The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
The king got up very late the next day, and it was already noon after breakfast. Accompanied by General Tubatu and Colonel Tashiguye, the king took more than 20 guards to the nearby hillside grassland to inspect.
Walking forward from the gentle slope, there is a sloping grassland. Standing on the high-sloping grassland and looking forward, you can see that under the bright sunshine, the grassland stretches gently and undulatingly to the edge of the mountain in the distance. On the green grassland on the edge of the mountain, you can see herds of wild deer and alpacas grazing leisurely, and a vulture circling slowly in the low sky. Although these wild deer and alpacas are wandering around in the wilderness, they are just like being kept in a park or enclosed in a sheep pen. No one will hunt them, because the laws of the Inca Kingdom stipulate that mountains and All wild animals in the forest belong to the royal family and are strictly protected by law. But this place has been designated as a royal hunting ground and pasture in the past few years. The late king Wayna Capac brought people here for hunting three years ago.
Standing on the high grassland, King Atahualpa asked Colonel Tashiguye, "In what year did the late king come here to hunt?" Colonel Tashiguye thought for a while and said, "It must have been the year before last."
King Atahualpa said, "It's been three years?"
Colonel Tashiguye said, "Yes, Your Majesty."
According to regulations, hunting in the royal hunting grounds generally takes four years. This is done to allow prey populations to return to their original levels. Therefore, Atahualpa said to General Tubatu who was accompanying him, "In a few days, the army will enter the dense jungle area. I think the soldiers have been trained well these days. Why not let the entire army conduct a training exercise?" hunting exercises to test and strengthen the coordination and cooperation between the teams.”
When General Tubatu heard this, he said, "Your Majesty is very wise. He treats the wild animals as barbarians to encircle and suppress them, and provides each group of soldiers with a chance to fight. This method is really good."
So, the king came to a high ground, looked at the valley below the mountain for a long time, and then pointed to General Tubatu and said, "After breakfast tomorrow, you will send each squadron to the designated position to lurk, and then, I will lead the team to attack the wild deer and sheep, and drive them into the encirclement of each squadron. Then, following my orders and command, let each squadron encircle, and finally capture all these wild deer and sheep. .”
After hearing what the king said, General Tubatu immediately replied, "Yes, my king."
After the king made arrangements for General Tubatu, he said to General Tubatu, "Immediately summon the colonels and lieutenants of each squadron to hold an emergency meeting and convey my orders and arrangements to them."
General Tubatu replied, "Yes, my great king."
The next morning, the weather was cloudy and rainless, and the gentle spring breeze blew from the distant mountains, bringing a cool and refreshing feeling. The deep and open sloping meadows present the same peace and silence as usual. Groups of wild deer and alpacas freely eat fresh green grass on the meadows.
Suddenly, a horn broke the tranquility among the mountain slopes. The wild deer and sheep raised their heads alertly, looking around anxiously. At this time, a team of nearly a thousand people was seen charging towards us from behind the mountain with spears and daggers. The wild deer and sheep had never seen such a terrifying scene before, so they fled toward the center of the slope while shouting in terror.
Among the people chasing wild animals were several high-ranking commanders riding tall camels. They wore gorgeous and eye-catching clothes, big earrings in their ears, and feathered helmets decorated with gold, silver and wild pheasants. They rode tall camels and commanded the encirclement and suppression campaign. The one riding at the front, wearing a red velvet brocade suit and red tassels, who kept giving orders to the flag-waving man beside him, was King Atahualpa, the commander-in-chief of this battle exercise.
When he saw the deer and sheep fleeing towards the place he had predicted in advance, he said to the general waving the flag, "Order the troops lurking in the woods on both sides of the grassland to attack from both sides and chase the herds toward the slope." .”
The general shouted a semaphore and asked the trumpeter to blow the horn. As a result, thousands of people were seen in the forest on both sides chasing towards the middle of the vast grassland, forming a three-sided attack and encirclement formation. The frightened beasts fled towards the slope as hard as they could. As the horns were blown one after another, large groups of people and horses were seen chasing each other out of the woods on both sides from time to time, forcing the escape channels of the herds to become narrower and narrower, so that the frightened deer and sheep mingled together and fought desperately. The old, weak, sick and disabled people who fell behind were shot to death with random arrows or hacked to death with daggers and tomahawks by the soldiers who were chasing after them.
