Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
After the cavalry went away, Manco's heart, which almost jumped out of his throat, calmed down a little, but he knew that the Spaniards would probably turn back to search in the woods. So, he took Okoro's hand and walked quickly towards the depths of the woods.
As they walked further into the forest, they felt that the forest was getting bigger and bigger and boundless, but they had to walk in the forest because it was the safest way. As they were walking, suddenly, a large bird flew up in fright, frightening them almost out of their wits. But they immediately realized it was just a pheasant. Going further inside, they saw another very large wolf. The wolf didn't seem to be afraid when he saw them, but looked at them carefully with his eyes. Manco quickly pulled out a short knife from his waist and confronted the wolf. The wolf may have seen the shining dagger in Manco's hand, and quickly turned around and ran away.
By the time they walked out of the woods and onto the top of a higher mountain, the sun had already risen very high. They sat on the grass at the top of the mountain, panting, so that the fright in their hearts could slowly calm down. The scenery in the Eastern Cordillera Mountains is very spectacular. The peaks of Emei tower into the clouds, and the deep valleys between the giant peaks are filled with mist. The golden sunlight shines on the mountain peaks and white mist, glowing with patches of bright and clear light. Standing on the top of the mountain and looking at it at a glance, the mountain peaks and white clouds and mist are like huge waves of the angry sea, as if the whole world is submerged in the sea. Although they have seen many beautiful scenery, they have never seen such a majestic and spectacular scenery. But at this time, they had no interest in sightseeing and enjoying the scenery, because they were currently thinking about where to go and how to avoid the Spanish pursuit.
They took a breath and prepared to walk down from the top of the mountain, but found that there was a cliff on the other side of the mountain with no road at all. To go down the mountain, you can only go back the same way. But just as they were about to return the same way, they saw a group of Spanish cavalry appearing on the path beside the woods at the bottom of the mountain. They hurriedly lay down on the grass and watched the movements of the cavalry. Manco watched and counted. There were about a hundred cavalrymen, roughly the same number as when they came just now. Moreover, he also saw that the bay horse and the white horse they were riding were also among the Spanish cavalry. .
They may have been chasing all night, and they looked exhausted and drowsy. They walked slowly and unsteadily on the mountain road. When they came to the small woods, they stopped suddenly. After dismounting, they began to lie down in the shade at the edge of the forest and fell asleep.
This attack stumped the Inca King and Princess, causing them to lie on the grass on the top of the mountain and not dare to move, for fear that if they moved they would be discovered by the Spaniards. The sun was rising higher and higher, getting hotter and hotter, making them hot. Although they had been running all night and most of the morning and were already thirsty and hungry, their biggest worry at this time was that the Spaniards would enter the woods or climb to the top of their mountain to search. After about half an hour, the Spaniards slowly gathered together, mounted their horses and began to leave the woods in a hurry, went down to the foot of the mountain, and then disappeared behind a mountain. The Inca King and Princess then came down from the mountain, returned to the forest, walked to the path, and began to walk quickly north along the path.
The mountains are one after another, and the path is one slope after another. They walked for a long time, but they didn't see a farmer or a village. It wasn't until almost noon that they finally arrived at a small village. There is a cornfield next to the village, and an elderly woman is weeding in the field.
Seeing their exhausted appearance, the old woman took the initiative to walk towards them and asked very politely, "Where did you two come from?" The Inca King said, "We came from the Yucai Valley. Okoro knew that Manco was not easy to answer, so he said to the old woman, "He is our Inca King." When the old woman heard this, she was startled at first, and then she quickly knelt down and worshiped.
Manco asked Okoro to help the old woman up, and then asked the old woman, "Is your village chief here?" The old woman shook her head and said, "He is in the army of the Inca king. I heard that he was Yue was killed by white aliens during the war." Manco sighed and asked, "Then who is the leader of your village now?" The old woman said, "All the men have gone to the war, and all the people left in the village are It’s a woman, headless.”
When Okoro heard this, he said to the old woman, "We have been walking all night. If we are tired, let's go to your house to rest for a while." When the old woman heard this, she seemed very excited. With a trembling voice, he said, "Thank you King Inca for your kindness." After saying that, he rubbed the soil on his hands and walked towards the village with King Inca and his wife.
The village is located on the side of a mountain not far from the path, and a small stream flows through the front of the village. There is a very old stone bridge over the creek. After crossing the small bridge, we saw several low and narrow farmhouses among the green trees. The farmhouse looked very dilapidated and crude, as if it could only house a few families.
