Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
After receiving a letter asking for help from Hernando, Marquis Francisco Pizarro first sent Alvarado to lead 500 people to Cusco, while he himself stayed in Lima waiting for overseas rescue. He received from the Mexican conquistador Cortes a ship laden with provisions, munitions, and other necessary supplies. This one set out from Spain, laden with guns, ammunition, horse gear and food. The Mexican conquistador also presented Pizarro himself with a luxurious attire, including silk clothes and a mink coat.
This Mexican conquistador, Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, were both Spanish conquistadors who caused great disasters to the Indians of North and South America. One person destroyed the Kingdom of Mexico, and the other destroyed the Inca Empire. The two of them are ranked 67th and 66th respectively among the "100 Most Influential People in the World" today. In fact, Cortes was an admirer of Francisco Pizarro, who surpassed his admirers in adventures and conquests. Both of them were the most famous adventurers and conquerors in Spain at that time. At the same time, they were not only relatives, but also good friends.
After accepting the aid of Cortes, Pizarro was reinforced by 250 men led by Gaspar de Espinosa who came from Panama. Gaspar de Espinosa, Francisco Pizarro and Almagro were all former partners in Panama. The three men had fought side by side in adventures and battles to conquer Peru. When he learned that his two past partners had a dispute over the city of Cusco, in order to maintain their alliance and accomplices, he immediately left his home and business and rushed over from Panama to personally save their partners. Fallen fate.
After obtaining these much-needed personnel and materials, Marquis Pizarro personally led 250 cavalry and 200 infantry to Cusco. However, not long after setting off, as soon as the troops arrived in Surco, he learned that the city of Cusco had been captured by Almagro, and Hernando, Gonzalo and others were imprisoned. This shocked him because he had not expected Almagro to do this. This is an extreme act of breaking up and breaking up. He could never imagine that his partner could be so arrogant and extreme.
He urged the troops to hurry up. When the troops arrived at La Oroya, very bad news came from Cusco: Alvarado was caught off guard by Almagro. Not only was the entire army destroyed, but he himself also died. Captured alive. This made him fear Almagro's military prowess, and he was frightened by his surprise victory. He was afraid that he would make the same mistake as Alvarado, so he immediately ordered his troops to stop advancing and retreat quickly. Back to Lima.
Lima was originally a beautiful, prosperous and peaceful town on the Limac River. Because it was a valley close to the Pacific Ocean, it was chosen by Pizarro as the capital of New Peru. Here, you can see the vast coastline, azure sea and turquoise countryside. Because Limac is close to the seaside, it can build a port and use the port to conduct navigation and communication with overseas regions such as Spain or Panama, its home country. In order to build the city of Lima, he transferred 100,000 Indians from Haoha and tens of thousands of people from other areas. He carried out large-scale construction and rushed the work on time, spending countless wealth and money. However, he himself has inexhaustible wealth and money.
After one or two years of hard work and care, the city of Lima now looks like a city. Spanish-style buildings and buildings stand up one after another, and the smooth and spacious streets have formed a scale. They can also be seen on the coastal ports. Many ships come in and out of the port, and every once in a while, a large sailboat will bring new residents from the distant Spanish country to this new continent and settle here. There are thousands of Spaniards settled in Lima. New colonies were also established in places such as Hoha and Arequipa.
Pizarro led his troops back to Lima and began to set up defenses in Lima. He divided his more than 500 cavalry and infantry into small teams to guard the intersection of each street. The four straight streets in the southeast, northwest and northwest of Lima. The streets are heavily guarded, and some cavalry are used as mobile units to carry out reinforcements and assaults at critical moments. It can be said that he established the strongest defensive position in Lima to prevent Almagro's attack.
It is about three hundred kilometers from Lima to Cusco, but for several days, there was no sign of Almagro sending troops to attack Lima. So Pizarro called his partner named Espinosa to the small courtyard where he lived. Its small courtyard is covered with a two-story building with six rooms on each floor. In the middle of the second floor is a large living room.
