The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
King Atahualpa of Quito led his princes, concubines and more than 10,000 soldiers on their way to the town of Haoha, passing the 6,768-meter Huascaran Peak. After hours of climbing and traveling, they had reached the top of the mountain. The slope of the road at the top of the mountain is very steep and steep. It is very strenuous and difficult to walk, let alone riding in a sedan. Therefore, the king, queen, princes and concubines had already got down from the sedan chair and started walking and climbing up.
As we walk towards the top of the mountain, there is a 700- to 800-meter-long ridge. The ridge is so narrow that it can only be walked by one person. Under the cliffs on both sides is an abyss with no guardrails on both sides. Throw a stone down and you won't hear the sound of the stone falling to the ground. The troop's walking began to slow down, and they could only slowly pass over the ridge one by one. The queen and princesses were held by soldiers as they crawled tremblingly over the ridge.
However, the most difficult and dangerous part is the section over the top of the mountain. That section of the road is about 200 meters long. The bare rock cliffs are carved into almost vertical stone steps, which are called cloud ladders. There is a chain made of thick gold rings on both sides of the ladder, which allows people to climb up by grabbing it with their hands. If crossing the rope bridge in the morning was thrilling, then climbing over the 6,768-meter-high Huascaran Mountain Peak would make people feel as frightened as if they were passing through the gates of hell.
In front of the ladder, there is a manually excavated platform of more than ten square meters, surrounded by stone railings and chains. The king came to the platform with his queen and concubines. One side of the platform is a ridge and the other side is a ladder. Below is the abyss. Therefore, the concubines stood on the platform, too frightened to look down the mountain. Because the top of the mountain is so high that people dare not look down the mountain. However, looking at the ladder, it is even scarier. Because the female relatives did not dare to climb up, the troops behind them stopped on the ridge and mountain road. Seeing that the sun has turned to the west, it is not far from dark. And there was still a long way to go down the mountain, so the king got impatient and ordered Yina to go up first, because he wanted Yina to be calmer and show off to the other princesses. Unexpectedly, Yina fell down from the ladder before climbing two steps, lying on the ground, shivering and refusing to get up. When everyone saw Yina being so frightened, they all started to cry.
No matter what the king said, Yina just lay on the ground and couldn't get up. The king was so angry that he had no choice but to ask the soldiers to hold Yina up and climb up the ladder. However, Yina was so frightened that she lost consciousness. She felt as if she had fainted. She was carried and dragged to the top of the mountain by several soldiers.
Maka, who was the youngest and the timidest in age, went up the ladder. Before Maka even started to go up the ladder, she was so frightened that she started crying. The king shouted angrily, "If you cry again, I will throw you under the cliff."
One sentence frightened Maka so much that she didn't dare to cry. She closed her eyes and let a few soldiers drag her up to the top of the mountain as if she was dead.
Queen Anna was the last female family member to climb the ladder. She asked the soldiers to tie a rope around her waist and pull her from the top of the mountain. With the help of several soldiers, she held on to the golden chain desperately, step by step. One step at a time we reached the top of the mountain.
The top of the mountain is a gentle rocky area lined with boulders. But the wind at the top of the mountain is very strong. If you don't stand firmly, you will be blown down by the wind. There is a path at the top of the mountain. Walking through that short path is the way down the mountain. The road down the mountain is very steep, but they are all manually dug stone steps. There are probably thousands of steps, going straight down to a very deep place. Moreover, there are stone walls on both sides of the stone steps, so people feel safer.
When Queen Anna was escorted by two soldiers at the front and back, she went down a flight of steps. King Quito rushed over from behind and said to the queen, "You behaved well today, like a queen."
Queen Anna smiled slightly and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand. King Quida took Queen Anna's hand and walked slowly down the steps step by step. After descending thousands of steps, we arrived at the middle of the mountain. There is a large area of relatively gentle slope here. It can accommodate thousands of people to rest. The soldiers who had arrived were sitting on the ground, resting and eating dry food.
Queen Anna also felt that she could no longer walk, so she sat on the grass, breathed for a while, and then suddenly said to the king in a pleading tone, "Although Huascar did something wrong and shouldn't have sent people to attack you, but you Don’t be too harsh or too harsh on him.”
Atahualpa's expression suddenly changed and he said, "Why are you always thinking about him?" As he said this, he turned his face to one side, showing great displeasure.
Queen Anna immediately said apologetically, "Don't be angry, I'm too worried." At this time, the soldiers carrying the sedan chair came over. The king sat on the sedan chair and let the soldiers carry him away. Queen Anna also got on the sedan chair.
After the sun set, it quickly became dark. However, they were only halfway down the mountain, so the soldiers lit torches to light the way for the king, queen, concubines and princes. We followed the road down the mountain to the inn at the foot of the mountain. The night was already very dark. However, they finally passed the most difficult part of the journey.
