The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
It is the season of late summer and early autumn, and the temperature on the plateau and mountains has become a little cooler. Under the setting sun, a misty golden light shines through the beautiful mountains and fog, and the cool evening breeze blows in waves from the distant valleys, blowing the smoke from the military camps on both sides of the marching road into the deep green mountains. In the wild. The simple and brave soldiers seemed to have become accustomed to this pre-war atmosphere. They were either blowing sad whistles while cooking, or they were sitting leisurely on the roadside grass outside their tents, looking affectionately into the distance. At this moment, they may be missing their wives, children, and families. Because they know that what they are facing is a big battle. Regardless of victory or defeat, many people will die. They didn't know whether they would survive, so they wanted to use the time before the war to miss their relatives and lovers.
At this moment, their king of Quit, Atahualpa, was also living in his own marching tent. Although the mayor of the town, Hastala, wanted to invite him to stay at the local administrative residence, he had also prepared singers and escorts for sleeping and entertainment, as well as a sumptuous and grand banquet. But in order to encourage the soldiers to fight the enemy bravely, King Atahualpa still responded to Mayor Hastala's invitation, because after a whole day of marching, he felt a little tired, so he lay alone in the big tent. Sitting on the chair, he closed his eyes and thought.
Unknowingly, he fell asleep and dreamed that he led an army of 40,000 men and met Huascar's two armies outside the city of Tumebamba. His own army was neat, mighty and powerful, while Huascar's army was a bunch of disorganized people. Under a loud and powerful shout from Quito's army, the army in Cusco suddenly became chaotic. Many soldiers backed away in fear. Fortunately, several officers supervising the battle killed a few fleeing soldiers and stabilized the formation. Prince Atahualpa smiled and walked to the front of the army and shouted to Huascar who was standing opposite, "Brother Huascar, the Quito army has always been invincible and invincible. In order to save the lives of you and the officers and soldiers, it is better to hurry up." Quickly lay down your arms. I can make you the king of a kingdom and enjoy the glory and wealth in peace and contentment." But Huascar said, "I gave you Quito and several northern provinces. Not only do you have no gratitude, you actually dare to raise your troops to invade. You are actually being righteous and deliberately treason. If you can abandon the formation and surrender your troops and submit to the king, I will not forget the past grudges." When he heard this, he felt that Huascar was Deliberately exposing his ugliness in front of the officers and soldiers of the two armies, before Huascar could finish his words, he shouted to General Tashiguye beside him, "Why don't you kill me quickly and give Huascar to me?" I'll capture him and kill him alive." General Tashiguye immediately asked the buglers to blow the horns for the charge. Quito's army spread out all the way, and rushed towards the opposite side with a murderous sound. The Cusco army was defeated like a wind sweeping away the remaining clouds, and they fled in the wind. Seeing that General Tashiguye who was rushing in front was about to catch up with Huascar. Capture him alive.
At this time, someone suddenly woke him up from his sweet dream. He opened his eyes unhappily, only to see Haya whispering into his ear, "Your Majesty, the palace herald Hasideva has returned from Tumebamba City, and he has something important to report to your Majesty."
Atahualpa is waiting for news from the city of Tumebamba, because he wants General Kuta Chica, the commander of the Tumebamba garrison, to lead his 20,000 troops to bypass the Cusco army and block the back road. , he led another 40,000 Quito main troops to attack from the front. In this way, the 40,000 southern troops who had traveled a long distance from Cusco became a turtle in the urn.
He asked Haya to summon the herald to come in and report. The herald Hasideva entered the tent, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to him, saying, "Repay the king."
Atahualpa immediately said, "Speak quickly." The herald Hasideva said, "I have told General Kuta Chica the king's secret order. He said that the king made a wise decision and this move will definitely annihilate Cusco. Invading enemy."
Atahualpa nodded happily, but he still asked uneasily, "When will General Kutachka detour his troops back to the Yehe town south of Tumebamba City to block the enemy's escape?" Road?" Yehe Town is a small town south of Tumebamba City, located next to Yehe River, but its strategic location is very important. As long as a unit is sent to the small town of Yehe, the southern army's retreat can be cut off, putting the southern army in a situation where they are attacked from both front and rear.
The herald said, “General Kutachka said that once the southern army passed through the town of Yehe, he would quietly return to the town of Yehe through the mountain paths at night and block the retreat of the southern army. Stay. He asked the king to quickly lead his troops to the outskirts of Tumebamba to encircle us, so as not to allow the enemy to discover our deployment and fight directly back to the town of Yehe in an attempt to escape."
Atahualpa thought this suggestion was good, but he also felt that even if the 40,000-strong army marched in a hurry, it would take three or four days to reach the city of Tumebamba, and General Kuta Chica really detoured back to Yehe River at night three days later. The small town was easily discovered by the Cusco army. Therefore, for the sake of safety and confidentiality, he felt that General Kutachka should make a detour at night after the fourth day, so that he could have enough time to lead his army to Tumebamba City to complete the encirclement.
