The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
King Atahualpa led an army of 30,000 men and set out on a beautiful spring morning with flowers in bloom. When the expedition was launched, the entire city of Quito was in a state of excitement. Quito people in far and near areas were all dressed up in festive attire, with packages containing cheese, fruit, corn tortillas, sweet potato chips and other food. They supported the old and young, and the whole family set out to march along the long marching road and paved with cobblestones. The streets rushed from all directions to the central square of the city, wanting to see the grand occasion of the army's expedition and the king's face. By midday, the central square in front of the Quito Palace was already crowded with people.
In the center of the square, thousands of young and beautiful virgins were dressed in red and green, singing and dancing. From time to time, hundreds of horn horns kept blowing strong and loud marching horns. On the marching avenue next to the central square, more than 20,000 soldiers in uniform, armed with spears and battle axes, and carrying curved bows and short arrows, were neatly lined up in an endless armed queue, waiting for the king's marching order at any time. .
The high priest of the palace, Letika Leba, stood on the high platform in the center of the palace square and solemnly announced the start of the expedition ceremony. Then, hundreds of drums suddenly sounded, and hundreds of horns sounded. King Atahualpa, dressed in rich clothes, was led by Queen Anna, Prince Quischis, the commander of the Quito army, and Chalku, the commander of the northern army. Accompanied by the high priest of Chima, Luminawi, the commander of the central army, and Prince Gilabamba, the general manager of the Kingdom of Quito, he walked to the temporary expedition platform set up in the center of the square and waved to the cheering people. Suddenly, the mountains The tsunami-like cheers suddenly fell silent.
King Atahualpa waited for the people to be completely quiet, and spoke to the people with a loud voice. He said, "In order to fulfill the instructions given to me by my father when he is about to return to heaven, he is to persuade the neighboring tribes to change their beliefs and respect and worship the sun. , I have decided to set out to persuade them. I hope that all generals and officers and soldiers will also take this as their duty, serve our common father, the sun, and serve the interests and welfare of neighboring tribes, and now these neighbors are We are urgently needed to help them get rid of their barbaric and ignorant life. We must persuade them to submit to the empire, teach them to farm, train them to understand reason and reason, persuade them to abandon their original idols and bad habits, worship the sun, and abide by our laws and regulations .”
When King Atahualpa said this, he paused for a while, and then said in a very solemn tone, "The Kingdom of Quito was a powerful country during my grandfather's time. After my father conquered this kingdom, he made the Kingdom of Quito even stronger. .Now that my father has given this kingdom to me, I will rebuild it into a kingdom with a stronger military and a wider territory. To this end, I will use our army to conquer and expand territories we have not yet known, Let those people who are still in primitive tribes live like us, let those remote and ignorant people receive the favor of the sun god, and let those vast and wild lands become the possession of our Kingdom of Quito. Today It is the day when I lead the army of Quito to march to the northern border. In order for our army to be invincible and to have more tribal chiefs and leaders contribute to the kingdom, let our priests pray and bless the army's conquest. "
As soon as King Atahualpa finished speaking, about 400 priests dressed in black on both sides of the altar in front of the expedition platform began to recite prayers in unison. The high priest of the palace, Letika Leba, held a torch and lit the holy fire in front of the marching platform. The holy fire is made by placing chicha wine made from corn in a large gold vat and lighting it with fire. The fire is burning, symbolizing the undying strength of the Kingdom of Quito. At this time, the crowd gathered around the altar, praying loudly, cheering, singing and dancing. The cheers were like a mountain and a tsunami, deafening.
When the sacrifice reached its climax, King Atahualpa, surrounded by the singing and dancing of thousands of virgins and cheers, walked towards the army that was already ready to go. At the front of the marching army, a royal sedan was waiting to lift the king and set off for the expedition. The king waved to the cheering crowd and entered the sedan. At this time, hundreds of horn horns blew the trumpets to start the march. The king's golden sedan was slowly lifted by eighty people and began to walk towards the avenue leading to the north of the city. On both sides of the road and streets leading to the north of the city, the people continued to cheer and sing, and followed the army with singing and dancing, until the king and the army were sent to the marching road outside the city.
This marching road is a continuation of the road built by the late king Huayna Capac the Great from Cusco, the southern capital, to Quito, the northern capital, all the way to the small town of Ibarra, one or two hundred kilometers north of Quito. The width of the road is four to seven meters, with one league every 24 kilometers. A milestone is erected on the roadside, and a hotel is set up every 19 to 29 kilometers for pedestrians to rest. Therefore, it was very convenient for the army to march on this road, and it took only two days to reach the small town of Ibarra.
Although the town is not big, it is an important town in the area north of Quito. Because there had been a foreign rebellion here, after King Huayna Capac conquered the Kingdom of Quito and quelled the northern rebellion, he not only stationed more than 3,000 troops here, but also set up arms warehouses and food warehouses. Considering that this is the end of the marching road of the Kingdom of Quito, heading north is a wilderness area with dense forests and crisscrossed rivers. Entering it, you have to take a narrow path, which is inconvenient for large armies to move. For this reason, King Atahualpa ordered the army to temporarily rest in the town.
