Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
The Governor of Peru, Francisco Pizarro, Marquis of Ataveros, is standing in his administrative residence with his adjutant Francisco Chavez and his half-brother Martinez Alcantara. He looked at the city map for a long time. It can be said that the urban area of Lima was planned by Pizarro himself. The streets are very regular and spacious. Now almost every street in these places is crowded with Indians attacking the city. The Spanish squads guarding various streets kept reporting repeated retreats, and some squads had even withdrawn to the vicinity of the municipal building.
Pizarro finished smoking a cigarette in his hand and said to his two most trusted subordinates, "We must tell the soldiers and squads that we can no longer withdraw. Any further withdrawal will increase the prestige of the Indians and lose our "I feel that not only can we not retreat any further, but we should also concentrate some cavalry to fight back against the Indians, drive them out of the city, and even make them afraid to enter the city again." .”
Alcantara also agreed, saying, "It is definitely better to attack and defend than to simply defend. If we concentrate our superior forces to push the Indians to counterattack from the streets, it will make the Indians feel that we not only have enough troops to defend , and there are still enough troops to fight back."
Pizarro listened to the words of the two assistants and did not immediately agree, because it was almost his habit to think twice about the decision he was about to implement. The two assistants were not in a hurry to urge him. They just kept looking at him, waiting for him to make his decision. He finished smoking another cigarette, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, and said, "Okay. Then move Pietro's cavalry team to South Street, where the enemy soldiers are weakest. Wait until the Indians on South Street are driven out. After entering the city, we will assemble Pietro's cavalry squad with the cavalry squads guarding South Street and East Street to launch a fierce attack on the powerful enemies on North Street." Both Chavez and Alcantara nodded in agreement.
So, Pizarro said to Chavez, "You will be under the specific command of this operation." Then, he said in a very expectant tone, "This operation is of great significance, and I hope to see you return triumphantly." Weiss gave Pizarro a military salute and said, "Please rest assured, Marquis." After saying that, he left the building of the executive residence.
Captain Chavez rode quickly to the Spanish barracks not far from the executive residence. There were almost no people in the huge barracks. Chavez asked the guard standing guard in front of the door, "Where is Lieutenant Pietro?" The guard said that he had heard about the fierce fighting on North Street and had led the cavalry team to North Street. Chavez couldn't help but feel a little annoyed and said, "Who asked him to go?" The guard shook his head and said, "I don't know." Chavez had no choice but to ride to North Street. North Street is not far from the barracks. From a distance, you can see Spanish cavalry and infantry occupying the south entrance of a street intersection, while Indians gathered at the north entrance of the street. Perhaps after a long battle, no one could They failed to capture the other side's position, so the two sides have been confronting each other.
Seeing the Indians gathered in a dark mass on the other side of the intersection, Chavez did not bother to reprimand Pietro, so he called Lieutenant Pietro and another captain to convey Pizarro's order. Then, he said to the captain, "I am going to transfer the Pietro Cavalry Squadron to South Street. You must hold on here for at least three to four hours. At that time, I will lead more than 200 cavalrymen to support you and march towards you." The Indians launched a general attack.”
The captain thought for a moment and said, "Three hours, okay?" Chavez said, "Okay." With that, he led Lieutenant Pietro's sixty cavalrymen and hurried toward South Street. The situation on South Street was the same as that on North Street. Soldiers on both sides were facing each other at a crossroads. But there is also a cavalry detachment and an infantry detachment on South Street, with a total of about sixty people. They had just defeated an Indian charge and were resting behind a bunker made of large rocks.
Chavez called a lieutenant who was commanding the battle and briefly conveyed Commander Pizarro's order to the lieutenant. Then, he asked the soldiers to move all the stones in front of the road to facilitate the cavalry's attack. So, the lieutenant asked the infantry to start moving stones, and asked the cavalry to hide behind a building.
About half an hour later, Indian began to attack here again. About five to six thousand soldiers, holding javelins and battle axes, rushed over while shouting. When they rushed to a spacious open space at the intersection, Chavez took the lead and led the cavalry out of the spacious building and charged straight towards the Indian soldiers. Because no charge bugle was blown, the Indians did not expect a cavalry force to descend from the sky.
Nearly a hundred cavalrymen rushed into the thousands of Indians. Although they were quickly surrounded by the Indians, the Spanish's swords and spears could play an obvious role. Before the Indians could get close, they cut down a large section of the Indians. The Indians were also very tenacious. They knew that to fight the Spaniards, they had to contain their horses first. Therefore, many Indians, regardless of life or death, rushed over to hug the front legs or hind legs of the war horses, or cut down the horses first. For a time, the entire spacious intersection was filled with melee and fierce fighting. Immediately afterwards, the Indian backup troops also rushed over, and nearly a thousand soldiers from the Spanish infantry and Indian auxiliary troops also rushed over, causing the spacious road to be filled with killing sounds and blood and flesh flying everywhere.
