The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
Atahualpa returned to the court room and wanted to deal with important state affairs that he had not bothered with for many days. As soon as he sat down on the chair, his attendant Haya came over and reported to him, "My supreme king, the Inca King Huascar, sent Prince Liawanto as an envoy. He has something very important to meet with. King."
Atahualpa certainly knew that Prince Liavanto was Huascar's biological uncle and a prince whom Huascar trusted very much. It is naturally no small matter for Huascar to send his own uncle to Quito. So he immediately asked Haya to bring an envoy to see him.
Liawantu is a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing gorgeous aristocratic clothes, two large earrings, a huge royal emblem hanging on his chest, and two very long hairpins on his headdress. feathers. As soon as he entered, he saluted Atahuallpa and said, "The Prince of Cusco pays homage to the Prince of Quito."
Normally, people would kneel to him, but the prince from Cusco only curtsied to him, which made him feel very unhappy. But he still pretended to be very enthusiastic and said, "Uncle, I came here from Cusco thousands of miles away. Thank you for your hard work."
Liawantu said hurriedly, "It is my duty to serve the country. King Huascar sent me to Quito this time. I have something important to tell the prince."
King Atahualpa said, "Please speak."
Lyavanto said, “According to the ancient patriarchal regulations established by Manco Capac, the first Inca king, and strictly observed by all generations of kings, the provinces of Quito and even all the jurisdictions of the kingdom should belong to the royal family of the Cuzco Empire. The reason why our king agreed to his father's will was mainly because he was forced to follow his father's wishes, not because it was moral; because doing so would be detrimental to the royal family and its heirs. And King Wayna Capak should not have issued the order. We, the king, do not have to abide by such a decree. However, since my father has arranged it this way, and he has agreed to do it, now as long as he agrees to two conditions, he is happy not to mention the past."
Atahualpa tried his best to pretend to be submissive and respectful, and quickly replied, "I, Atahualpa, know this situation very well and keep it deep in my heart. I am grateful and repay the kindness."
Liawanto said, "But the late king also had his last words. All Quito and the territory that the prince expanded should belong to the Inca king. Does the prince still remember this?"
Atahualpa said, "I will keep your Majesty's will in my heart and never forget it."
Liawantu asked again, "I heard that the prince personally led tens of thousands of troops to conquer the east and the north to expand a large territory. I wonder how this newly expanded territory should belong?"
One sentence stopped Atahualpa in his tracks. He pondered for a long time, then asked in a hushed voice, "I wonder what King Huascar has in mind?"
Liavanto said simply, "The king has two ideas. One is to transfer all the territory expanded by the Kingdom of Quito to the Inca Empire. The territory that has not been conquered is not allowed to continue to expand, because the land that has not yet been conquered cannot be expanded. It all belongs to the Inca Empire. Secondly, as the prince of Quito, you must surrender to our Inca king and become his feudal official."
This statement made Atahualpa stunned for a long time, and he didn't know how to answer for a long time, so he said to the envoy, "Uncle, please rest in the city of Quito for two days. Let me think about it for a day or two before I make a reply."
After sending away the Cusco envoy, King Atahualpa was so angry that he immediately picked up a wine glass and threw it towards the wall, knocking down a pure gold butterfly hanging on the wall. The attendant Haya heard the noise and ran in immediately. Seeing the anger on the king's face, he cautiously went over to pick up the gold objects on the ground. However, Atahualpa stared at him and shouted, "Get out!" Haya was so frightened that he hurried out of the room and sent someone to the harem to call Queen Anna.
Queen Anna entered the room and saw Atahualpa with his arms on his hips and his eyes red, so she asked softly, "Did Huascar send someone and say something?"
But Atahualpa threw his hand away and shouted, "I won't listen to you. Call me Chiskis and the others."
Anna had no choice but to ask Haya to call several close ministers including Kiskis, Chalkuchma and others who were having a banquet in the meeting hall.
Several close ministers were already a little drunk and fainted. However, as soon as they entered the court room and saw the angry look of King Atahualpa, they didn't know what happened. They were so frightened that they hurriedly knelt down on the ground, not daring to stand up. The king of Quito said angrily, "Prince Huaskar sent Liavanto to come and want to take away our expanded territory, and he also wants me to be his chief official. What do you think we should do?"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately began to discuss angrily. Kiskis said, "The king has been working hard and marching thousands of miles, and finally obtained this land. Why should he be allowed to get it for nothing?"
Ruminavi said, "Huascar Taoism is about getting something for nothing, sitting back and enjoying the fruits of his gain, and thinking about the Taoism."
Gilabamba said, "That land is far away from Cusco, and he just wants it. Can he get it? Besides, our officers and soldiers are stationed there. If Huascar sends people there, those ethnic groups will Will the Hetou people listen to them?"
Chalkuchma said, "Huascar wants those lands just as an excuse. He actually wants to find out your attitude and is deliberately looking for scum. Because he knows that these lands are of no use to him, and he also knows that you have no use for them." It is impossible to give this land to him. So, you can tell him that if he wants it, you can give it to him. See how he accepts it."
Listening to everyone's discussion and persuasion, Atahualpa's anger slowly dissipated. So, he asked his beloved concubines to bring Chicha wine and let everyone drink while discussing. It wasn't until late at night that everyone was allowed to leave.
