Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
However, when he led his troops along the royal road to the suburbs twenty miles away from the center of Cusco, and saw Hernando and Gonzalo leading a cavalry unit to greet him, he seemed to have changed. As if alone, he had long forgotten about seriously dealing with Hernando. He has not been to Cusco for a long time, and his status is different now. As the governor of Peru, the ceremony of entering the city must be very grand.
He wore a magnificent mink coat, which had been brought to him from Spain by his relative and friend Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico. Wearing this gorgeous and noble clothes made him feel even more like the supreme chief executive of the country. He rode a tall horse, surrounded by many officers and soldiers, and played all the way with various trumpets and flutes, and entered the city of Cusco. The marching road from the outskirts of the city to the center of the city was full of Spaniards with loaded guns and ammunition. Indians wearing clothes of various styles and colors gathered together one by one, holding flowers, singing and dancing, just like welcoming the Inca King returning from his expedition to welcome Marquis Francisco Pizarro.
Many officers, including his brother Hernando and his brother Gonzalo, traveled twenty miles out of the city to meet him. Surrounded by many officers, Marquis Pizarro marched slowly while watching the Indians singing and dancing. After walking like this for about an hour, we arrived at Inca Square in the city center. The Inca Plaza was once the place where the Inca kings succeeded to the throne and were crowned. It was very spacious and could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. At this time, thousands of Indians also gathered in the Inca Plaza. They all came from nearby suburbs and mountains to watch the excitement. The Marquis of Pizarro, accompanied by his brothers Hernando and Gonzalo, walked around the square and waved to the Indians in the square. We didn't get off our horses until we reached the city hall station, and then we got off our horses and entered the city hall.
It was already noon, and there were dozens of banquet tables in the city hall. Around the banquet sat Spanish soldiers and municipal officials. Seeing Marquis Pizarro enter the hall, everyone stood up and gave the Governor of Peru the warmest welcome with the most excitement and joy. The Governor of Peru confidently walked to the front of the hall, waved to the people present, and then said in a very loud speech-like tone, "Citizens and soldiers, our most insidious and powerful enemy has been completely eliminated by us. This is a great victory for our expedition." After saying this, thunderous applause broke out in the hall.
Then, the governor said, "The armed rebellion led by Almagro this time is an anti-government and anti-king rebellion. Its purpose is to conspire to occupy and seize the land and wealth we have gained with our lives and hard work. Now Their rebellion was destroyed, and their leaders and leaders were duly punished. This is the fate they deserve. However, there are still many subordinate officers and soldiers, and we must carefully investigate each of them. , the crimes they committed must be punished, and the property they robbed must be confiscated. Of course, we can be lenient to those soldiers who only followed and executed orders to participate in the rebellion and let things go by the wayside. At the same time, for those soldiers who were suppressing this time, We will also give heavy rewards to the officers and soldiers who made outstanding achievements during the rebellion and charged forward." Before he could finish his words, a burst of warmer applause continued.
Afterwards, the banquet began with the accompaniment of musicians. The banquet was very sumptuous, including locally produced vicuña and wolf meat, potatoes, tomatoes and fine chicha wine. There are also beef jerky, caviar, tuna, sausages, ham and white wine shipped from Spain. These were brought to Pizarro in a large ship by the man named Cortes. Of course, there are also some fish, shrimp and cucumbers sent from Lima. Therefore, this banquet can be said to have allowed the officers and soldiers present to enjoy the feeling of being an Inca king.
After the banquet, Pizarro, surrounded and escorted by many officers and soldiers, came to the prison door. Three to four hundred Almagro officers and soldiers were imprisoned here. It is closely guarded by dozens of armed soldiers. Pizarro asked the soldiers guarding the prisoners to line up and assemble in the prison playground. The captured soldiers stood lazily in rows on the prison playground with their heads lowered.
Marquis Pizarro walked up to the captured people, coughed first, and then said, "You were all led astray by Almagro and Orgonez and participated in the rebellion. In this regard, we have I have punished your leader, but I will be lenient to you officers and soldiers who regard obedience as their bounden duty, and I will let the past go and be ready to release you immediately. However, the houses and properties you seized in the past must be treated by the public. But what do you really have? If you have difficulties and needs, you can apply to the Cusco Municipal Council. I think the Cusco Municipal Council will help you solve it. After you are released, you must strictly manage yourself and do not gather or make trouble. Otherwise, the Municipal Council will You will be convicted of disturbing and disrupting public order."
After Pizarro finished speaking, Hernando then said to the captured officers and soldiers, "Mr. Marquis has just said that he asked you not to gather and make trouble, and strictly abide by social security. If you have any difficulties in life and If you need it, you can tell me directly and I will try my best to help you solve it." However, before he could finish his words, the captured officers and soldiers sneered at him angrily, and some even started to curse. The chaos and noise had long since drowned out his voice. He couldn't talk any more, so he had to end it and accompany Pizarro out of the prison.
