Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
After the meeting, Pizarro kept Chavez, Alcantara and Antonio behind, and asked the guards to call Lieutenant Pietro to discuss reinforcements for Cusco. When Pizarro saw Pietro entering the office, he stood up and patted Pietro on the shoulder, saying in a very heavy tone, "Lieutenant Pietro, I have a very important task to entrust you to complete."
When Pietro heard this, his expression immediately became a little serious, but he stood at attention and said, "Commander, please give me the order." Pizarro walked to his seat, but did not sit down. Instead, he said with a very serious expression. , "I want to send you to reinforce the city of Cusco. You may know that the city over there has been besieged by more than 100,000 troops of the King of Inca for more than five months. The situation is very serious." Pietro said, "Commander, please Don’t worry, Officer, Lieutenant Pietro will definitely be able to complete this mission.”
Pizarro said, "Very good." Then he added, "I want to hear what you want." Pietro said, "There are no requirements. Just send me two guides." Pizarro said. , "No problem, Antonio will take care of it." Pietro asked again, "When will we set off?" Pizarro said, "We will prepare all day tomorrow and set off early the day after tomorrow." Pietro said, "Yes." Pizarro said Luo added, "There has been no news from Cusco for two or three months. Therefore, you must work hard and work day and night to get to Cusco as soon as possible. When you wait outside Cusco, you must first send someone Go into the city and get in touch with Hernando and the others and ask them to send someone to take you into the city. Don't act rashly." Pietro said, "Yes." Pizarro said, "Send someone as soon as you arrive in Cusco. Send me a message." Pietro said, "I know." Pizarro said, "Go back to mobilize and prepare."
Pietro's cavalry squad quietly left Lima on a foggy morning. Led by two Indian guides, they crossed the Rimac River at a wide ferry in the northern mountains far away from the city of Lima, and marched eastward along a remote and winding mountain path. In the cool and foggy mountains, there are protruding peaks and overlapping mountains, and the road winds through the clouds, twisting and turning. In the high mountains of the Cordillera, almost the entire trail is climbing and descending through the mountains. The road was very rugged and steep, so the cavalry often had to lead their horses through the towering peaks, and sometimes they had to lead their horses down step by step on very steep and slippery mountain roads.
The temperature in the mountains alternated between warm and cool. The sun was shining brightly for a while, but soon the wind blew up and it rained heavily. The temperature during the day is relatively mild, but at night, the temperature drops suddenly, making people shiver with cold. However, under the leadership of the Indian guide, although the road was relatively difficult and dangerous, the cavalry team traveled day and night and had a smooth journey without encountering any trouble or discomfort.
The cavalry team marched in a hurry for three or four days. In the afternoon, they came to a mountainous area, and suddenly there was no road in front of them. This mountain col is not very big, but it is surrounded by wilderness and inaccessible. Apart from the exposed rocks and stones all over the mountain, there are patches of sluggish weeds. Looking up again, I saw patches of golden light lazily shining on the surrounding cliffs, which were blurry and silent.
Because there was no road at the moment, the Indian guide asked Pietro to take the soldiers to rest on the spot while he went to explore the road ahead. The soldiers had been walking for most of the day and were a little tired, so they sat on the rocks in the col and rested while eating the tortillas and dried meat they had brought with them. However, after a while, the sun hid in the clouds, the sky suddenly became gray, and a gust of wind began to blow in from the mountain pass, as if it was going to rain. Pietro shouted loudly to the Indian guides, but the two guides had disappeared. Therefore, Lieutenant Pietro asked the guards to find the guide while directing the troops to withdraw towards the mountain col, because once it rained, there would be no shelter here.
Just as the Spanish cavalry was about to withdraw from the mountain col, suddenly, frightening horn horns sounded from the cliffs above the mountain col. Pietro realized at once that they had been led into an Indian ambush by the Indian guides, and ordered the soldiers to rush out of the mountain col. However, at this time, they saw that thousands of Indian soldiers had surrounded the cliffs on the col. Pietro asked the soldiers to lead the horses and break out on the rocky ground. However, before they reached the mountain pass, they saw overwhelming boulders rolling down the cliff like rain. Not only did they kill the soldiers who were running at the front, but they also blocked the mountain pass.
