Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
At this time, more than 300 Spanish cavalry and 200 infantrymen who set off from Cusco at noon were heading towards the city under the warm sun under the leadership of their deputy commander Orgonez. Come to the Tambo Palace in the Yukai Valley. The mountains of the Cordillera Oriental are higher than the other, and the journey up and down the mountain is difficult. However, with the confidence that they would win the war and win in one battle, they wanted to capture the Inca King alive and wipe out all his troops. In this way, they could devote all their efforts to attacking Pizarro's city of Lima.
When they arrived at the Youkai River Valley, it was already dark. A full moon hung above the East Mountain, and stars twinkled in the night sky, making the night in the valley particularly peaceful and quiet. In order not to reveal their whereabouts, they stopped at a sheltered place in the river valley to rest temporarily. Waiting until the moon was in the sky, at midnight, Orgones ordered the cavalry to line up and divide the 300 cavalry and 200 infantry into two parts. He led 250 cavalry and 200 infantry, a total of 450 people, from behind the palace as the main attack. Lieutenant Garcia led 50 cavalry to lurk at the foot of the mountain in front of the palace to block and intercept the Indians who were withdrawing from the palace. people.
They crossed the Yukai River silently, and two Indian soldiers led the way toward the front and back of the palace. Orgones led the main force on horseback through a spacious grassland and came to the foot of the mountain behind the palace. On the mountain leading to the palace hall, there is a small river that is not too wide and a slope that is not too steep. Obviously, it would be much easier to attack the palace from here than from the front, and it would not attract the attention of the Indians.
Looking up, the palace hall on the top of the mountain is reflected in the twilight night. Its dark and quiet silhouette reveals a religious mystery. Obviously, the entire palace hall was in a deep sleep late at night. General Orgonez asked the soldiers to lead the horses across the river quietly and came to the edge of the slope. The temperature was low at night in spring and the mountain wind was strong. The Spanish soldiers who had just crossed the river kept jumping and jumping to keep themselves warm while wearing their clothes.
After all the soldiers had changed their clothes, General Orgones asked the soldiers to load their guns, tie their horses to the grass, draw their swords, and then waved his hand and said, "Soldiers, enter." So, The soldiers began to walk quickly up the slope in groups.
The soldiers moved very quickly, and the infantry at the forefront quickly reached the edge of the castle on the top of the mountain. The edge of the slope is only more than ten meters away from the palace wall. As long as you climb over the courtyard wall, you can enter the palace compound.
The infantry who came to the edge of the slope did not dare to approach the courtyard wall directly. Instead, they lay on the edge of the slope and observed the movements in the palace courtyard while waiting for the cavalry behind them to arrive. At this time, General Orgones caught up from behind. Seeing the soldiers lying on the ground, he asked, "What's wrong?" A soldier pointed to the back door of the courtyard wall and said, "That door is open. Is there no fraud?" Orgones cursed in a low voice, "What the hell is there fraud? Come on and rush in." Then the soldiers got up from the ground together and headed towards the open door on the courtyard wall. The wicket rushed past.
However, just when the soldiers were about to rush into the stone gate, they heard a series of "swish, swish, swish" sounds that continued continuously. Immediately, many soldiers were seen falling to the ground in pieces. Only then did the soldiers see many Indian figures emerging from the stone gate and the courtyard wall, firing and throwing arrows and javelins at them.
Being attacked, the Spanish soldiers hurriedly retreated to the edge of the slope without knowing the depth. However, before they retreated, they saw General Orgonez standing on the edge of the slope with a long sword in his hand, using the force of supervision and coercion. He shouted, "Those who rush forward will be rewarded heavily, and those who retreat will be killed." So the soldiers who had just withdrawn had no choice but to turn around and rush in that direction again.
In order to prepare for and avoid short arrows and javelins, the Spanish soldiers used their shields as cover and rushed towards the stone gate despite the dense rain of short arrows and javelins fired by the Indians from the courtyard wall. Because the Indian short arrows are not very lethal and can only penetrate thick cotton clothes at most, and even if they penetrate the cotton clothes, they will not cause fatal damage to the human body. Therefore, as long as the opponent holds a larger shield, , no matter how dense the arrows are, they will not pose much of a threat to it. So, soon, the infantry in front rushed through the stone gate, entered the palace courtyard, and had a close encounter with the Indians. Seeing the infantry entering the courtyard, the Spanish cavalry rushed in immediately.
As a result, the Indians' short arrows and javelins could no longer function, and they could only use the short axes and javelins to fight the Spanish. Of course, the Indians also had some spears similar to those used by the Spanish, and these were imitations of Spanish spears. However, they were not as skillful in using it as the Spaniards were. Therefore, in hand-to-hand combat with the Spaniards, they are obviously at a disadvantage.
