The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
The sun has already set in the west and will set in half an hour. As soon as the sun sets, it will get dark immediately. Once it gets dark, they have to spend the night in the mountains with no village in front of them and no store behind them. However, they didn’t bring anything with them, so how could they spend the night on the edge of the cliff? Of course they knew that the mountain wind was strong at night and the temperature was very low. Therefore, they cannot stay here for too long.
Hernando shouted, "Santos."
Santos replied, "Arrived."
Hernando said, "You try to get there first."
Santos responded, "Yes," and let others hold the horse. He walked to the bridge and tentatively stepped on the wooden planks spread on the bridge deck with his feet. However, the bridge body was too soft and began to sway significantly. The shaking became larger and larger, as if people were being thrown from the bridge into the deep valley below. Santos felt guilty and immediately stepped back and said, "Captain, I'm afraid, I'm afraid of heights."
Hernando said, "Even if you are afraid of heights, you have to go up. This is an order!"
Santos walked up to Hernando and begged in a low voice, "Please, please spare me. Can I return the gold plate to you?"
However, Hernando pulled out his pistol from the holster and threatened, "You must go forward. If you dare to retreat again, I will kill you."
When Santos saw that Hernando had pulled out his pistol, he no longer dared to be afraid. He grasped the guardrails on both sides tightly with his hands, stepped on the wooden planks, and walked towards the bridge step by step with caution and trembling. When we almost reached the middle of the bridge, the bridge was too long and swayed very violently, just like swinging on a swing, making people feel dizzy and frightened. Maybe Santos was really afraid of heights. He was so frightened that he stood there afraid to move and screamed desperately. Hernando was so angry that he cursed, "You soft bear, if you scream again, I will kill you." With that, he fired a shot into the sky. Santos was already scared, but when Hernando frightened him, he simply sat on the bridge and burst into tears.
Hernando was so angry that he cursed, but he could only scare Santos and did not dare to do anything because he was responsible for everyone who followed their brothers here. Seeing that Santos was so frightened that he sat on the bridge and refused to leave, Hernando wanted to find someone to help Santos over. He asked everyone, "Who can go over and help that soft bear over?"
However, everyone looked at me and I looked at you, and they all lowered their heads. Because everyone is afraid that the weight of two people will increase the load of the cable bridge and make it even more dangerous. Seeing that no one was willing to come forward, Hernando really wanted to go over by himself. However, he saw that the bridge was so weak, and there was an abyss under the bridge. Moreover, he was the leader of the team. If there was danger, the entire team would be in danger. The task couldn't be completed, so when he saw that no one was willing to come forward, he cursed, "Damn it, if you want to talk about throwing dice and gambling, everyone will run faster than the other and grab the fun. When it comes to serious matters, , They are all pretending to be cowards." However, no matter how he scolded, the soldiers still lowered their heads and remained silent, leaving him without any clue.
At this time, someone shouted, "Look." Everyone raised their heads and looked towards the other side, and saw a thin Indian who was so frightened that Santos was sitting on the bridge that he cried out, and he was as light as a swallow. He ran onto the bridge and soon came to Santos, pulling Santos step by step to the other side of the bridge. This made everyone very surprised and happy. They thought that maybe Hernando's shot had alerted some passerby, so they ran over to help.
So Hernando shouted to Santos, who was crossing the bridge, "Let the local come over."
Santos motioned for the local to come to the north bank of the bridge. The man came over the bridge almost at a trot. Hernando tried to converse with the native in Quechua, the lingua franca of the Incas, which he had spoken half his life. Fortunately, this local man also speaks Quechua, because he is a local government official responsible for collecting bridge tolls. It stands to reason that each of them would be charged a small pot of corn or some alpaca hair when crossing the bridge. However, Hernando took out the safe pass given to him by the Inca King and showed it to the man. Not only did the man not charge Instead of paying bridge fees, he proactively and enthusiastically offered to provide food and lodging for these big white men who had come all the way.
Hernando no longer worried about crossing the bridge, but he didn't know what to do with the horses. Because he knew that the bridge was designed and built for pedestrians or lighter llamas, he did not dare to let horses pass. He was afraid that the bridge would be damaged or collapsed when the horses crossed the bridge.
But the local said, "It doesn't matter." With that, he led Santos' horse toward the middle of the bridge. Everyone stood on the shore and watched the Indian leading the horse calmly on the bridge with a look of surprise and admiration on his face, because they simply couldn't believe that this kind of bridge could carry Lift heavy objects like horses. When the Incas led the horses across the bridge, Hernando asked Antonio to follow, and then Letomundo. In this way, after a while, all the soldiers led the horses across the bridge.
After crossing the bridge, there are two houses behind the huge stone hole at the end of the bridge. One house was the toll collector's residence, and the other, larger house, contained corn and velvet. The toll collector's name was Apidiki. He let everyone rest in his hut for a while, and then took everyone to a village not far from here.