Nearly a thousand white tents were set up around the town, which originally had only a few dozen farmhouses and about twenty barracks. King Atahualpa lived in the local barracks. The military officer of the barracks not only vacated a whole barracks with more than ten rooms for the king to live in, but also vacated another barracks as a camp for the palace guards. Although the king said he was leading an army on a expedition, it was actually just like going on a tour. Not only did he bring many concubines, singing girls and maids with him, but he also brought a large number of daily necessities from the palace. Moreover, the room where he and his concubines lived had been carefully cleaned and decorated by the maids in advance. The floor was covered with expensive carpets, and the walls were hung with pure gold ornaments. Even the tables and tableware were imported from the palace. The fish, shrimp and fresh fruits brought to the table were also quickly transported by postmen from distant coastal and southern regions.
Since the king regards this expedition as a cruise, beautiful women and delicious food are naturally indispensable. In the Inca kingdom, family size was strictly defined by the man's power and wealth. For the Inca people, adultery outside of marriage and unmarried adultery were usually punishable by death. Because for these privileged classes, drinking and committing adultery have become the most important forms of entertainment and leisure in their daily lives.
That night, the king decorated his residence in the military camp with lights and decorations, set up three banquet tables, and invited the generals and school officers in the army to drink and watch a show. The banquet was served with fresh shrimps from the coast, fruits from the south, game from the north, and fine wines. These delicacies are usually only enjoyed by kings and concubines.
Before the banquet began, King Atahualpa said, "My beloved generals, you have followed me on the Northern Expedition and have worked hard all the way. Therefore, I am hosting a banquet tonight to comfort you all. These fresh game are all sent by messengers from afar. Yes, let’s all have a good taste.” With that, a group of beautiful palace singers in red and green lined up from behind the screen and began to dance gracefully with their sleeves waving.
King Atahualpa saw that the officers were feasting, drinking, singing and dancing, so he quietly left the banquet and returned to his residence. At this time, the garrison officer Tashiguye happened to be waiting in the house with seven or eight local women. Of course the king knew that this was a local beauty that the school officials were selecting for him.
Seeing the king come in, the school officials and beauties all knelt down and saluted, saying, "Long live the king."
King Atahualpa said, "Get up."
Everyone said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
The king then said to the young women, "Lift your heads and let me take a good look."
The girls raised their heads and smiled at the king with their brightest smiles.
The king felt that although these northern women were not as charming and charming as the Quito women, they were dark-skinned, full of wild spirit, fierce temperament, and had a special taste, so he said, "Take off all your clothes and let me see."
So the girls quickly took off their clothes and stood in a row naked for the king to inspect. The girls were all young, with a slightly slim figure and not yet full breasts. This made the school officer Tashiguye standing aside break into a cold sweat, fearing that the girl he had chosen would be looked down upon by the king.
The king walked up to the girls, touched the girl's breasts with his hands, and then patted the girl's butt. Then, he said to Colonel Tashi Guye, whose forehead was covered with sweat, "I am a little thinner." , but the embryos are still pretty good. As long as they are raised well, they will still be pretty beauties." Then he asked the girls, "Can you sing and dance?"
The girls said yes. As he spoke, he sang and danced.
These songs are all local folk songs. The tunes sound good, but the meaning is not understandable. Moreover, the dances are also a bit wild and wild, with a fast rhythm and seemingly no structure. But the king knows that the people of the northern tribes are relatively wild, so their singing and dancing must also be rougher.
After watching for a while, the king high-fived the girls and made them stop. He called Haya over, kicked the girls' clothes on the ground with his shoes, and said, "Throw these clothes far away, and then again." Take them to take a good bath and find some decent clothes for them to wear." After saying that, he took Colonel Tashiguye into his room and asked his concubine to serve some wine, food and fruits, and made himself very happy. A favorite singer called Chichiara came over to drink with her.
After drinking for a few rounds, the king gave Chichiara to the school officer Tashi Guye. The school officer Tashiguye was so flattered that he knelt on the ground and thanked him profusely for a long time. The king smiled and helped Tashi Guye up and said, "I led the army to the northern expedition here. The colonel worked hard and selected beautiful women and delicious food for me. This shows the loyalty and kindness of the colonel to me. Therefore, I want to treat you. Special reward.”
School Officer Tashi Guye knelt down and worshiped again, and said with tears of gratitude, "I have received such great love from Your Majesty, and School Officer Tashi Guye can't repay you even if I work like an ox and a horse for Your Majesty."
The king said, "As long as the school officer says this, I, the king, have not misjudged the person." After saying that, he asked the school officer Tashi Guye to take the young and beautiful Chicia away. Although he had been busy all day and it was already dark, the king still felt energetic and not sleepy at all. So, he asked Haya to call the girl sent by the school officer just now to chat with him to relieve his boredom.
Under the bright lights, the girls put on beautiful clothes, and their hair styles were neatly styled by the concubines. They suddenly looked much better. They entered the king's room and stood in a row, restrained and timid, not even daring to raise their heads to look at anyone. The king felt that they were still young and were still children, so he took out grapes and pears for them to eat. But they took the grapes and pears from the king, but they didn't know how to eat them. So the king picked up a grape, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and spit out the skin. The girls imitated the king, put the grapes in their mouths, chewed them, and then swallowed the grape skins. The king found it very funny, so he demonstrated it to them again, and then spit out the skin for them to see. In this way, the girls learned to spit out the grape skins.
Then, the king asked them one by one their names, where they lived, and who else was in the family. However, the king did not understand anything they said. But they can understand what the king says. Because their families lived near the military camp, they often interacted with the officers and soldiers in the military camp. They even regarded it as the greatest honor to marry an Inca soldier. Although the girls had taken a shower and had their hair done, their nails were long and black. The king asked the princess to find him a pair of scissors and began to cut the girls' nails one by one. It seems that these girls in the wild areas are his beloved daughters.
