The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
Atahualpa had long seen that there would be a battle between him and Huascar sooner or later, because a mountain cannot accommodate two lions, and a country cannot have two kings. But he still had many concerns in his heart, and it was precisely because of his concerns that he could only rely on deception to deal with Huascar's instructions to him, because Huascar was the Inca King and he was the King of Quito. , and the Inca King was the king of Quito. In the laws and regulations of the Inca Empire, the Inca King was the supreme king, and any violation or violation of the Inca King would be considered betrayal or rebellion. So, this is why he has so many worries in his heart.
Of course, Chalkuchma understood these concerns in his nephew's heart, so he said to King Quit, "Your Majesty, there is no need to worry too much. Just do whatever you have to do. Because no matter what you do, Huascar will look displeased." , will intervene and hold accountable. Therefore, your Majesty, you can lead your army to fight and expand your territory. If Huascar accuses you, you can deal with it according to the method mentioned by Commander Ruminawi. If he becomes angry and wants to go north to crusade, We just happen to be waiting for him here. In this way, we have a reason to go south to attack Cusco, and then capture Cusco in one fell swoop and capture Huascar alive. By then, you will be the king of the entire Inca Empire. .”
Listening to his uncle's words, Atahualpa nodded knowingly.
But Chalkuchma added, "But as far as I know, Huascar is now busy with that important change, and this change will not only cause a lot of trouble and deep contradictions, but also cause a lot of trouble." The great panic and chaos will probably take Huascar a long time to deal with. Therefore, at least in the next six months or a year, he will have no time or mind to deal with this matter. When he really has time and When I was busy investigating this matter, I didn’t know that the Kingdom of Quito had already expanded to several more provinces.”
Gilabamba immediately interjected, "I heard that Huascar was breaking the rules of the Inca ancestors, confiscating all the land of the ancestors, and moving all their slaves away. I wonder if those nobles and slaves would treat him Hate so much."
Kiskis also said angrily, "Not to mention those nobles and slaves, they make me angry. According to the rules of the Inca Empire, although the ancestors of the kings died, their souls still exist, and future generations should treat them as if they were alive. However, Emperor Huayna Capac was still alive. When he heard that Prince Huascar confiscated all his and other former kings' lands, he and other former kings' slaves were also removed. This was not to offend and Blaspheming the late king, being disloyal and unfilial to the late king?" Because in the Inca Empire, not only was the death of the king not considered death, but he also had to enjoy all the rights of a living person, including a large area of land, slaves, guards, and two meals a day. He was fed, and a woman slept with him at night.
After listening to everyone's discussions and suggestions, King Atahualpa stood up from the wine table with his head held high and said to the ministers sitting here in a slow and solemn tone, "I now solemnly announce the expedition to the north. It will start in three days. Prince Quischis will use the fastest time to prepare and send people to explore and inspect the march route and camping locations. Prince Gilabamba will find a way to provide all supplies. The army will go north in Quito After the conquest, the northern and central armies must defend the entire capital and kingdom.”
Several high-ranking officials and ministers responded in unison, "Your Majesty is wise."
King Atahualpa added, "Although my bloodline is not as pure as Prince Huascar, I will continue to expand the boundaries and territory of our kingdom toward the horizon like my ancestors, and I will make my subjects We will have more land and food, and all of you and the noble officials here will have more women and wealth. As long as you follow me and be loyal to me, I will let you all live a life of glory and wealth, like a palace in heaven and earth."
All the ministers quickly replied in unison, "Thank you for your grace, I am willing to go through fire and water for your Majesty."
After seeing off several important ministers, King Atahualpa was a little drunk. He returned from the chamber to the palace room not far away. He saw his wife, Queen Anna, sitting alone at the table in silence, looking thoughtful and worried. , I remembered that when my father was still alive in the past, he liked to discuss every important matter with her, and I thought that maybe Queen Anna really had extraordinary and unique ideas.
So he sat on the chair opposite and said to his queen, "I was drinking with four ministers just now, and they tried their best to persuade me to send troops while Huascar was busy confiscating the land of the late king and removing the servants of the late king. In the northern border, conquer the barbarians and expand the boundaries and territory of the Kingdom of Quito. What is your opinion on this matter?"
Queen Anna thought for a moment, then looked at the king with a frown and said, "My husband really wants to hear what I have to say?"
Atahualpa smiled and said, "You might as well listen."
Queen Anna said bluntly, "From my perspective, this is a plan to ruin the family and the country."
Atahualpa couldn't help but was startled and said, "Is the Queen worrying too much? How can I expand my territory and strengthen my foundation to subjugate the country?"