On the way to the village, we passed by a canyon with a small stream flowing through it. Because the land on both sides of the river is very poor, it was chosen as a cemetery by the Indians. There are particularly many ancient Indian tombs here. There are a large number of small mounds built according to local customs on the mountains and dry land of the canyon, with bones buried in them. There is little here except the graves of the dead and the land they cultivated while alive. Passing through the canyon and going up to a slope, you can see a few farmhouses scattered on the roadside below the mountain.
The village is on the edge of a long and narrow river valley, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and is very quiet. Not far from the village is an endless riverside slope, where groups of llamas are leisurely eating grass that is not lush in the dusk. The shepherds sat on the top of the slope under the setting sun, blowing a kind of flute made of reeds. Sometimes the sound of the flute sounded like a long wind blowing from the plateau, sometimes like a rapid flowing through the valley, and sometimes like white clouds blowing from the top of the mountain. Floating slowly over the sky, or falling gently from the sky like drizzle. The tone is simple and melodious, like the sound of nature coming from ancient times and dreams. The hillsides are covered with plants that belong to areas with higher temperatures. These plants are colorful and fragrant, making people feel pleasant to the eyes and relaxed to the heart.
The families in the village live in groups of three or five scattered in the valley beside the river. A small road, which is not too wide, connects the farmhouses together. The road is paved with dry, hard and pitted dirt, and corns of different seasons are planted in the fields beside the road. Some corns are ripe for harvest, some corns are only as tall as a person, and some corns have just sprouted. On the edge of the road and fields, a stream of clear and cold water flows along a strong and wide canal from the high mountains of the Cordillera Mountains to the foothills and valleys. In front of and behind every house, pear blossoms are fragrant in the orchard, and tomatoes and other vegetables are growing happily in the vegetable garden.
When the bridge guard led the Spanish soldiers on horses and holding matchlocks along the path toward the village, the locals in the fields or walking by the roadside expressed curiosity and joy. He looked at them with a smile and greeted them in a local dialect that they didn't quite understand. Then, they ran around like a New Year and told everyone they met about it. Therefore, before Hernando's troops arrived at the entrance of the village, many Indians had gathered on a large drying field at the entrance of the village. They sang and danced as if celebrating a festival to welcome these guests from afar.
Hernando asked the soldiers to tie the horses to a forest near the entrance of the village, and then sat around the grain field and watched the local people singing and dancing. In the eyes of these Spaniards, these Incan farmers in the mountains seem to be still in the primary stage of the world, just like the primary stage of life, giving people a sense of freshness in the early morning, so what is visible to everyone Everything feels friendly and curious, and everything in front of me feels so natural, peaceful and beautiful.
Looking at the cheerful and optimistic scene of these Indians, it was difficult for the Spaniards to associate their bleak and sad fate with them. The Inca people were actually very pitiful. They had never had personal freedom and hope in life. Their destiny had been determined since they were 5 years old. When they grow up, they can only become land laborers, and the women they marry are selected for them by the officials responsible for managing them. Even the place of their birth is marked with a colored ribbon. This ribbon should be tied to the head at all times and should not be taken off without permission. After they grew up, they not only had to cultivate their own land, other people's land, the village's land, the priests' land and the Inca king's land every year, but they also had to work on huge projects all over the country. Work. They have no personal interests, no independent spirit, or even hope. Therefore, they have no interest in the land and no patriotic feelings. They just blindly obey authority. When their Inca king is arrested, they will easily turn to The Spaniards obeyed and submitted.
After the sun sets, night falls quickly. The Indian head people asked people to light piles of bonfires on the grain field at the entrance of the village. People formed a large circle around the bonfire, singing a very cheerful song and dancing a very carnival local dance. The more people dance, the more people dance and the more people dance, the more lively it becomes. In order to show their enthusiasm and welcome to the guests, many young women in the village took the young Spanish soldiers to dance together. The soldiers were not very good at dancing at first, but soon they were able to dance to the songs and beats. The night by the river is beautiful, quiet and peaceful, and the cool night breeze makes people feel like they are bathing in a dream.
After dancing for a while, an old leader asked the young men to bring hare meat and boiled corn. This kind of corn is very soft, not only tender and delicious, but also has a slight sweet taste. These foods were specially prepared to entertain the guests of the Inca king. The soldiers had not eaten such delicious food for several days, so everyone ate a lot of rabbit meat and corn. Just after the meal was finished, the leader asked the girls to bring Chicha wine. This chicha is specially prepared for Spanish guests.
The Spaniard picked up the big bowl brought by the girls and drank one bowl after another. He soon became very drunk. He didn't care that the bonfire was burning brightly and the dancing was going on, but he became dizzy. , fell to the ground. So, the leader personally led others to help them rest in a relatively luxurious public house in the middle of the village. These public houses themselves are prepared for those government officials.
