The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
This was November 16, 1532, the second day of Eid al-Fitr.
Yesterday afternoon, four Spanish white men rode tall horses to King Atahualpa's palace to visit him, which made him feel very uneasy. He didn't sleep well last night, so he got up late in the morning. After getting up, Atahualpa had a simple meal, and then, accompanied by his concubines, went to the Inka Baths a few kilometers away to take a bath. This is almost the beginning of his daily life.
Cajamarca is located between the Amazon plain and the Andes. This small town is the witness and stage of the decline and destruction of the Inca civilization. To talk about the decline and destruction of the Inca civilization, we have to mention the small town of Cajamarca and Ama Square. The small town of Cajamarca is built in the valley, and the surrounding scenery is beautiful and spectacular. Here is Cubmayo, built by the Cajamarca people 800 years ago, with a huge stone building complex of nearly 25,000 square meters. You can also see an aqueduct built in the early days of the Inca Empire, a temple shaped like the head of a giant and caves decorated with stone carvings. These are embedded in huge rocks and green hillsides. Passing through a green valley path, the valley is surrounded by hills. These hills have gentle slopes and green grass. There are many terraced fields and grazing sheep on the hills.
The Inka Baths are located on the edge of the town. The Inca Baths are a very famous hot spring resort throughout the Inca Kingdom. The hot spring gushes out from the ground with a large flow and a temperature of about 70 or 80 degrees. Therefore, a huge steam is filled in the sky above the hot spring day and night, which can be seen dozens of miles away during the day. In order to make full use of the hot springs, the Inca royal family surrounded the hot springs with walls and built some houses where the hot springs erupted. The high-temperature hot springs flowed out through a channel, exuding the smell of sulfur, and connected with another stream channel. They merged into a large pool that could accommodate about ten people. In this way, the temperature of the water poured into the large pool can be adjusted to just reach the water temperature suitable for the human body. As an Inka bathhouse, it is guarded by soldiers all year round. Only the Inca kings and royal family members could enjoy the hot springs.
Every time the Inca King Atahualpa came to bathe in the hot spring pool, he was accompanied by more than a dozen of his beloved concubines. Seven or eight beloved concubines accompanied him down to the big pool, enjoying the comfort of the hot springs with him. There were also several beloved concubines waiting on him at any time beside the big pool, bringing him bath towels and dressing him.
Normally, when the king is in a good mood, he will play in the hot spring pool with his beloved concubines, but today, the king is dull and speechless. So Yina came to the king and said to the king, "Yesterday afternoon, I saw those tall white people. They seemed to be different from us Inca people. The king must take strict precautions against them and not take it lightly. "
Atahualpa smiled disapprovingly and said, "They are just a bunch of robbers and thieves, they are nothing."
Yina said, "But they don't look like roosters and dog robbers at all. They look like a group of well-educated people."
Listening to the king and Yina talking about those big white men, the other beloved concubines also gathered around. At this time, the king said to everyone, "Do you know where those big white men come from?"
Some people shook their heads and said, "I don't know." Someone said, "Are they the big, omnipotent white men that King Viracocha said?"
The king said, "They are not the big white people that King Viracocha said. These white people come from far across the ocean. They rob gold and silver everywhere, and they also kill men and rape women."
The beloved concubine of Kuta asked, "Why do they want to rob gold and silver?" Because gold and silver in the Inca Kingdom were only used for decoration of temples and palaces, but were of no use to ordinary people.
The king didn't know either. He shook his head and said, "They are a group of shameless villains, but they ride a mythical beast and have a weapon that can breathe fire. I have sent people to inquire about their situation. And, today In the afternoon, I will go back to visit them. They only have one or two hundred people, and I will send an army of 80,000 to scare them."
Wu Ga immediately said, "They only have one or two hundred people. The king's 80,000 army can drown them with just one spit."
After taking a bath, the King of Quito sent a prince named Galabama as an envoy to reply to the Spanish commander, saying that the Inca King would lead his soldiers this afternoon to pay them a return visit just like the Spanish soldiers did when they met with the Inca King yesterday evening. . Then, he started making arrangements in the big tent of the military camp to prepare for a return visit to the big white man.
