Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
After a while, he heard the sound of horse hooves galloping over and stopped on the side of the road. Then, shouting and shouting, the Spaniards began to dismount, entered the reeds, and began to search.
The shouts of the Spanish were everywhere, as well as the begging for mercy of the Indians who were being searched. You could even hear the sound of the Spanish searching just a few meters away. Manco's heart almost jumped out of his throat nervously, but he knew that it would not be easy for these dozens of Spaniards to search for him in such a large area of reeds, so he held that kind of Nervous and lucky, waiting for the fate.
But Spain will look for those who are hiding by following the traces of trampled reeds and the footprints left behind. Therefore, it didn't take long for a Spanish soldier to find him. Although he left the red pola in the sedan, almost all the Spanish soldiers did not recognize him. The soldier pointed his sword at him and laughed loudly, "Look at you like this, do you still look like King Inca?"
At this time, he realized that not only half of his trouser legs were stuck in the mud, but even the cloak and upper clothes he was wearing were stained with muddy water, and his hair was messed up, making him look completely miserable. The soldier smiled and shouted to the other side of the path, "The Inca King has been found." So Juan and a few soldiers immediately rushed to the depths of the reeds and said to the soldiers in a commanding tone, "Get it Tie him up for me." So the soldiers tied Manco up with a rope and dragged him out of the reed swamp.
At this time, Manco saw a large group of Inca princes and soldiers being held on the road by the lake, and his two princesses were among them. Just when he was puzzled as to how the Spaniards knew that he had taken people out of Cusco, he suddenly saw an Indian riding a horse among the Spanish crowd. This couldn't help but arouse his alertness. He looked at the man for a long time and realized that he was wearing a Kanal tribe-style black cloth shirt. It turned out that it was this Kanar man who discovered and betrayed him. The Canals were originally a smaller tribe that was conquered by the Incas and lived in simple, low-rise huts on the outskirts of Cusco. Because he had been suppressed by the Incas for a long time, he held a grudge against the Incas, but did not dare to resist. Therefore, when the Spanish entered Cusco, they retaliated against the Inca by tipping off the Spanish.
At this time, the sunset has already set, and in the vast twilight, the evening wind is gradually picking up, and the fog is coming. Seeing that Manco had been caught, Juan asked the soldiers to blow the trumpet to stop the search. The soldiers returned to the path from the reeds one after another. Juan came to Manco, pointed at Manco, and said in a fierce tone, "I just want to see where you can run. Even if you run to the end of the world, I can still find you." With that, he let The soldiers stuffed Manco in the big sedan chair and let the Inca soldiers carry him. They escorted other princes and Inca soldiers and began to march back to the camp in Cusco.
It was night after returning to Cusco, and Manco was handcuffed and legcuffed, and locked in a dark room in an ancient palace. There was only a small bed and a stool in the hut. Manco was very hungry, but no one brought him food. He shouted for food, but no one paid any attention to him. He shouted for a while, but when no one paid attention to him, he had to lie down on the small bed. After running for most of the day, he felt really tired, but although he lay down, he couldn't fall asleep. He thought that the reason why he was betrayed and imprisoned here was entirely the fault of the Canal people, so he wanted to wait until he regained the world one day and had to kill the hateful Canal people and the Spaniards together.
At noon the next day, an Indian brought him a bowl of polenta. Manco was already hungry. He drank up the polenta in the bowl and licked the sides of the bowl clean. Pure, completely without the Inca king's usual elegant and noble style and attention to detail. Not long after eating, the door of the small room opened, and several Spanish soldiers entered the room and dragged him to an interrogation room. Although it was daytime, two lamps were burning in the room. Because Indian houses usually only have ventilation holes and no windows, it is difficult for outside light to shine into the house.
Juan and Gonzalo sat at a table, and three or four Spaniards stood nearby. Seeing Manco being brought into the house, Juan asked, "Prince Manco, you have been summoned truthfully, why did you flee the capital of Cusco?"
Manco was of course prepared for this and said, "You have to ask yourselves about this." Juan slammed the table and said angrily, "Nonsense, I want to know, why do I ask you?" Then, he said sternly, " Do you want to tell me or not? My whip doesn't recognize anyone." Manco said obediently, "I said, I actually don't want to leave the city of Cusco, but you, Captain Juan, raped my Concubine, and Captain Gonzalo is still occupying my princess, you said that if you do this, can I no longer stay in Cusco?"