Seeing that the retreat road was blocked, Pietro organized the soldiers to abandon their horses and luggage, pick up their swords and matchlocks, gather together, and climb towards a flatter steep slope to break out from here. . However, before the soldiers could reach the halfway point, they were smashed into a pulp by boulders rolling down the cliff. The soldiers were so frightened that they quickly retreated down the slope. However, at this time, the Indians carried big rocks, held javelins, and short arrows, and rushed down the mountain condescendingly. And while rushing down the mountain, the boulders were rolled and thrown, and the poor Spanish soldiers were seen huddled in the col. The boulders rolled down from the mountain and the stones were thrown, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere. They were crying and howling. Those soldiers who escaped from the boulders and stones could not escape the javelins and short arrows of the Indians. Those javelins and short arrows, denser than raindrops, were fired at the Spanish soldiers, leaving the Spanish soldiers with no place to hide. Therefore, when the Indians rushed from the cliff to the mountain col, the Spaniards were already covered with corpses. Even there were a few injured soldiers who were not dead, but their heads were chopped off by the rushing Indians with short axes.
It turned out that these Indians were the remaining troops led by General Mokwa under Kunzu, the commander of the Indian Lima army who was killed by the Spanish. They watched with their own eyes as the Spanish cavalry charged directly into the Chinese army. They were invincible and killed their commander Kunzu, Princess Motelli, and more than forty generals and princes. They also killed the Indian army until corpses were scattered all over the field and their souls were scattered. Therefore, they Not caring about moving closer to the Chinese army, they began to disperse in all directions. Some soldiers fled along the river bank, but more jumped into the river and swam toward the other side. In this way, he escaped the pursuit of the Spanish cavalry. General Mokwa was able to escape by jumping into the river. When they fled to the other side of the river and regrouped the soldiers, they found that only about 10,000 of the 30,000 to 40,000 people on the left and right armies were left.
Therefore, they had no choice but to regroup, deploy these tens of thousands of soldiers along the other side of the Rimac River, and closely watch the Spanish movements. They set up a lookout on a mountain ridge on the other side of the river and watched closely what was going on in Lima at all times.
A few days ago, Mokwa and Chukwuka heard from spies that the Spaniards were looking for two guides to Cusco, so they sent two of their trusted guards there. When they learned that Spain had sent a hundred cavalry to rush to Cusco day and night, they led eight thousand soldiers to the unknown mountain col half a day in advance and laid an ambush.
This battle can be said to be the best battle fought by the Indians against the Spaniards. In all previous battles, the Spaniards always defeated the Indians with a small number of troops and slaughtered the Indians like llamas. But this time, not only did the Indians suffer no casualties, they wiped out more than a hundred Spanish cavalry, and no one survived.
After the Spaniards defeated the 80,000 siege troops of Kunzu, the victory of annihilating the Spanish cavalry squad was indeed a great encouragement and encouragement to the Indian soldiers. Therefore, the soldiers searched all the belongings of the Spanish soldiers, chopped down and killed the Spanish horses, and then came to a flat land outside the mountain col to gather together, lighting a fire to cook, grilling horse meat, and singing and dancing. Celebrating victory.
Afterwards, Mokwa led his soldiers to a small town called Matukana to rest and wait. The mayor of the small town of Matukana invited Mokwa and other seven or eight lieutenants to live in his mansion and held a banquet for everyone, while other soldiers were divided into various households for food and accommodation.
Mokwa and several lieutenants lived in the mayor's house, while Mokwa lived in a relatively large room. There is a wooden bed and two wooden boxes in the room. When ordinary Indians can only sleep on a camel skin at night, it is considered a relatively high treatment for one person to have a bed to sleep on.
This morning, Mokwa got up relatively late. At this time, the woman who slept with him at night had already gotten up, brought over a clean and neat set of gorgeous clothes for princes and nobles, and held them in front of Mokwa. This woman is the mayor's beloved concubine. She is only seventeen or eighteen years old, very simple and comely. Mokwa took the clothes from the woman and quickly put them on. Then, the woman brought him a bowl of water to rinse his mouth, handed him a towel to wipe his face and hands, and took him into a nearby room. Breakfast is already set on the table in the room. There is wolf meat, tomatoes, potatoes and corn. The mayor was sitting at the table waiting for him.
Mokwa sat at the table, and the mayor asked respectfully, "I wonder if the general slept well last night?" Mokwa said, "Thanks to the mayor, he slept very well." So the two began to hold the The wolf meat and food on the large solid gold plate began to be eaten. Not long after eating, someone came in and reported, "Report to General Mokwa, a letter from Inca King Manco." Mokwa hurriedly asked the woman standing next to him to wipe his hands with a towel, then stood up respectfully and took a cloth from the stranger. Bag. Inside the cloth bag is a delicate knotted rope. He looked at the knotted rope for a while and knew that King Manco wanted him to encircle the point for reinforcements and find a way to eliminate the Spanish reinforcements sent from Lima on the way to reduce the pressure on Cusco.