And those large numbers of survivors continued to run desperately towards the slope. However, when they just approached the edge of the slope, with the sound of a horn, the troops hidden on the slope poured down the slope like rapids and rolling stones. Rush over. The beasts running in front turned around and ran backwards, but the beasts behind were squeezing forward to escape. As a result, all the beasts were in a mess, not knowing whether to face forward or backward, and the sounds of panic and anxiety were heard.
Soldiers wielding swords, axes and spears chased after them, surrounded the frightened deer and sheep, and then drove the deer and sheep into the barracks, and then separated the wild deer and alpacas. . They killed the weak, weak and some males among wild deer and alpacas to make dried meat, sent the hides and wool to armament warehouses for storage, and then put the female deer and sheep back into the grasslands and forests to recuperate. The Biguna wool will be sent to the royal warehouse to make exquisite clothes for the Inca king and the royal family. The coarser quality wool can be woven into clothing for soldiers and civilians. Because the Inca royal family stipulated that no one except the Inca princes and nobles could wear items made of exquisite Biguna wool.
The exercise was successful, and the king was very satisfied. Therefore, in the evening, there was another celebration and excitement in the military camp in the small town of Ibarra. In front of the barracks where King Atahualpa lived, not only were lights decorated, but several large bonfires were also lit. There were about ten banquet tables in the open space between the lights. All officers above the rank of lieutenant were invited to sit down. At the same time, a banquet was held in the barracks. Although there were no seafood, game and fruits transported from afar, there was freshly killed venison, mutton and wolf meat. Therefore, the entire army was filled with celebration and joy.
After the army stayed in the small town of Ibarra for three or four days, they began to march deeper into the dense forest. After walking northeast for two or three days from the small town of Ibarra, Atahualpa led 10,000 soldiers to the valley and plains of Karanka to rest and recuperate. The river valley is surrounded by boundless virgin dense forests. The forest is infested with wild beasts and deserted, so there is no way to find the way. If you don't have local people as guides, you can easily get lost or get lost in the forest. Before the tent could be set up, King Atahualpa sent dozens of Chaskis to the northern part of Linhai to inquire about the situation of those remote tribes.
Chaschi is a scout whose main duty is to deliver various important information and news between empires. Through oral narration and memory, they reported to the king in just a few days what happened thousands of kilometers away from the capital, station after station, and served as communication and liaison between the various armies.
This morning, Chaschi came to report that in a mountainous forest area called Guadero, there was a large village called Yaveri, inhabited by many barbarian tribes.
The Inca King asked Colonel Tashiguye to lead three thousand soldiers to the mountainous forest area quickly, and then sent Lieutenant Valizaka in the name of the Inca King to take the guide and translator Gavo and two soldiers to find them. leader. The men and women of this Indian tribe wear almost no clothes. In fact, they have no clothes. They just use a kind of covering made of rattan and leaves to wrap around their waists to cover their shame.
Before Valizaka and his men entered the village of Yaveri, they were caught by a group of people who suddenly jumped out of the woods. Hearing that they were sent by the King of Quito to meet their leader, the men took them to a hut like a thatched hut in the village. Their leader is called Kamti, a strong man in his forties who wears a crown made of the long feathers of a male golden pheasant.
Seeing the leader of the Yaveri people, Walizaka said, "Chief Camuti, I am the envoy sent by King Atahualpa of Quito. He asked me to explain to you that the Inca army will not kill you when it comes here. You, too, will not be deprived of your land and property, but will do the good of your native people according to the command of the Sun. He asks you not to disobey the Son of the Sun and not to become enemies of us, for we are in all our conquests. He has the help of the sun and is therefore invincible. He wants you to abandon your idols and worship the sun as your god."
Kamti, the leader of the Yaveri tribe, smiled coldly and said, "Go back and tell your King of Quito that we live a very good life here and don't need him to worry about us and take care of us, and we don't want to." Improved. We have our own god, the hill next to our village, which has been protecting us. You Incas had better leave here obediently and teach your tricks to tribes and tribes that need you. thing."
Valizaka said to the leader of Kamti, "You should know what will happen if you violate the king's will."
"We will not let you intimidate us," said the Kamti leader.
Walizhaka returned to the camp and reported to Tashiguye the attitude and reply of the leader of the Yaveri tribe. Colonel Tashiguye sent people to report to the King of Quito, and at the same time commanded the troops to surround the village of Yaveri.
