The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
Antonio had no choice but to buy a dozen papers and a pen, and then left the store. At this time, he remembered that he should buy a gold necklace for his fiancée. He had been to a gold shop on the streets of Cajamarca and had long been interested in a very exquisite necklace. The price was not expensive at only ten gold pesos. He had always wanted to buy it in the past, but he didn't have that much on hand. Money, now that he has money, these ten gold pesos are nothing to him.
So, he came to the gold store and pointed to the kind of gold necklace he wanted to buy. An Inca man placed a gold necklace on the counter. He handed ten gold pesos to the salesperson without even looking at it. But the Indian man said, "This necklace is two hundred gold pesos."
He discovered that the prices of all the items in the store had been replaced by new ones.
He said, "When did your price go up?"
The man said, "It has been rising for several days. If you don't buy it, it will continue to rise tomorrow."
The sudden increase from ten gold pesos to two hundred gold pesos really made him find it unacceptable, but he really liked the necklace so much that he bargained with the Inca man selling it and said, "At most, I I only give you a hundred gold pesos.”
However, the man shook his head and said, "No, this is the price set by the boss."
Antonio said, "Call your boss."
The Indian man said, "The boss is not in the store."
At this moment, a Spanish soldier who had just arrived with Almagro came over to see Antonio buying a necklace, and said to him, "I told him, Mr. Secretary, in Spain, there are only a few necklaces better than this." Gold pesos. Why not keep the money and sell it after returning home."
As soon as Antonio heard this, he returned the necklace to the man.
Antonio said to the soldier with great emotion, "Cajamarca is the most expensive place in the world?"
The soldier smiled and said, "That's because Cajamarca is also the place with the most wealthy people in the world."
They both burst out laughing. Then, the soldier said, "If I were you, I would stop working and return home immediately. With your money, you can not only build a few houses, but also marry a beautiful rich girl. It can be said that you are prosperous and wealthy." , I can’t spend it all to live a peaceful and happy life. There is no need to take risks and suffer here anymore.”
Antonio said, "My little money is nothing. Not to mention that I dare not compare with the marquis, I can't even compare with those who are captains. Besides, there is more gold in Cusco. Once I leave, Cusco will I don’t have any share of the gold over there. I think we’ll wait until we get to Cusco.”
But the soldier said, "When you get to Cusco, you may want to get more gold."
Antonio said, "Maybe, because I am just a lieutenant now. Maybe if I work for a while, I can become a captain."
The soldier said, "When you become a captain, you still want to be a general. In this way, you may never have time to return to your hometown in Spain."
Antonio said, "If that's the case, then I have to bring my fiancée here."
The soldier said, "Will she come with you? Besides, haven't you seen that soldiers and officers are now marrying Inca girls. Each of them has several, a dozen, and some dozens. Since there are There are so many Inca princesses or noble girls, so there is no need to marry Spanish girls. For those of us who are thousands of miles away, Spanish girls are just the flowers of our dreams after all, out of reach!"
But Antonio said, "But I still want to bring my fiancée here, she has been waiting for me. Besides, Indian girls are not as beautiful as Spanish girls. It is okay to sleep with them at night, but it is not okay to bring them to the public as a wife." .”
But the soldier said, "I heard that your original secretary, who seems to be named Robert, abandoned some of them for the queen of the Inca king and ran away with Queen Anna. According to this, the Inca princess or the noble girl is also Not necessarily as good as a Spanish girl."
Then, the soldier added, "Besides, your four Marquis brothers, Captain Soto and all the other officers and soldiers almost all live together with the Incaan princess. I'm afraid you are the same way, right?"
Antonio said, "Yes, but this is only temporary. After all, we men cannot live without women. However, this can only be said to be a cohabitation relationship, not a marriage relationship."
The soldier said, "Actually, a marriage relationship is not the same as a cohabitation relationship. Marriage is a mutually binding relationship. If the relationship is not good, you have to divorce. Divorce is more troublesome and involves a lot, and it is not easy. But there is no liability in a cohabitation relationship. Any responsibility. And the children we give birth to are also our own. Especially in this new world, we are the masters and can do whatever we want without restraint. Therefore, we have greater freedom and rights than at home."
The two of them were talking and returned to the military camp unconsciously. Pizarro was not there, so Antonio put the things he bought in the office and wanted to find a place to have a good gamble with the guys. At this time, he was almost too busy day and night to take any time off. He hadn't tried his luck for a week or two, and his hands and heart were extremely itchy.
So, he came to the private house where Letomundo lived, but the housekeeper said that he had gone out, possibly to Santos' home. So, Antonio came to Santos' house. Santos' home is only 200 meters away from Letomundo's home, so it takes less than a few minutes to get there.
As soon as we entered the lobby of Santos' house, there were thirty or forty people gathered in the room. Antonio knew that because all the gold in the treasury had been divided, there was no need for anyone to guard it. Therefore, the soldiers had more free time. In addition, after the gold and silver had just been divided, everyone had a lot of money. We got together and played gambling. However, in the past, three or five people gathered together for gambling, and they were all close friends. How could Santos recruit so many people today? And there are many people I don’t even know. This made him feel somewhat puzzled.
At this time, when the butler saw him coming, he bowed respectfully, pointed to an empty table in the corner, and said to him, "Mr. Antonio, please sit over here."
Antonio looked over there and saw two or three soldiers brought by Almagro sitting there waiting for people to come and play gambling together. Antonio saw that Santos was busy playing with Juan, Gonzalo and Letomundo at the middle table, so it was not easy to disturb them, so he came over, sat at the table in the corner of the room, and asked the person next to him. The two people said, "How big are you playing?"
The two people said, "You say it."
Antonio said, "Then deposit two gold pesos at a time."
The two people showed some disdain and said, "If you ask anyone here, who can play with two gold pesos, at least five bases."
(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" (32. Participate in the Love Ceremony))
