The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
After the death of the twelfth Inca emperor Huayna Capac, his royal power, concubines and all servants were inherited by his heirs to the throne. However, the palaces and houses where he lived, as well as all the gold and silver ornaments in the houses and bedrooms, have been sealed up and regarded as holy places, and no one is ever allowed to enter. All farm tools and items he had used, including pots and pans, tableware in the kitchen, various utensils in the palace, clothing and jewelry, etc., were to be preserved as they were when he died. This is to preserve all the items he uses so that he can continue to use them in the underworld. This was because it was generally believed that the soul of the dead king would after a time revive his earthly body, and it was hoped that he would find everything he had ever used in life ready to receive him.
However, next to the palace where Emperor Huayna Capac lived in the past, a new and larger palace has been built. This is the palace of Prince Atahualpa, the successor to the king of the new Kingdom of Quito. The palace is almost the same as the original king's palace. It is also built with huge stones into a strong and luxurious circular shed. There are dozens of rooms in the greenhouse, including the king's bedroom, kitchen, living room and entertainment areas, as well as the residences of the queen and concubines. These houses were separated from each other, because the Incas did not connect one room to another, put tie beams on two walls, or use nails or brackets for the ceiling. It is tied up with ropes, and then straw curtains are placed on the rafters to form a roof. There were plenty of straw curtains to protect the walls from getting wet.
This newly built palace was built before the death of Emperor Capac, but it has not been used. Now, after the death of the king, the original king's palace has been sealed, so Atahualpa moved from the original palace to the new palace. The new palace has bedrooms, imperial dining room, court room, joy hall and banquet hall. Although these houses are relatively simple in construction, they are very luxurious and beautiful in decoration. The meeting hall and the inner meeting hall outside the palace are still the original ones, because this is not the original place where the king lived.
On this day, Atahualpa, the new owner of the palace, summoned his mother, Princess Palia, and uncle, Prince Kiskis, into the court room in the palace. The king usually summons princes and ministers in the meeting hall and inner meeting hall of the palace. Outsiders are generally not allowed to enter the court room in the palace. Only the king's family and close ministers can enter when they are summoned by the king.
The court room is the king's office, with an area of about twenty square meters. All the walls in the interior are covered with gold foil, and the floors are covered with carpets. In the middle of the room, there is a gold table about two meters long, eighty centimeters wide, and one meter high, and a gold chair. On the table were two plates of fresh grapes and pears brought from southern regions.
Prince Atahualpa sat in the same chair where his father had once sat. Across the table, sitting opposite her mother, Princess Palia, and uncle, Prince Kiskis. At this time, Prince Atahualpa said to Princess Parlia and Prince Quis, "Since my father died, I am now the king of the Kingdom of Quito. I must let the entire people of the Kingdom of Quito, and even the entire The people of the Inca Empire know it." As he said that, the prince looked at the prince. Because he had already discussed this matter with his mother, Princess Palia, and his uncle, the high priest Chalkuchma, he specially asked Kiski Prince Si summoned him and wanted to hear his statement.
When Prince Quischis heard this, he was suddenly startled. He felt that although Emperor Huayna Capac had given the Kingdom of Quito and some nearby provinces to Prince Atahualpa, it was still under the jurisdiction of Prince Huascar. What would Huascar think if he were a king? Because he hadn't thought about this question yet and didn't know how to answer it yet, he was thinking about how to answer it.
Seeing the puzzled look on Prince Quito's face, Princess Parlia said in an enlightening and explaining tone, "In the past, when the king was alive, both Par and Huascar were princes, but now, the king has taken over the Kingdom of Quito. and the provinces were given to Pal, then Pal is of course the King of Quito. If he is still called a prince, then once Huascar ascends the throne and is called the Inca King, people will think that Pal is his prince, completely You have to belong and obey his control, and you have to obey his orders in everything. Therefore, I think Par should still declare to people that he is the king of the Kingdom of Quito, not the prince he used to be." With that, He said to Prince Kiskis, "Don't you think so?"
Prince Kiskis immediately nodded and said, "That's right, Pa'er should claim to be the king. However, Huaskar will feel that Pa'er is on an equal footing with him and refuses to fall under his jurisdiction."
Prince Atahualpa said, "I just don't want to come under his jurisdiction, so what?"
