The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
Treasurer Riquelme said in the tone of a king giving orders to his ministers, "The Inca King should be executed immediately. Otherwise, it will easily lead to hijacking and attack by the Inca army."
Pizarro found this stupid statement very funny, but he couldn't laugh, so he explained, "Sir, you don't know. The reason why we are safe now is because the Inca King is a hostage. If you hold the Inca King hostage, you can hold the Inca King hostage and control the entire kingdom. Therefore, the Inca King cannot be killed now."
Treasurer Riquelme was unhappy and said, "Then you plan to keep him for a long time?"
Pizarro emphasized, "I mean you can't kill him yet. If you want to kill him, you have to wait until the gold is divided."
Treasurer Riquelme then asked, "Then when do you plan to divide the gold?"
Pizarro said, "As soon as possible."
Treasurer Riquelme said, "Then hurry up, divide the gold equally, kill the Inca king, and we can go back to our country for business. Life here is not only full of danger, but also really boring."
Pizarro came out of the room of Riquelme, the treasurer, and returned to his room. At this time, the Inca princess had already prepared the meal. It's a porridge made from ground corn and a tortilla made from cornmeal, served with tomatoes and potatoes, along with a plate of braised vicuña and a glass of chicha wine. Pizarro sat at the small table and finished his meal in a few naps. Then he rolled up a cigarette, lit it, and started smoking, thinking about how to hold the weekly meeting in the afternoon and what the main topics would be.
He thought that recently there was a clamor among officers and soldiers asking him to divide the gold quickly, and he also felt that the gold should indeed be divided. Otherwise, all the gold would be concentrated in the treasury, which would not only have to be guarded and protected by many soldiers every day, but would also be easily robbed and attacked by the Incas. However, he still felt that he had not come up with a good idea on how to divide the gold. Robert's departure was a very heavy loss for him. Not only did he lose an assistant and secretary, but he also lost a good adviser. Because he had discussed many things with him in advance and asked for his opinions, and his opinions and opinions were very persuasive and insightful. Sometimes, he even asked him to speak and do things on his behalf during meetings. mobilization. But now, he has to do everything by himself, and sometimes he is not sure whether it is good or bad.
Martin pushed the door open and came in and said, "Marquis, everyone in the meeting is here and waiting for you."
Pizarro then got up from the stool and went out to the office next door. The office was full of people, and roaring sounds and thick smoke poured out from the open windows. This weekly meeting is generally attended only by officers above the rank of second lieutenant. Originally, there were more than ten lieutenant-level officers in Pizarro's army, but now adding Almagro's lieutenant-level officers, there are nearly twenty people. Therefore, the entire headquarters office was full of people.
There is a large square table in the middle of the room, and there are several taller chairs next to the square table. These are where higher-ranking officers sit. The chair in the middle was, of course, Pizarro's. The second chair was originally occupied by Hernando, but now that Almagro is there, he can only sit in the third chair. In other words, Almagro and Hernando were sitting on either side of Marquis Pizarro, and next to them were Juan, Soto, and Captain Gonzalo. The people Almagro brought sat far away from the table.
In the past, weekly meetings like this were hosted by the commander's secretary, Robert. The Marquis of Pizarro only emphasized the things that Robert had arranged, or made regulations and penalties for some things. But this regular meeting was a regular meeting without Robert present, which made Pizarro feel a little headache and upset. It stands to reason that there were many unforgettable events in the past week, but he did not summarize the situation last week. He only said to the officers present in a short and loud voice, "Look at the comparisons this week. Important jobs and tasks?”
Captain Soto spoke first and said, "Commander, I heard that the gold in the vault is full, right?"
Pizarro said, "Yes."
Soto immediately said, "Then it's time to release King Inca. We have an agreement with them."
When Pizarro heard this, he immediately said, "Why are you turning your elbows outward to speak for outsiders?"
Soto felt that Pizarro was obviously cheating, so he said to Pizarro rudely, "If we don't keep our words, who will believe us in the future?"
Hernando also chimed in and said, "The King of Inca has also urged me several times. I think the King of Inca is indeed very kind to us. If we want gold, we will be given gold, if we want silver, we will be given silver, and if we go abroad, we will be given gold." We provide safety notices and ask the local people to warmly welcome us wherever we go. They are so kind to us, so we must not treat them badly."
Pizarro felt that Soto was challenging him because of his superior martial arts skills and high prestige among the soldiers, and as his brother Hernando was also having a hard time with him, which made him angry, but this anger also made him angry. If it's not easy to have an attack, just deal with it with a straight face and say, "Okay, I understand this."
Next, Juan said angrily, "I heard from some people who came from Cusco and other places that the people there are busy removing gold from temples and halls and hiding it." As he said, He added in an urging tone, "Everyone is in a hurry to go to Cusco. We are afraid that if we go late, the locals will steal all the gold. By then, we may not even see the shadow of gold wherever we go." Gone.”
Pizarro had heard about this kind of thing for a long time, but he didn't take it to heart, let alone consider it as a big deal, because he felt that he had some more important things to do in Cajamarca. So, he waved his hand and said, "This matter will have to wait."
At this time, Martin stood up and said loudly, "I heard that Luminawi has led 80,000 Inca troops and 30,000 cannibal soldiers from Quito and rushed here. Please take precautions early, Marquis."
