The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
In the evening, the headquarters held a meeting of officers above lieutenant. Pizarro first talked about the current situation and tasks according to the speech written by Antonio, and talked about the continued creation of the great cause of the expeditionary force and the important historical mission. Finally, he turned to the Quito garrison commander Ruminawi, who attempted to lead more than 100,000 troops towards Cajamarca to rescue the imprisoned Inca king. Moreover, many soldiers had already gathered in Bambamarca, preparing to Connect with Luminavi. Therefore, he proposed that Atahualpa be placed in solitary confinement and that he should no longer have contact with his ministers and family.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Soto immediately disagreed. He said, "Does the Marquis believe too much in rumors and rumors? These rumors and rumors are nothing more than spread by Martin and others in the military camp. Isn't the purpose Take revenge on Atahualpa, because not only has he kept the concubine named Gina in confinement, but he has also been asking you to severely punish him. Therefore, I think the Marquis should distinguish right from wrong and not be taken advantage of by villains."
As he spoke, Soto continued to emphasize, "I don't think King Inca committed much crime. Moreover, he has been helpful and harmless to us since his arrest. If the Marquis insists on saying that King Inca is guilty, he should also be punished." He was taken to Spain, where the king would judge and deal with him. He should not be dealt with at will by the marquis."
Pizarro was very angry and disgusted with Soto's words, but he also knew that Soto had a high prestige among soldiers and some officers. If he were to suppress him forcibly, he would definitely arouse strong dissatisfaction among many officers and soldiers. Therefore, He suppressed the anger in his heart, turned the topic aside, and no longer mentioned the matter of the Inca King being held in solitary confinement.
Although a lot of work and preparations were done for the meeting, the result was very disappointing to Pizarro. After the meeting, everyone left the office and went home to sleep, but Pizarro continued to sit in his seat and smoke.
Antonio also felt that Pizarro was causing trouble for himself, making trouble for nothing, and making trouble for himself, but as the commander's secretary, he had to give some comfort to the commander's emotions. Therefore, he also stayed with Pizarro. Pizarro waved his hand and told him to go back to sleep. However, Antonio still couldn't leave.
He said, "Marquis, Captain Soto is outspoken and has a bold temperament. Some of his words contradicted the Marquis. The Marquis should not take it to heart."
But Pizarro was very angry. He said angrily, "With Hernando away, I don't think they can sing together anymore, but this Soto still wants to go against me. Well, very Okay, let’s see how I deal with him.”
Just as he was talking, someone came to report, "Mr. Marquis, Mr. Riquelme, the treasurer, wants you to come over and discuss something important with you." Pizarro responded, and as soon as the messenger left, Pizarro said He cursed, "This annoying guy is causing trouble for me again." After saying that, he stood up and prepared to go out. Antonio was about to leave, but Pizarro said, "Come with me and see what new tricks he has up to today."
When I arrived at the room of Mr. Riquelme, the treasurer, Mr. Riquelme and the royal family members were playing chess together. Seeing the arrival of Marquis Pizarro, he did not get up. He just nodded slightly to them. It means asking them to sit down. They both sat on the chairs. Pizarro asked the treasurer Riquelme, "Sir, what do you want from me?"
Treasurer Riquelme still showed a noble and arrogant look and said, "I heard that Luminawi, the garrison commander in Quito, has led more than 100,000 soldiers to fight all the way to Cajamarca. This news Is it reliable?"
Pizarro felt quite puzzled. The meeting had just ended and this royal noble official already knew the content. But he still replied in a serious tone, "Very reliable."
Several other members of the royal family seemed a little panicked, and immediately asked Treasurer Riquelme, "Sir, what can we do? We only have more than 300 troops, how can we stop an army of more than 100,000 people?"
But Treasurer Riquelme himself did not panic. He was calm and asked Pizarro in a matter-of-fact manner, "I heard that they came to kidnap their king Atalhuapa, right?"
Pizarro said, "I think so."
Mr. Riquelme, the treasurer, said in a firm and commanding tone, "Then execute that Inca king as soon as possible. Once the Inca king dies, the Quito commander will have no hope."
When Pizarro heard this, he looked embarrassed and said, "However, some people in the army did not agree with this, saying that the Inca king should be taken to the country to be dealt with by the king."
Treasurer Riquelme looked impatient and said, "Such a decision must be made by me. What authority do they have to make such a decision? Since this is the case, then at such a critical juncture and extraordinary period, on behalf of the king, I order you Put the Inca king to death immediately.”
Pizarro said, "But your order should be issued to all my officers and soldiers. Because I am only a commander. To deal with such matters like the Inca King, it must be issued authoritatively by sir on behalf of the king."
Mr. Riquelme, the treasurer, said, "Okay, you just need to write a written document and I will sign it."
Pizarro nodded respectfully, "Yes, sir."
After leaving the room of Mr. Riquelme, the treasurer, Pizarro said to Antonio, "You should go back and make a record of Mr. Riquelme's speech for future use."
