Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
After almost wiping out all the Indian soldiers led by Manco, Almagro was about to lead his troops to attack Lima. Before they left Cusco, Almagro's deputy commander Orgonez repeatedly persuaded Almagro to immediately behead the two brothers Hernando and Gonzalo to avoid future trouble. However, Almagro still listened to Diego Alvarado and refused to do so.
Diego Alvarado was the younger brother of General Pedro Alvarado, who led the Vetemalan expedition to Quito. He fought alongside Almagro during the conquest of Chile. He was born into a family of knights and had outstanding qualities. Therefore, his prestige among soldiers and officers even exceeded Almagro himself, and he had a very good relationship with Almagro.
Alvarado frequently visited Hernando Pizarro during his imprisonment. He loved gambling and had a large gambling capital, so he often asked Hernando to gamble, and lost a total of more than 80,000 gold pesos to Hernando. This number can be said to be very huge. At that time, Alvarado insisted on paying this huge sum of money to Hernando, but Hernando refused to accept it. Out of gratitude, Alvarado has been paying Almagro put in a good word for Hernando. He told Almagro, "Killing the Pizarro brothers not only goes against mutual feelings and morality, but will also arouse the indignation and accusations of the Spanish court, which will cause a devastating blow to the entire expedition."
Almagro felt that both his subordinates' words were reasonable, so this made him indecisive and in a dilemma. Although Pizarro had done all kinds of harm to him, he still didn't want to completely sever his relationship with him, especially if he wanted to kill Pizarro's brother, which really made him reluctant to do so. Regarding his constant indecision, Orgonez could only say helplessly, "Pizarro never considered how much harm his actions caused to you. If you don't kill Pizarro immediately, Brother Salo, let the tiger return to the mountain one day, that is, when we die without a burial place. Sooner or later, you will pay a heavy price for your indecisive and wrong behavior."
Of course, Orgonez's words did not have any effect on Almagro. Before they left Cusco, Almagro ordered his men to tightly imprison the Pizarro brothers and other prisoners, and took Hernando with him on the march, arriving on the coast in late August. Chincha Valley, where he began to build a city named after himself.
However, it didn't take long for news that Gonzalo, Alonso Alvarado and others were bribed by the detainees to escape from Cusco. Almagro was furious and was about to vent his anger on Hernando, but Pizarro sent someone to negotiate with him.
The person who acted as the mediator for both parties was a priest named Francisco Debobadilla. Although he lived in Lima, he had a reputation for being fair and impartial, so Almagro trusted him very much. But his deputy commander, Orgones, was deeply suspicious of the priest, who had been serving in Pizarro's diocese.
Under the arrangement of the priest, the leaders of both parties met in the small town of Mara on November 13, 1537. The meeting took place in a mansion belonging to an Inca prince. There were sentries all around and in front of the mansion, giving it an atmosphere and scene of a fortress.
At noon that day, the two leaders came to a large room. Almagro arrived first, followed by Pizarro. Seeing Pizarro enter the room, Almagro immediately took off his hat and bowed respectfully to shake hands with Pizarro, his old friend and partner. However, instead of reaching out, Pizarro immediately asked Almagro, "Why did you want to seize Cusco and imprison my brother?" Almagro choked with words. I couldn't answer for a long time.
Pizarro did not wait for his answer, and sat down at the negotiating table with great arrogance. It took Almagro a long time to react. He took out the king's appointment letter that he had prepared in advance, placed it in front of Pizarro, and said, "You will understand if you take a good look at this. I took it by force." Your city of Cusco, or are you occupying my city of Cusco?”
Pizarro didn't read it at all, threw the appointment letter aside and said, "I have seen this a long time ago. Cusco is not within your jurisdiction at all." Almagro said, "How can you What do you mean Cusco is not within my jurisdiction? I have a letter of appointment from the Cusco Municipal Council." As he said that, Almagro showed Pizarro the letter of appointment. However, Pizarro did not look at it and said, "You forced them to do these things through coercion and inducement."
The two quarreled endlessly and negotiations could not proceed at all. In response, the arbitrating priest had no choice but to have a skilled helmsman sail the ship to determine the exact latitude of Santiago, which was the northern limit of Pizarro's territory.
Pizarro immediately said, "Yes, but Almagro must first withdraw from Cusco and release Hernando immediately." Seeing Pizarro's straightforward words, Almagro immediately said, "I can Hernando must be released, but there must be a condition, that is, he must leave here and return to Spain within six weeks. Another point is that both sides must retreat to undisputed areas and cease all hostilities. "Pizarro said, "Very good, then let's make it a deal." So the leaders of both parties signed the agreement.
