Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
At noon the next day, about 15,000 Indian soldiers suddenly rushed out of the dense forest on the slopes of the Yukai River Valley. While shouting, they gathered and charged towards the flat and open valley grassland.
However, the distance from the dense forest on the mountainside to the Spanish military camp is at least one or two kilometers. The Spaniards had enough time to take precautions and prepare. Soon, the Spaniards sounded the emergency rally horn. Soldiers came out of the tents with weapons. The cavalrymen ran toward the horses tied on the grass outside the tent. They mounted their horses and quickly gathered together to form a formation ready to attack. The infantrymen also lined up in two rows, holding matchlock guns in their hands. Almagro rode at the head of the column and shouted, "All soldiers, prepare for battle."
So, the cavalrymen drew out their swords, and the infantrymen raised their matchlock guns and began to aim at the Indians rushing towards them. Seeing that the Indians had rushed to a place only more than 200 meters away from the Spanish military camp, Almagro shouted in a commanding tone, "Captain Orgonez." Captain Orgonez replied, "Here, Please give instructions from the marshal." Almagro said, "I order you to lead the cavalry to attack, completely eliminate these Indians, and capture the Inca King alive." Captain Orgonez said, "Yes."
Captain Orgonez waited for the Indians to rush to a place about fifty meters away, and then ordered the infantry to shoot. The infantry fired a burst of fire, and the Indian soldiers at the front immediately fell to pieces. After the arquebusiers finished shooting, Captain Orgonez asked the trumpeter to blow the charge horn. So, the cavalrymen rushed over with their swords waving.
Although the Indians were numerically superior, their weapons and literacy were poor, their tactics were simple, and their formations were chaotic. Therefore, they were quickly scattered and disorganized after being attacked by the Spanish cavalry. The two armies mixed together and fought each other. But the Spanish cavalry, under the cover of the infantry, continuously charged and shot at the dense crowd of Indians. The Indians were seen falling piece by piece, gradually losing their fighting power. After less than an hour of fierce fighting, two to three thousand Indians had been killed. This carnage of fighting soon frightened the Indians. They had to panic and retreat from the flat and spacious position into the dense forest to prevent the entire army from being annihilated.
The Spanish chased the Indians to the dense forest on the hillside at the edge of the valley before stopping. At this time, the entire spacious valley was covered with Indian corpses, and the entire valley was filled with a rich and unpleasant smell of blood. Obviously, the Indians had suffered a fatal blow and a heavy setback.
After Almagro led his troops to defeat the Inca King, he hurried back to the small town of Urx where the troops were stationed more than 100 kilometers away from Cusco. The town is located in a canyon area among high mountains. There are scattered low farmhouses in the valley, which look very dilapidated in the drizzle and mist of autumn. This place was not very big originally, but when Almagro came here with the other half of his troops, it seemed very crowded. The whole town was filled with Spanish soldiers.
As soon as Almagro returned to Urx, he sent his secretary Huelva and three others to the Cusco Municipal Council with the king's "Letter of Appointment". The Municipal Council was located in the original Palace of the Virgin of the Sun, which is now a Christian monastery. Because this building is surrounded by relatively spacious streets and squares, when the entire city of Cusco caught fire, it was not affected here.
Huelva brought people to Cusco. First, he visited and took care of several members of the municipal committee. Then, Almagro himself took the lead and summoned all the municipal committee members. together, demanding that they recognize his jurisdiction over the city of Cusco. However, the municipal council originally had eight people, of whom Juan and Gonzalo were mayors. Because Juan is dead, there is one less person on the municipal council, and only Gonzalo serves as mayor.
The Municipal Council was established by the Marquis of Pizarro and Almagro in the past, but the majority of people tended to side with the Pizarro brothers. But facing the current situation in Cusco, the city councilors know very well that they cannot afford to offend anyone. Because Almagro claimed to attack the city of Cusco with force, and their troops were much stronger than the Cusco defenders. So, dealing with something like this is forcing them to do something difficult.
After finally summoning the municipal committee members, Huelva came to the municipal committee's office and handed a request to a committee member named Bartos, asking the municipal committee to recognize Almagro as Cusco. The legal ruler of the capital, speaking, produced the royal "appointment letter".
Part of the Letter of Appointment is about dividing the jurisdictions of Marquis Pizarro and Marshal Almagro. The royal grant assigned all the area from 270 leagues (one league is 5557 meters, 270 leagues is about 1500 kilometers) south of the Santiago River, one degree and twenty minutes north of the equator, to Almague. Luo's jurisdiction. Calculated in Spanish leagues, seventeen and a half leagues (about 97 kilometers) is one latitude. However, the city of Cusco is just one latitude away from this range.
Under the circumstances, the settlement of jurisdictions depending on a piece of knowledge about latitude lines was a very complicated and troublesome matter, and it is unlikely that the Marquis of Pizarro and his rough men had such knowledge and ability. Moreover, the dividing line is so close to the disputed area that the actual measurement results will cause great controversy, because these results are not obtained through scientific observation, but are decided by the king. Therefore, either side will claim that the city of Cusco belongs to them.
