The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
That morning, Captain Hernando Pizarro of the Spanish Expeditionary Force took his secretary Robert, translator Martin and twenty cavalrymen to the foot of the ancient cypress tree in front of the Temple of the Sun God, waiting for Atahualpa Paiton. Prince Bescarra, the chief of Gura Province, and Suruchek, the steward in charge of palace affairs, went to Bambamarca to take Huascar to Cajamarca for trial.
However, after waiting for a long time, Prince Bescarra came out of the palace meeting room in the temple and said to Hernando, "The king said that he would see your Marquis soon and told him something important."
Hernando asked impatiently, "What time is it? Are you still going?"
The prince said, "Our king said that this matter is not urgent and will be discussed after he sees the Marquis." So Hernando asked a soldier to ride back to the military camp to report to the Marquis.
After a while, Francisco Pizarro arrived at the temple on horseback. He entered the Inca king's council chamber and asked Atahuallpa unhappily, "Why haven't the people going to Bambamarca started on their way yet?"
Atahualpa sat on the chair, covering his face with his hands in great pain, and said to Pizarro with tears streaming down his face, "I have to report to the Marquis the sad news that my brother Huascar has passed away."
When Pizarro heard this, he shouted loudly, "Isn't it possible? Soto and Pedro visited him a few days ago and said that he was fine, but he was suffering from some physical diseases."
But Atahualpa said, "Really, Marquis, I won't lie to you, he was executed by the guards in the prison the night before yesterday." As he said this, he held his head and cried loudly.
Pizarro heard this, punched the table hard, and cursed, "You bastard, you ordered Huascar to be executed."
Atahualpa was stunned by Pizarro's banging of the table and angry look, and said quickly, "This is really not an order from me, but they are worried that after Huascar is released from prison, it will cause panic and chaos in the country." There was a riot, so I took it upon myself to execute him. I only learned the news last night." Then, he explained, "If I wanted to kill him, I would have killed him long ago, why can I wait until now?"
Pizarro put his hands on his hips, looked at Atahualpa with fierce eyes, and said, "Is that so? But, I still don't believe that Huascar is dead." As he said, he shouted loudly, " Captain Hernando.”
"Here!" Hernando entered the house from outside and stood at attention to obey the order. Pizarro pointed to the Inca king and said to the captain, "This gentleman said that Huascar is dead. Do you believe it?"
Hernando glanced at the two people in front of him and replied, "How is that possible?"
Pizarro said, "Very well, you should take people to Bambamarca to investigate now. If Huascar is still alive, everything will be fine. If Huascar dies, Atahualpa will be hanged immediately." die."
Hernando said, "Yes, Mr. Marquis."
Atahualpa was so frightened that he almost lost his wits when he heard what the Marquis said. He covered his face and continued to cry to hide his guilt and fear.
As Pizarro spoke, he put one foot on the table in front of Atahualpa, pointed at him and said, "Did you hear that, sir? You are responsible for Huascar's death!" With that, he kicked the table aside, turned around and took translator Martin and Hernando out of the meeting room.
After Pizarro left, Atahualpa was extremely frightened. He did not expect that the Marquis would be so angry, and even said that if Huascar was really dead, he would be sent to the gallows. How could he not be afraid? He had never been afraid of anyone in his life, and no one had ever made him afraid. However, now he was extremely afraid of this Spanish Marquis who was disheveled and had vulgar behavior.
Just as he was wiping his tears, sighing softly, and raising his head from the table, Queen Anna Maya came over from outside and asked him in a very serious and solemn tone, "Are you really making people think this?" Huascar was killed?"
He asked, "How did you know?"
She said, "The Spaniard just told me."
Atahualpa didn't know which Spaniard it was, so he said sullenly, "Yes, what's the matter?"
The queen said angrily, "You really don't even spare a family member, and you are not afraid of retribution for doing so."
Atahualpa said, "What retribution? If I don't kill him, he will kill me. That's called retribution." After saying that, he stood up, opened his blood-red eyes, glared at the queen fiercely and cursed, " What, you want to rebel? Watch out when I get out and chop off your head."
But Queen Ana Maya's expression remained unchanged and she said calmly, "Your noble king, I don't want to rebel, I'm worried about you! Because if you do this, you will anger the Spaniards."
Atahualpa said, "But what can I do? Do you know? The Spaniards want Huascar to be the king. If he becomes the Inca king, won't he want to kill me first?"
Queen Anna didn't say anything after hearing this. She just said, "Why do you men insist on fighting and killing, if you are not afraid of losing both sides?" After that, she sighed and walked out.