So, he called the herald Hasideva to him and whispered to the herald, "You should rush to Tumebamba immediately and tell General Kutachka to come back four days later at night." Implement a detour. In this way, I can lead the Quito army to Tumebamba City, and it will not be easily discovered by the Cusco army. Furthermore, detouring around the town of Yehe is the key to this battle. It must be kept confidential. Leaking military information will not delay the war effort."
Hasideva said, “Yes, O king.”
After the herald Hasideva left, Atahualpa asked Haya to call General Tashiguye over and said to General Tashiguye, "Immediately send an order to the military camp commanders to order the soldiers to eat." After dinner, rest immediately. Make food at five o'clock tomorrow morning, set off at six o'clock, and rush to Tumebamba City at full speed. If there are any delays, we will ask and kill them immediately."
General Tashi Guye replied, "Yes, my great king." Then he left the tent.
The Incas generally only ate two meals a day, but the troops started marching after eating in the morning. They only ate some tortillas and dried venison they brought with them during a temporary break in the afternoon, and did not arrive in Latacun until the evening. We set up camp in a small town, so we haven’t had lunch until now. Atahualpa called Haya and asked if dinner was ready.
Haya said, "My great king, don't you know that your meals are prepared in advance by the chief executive wherever you go?"
Atahualpa frowned and couldn't help but become annoyed and said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I thought you were all ready, so I dismissed Mayor Hastala's request."
Haya knew that it was not his fault, but he did not dare to argue, so he quickly said to the king, "Haya deserves to die, please forgive me." Then he said, "I can ask Mayor Hastala to come again. Please, Your Majesty."
Atahualpa was still angry and said, "I have been asked to resign the mayor of Hastala three times, so why should I be asked to ask for it again? Besides, this time I came out to fight to the death with the Cusco army, right? I'm on a patrol. Didn't you see that I didn't even bring a concubine or a singing girl with me? All the daily necessities I brought were light and simple. The purpose is to let all the officers and soldiers know that this decisive battle is extraordinary. I want the officers and soldiers to see that this time I The purpose of personally going out to fight is to live and die with them, not to enjoy them.”
Haya quickly bent down and said respectfully, "Haya didn't understand the king's intention. Damn it. Please wait a moment, and Haya will bring the king's meal right away."
After Haya left the tent, Atahualpa's anger still remained. As a king, daily meals were a major event for him that could not be ignored. However, he also felt that Haya could not be blamed for this matter. He remembered that before leaving the Quito Palace, Haya had asked him whether to take the palace chef with him on the expedition. But he said at that time, I don’t even bring concubines and singers, why should I bring the palace cook? In addition, in the past few days, his mind has been filled with war and proclaiming emperor, and he has forgotten all other things.
Fortunately, Haya quickly delivered a sumptuous table of delicacies to his big tent in a small sedan chair, including delicious fresh fish, red prawns, braised wolf meat, oiled black ants, fresh and tender. corn, raw tomatoes, and southern fruits. Obviously, these meals were not conjured up by Haya, but were delivered to him by Mayor Hastala. This not only allowed him to have a good meal after a tiring day, but also made all the officers and soldiers in the army think that as the king of Quito, he was also sharing the joys and sorrows with the soldiers.
After dinner, it was already dark. Outside the big tent, under the stars and moon, the rows of military tents neatly arranged on both sides of the marching road were as quiet as night. Only the guards on guard duty stood motionless under the moonlight, looking around vigilantly.
Atahualpa asked his adjutant, General Tashiguye, to accompany him. After patrolling around the military camp for a while, he returned to the tent and fell asleep. However, as soon as he lay down and closed his eyes, he remembered the dream he had just had. The extension of that dream was how he crowned the Inca emperor and how he punished those pro-partisans and royal dignitaries in Cusco. This dream made him feel extremely excited just thinking about it. I can't sleep when I'm excited. He calmed himself down, but he felt that this bed was not the bed he usually slept on, and there was no woman sleeping on the bed, so he couldn't sleep no matter how hard he slept. Normally, he rarely suffered from insomnia. After making a fuss with his concubines for a while, he would soon become tired and doze off, and he would sleep until noon the next day.
Being unable to sleep was very painful, and as a king of a country, he couldn't bear this kind of pain, so he simply put on his clothes, woke up Haya, asked Haya and his guards to accompany him, and walked through the marching camp. Quietly came to the most exquisite house in the middle of the town. This is the dormitory that Mayor Hastala prepared for him in advance. The bedroom is not big, but it is very comfortable and tidy. Under the bright oil lamp, two young and beautiful girls were waiting for him with warm etiquette. He entered the room, closed the door, and put his arms around the two beauties and got on the bed.
