The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
When he woke up from his dream the next day, the large army had already set off. He had a leisurely breakfast before getting on the royal chair. Protected by two thousand palace guards, he started on his way. At this time, the morning fog in the mountains has long since dissipated, the sun shines warmly and brightly on the surrounding green rolling hills, and the cool wind blows from a distance from time to time, making people feel refreshed and uplifted. The marching road stretches endlessly to the south. The autumn sunshine is always so bright and soft, full of psychedelic feeling.
Atahualpa lay on the royal chair and dozed off soon because he spent too much energy on the two beautiful girls last night. Originally, he really wanted to take the two gentle and lovely girls with him, but considering that this was a decisive battle with Huascar, not a parade, he had to leave the two girls in the small town temporarily and wait. After he defeated Huascar, he took them back to the palace.
Although the mountainous scenery is beautiful, the climate is pleasant, and the deep green mountains are endless, the long march is still boring and tiring. Coupled with the forced march for several days, it was really exhausting and unbearable. Especially after becoming the king of Quito, enjoying himself in the palace all day long, and going out to march and fight again, Atahualpa really felt a little uncomfortable. However, this battle must still be fought. Once the decisive battle is won, the city of Cusco is captured, and Huascar is captured alive, he will be the king of the Inca Empire, and he can enjoy peace once and for all for generations to come. Therefore, he tried his best to endure and overcome it, because he had been following his father on military expeditions in the north and south since he was a child. This experience was simply too familiar to him.
In order to overcome the boredom and fatigue of a day's march, he gave up the constraints he had imposed on himself in advance and decided to treat this march and battle as a cruise. Therefore, he no longer lived in the marching tent or ate with the soldiers. Instead, he ate and lived in a room prepared for him by the local chief executive just like he did during his previous tours. He also had fun with beautiful women at night and didn't go to bed until very late. It's a good way to wash away the boredom and fatigue of the day.
At noon that day, the army arrived at the mountain pass north of Tumebamba. At this time, a messenger came to report that Chamul, the commander of the southern army, had led his troops to be stationed in the southern area of Tumebamba. So Atahualpa ordered the troops to stay put, and he took his adjutant, General Tashiguye, and dozens of guards to climb to the top of a mountain to observe the terrain.
When you reach the top of the mountain and look south, you will see the city of Tumebamba sitting peacefully and mysteriously on the plains at the foot of the mountain in the clear sky. There is a gentle wilderness grassland from the south of the city to the opposite mountain side. The grass is densely covered with white military camp tents.
Atahualpa called a messenger and asked, "Has General Kutachka led his troops back to the town of Yehe?"
The messenger replied, "Yes, General Kutachka arrived at the town of Yehe on time last night."
Atahualpa said to the messenger, "Hurry to the town of Yehe now and tell General Kutachka that I will launch an attack on Chamul this afternoon and ask him to lead his army to respond from the south immediately. and block the southern army’s retreat.”
The messenger said, "Yes, my great king." Then he ran down the mountain quickly.
Atahualpa pointed to the Southern Army tent far down the mountain and asked General Tashiguye, "In the general's opinion, how should this battle be fought?" Tashiguye thought for a while and said, "Yiwei Chen In my opinion, it is best to launch a surprise attack on him and catch him off guard." Because according to the routine and traditional tactics of the Inca people, they usually issue a battle plan first, and then the two armies line up and then meet each other, without taking any sudden measures. attack because they found it too despicable.
But Atahualpa also felt that the Confederate army did not know that they were approaching the city at this time, and the success rate would be higher and the casualties would be less if the attack was carried out. So, he nodded in agreement and said, "This is a good plan. It's just about how to make a surprise attack."
General Tashiguye pointed to the urban area at the foot of the mountain and said, "We can allow the troops to use the cover of the urban area to quietly and suddenly launch an attack from the city towards the south slope. The southern army will definitely be unprepared and unable to defend itself."
Atahualpa said, "Very good. Then let the troops rest where they are immediately, seize the time to eat, and then quietly enter the city after the meal, and then launch an attack on the Confederate army, so as to capture Chamul alive before the sun sets." "
General Tashiguye said, "Yes, my great king."
General Tashi Guye went down to the foot of the mountain and said to the commander standing on the roadside, "The king has an order to let the troops rest where they are, seize the time to eat, and prepare for battle."
The commander said to the general, "Yes, general." Then he walked to a high ground on the roadside and waved the small flag in his hand. Immediately, the troops on Marching Avenue scattered on the roadside and began to put down their luggage and prepare to eat.
The Inca army had strict regulations when marching and fighting. They were not allowed to harass the people or destroy their fields. Therefore, in order to facilitate marching and fighting, the soldiers carried three to four days' worth of dry food with them. These dry foods include dried venison and meatless meat, as well as roasted potatoes and corn. Perhaps they were tired and hungry after walking all morning. The soldiers sat on the ground, opened their backpacks, took out dried meat and food, and started eating. The food was very hard and difficult to chew, but the soldiers seemed to be used to it. They chewed it slowly and patiently, and it tasted delicious. For Inca soldiers, the meal before the battle must be full and good, because no one can say whether they will be able to eat the next meal, so they often take the best food they bring Eat it all deliciously. After eating, the soldiers took out their favorite coca leaves and started chewing them. This coca leaf not only tastes delicious, but also has the effect of strengthening the body. No matter how tired you are, just chew a few coca leaves and your strength will be restored immediately. Therefore, every time before a big war, the army would give some of these coca leaves to the soldiers for them to enjoy before the war.
