The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
At noon the next day after the funeral, Soto led his men to reconnoitre Bambamarca. As soon as he returned to the barracks, before he had time to report the results of the reconnaissance to Pizarro, he heard in the barracks that Atahualpa had been captured. News of the execution. He was shocked and very angry. He immediately came to the headquarters office to question Pizarro.
Pizarro happened to be sitting in the office. He was wearing black casual clothes and a big felt hat with the brim so low that it almost covered his eyes. Seeing Soto coming, he relaxed his heavy expression a little and pointed to the chair next to him for Soto to sit down. However, Soto did not sit down, but pointed at Pizarro with great anger and said, "You are too reckless and reckless. How can you listen to rumors so easily?"
Then, he said angrily, "Atahuallpa was framed and framed by despicable people. We stayed in Bambamarca for three or four days, and it was calm as usual. There was no gathering or uprising of Indians at all. All I saw along the way was the good hospitality and warm welcome of the local people. Even if the Inca king really wanted to be tried, he should be escorted to Spain and handed over to the king for trial. I will guarantee with my life that he can safely board the ship and reach Spain. "
Pizarro nodded heavily and said, "I was a little too impatient, but mainly I fell into the trap of Treasurer Riquelme and de Valverde. They kept saying in front of me that if the Incas were not executed immediately, The king would be attacked by the Indians. Moreover, they kept putting pressure on me, saying that for the benefit of the King of Spain and our common security, the King of Inca must be executed. The soldiers in the army also believed this. They kept besieging me with words, asking me to reply. I had no choice but to comply with their requests."
After hearing this, Soto went to find Riquelme, the treasurer of the royal family, without saying a word. Treasurer Riquelme was playing chess with another member of the royal family. When Soto pushed the door in without knocking, he turned around and said very unhappily, "You should also learn some etiquette, right?" "
Soto walked up to him, pointed at his nose and said, "Don't talk to me about etiquette. Although you look polite and elegant, you are actually full of conspiracy."
Upon hearing this, Treasurer Riquelme felt puzzled and asked, "Why am I so full of intrigues?"
Soto asked, "Why did you deceive the Marquis into executing Atahualpa? What kind of capital crime did King Inca commit? Even if he had a capital crime, he should be handed over to the king, and it is not his turn to be tried by you. Did he execute him?”
Treasurer Riquelme saw Soto's eyes wide open and furious, and felt that this guy was not easy to mess with, so he said, "He is the leader of an army. Why did I trick him into executing the Inca King? The whole thing He presided over the inspection, meeting and trial process. I was just a bystander, so why did he blame this matter on me? Besides, he didn’t know anything better than me, so he still needed me to deceive him. Him?" He pointed to the two colleagues next to him and said, "If you don't believe it, ask them both who sponsored and presided over the execution of the Inca King this time."
Another member of the royal family said, "When did your marquis listen to us? Although we are here to supervise him and guide him on behalf of the king, he always has his own ideas and goes his own way. He doesn't take our royal family members seriously at all and will not hold him accountable." When this happened, the responsibility was put on us.”
Soto felt that what they said seemed reasonable, so he said, "In this case, there is no need for me to ask you questions."
Leaving the house of the treasurer Riquelme, he immediately rode to the church and severely questioned the bishop. Upon hearing this, Father Vicente de Valverde cursed Pizarro, "He is a treacherous villain who has to blame others for what he does." Then he said to the captain , "They had already finished the interrogation and verdict, and then handed the verdict to me for signature. How can this matter be blamed on me?"
Soto said, "You dare to confront the Marquis?"
The bishop said, "Of course I do."
That night, Soto summoned treasurer Riquelme and Vicente de Valverde to Pizarro's office, and preached to the three of them in an unforgivable manner and tone, "I don't care. What are the positions of the three of you? I have called you here today to question you."
Having said this, he took a breath and added, "It can be said that although we are invading this country, after we arrived in this country, the people here have always been honest and friendly to us. Especially when we arrived in Cahama After Ca, the Inca King and his subjects have always been very friendly to us. And we not only kidnapped the Inca King and massacred his soldiers, but also demanded a large amount of gold and silver from him while he was imprisoned. He Not only did he fulfill his promise, he also showed considerable generosity and goodwill. He allowed us Spaniards free access to any part of the empire; provided us with every convenience for carrying out various plans and actions, and asked his subjects to give us a warm welcome. Welcome and hospitality. It can be said that the Inca King and his people have always acted as our friends and benefactors. However, not only did we deceive him, but after he filled the treasury with gold, not only did we not release him unconditionally, Instead, they regarded him as a burden for the new military action we were about to take, and executed him with the most despicable and shameless cruel means. Don't you think this was a crime against the Inca Kingdom and that you were acting as a sinner of history? "
Pizarro pushed down the brim of his big felt hat and said in a deep tone, "The execution of King Inca really caused me tremendous torture and pressure. To be fair, King Inca did not do us any favors and benefits. Moreover, through this long-term relationship, the personal relationship between us is relatively deep, and we can be regarded as brothers. However, the coercion and pressure from the royal family, the church, and the soldiers are beyond my ability to bear, especially the recent news about the Inca Rumors spread that the army was gathering in Bambamarca and that Quito's army was marching there, making people panic and uneasy. As a result, the pressure from the royal family, the church and the soldiers became even greater. Under the instigation, in a moment of impatience, he lost his head and did such an impetuous and reckless thing."