Because there was a fierce battle in the backyard, Manco quickly mobilized the 500 soldiers he had prepared to fight with the Spaniards. The Spanish cavalry had also rushed in from outside the stone gate, and the number was getting larger and larger. So the two armies started fighting in the spacious palace yard. The Indians were all loyal soldiers of the Inca king. Although they were armed with short weapons, it was naturally difficult for them to compete with the Spanish soldiers armed with long swords and spears. However, in order to protect the Inca king, they did not hesitate to fight the Spanish with their flesh and blood. spell. The Spaniards, on the other hand, were extremely ferocious. They relied on their superiority in weapons, body and military technology to fight hard and move forward bravely. They killed the Indians and retreated steadily from the spacious courtyard to the hall of the hall, and then retreated into the inner chamber.
The Inca king, who had been commanding in the front yard, knew that he could no longer defend it as soon as he heard that the Spaniards had attacked the back yard. So, he immediately asked Prince Ulamaha to lead more than a thousand elite soldiers deployed in the front yard to prepare for a breakout from the front door. He asked the chief guard of the palace to protect several princesses, and then led the soldiers and princes out of the palace through the stone gate in the front yard of the palace and began to evacuate towards the foot of the mountain in front of the palace.
He asked Ulamaha to lead 500 soldiers with spears to open the way in front, and he led another 500 soldiers to follow behind. The personal guards led the horses, and started to pass through the stone gate with several princesses and some princes and ministers. He walked out of the palace and walked quickly down the mountain. Although the stone steps in front of the palace were very steep, the Indians were very accustomed to walking on such a road, so they reached the bottom of the mountain in just a few minutes.
At this moment, a loud bugle sounded through the night sky, and immediately, a large group of Spanish cavalry was seen riding towards them. This sudden ambush frightened the Indians, and they were too frightened to move forward.
Seeing this scene, Inca King Manco was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and kept sighing, "It's over!" But he knew that if he couldn't break out immediately and get rid of the Spanish interception, once the main Spanish force waited to capture the palace, If the troops pursue him again, there will be a dangerous situation of interception in front and pursuit of troops in the back. At that time, he can only surrender and die. Fortunately, he saw that there were not many Spanish cavalry coming towards him at this time.
So, he took the horse rope from the guard, stepped onto the horse with a big stride, and then shouted to the frightened and overwhelmed soldiers, "Loyal soldiers of the Inca Empire, now is the moment of our life and death. For Our ancient and lovely empire, soldiers, charge at me!”
When the panicked Indian soldiers heard the Inca King's call, they were immediately greatly encouraged and rushed towards the Spanish cavalry with spears and short arrows in hand. The two armies immediately engaged in a melee. The Indians first fired and threw a burst of short arrows and javelins at the Spanish cavalry to contain the violent impact of the Spanish cavalry. Then, they used their spears to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Spanish cavalry.
After all, there were many Indian soldiers, and they quickly blocked the Spanish cavalry attack. So, the Inca king rode on horseback and took several princesses and princes to quickly break through the gaps and gaps between the two armies. When Spanish cavalry lieutenant Garcia saw the Inca king running away on horseback, he pointed at Manco on the horse and shouted, "Capture the Inca king alive, don't let the Inca king escape." The Spanish soldiers immediately surrounded the Inca king. come over. However, the Indian soldiers resisted desperately, preventing the Spanish cavalry from getting close to the Inca King.
Manco, who broke out of the Spanish interception, led the princesses and princes and ran wildly along a path leading deep into the mountains under the cover of a large number of soldiers. Behind them, nearly a thousand soldiers riding horse Uramaha fought with the pursuing Spaniards while retreating.
However, only the Inca King Manco and several princesses rode horses, while the princes and soldiers walked. Therefore, as soon as the Inca King Manco broke out of the encirclement, he didn't care about the others and ran straight towards a path leading to the deep mountains. After running for about three to five miles in one breath, when the Inca King turned around and looked behind him, he saw that except Princess Okoro who was still behind him, the other princesses had disappeared, and the soldiers behind him had also disappeared. Fighting with the Spanish cavalry, they were inextricably linked. But he knew he must not stop now, for the Spaniards would soon catch up. So, he shouted to Princess Okoro, "Hurry up, my princess." Okoro responded while panting, "I'm coming."
They climbed several slopes and turned several turns. When they looked back, they could see nothing. But they did not dare to relax at all, but continued to gallop forward. It wasn't until they reached a high slope that the horses were too tired to run any longer, and they dared to stop to take a breath. However, when they just stopped and stood on the high slope looking down the mountain, they saw a large group of soldiers running towards this side from the path under the mountain under the dim moonlight.
He thought that the enemy soldiers were catching up, and while he was riding hard, he heard someone shouting to him, "Where is the king?" When he heard the voice of Ulamaha, he shouted back, "The king is here. "