Prince Kiskis said worriedly, "This will easily arouse his dissatisfaction with you, and I'm afraid he will tear his face and lead troops to attack you."
Prince Atahualpa smiled and said, "I wish he would come to attack me. With the 20,000 to 30,000 old soldiers in the Cusco city defense force, if he wants to come to attack me, why not ask for trouble with an egg against a stone?"
Prince Quiskis thought the same thing. The main force of the Inca Empire was brought north by the late King Huayna Capac to attack Quito and conquer the northern provinces. There were only two or three city defense troops left in the capital of Cusco. There are thousands of people, and they have not fought in many years. If a war really breaks out, they will naturally not be the opponent of Quito's army. But he added, "It's just that the late king is gone. If you two brothers have conflicts or disputes, it will be a joke to the people of the world."
Prince Atahualpa said, "I have no conflict with him. If he doesn't provoke me, I won't provoke him. If he wants to attack me, then I will be rude to him."
Prince Quiskis was not only Atahualpa's biological uncle, but also Huascar's biological uncle. He really didn't want the two nephews to cause disputes and conflicts due to their struggle for power. However, Prince Atahualpa and Princess Palia were forcing him to express his position, and he had such a personal relationship with Princess Paria, and because Xiuwei owed them a lot of love, he couldn't. There is no reward. He also knew that once Atahualpa became the king of the Kingdom of Quito, he would be the auxiliary minister of the Kingdom of Quito, not the auxiliary minister of the Inca Empire. In fact, after the death of the former king Huayna Capac, he was no longer an auxiliary minister of the Inca Empire, because once Huascar ascended the throne and became the king of the Inca Empire, he would definitely appoint someone in Cusco to help him supervise the country's governance. Prince Barbara Palca served as auxiliary minister of the Inca Empire. There is no doubt about this. Now Atahuallpa will serve as the king of the Kingdom of Quito. If he cannot stay close to the young king, he may not even be able to get the auxiliary ministers of the Kingdom of Quito. Thinking of this, he quickly said, "That being the case, I also think that Pa'er should hold a coronation ceremony as soon as possible and announce the coronation to the whole country."
After leaving the court room of the palace, Princess Palia invited Prince Kiskis to drink at Ziyuan Pavilion. So, Princess Palia asked the maid Chiarina to prepare wine. Chiarina brought a jug of wine and two cups and was about to pour wine for the princess and the prince. When Princess Palia winked at her, she put the jug on the small table and left in a hurry.
Princess Palia filled the wine glasses for the prince and herself, and the two began to clink glasses. The two had a few drinks in a row, and Pariya said, "Remember when we drank here two months ago?"
Prince Kiskis smiled and said, "Can you still remember that?"
The princess held the cup and clinked it with the prince. She put her arms around the prince's neck and said, "Just remember." Then she started to kiss the prince.
But the prince immediately blocked the princess with his arm and said, "No, no."
The princess was startled and said, "Why not? The king is gone, what are you afraid of? Do you think I am not as young and beautiful as Xiuwei?"
The prince smiled apologetically and said, "The king is no longer here, but Pa'er is more terrifying than the king."
The princess smiled and said, "You are afraid of him."
The prince nodded and said, "If the princess hadn't sacrificed her life to save her that time, I would have died by Pa'er's knife."
The princess wiped the sweat from the prince's forehead with her hand and said with relief, "Don't be afraid, Pa'er will not hurt you." After saying that, she put down the cup in her hand, hugged the prince with both hands, and said, "You are not Did you say you would love me forever?"
The prince gently pushed the princess away again and said, "Honorable princess, this is really unacceptable. If we have an affair again and let Pa'er see it, he will really kill me."
Seeing the beads of sweat on the prince's forehead, the princess let go of the prince and said funnyly, "So you are afraid of Pa'er?"
The prince nodded and said, "Yes, he is more terrifying than Emperor Wayna Capak."
The princess added, "Does that mean you hate him?"
The prince shook his head and said, "I don't hate him, I am grateful to him. He gave me his most beloved woman, Xiuwu."
The princess raised her glass and clinked it with the prince again, drank all the wine in the glass, and said, "Then I will ask you to do something for Pa'er again. After the task is completed, Pa'er and I will use a bigger glass." Thank you for the benefits."
