The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
That night, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish Marquis and commander of the expeditionary force, tossed and turned and stayed awake all night. He was thinking that although the Spanish had already achieved a major victory in Cajamarca and used the city as a base for their further expansion into the interior. To this end, they transformed the temporary palaces and public houses where the Inca kings and royal nobles lived into residential areas suitable for them, and changed the Palace of the Virgin of the Sun into a church. Everything seemed to go smoothly beyond imagination, as if God was blessing him. For this, all officers and soldiers expressed their admiration and gratitude to him. He himself felt very happy and gratified, even a little proud and proud.
However, as the commander-in-chief, he cannot be blindly optimistic and satisfied with the status quo like soldiers. Otherwise, why would they be far away from their hometown and relatives, go through hardships, and travel thousands of miles to come to this strange country where they have never met before? Yes, they are not here for temporary happiness and enjoyment, but for gold and treasure digging. However, they have not dug up much gold or treasure now. Their goal is not to stop here in Cajamarca, but to go to Cusco and other places with gold and silver treasures.
However, now he can't take everyone to those places known as gold. Because his troops are currently short of men and horses, there are only a total of more than 160 people, in addition to dozens of Inca soldiers. These people would use a lot of troops just to guard the Inca King every day. If they marched to Cusco, they would not only have to bring more troops, but they would also have to stay and station enough soldiers in Cajamarca because they were loyal to the Incas. The king's armed forces will come to rescue their king at any time. Therefore, what he needs most now is reinforcements. Otherwise, he can only stay here and cannot go anywhere.
Thinking like this, he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Since he couldn't sleep, he decided to get up and walk outside, checking the barracks and guard posts. Although he sent his brother Hernando Pizarro to lead a team of nearly sixty people to guard the Inca King Atahualpa, he still felt uneasy. So he put on his clothes and got up from the bed.
Sleeping beside him was a young princess named Marikayas. This young Inca princess was only seventeen or eighteen years old. She had a very humble and gentle temperament, and she was very gentle and considerate towards the Spanish Marquis next to her. She thought that through her diligence and dedication, the Marquis could be more generous to the Inca King, and even exempt him from death or grant him release. Seeing that the Marquis was about to get up in the middle of the night, she opened her eyes, made signs, and asked him what he needed. Because he couldn't understand what she said.
The Marquis understood what she meant and pointed outside. Seeing that the princess wanted to get up and dress him, he immediately waved his hand to her and told her to sleep well. The young princess pointed to the coat, meaning that it was very cold outside and asked him not to forget to wear the coat. The Marquis nodded, then got up from the bed and put his coat on himself.
He went out. It was relatively cold at night in the mountainous area, and the ground was covered with a thin layer of white frost. The night wind was blowing from the distant mountains, and it was very cold. But the sky is very clear. He glanced around the square. In just a few days, the surrounding area was already covered with houses. Because the original houses can no longer meet the needs of the officers and soldiers.
He saw that most of the barracks had their lights turned off, but there were a few rooms with lights on. As soon as he approached the door of a lighted room, he smelled a pungent smoke. Originally, no soldiers would smoke this kind of cigarette, only Indians would smoke it. Because there were several Indians serving as translators and guides in the army, when they had nothing to do, they would crush a yellow sun-dried leaf, roll it up and light it on fire to inhale. He also said that this kind of stuff is very refreshing. No matter how tired or tired you are, as long as you take a few puffs, you can immediately relieve your sleepiness and fatigue. So, it didn't take long for the soldiers to learn to smoke one by one. Some soldiers even felt sleepy and yawned when they were on guard duty at night.
He looked inside along the window. Of course, these houses with windows were all newly built by the Spaniards, because the Inca houses had no windows, only wall holes for ventilation and lighting. He saw twenty or thirty people huddled in a circle in a narrow hut, playing dice and gambling. Among them were his two younger brothers, Juan Pizarro and Gonzalo Pizarro. This kind of dice is a six-sided cube made of cow bones. Each side is engraved with one, two, three, four, five, and six. Except for one and four points, which are red, the rest are black. Since the points of the dice can be combined in many different ways, and people cannot predict the points when rolling the dice, gamblers just put the dice directly in a small bowl or cup and roll the dice. The number of points determines the winner. This gambling game is very popular among Spanish nobles and lower classes.
