The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
As soon as he returned to the house, he found a large leather bag, then pulled a large wooden box out from under the bed, opened the lock, and found it filled with gold and gems. This was because the Marquis of Pizarro secretly hid the gold items and treasures he usually paid and robbed with him and asked him to keep them on his behalf. If these things were in Spain, even if we lived in splendor and wealth for several lifetimes, we would never be able to use them up. However, the leather bag is not big enough to hold so many gold objects and gems. He had no choice but to put the most precious and exquisite gold objects and gems into his leather bag. By the time he filled the suitcase, it was already afternoon.
At this time, he was sitting at the table and hurriedly writing more than half a piece of paper. Then he suddenly remembered that he should get the map from the Marquis' office so that he could use it when he left. So, he came to the headquarters and saw Pizarro still sitting at the table, smoking a cigarette. He entered the room and said to Pizarro, "Mr. Marquis, let me take a look at your map."
Pizarro looked a little strange and said, "Why are you looking at the map?"
"I wanted to see the geographical distribution of the Inca kingdom," Rolbert said.
Pizarro did not agree, but asked him, "Has the order been drafted?"
Robert said, "Soon." He picked up the map on the table and went out.
Returning to the house, he remembered that he should prepare casual clothes for himself, because he could not walk around in the Inca Kingdom wearing Spanish military uniforms. So he borrowed some clothes from the locals who were cooking in the military camp.
Before you know it, the sun is going to set. He thought he had to leave the barracks before dark, because once it was dark, if he took so many things out of the barracks, he would be easily discovered and suspected by the sentries. So, he carried the black leather bag filled with gold and gems, went to the horse house, and asked the Indians who were watching the horses to lead his horse out. He put his leather bag on the horse, jumped on the horse, and walked calmly outside the military camp.
When he arrived at the gate of the military camp, the sentry on guard asked him, "Where are you going? Why are you carrying a leather bag?"
He smiled mysteriously at the sentry and said, "Take some tobacco leaves and go visit someone."
The sentry smiled and said, "Visiting my father-in-law?"
Robert snorted and quickly walked out of the door. Robert came to the cypress forest in front of the temple. It was still bright, so he could only hide in the forest alone and wait for darkness.
Finally, it got dark, but Queen Anna had not come out yet. He was afraid that if it was too late, the Marquis would send someone to find him, so he tied the horse in the forest, put the leather bag in a dark place, and went straight to the temple gate. forward. When the guarding soldiers saw him coming, they said to him, "Petya has been called to the military camp for a meeting."
This made him feel a little embarrassed. Why was it that everything he did was so unsatisfactory? This made him doubt whether he could successfully escape tonight. But he still had the courage to say to the soldier guarding the door, "Please help me send a message to Queen Anna. Just say that I am waiting to see her outside the door."
When the soldier saw that the Marquis' secretary asked him to deliver a message, there was no way he could disobey, so he immediately went into the temple to deliver the message.
Robert returned to the forest and waited for the princess while looking towards the entrance of the temple. After a while, when it got dark, I saw a familiar figure flashing from the door of the temple and entering the dark forest.
When Queen Anna came to him, he didn't even have any more words, he just said, "Hurry up and get on your horse. Let's leave here now."
Queen Anna was startled and said, "Where are you going?"
Robert said, "Go away and leave this place forever."
Queen Anna seemed a little caught off guard and said, "But nothing has been arranged."
Robert said, "What time has it been? Why do you still care so much?"
Queen Anna thought for a moment and then said, "The child hasn't been brought out yet."
Robert said, "The child will be taken care of."
Queen Anna still seemed very hesitant and said, "Don't say hello to the king? I think he is very pitiful now."
"He brought it on himself," Rolbert said.
But Queen Anna explained for Atahualpa, "That day, after I told him that you had a strong reinforcement that would arrive here soon, he felt very frightened and said that swarms of locusts were flying here, here. There will be a disaster. At night, he came to my room and said to me, maybe the Spaniards really won't let him out. I asked him how he changed his mind. He said that the more people you come, the better. He is no longer needed, because you can have enough troops to deal with the Inca army. Within two days, a meteor crash occurred, and he really felt that his days were numbered."
Robert nodded and said, "Yes, my princess, the days of the Inca King are indeed running out. As soon as the reinforcements arrive tomorrow, and if the gold is divided, the Inca King will be executed immediately, because they are in a hurry. They want to march to the capital Cusco and go there to find more gold, and they will not let the Incas hold them back. This is what the Marquis said to me personally."
Queen Anna said, "No wonder the king told me that the gold in the stone house was full. He also asked the Marquis to let him out, but the Marquis refused to come to see him."
Robert said, "The Marquis said that you can abide by the signed agreement, or you don't have to abide by it. But I think he had no intention of abiding by it from the time he signed the agreement." As he said that, he led the horse He came over and said to the queen, "We must leave at once. If we are late, it will be too late."
The queen looked a little surprised and said, "Do we have to leave now?"
Robert said, "The Marquis is convening a meeting. If I stop, the meeting will not be held. Therefore, the Marquis will send someone to find me right away. By then, we will not be able to leave even if we want to."
The queen said, "If I want to leave, I have to take the child with me. Otherwise, you wait, I will hold the child, and we leave here together."
But Robert grabbed Queen Anna and said, "No, if you take the child with you, they will not let you come out of the temple."
"But what will happen to the child when we leave?" The queen wanted to cry.
Robert said, "The child will not be left alone. We must leave here immediately. When the situation is better in the future, we can come back and take the child away."
Queen Anna said, "My child," and burst into tears.
Robert didn't want to say anything else, so he picked up the princess and put her on the horse, warning, "We have to leave here quickly. The Marquis is setting up sentries at the intersection of the city. If we don't leave right away, I'm afraid we won't be able to leave." ." After saying that, he put the leather bag into the princess's arms, jumped on the horse, shook the reins, and the horse came out of the forest and walked along the moonlit path toward the hills in the valley.
The path leads through the city in the valley and into the wilderness on the outskirts. The moonlight shines in the depths of the valley, and there is a dreamy moonlight color everywhere. The night wind blew silently, and it was a bit cool. From time to time, you could hear the hoarse howl of wolves on the mountainside. The princess looked at the moonlit path stretching towards the hills in a hazy way, and asked, "Where are we going?"
Robert didn't know where to go, so he said, "Let's keep moving forward and quickly get out of the Spanish pursuit range."
The princess asked again, "Why don't we take the royal road?"
Robert said, "Because the Marquis was meeting with me to set up sentry posts in the city, I was afraid that he would not see me, become suspicious, and would send cavalry to chase us. So, I chose this path. This path leads to the wilderness. It’s deep in the mountains. It’s not easy to attract the attention of the Spaniards.”
When they reached the end of the valley, they dismounted and led the horses to the mountain ridge. Then, they climbed over several mountain ridges and walked for most of the night. Feeling that the Spaniards would not chase them again, they came to a very remote place. small mountain village. They rested in the village for the night, and then, led by a local Indian, climbed over the mountains and reached the Royal Road. Then they thanked the Indian and headed south along the royal road to Pachacamac, crossing the hot desert to Chile.
(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" (18. Sending Children Down the Mountain))
