Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
When we returned to the barracks, it was already dark and it was past meal time in the barracks. According to the bet beforehand, everyone coaxed Captain Juan to invite them to dinner at Victoria Restaurant. Captain Juan is very wealthy, has a lot of money, and is quite generous, so he agreed after being coaxed by everyone.
Victoria Restaurant is in the southeast corner of the square. After walking through the square, walk along the east-facing avenue for about 200 to 300 meters, then go south, and you will see a small market specializing in wine, meat, food, and daily sundries. This small market was established and formed after Spanish soldiers came to Cusco. Because the Indians themselves had no currency and no such market, what they usually ate and used were distributed or bartered from above. The rich could go directly to the Inca warehouses to get what they needed, while the poor had almost no needs other than two meals a day. Therefore, the existence of the market does not mean much among Indians.
Since the Spanish came to Cusco, some smart and wealthy Spanish officers and soldiers began to use the streets and facades around the square to either re-hire people or call over the Indian servants hired in Cajamarca. He started to open a shop in Cusco and started a business. Therefore, the owners of these market shops are Spanish.
As soon as they came to this busy little street, they met Antonio. Antonio was haggling with an Indian clerk in a paper shop. Antonio said to the clerk, "The day before yesterday I came to buy your paper for one gold peso per knife. Why did I buy twenty gold pesos per knife today? Has the price risen too much? Even in Cajamarca, a knife is the most expensive. I only bought ten gold pesos.”
As soon as Juan heard that a knife of paper cost twenty gold pesos, he put his hands on his waist and cursed at the Indian, "Why, are you trying to rob someone? Are you selling paper or the stars and the moon?" The Indian man came from Cajamarca. Of course he knew Captain Juan. He quickly bowed and smiled and said, "Captain Juan, you will know when you walk around the entire market. There was so much corn in the past few days." No one is paying attention to the entire warehouse, but do you know how much a pound of corn costs now?" Juan said, "What is rotten corn worth? If you want, I can let you use a horse-drawn carriage to pull it all day and night." But the Indian man laughed and said, "Captain Juan is joking, right? As long as you can get me so much corn, can I give you three gold pesos per pound of corn?" Upon hearing this, Juan said, "Then Okay, it’s a deal, don’t wait for me to get you corn, you don’t have money.”
At this time, a Spaniard walked out of the store and said, "As long as Captain Juan can get as much corn as he wants, I will take it. As for the money, please don't worry Captain Juan."
Juan looked up and saw Ajalma. This man turned out to be just an ordinary soldier and was not very prominent in the army. However, this man was shrewd and had learned papermaking. When most soldiers started gambling and prostitution when they got rich, he built a small paper mill and also became a prostitute. Opened a paper and pen stationery store. From then on, he slowly became a nouveau riche. Now he moved his paper mill and stationery store from Cajamarca to Cusco.
Juan said to Ayalma, "Very good, we have made an agreement. I will get you corn tomorrow, but first you sell the paper to Antonio for two gold pesos a knife." Ayalma shook his head. He shook his head and said with a smile, "We are a carrot on one end and a cabbage on the other. Don't confuse the two things." Seeing that Ajalma refused to lower the price, Antonio reluctantly took out ten gold pesos and bought half a knife of paper. .
At this point, Ayalma warned confidently, "Mr. Secretary, I'm making a special case for you. Next time you come back, you won't have to buy only half a knife of paper." This incident made Antonio very upset. Having no face, he also lowered his face and said, "I thought your paper was worth one gold peso per knife, but who would have thought that the price of your paper would go through dozens of somersaults in one night. I didn't bring that much money." ." Ayalma said, "Maybe we will have to continue trading tomorrow. Haven't you seen anything besides gold plummeting now that isn't skyrocketing?"
Antonio said to Juan angrily, "I walked around this street, and except for gold and silver, which are worthless, all other things have become more and more valuable." Ayalma continued, "I am today I bought some clothes in the morning, which cost me one hundred and twenty gold pesos. Del Bacio's horse in the cavalry was killed by the Indians in the battle, and he wanted to return home from the Almagro cavalry. I bought a horse from the cavalry, how much do you think it cost?"
Juan thought for a while and said, "It's only three hundred and five hundred gold pesos at most." Because their horses are all brought from Spain, and a horse in Spain can only cost five or six gold pesos at most. . But Ajalma said, "What a beautiful idea! Three hundred and five hundred gold pesos is not enough to buy a leg of that horse. Del Bagio bought the horse for three thousand five hundred gold pesos. What if You can buy five to six hundred horses in Spain."
Antonio said, "Otherwise, in the past few days, I heard General Almagro say that some of his men kept wanting to return to the country. It turned out that they wanted to return to the country to become rich." Ayalma said, "These people who returned to the country are all Smart people, they know how to be content and always take what they get. Because each of them received at least 600 gold pesos and 250 silver marks. This money here is just a basket of walnuts and half a bag of dates, which will last less than a month or two. If the money is gone, if they use it for gambling, they will probably lose it in three or two days. However, when they return to Spain, they can build a large manor, buy a large piece of land, and hire a large group of people. That will This is the life of a real rich man." Juan said disapprovingly, "After you spend all your money gambling, you can still rob it. Anyway, there is inexhaustible gold and silver here."