Prince Kiskis asked, "What benefits?" Princess Palia said, "What do you want?"
The prince thought for a while and said, "There is nothing to think about, so give me the beautiful girl just now."
The princess said, "Okay."
The prince said, "Then please tell the princess what you need me to do for Pa'er."
Princess Paria sat next to the prince and whispered to Prince Kiskis. The prince listened and nodded.
The next morning, Prince Atahualpa of Quito invited Prince Quischis, Prince Luminawi, and Prince Gilabamba to have a drink. These three princes served respectively as commander of the army in Quito, commander of the central Inca army, and general manager of the Inca empire. It can be said that he is the core figure who controls the power of the Kingdom of Quito. After three drinks, Prince Quischis said to the other two princes, "Since Emperor Huayna Capac has distributed the Kingdom of Quito and its provinces to the prince, the prince should be the king of the Kingdom of Quito, so , I think we should hold a grand celebration to celebrate the prince becoming the king of the Kingdom of Quito, what do you think?"
The two princes immediately applauded, and Prince Luminawi even said, "I have had this idea for a long time, but Emperor Wayna Capak has just passed away, so I haven't thought about it yet."
Prince Gilabamba also said, "Pal becoming the king of Quito is a great event for Quito people. I am the first to express my support and support."
Prince Kiskis thought that what he said would arouse confusion and confusion among the two princes, but he did not expect that the two princes would express their stance in such a way, which made him feel that his performance yesterday was really not good enough, so he Wanting to make up for it, he said politely, "I suggest that the ceremony for the prince's enthronement and proclaiming himself king should be held as early as possible, preferably three days later. What do you think?"
When Prince Atahualpa heard this, he frowned and asked, "Is it too hasty?" Because he felt that such a big event required very thorough preparations.
However, Prince Kiskis said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, leave everything to me." The other two princes also said that the ceremony should be as early as possible. Therefore, Atahualpa agreed with everyone's opinions, and Prince Chiskis hosted the ceremony, and sent his uncle, the high priest Chalkuchma, to assist the prince in hosting the ceremony.
After everyone had discussed all the relevant matters, Prince Atahualpa called the palace's chief priest, Letika Leba, to discuss the specific matters of the enthronement ceremony. Because the high priest of the palace is in charge of all celebrations and rituals in the palace.
The high priest of Riticaleba is the cousin of the late King Huayna Capac. He is over sixty years old, skinny and has a gray beard. He can be said to be a virtuous and respected old man in the Inca Empire. Seeing the high priest Litika Leba coming to the court room, everyone politely gave up their seats to him. But the high priest Litikaleba felt that these people in front of him were in a higher position than himself, so he quickly bowed to the princes and princes and said, "Please give me advice."
Prince Quischis immediately said to Liticaleba, "According to the will of the late King Huayna Capac, Prince Atahualpa will be the king of the Kingdom of Quito. Now we have agreed to hold a grand enthronement ceremony. How do you think this should be done?"
After hearing this, Liticaleba immediately said, "Don't Prince Atahualpa need to marry Princess Anna Yama first, but he must first ascend the throne and become king?"
One sentence made everyone stunned. Because they have never seen or heard of any prince who can become king without getting married. Although Viracocha, the eighth Inca king of the Incas, became the king of the Incas before he was married, he was only fifteen years old and still a child at the time. Because he followed God's instructions, he was well prepared and suppressed it easily. ended the rebellion and safeguarded the royal power. And because of his success in suppressing the rebellion, his prestige was greatly increased. However, his father deserted before the battle and broke the trust of the people, so he gave way to him and became the eighth Inca king. Except for this Inca king of Viracocha, all other Inca kings became Inca kings after marriage.
Listen to this, everyone, look at me and I look at you. Finally, he focused his attention on the high priest of the palace. Atahualpa asked the high priest, "What do you think we should do?"
Letikaleba said, "Of course you should get married first and then ascend the throne. Do you think that with Princess Anna Yama by your side, you will gain more people's trust and support as king?"
"Of course," said the prince.
Letikaleba said, "Then you should get married first."
The prince said to the high priest of the palace, "Then I will leave it to you to organize the marriage. The sooner Princess Anna and I get married, the better."
The high priest of the palace said, "Prince, please rest assured."