However, the Indians quickly retreated, because in the fight with the Spanish cavalry, not only would they be knocked down or trampled by the horses, but the weapons in their hands were too short, and they suffered a disadvantage compared with long swords and spears. Too big. Therefore, while retreating, they used javelins and short arrows to cover, which allowed them to retreat to their own positions. Because the Indians placed some big trees and large rocks in front of their position, the Spanish cavalry could not pass, so Chavez had to withdraw with the cavalry.
Since this cavalry attack dealt a fatal blow to the Indians, and considering that the Indians would definitely not attack rashly again, Chavez withdrew the nearly one hundred cavalrymen behind the building, and then quietly Silently, he led the cavalry to East Street.
At this time, the situation on East Street was very critical. The Indians had already attacked the intersection, and the Spaniards were squeezed in front of a very strong building to hold on. The Indians' javelins and short arrows were thrown and shot at the Spaniards like rain. Many were wounded by arrows. Seeing this situation, Chavez asked the trumpeter to blow the bugle and charged towards the Indians with his sword.
Seeing that the Spanish position was breached, they did not expect the Spanish cavalry to suddenly arrive. Therefore, the Indians immediately panicked, and before they could even think about retreating, a large number of them were killed by the onrushing cavalry who slashed east and west with their swords. The other Indians did not bother to fight with the Spaniards and fled for their lives. Chavez led the cavalry to charge and pursue them until they reached the Indian formation. Seeing this scene, the Indian commander quickly organized guards to supervise the battle. Under the supervision of the Guards, the Indians began to restore order and organized effective resistance. They kept shooting at the Spanish cavalry with javelins and short arrows like raindrops. Because it was in the middle of a street, the cavalry and Indian soldiers were crowded together, unable to spread out, and blocked by the Indians' javelins and short arrows, making it difficult to attack for a while.
When Chavez was hesitant, Alcantara rode over and said to Chavez, "Mr. Captain, the situation on North Street is urgent. The Indians have already attacked the administrative building only a few hundred meters away from the city center." In front of a building. The commander wants you to come over immediately for reinforcements." Upon hearing this, Chavez immediately asked the trumpeter to blow the retreat horn.
It was now mid-afternoon, and after almost a day of fighting, the soldiers on both sides were a little tired and tired. However, the fighting on North Street became more and more intense. The Indians may have discovered that there were fewer Spaniards in front of the position, so they took the opportunity to attack the Spanish position one after another desperately.
Captain Gonzalez used the bunker in front of the position to fire arquebuses and small cannons at the Indians. The Indian soldiers fell one by one in front of the position, leaving the open space in front of the position strewn with corpses and almost blocking the entire road. But the Indians kept attacking. They tried to overwhelm the Spanish positions before dark, occupy the administrative building, and then attack the Spanish from behind in several streets to completely annihilate the Spanish.
The Indians fell one by one, but more people rushed up. But the matchlock can only fire two bullets, and then it has to be reloaded. Therefore, there is no time at all. As a result, the Spaniards had no choice but to pick up their swords and spears and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the rushing Indians. However, despite the advanced weapons of the Spaniards, the Indians had a huge numerical advantage. Therefore, seeing that they could no longer hold on, Spain had to retreat in front of a building and use the building to continue its tenacious attack. to resist.
Seeing that he could no longer hold it, Gonzalez sent someone to report to Pizarro, saying that if reinforcements were not sent, the position would not be able to be held. If the position cannot be held, if we retreat further, we will have to retreat to the executive residence building. To this end, Pizarro immediately sent Alcantara on horseback to inform Chavez.
When Chavez led his cavalry to North Street, the Indians were close to capturing the building. Moreover, the Spanish suffered heavy casualties. However, Chavez was very confident because he had gathered more than 200 cavalry, which was almost all the cavalry in Lima. He asked the cavalry to line up, asked the trumpeter to blow the charge horn, and then led the soldiers to charge down the street.
Originally, when the Indians saw that the Spaniards could hardly hold on, they fought more and more bravely, hoping to capture the Spanish positions in one go. However, when they discovered that such a powerful Spanish cavalry force had arrived for reinforcements, their morale was immediately affected. Therefore, being hit by a sudden burst of Spanish cavalry, the Indians immediately began to retreat. They still retreated while constantly turning around to fire short arrows and throw javelins at the chasing cavalry.
When they retreated to the position north of the intersection, they were blocked by the team supervising the battle. As a result, the soldiers, reinforced by the backup troops, began to fight with the cavalry on the spacious road at the intersection. However, they underestimated the powerful impact and killing power of more than 200 cavalry. Therefore, at the entire intersection, cavalrymen and Indian soldiers were seen fighting in a confused mass. As a result, the entire road was covered with a thick layer of corpses, making it impossible for soldiers and horses to walk.
