The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
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 to cross the bridge. However, Hernando took out the security pass issued by the Inca King and showed it to him. Not only did he not charge a bridge toll, , but actively and enthusiastically provided food and lodging for these big white men who came from afar.
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 be built. Carrying heavy loads 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. The small house is for toll collectors to live in, and the other larger house is for corn and velvet yarn. 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.
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 grazing on 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 on the sky, or drizzle falling gently from the sky. The tone is simple and melodious, like the sound of nature coming from ancient times and dreams.
There are three or five households in the village scattered in the river valley. A not-so-wide path connects the farmhouses together like a rope. The road is made of dry, hard and potholed dirt. , corns of different seasons are grown 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 eggplant 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. 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. 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. 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.
(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 novella "Love Ladder" (5. Sixteenth Marriage))