Pizarro had heard this kind of thing many times and knew that these were just rumors and rumors. Especially when Martin said this, he didn't believe it even more, because he knew that Martin had an affair with the concubine of the Inca king. The Inca king insisted on Pizarro executing him, so he hated Atahualpa. But this immediately reminded him of being laughed at by the Inca King in the Inca King's meeting room at noon, and the anger in his heart suddenly arose again. At that time, although he looked disapproving on the surface, he was gnashing his teeth and cursing in his heart. , "You, a prisoner imprisoned by me, actually dare to humiliate me, let's see how I deal with you." Because the treasurer Riquelme sent someone to call him, he did not bother to take action to save face for himself. Now hearing Martin talk about this, Pizarro felt that the opportunity had come. So, he deliberately pretended to be surprised and asked Martin, "Is this true?"
Martin said, "I also heard the news when a royal nobleman from Quito whispered to the Inca king when he was in court."
Soto immediately picked up the conversation and said disdainfully, "Martin, who else would say such a thing besides you? Aren't you just doing this because you were dissatisfied with having your affair with the Inca King's concubine discovered? Take revenge on others."
Hernando also said, "Martin, isn't it a bit too despicable and shameless for you to do this? Besides, the king has already released Princess Gina from confinement."
But Pizarro said to everyone in a very solemn tone, "I have also heard about this thing below. Especially in this extraordinary period, we cannot relax our vigilance, let alone relax our control of the Inca King and his troops." The commander is vigilant. This matter must be investigated clearly, and it may even be necessary to send people to other places to investigate."
As soon as Pizarro finished speaking, several ensigns asked Pizarro, "Marquis, when will you allocate the gold? When you recruited us, you promised us first that we would share hardships and share blessings. Now in the treasury There is so much gold, shouldn’t it be divided among us?”
A lieutenant also said, "There is so much gold in the treasury now. If one day the Inca army really comes to attack us, by then, I am afraid that everyone will not be able to win, so how can we care about the gold? So, why not Divide the gold early, and let each person protect and keep his own gold, so as not to have so many people standing guard all day long. Moreover, once the gold is robbed or occupied by the Inca army, then the Marquis will be afraid of it. The adults cannot afford it and cannot explain it to everyone."
Juan also shouted, "Second brother, divide the gold so that everyone can capture the city of Cusco."
Gonzalo couldn't help shouting, "Second brother, divide the gold quickly. There is more gold waiting for us in Cusco. If we don't divide the gold, we can't go to Cusco." , and if we go one day later, more of the gold in Cusco will be hidden by the locals. Therefore, the soldiers in our team are eagerly waiting to distribute the gold, and then rush to Cusco quickly .”
Soto also said, "Two days ago, the soldiers in our team were clamoring to come to the Marquis together to demand that the gold be distributed as soon as possible. I advised them that you can't come together to make trouble with the Marquis. This will make things worse and make the Marquis unhappy. , I can raise this matter with the Marquis at the weekly meeting on behalf of everyone."
Listening to this, Pizarro couldn't help but frowned. He only knew that the soldiers and officers were asking for a share of the gold, but he didn't hear that the soldiers wanted to cause trouble. He knew that soldiers making trouble was a very serious matter, and would either be exploited by the Incas or hurt themselves. Therefore, he felt that this motive must be curbed as soon as possible, and the best way to curb this motive was to quickly Divide the gold. But this is good. After dividing the gold, the gold can be kept by the soldier himself. He no longer has to send people on duty and worry about protecting the treasury.
However, before Pizarro could make the final decision, Almagro also supported Pizarro and said, "I say, man, let's divide the gold and save it from being piled up in that house all day long and making people worry about it. If something happens again, I'm afraid the soldiers will eat you alive and bury you alive."
Because he had asked Pizarro several times about dividing the gold, but Pizarro was always secretive and vague. Therefore, Almagro never knew what Pizarro's attitude was, so he took advantage of the situation and forced him to Pizarro made it clear.
I saw that everyone was impatiently clamoring to share the gold. Pizarro felt that he could no longer hesitate at this moment, because he felt that he should do something that would support and inspire the soldiers, but not something that would make the officers and soldiers angry and resentful. Otherwise, his prestige as a commander would be compromised. You will be questioned and confronted by everyone. Especially for Robert's departure, he heard some people say that he was forced to leave by the Pizarro brothers. Once this kind of discussion becomes a rumor, it will be very detrimental to the Pizarro brothers. It will make people think that the Pizarro brothers are trying to be kings and tyrants in the Spanish Expeditionary Force. Therefore, if they divide the gold, No matter how disobeying the public opinion, it would be easy to connect Robert's departure with the division of gold. Therefore, he must use the division of gold to reunite the officers and soldiers and draw their attention to Kusi. Over there in Kecheng.
So, he thought for a moment and said in a very encouraging tone, "Since everyone is eager to share the gold, well, let Martin find some goldsmiths tomorrow and melt all the gold in the vault into gold. Gold ingots of a certain size and purity. Then, we will make a distribution plan and distribute the gold to everyone."
As he spoke, he pointed at Juan and Soto and said, "Starting from tomorrow, all your teams will be assigned to the treasury and smelting department to take turns on duty and stand guard." Before he finished speaking, the entire venue was stunned. There was warm and excited applause.
(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" (23. Falling from the Cliff))
