Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
Soon, all the temples and palaces in Cusco were looted. However, the gold obtained could not satisfy the appetite and desires of the Spaniards, so they began to target the tombs of Inca nobles. Because they knew that Inca nobles liked to wear big earrings and use gold ornaments on their clothes.
A large cemetery of Inca nobles outside the southern suburbs of Cusco encountered disaster. Hundreds of Spanish soldiers not only worked hard to dig with various tools, but also hired a large number of locals to dig. The entire cemetery has simply become a large excavation site, with excavated mounds of soil and bones everywhere. They dug up graves, pulled corpses out of their graves that had lain dormant for years, and stripped the gold from their clothes.
The corpses in many tombs have rotted and emitted a very unpleasant stench. The Spaniards sprinkled strong chicha wine in the graveyard while digging. Some corpses have weathered, leaving only some bones and hair mixed in the thick soil. The Spaniards carefully sifted through the soil to find gold objects. However, their hard work and digging did not let them down, because every time they dug, they would gain more or less.
However, thousands of graves were soon excavated by Spain. At this time, they began to target the royal nobles in search of gold. Because gold was not a necessity in the Inca Empire, but a luxury product, it was mainly used for the decoration of status and clothing, as well as the decoration of palaces and temples.
They often broke into a large family's house suddenly, arrested the men in the family for hiding gold, and took them to the barracks living in the palace, where they were severely interrogated and tortured to make them reveal the gold they had hidden. In the criminal law of the Inca Empire, even if it was just a common crime of theft, it would be directly sentenced to death. There was no such procedure as severe torture. Furthermore, the Inca people were taught not to lie since childhood, because lying was a crime. Therefore, these nobles simply could not bear this kind of torture, and they quickly confessed and told the truth.
On this day, Juan led the soldiers to see a magnificent and tall building. The building was built with huge stones, and the craftsmanship was very fine and exquisite. It must have been a very wealthy and wealthy family. So Juan broke in with his soldiers. Although the gate was guarded, it could not stop the Spanish soldiers' arrogance and ferocity. Seeing that he could not stop them, the gatekeeper had no choice but to open the lock and let the soldiers in.
It turned out that this was a palace warehouse, in which there were piles of corn, piles of fine velvet clothes for the Inca royal family and nobles, as well as large numbers of men and women's shoes and various weapons. However, Juan and his soldiers rummaged through the warehouse, but there was no gold or silver they needed. So Juan kicked the door hard several times angrily, and left angrily with the soldiers.
However, not far from the royal warehouse, they saw a gorgeous and majestic stone building. So they broke into the courtyard, and the maids and servants in the courtyard were so frightened that they hurriedly reported to the master. The owner was so frightened that he bowed to the Spaniards who suddenly broke in. But the Spaniards paid no attention to this and went into each house looking for what they needed. In a large room, they saw more than a dozen silver plates about 20 to 5 meters long, 20 to 20 centimeters wide, and four to five centimeters thick lying on the ground. These things are used by this family to decorate the house. Therefore, the soldiers refused to argue and took away the silver plates as illegally hidden items.
The next day, they captured another prince, who was said to be Huascar's uncle. It was rumored that he might know the whereabouts of Huascar's gold chain. The Huascar gold chain is a gold chain specially made for the prince by the late King Wayna Kabak after Huascar was born. This gold chain is tens of meters long and thicker than people's arms. Even more than twenty strong men cannot lift it.
The prince somehow managed to escape Atahualpa's massacre of the Huascar family and hid with his family until the Quidos evacuated from Cuzco and Manco was crowned Queen of the Incas. Came back from the field. However, as soon as he returned home, he was caught by the Spaniards.
This man was about fifty years old, short in stature, with a dark face, and was wearing a luxurious and noble Inca robe. At the time, the Spaniards did not know that he was Huascar's uncle or that he was related to Manco, the new Inca king. They just saw the most luxurious house closest to the palace, and they were sure that this house must have a lot of gold hidden in it. So, he was arrested.
When the Spaniards captured him, he told the Spaniards that he was Huascar's uncle and the uncle of Manco, the current Inca king. However, the Spaniards did not listen to him at all and just asked him where the gold was hidden. He said he had no gold. So, the Spaniards attacked the prince on the spot at his home, and with only a few heavy whippings, the prince told the truth and took Juan and the others to a small stone house in the backyard. There is a large stone slab in the small stone house. Pulling open the stone slab, there is a hole. The prince lit an oil lamp and took Juan and a few soldiers down to the cave.
