The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
More than 200 soldiers led by Colonel Tashi Guye escorted the family of the leader of Xishan Village in the deep mountains of the primitive forest. They walked day and night along the path temporarily opened by the Inca soldiers, stopping and walking for three consecutive days. After four days, we arrived at a town called Guajada, which was newly established by the Incas. The town is located among mountains and valleys, crisscrossed by streams, sunny and charming. People are cultivating wasteland beside streams in the mountains and planting corn. In some fields, green stems half a foot high have grown, while in other fields the corn has grown to be as tall as a person. Walking further into the village, you can see some newly built houses with red walls and thatched roofs and large castle-like material warehouses and barracks made of stones. More than thirty Inca soldiers are stationed here, guarding the building day and night, which can provide food and supplies for tens of thousands of people for several months.
This small town called Guajada was originally the home of the barbaric Sancu tribe. Because the Sancu tribe killed many Inca soldiers and refused to surrender, almost all the men in the tribe were killed by the Inca army. There are some old, weak, sick and women left. Therefore, the king of Quit gave these women, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled to the officers and soldiers of the local garrison. These women, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled of the Sancu tribe were controlled by Inca officers and soldiers, and they went to the fields to open up wasteland and plant crops every day. Although some old, weak, sick and disabled people have lost their ability to work, it does not affect their daily lives. Because the life of the Inca people was a supply system, that is, each person had to go to the Inca warehouse to get as much food and firewood as they needed every day. Even the clothes and shoes people wear, the houses they live in, and the items they use are all managed and distributed by dedicated personnel.
Colonel Tashi Guye took the family members of the leader of Xishan Village to rest for a whole day in the barracks of Guajada Town. He took them to see the Sangku women clearing land and planting corn, and also took them to Watch the Quito army surround and strangle the villages and forests of the Sanku men, tell them the story of the Quito army's conquest of the Sanku tribe, and educate them to follow the imperial edict of the Quito king and not to do anything rebellious and illegal. Things, otherwise, would have been mercilessly strangled by the Quito army like the men of the Sanku tribe. After hearing this, the leader looked at the pieces of corpses beside the mountain stronghold and in the forest. He suddenly felt a kind of shuddering fear. He quickly assured the school officer, "King Quito is so generous to us, and we will definitely treat him well." The earth repays King Kedor.”
They even went to Hariya Village, which is not far from the Sanku tribe, to watch their living conditions. Because the Haliya people did not participate in the resistance and resistance to the Inca army, their village was not affected in any way. Villagers of both sexes and ages were singing songs, plowing the ground, weeding, and planting corn in the fields and fields, showing a peaceful and peaceful life everywhere. After their tribal leader was taken to the city of Quito by the king of Quito, he never came back. People spread rumors that the tribal leader and his family lived a prosperous life in the city of Quito and refused to return to their poor countryside. The people who are in charge of them now are the village chiefs appointed by the Inca King in their own tribe, who urge them to participate in labor every day in accordance with the provisions of the Inca King's law, and Inca soldiers often come to inspect.
After leaving the town of Guajada, Colonel Tashiguye led the team and walked for two or three days to the town of Inawa. In fact, since the king of Quito led his army north to expand the territory, this place has been the main supplier of materials and food for the Inca army. Every day, you can see groups of vicuñas carrying food and items from Quito or They were transported from various places, and then driven by soldiers along the path towards the deep forest and mountains. In the past, there were only more than two hundred people stationed here, but now, there are thousands of people stationed here, and there are two or three large grain depots and material warehouses tens of meters long.
When we arrived here, we basically emerged from the dense forest. From here, there was a marching road leading to the Quito Palace. Therefore, the head family of Xishan Village no longer rode in sedan chairs, but replaced them with tall chairs. camel. They had never seen such a tall animal before, so when they started to ride up, they were too scared to get close. After the soldiers gave them demonstrations, they began to become more courageous, and they were helped and carried onto the hump by the soldiers. Riding on the high hump gave them a very fresh and exciting feeling. So, they rode camels while enjoying the scenery on the roadside.