Juan was speechless for a moment, but he couldn't let Manco put the blame on himself, so he hit the whip on the table hard and cursed, "Nonsense, you had a conspiracy to escape from Cusco, right?" He wants to organize a popular uprising and completely betray our King of Spain.”
When Manco heard this, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart, wondering if his escape had been leaked? Otherwise, how would Juan know about this? However, the only people who knew about this were him, Umu and Wakikar, and the few closest concubines around him. These people are his closest and most trusted people, and it is impossible for them to betray him. Thinking of this, he said, "I voluntarily surrendered to the Marquis of Pizarro, and I also swore an oath to the King of Spain to serve the King of Spain loyally. I have been with the Marquis for more than half a year. Have you ever seen me commit any betrayal or violation of regulations?" What happened? If I wanted to betray you, why didn't I go to Kiskis and instead help you conquer Kiskis? If you don't believe me, you can send me to the Marquis. He will never Treat me like you do."
Seeing Manco's sincere tone, Gonzalo felt that Manco might have really fled Cusco in anger because they had seized his princess, so he whispered a few words to Juan. After listening to Gonzalo's words, Juan nodded slightly and said, "Although I spare you the pain of flesh and blood, I can't forgive him just like this, otherwise, you will run away again in the future." With that, he said to Lai Tomundo said, "Since he is not allowed to suffer the pain of flesh and blood, he must be embarrassed and let the citizens know that their king was captured while escaping. Let's see how their king will pay for his sins." Punished."
Letomundo didn't understand what Juan meant, so he asked, "Captain, please clarify what should be done." Juan said, "You take a cavalry squad of soldiers to guard him, and let his two Accompanied by a princess, we will swim around all the streets in the city." Letomundo said, "Yes, Captain."
After a while, Letomundo led a cavalry squad, escorted Manco and the two concubines out of the palace hall, and began to march along a street that went straight north. Manco was wearing handcuffs and shackles, wearing mud-stained clothes, with long hair disheveled, accompanied by two concubines, and being escorted by a group of Spanish cavalry as he walked down the street. He felt really unspeakable. taste. But in the past, when he went out on the streets, he was surrounded by large groups of princes, protected by thousands of soldiers, and rode in a large sedan chair carried by eight people. It was impossible for these citizens to even take a look at him. However, right now, he is being held like a criminal and a prisoner on death row, with disheveled hair and dirt all over his body. How should his subjects feel and feel when they look at this? He felt that it was better for him to die and not have to embarrass the Inca king again. He felt that he was really ashamed of his ancestors.
It was almost the first time for the citizens to see their king with their own eyes, but they almost couldn't believe and confirmed that the young man who was making them look less human was their king. Therefore, they looked at the young man wearing handcuffs and shackles with very strange and even suspicious eyes, not knowing whether they should kneel down or salute him. Therefore, when people saw or heard that their king was being paraded through the streets by the Spaniards, they hurried away for fear of making the king feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. They even regarded it as a shame and heartache to see and hear what happened to their king, and they couldn't bear to witness what happened to their king. Therefore, there were still some people watching on the street at first, but soon the crowd dispersed and the whole street became empty.
The Spaniards took Manco and his two concubines for a parade on the street. Seeing that the street was deserted and the doors of the houses on both sides of the street were locked, they knew that it was useless to continue swimming like this, so they had to escort them The Inca king returns to camp.
This continued for several days, and after several streets had been swam, the Spaniards locked up Manco again and sent soldiers to guard him closely. Manco was locked up in that dark and damp hut all day long. Not to mention the uprising, sometimes he couldn't even tell the difference between day and night. It can be said that this was the darkest day in his life. Even when Atahualpa carried out the extermination of the Cusco people, he did not feel darker or more terrible than before his eyes.
It was often so dark in the hut that not even a ray of light could be seen. He was despondent and regretful, regretting that he was too careless and inexperienced in doing things. If he cleverly dressed up as a farmer and fled the city alone or accompanied by one or two people, he would not attract the attention of the Canals, let alone be caught by the Spaniards. However, this regret was too late, and there was no chance to correct it. Because the Spaniards will never give him this kind of freedom and opportunity to go out at will.