After a while, Atahualpa also went down the road at the foot of the mountain. When the soldiers who were eating saw the king, they quickly put down their food and knelt down to worship. Atahualpa waved to the soldiers and walked to a makeshift tent. There is a chair and a small dining table in the tent. There are some llama jerky and dried meat on the table. Llama meat jerky can only be enjoyed by the royal family.
Atahualpa shook his head when he saw these dried meats, because he had always eaten this kind of dried meats when he and his father were marching and fighting in the past, and he had long been tired of eating them. He felt unappetizing when he saw these foods. However, it was the eve of the war, and it was impossible for anyone to be busy preparing wine and a banquet for him. Even if someone served him a banquet, he would not be able to eat it. So, he still patiently grabbed some dried meat and started eating it. In fact, these dried meats were specially made for him by the royal chef of the palace. They killed the rabbits and male llamas, cut the best fresh meat into thin slices, carefully marinated it with the best wine and spices, and then dried it in the sun until it dried into slices. Therefore, these dried meats are very delicate and chewy, with a delicious flavor and endless aftertaste.
The king casually ate some dried meat and asked Haya to call General Tashiguye over. After a while, General Tashi Guye entered the tent. Atahualpa turned around and said to Tashiguye, "What's going on in the camp to the south?"
General Tashiguye said, "I have been observing on the top of the mountain for a while, but I didn't see any movement."
Atahualpa nodded slowly and said in a guessing tone, "So, Chief Chamul doesn't know that we are already here?"
General Tashi Guye said in an affirmative tone, "That's right, Your Majesty."
Atahualpa said happily, "Well, let's give him a surprise attack."
But General Tashiguye said, "But how prepared is General Kutachka? When will he join us?"
Atahualpa said disapprovingly, "General Kutachka arrived at the town of Yehe last night, cutting off the retreat of Commander Chamul. Now I have sent a messenger to General Kutachka to ask him to He came over as soon as possible to respond.”
While the two were talking, Haya came in and said, "Your Majesty, General Kutachka sent someone to report something secret."
Atahualpa said, "Let him in."
Then, a young man dressed in civilian peasant clothes came into the tent panting, knelt down and bowed to the king, and then said while breathing heavily, "General Kutachka reported to the king that he had He led his troops to block the ropeway between the mountain pass and Yehe River, and led his troops to the rear of the southern army. As soon as the king launched an attack, he would immediately lead his troops to attack from behind."
After listening to the messenger's report, Atahualpa said, "Very good, you report to General Kutachka immediately and tell him that I will launch an attack immediately and ask him to block Chamul's escape route south. "
The messenger said, "Yes, Your Majesty." Then he stood up and left the tent. Wait until the messenger has just left the account. Atahualpa proudly said to General Tashiguye, "Huascar's end is coming soon." Then, with a wave of his hand, he said, "Let's go, it's time for us to take action."
As soon as King Atahualpa went out, he said to the herald waiting outside the door, "The troops need to assemble and prepare for battle." The herald waved the small flag in his hand towards the herald soldiers not far away. So, the messenger waved the flag to the messenger further away. Soon, 40,000 troops gathered and walked quickly towards the Tumebamba city at the foot of the mountain.
After leaving the mountain pass, we entered the suburbs of the city. There is a wilderness on the outskirts of the city, with uneven ground, overgrown weeds, thorns and wild flowers. Maybe people had known beforehand that a big battle was going to be fought here, so no one in the city knew where they had gone. The whole city was quiet, like an empty city. King Atahualpa sat at the front on a royal chair that was carried by dozens of people. Under the protection of two thousand guards, he came to the foot of a higher hillside near the city and asked the guards to stop. . He got down from the royal chair and asked General Tashiguye to lead his troops into the city. He walked up to the high slope with two thousand guards to take command from here.
The afternoon sun is very bright, making people feel particularly relaxed. King Atahualpa stood on a high slope, watching the tens of thousands of troops following him who had experienced hundreds of battles, under the cover of the city, along the marching road, silently and mightily moving from the hillside toward the city below. Exercise quickly, and your mood will naturally be extremely uplifting.
When he was still a few hundred meters away from the city, King Atahualpa asked the commander to wave the flag and command the troops to spread out on both sides of the marching road so that they could enter the city in a horizontal formation. Moreover, the ground at the foot of the mountain was relatively open, which was conducive for the troops to move. Therefore, the troops spread out on both sides of the marching road and slowed down their march. Seeing that the troop's march had slowed down, Atahualpa frowned and thought that since it was a surprise attack, the movement must be fast. If there was any delay, it would be easy for the enemy to find out. Therefore, King Atahualpa asked the commander to issue an order for the troops to speed up.
After receiving the order, the troops swarmed towards the city like a trot.
