The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
After the Quito army conquered the Xishan Village, Colonel Tashiguye, on the order of King Atahualpa, led more than 200 soldiers and sent the five members of the Xishan Village leader's family to the Fugui Street in the capital of Quito to settle down. . A Xishan Village Correctional Committee composed of more than 30 people sent from Quito has begun to implement strict military control in the local area. They forcibly banned hunting, prohibited the mixing of men and women and fornication, required everyone to wear clothes, and organized men, women, and children to participate in land reclamation work. Violators would be imprisoned and paraded in public, and would not be given food for the day. Seeing that the transformation of the people in the Xishan Village was on track, King Atahualpa of Quito ordered Colonel Tashi Guye to continue marching northeast with three thousand soldiers to conquer an extremely barbaric and fierce primitive ethnic group. .
The high mountains of the Andes Mountains stretch continuously for thousands of miles. The mountainous areas here are more steep and steep, and the vast forest sea stretches as far as the eye can see. There are dense forests of giant trees that have grown for thousands of years. The trunk of each tree is so thick that it takes two or three people to hug it. However, these giant trees were tightly entangled with dense creeping plants and parasitic vines, blocking the soldiers' path forward. They had to cut a passage through it with their short swords and hatchets.
When they walked out of the dense forest of giant trees and came to a dense mangrove forest, in this jungle of intertwined trees, the soldiers finally found several paths that could pass through. School officer Tashi Guye firmly believed that there must be a village in the nearby area. So, he divided his troops into two groups, one led by himself and the other led by Lieutenant Valizaka, and groped towards two different paths from two different directions.
On this day, Colonel Tashiguye led the soldiers along the path into a dense forest. Through a gentle slope, they saw the roofs of several houses exposed on a low hill. So Tashiguye asked the large army to stop at the foot of the mountain, and he led some soldiers along the path up to the hill.
The hills are flat and covered with weeds and wildflowers. The plain is surrounded by a tight fence, which seems to be used to ward off wild beasts in the mountains and forests. There are four or five simple and low huts in the fence, which are almost made of weeds and wicker. It was quiet in front of the hut, as if no one was there. Obviously, the mountain people were aware of their arrival and had gone out to hide early.
Tashiguye led a few soldiers into the fence and came to the front of the hut. He saw a fire that had not yet been extinguished in front of the door, and a large piece of meat being barbecued on the fire. When he walked up to it and took a look, he almost fainted from fright. The large piece of meat being roasted turned out to be a person's thigh.
Tashiguye was so frightened that he quickly took a few steps back, letting his heart slowly calm down, and then hurriedly walked out of the fence and said to the soldiers, "You saw it, they were eating human flesh."
The soldiers looked at each other in surprise, because they had never heard of anyone eating human flesh. This was incredible. Therefore, the soldiers looked at the burnt piece of human flesh with very frightened eyes and wanted to vomit. Tashiguye hurriedly led the soldiers away from the hill and prepared to return to the main army.
When they had just reached a mountain pass, they suddenly saw many indigenous people jumping out of the woods opposite. They were naked and covered with patterns. While shouting, they shot a dense rain of short arrows at them. Arrows, throwing countless stones. The Quito soldiers were stunned by this sudden attack and did not even bother to fight back. They held their heads and scattered in all directions, hiding towards the woods and mountains beside the path.
When they recovered and prepared to fight back, those people had already disappeared into the dense forest. This attack killed five people and injured more than ten people. It was the most costly loss in the army's expedition. Tashiguye was very angry. He asked Gawo to lead some soldiers to search and pursue in the direction of the retreat of the natives. However, Gavo and his soldiers searched the large forest, but could not find even a trace.
Tashiguye knew that it was not easy to deal with the indigenous people in this boundless forest. So, he asked the soldiers to set up camp in an open valley and patrol the posts. Then, he took Gawo and more than 30 soldiers up to a hilltop only three to four hundred meters away from the barracks to check the terrain.
When I reached the top of the mountain, I looked far into the distance and saw mountains, peaks and mountains, dense forests and crisscrossing river valleys, but I couldn't see a single person or village. Tashiguye couldn't help but ask Gawo next to him, "In your opinion, where will these indigenous people hide?"
Without even thinking about it, Gavo said, "You should hide in the thickest woods."
Tashiguye looked towards the mountain again to see where the densest forest was. However, after looking for a long time, I couldn't see it. Because the surrounding forests are very dense. So, he suddenly asked Gavo, "Have the people sent out contacted Lieutenant Walizaka?"
"Not yet," Gavo said.
Tashiguye frowned and said in a very solemn tone, "We need to send more Chaschis out to inquire about contacts, and we need to have Valizhaka join us as soon as possible." At this point, Tashiguye said again , "The soldiers don't have much dry food left. You will take two hundred soldiers back to Xishan tomorrow to transport food. The indigenous people here are cruel and cunning. It seems that we are going to fight a protracted war here."
