Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
It was nearly noon that day, and Pizarro hadn't gotten up yet. Because he had been with his new beauty Tutula for too long at night, he had never had a good rest, so he fell asleep soundly after dawn. At this moment, the knocking on the door kept ringing, which woke Tutula up. She quickly woke up Pizarro beside her. When Pizarro heard the knock on the door, he asked impatiently, "What's the matter? Someone is dead?" After saying that, he asked Tutula to open the door. Tutula quickly wrapped himself in felt, got out of bed and opened the door.
Antonio pushed the door open and broke in, saying, "Report to the commander, Soto sent someone to report that the Santos cavalry detachment was besieged by Indians, all twelve people were killed, and their heads were hanging on the trees outside the town of Vilkas. "
When Pizarro heard this, he felt as if he had been struck by five thunders. His mind immediately went into shock, and he could not wake up for a long time. After a while, he wrapped his naked body in felt, struggled to get up from the bed and sat up, shouting angrily, "What happened to Soto? I brought a hundred people to steal the Inca King's 80,000 The soldiers were killed like ghosts and wolves howling, corpses were scattered all over the field, and not even a hair was hurt. He thought of how many enemy troops he encountered, but twelve cavalry brothers died at once. What on earth did he do?"
Seeing Pizarro roaring like crazy, Antonio was so frightened that he couldn't even speak. He said in an explaining tone, "I heard that I didn't encounter any large groups of Indians, because there were only a few on the whole way south." The remaining troops are only a few hundred or a thousand at most. However, I heard that the person commanding this group is an old man with white hair, and he seems to be very experienced in dealing with cavalry."
Pizarro frowned, thought for a long time, and then said to himself, "Except for Chalkuch Horse, I'm afraid no one can do such a thing." Then he asked, "What's going on with Chalkuch Horse recently?" ?”
Antonio said, "I didn't pay much attention." Pizarro scolded, "Asshole, why didn't you pay attention? Do you think that damn Indian would be submissive and listen to us honestly?" Antonio was scolded so much that he didn't dare to say a word. , just standing motionless by the bed. Pizarro shouted, "Why are you still standing here? Check it out for me and see what the cunning and insidious old Indian man is doing during this time?" Antonio quickly replied, "Yes, sir."
After Antonio left, Pizarro still sat there blankly. He felt that being able to deal with the Spanish cavalry Indians in such a way was really a genius. Apart from Chalkuchma, he had not thought of anyone else with this kind of genius. Because the Indians seemed to have no practical experience or methods in dealing with cavalry attacks. They even tremble with fear and tremble when they see a war horse, because they regard the horse as a kind of sacred object.
However, there are no clues or reasons to support this guess. Because Chalkuchma has been kept under their custody, there is no way to contact the outside world. Therefore, this made him doubt the conclusion he just made based on his perception. He just wrapped his body in a rough felt and sat there for nearly two hours. It's still unclear whether this is related to Chalkuchma. However, he still wanted to inquire and investigate.
So, he quickly put on his military uniform, left the dormitory, and asked people to find Martin, Juan and others. After a while, Juan came with Letomundo and four other soldiers. Everyone followed Pizarro on foot to a row of houses in the military camp dormitory. There were sentries in front of the houses. This is a restricted area and is guarded by Juan. Without Pizarro's consent, ordinary people are prohibited from entering or exiting here.
Juan led Pizarro and the soldiers directly to the houses located in the middle of the row of houses. Entering the house, Chalkuchma was the only one in the huge house. He was sitting on a big chair with his eyes closed and meditating. There were two crutches beside the chair. Seeing Pizarro coming with people in a menacing manner, he felt that something was wrong, but he did not stand up from the chair, but only opened his eyes, pretending to be resigned to his fate.
Pizarro walked up to Chalkuchma and asked bluntly, "You may have heard that twelve of our cavalry were caught by your soldiers, their heads chopped off, and hung at the entrance to the town of Bilkasi. Sacrifice objects on the big tree?" Chalkuchma smiled slightly and said, "Really?" Pizarro said angrily, "Why are you laughing?" Chalkuchma said, "You say that to me. The Spaniards are not invincible." Pizarro said, "You are responsible for this."
Chalkuchma raised his head and asked, "Why should I be held responsible?" Pizarro said, "Because you secretly planned and directed this matter." Chalkuchma said, "I have been detained by you. Here, and you can't go out, why do you say that I planned and directed this matter?" Pizarro said, "Except for you, no Indian can defeat the Spanish cavalry." Chalkuchma smiled coldly Said, "Have you misjudged us Indians?" Pizarro said very angrily, "You don't have to admit it, but we will get to the bottom of this matter." With that, he led everyone away. to Chalkuchma's house.
Then, Pizarro came to the guard duty room, sat down on a chair, and asked Juan to call the second lieutenant on duty, Petya, for questioning. Pizarro asked Petya, "Who does this old Indian man usually come into contact with?" Petya said, "That is, those Indian princes and nobles and the new Inca king. They were always together during the entire march. What's the matter, Marquis?" Pizarro said after being silent for a long time, "The twelve members of Santos's cavalry squad were all captured by the Indians, and their heads were chopped off and hung on a tree next to the town of Vilkas for sacrifice."