The cave is made of high-quality stones and is as tall as a person. The cave is about thirty or forty meters and leads to a street behind the house. It is said that he and his family escaped from this cave during the massacre of the Huascar family in Quito.
The oil lamp was moving in the cave. When I walked to the middle of the cave, I saw several items shining attractively in the cave. When the Spaniards approached the objects, they were surprised to find that they were solid gold statues of twelve naked young women. Juan immediately took the oil lamp from the prince's hand and looked at it carefully while lighting it. These statues are exactly the same size as real people, with charming postures, calm demeanor, and radiant smiles on their faces. They are just like twelve living Inca beauties standing in front of you, smiling kindly at you. Later, many Spanish soldiers couldn't help but say, "As long as I see these pure gold beauties, I can't help but be elated."
Juan couldn't help but caress the naked women's faces and breasts with his hands. The smooth and soft feeling made him excited and impulsive, and even made him a little dizzy. He wished he could hug these beauties and kiss them for a few times. He exclaimed several times in succession, "It's great, it's great." Then, holding the oil lamp and continuing to shine it forward, he saw the statues of four tall men and four golden llamas. These men and The llamas are also lifelike in size. There is a stone platform next to the llama, with several gold bottles on it. There are some snakes and crickets in the gold bottles. And these snakes and crickets are also made of gold.
In addition, there are many colorful and luxurious costumes made of various feathers hidden in the cave. These are costumes and clothes that can only be worn by the richest princes and nobles in the Inca Empire. The precious rugs and felts, woven and decorated with gold and silver, are astonishingly exquisite in their craftsmanship. There were also gold sandals and women's slippers strung with gold beads.
Such a rich harvest was beyond their expectations, and it was also the biggest harvest they had ever obtained in all the robberies. Every soldier present grinned widely when they saw these items. When these items were transported back to the barracks, when Pizarro saw these items, he kept saying to Antonio, "These gold objects cannot be melted. They must be picked out and given to our king. When the king sees these items, he will definitely I couldn’t help but be happy.”
After two weeks in Spain's occupation of Cusco, Pizarro decided to divide the gold and silver among everyone so that he could refocus his work. He felt that he could no longer let the soldiers look for gold all day long, because the soldiers had searched all the palaces and temples in Cusco, and all the gold that should be found was found, and the gold that could not be found might not be found. arrive. So, Pizarro asked Antonio, "We have been in Cusco for more than ten days, and it's time to share the gold with everyone."
Antonio said, "Yes, everyone is eagerly waiting."
Pizarro asked, "I wonder how much gold is in the vault now? How are you counting it?"
"It's almost calculated," Antonio took out his notebook and said to Pizarro while looking at it. "I made a rough calculation. The gold in the warehouse now is about 500,000 gold pesos, and the silver is about 200,000. A silver mark, which is not even half of the ransom Atahualpa gave us. I remember that the total amount of gold we distributed in Cajamarca was 12,000 pounds, and the silver was 24,000 pounds."
Pizarro didn't believe it and said, "Soldiers leave the barracks very early every day and come back very late. How can we say that they have gained a lot?" Then he asked Antonio to take him to the treasury to have a look. .
The treasury is in the room in the middle of the palace barracks. This treasury is actually not as big as the one in Cajamarca. The gold in it is not enough to fill the entire house, let alone to the top of the house. Look at the bank next to it. There is not as much silver as gold in it. This made Pizarro frown, because before the troops set off, he had promised to give each soldier twice the gold he received in Cajamarca, that is, twice as much as 45 pounds of gold. and 90 pounds of silver. However, if the gold and silver in the house were divided among 500 people, how much would each person get?
As the commander of the expeditionary force, he certainly knew that these gold and silver were distributed to Almagro's officers and soldiers, and they were naturally happy and smiling. However, if it were given to the officers and soldiers under his command, their feelings would be completely different. Because they got at least a 45-pound gold ingot and a 90-pound silver ingot last time, they were fully expecting to get more gold and silver this time, but this time they got much less than last time. How can this not disappoint them?
He came to Almagro's office next door to him, saw Almagro sitting in the room talking to his deputy, Lieutenant Saavedra, and said to him, "Antonio has put all the money in the treasury and silver vault. The gold and silver have been counted, what do you think we should do?"
Almagro immediately said, "Then let's divide it. Isn't everyone looking forward to this day?"
Pizarro sighed and said, "However, the amount is too small, not enough for half of Atahualpa's ransom."
Almagro said simply, "You can share as much as you have."
Pizarro nodded and said, "Then let the craftsmen turn the gold and silver into gold and silver ingots."
"That's how it should be," Almagro said.
