The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
There were also priests guarding the door of the Akyawas Palace. Hernando showed the Inca King's knotted ropes to the priests. However, when the priests saw that they were armed with guns and swords and riding tall horses, they still refused to let them in. . Hernando pushed away a priest and led the soldiers into the hall. I originally imagined that the hall would be filled with splendid golden walls and gold everywhere. However, the Spaniards searched the entire hall and found no gold.
So Hernando took the soldiers to the Tauri Chubi Palace not far away. However, like the Akyawas Palace, there is no gold here. This made the Spaniards feel wrong, because the Inca King said there was a lot of gold here, so they climbed mountains and waded rivers, worked tirelessly, and traveled all the way from Cajamarca to get here. But now, no matter where they go, they find nothing. This made them very angry and disappointed. Was the Inca king lying to them?
Hernando asked the Inca who was their guide, "Didn't you say there is a lot of gold in these temples and palaces? But why didn't we see anything?"
The Inca guide was also puzzled and said, "It turns out that there is a lot of gold in these temples and halls. Because we come to these halls to worship every year, we have seen it with our own eyes."
At this time, he immediately thought that before they came here, the Marquis urged them to get here quickly, and said that if they arrived late, the gold would be hidden by the locals. Apparently, the gold was indeed hidden by the locals. Moreover, what makes them strange is that wherever they go, as long as they show the Inca road signs, people are very warm and welcome to them. However, the people here seem to be deeply hostile to them.
That afternoon, he ordered the soldiers to arrest all the priests in the temple and the main hall. The soldiers were divided into small teams and arrested people everywhere in the temple and palace halls. Then all the captured people were imprisoned in a temple built with huge rocks, and taken one by one to the stone house next door for torture and confession.
They first brought an old and frail man into the stone house. The room was small and empty, except for a few wooden benches. Hernando was sitting on a wooden bench, holding a cigarette in one hand and holding a sword in the other. His eyes were red and murderous. Five or six Spanish soldiers stood nearby, holding whips and wooden clubs. As soon as the old Indian priest entered the house, Hernando said to the priest, "Where did you hide all the gold?"
The interpreter beside him translated the words to the priest. The priest shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Hernando said, "Be tough." Then he waved to Letomundo.
Letomundo and several soldiers rushed over, pushed the old priest to the ground, and beat him with whips and wooden sticks. In just a few blows, the priest was beaten to death, howling like a killing pig. Hernando saw that if he continued to fight, the old man would definitely die, so the soldiers stopped and asked again, "Where is the gold hidden?"
The old man Yanyan said after a breath, "I was ill and went home some time ago. I really don't know where they hid the gold."
When Hernando heard this, he was convinced that the gold had been hidden by the priests. So he asked the soldiers to take the old man back to the next door and bring in a young priest. Hernando walked up to the young man and asked viciously, "Where is the gold hidden?"
The young priest shook his head and said timidly, "I don't know."
Hernando gritted his teeth and said, "You really don't know?"
The young priest said, "I really don't know."
Hernando said, "I'll let you know."
As he said that, he waved his hand vigorously towards Letomundo. The soldiers threw the young priest to the ground and beat him with whips and sticks. The beating made the young man roll with his head in his arms and cry for his father and mother. He kept shouting, "Don't fight, don't fight."
Hernando thought he was about to confess, so he asked the soldiers to stop, and then asked the young priest, "Okay, tell me, where is the gold hidden?"
The young priest sat up from the ground holding his head and said, "I really don't know! Because they didn't ask me to hide the gold."
Hernando said, "Then tell me, who hid the gold?"
The young man hesitated for a long time before saying, "I really don't know."
Hernando kicked the man to the ground and shouted, "Hit me hard." Then, whips and sticks rained down on the man's head and body. After a while, he beat the man until he couldn't move. The man shouted weakly, "Stop it, I say."
As soon as Hernando heard that he was about to attack, he pointed his sword at his neck and said, "Okay, you tell me. If you don't tell me, your life will be lost."
The man kept breathing, and then said, "Our high priest Ukumari, he led others to hide the gold."
Hernando told the soldiers, "Bring their high priest here."
Letomundo said, "Yes," and led the Indian interpreter out of the house.