The leader of the Yaveri tribe quickly summoned the tribe's minor leaders to discuss countermeasures, and then evacuated all the people in the village to the hill beside the village. The hill seems to be piled up manually, in the shape of a tower, with a height of seven to eight hundred meters. The Avril people began to build some walled fortresses mixed with stones and turf on the high slopes on the edge of the hill. The necessary turf was transported by women, and the men were responsible for laying stones. Afterwards, they brought the women, children and all the food and put them in the bunker to fight a protracted battle with the Quito army.
King Atahualpa got the news and rushed over with his army. But King Quida did not want to use force against them. While surrounding them, he continued to persuade them to surrender.
The Avirians held out for many days, waiting for Quito's army to attack their fortress. Although their fortresses were vulnerable, in order to comply with the orders of the King of Quit, the Incas did not want to attack and capture them, but constantly proposed peace terms to them. However, the Avril people did not accept it at all, and they did not see the Quidos coming to attack, so they thought that the Quidos were timid. Instead, they became more and more bold day by day, and even took the initiative to come out of the bunker to fight the Quido army. Because the Quidos followed the king's order and only made a slight counterattack, they did not want to actually fight with the Avri people. Therefore, both sides suffered casualties. However, the Yaveri people were a barbaric tribe. They fought bravely regardless of the enemy's weapons and numbers, so they suffered heavy casualties.
At this time, the Quito army continued to shrink the encirclement, tightly surrounding the Avril people on the hill. The Avri people did not expect that the Quito army would persevere in the siege for such a long time. They thought they would withdraw when they saw that they were stubborn and refused to surrender. Therefore, there was a serious threat of water and food shortages. This is the mortal enemy of any besieged man. Regardless of whether they are boys or girls, adults can grit their teeth and endure hunger, but children can't stand it anymore. Some children sneaked down the mountain to look for something to eat. Many children even ran to the military camp in Quito. Parents could not bear their children to starve to death, so they acquiesced in allowing them to do so.
When the Quitos saw the children coming to beg for food, they gave them food to eat. They also asked the children to bring some to their parents. In addition to bringing food, they also asked them to convey the terms of the alliance proposed by the Quitos. . The Avri people were already isolated and helpless. After seeing this, they thought that the people of Quito were so kind and merciful when they disobeyed their orders. Therefore, their leader Kamti regretted that he should not have resisted. Fearing that he would be severely punished, he gathered all the villagers and lined up to ask for forgiveness. They let the children out of the bunker first, followed by the women and old people who were with them. After a while, the soldiers came out. Finally, there is the leader Kamti himself. They tied their hands and hung a rope around each neck, indicating that they deserved death for daring to take arms against the children of the sun. And their feet are naked, which is an expression of Indian humility. The idea is that the person they are going to worship has great majesty or divinity.
The Avirians came in droves to the King of Chittor, fell on their knees, shouted Hail, and honored him as the Son of the Sun. The leader, Kamti, came alone to see the king of Kida, paid a respectful salute, and begged the king for forgiveness. He said, "Please, Your Majesty, as long as you can forgive the soldiers, I will be willing to die even if Your Majesty asks me to die. Because the soldiers dared to resist the King because I set a bad example and I ordered them to do this. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." Those women, children and old people are not guilty, the blame is all on me, and I am willing to pay for the villagers."
King Quida, surrounded by officers and soldiers, sat on a chair. After listening to the words of the leader of Yaveri, he ordered the soldiers to untie him and take off the rope around his neck to express his forgiveness and grant him freedom. He said to the leader in a gentle tone, "The purpose of my coming here is not to kill you, nor to rob you of your property, but to benefit you and teach you to live according to reason and natural laws. To teach you to give up your idols , worship the sun as a god. Because such a favor is given to you by the sun's command." Then Atahualpa said, "Since the sun has forgiven you and given you those people and the land again, there is no other way to do this. The intention is entirely for your benefit, and the days ahead will be long, and you and your descendants will see this, for this is what the sun has commanded. Therefore, you can each return to your own home to recover from your injuries."
In order to make everyone in the village convinced that they had been forgiven and released, and to feel the kindness and kindness of King Quida, King Quida ordered the leader to kiss his right knee in the name of the whole village, so that they could see it with their own eyes. Since they were allowed to touch it, His imperial body, of course, treats them as one of his own. Then King Quida ordered his subordinates to distribute clothing and other items to the Avril people. The Yaverians returned satisfied with their things.