Pizarrodo didn't want to worry about this kind of gambling, because he knew that it was not easy for the soldiers to come out with him, and he couldn't let them feel idle and bored. If you let them feel extremely bored, they will definitely cause trouble for you somewhere. However, as the commander, he still disagreed with them burning the midnight oil to fight like this, which affected their rest. Fortunately, there was nothing urgent at the moment, so he felt that there was no need to worry about it. So, he just shouted "Don't play too late" through the window. However, whether the people inside were too focused on playing or the noise was too loud, no one responded to his words at all. He looked at several other lit rooms one after another, and the people inside were also busy gambling. Therefore, the Marquis felt it was inconvenient to take care of it and walked past the door.
When he reached the intersection next to the house, he saw two soldiers sitting on a big rock, smoking and chatting, so he walked up and asked what was going on. A sentry replied in a funny tone, "No, I just saw that Martin brought a strange woman into his house. That woman seemed to be a concubine of the Inca King."
Although Pizarro didn't care too much about the people below him having sex with women, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous when he heard that this boy Martin actually had a concubine of the Inca King. I thought that this Indian was so lucky that he actually became the concubine of the Inca King. He was jealous, but he still felt there was no need to disturb or interfere in other people's private affairs. So, after hearing this, he nodded and said to the sentry, "It doesn't matter whether you see this kind of thing or not. What you should see should not be careless. The Inca King's subordinates saw that their King was arrested by us. If he is injured, we will definitely try our best to rescue him. So, don’t say you can’t be careless while standing guard, but you can’t just sleep peacefully, you know?”
The sentry hurriedly said, "Yes, Marquis."
After walking through the square, I looked towards the military camp where the Inca king was imprisoned, and saw a large torch lighting up the area. Through the light of the torches, one could see sentries walking back and forth in front of and around the military camp. As a result, he felt more at ease. After walking around the square barracks and seeing no movement, Pizarro walked towards his residence. When he walked to his door, he still didn't feel sleepy at all. If he didn't feel sleepy, it would be difficult to fall asleep. If he couldn't sleep, he would have to do something. He wanted to see the soldiers playing dice and gambling. In the past, he also liked this kind of gambling very much, and he was also considered a relatively professional master. But there was no money at that time and no one wanted to play with him. However, now that I have money, I can’t play anymore. Because as a marquis and commander, he could not confuse himself with those low-level officers and soldiers, arguing and arguing all day long over your victory and my defeat. This would make him lose his status and status in front of the soldiers. Therefore, even if he wanted to go to this kind of place, he would definitely not go. So, he returned to his house. When the young and beautiful Inca princess saw him coming back, she greeted him and asked him to go to bed quickly to avoid being cold. Without saying a word, he took off his clothes and got into the woman's warm bed. The woman's body is very warm and smooth, and when she is hugged, she feels a kind of tenderness and intoxication that penetrates her heart, just like being an Inca king.
He slept for a short while and then woke up again soon. When he woke up, he didn't want to sleep anymore. In fact, it's not that he doesn't want to sleep, but that he feels that there are some things that must be done quickly. So he simply got up, lit an oil lamp, and tried to write something. However, when he picked up the pen, he couldn't write anything. Because his family used to be poor and he had many brothers. His parents were worried about food and clothing all day long, so how could they have money to send them to school? He felt that he should call his secretary.
So, he went out, knocked on the door and asked his secretary to come to his office. After a while, Robert came to his office yawning and rubbing his eyes. The office has a large square table and several wooden chairs that were brought from the Inca residence. There are some papers and quills on the table. When Robert sat down at the table opposite, Pizarro told him what he was thinking and asked him to write to Antonio Navarro, the accountant of the Spanish army who was staying in San Miguel and the head of the local garrison. letter, so that he could tell him the victory and current situation of Cajamarca, as well as his current worries, and asked him to inquire from time to time whether there were reinforcements sent from Panama. Robert was a rare talented student in the army. He was born in a Spanish noble family and had gone to many schools. He came here from Panama with the Bishop, Father Vicente de Valverde.
As the letter was almost finished, Robert asked the Marquis, "Who should I send to San Miguel to deliver the letter?"
"Send Martin and Hernando Aldana," said the Marquis. Martin was the Spanish shorthand for Don Martinillo, the Indian translator. And Hernando Aldana was the brave and resourceful soldier who galloped in front of the Inca king.
Robert thought for a while and said, "If you send Hernando Aldana, there is no need to send Martin, because once Martin leaves, some things dealing with the Inca will not be easy to handle."
Pizarro asked, "What do you mean?"
Robert said, "Just find an honest, trustworthy and reliable Indian to follow."
Pizarro thought about it and thought it was feasible, and said, "You write first, I will go to Martin and ask him to find an honest and reliable local immediately. This letter must be sent as soon as possible."