Two days later, Atahualpa called Prince Liawantu to his court room and invited him to drink. While he asked his beloved concubine to pour wine for the envoy from Cusco, he said to Prince Liaventu in a very submissive and affectionate tone, "Please go back and tell my brother Huascar, the Inca king, whether it was in the past or now, I have always been his vassal, and he is my king. Every inch of the northern territory of the Kingdom of Quito, conquered and unconquered, belongs to the Inca royal family of Cusco. There is no doubt about that. Respectfully. Please rest assured, Your Majesty."
As he spoke, he picked up a glass of wine, touched it with Prince Liawantu, drank it all, and then asked his beloved concubine to pour the wine for him and the envoy, and said in an extremely frank and pertinent tone, "Other than that In addition, if King Huascar does not like it or is unwilling, I can abandon the Kingdom of Quito and return the Kingdom of Quito to the King, stay away from the palace from now on, and obey the King's will to serve him silently and wholeheartedly."
These words were quickly transmitted to Cusco by Liavantu through the inn, while Liavantu stayed in the apartment outside the Quito Palace, conveying King Huascar's will to Atahualpa at any time. . After King Huascar received Prince Atahualpa's answer, he was very satisfied and set a time limit for Atahualpa to come to Cusco to express his surrender and swear allegiance to him.
Listening to these words, Atahualpa realized that he had been hiding for so long and refused to go to Cusco to see Huascar. However, he could hide from the first grade but not the fifteenth grade. Huascar would always find a way to force him. Obviously, now he can no longer make excuses for why he doesn't want the capital of Cusco. So, he bit the bullet and said to Prince Liawantu, "Okay, I have to think about this matter."
Atahualpa sent away Prince Liawanto, once again called several close ministers, told everyone the instructions of King Huascar, and then asked everyone, "Huascar insists on killing me." I’m being forced on the road, what do you think I should do?”
Gilabamba is the most just and kind among these ministers. He is afraid that the two brothers Huascar and Atahualpa will fall apart, because once they fall apart, they will tear off their faces and fight against each other, because there is no Inca king. He could tolerate someone being disrespectful and disloyal to him, let alone disobeying him. However, Huascar kept forcing Atahualpa like this, which was obviously going to force him to rebel. So, he recommended himself to King Quito and said, "If the king trusts me, let me go to Cusco with Prince Liavanto to meet King Huascar, and explain to him that although you cannot go to Cusco to meet Huascar, The king swears allegiance, but he will also be absolutely loyal to King Huascar."
Atahualpa asked, "How did you explain it to Huascar?"
Gilabamba thought for a while and said, "King of Quito, your brother Atahualpa has been thinking about your favor to him. In order to repay your favor, he personally led an army of 30,000 to the northeast of Quito. He conquered his tribe and occupied large new areas and territories, and wanted to dedicate all these lands to the Inca King. However, he suffered from a serious disease of brain fever and abdominal pain. As long as he was tired, he would relapse and become dizzy. , vomiting and diarrhea, long-term illness. Therefore, I cannot come to Cusco to swear allegiance to the king in person. Please forgive me, King Inca."
Atahualpa shook his head and said, "What you said will not satisfy Huascar. He may ask why he has to personally lead a large army to fight for several months since he is seriously ill? This is not only I won’t let Huascar believe it, and he will even more suspect that I am deliberately avoiding him.”
Prince Quiskis also felt that Prince Gilabamba's idea was not a good one, so he said to the king, "We are always so tolerant and tolerant, which will only aggravate Huascar's arrogance and arrogance. In my opinion, don't After telling them so much, we will directly meet him with force, use force to speak, directly send troops to attack Cusco and capture Huascar alive."
Atahuallpa shook his head and said, "Are we going to attack Cusco? Doesn't that mean that the world will say that Atahualpa rebelled and rioted? Even if we fight with each other, we have to let the world know that it was Huascar who acted first. I just had to fight back as a last resort."
Ruminawi said, "We have a hundred thousand elite soldiers, why should we be afraid of Huascar? If that doesn't work, we will just wait for Huascar to send troops to attack us, and then we will fight back and chase him all the way. To Cusco.”
Atahualpa thought this plan was good, so he asked everyone to consider it. However, Chalkuchma disagreed. He whispered to the king, "I have an idea and want to collude with the king in private."
As soon as Atahualpa heard that his uncle wanted to talk to him privately, he said to everyone, "You all go back and think about it carefully. After you think about it, we can talk about it later."
After everyone left, Chalkuchma told Atahualpa a plan he had been thinking of for many days. After hearing Chalkuchma's plan, Atahualpa suddenly felt his eyes light up and said to his uncle, "This is a very good plan." Then, he asked Chalkuchma to think about the plan in detail. Well formulated.
The next morning, King Atahualpa said to Prince Liawantu, "Please tell Prince Huascar, my brother, that I will go within the specified time limit according to the request of my brother, your king." The capital of Cusco expressed its intention to surrender. However, in order to make the oath of allegiance ceremony more grand and complete, I need some time to prepare, and I request His Majesty the King to allow the governors and people of the provinces under my jurisdiction to go with me. In accordance with the customs of the Kingdom of Quito and its provinces, the city of Scots paid homage to my father, King Huayna Capac, and after the memorial ceremony, I and my subjects swore allegiance to King Inka."
Liawantu also asked the postmen to quickly convey these words to King Huascar. When Huascar saw Atahualpa's sincerity and obedience, he had no doubts about him, because in Inca history, all princes and ministers obeyed the king's orders and tried their best to be loyal, and no servant had ever betrayed him. The Inca King. So he happily agreed to all his brother's requests, and told Atahualpa that he could arrange the memorial service for his father exactly as he wished, and let his brother come to Cusco at a convenient time.