As soon as the leaders of both sides signed, an adjutant came to Almagro and whispered to him, "General, hurry up, someone came to report that Gonzalo has led people to set an ambush on our road. "When Almagro heard this, he was shocked and immediately followed the adjutant out of the room without saying hello to the people present. After leaving the room, Almagro got on his horse and, escorted by a group of guards, hurried out of the yard. In order to avoid Gonzalo's ambush, Almagro did not return from the original route, but took a detour back to the station through another path.
The results of this negotiation caused a great shock in the military camp, because according to the provisions of the agreement, Almagro's troops must evacuate Cusco and retreat to the relatively remote and desolate Bilkas station. The officers and soldiers were talking and shouting, calling Almagro stupid. Some even said that Almagro had betrayed everyone. In order to vent their anger, the soldiers, encouraged by the deputy commander, gathered in front of the headquarters and demanded that Hernando be executed immediately.
At the critical moment of Hernando's life and death, the gambler named Alvarado once again stepped forward to protect him.
At the same time, Pizarro, who was stationed in the small town of Mara not far away, heard the news and immediately sent people to Almagro's military camp to give Almagro a job to continue to take charge of Cusco and its area. The agreement was sent to Orgonez and demanded the immediate release of Hernando, and arranged for him to leave the New World and return to Spain within six weeks.
Orgonez certainly knew that this was a trap set by Marquis Pizarro, and regarded him as the main person who wanted to kill Hernando. But Almagro believed this was a concession made by Pizarro. Under Diego Alvarado's persuasion, Almagro immediately agreed to release Hernando immediately. Orgones felt helpless at this and could only look up to the sky and sigh, "This is the result of my incomparable loyalty to the commander."
Almagro immediately released Hernando and other officers and hosted a grand banquet in their honor. After that, he asked his son to personally send Hernando to Pizarro's military camp. Pizarro also expressed the warmest welcome to little Almagro. Not only did he entertain little Almagro with a feast, but he also personally led him to visit the surroundings of the barracks, which greatly moved little Almagro. Therefore, when little Almagro returned to the station and described to his father the courtesy and grand occasion when he was received, Almagro became even more convinced of the promises made by Pizarro.
However, Almagro never thought that all these were just tricks played by his old friend Pizarro. Since the beginning of the negotiations, Pizarro has been mobilizing scattered troops to the town of Mara and recruiting a large number of soldiers from overseas, making the number of soldiers in the army greatly exceed that of the opponent.
Then, Pizarro sent someone to inform Almagro that the agreement was expired and invalidated, and asked him to immediately withdraw from Cusco and its jurisdiction to his original station, otherwise, he would bear the consequences. Only then did Almagro wake up, because he realized that what Pizarro sent was not only a notice, but also a letter of challenge, and he could only accept the challenge. However, by this time, he was old, sick from overwork, and could hardly ride a horse, so he had to ride a sedan to Cusco. He had no choice but to hand over daily affairs to deputy commander Orgonez.
At the same time, Hernando, Alonso Alvarado and Gonzalo led 700 soldiers from the coast southward to Cusco in a roundabout way, and arrived near Cusco in April 1538. . Almagro sent Orgonez with 500 soldiers to prepare for battle at a salt farm called Las Salinas, only a few kilometers away from Cusco. The cavalry of both sides was roughly equal, but the infantry commanded by Gonzalo was not only larger in number, but also used new large-caliber double-chain rifles. This gun is much more powerful than the matchlock gun. The firepower of the infantry commanded by Orgones was obviously insufficient. Some soldiers had no guns and could only use spears instead.
On the afternoon of June 25, Orgonez learned that Hernando and his troops were approaching the outskirts of Cusco, and ordered the soldiers to enter the position. Because his troops mainly relied on cavalry, some officers suggested to him that the position should be set up on flat open land. This is conducive to cavalry deployment and impact. However, Orgones insisted on setting up his position in a rugged area. Because there is a muddy swamp at the front of this area, and there is a small river in the middle of the swamp. Orgonez feels it is very conducive to defense.
After a while, the cavalry and infantry led by Hernando lined up neatly and appeared on the other side of the river in high spirits. They stopped by the river. Seeing that it was already dusk, they began to set up tents and camp on the other side of the river.
