The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
After seeing off Ipiares, Atahualpa felt much calmer in his heart. But he still had some worries in his heart, wondering what other problems Huascar would pose for him. It's been a month or two and I haven't heard anything from Cusco. Atahualpa thought that maybe Huascar no longer had any trouble with him, and slowly began to calm down. However, this King of Quito is not the kind of person who keeps to himself and is willing to be lonely. The more lonely he is, the farther his thoughts will fly.
On this day, the king of Quito summoned several close ministers to the palace to drink and discuss matters. It was noon in early spring. The clear and warm sunshine shines into the palace chamber from the window, shining brightly on the gold ornaments on the walls and the gold wine glasses on the table.
There was a table set in the hall, and around it sat King Atahualpa, Kiskis, Chalkuchma, Luminavi, and Gilabamba. Next to each one stood a princess. Each of them held a small wine jar, and poured wine for the king and ministers from time to time.
In front of the dining table, about twenty young and beautiful dancers were dancing a soothing and graceful court dance on a gorgeous bright red alpaca carpet, following the flute played by an old palace musician.
The monarchs and ministers drank wine while watching the singing and dancing of the dancers. After drinking three rounds of nine cups, Atahualpa waved to the dancers and musicians. The musicians and dancers immediately stopped performing and trotted out of the chamber.
Atahualpa raised his glass and drank another large glass of chicha. Then he stood up from the stool and said in an impassioned tone, "Although my father gave me Quito and the northern region, After all, the area between Quito and the north is not very big, so I want to lead troops to fight, expand the territory, and expand Quito's national border to the north. I don't know if you have any objections."
Everyone was startled when they heard this topic, because this matter is not something that can be said casually. In the Inca Empire, only the Inca King had the right to recruit and fight. Then, Prince Quiskis frowned and said in bewilderment, "The late king left a last word, saying that as the king of Quito, the king will unite the army to assist the Inca King Huascar in leading the conquest, and will expand the conquest." The territory we have conquered will be under the control of Huascar, the Inca king. Since the territory we have conquered will be under the control of Huascar, then why should we waste our people, money and troops on an expedition?"
But King Atahualpa snorted and said, "The territory I conquered with my troops will be handed over to him. Then I am still the king of Quito, and am I not the commander of Huascar's army?" Then, Atahualpa Valpa added, "Since he is the Inca king and my brother, I will not provoke him, but I can lead my troops north to conquer. These territories are neither his territory nor mine. Who can snatch it?" It belongs to whoever gets it.”
After hearing what the young king said, Kuchi Machar immediately agreed, "Your Majesty is wise. Since the King is in charge of the elite soldiers and generals left by the late king, he must let them play their role. Otherwise, these people will eat all day long." If we have food and nothing to do, over time, we will slowly become an old soldier. When will Huascar change his face and lead his troops to attack us, will we still be able to avoid defeat?"
Seeing that Ruminawi remained silent, the young king asked him, "What do you think of this, Prince?"
As the commander of the army, there is no one who does not want to fight, because fighting not only allows them to be useful and improves their reputation, but more importantly, it allows them to seize a lot of property and women. Therefore, after listening to King Atahualpa's inquiry, Prince Ruminawi, the commander of the central Inca army, nodded quickly and said, "That is, we always indulge in the comfort of peacetime and make the army idle, which is not good for the army. Improvement of literacy. Moreover, those of us who are military commanders have not fought in a war for several years, so I often sleep and dream about fighting."
Ruminawi finished the wine in the cup, put the cup on the table, and said, "From a humble perspective, the territory of the Inca Empire is vast and vast, while the territory of Quito is really small, but the king and The Huascar princes were brothers and could not compete with each other. Therefore, the king opened up territory to the north and expanded the territory. It can be said that he made a wise decision and had great ambitions. Besides, although the Inca Empire had four armies, only the northern, central and Quito armies For many years, they have been following the late king and the great king in their charge into battles in the north and south. Not only are the number of troops much larger than the southern army in Cusco, but the quality of the soldiers is also much better. Since the late king left these elite soldiers to the great king, they are powerful. General, why don’t your Majesty let these soldiers play a role in establishing the foundation for Your Majesty?”