"Really?" Peter couldn't believe it when he heard it, but soon he knew it was true, and tears suddenly flowed from his eyes. Pizarro said, "So, I want to investigate the Indian army commander to see if he is collaborating with the Indians outside." Petya wiped the tears on his face and said very sincerely, "But, I want to It shouldn't have been done by Chalkuchma, because our soldiers guarded him and the princes twenty-four hours a day, and it was impossible for them to contact the outside world. So, I think it couldn't have been done by him. Maybe someone else The Indians did it." Pizarro said noncommittally, "But it is impossible for others to be so familiar with our cavalry, nor can they have such a clever way to capture all of our cavalry alive without landing. What do you think? ?" Peter thought for a while, but still couldn't figure it out, so he said, "I can't explain it clearly."
Pizarro said to Petya and Juan, "From today on, you have to look after these Inca princes better and don't let them cause any trouble for me." Juan and Petya said, "Yes. , Commander." At this time, Antonio also came to report the investigation results to him. He knew that Antonio would not find any clues or signs, so he waved his hand and walked out of the duty room without even listening.
The investigation yielded no results, which made Pizarro very frustrated and dull. He had no choice but to send someone to inform Captain Soto, asking Captain Soto to concentrate his troops during the march and not to disperse. Then, he sent someone to deliver a message to Almagro, asking him to keep a certain distance and contact with the Soto cavalry team to prevent unexpected events. Because he knew that the Soto cavalry squad was getting closer to the capital of Cusco, and the Indians would definitely try their best to stop them.
Then, he locked himself in the room for several days, kept smoking, and kept analyzing and thinking about who commanded this battle. However, this question was like an eternal mystery that puzzled him.
At noon that day, Antonio came twice to report that the bishop, Father Vicente de Valverde, had transformed the famous Inca temple into a Christian church, and had toppled the altars there and replaced them with the Virgin and the Son. icon. Ask him to attend the dedication and ceremony of the Christian Church. However, he was too distracted to attend the church ceremony, so he refused twice in a row.
However, just after noon, Petya brought a princess who brought clothes to the Inca prince. This princess was about twenty-two or thirty years old, young and beautiful, wearing a gorgeous and noble red dress, and carrying a small basket woven with wicker.
Pizarro was smoking a cigarette unhappily in the room. When he saw Petya coming with a young woman, he asked the woman, "What's in the little basket?" The woman said, "It's some clothes and camel meat. ." Pizarro asked, "Who are these things for?" The woman said, "They are for my husband, Prince Chachicata." Pizarro asked Petya, "Who is Chachicata?" Prince?" Petera said, "He's the diligent old man who stays by the side of the new Inca king all day long." Pizarro asked again, "How is this man?" Petera said, "There's nothing special about him, he just likes to nod and bow. , bowing and saluting like a complete slave."
Pizarro nodded, took the small basket from the princess's hand, and poured the contents of the small basket onto the table. Clothes and camel meat were poured all over the table. But when looking through the clothes, I saw a very small and delicate knot. This immediately caught Pizarro's attention. Because he knew that the Indians regarded knotting as a kind of writing. It's just that this kind of writing can only be understood by princes and nobles. Because they have all been specially trained in this kind of school.
Pizarro frowned and asked the princess in a wary tone, "How many times have you given things to your husband?" The princess replied, "Once every two or three days, maybe three or four times in total. "
Pizarro asked Petya, "Is that so?" Petya said, "Yes, but this is what Captain Juan agreed to." Pizarro slammed the table and lectured, "That's the problem." Then he took the delicate knotted rope to Peter and said, "Did you see, what is this?" The princess was also surprised and said, "Why is there such a thing in the clothes?"
Pizarro said to Petya, "You lock this woman up first, but don't let anyone know about it." Petya said, "Yes, Commander." Then Pizarro said to Petya, "Go and bring me the prince named Chachikarta."
After a while, Petya brought the prince of Chachikata. Pizarro took out the knotted rope, showed it to him, and said, "Look what this is?" Prince Chachicata said, "This is a knotted rope." Pizarro said, "Very good. Tell me what you mean here honestly." Prince Chachikata picked up the knotted rope, looked at it for a while, and said, "This is a letter from home, and the content is: Sir, I am about to give birth to my wife. The child is here. The weather is about to get cold. My wife and concubines will send you clothes. Be careful of catching a cold."
When Pizarro heard this, he was furious, slammed the table hard, and said, "You still want to play tricks?" Then he shouted, "Captain Juan." Juan heard the sound and came in, "Juan is here." Salo pointed at Prince Chachikata and said to Juan, "Take him to the interrogation room and find a way to get him to tell what this letter is about." Juan said, "Yes." Together with Letomundo and others, they escorted Prince Chachicata out of Pizarro's office.