When the treasurer Riquelme heard that Pizarro was pointing the finger at him, he immediately interrupted him and said, "Mr. Marquis has experienced hundreds of battles and traveled around for many years. What kind of world and situations have he never seen? How can he To commit such a major impetuous and reckless incident just by listening to other people's instigation and instructions? I think the execution of the Inca King should be a masterpiece that Mr. Marquis carefully considered and planned."
Vicente de Valverde also angrily said to Pizarro, "What Mr. Treasurer Riquelme said is very reasonable. The execution of the Inca King was planned and rehearsed by Mr. Marquis. It took such a long time to get along with Mr. Marquis." Now, I know very well that Mr. Marquis is not a person who will let his authority be taken away by others, nor is he a person who easily obeys the will of others. He is not even a person who will succumb to his own impulse. Many of his actions show that , every major action he took was carefully planned and arranged. Moreover, he was a person who regarded personal interests and military interests above all else. The purpose of executing the Inca King was to eliminate future troubles and reduce burdens. So that we can send troops to capture Cusco to get more gold and silver. Therefore, I think there is no doubt that the execution of the Inca King should be the responsibility and responsibility of Marquis Pizarro alone."
Treasurer Riquelme also said, "I agree with Father Vicente de Valverde's opinion. Regarding the execution of the Inca King, I also think that the Marquis of Pizarro should be solely responsible and responsible."
When Pizarro saw that the treasurer Riquelme and Vicente de Valverde unanimously put the responsibility for the killing of the Inca king on him alone, he immediately became angry. He said, "Don't you have no responsibility? If not You are deceiving me and deceiving me, how could I do such a stupid thing?"
But both the treasurer and the priest pointed at him and said, "Who deceived and deceived you? You are responsible for your own work. Don't blame other people's heads."
In this way, the treasurer Riquelme and Vicente de Valverde insisted that Pizarro should be solely responsible for the execution of the Inca King. But Pizarro insisted that he executed the Inca king because he believed their lies and was deceived by them. The three of them were quarreling with each other, their faces were red and their ears were red, and their voices were hoarse. They were all accusing the other party of lying and cheating, trying their best to clean themselves up, just like three shrews scolding each other, without the elegance and elegance of a leader at all. demeanor. But they did not realize that their results and significance could only prove that the execution of the Inca King was an unjust and immoral thing.
When Soto saw the three people arguing and even yelling, he knew that no one was willing to take responsibility for this kind of thing, so he slammed the table and shouted, "You certainly didn't shirk blame like this when you executed the Inca King, right? I dare say If there was one person who could stand up and express his opposition at that time, the execution of the Inca King would not have been so quick and smooth. But now you don't want to take responsibility. Since you don't want to take responsibility, let history determine who is responsible. The person responsible for the execution of the Inca king.”
After saying that, he stood up and walked towards the door. The night was quiet at this time, and the stars were twinkling in terror in the dark blue sky, like the frightened eyes of Indians. From time to time, a cool breeze blows from the mountains outside the city, seeming to sing a sad and sad song:
Why is the night so dark and long,
Because there is no sun in the sky;
Why is the empire so sad and sad?
Because they no longer have a king...
As he listened, tears kept rolling down from his eyes, because he knew that this was the tragic song of an Inca nation.
2017.4.17 Third draft in Xi’an
Next, please read the second volume of "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Inca Elegy)
After the Inca King Atahualpa was executed by the Spanish, more than 500 Spaniards marched from Cajamarca to the Inca capital Cusco to plunder more gold. However, the Incas hid all the gold. However, the Inca prince Manco pretended to defect to the Spaniards, but secretly mobilized the princes and ministers to recruit troops in the countryside, and took advantage of the Spaniards' unpreparedness to flee to the mountains and stage an uprising. Under the leadership of Manco, the Inca and the Spanish fought for decades more. Because the Spanish continued to increase their troops from overseas, the Incas were finally dispersed. Manco himself was killed by a Spanish soldier who defected to the Inca army. At this point, the entire Inca Empire was completely destroyed.
(Please pay attention to Zhang Baotong's signed work "Poetic Emotions", which includes short prose, life essays and short stories. Today's release is "Divorce of the Elderly")
