Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
Accompanied by the palace auxiliary minister Ondegado and the palace priest Umu, the young Inca king Manco led the nearly 10,000 Indian soldiers who responded to him and evacuated to a place called Tambo at noon the next day. This is an open canyon area among the mountains of the Eastern Andes, about thirty or forty kilometers away from Cusco. Because there is a river named Youkai flowing through the canyon, it is called the Youkai Valley. On the slope of the mountain on the edge of the river valley, there is one of the most solid and gorgeous palaces in the Inca Empire.
Youkai Canyon is a beautiful and quiet canyon, surrounded by mountains on all sides. Because the mountains on all sides serve as barriers, the strong wind blowing from the east is blocked. Therefore, the air in the canyon is fresh, the wind is sunny, the grass is green, there are herds of wild deer, a small river flows quietly from the canyon, and countless fountains gush out in all seasons. Therefore, this became the most ideal leisure place for the Inca kings to escape the summer heat.
The palace is built on the mountain, and at the foot of the mountain are jungle trees and spacious and open gardens. The garden is filled with a wide variety of plants and flowers, exuding a light and intoxicating fragrance in the leisurely air. In addition, there are many famous flowers and plants made of gold and silver in the garden, which shine attractively in the bright sunshine. There are many fountains in the garden, and the warm and smooth spring water flows into a huge golden pool through silver tubes. This is where the Inca king and his concubines bathed together. There are also many corns grown in the garden. These corns are not grown for food but to beautify and decorate gardens. Because Indians are grateful and respectful to corn. Whenever the Inca kings were tired of life in the city, they would come here with their beloved concubines to have fun.
This palace was not only the palace where the Inca kings spent their summers, but it was also the castle where the Inca kings took refuge during the war. The palace is built on a very high hilltop slope. To get to the palace, you have to climb a very steep stone platform from the bottom of the mountain, and then enter the inner courtyard of the palace through the stone gate. As long as some archers are posted to guard the walls of the inner courtyard of the palace, it will be difficult for any number of enemy soldiers to invade the palace courtyard. Moreover, there is a very spacious inner courtyard in the palace. Thousands of soldiers can be deployed in the inner courtyard. These soldiers lurk in the courtyard and guard against the walls, or they can suddenly launch a surprise attack under the castle from the courtyard. The terrain behind the palace is relatively flat, and the slope is not very steep, but there is a small river running at the foot of the mountain, which becomes a natural barrier for the palace. If the palace sent an army to guard the river bank, it would be difficult for the enemy to enter the city. Even if the enemy soldiers attack the city, the strong walls around the palace and the dense short arrows of the archers will make it difficult for the enemy soldiers to break through. Therefore, this palace is easy to defend but difficult to attack and is very strong.
In fact, when Atahualpa commanded Quito to carry out a massacre of Inca nobles in Cusco, Manco led a force of nearly a thousand people and dozens of princes to hide in this castle. Therefore, this time he fled from Cusco again and chose this castle and palace as his base.
The palace has a large building area. In addition to the granary and water source, it can accommodate at least nearly 10,000 people. But in fact, there are only dozens of rooms in the palace, and the rooms where Manco and his concubines live are in the stone rooms in the deepest part of the palace. One of the larger rooms is the conference hall where Manco meets with ministers.
At this time, it was already dark, and the palace and castle were surrounded by sentries and brightly lit. In the palace meeting hall, dozens of lamps illuminated the entire room brightly. There are four large dining tables in the hall. The generals sat quietly at the dining table and waited for the arrival of the Inca King.
After a while, Manco took Okoro, Sankara and two other concubines into the meeting hall through a small door on the other side. The princes and ministers quickly stood up from their chairs, knelt down and saluted. Manco waved his hand and said, "Please take a seat." Then he sat down at the banquet table in the middle. Four concubines stood beside him.
After all the generals were seated, Manco said to everyone, "Thank you generals for raising troops and helping me, so I will hold a special banquet to express my gratitude." Then, he changed his tone and said in extremely serious words, "Dear princes, and generals, after the white Spanish invaded the Inca Empire. The idols we worshiped were overthrown, the portraits of our ancestors were smashed, and our emperors were killed. Virgins of the Sun God were raped, our women were insulted, and our houses were seized , our property was robbed. The king became a vassal, the princes became civilians, and the people became slaves. The country was destroyed, the family was ruined, and the lives were in ruins. Our king, princes, and people were being bullied and ruled by aliens and inhumans. Therefore, Our uprising today is to eliminate the Spanish aliens and restore normal order in the Inca Empire." When the princes present heard this, they shouted in unison, "Long live the king!"