With that said, Pizarro went out, knocked on the door two houses away from him, and shouted loudly, "Martin, Martin, open the door." But Martin neither answered nor opened the door. Pizarro got anxious and kicked the door open, cursing, "What are you doing, you bitch? Why don't you open the door?"
The Indian translator hurriedly sat up from the bed, quickly put his hands together and apologized, saying, "Marquis, spare your life, but your slave deserves to die."
When Pizarro heard this, he found it funny: He just seduced the concubine of the Inca king, and he was so frightened!
Pizarro struck a match and lit the oil lamp on the table, and then he saw clearly that the damn Indian was kneeling naked on the bed begging for mercy, and the young and beautiful Inca king kneeling next to him was the love of the Inca king. The concubine was so frightened that her soul came out of her body, her whole body huddled together, trembling violently. Because in the Inca Kingdom, adultery like this was punishable by death and hanging. Women were buried alive. Especially if he had an affair with a virgin from the Palace of the Sun or the concubine of the Inca King, he would also destroy his nine tribes and burn down his family property. Therefore, when their adultery was discovered by the Marquis, he was so frightened that he almost fainted.
However, the Spanish commander will not make it too difficult for them, because Martin is too important to them. We have mentioned before that during a voyage three years ago, the Spaniards encountered a small Indian boat, with several men and women on board from Tumbes. When they saw the Indians wearing very exquisite and gorgeous clothes and some rough gold and silver ornaments, they detained them and took two of the young men to Spain for nearly two years of training. Learn Spanish to serve as a translator for Spanish speakers in the future. Martin was one of these two Indian interpreters, and the other was in Almagro's army.
As the Spaniards who penetrated deeply into the Inca Empire, without Martin's cooperation, they would have become a large group of deaf people. Therefore, they have been unable to do without Martin. Furthermore, these Spanish adventurers usually burned, killed, raped and looted, and did not take things like rape and fornication very seriously. Therefore, when they saw Martin having an affair with the concubine of the Inca King, he behaved very badly. Disapproval. When Pizarro saw that the two Indians in front of him were so frightened, he smiled calmly and said, "Don't be afraid, I am not the Inca King."
After listening to Pizarro's words, Martin's expression immediately relaxed, but he still looked at his commander with some confusion.
Pizarro waved his hands to them and said, "I'm sorry to bother you." He signaled them to get under the covers quickly and stop freezing. Then, he said to Martin, "I'm sorry to interrupt your sweet dream. Get up right now and find me an honest and reliable local man. The sooner the better. I have something urgent to do." After that, he said again He said "I'm sorry" and hurriedly exited the room.
By the time Martin brought a young local man to Pizarro's office, it was already dark. Pizarro looked at the local man that Martin had brought for a long time and thought he looked honest and lean, so he asked Martin, "Where did you get this man?"
Perhaps because of time constraints, Martin had to call the people who herded vicuñas for the Spaniards. Martin said, "Aren't you looking for a herder?"
Pizarro was startled and said, "When did I tell you to find a shepherd?"
Martin slapped his forehead and said quickly, "Yes, I remembered it wrong. However, it was so dark that I couldn't go out to look for him, so I called him over. However, this man had been grazing cattle for the Inca royal family for many years, and he was very Be honest and you will never go wrong.”
Pizarro asked Robert, "What do you think?"
Robert said, "I think this person is suitable."
Pizarro walked up to the young man, patted him on the shoulder and said, "This task is very important. When you come back after completing the task, I will give you five llamas and five hundred kilograms of corn. How about it?" ?”
When Martin translated Pizarro's words to the herdsman, the herdsman's lips were so happy that he couldn't close his lips with joy, and he bowed repeatedly to thank him. Because this is simply a huge fortune for a local Indian.
After a while, Roberto called for Hernando Aldana. Pizarro handed the letter to him and said in a profound manner, "This letter must be delivered to San Miguel." Antonio Navarro, asked him to keep sending people to inquire about the news of additional reinforcements from Panama, and once reinforcements arrived, he was asked to send people to bring them over immediately.”
Aldana said, "Yes, Marquis." He folded the letter and put it in his pocket.
Pizarro added, "It will be a difficult journey for you to take this shepherd to San Miguel this time, but when it is done, I will reward you heavily."
Aldana replied, "Thank you, Marquis."
Pizarro nodded and said, "Let's hit the road now. Rest less and walk more. Travel day and night. Go early and come back early."
Aldana said, "Yes." He gave a military salute and led the Indian herdsman out of the Spanish Expeditionary Force's office.