After a while, Letomundo brought in a middle-aged priest in his forties. Hernando asked him, "Are you High Priest Ucumari?"
The middle-aged man said, "Yes."
Hernando asked again, "Did you hide the gold?"
The middle-aged priest said, "Yes."
Hernando asked, "Why hide the gold?"
The middle-aged priest said, "Atahuallpa sent people to ask us to remove all the gold from the temple and the palace hall and transport it to Cajamarca, but we are all priests loyal to Huascar and do not want to listen to him, so , and hid all the gold.”
Hernando pointed at the young priest who was lying on the ground and was beaten unable to move and said to him, "Do you want to live or die?"
The middle-aged priest replied that of course he chose to live, because in the Inca Empire gold was only used to decorate temples and palaces. Apart from that, it had almost no other uses. Therefore, of course he would not harm himself because of gold. life. He looked at the young priest who was beaten to the ground and expressed his willingness to take Hernando and the others to the place where the gold was hidden.
So, Hernando asked the soldiers to gather, mounted their horses and followed the middle-aged priest out of the temple gate. They walked for a while on the urban streets at dusk, then came to the door of a large stone house, opened a large copper lock, and entered the house. The room was dark, but the alluring light of gold could be seen. They walked closer and took a look, wow, what a big pile! It weighs at least one to two hundred kilograms and is worth about eighty thousand Spanish gold coins.
It stands to reason that this amount of gold should be a very generous reward compared to the hardships they suffered on the way here. But the Spanish's appetite for gold had become too great, and even all the gold in the entire Inca Empire could no longer satisfy their greedy desires.
While Hernando asked the soldiers to put the gold in cloth bags, he asked the high priest, "What else is there?"
Because his brother Francisco Pizarro wrote in a letter that the Inca King said that the gold here was no less than that in Cusco.
The high priest said, "There is still a lot of gold, which can fill several rooms like this. However, the palace priest sent people to carry it on camels to hide it in the desert."
Hernando asked, "Where is the palace priest?"
The high priest of the temple shook his head and said, "He has gone into seclusion. Because he is Huascar's biological brother, Atahualpa will be beheading him if he is caught."
Hernando didn't believe it, so he arrested several more priests and tortured them to extract confessions. In the end, they all said the same things as the high priest. Hernando had no choice but to lock the priests in the stone house.
Hernando and his soldiers stayed in Pachacamac for several days. Every day, people are sent into small teams to search for gold in cities and people's homes. However, the harvest is very limited. Moreover, all the news confirmed that a large amount of gold was transported to the desert by the palace priests and buried. This frustrated Hernando because they wanted much more than what they had already received.
Since the priests could no longer provide them with any more clues about finding gold, Hernando planned to release them from the stone house. So Hernando had his soldiers make a very large cross out of stones and plaster. Then, he gathered all the priests in the temple and the palace hall together, put the cross high, supported by two soldiers, and began to speak to the priests, "Today, I solemnly tell you Indians Priests, your ugly and ridiculous idol has been smashed by us, because it cannot bless you or bring you any good luck. Otherwise, how could your huge Inca Empire be destroyed by our Spaniards? Defeated?"
As he spoke, he pointed to the tall cross erected behind him and said to the priests, "Look at this cross. It is the idol we worship. It is the amulet for us and you. It can protect us and you from all kinds of diseases." Damage from the devil. It can bring us good luck and protect us from disaster. The reason why we can defeat Atahualpa is because we have its protection. Therefore, I want you to worship and believe in us in the future. Christianity, worship this cross.”
The local priests were originally puzzled by the impunity for the intruders who broke into the temple and smashed the idols. Now listening to Hernando's speech, they felt that the idols worshiped by the white people were indeed higher than what they believed in. The idol had more divine power, and he began to have a sense of reverence for the cross made of stone and plaster in front of him. After speaking, Hernando asked the soldiers to carry the cross to the temple and place it in front of the shrine.
In the next few days, Hernando continued to lead everyone to search for gold. However, all the gold seems to be hidden in a mysterious place that will never be known. This made him very frustrated, but also annoyed and helpless. He regretted that he had brought his people too late, and let the priests transport most of the gold away before they arrived.