After talking for a while, Juan wanted to take Antonio to drink together. However, Antonio waved his hand and said, "If there is no food in the cafeteria, why do you come here to eat?" Juan said, "The food in the cafeteria is tasteless. Besides, I am tired of eating in the cafeteria all day. Let’s have a change.” Antonio shook his head quickly and said, “If you want to eat, you can eat it, I don’t want to go. You have never seen that a meal is more expensive than gold.”
After Antonio left, Juan took the soldiers to the restaurant called Victoria. Although the restaurant is not big, it is very exquisite. It was opened by a Spanish soldier who worked as a chef. As soon as they sat down in the restaurant, they waved to a young and beautiful Indian girl. The girl came over and asked Juan what he wanted in an unfamiliar and stilted Spanish. Juan said, "Ten bottles of chicha and ten pounds of llama jerky."
But the girl said, "Please pay first." Juan immediately asked, "I often come to your place and always eat first and pay later. When did the rules change?" The Indian girl said, "Sorry, this is a store. There are new regulations here." Juan took out a large amount of money from his pocket, about forty or fifty gold pesos, threw it on the table and said, "You can take as much money as you want."
The girl counted the money on the table and said, "Sir, you can only buy four bottles of wine and one pound of meat with this money." Juan was startled and said, "Are you selling the stars or the moon? This is so much Why is there not enough money?" The girl immediately explained patiently, "Sir, I know you come to our place often, but the prices in the entire market have changed in the past two days. In the past, a bottle of wine only cost one gold peso, and a pound of meat only cost Two gold pesos, but now a bottle of wine costs ten gold pesos, and a pound of meat costs twenty gold pesos.”
Juan emptied his entire pocket and found only seventy or eighty gold pesos. However, how can these twenty-odd people drink three to five bottles of wine? When the other soldiers saw the price, they said to Juan, "Forget it, let's go, Captain. Let's go back and eat." Juan couldn't help but sighed and said, "When have I, Juan, ever lost such a person?" Then, he slammed the table angrily and said to everyone, "Let's go, we can't afford this meal, so we won't eat it." He led the soldiers towards the barracks.
Back at the barracks, it was already past meal time in the canteen. But with Captain Juan here, everyone has something to rely on, because in the Spanish Expeditionary Force, except for the Marquis of Pizarro, no one dares to say no in front of Juan, even the second-in-command Al Magro didn't even dare to offend him. So, although it was already dark, several cooks were gathering around a room to play gambling. Juan opened the door and shouted, "Get us some food quickly."
Several cooking soldiers were addicted to playing and didn't want to move, but they didn't dare to offend Juan and the others, so they had to get up and go to the canteen to heat them meals. Soon the meal was ready. It was polenta and corn pancakes without any vegetables. Everyone felt that the meal was a bit hard to swallow, but they couldn't say anything because the cafeteria stipulated that if you came back late, you would not be able to eat. But Juan shouted to the cook, "How can anyone eat this unpalatable meal without even ordering it?" After saying that, he lifted the lid of the pot and opened the cupboard, but he couldn't find anything more delicious. Nothing was found.
The cook spread his hands and said to Juan, "There is no way, this is the meal." The other cook said to Juan in a low voice, "If Captain Juan wants to eat something good, you can add some money, and we can I can think of some ways." Juan asked how much it would cost. The soldier said it was at least sixty gold pesos. Juan had no choice but to take out the little money he had in his pocket and give it to the cook. So, as if by magic, the cook found a small piece of vicuña jerky for Juan.
Juan was obviously dissatisfied with the small amount and said a little unhappy, "This bit of dried meat costs me sixty gold pesos. Even if you rob someone, you still have to see who you are robbing?" The cook said to Juan, " To be honest with Captain Juan, things are going crazy today. I bought this piece of dried meat the day before yesterday. If I had bought it today, I’m afraid seventy-eighty gold pesos wouldn’t even be enough.” Juan said, “Okay. I will let you take advantage today, and wait until you fall into my hands and see how I deal with you."
Maybe it was because of the excessive adultery in the Virgin Palace just now, so everyone felt exhausted and drowsy. As soon as they finished eating, many people went back to their dormitories early to sleep. The same was true for Juan. As soon as he returned to his office, he fell down on the small bed and fell asleep.
However, because Juan liked to gather people to gamble, his soldiers also liked gambling. Over time, his office became a gambling arcade. Sometimes four or five stalls can be set up in one room at once. Soldiers like to gather at his place after dinner in the evening, either to try their luck or to cheer and watch the battle. They would not be separated until midnight, and sometimes they would even fight all night long.
Maybe Juan was not here just now and the office door was not opened, so some people who wanted to gamble came over and walked around for a while before leaving. But now that Juan was back, they all entered the room and prepared to organize a war.