King Quida walked for another two and a half days with his queen, concubines, princes and soldiers, and finally arrived at the small town of Haoha on the afternoon of the third day. The town is located in the valley of the Mantaro River in the mountains. The surrounding peaks and hills are not high, and there are layers and patches of land descending from the top of the hillside. Corn is grown in different seasons in the fields. Some corn is already mature, some has grown to more than half a person's height, and some has just sprouted; some of the mature corn are purple, some are white, and some are yellow. A large water channel brings water from somewhere on the mountain, passing through different terrains on the slopes to irrigate the corn fields of different heights.
From a distance, the water canal turns the wasteland on the hillside into layers of terraced fields, where a variety of crops are grown. Herds of vicuñas and Peruvian sheep graze leisurely on the wilderness on the slopes and mountaintops. Between orchards and vegetable gardens, you can see farmhouses and cottages. At the foot of the peaks and hills is a large flat and open valley. The broad and gentle Mantaro River flows peacefully from the valley. On the flat lands and slopes between the river valleys, you can see some local farmers working in the fields. He looked attentive and peaceful, as if nothing had happened in the country.
The marching road leading to Cusco became wider as soon as it came out of the mountains. After entering the mouth of the Mantaro River, it continued southward along the river. Between the riverside of the valley and the marching road, you can see a small group of ancient and small white buildings with walls. The building has three rows of about a dozen houses. In fact, it is more like a farmyard of a wealthy family. Originally this was a hunting place for the royal family and princes living in the capital city of Cusco. Because there is a large royal hunting ground behind the mountain to the west of Haoha. The king can bring his princes here for hunting and recreation. However, since the Inca King Huayna Capac the Great went north to conquer the Kingdom of Quito with the main Inca army, he never returned to Cusco, and Prince Huascar, who was in charge of the king's supervision of the country, did not like dancing. I don’t like hunting because I don’t like guns and knives, so this place slowly became a stopover between Cusco and Quito. Both the passing kings and princes would take a short rest here.
This time King Atahualpa will use this place as his command camp for the Quito army stationed in Cusco. In addition to the beautiful scenery and quiet environment, another important reason is that you can hunt here. . Hunting was the favorite activity of King Atahualpa, who was a martial artist. He found hunting to be as exciting as fighting, but not as dangerous. Because prey does not use tactics like the Inca did. As the King of Quito, in addition to issuing orders according to his own wishes, he also has a lot of time to kill. Therefore, hunting became a very exciting and interesting activity for him.
Hearing that King Quita traveled a long distance to reach Haoha, Prince Beskara, the governor of Tungula Province who had arrived earlier, took some princes and officers and soldiers to the mouth of the valley more than ten miles away to wait to welcome him. While accompanying the king, he introduced the scenery and folk customs here to the king.
When they walked along the marching road by the river to the gate of the royal palace courtyard located in the center of the river valley, the king got down from the sedan chair and waved to Usaka, the palace guard behind him. The guard immediately ran over and said, "What are your orders, Your Majesty?"
King Atahualpa pointed to the spacious valley around the palace and said to the guard, "Set the military camp here, and send two squadrons of soldiers to guard both sides of the river mouth, and conduct strict checks on people passing by on both sides. Be strict with Cus A spy sent by Coe."
The Usaka guard said, "Yes, my king." Then he asked the general commanding the troops to use semaphore to issue an order to the entire army to set up camp on the grassland on both sides of the palace.
King Quida took the queen and concubine into the palace. Under the leadership of Prince Bescara, King Quito looked around in every room and saw that all the rooms were very clean and comfortable, and each room was decorated exactly as in the Cajamarca Palace. King Atahualpa was very satisfied with Prince Beskara.
When it was time for dinner, the palace chef who arrived early had already prepared dinner. The king still asked several concubines to wait on him for dinner as in the palace. After the meal, the king continued to enter the meeting room accompanied by Prince Beskara, because he had many ideas and plans that needed to be conveyed to the prince immediately, and then let the prince and the messengers convey them to Char, who was four hundred kilometers away. Commander Kuchma and Prince Kiskis. Some of these ideas and plans were something he had planned for a long time, and some were things he had thought about over and over again during the long march.
The meeting room was covered with a red carpet and a large golden chair was placed in the middle. He sat down on the chair and asked about the situation in Cusco. Prince Bescarra told the king in detail about the situation in Cusco. So, regardless of the fatigue of the journey, the king immediately summoned several princes around him to discuss the matter. He briefly stated his thoughts and plans to the princes present. The princes listened and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Your Majesty is wise."
Seeing that the princes agreed with their ideas and arrangements, the King of Quito said to Prince Bescarra, "I want to send you to Cusco in person to convey my plans and arrangements to Chalkuchma and Kiski. Si, and urge them to do according to my will. Don’t come back until all things are completed.”
Prince Beskara immediately replied, "Yes, my king. I will definitely complete this task according to your will."
Atahualpa nodded and said, "Well, time is running out. You can take my knotted rope and set off on the road with the soldiers now."
