, the sacrificial activities to commemorate the late King Wayna Kapac the Great began. The priests opened the golden coffin, took out the mummy of Emperor Huayna Capak, and placed it on a gold throne together with the mummies of other former kings. Suddenly, hundreds of horns sounded in unison, and groups of alpacas were slaughtered with sharp knives amidst the prayers of the priests. They fell into pieces, with blood flowing across them and moaning everywhere.
At this time, Prince Huascar appeared from the crowd on one side of the square with the princes and nobles. For a time, people stopped crying and watched the prince devoutly and respectfully as he walked towards the center of the square.
Prince Huascar, dressed in black, led Prince Manco and thousands of other royal nobles who had just arrived from Quito in the north to escort the golden coffin, and knelt down in front of the mummy of his father, Huayna Capac the Great. , suddenly the horns sounded and the crying started loudly.