As soon as he left prison, Pizarro said to Hernando and Gonzalo, "In the past few days, you have registered all the confiscated and seized houses, land and property, made a distribution plan, and then held meetings to distribute." Hernando said, "Yes." Pizarro added, "After the houses, land and property of these rebel officers and soldiers are divided, they must be dispersed and sent to various places. They cannot be allowed to gather in large numbers in one place. , it is easy for them to gather together to cause trouble and cause trouble." Hernando said, "Yes, I have already considered these."
In the next few days, it will be about discussing merits, giving rewards, and holding meetings to share the spoils. Hernando and Gonzalo sent people to register the houses, land and property of the Almagro officials, and then formulate a distribution plan. After Hernando and Gonzalo had formulated the distribution plan, they held a meeting of officers at the lieutenant level and read the distribution plan to everyone for discussion. The Marquis of Pizarro personally attended all distribution meetings.
At the meeting, many officers expressed dissatisfaction with the plan proposed by Hernando and Gonzalo, because the two of them were allocated much more houses and property than the others. One of the lieutenants said, "Captain Hernando and Captain Gonzalo received 7 shares, while we only received 4 shares, and the soldiers only received 1 share. Isn't this too disparate?"
Another second lieutenant officer said, "The soldiers also believed that the distribution plan was too unfair. Some people's shares were particularly generous, while others' shares were pitifully small."
However, Pizarro said unceremoniously, "It was they who led and commanded the troops to march and fight that led to today's victory. Moreover, after they were captured, they were almost killed by Almagro. However, this Who among you has experienced this kind of danger? So, the 7 shares they got is not a lot at all.”
With the Marquis of Pizarro personally speaking for his brother, everyone dared not speak out in anger, hiding what they should have said in their hearts. Seeing that everyone was silent and silent, Hernando said, "Since everyone has no opinions, let's implement the distribution plan."
In the distribution plan, there is still a large silver mine waiting to be distributed. However, this silver mine is difficult to distribute downwards. The silver mine is in the small town of Karbis, covering an area of several kilometers. It can be said to be a huge silver mine. This silver mine was the largest supply of silver to Europe. In the past, the mine has been owned by Almagro. However, because Almagro has not been developed, the mining area has been abandoned, and there are many Indians living near the mining area. They were all the defeated soldiers of Quischis and had fought several battles with Pizarro's Soto cavalry squad. When Hernando and Gonzalo were discussing with Pizarro, Pizarro said to the two brothers, "This silver mine will be given to Hernando." Because of the words of Marquis Pizarro, this The huge silver mine was not included in the allocation list, so it was allocated to Hernando by Pizarro.
Marquis Pizarro told Hernando and Gonzalo, "The Calbis silver mine must be developed as quickly as possible and vigorously."
Hernando said, "However, there are still some remnants of the defeated Chiskis soldiers in the mining area that need to be cleared away. Unless they are completely driven away or eliminated, the mining work cannot be guaranteed."
Marquis Pizarro said to Gonzalo, "Starting tomorrow, you will lead the cavalry there and try every means to eliminate the remaining Indian soldiers there. Hernando must make all preparations for mining. As long as the remaining Indian soldiers are driven away, mining work will begin."
Hernando and Gonzalo said, "Yes."
Early the next morning, Gonzalo led 300 cavalry and left Cusco towards the small town of Calbis. Karbis is a mountain town not far from Haoha. Originally there were not many people here. However, since the discovery of silver mines here, many Indians have come to mine in the mines. The number of people in this place slowly increased. Moreover, there are many scattered Kiskis soldiers around the mining area. They have nowhere to go and live on the edge of the mining area in the town.
Gonzalo arrived on the morning of the third day and hid in a valley not far from the town of Bilkas. After sending people to conduct reconnaissance on the Indians around the mining area, he divided the 300-man cavalry unit into three small groups. , rushing towards the mining area in three directions at the same time.
There were three to four thousand Indian soldiers gathered around the Bilkas mining area. They had all experienced battles with the Spanish. Therefore, after encountering Gonzalo's cavalry, they were not afraid of life and death and fought with the Spanish cavalry. , and fought back. They retreated, hid for a while, then gathered together and suddenly came back. They repeated this two or three times, which gave Gonzalo a very headache. Finally, Gonzalo adopted a night raid and launched a fierce attack on the Indian soldiers. He defeated the Indians and killed most of them. When the Indians retreated, they burned their residences with fire. At this point, the Indian soldiers were no longer able to counterattack and retreated to very remote mountainous areas.
Hernando soon brought the miners he recruited to the mining area and began vigorously mining silver.
The captured officers and soldiers of Almagro were in another situation. After they went through some confessions and examinations,
They were released from prison, but when they returned to their original home, they found that their original home had been occupied by others, their property had been confiscated, and their women and servants had been replaced by women and servants from other people's homes. In fact, they were left empty-handed and had nothing.
Hernando tried to bribe Almagro's officers and soldiers with generous gifts, but the officers and soldiers refused to betray their leader. The Marquis of Pizarro did not consider this kind of thing at all, and directly confiscated all the properties of Almagro's officers and soldiers. And they have been told that because of their anti-government and anti-king behavior, they have no right to make any demands from the government. This puts their survival in jeopardy. These people could not survive in the city of Cusco and had to live in the abandoned slums on the outskirts of Cusco, or even in the mountains beyond the suburbs to find a way out of life.