He received his early partner in the living room. The two were drinking chicha while talking about the current situation in Cusco. His concubine Tutula was nearby pouring wine for them both. After the two drank two glasses of wine, Pizarro said to Espinoza, "I'm still worried about Cusco. Moreover, I don't know why Almagro took such an extreme step to put us away." I feel sad and puzzled that such a close and important friendship and relationship has been ruthlessly abandoned. Therefore, I want to send you to have a good talk with General Almagro to find out what is wrong with him. It is best to persuade him to withdraw. Cusco, release Hernando, Gonzalo and others, and let us continue to maintain our original cooperation and friendship."
"I think it will be difficult to convince Almagro to withdraw from Cusco," Espinoza said.
Pizarro said, "We must use the king's expectations of us and our appointment to convince him, and let him take the overall situation into consideration. No matter what he does, he must first think of the king and the country. Don't let the king let us down because of our discord and fighting." Feeling unhappy. In other words, we should consider the interests of the royal family more and less of personal interests, let alone harm the interests of the royal family because of personal interests."
Espinoza thought for a while and said, "I will try my best to persuade Almagro to withdraw from Cusco. In fact, the land given to him by the king is quite vast, and there is no need to invade other people's territory."
Pizarro urged in a very sincere tone, "I will equip you with five followers who can help you negotiate with Almagro for me. You must find a way to reach a peaceful settlement in Cusco." and a happy ending that frees Hernando and Gonzalo et al.”
Espinoza said in a very confident tone, "Please rest assured, Marquis. I will definitely fulfill your important trust."
Early the next morning, Espinoza took the five people on the road and arrived in Cusco in only seven or eight days. Almagro received the partner in the warmest manner. The two were drinking and talking about the current situation. Espinosa first talked about the past experiences and friendship of the three partners fighting side by side and sharing the joys and sorrows, and then talked about the current armed confrontation and irreconcilable discord between the two of them with an extremely sad and worried look. normal relationship.
But Almagro immediately told Espinosa all the wrongdoings about the Pizarro brothers, and insisted that Cusco was within his jurisdiction. He hoped that the partner would understand and sympathize with him, but Espinosa did not agree with his point of view and repeatedly asked Almagro to ignore past grudges, take the overall situation into consideration, and for the sake of the interests of the royal family and their common adventure, It is hoped that Almagro can withdraw from Cusco, release Hernando, Gonzalo and others, and resume cooperation and friendship with Marquis Pizarro.
Listening to Espinoza trying his best to speak good words for the Pizarro brothers, Almagro even became a little annoyed. He said to his former partner, "Don't talk about Cusco. I will not give up, just Hao." Haoha and Lima are also within my jurisdiction. I also want to recapture Haoha and Lima from the hands of Marquis Pizarro."
After hearing this, the preacher was stunned. He calmed down and said to Almagro patiently, "General Almagro, please be courteous and don't do anything just for the sake of Cusco." It made the king and the royal family uneasy and affected our great cause of adventure and conquest. In fact, your original purpose and dream was just to obtain some gold. However, I didn’t expect that your appetite has grown now. Gold can no longer satisfy you, and you have begun to fight for it again. However, I still want to advise my friends that everything should be controlled and don’t let desires exceed your control.”
However, Almagro said, "There is no desire that I can't control. Not only will I not give Cusco to the Pizarro brothers, but I will also ask them for Lima and Haoha. In order to get Lima and Haoha When I come back, I will not hesitate to fight face to face with the Marquis of Pizarro. Because Lima and the north of Cusco, according to the provisions of the King's Letter of Appointment, they are all within my jurisdiction. ." Seeing how stubborn Almagro was, Espinosa could only quote that incisive Castilian proverb and said to him coldly, "The defeated are defeated, and the victors are finished."