Queen Anna said, "It's not that I worry too much about my concubine, but that they are short-sighted." Then, Anna said, "You can imagine what Huascar will think if you expand your borders and increase your territory? He will definitely I think you are not abiding by your duties and are ambitious. Moreover, my father left a will before his death. All the territories and territories you captured must belong to King Huascar. You can give the territories and territories you captured to King Huascar? Definitely not, so King Huascar will definitely send an army to attack Quito."
Atahualpa sneered and said, "He Huascar only has so many soldiers, but he wants to attack Quito. I think he is impatient. If it weren't for the fear that others would say I am ungrateful, I would still want to lead the troops." Attacking Cusco."
Queen Anna said, "Why can't you two brothers live in peace and harmony with each other? Why do you have to stir up trouble and fight and kill each other?"
Atahualpa asked, "What does peace mean? Don't you see that he is always giving me problems?"
The princess retorted, "When he holds a coronation ceremony, how can he not invite you to attend? He wants to make changes. How can he not discuss such a big matter with you? However, you are afraid that he will harm you, so you use the excuse of illness to How can you say that he is giving you a problem? Even if you don't go to Cusco, you can't talk about him like this, let alone do something that violates your father's last words. So, you want to As far as I'm concerned, neither of you should break the rules, and neither should offend the other. In this way, neither one of you will find a reason to attack the other."
Atahualpa asked again, "Do you know how the Inca Empire became powerful?"
Queen Anna said, "It depends on the benevolence and wisdom of the previous kings."
Atahuallpa said, "No, it relies on constantly attacking foreign tribes to expand its territory. If it is as you say, the former kings and other foreign tribes are in peace and friendly with each other, and the Inca Empire now only has the Cusco Valley." That palm-sized territory might have been annexed by other alien races long ago."
But Queen Anna still warned in a very serious tone, "That was a matter between the previous king and the alien race, but now it's you and King Huascar, they are not aliens, but brothers. If you brothers fight each other, If you get up, you will kill your relatives and exterminate the clan, causing the entire Inca royal family to suffer disaster."
But Atahualpa said, "It's not that I'm looking for trouble with him, but that he's always finding new ways to find trouble with me. It seems like he can't sleep unless he gets rid of me." Then he used The wise man's attitude taught the queen, "You women don't know what men think. A mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, and a country cannot tolerate two kings. Men live in the world to fight and fight. The winner is the king, and the loser is the slave. Don't you think about this?" Understand? I can tell you this, sooner or later Huascar and I will fight. Even if we don’t fight now, we will fight in the future.”
Queen Anna asked sadly, "What's the point of doing this?"
Atahualpa said, "It's not a matter of good or bad, but Huascar and I cannot be kings at the same time, and the Kingdom of Quito and the Inca Empire cannot exist at the same time."
Queen Anna asked, "Whether you defeat Huascar or Huascar defeats you, what will happen?"
Atahualpa said, "If he defeats me, I will die; if I defeat him, he will have to give up the throne of the Inca Empire to me."
Anna asked again, "Then do you know who can beat whom?"
Atahualpa shook his head and said, "It's hard to say."
Anna said, "Then why are you still fighting?"
The king said, "Because we can't tolerate each other's existence."
Anna said, "You are all brothers, and you are incompatible with each other. Then the Sun God will no longer bless you. He will hurt both of you, and then send foreigners to kill you and overthrow our country. , smash our idols, and make us Incas subjugate and exterminate our nation.”
After hearing this, Atahualpa asked unhappily, "Is this a guess or a curse?"
Queen Anna sternly reminded, "My father once said before his death that the eighth generation Inca king once warned us that in a few years, there will be some foreigners who are smarter and stronger than us to rule us. And , before my father died, there was a celestial phenomenon that showed that after his death, there would be a brutal killing and fight among the royal family, which would lead to the destruction of the country, the destruction of the people, and the collapse of the empire. Do you really want this celestial phenomenon to appear? "
After hearing this, Atahualpa sneered and said, "These are just the dreams of my father and the nonsense of the priests. You still take it seriously. What other alien races are there now? All the alien races have been defeated by the powerful Inca The army was conquered and destroyed. If there were any aliens, the Huascars were the aliens of Quito."
As he spoke, King Atahualpa mocked contemptuously, "In the past, when my father was still alive, he would always discuss things with you and call you the goddess of wisdom. It turns out that it was nothing more than that. Apart from being eloquent and eloquent, you actually had nothing to do with it. There is no foresight, it can be seen that my father only listens to you because he loves you too much."
Queen Anna was silent when she heard this. She kept lowering her head and wiping the tears that rolled down her face. When she felt sad, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
When Atahualpa saw Queen Anna lowering her head and wiping away tears, sighing, her face suddenly fell, and she said, "Why are you sighing?"
Queen Anna whispered, "It's nothing, I just thought about how great it would be if my father was still here."
