The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
Almagro did the math and said, "Twenty thousand gold pesos are distributed to about two hundred people. The average is about one hundred gold pesos per person. It is too little, right? Besides, 20,000 gold pesos There is not much left except to repay debts, pay freight and buy daily necessities.”
But Pizarro said, "Your officers and soldiers did not participate in that dangerous battle, so the rewards they can get are not small. If they think it is too little, just tell them that when they get to Cusco, the gold over there will be more valuable." There will be much more than here, and then all the gold will be divided equally among everyone.”
Although Almagro felt that this result was difficult to satisfy the soldiers, the distribution power was not in his hands, so he could only look at other people's faces and obey their distribution. So, he let out a long sigh and said, "Okay, let's divide it according to your plan." However, he immediately raised a new question, "What about Luke's share of the income?"
Don Fernando de Luc, the priest of the Holy Church in Panama, was the sponsor of this voyage and expedition. He paid 20,000 gold pesos in gold bars to Pizarro and Almagro's expeditionary force. With these funds, Pizarro and Almagro's teams were established and the expedition was implemented. In other words, without this funding and funds at the time, Pizarro and Almagro would not have been able to recruit troops and purchase equipment, let alone carry out an expedition. To this end, the three of them signed a contract as partners, that is, no matter what the expeditionary force obtained in the newly created area, such as territory, Indian life slaves, land, houses, real estate, treasures, and gold, silver, pearls, emeralds , diamonds, rubies and other properties, fiefs and titles, one-third of them shall be distributed unconditionally to Deluc, or his heirs and descendants, or the heirs and holders of this contract. Moreover, Pizarro and Almagro also promised Deluc in the contract that the three of them would be treated equally and benefit equally, including the benefits in exchange for their lives, trophies, and what they obtained in the above-mentioned Peruvian region. All benefits will be given to one-third of DeLuke truthfully and without any falsehood.
But Pizarro said, "Didn't Luke die not long after we started our expedition?" Pizarro said in a very regretful tone, "It was unlucky for him to not have this blessing, so this There is no need to give him a share of the property."
But Almagro said, "Although Luke is dead, the Espinoza priest is still alive and now living in Santo Domingo. In fact, he provided the funds for our expedition, and Luke Ke has also transferred the rights to him."
Pizarro said disapprovingly, "But our contract was signed with Luke, not with that Espinoza priest."
Almagro said, "But Luke must have handed over the contract to Padre Espinosa. In other words, Padre Espinosa is the holder of the contract. If he knew that we breached the contract, We will definitely file a lawsuit in court.”
Pizarro smiled and said, "Which court did he sue to? Which court can control us? To put it bluntly, even the King of Spain can't control us now, let alone a small colonial court? Okay, that's it It’s decided, Luke’s share of the property doesn’t need to be considered.”
As he spoke, he yawned and said very sleepily, "Okay, it's time for you to go back to sleep. I'm sleepy too. Go to bed early. We'll have to share the gold tomorrow morning." With that, he got up and saw Alma off. Gro went out, blew out the oil lamp, and returned to his room.
In the early morning, the sun had just emerged from the tall mountain peaks opposite. The bright and brilliant golden light illuminated Cajamarca in the mountains. The cool mountain wind blew in, bringing waves of comfortable coolness to people. The not-too-long road leading from the vault to Plaza de Armas was already densely packed with sentries. And the cavalry were using horses to carry gold and silver ingots. Gold ingots are 45 pounds per ingot, and silver ingots are 90 pounds per ingot. They are tied tightly with ropes and placed on the horse one by one on each side. The sun shines brightly on the gold and silver ingots. The soldiers couldn't hide their joy on their faces, and looked excitedly at the ingots of gold and silver.
Plaza de Armas, which was once filled with the corpses of Inca soldiers, was now filled with soldiers. The soldiers carrying gold and silver ingots sorted the gold and silver carried by the cavalry and placed them neatly in rows in the center of the square. In the center of the square, some soldiers and Indians were building a simple and small podium using stones and wood.
By the time all preparations were completed, it was already noon. At this time, a loud bugle sounded. All the Spanish soldiers ran to the square to gather and line up. Three to four hundred people stood energetically in four rows. To the left of the rostrum was the team of Marquis Francisco Pizarro, and to the right was the team of General Almagro. The cavalry squadron stood at the front of the line, and the infantry squadron stood at the rear of the cavalry squadron. With the eagerness and urgency that their dreams are about to come true, they eagerly wait to reap the fruits of their victory and wait for their commander to announce the distribution plan of the reward. Because only a few officers knew the gold distribution plan, and the soldiers and junior officers did not know how much they could get. However, when they saw that all the gold and silver were cast into 45-pound and 90-pound gold and silver ingots, they knew that their harvest would not be small.
Marquis Francisco Pizarro ascended the rostrum, flanked by General Almagro, Treasurer Riquelme and other royal officials. Perhaps this was a serious and prudent occasion, so he held his head high and looked very solemn. He glanced at the entire team with solemn and stern eyes, and then began to speak in a solemn and loud tone, "Brothers, officers and soldiers, you have traveled thousands of miles with me and General Almagro from our distant Spanish homeland. , went through untold hardships and hardships and came to Cajamarca to experience and create a great expedition together. Today, we have achieved a major victory in the expedition on the land we are standing on, and have won Very significant results have been achieved. To this end, I want to distribute to everyone the results of our joint efforts and battles.”
A burst of warm applause immediately broke out from the ranks of soldiers.
At this point, he began to say in a very pious and fearful tone, "In order to make this distribution fair and just, I ask God to assist me in making a fair and honest distribution, led by the Bishop Vicente de Barvi. The Abbé dei here supervises and requests the representatives of the King of Spain, the treasurer Riquelme, members of the royal family and other royal officials to act as overseers and notaries.”
There was another burst of warm applause from the team.
(Please pay attention to Zhang Baotong's signed work "Poetic Emotions", which includes short prose, life essays and short and medium-length novels. Today's release is the novella "Love Ladder" (29. Great Changes in the Mountains))
