The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
Early the next morning, Captain Hernando led six cavalrymen including Antonio and Santos to the gate of the temple courtyard early in the morning. The captain asked everyone to wait outside the door and entered the Inca King's meeting room. At this time, Atahualpa had just gotten up and was being washed and gargled by his two beloved concubines. When he saw Hernando coming, he pointed to a colorful knotted rope on the table. Hernando knew that the Incas had no writing and that their road was a kind of knotted rope. Of course, the Spaniards did not understand this knotty writing, so they picked up the road sign from the table and put it in their pocket. Then we hit the road.
Hernando and the others had not been to Bambamaka, but they rode their horses and walked forward along the marching road leading to Bambamaka. The royal marching road was relatively flat at first, but when it entered the mountains, it began to go up and down. It went up from the deep valley to the top of the high slope, and then went down from the top of the high slope to the deep valley. But the scenery along the way is very clear and beautiful. Under the sun, the hills are covered with green grass and trees, and streams sometimes flow along the roadside, sometimes falling from the cliffs. There are groups of goats grazing leisurely on the hillside, and eagles are circling silently in the sky. Farmhouses and Inca people can be seen from time to time on the roadside and in the valley. These Inca people are very simple and hospitable. When they see outsiders, they smile at them with curious and friendly expressions. The Spaniards also waved and gestured towards them in a friendly way. Seeing that the Spaniards were very friendly, they invited the Spaniards to their homes. However, the Spaniards were busy on their way, so they had to wave to them and hurried away on horseback. It was dusk when they reached Bambamaka Castle.
Because someone had long reported that the Spaniards were coming on horseback, Usaka, the highest official in the castle, and Supaipa, the deputy chief, and others came to the castle gate to greet the Spanish officers and soldiers respectfully. Neither Hernando nor the soldiers dismounted. He showed Usaka and the others the directions given by King Atahualpa. After seeing the road signs, they showed great enthusiasm and said, "Welcome, guests of our king."
Martin rode on his horse and introduced to the Incas, "Captain Hernando is the brother of the Marquis Pizarro, the commander of our Spanish Expeditionary Force."
After hearing these words, the Inca officer seemed more enthusiastic and polite, bowing and nodding to Hernando, and then led the Spanish cavalry towards the castle. Entering the castle from the castle gate is a large playground. There are several long military barracks buildings around the playground. But the whole castle seemed quiet, except for some soldiers standing guard on the castle and on the playground.
Hernando asked Usaka, "I heard that you have more than 3,000 soldiers here. Why don't you see any of them?"
Usaka said, "In order to welcome you, our king's distinguished guests, we asked the soldiers to stay in the barracks and keep quiet to show our respect for you."
But Hernando shook his head and said, "If you really show respect for us, you should let the soldiers conduct a formation training on the playground and line up to welcome us."
Usaka immediately nodded and said, "It's already a little late today. Tomorrow morning, I will ask all the soldiers to line up to show you the high respect of our Inca soldiers."
Hernando said, "Good."
At this time, they came to a house next to the playground. Maybe they were a little hungry, but the Spaniards could smell the smell of meat from a distance. They dismounted in front of the room and tied the horses to the big tree next to the playground. Then, the Incas entered the room. A lamp was lit in the room, and wolf meat, rabbit meat, and pork were already placed on the table under the lamp, as well as tomatoes, potatoes, and boiled corn.
The Spaniard was already hungry and sat at the table. However, the Incas did not attend the table. Hernando asked Usaka and the others to eat together. However, Martin told Hernando that when the Incas invited others to dinner, the host usually did not attend. After hearing this, the Spaniards were not polite and began to eat hungrily.
After dinner, Hernando asked the Incas to show them the cell where Huascar was imprisoned. Usaka, Supaipa and others took the Spaniard out of the restaurant, walked through the playground, went up the stairs to the top of the castle, and came to a round stone house. Usaka asked the soldiers to open the iron door.
Because the room was dark, the soldiers entered and lit oil lamps. Before Hernando entered the house, he smelled a very unpleasant stench. When they entered the house, they saw that there was only a small bed in the hut. There was only a felt and an animal skin on the bed, and a piece of dirty and torn clothes, which were covered with specks of blood. That's the blood spurted from squeezing lice. There are two silver pots on the ground beside the bed, one for eating and one for defecation. Look at the blood-streaked phlegm stains everywhere on the ground.
Hernando became angry and asked loudly, "Is this the residence of your Inca king?"
Seeing that the Spanish chief was unhappy, the Incas lowered their heads and did not dare to say anything.
Hernando immediately said angrily, "Where did you get Huascar?"
Usaka asked sternly at Supaipa, "Speak, what did you do to Huascar?"
Supaipa said tremblingly, "We heard that his men were going to cause riots in the southern provinces and came to rescue Huascar, so we hurriedly executed him."
Usaka cursed, "You are so brave. Why didn't you report it to King Atahualpa and execute his brother?"
Supaipa said very aggrievedly, "The king was captured by the Spaniards. How can we report it?"
Usaka looked very helpless and said to Hernando, "It's only because I went to Cusco and I wasn't here that they caused such a big trouble for me. Let King Atahualpa scold me like crazy." , and it’s only because of me that he executed his brother. Do you think I was unjust or not?” As he said that, he looked very pitiful and painful.
The ridiculous Incas didn't know that the Spaniards were much smarter than them. If this were not the case, then it was not the Incas who were imprisoned, but the Spaniards. Therefore, how could they deceive the Spaniards with this drama.
Watching their very stupid double act and performance, the Spaniards were very annoyed and angry. Hernando put his hands on his hips, eyes wide with anger, and said to Usaka, "Since you said Huascar was executed by you, I want to see his body. Otherwise, your words are lies."
Usaka was panicked when he heard this, because he did not expect the Spaniards to see Huascar's body. He turned to Supaipa and asked, "General, where did you dump Huascar's body?"
Supaipa was also very frightened. He kept mumbling for a long time without saying a word.
Usaka was annoyed and said, "Speak!"
Supaipa, almost crying, said, "I sank him in the river."
"No way, it's a complete lie," Hernando said.
Supaipa said again and again, "I really sank him in the river."
(Please pay attention to Zhang Baotong's signed work "Poetic Emotions", which includes short prose, life essays and short stories. Today's release is the life essay "The Woman Behind the Man (Part 1)")