Antonio said, "Yes, Mr. Marquis." Then, Pizarro said, "Draft another order requiring all soldiers to be on double duty from tomorrow. They must stay in the barracks at night and be alert when sleeping. .”
Although Antonio knew that this was another trick played by Pizarro, he still replied, "Yes, sir."
In the next few days, the rumor that Ruminawi led an army of more than 100,000 people to fight all the way to Cajamarca has been widely circulated. Moreover, the Spanish military camp is densely populated with sentries and inspections, which also makes this rumor more and more popular. The wider the spread, the more true it becomes. As a result, people who didn't know the true situation began to panic. As the commander's secretary, Antonio knew the inside story all too well. However, not only could he not tell everyone the truth, but he had been fueling such rumors.
This morning, Marquis Pizarro took him and Martin on horseback to the temple where the Inca King was imprisoned.
As soon as he saw Pizarro, Atahualpa said in a very strong tone, "Mr. Marquis, according to the agreement, I have collected the gold you need. You should let me go unconditionally, right?"
However, before Atahualpa could finish his words, Pizarro angrily said in a questioning tone, "Dear Mr. Atahualpa, I have always treated you as my own brother and given you full freedom. and good treatment, and allowed your family to reunite with you and ministers to meet with you. However, you secretly did that kind of betrayal, deliberately conspired to rebel, and instructed your general to lead troops to attack Cajamarca."
Atahualpa didn't feel the seriousness of Pizarro's words at first, so he smiled and said to Pizarro, "Mr. Marquis, you always make jokes like this to me. How can I deliberately rebel against you?" ? I beg you to stop making such scary jokes. Think about it, how dare I and my people rebel against brave Spaniards like you?"
However, Pizarro said to him in a very calm and serious tone, "Don't you know that Ruminawi has led 80,000 soldiers and 30,000 cannibal soldiers to fight all the way towards Cajamarca, and he is still shouting Want to rescue their king? A large number of Inca soldiers have also gathered in Bambamarca to serve as a vanguard and response."
Atahualpa seemed confused and said, "This is absolutely impossible, because without my order, Luminawi would not dare to raise an army to invade."
Pizarro said, "But in fact, Luminawi and his soldiers have already left the Chimborazo Pass. How should you explain this?"
These words made Atahualpa really scared, and he even seemed to see a dark abyss opening in front of him, trying to swallow him in. Because it also reminded him of Huascar's fate. The fate of captured kings may be like this, short-lived and helpless. Because your destiny lies in the hands of the enemy. However, in order to dispel Pizarro's doubts, he made a very frank and sincere appearance and confessed to Pizarro, "Don't you know that I am just a poor prisoner of yours? Everything about me and my destiny is in my hands. In your hands, if I carry out this conspiracy, no matter whether it succeeds or not, I will be the first to suffer. Moreover, I am also convinced that my people will not do anything like this without my order. Things like that.”
To increase the credibility of this explanation, he even said, "Nowhere in this empire can birds dare to pass freely without my will."
Pizarro looked dubious and said, "Well, I will send someone to investigate the matter immediately." After that, he turned around and left the Inca King's meeting room angrily.
Pizarro walked to the door of the temple and said to Petya, who was on duty, "Recently, there has been news everywhere that the Inca army is coming to kidnap and rescue the Inca king. You must be more vigilant. I will send Juan and the others to support you right away. ." Peterya said, "Yes, Mr. Marquis."
After leaving the monastery, Pizarro said to Antonio, "Go and inform Juan and ask him to bring a few people to interrogate and force Chalcuchima to confess what happened to the Inca army in Bambamarca that is gathering."
Antonio asked, "Are you going to the interrogation place?"
Pizarro said, "I won't go. I'll leave everything to Juan, but you can't beat people, let alone kill them."
Antonio asked again, "What if Chalkuchma doesn't admit it?"
Pizarro said, "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it. Just do what I say."
Antonio said, "Yes, Monsieur Marquis."
After Antonio broke up with the Marquis, he walked directly towards Santos' house.
When they arrived at the Santos family's casino, they saw Juan gambling with Letomundo and the others. Antonio came up and said to Juan, "Captain, Mr. Marquis wants you to interrogate Chalkuchma immediately."
While Juan was busy rolling the dice, he asked, "Why are you interrogating him?"
Antonio said, "Mr. Marquis has recently heard that the Incas are gathering in Bambamarca, preparing to rescue the Inca King. Therefore, I want you to interrogate him immediately to see if he knows the inside story here."
Juan said, "He is locked up by us and he knows shit. Asking him about this kind of thing is not like taking off his pants and farting, which is unnecessary?"
But Antonio still said, "This is the order of the Marquis. I have conveyed it to you. Whether you follow it or not is your business."
Juan threw the dice, and when he saw that he had lost, he took out a hundred gold pesos from his bag, counted them, threw them on the table, and then asked Antonio, "What result does the Marquis want?"
Antonio said, "The Marquis only cares about the form and doesn't care about the results. But he wants you not to break people, let alone kill them."
Juan said "Okay", waved towards Santos, Letomundo and others, and said, "You all come with me."
(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" (Uncle died of illness on 34th))