There is a reason why Almagro insists on claiming that the city of Cusco belongs to him. As early as 1536, the Marquis of Pizarro sent the mainland bishop Fray Jomas de Berlanga to Lima to take full responsibility for determining the border issue. He not only measured the latitude of the Santiago River, but also measured the 270 miles south of the meridian. The grid area was measured. However, after that, Pizarro sent Almagro to an expedition to Chile and did not want to mention the matter again, causing the bishop to return to his diocese before completing his mission. Therefore, the bishop was angry and harbored a strong hatred for the Marquis of Pizarro. After that, a man named Oviedo wrote to the king, saying, "Cusco happens to be located within the diocese of Almagro." Moreover, this statement caused great confusion to many people at the time. Influence.
That afternoon, the municipal committee held a meeting. The Municipal Council was located in a small room in the Palace of the Virgin of the Sun, which is now a Christian monastery. There is a long rectangular table and more than ten chairs in the room. Mayor Gonzalo sat at the front of the long table, and the other six committee members sat on either side of the long table. In addition, in order to ensure the fairness of the meeting, Almagro's secretary Huelva was allowed to sit aside and attend.
Gonzalo presided over the meeting. He told everyone, "Today Almagro sent his secretary Huelva to send a "Request", claiming that our Cusco is a jurisdiction granted to him by the king, and asking us to return Cusco to him. . Regarding this matter, we will have a meeting today to discuss and study together how to reply to him. Next, we will ask Bartos to read the "Request Letter" to everyone."
Bartos, the committee member in charge, picked up the "Request Letter" and read it, "Dear members of the Cusco Municipal Committee, I am Almagro, the Governor of Chile named by the King and the Marshal of the Spanish Expeditionary Force. I would like to express my sincere wishes to you all. The commissioners solemnly request that you return to me the city of Cusco, which belongs to me, Almagro, in accordance with the decrees and divisions of the King of Spain. In order to make clear to the commissioners the decrees and divisions of the king, I give the royal share The "Letter of Appointment" is attached by the way. Please earnestly implement the king's decree in a fair and equitable manner, uphold justice for me, Almagro, and return the city of Cusco to me. The Governor of Chile and the Marshal of the Spanish Expeditionary Force, Al Magro.”
After reading the "Letter of Request", Bartos also read the royal "Letter of Appointment", "In order to support and encourage General Francisco Pizarro and General Almagro to jointly complete the great cause of opening up the New World, I, Charles IV, King of Spain, appoint Francisco Pizarro, Marquis of Ataveros, Governor of Peru; Almagro Governor of Chile, Marshal of the Spanish Expedition; and Hernando Pizarro, Knight of Santiago. ; Appointed de Valverde as Bishop of the Cathedral of Cusco. At the same time, I decided to divide the territory they both opened and acquired into two parts, using the Santiago River, one degree and twenty minutes north of the equator, as the dividing line. All the land within 270 leagues south of the boundary belongs to General Almagro; and all the land 270 leagues south of this line belongs to General Francisco Pizarro."
After reading the "Letter of Appointment", someone immediately said, "But, the King's "Letter of Appointment" did not say who owns the city of Cusco? Why did Almagro say this? Does Keshi belong to him?"
After hearing this, Huelva, who was sitting aside, immediately stood up and argued, "From the map, Cusco is exactly on the meridian. From this meridian, you can see from Santiago to Cusco , which happens to be 270 leagues. Therefore, Cusco should belong to our General Almagro."
Gonzalo immediately asked Huelva, "How do you know that Cusco happens to be among these 270 leagues? Have you measured it with a ruler? I also said that Cusco is not among these 270 leagues at all." Inside."
No one can tell whether Cusco is within these 270 leagues, because it is impossible to measure accurately based on the objective conditions at the time. However, if the meridian is 270 leagues south from Santiago, Cusco may be at most one degree of latitude different from this distance, and the difference of one degree of latitude on the earth is 111 kilometers. In this way, Cusco seems to be within or outside this distance range. In fact, this was exactly the problem that King Charles IV posed to Pizarro and Almagro, hoping that Almagro would contain Pizarro. Because Charles IV had always suspected that Pizarro wanted to become independent and get rid of Spanish rule.
Huelva immediately said, "Cuzco is within the range of 270 leagues, which was measured by a great Spanish navigator. Not only is Cusco within the range of 270 leagues, but also Lima Both Lima and Haoha are within this 270 leagues, because Lima and Haoha are both in the north of Cusco.”
Gonzalo asked, "Which navigator measured it? Why didn't I know?"
Huelva said, "Just because you don't know something doesn't mean it doesn't exist." In fact, he didn't know which navigator it was, because there was no such person, and he heard about it from others.
Gonzalo said, "Then if you say that Cusco is within this 270 league range, you must provide a convincing basis. Otherwise, how can you ask us to willingly give up the city of Cusco to you?" ?”