After a while, the Prince of Galabama came back from the Spanish military camp. He said to the king, "Report to the king, the Spanish commander asked me to tell the king that you are welcome to visit. As for when to come and how to come, you can follow your instructions. As you please. No matter how you come, he will receive you as a friend and brother. He begs you to come quickly, for he longs to see you. You will not be harmed or insulted in any way."
The king said, "Very good. You have stayed with them for so long and talked so much with them. What do you know about them?"
The prince of Galabama replied, "I looked through the entire place where they lived. There were only about 150 people in total, and there were sixty or seventy of those monsters. Moreover, the group seemed exhausted when they arrived, and they slowly dispersed. , they don’t look like soldiers who know how to fight. Otherwise, Your Majesty, please give me 200 soldiers, and I promise to tie them all up and deliver them to Your Majesty."
King Quita listened to the words of Prince Galabama, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "I will make these roosters, dogs and thieves suffer a lot."
He figured that since the big white man came to visit him before dusk in the afternoon, he should also pay a return visit before dusk in the afternoon. However, the team that returns this time will be very large, and the scene will be very grand. It will reflect his supreme dignity and majesty as the Inca King, and let those big white men show their contempt and helplessness for intimidating the Inca King with their war horses yesterday. I regret my behavior.
After some arrangements were made, King Atahualpa took a nap and had dinner before preparing to lead his troops to pay a return visit to the big Spanish white man who lived in the Inca public house next to Plaza de Armas in the center of the small town of Cajamarca.
At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was clear, white clouds were floating, and the breeze blew from the valley. The nearly 80,000 troops stationed in Cajamarca began to file out of the military camp and headed towards the central square of Armas in the city. Although the military camp was only a few miles away from the city, the team walked for almost an hour before reaching the city. The soldiers were divided into two groups and walked in the fields on both sides of the road. The mountains and fields were so densely packed that the number of soldiers was countless.
Just in case, Atahualpa asked all the troops stationed in Cajamarca to go out and form a fighting formation. He sat on a large sedan chair and commanded, with 10,000 soldiers in front of him leading the way, and 70,000 soldiers behind him to guard the formation. . Walking in the front were 2,000 Incas who were cleaning the road. They wore colorful checkerboard pattern clothes and picked up stones and grass on the roadside as they marched. Behind them were three groups of Indians dressed in different colors, singing and dancing. Behind them are a large number of Inca warriors. They carried huge metal plates and crowns made of gold and silver and many gold and silver items.
Then came more than three hundred archers, who sang a song with a terrifying tone that cursed the enemy. As they walked, they swept the ground that had been swept by the local residents in advance. Then, they lined up in the square, as if waiting for the arrival of the king.
Immediately, more than a thousand palace guards wearing red and white military uniforms with a checkerboard pattern entered the square. Afterwards, the second and third batch of guards wearing another colorful costume and blue and white military uniforms also entered the square one after another. However, what is strange is that these soldiers did not carry any weapons. Perhaps it was because the Inca King felt that the Spanish soldiers did not carry weapons when they visited him yesterday evening, so he did not let the soldiers carry weapons.
At this time, the Indians who were singing and dancing were leading the way. Surrounded by many high-ranking officials, Atahualpa, the Inca king, appeared in a sedan chair. The wooden frame of the sedan chair was wrapped in silver leather, surrounded by colorful parrot feathers, and decorated with gold and silver ornaments. It was carried by eighty Inca princes and chiefs. Atahualpa himself was dressed in embroidered clothes, wearing a crown on his head, and a huge necklace made of emeralds around his neck. He was sitting on an ornate saddle-shaped stool in the sedan chair. Next to him was a sedan, which was carried by Hakamaga, the chief of Kipchak Province. In front of the Inca King, any high-ranking official had to carry heavy loads and bare legs and feet when meeting the king. However, the chief of Kipchak Province was able to ride in a sedan with the king, which was really something that everyone envied. . This shows the favor and respect Atahualpa had for him.
Beside the sedan there was a large group of princes and chieftains decorated with a large number of gold and silver ornaments, and behind them were many Inca warriors carrying a large number of gold and silver products. This may be the Inca king using gold and silver to seduce the Spanish big white man. The Indians entered the Cajamarca Square singing loud songs and filled every corner of the square. Seeing so many Inca soldiers following the Inca King to the square, and behind the King there was a line of Inca troops with no end in sight, making the Spaniards who were ambushing around the square full of fear, and many people actually peed. Wet pants.