After a day's journey, we returned to Jiwang City in the evening. Colonel Tashiguye stopped the team in front of Fugui Street and took the knotted rope given to him by King Inca to find Prince Gilabamba, the palace manager.
Knots are handicrafts woven or braided with threads. In the Inca Kingdom, which had no writing, it was a rope-like fabric that expressed a certain message. This fabric comes in different shapes, different colors, and different weaving techniques. Therefore, the information it expresses is also different. In order to weave and identify knots with different messages, the children of the Inca nobles had to go to school to learn at a very young age. Because there are hundreds of different knots, the children of princes and nobles have to learn and master them one by one until they are proficient.
Prince Gilabamba lives in the palace steward's mansion, which has two deep and large courtyards. There are guards guarding the door. Colonel Tashi Guye came to the prince's door, and the soldier reported his name and position, and explained the reason. After a while, Prince Gilabamba asked a servant to take the school officer to a semi-old courtyard on the street. The yard is not very big. There is an open space and three houses with four or five rooms, all built with large stones. The five rooms in the front row are a kitchen, a dining room, a playroom, and two rooms for the cook and servants. There are also five rooms in the middle row, of which the middle one is the largest and is occupied by the owner. There are two rooms next to each other that are occupied by wives and concubines. The row of rooms at the back is occupied by the headman's family. The house was empty, with only a bed and a suitcase for clothes. There is only one table and a few stools in the restaurant. In addition to the splendid golden walls and grandeur of the palace, the homes of ordinary princes and common people almost all have this kind of equipment. It's just that the items used by the princes are special. The clothes they wear and the bedding on their beds are made of fine wool, while the clothes and covers worn by the common people are made of coarse wool. The houses that the princes lived in were built with large stones, while the houses of the common people were made of mud and thatched cottages. Moreover, princes can have many houses and many wives and concubines, while common people only have one shabby house and one wife.
After seeing the courtyard, the school officer took the leader's family to the courtyard and let them rest in the courtyard. Then, he followed the servant of the prince's steward to the warehouse to collect and collect items. The people from the Supply and Demand Department provided a cook and a male servant for the headman's family in Xishan Village. These cooks and servants were all old soldiers. They not only served as cooks and servants for princes and foreign leaders, but also monitored their words and deeds. If there was anything suspicious, they would report it to the palace guards. Moreover, they also gave the leader seven wives and concubines. Seven wives and concubines are the treatment that only Inca village chiefs can enjoy. Most of these wives and concubines were the Incas who, after conquering foreign tribes or suppressing their own rebels, killed their men and brought back their women and daughters as rewards for those who had made war achievements or assigned them to princes and chiefs as wives and concubines.
Colonel Tashiguye came to the grain warehouse with his cook, servants and the leader's wives and concubines. The warehouse is very huge, with corn piled like a mountain, and a lot of dried venison and vicuña meat. Camel meat was only supplied to the royal palace, so the only supplies for the princes and chieftains were venison and corn. The servant had a large cloth bag filled with corn, and the cook had a small bag with some venison and potatoes. Next to the granary is the material warehouse. The inside is also very huge, with clothes, felts, wool, tableware, shoes, etc. piled into hills. The person in charge of the warehouse gave each of the five members of the first family a camel skin and felt, a set of clothes and a pair of shoes. They need to bring the belongings of the cook, servants, wives and concubines themselves. Because these items have been distributed to them by the warehouse.
When Tashiguye returned to the courtyard with so many people and food items, he asked his servants to arrange accommodation for the leader's family, because they were tired after riding camels for a day. But the head man saw that Tashiguye had brought so many people to him at once. Someone specially cooked and waited for him, and also assigned him seven wives and concubines. They all looked bright, upright and well-dressed. It was neat and clean, which made him happy and confused at the same time, so he asked Tashiguye, "Colonel, how many days will I stay here?"
Tashiguye smiled and said, "As long as the leader likes it, he can live here forever."
