The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
After Roberto left, Pizarro transferred Lieutenant Antonio to the headquarters to serve as secretary. Because he himself was illiterate, he had to have someone help him with many things involving written work.
After listening to Antonio's report, Pizarro asked, "Have the tributes and gold objects been seen by Treasurer Riquelme and the royal officials?"
Antonio said, "They were always there to supervise, and after it was done, they all signed the list."
Pizarro nodded with satisfaction and said, "Very good."
Antonio asked again, "Those soldiers are about to return home. I think they can help escort this batch of tributes, but I don't know who the Marquis will send to be responsible for escorting them."
When Pizarro heard this, his first thought was to send Hernando away so that he would not have much resistance when dealing with the Inca King. However, the gold had not been divided yet, so he could not say this yet. Said, So, he replied, "We'll wait until the gold is divided."
He sat on a chair next to the table, rolled a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said to Antonio, "Go and inform all officers above the rank of lieutenant to hold an emergency meeting here after dinner."
Antonio said, "Yes, Marquis." Then he asked, "Will the people over there inform me?"
Of course Pizarro knew that "the people over there" meant the people on Almagro's side. He thought about it and felt that the people over there should also inform him. Otherwise, not only Almagro would have objections, but even the officers and soldiers over there would have objections. Therefore, he said, “Everyone must be notified.”
After Antonio left, he sat at the table and smoked cigarettes one after another. Unknowingly, cigarette butts accumulated in the copper bowl. About mid-afternoon, Antonio came back and reported that all the notices had arrived.
Pizarro nodded and said to Antonio, "Immediately draft me an explanation on the distribution of gold and silver. I will tell you at the meeting tonight."
Antonio felt a headache as soon as he heard this, because although he was considered to have a relatively high level of education in this army, he still wanted to be the secretary, running errands, conveying things, or writing simple notices and notices. , it was quite easy, but when it came to writing such complicated official documents and articles, he really felt like he didn't know where to start.
Seeing that he was still stunned, Pizarro asked, "What? If you don't hurry up, why are you standing there?"
Antonio blushed and said hesitantly, "Marquis, I'm sorry, I have never written such an article."
Pizarro couldn't help but sigh, thinking that Robert always wrote things like this before he could say them out, and then read them to him, asked for his opinions, and then made revisions. . But now this secretary, you have explained everything to him, but he can't write. He immediately showed his displeasure and said, "You can't let me teach you how to write, can you?"
Although Pizarro said this, he still took out the distribution plan written by Robert for Antonio's reference, and then asked Antonio to record and organize it orally. Although Pizarro was uneducated, his speech was clear-cut, well-organized, and focused. So, it didn’t take long for the allocation instructions for gold and silver to be drafted. Then, Pizarro asked Antonio to read it twice. After thinking that there was no problem, he asked Antonio to leave the office.
By this time, it was dark, and Pizarro returned to his room. The princess had already prepared the meal. He ate the meal in three mouthfuls and then lit a cigarette. While smoking, he recalled the distribution instructions that Antonio had drafted for him just now and muttered something to practice for the evening meeting. speech at the time.
After a while, everyone in the meeting arrived, and Antonio came to call him. He then got up from the stool and went out to the office and conference room. Seeing him coming in, everyone immediately became quiet. Pizarro walked to his chair, but he did not sit down. Instead, he stood in front of the table and glanced at the attendees with a serious look. From his eyes and expression, everyone felt the importance and difference of this meeting, so the venue was so quiet that you could hear a hair falling.
Pizarro breathed out softly and said in a slow and solemn tone, "Generals and officers of the Spanish Expeditionary Force, today I inspected the smelting site with General Almagro. To this end, I want to tell you something The good news: our gold and silver smelting operations have come to a successful end."
The venue immediately burst into uplifting and warm applause.
Pizarro added, "Now that the smelting of gold and silver has ended, the distribution of gold and silver will begin."
A burst of more enthusiastic applause interrupted Pizarro's speech.
Pizarro had to stop, wait for the applause to stop, and continue to preach, "Since we want to distribute, we must first formulate a distribution plan. To this end, I solicited opinions extensively among the officers and soldiers and considered various aspects Factors, let me first inform you of the principle of this distribution, that is, the distribution will be strictly based on the merits of capturing the Inca king alive and defeating the Inca army. In other words, whoever contributes more to this battle will get the reward. The more; on the contrary, whoever contributes less to this battle will have a smaller reward. Without merit, there will be no rewards and rewards."
Obviously these words were specifically addressed to the officers and soldiers of Almagro. Because he adjusted this to a certain level, Almagro's officers and soldiers no longer had the right to ask for rewards and remuneration, so the gold and silver could not be distributed to them on this basis.
Of course, the officers and soldiers present could understand what the commander said, so as soon as he finished speaking, the venue burst into prolonged applause. Because most of the lieutenants who could attend this meeting were from Pizarro, and not many people from Almagro came to the meeting.
Before Almagro's people could raise objections, Pizarro asked Antonio to read to everyone the "Ransom Distribution Order" drafted by Robert and signed by Treasurer Riquelme.
After Antonio finished reading, the venue was silent for a few seconds. Almagro stood up from his chair and asked Pizarro loudly, "Why are there no people from us in the distribution plan? Are we? Are all the people working for you free of charge?”
Pizarro saw that Almagro's face had changed with anger and he was questioning him in a noisy way, so he replied with the words he had already thought of, "When a hundred and sixty of us are facing Where were you at that critical moment of the Inca King's 80,000-strong army? If it weren't for God's blessing and the soldiers' bravery and resourcefulness, we might have met God long ago. Now we have captured the Inca King alive, defeated the Inca army, and got You are all jealous of some gold and silver property, and you also want to get a handful of it, is this ridiculous?"
(Please pay attention to Zhang Baotong's signed work "Poetic Emotions", which includes short prose, life essays and short and medium-sized novels. Today's release is the novella "Love Ladder" (27. Return to the foot of the mountain))