But Gilabamba, the palace manager, reminded him, "The late king has always wanted to rebuild the palace in Quito. Although a lot of preparations have been made to rebuild the palace, once the project is started, the gold and silver utensils and various building materials will be different. Quite far, if we really want to rebuild the palace, there are only more than 100,000 craftsmen who have not yet prepared enough food. If we send more troops to conquer, the burden on the national treasury will be even heavier. Therefore, please think twice and proceed with caution."
After hearing this, King Atahualpa waved his hand and said, "You can put aside the rebuilding of the palace first. It will not be too late after I destroy Huascar and become the Inca King. By then, I will build the palace. It must be bigger than what the late king wanted to build.”
Kiskis is the commander of the army who follows his brother, King Huayna Capak, on many years of campaign. He knows that wars and campaigns can not only rob a lot of property, but also rob a lot of women and slaves, so when he heard what the steward said, he said , "The things in your warehouse will be used in the war. If there is no war, they will still be used. It is better to use them in the war. Once the war breaks out, I'm afraid your warehouse won't even be able to pile up the things stolen and paid tribute."
But Chalkuchma said, "The northern region is a primitive and wild land, thousands of miles deep, densely forested, crisscrossed by rivers, and extremely sparsely populated. I wonder what strategy the king will adopt to conquer it?"
King Atahualpa said, "According to the reports I sent to inquire, the unconquered land in the northern region is about half the size of the Kingdom of Quito, and is mostly boundless mountainous dense forests. There are only a few local tribes in the forest. They are in In an extremely primitive and savage living state, apart from being savage and extremely ignorant, there is no fighting ability, and it is estimated that we will not encounter much resistance. Therefore, I will lead the 30,000-strong Quito army of Prince Quischis. When people go to conquer, they first send a small group of troops to clear and build roads and go deep into the forest. Then they send spies and envoys to negotiate with the local tribal leaders. If they refuse to surrender, they send troops to attack and station in the conquered tribal areas. Troops, build roads and build warehouses.”
Gilabamba asked, "The conquest of the army is a major event for the country. Should the king ask for instructions or report to King Huascar in advance? If he does not ask for instructions or report in advance, Huascar will definitely blame the king. Huascar is inherently right. The king is suspicious. If the king sends a large army to expand northward like this, it will easily anger Huascar and give him excuses and reasons to accuse the king."
Gilabamba's words immediately touched King Atahualpa's pain. He was silent for a long time and asked everyone, "So and so, what should I do?"
Kiskis put the wine glass on the small table and said, "The king has nearly a hundred thousand elite soldiers and hundreds of generals. And he, Huascar, has never fought a war, and he has never led an army. He has never led an army, so why should the king be afraid of him? Besides, Huascar is the Inca king, but you are still the king of Quito. Why should you, the king of Quito, be inferior to his Inca king? Why, you, the Quito king, should be inferior to him? Does the king have to act based on the face of the Inca king?"
King Atahuallpa said, "That's not because our Kingdom of Quito is not as powerful as the Inca Empire. If our Kingdom of Quito were more powerful than his Inca Empire, I would have led my troops south to Cusco and captured Huascar alive." Capture him alive and kill all the royal princes who are against me."
Luminawi said, "Your Majesty, Cusco is thousands of miles away from us, and it would take a postman a week to send a message. If he really pursues the matter, we will send him a few beauties and a few more Just say a nice word and send him away."
Atahualpa felt that this method was feasible, so he asked Chalkuchma, "What does uncle think about this?"
Chalkuchma is a person who is good at listening to other people's words and thinks deeply about various issues, so his words are often more convincing than others. Seeing Atahuallpa asking for his opinion, he said, "Conquering foreign tribes and expanding the territory have always been necessary measures to strengthen the empire and unite the hearts of the people. If the Kingdom of Quito wants to be peaceful and peaceful, prosperous and strong, it must follow this path. "
Hearing that Chalkuchma also agreed with the conquest strategy, King Atahualpa nodded quickly, but he asked, "How should Huascar deal with it?"
In fact, he had thought about this problem countless times. If it weren't for Huascar, what worries and concerns would he have? Huascar, that damn Huascar again, it was as if there was an invisible spell restricting him, threatening him, making him have to think about what Huascar would do before doing anything. This really made him gnash his teeth with hatred. But there is nothing to do. In fact, he could get rid of Huascar and do whatever he wanted. However, he was afraid that Huascar would accuse him of violating his father's legacy, so he had to find a justifiable reason for what he did.