With that said, Tashiguye saw that the sun had set and it would soon get dark, so he led everyone back to the camp. However, when they had just descended to the foot of the mountain and were less than a hundred meters away from the barracks, they saw some brave barbarians suddenly coming out of the forest on the side of the mountain and aiming at Tashi with raindrops of javelins and bamboo arrows. Guyer and the others are coming.
Tashiguye, who was walking in the front, was immediately hit by three arrows. One arrow struck him in his left shoulder, another in his thigh, and another in his helmet. He immediately fell to the ground, supporting the ground with one hand and drawing out his dagger with the other, directing the soldiers behind him to fight back.
However, the indigenous people's attack was very fierce and violent, and the dense rain of bows and arrows quickly knocked down a large area of the soldiers behind him. The soldiers who were not shot also scattered to avoid. Seeing the soldiers falling down and scattering, the natives became even more arrogant. They held javelins and charged towards Tashiguye with wild beast-like screams. However, before they could rush forward, Tashiguye jumped up, dodged the opponent's javelin, and killed the indigenous man at the front with an axe. But at the same time, another native hit him on the forehead with a large stone. He fainted immediately. As for the subsequent fierce fighting between the two sides, the soldiers in the barracks came after hearing the news, and the indigenous people fled in panic. He knew nothing about these scenes.
It was the next morning when he woke up from the excruciating pain. He found himself lying in a low, narrow hut, naked. The overall frame of the house is woven with branches, and then the surroundings are sealed with a long wormwood. The house is about as tall as one person and can accommodate four or five people. But the room was very dark, and except for some wormwood, there was nothing else inside. The hut had no windows, but it had a door. The door is really too small, only half a person tall, so you have to bend your body when entering or exiting the door. Therefore, it is more appropriate to say that this door is a hole rather than a door.
This is obviously the house of the local indigenous people. But why am I lying here? This made him immediately realize that he was being captured alive by the natives. The arrow wounds on his shoulders and legs were still throbbing with pain. He touched his shoulder wound with his hand. Fortunately, the shoulder injury was not too deep and the bleeding stopped. Looking at the leg injury, it was only a scratch on some flesh, but no muscle or bone was touched. The forehead was severely hit by a stone, causing a big bump. And I always feel extremely dizzy and painful in my head.
He knew that he was captured by the indigenous people, so he wanted to escape from here. However, his dizziness and pain were so severe that he could not sit up. Therefore, he could only lie on the ground honestly.
After sleeping in a daze for most of the day, he felt a little awake and had some strength to sit up. So, he crawled to the door, opened the straw curtain hanging on the door, stuck his head out of the door and looked out, and saw many similar huts surrounded by dense forest.
It was twilight at this time, the sky was dark, and there was silence all around. Not only did Tashiguye feel dizzy, but he was also very hungry. However, what he was thinking about now was not waiting for someone to bring him food, but he was extremely worried that he would soon become a sumptuous dinner for the indigenous people. Because he knew that the indigenous people here eat human flesh.
The thought of this made him extremely frightened. He tried to crawl outside. However, before he climbed out of the house, he heard someone running over, shouting at him loudly, and driving him into the house with a javelin. He had no choice but to retreat back into the house. So, he thought it would be better to wait until dark before trying to find a way to escape.
However, before it got dark, the natives brought two native women in their twenties and thirties into the hut. The women were naked, and each held a baby in her arms. At the same time, two pieces of food that looked like sweet potatoes were thrown into the house.
Tashiguye was starving for a long time, so he picked up a large sweet potato from the ground and gnawed it. Maybe he was really hungry, so he thought this sweet potato was particularly delicious. After finishing one, he picked up the other and finished it. However, he still felt not full.
After eating the sweet potatoes, it was completely dark outside. The two women put down the babies in their arms and came over to hold him and commit adultery with him. However, Tashiguye was injured, and he didn’t want to do such a thing with these barbaric women. Because he was thinking about escaping from here, and to escape from here, he must have sufficient physical strength and energy.
So he pointed out the arrow wounds on his body and the big bump on his head for the women to see. When the woman saw the wounds on his body and the big bruise on his head, she looked very disappointed and stopped pestering him. At this time, the baby on the ground started crying. The woman picked up the baby, coaxed the baby, and fell to the ground to sleep.
After the woman fell asleep, Tashiguye quietly walked to the door, hoping to take the opportunity to escape. However, the small door at the door was blocked from the outside. The small door is also woven with tree strips such as willow. Therefore, he pushed hard and made a big hole in the small door, and got out from the hole.
When he just got out of the hut and saw no one around, he ran to the edge of the forest and prepared to escape into the forest. However, as soon as he arrived at the edge of the forest, he saw many bright lights shaking towards him in the forest, and there was also the sound of something moving. He took a closer look and was almost scared out of his mind. It turned out that there was a group of lions standing not far across the way, staring at him with wide eyes. He was so frightened that he ran towards the hut where he lived. Fortunately, the lions did not chase him.
When he returned to the hut, the two women had woken up. While pulling him, they spoke to him excitedly and seriously in a language that he couldn't understand at all. However, he could realize that they were telling him that going out at night was dangerous and scary. He was in shock, and while listening to what they were talking about, he lay down on the haystack and fell asleep.