This conversation was very unpleasant. Both of them felt that the unbreakable friendship that had been formed by fighting side by side and taking risks together in the past was gone. However, Espinosa did not want to leave Cusco immediately because he had already given a guarantee to Marquis Pizarro to persuade Almagro to withdraw from Cusco and release Hernando, Gonzalo and others. . Therefore, he wanted to wait a few more days for Almagro's mood to stabilize before talking to him again. If that still didn't work, he would decide to take the people away.
However, within two or three days, the gentle missionary suddenly died in the room. When people woke him up for breakfast, they found him lying on the bed with coagulated blood on his nostrils and corners of his mouth, which turned purple. It looked like someone had poisoned him to death. But who poisoned it? No one knew, and no one was checking. Afterwards, Almagro sent someone to put his body in a coffin and bury it in a mountain outside the city.
There are many mysteries surrounding Espinoza's death. Many people were heartbroken and saddened by his death. Because Pizarro and Almagro, the two former partners, were in a period of irreconcilable and irreconcilable confrontation, his death should be a major loss to both parties. Because people on both sides need a wise and steady counselor, and Espinoza is such a counselor. At the same time, neither Pizarro nor Almagro would have achieved the gains and results they have today without Espinoza's timely and secret provision of funds and help. Therefore, his death was undoubtedly a most unfortunate event for both of them. However, for some unknown reason, Espinoza's death did not cause any major fluctuations, and it seemed to be something that neither party wanted to mention.
Although Almagro said that Lima and Haoha were both on the latitude north of Cusco and should belong to his jurisdiction, he also told Espinosa that he would spare no effort to remove Lima from the Marquis of Pizarro. Take it back in your hands. However, these are just words, and in his heart, he still feels that he has occupied the city of Cusco, imprisoned Hernando, Gonzalo and others, and beaten Alvarado's five hundred people to death. The defeat was a big one, and I felt that Pizarro had been deeply offended. I feel bad about offending him again. Therefore, he did not attack the city of Lima, nor did he ask Pizarro for the city of Lima.
However, he also wanted to build his own city of Lima, establish a settlement and have a port for himself. In this way, he can also have the means and means of maintaining communication and navigation with his mother country. It was proposed to him that the Bay of Pisco on the Pacific coast would be a good place to build a city and port, and that it would be closer from Pisco to Cusco, almost half the distance from Cusco to Lima. He immediately sent people to Pisco for inspection. However, the results of the inspection were not satisfactory. Because it is not as flat as the Lima Valley, and there is no suitable place to build a port.
Therefore, at the meeting, someone proposed, "Since the city of Lima has already been built, why do we need to build the city of Pisco? Can't we just go and capture Lima?"
This view was unanimously agreed upon by everyone. Orgonez also said, “The Cusco authorities have admitted that the city of Cusco is exactly within 270 leagues south of the Santiago River, one degree and twenty minutes north of the equator. If so, then Lima should Within this range. Because the city of Lima is located further north than Cusco. Therefore, instead of building a city of Pisco, we should ask Pizarro for the city of Lima. If he doesn't Come on, we still have to use force to attack."
Almagro said worriedly, "But we have greatly offended Pizarro."
Orgonez said, "It was not us who offended him, Pizarro, but Pizarro who offended us. Because it was he who occupied our land, not us who occupied theirs."
Almagro thought for a while and said, "The city of Lima is indeed a good place. It can maintain close ties and relatively convenient transportation with the Spanish motherland and other coastal countries. Once we capture the city of Lima, then, from Spain Ships coming from domestic and coastal countries must obey our orders."
Orgonez said, "This is why everyone is attacking Lima."
Almagro nodded, but he added, "So, when should we go to Lima City?"
Orgonez said, "The Inca King Manco must be destroyed first. He is staying in the Yucai Valley not far from Cusco and will come over to attack the city of Cusco at any time. As long as he is destroyed, we will have no No more worries.”
Almagro thought for a while and said to Orgonez, "You will lead your troops to attack the Inca King Manco early tomorrow morning and annihilate them all as soon as possible."
Orgonez said, "Yes."