When I arrived at the old woman's house, I saw a young woman taking a two or three-year-old boy in the house. The boy was naked and playing with the dirt on the ground, making his whole body dirty. But the woman paid no attention to him and was only busy weaving. The house was small and dirty, with chicken excrement and sheep dung all over the floor. Therefore, the Inca King and Princess felt that they did not want to enter, so they chose to sit on the stones under the tree in front of the house. It's cleaner here than in the house anyway.
As soon as the young woman heard that the Inca King was coming, she hurried over to salute the Inca King, and then started to make a fire to cook. However, there was nothing to eat in the house except corn, so I had to go out to borrow some meat and vegetables from other people's houses. However, the woman went around the village and only got some potatoes and tomatoes, but no meat. Fortunately, the people in the village knew that the Inca King was coming, so they immediately caught some guinea pigs and sent them over. The young woman wrapped the guinea pig in mud and burned it in the fire. After a while, the mud burned dry. As soon as the woman peeled off the mud, the guinea pig's fur was peeled off, leaving only the fragrant and steaming meat.
The young woman put the meat on a plate and served it to the Inca king. The Inca King was not used to eating in front of others, and he didn't like eating this kind of food. However, he had been walking all night and half a day, and he was already starving, so he didn't care about it. He was so particular that he grabbed a piece of meat with his hands and ate it. Guinea pigs are small wild animals that are common in every household and often run around in every house. But the Inca king never used this small animal as his food. However, when I ate it today, it felt particularly delicious. But Princess Okoro refused to eat this kind of food no matter what, and just ate some corn and potatoes.
After eating, the Inca king felt sleepy. Because he had not slept at night and had run for such a long time, he was already tired. But he knew that farmers in the mountains generally slept on a camel skin, and there were many families who didn't even have a camel skin and could only sleep on a pile of hay. Fortunately, the young woman found a camel skin in the village and cleaned the house before the Inca king fell asleep.
The princess was also very sleepy, but she was determined not to wrong herself, so she sat on the small stool next to the Inca King and took a nap. When the Inca king woke up, it was already dusk and afternoon. The Inca King was afraid that the Spanish cavalry would come to chase him, so he decided to leave here as soon as possible, because it was only forty or fifty miles away from the Yucai Valley. If the Spanish cavalry came to chase them, they could get there in about two hours.
Because all the young people in the village ran away to fight or died on the battlefield, the ones left were women and old people. Therefore, when the Inca King and Princess left, dozens of women, old people, and children in the whole village came together. Get up and see off the Inca king. They sent the Inca King and Princess for a long way, then stopped and knelt down to bless the Inca King and Princess.
When he was defeated and fled, so many people were so loyal and enthusiastic to him. This moved the Inca king and princess. He immediately said to everyone, "You go back. When I make a comeback one day, I will definitely repay you heavily."
The place where the Incas were going was a place called Urubamba. He had never been to that place, but he knew that there was a royal palace left by his ancestors, and it seemed that Huascar had sent people to hide a large amount of gold there. Just yesterday afternoon, someone persuaded him to take temporary refuge in a place called Machu Picchu. And now, he had nowhere to go but that place.
They walked in the mountains all night, and at noon the next day, they came to a plateau. This was a view he had never seen before. A large river flows rapidly, and the empty and flat wilderness stretches endlessly along the river to the east. There are no crops, no villages on the plateau, and it is difficult to see even a single person. Only patches of wetlands and patches of reeds can be seen. Only patches of white clouds and patches of flying birds can be seen. The wind on the plateau is sometimes slow and sometimes fast, as if singing a sad song that is sometimes majestic and sometimes low. The song made him feel ashamed, regretful, indignant, and miserable. He looked back and reflected: Why didn't the Spaniards be defeated and eliminated despite the deployment of one or two hundred thousand troops? Is this really the fulfillment of the prophecy of Emperor Wayna Kabak: Soon after my death, some white people will come to rule our kingdom. We must comply with them and not resist, because they are more intelligent and capable than us. Are these Spaniards the kind of god-like white people the late kings spoke of?
Finally they came to a crossing of the river. The river at the ferry is very wide, but the flow is relatively gentle. They saw a raft parked on the other side of the river, but there was no boatman. So they could only sit on the grass by the river and wait. After waiting for about half an hour, an old man appeared next to the raft, shirtless and wearing tattered shorts.
The Inca shouted to the man, "We're crossing the river!" When the old man heard the shout, he untied the rope from a stone pile and rowed the raft over. The raft is not big, with only two or three tree trunks tied together, so it can only pass one or two people at a time. The old man asked the Inca King and Princess to squat down, and then he threw a long pole and rowed towards the other side.