Suruchek, the general manager in charge of the palace affairs, came over at this time. Seeing the heavy and pitiful look of the king, he asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, you can't go to court yet. The princes and ministers are all waiting outside."
Atahualpa sighed several times and said, "You should go to court." Then Sulucek shouted, "Your Majesty has an order, go to court."
More than a dozen princes and ministers entered the room with bare feet and legs. When they saw the king, who looked like he had just cried or been scolded, they were so frightened that they did not dare to say a word. They knelt quietly in two rows and waited. Following the King's instructions and instructions.
Atahualpa straightened his clothes, sat upright on the chair again, calmed down, and began to speak in a low voice with a heavy tone, "To be honest with you, I, Atahualpa, may not survive."
When everyone heard this, they all exclaimed, "Why, my great king?"
The Inca King covered his face, hiding his sorrow, and continued, "Huascar is dead. The Spanish Marquis was so angry just now that he got angry at me, saying that I ordered Huascar's death, and said that if Huascar If I am really dead, he will hang me to death."
The princes and ministers in the room immediately burst into tears, "My great king, if you are no longer here, we will go with you."
But when King Inca saw this scene, he waved his hands and said impatiently, "Okay, okay, I'm already annoyed. If you keep making trouble like this, will you let me live?"
Prince Bescarra understood the king's thoughts and stood up and said, "Don't worry, king. Even if Huascar dies, the Spaniards will not do anything to you." Then he analyzed and said, "If they kill the king, who will To raise gold for them? Who will give the order to let the Incas protect them instead of resisting them?" Prince Bescarra's words really worked. Everyone felt that these words were indeed reasonable, and even Atahualpa himself was not like I was so depressed just now.
The king waved his hand to calm everyone down and said, "Huascar's death made the Spaniards very angry. Even if they don't execute me immediately, they will hate me very much. Therefore, in order to calm down the anger and anger of the Spaniards, I I want you to hurry up and rush to Cusco and other places to assist in the inspection and supervision, and be sure to move enough gold within the specified time."
The princes responded in unison, "Your Majesty, don't worry."
The king clasped his hands, saluted everyone, and said sincerely, "Your Majesty, my life and death are decided by all the princes and ministers, so I leave it to you." This was the first time in his life that the Inca King had spoken to his subordinates. The ministers begged so.
When the ministers saw the king saluting like this, they quickly knelt down and said in unison, "For the king's health and comeback, I am willing to go through fire and water, even if I die."
Atahualpa calmed down for a while, and then told the princes and ministers the plan he had thought up last night. He divided these princes and ministers into several groups, one group went to Cusco, one group went to Quito, and three groups went to the Tromoc, Kalena and Laugna gold mines respectively. The purpose of going to Cusco and Quito was to urge the people to bring all the gold and silver to the cell in Cajamarca where the king was imprisoned. That house is now called the Treasury by the Spanish. The purpose of going to the Kaliavaya, Potosi and Laugna gold mines was to urge the miners to increase their labor intensity, produce more gold, and transport it quickly.
Gold was mined virtually throughout the Inca Empire, both on the surface and in streams and rivers. The gold in the rivers is brought by the rain. It's just that some places have more and some places have less. The purity of gold in the Inca Empire was around 18 to 20 karat. Only the gold mined from the Kaliawaya mining area had the highest purity, which was close to 24 karat, or even higher. Mining silver is more laborious than mining gold, and the cost of smelting and purifying it is also higher. The Inca Empire discovered many large silver mines, but only the Potosi mine had the largest silver production and the highest purity. There is also the Laugue Gold Mine, which is a large gold mine with a long history in the Inca Empire and its output has always been very high. Given enough time, Kalyavaya's annual gold production alone could exceed the capacity of that vault several times.
Although the journey to Cusco and Quito is difficult and long, the journey to the gold and silver mines of Cagliavaya, Potosi and Laug is also very long, and some of these gold and silver mines are located in the Andes Mountains. Among the mountains more than a thousand meters high, some are in the forests of the Amazon River. Just one trip sometimes takes ten days and a half. In addition, the mining area is remote and the living and living conditions are very difficult. Therefore, most princes and nobles are not willing to go to that kind of place. However, the king has given the order, and the king is in danger. As a prince and minister, how dare he save his life without risking his life? Therefore, after hearing the king’s allocation, the princes and ministers quickly replied, “Please don’t worry, your king.”
Atahualpa waved his hand and said, "Okay, you go back, prepare yourself, and leave early."
The ministers said, "As you command, my great king."