Manco paused for a while and then said, "All the princes and generals have contributed to this uprising. Once we wipe out Spain, you will all become the top heroes of the Inca Empire. I will reward you heavily." Inca listened. At the king's words, the princes and generals present shouted again, "Long live the king!"
Manco glanced at everyone with satisfaction and said, "I want to know how many people we have now. Please report the number of your troops to me, princes and generals."
As soon as Manco finished speaking, a burly general stood up, first knelt down and saluted the Inca King, and then said, "The Supreme King, my subordinate Kunzu led the former Inca soldiers and Urubambanons, a total of more than 40,000 people. We are currently gathering in Youkai Canyon and on standby."
Kunzu was originally a general under Huascar. When Huascar was fighting with Atahualpa's Quito army on the outskirts of Cusco, he happened to follow Prince Manco to recruit troops in the Urubamba area. However, when they had just mobilized and recruited the farmers, they got the news that Huascar had been captured, so he dispersed the large army according to Prince Manco's order, leaving only one or two thousand elite soldiers. Sneak and hide to avoid the Quito army. Later, after Atahualpa was executed by the Spanish, he followed Manco to the Tambo Palace south of the Yucai Canyon and led troops to garrison the palace castle. After that, he led troops to follow Manco in a crusade against Quiskis. After defeating Quiskis, and based on the consideration of Manco's uprising, he came to the Urubamba mountainous area from Cusco to recruit and organize an uprising. force. It can be said that Kunzu is Manco's most trusted military commander.
After listening to the report of his beloved general, Manco nodded happily and said, "Very good, the general's hard work has paid off." Kunzu said, "I am willing to go through fire and water for the king." Manco said, "Very good, very good." With that said, he waved his hand for him to sit down.
Next, a tall and thin prince stood up and said to Manco, "Your distinguished king, Mantalaka, the chief of the Chanca tribe in Cusco Province, led more than 40,000 Chanka people to stand by in the forest under the palace city. Please ask your Majesty to Mobilize." The Chanca people rebelled during Inca VIII, but Prince Viracocha forgave them, so from then on, the Chanca people were loyal to the Inca king. Moreover, Changka soldiers have always had a reputation of being brave and good at fighting. So Manco happily waved his hand to Mantaraka and said, "Good, good."
A prince named Kasiti reported, "Your honorable king, my subordinate Kasiti came from Abankai with 20,000 soldiers and asked the king to take command." Manco looked at Kasiti and said , "I know that you were a famous general under King Huascar." Kaciti said with a shameful face, "As a general of Huascar, I was deeply ashamed that I failed to rescue the king when he was surrounded. .”
Manco knew that when Huascar was besieged, Cattiti led some of his soldiers to risk their lives to rescue him. However, they were eventually outnumbered and dispersed by the Quidus. Cattiti himself was also hit by an arrow and fell to the ground pretending to be dead before escaping. It was difficult, so he said to this old Inca minister in a very tolerant tone, "Huascar's capture was purely due to improper command and blind underestimation of the enemy. The general can be said to be loyal to the king when he was in danger and risked his life to rescue him."
Ayacucho senior official Prince Uramaha reported to Manco Bing, "The distinguished King of Inca, Uramaha led 60,000 Ayacucho soldiers to obey the king's command." Ayacucho senior officials are Huascar and Manco The uncles and brothers, only twenty-seven years old, were also survivors of the extermination of Quito in Cusco. At that time, Atahualpa issued a notice to all parts of the country that he wanted to share the talent equally with Huascar, and asked the princes, nobles and high-ranking chiefs of each province to come to the palace of Cusco to discuss the matter. Ulamaha escaped because he was ill and did not go to the DPRK. Later, he fled to Tambo with his family and hid in the palace castle of Tambo with Prince Manco.
Prince Manco heard that the senior officials of Ayacucho led the most troops, and he nodded and praised the Prince of Uramaha, saying, "The Prince of Uramaha has been agitating and lobbying for this uprising against the Spanish, and he has also recruited the most soldiers. , It can be said that he has made great contributions to the empire." Ulamaha knelt down and said, "When the country is destroyed, the family will be destroyed, and when the family is destroyed, I will be destroyed. Saving the country also saves the family, and saving the family also saves oneself. Now there is a great king who leads the uprising, and he is the leader of the empire. Fortunately. There is new hope for the Inca Empire."
Next, some more princes and local officials reported to the Inca King Bing one by one. Most of them came from distant areas, some with one or two thousand troops, and some with seven or eight thousand troops. The total adds up to over 200,000 at least.
