Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
At night, the Inca King Manco was awakened by a nightmare. He dreamed that the Spanish cavalry was chasing him and getting closer and closer. Just when the Spanish cavalry was about to catch him, he suddenly screamed and woke up from his dream, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Princess Tapalaka, who was sleeping next to him, hugged his head and asked, "My king, what's wrong with you?" Manco said, "I had a nightmare." Just as he was about to continue, The rumble of galloping cavalry echoed across the land again. He listened carefully and realized that it didn't feel like a dream at all. Moreover, at this time, there seemed to be a panic sound in the courtyard. He felt something was wrong, so he said to Tapalaka, "No, there is something going on outside." As he said that, he didn't even bother to put on his clothes, so he grabbed a piece of felt, wrapped it around himself, and took Tapalaka out. door.
As soon as he went out, he saw Tusak, the bodyguard, running over with a few guards and his horse, shouting, "Your Majesty, it's not good, the Spaniards are coming." Manco asked, "Where is General Sapa?" ?”
Tusak said, "I don't know. The streets are full of Spaniards now. Run away, king." As soon as Manco heard this, he threw away the felt on his body, stood naked on the horse, and then said to Tusak. She said, "Let's go quickly." However, Tapalaka shouted at this time, "King, wait a minute, I will call Princess Okoro." However, her words seemed not to be heard, and her whole body became confused. He was carried by several soldiers and placed on the horse. Then, the horse started to run, causing the piece of felt she used to wrap herself to fall to the ground in panic.
After leaving the courtyard, the Royal Avenue was empty, with only a faint moonlight shining on the avenue. In the small town not far from here, you can clearly hear the rumble of horses galloping and the screams of soldiers fighting. Manco patted his horse and galloped along the royal road towards the mountains. Just as they ran out of the end of the town, they heard the sound of horse hooves and the shouts of "Capture the Inca King alive, we will be rewarded heavily" by the Spaniards chasing after them.
Manco kept patting the horse and running quickly, for fear that the Spaniards behind him would catch up. As they ran, not to mention that the horses were tired, even their own naked bodies were sweating. They kept running along a path next to the town towards the depths of the mountains, until they came to a small river when the sky was getting a little brighter. There is a single-plank bridge built with trees over the creek. Because the small bridge can only accommodate one person, they can only dismount and lead the horse across the bridge.
After they led the horses across the bridge, they took a breath. At this time, Manco wanted to ask the guard for some clothes to wear, because as an Inca king, it was really indecent to be naked. However, when he turned around and looked behind him, he realized that not only was his princess naked, but even the personal guards were also naked.
In order to prevent the Spanish cavalry from chasing, Manco said to the guards, "Destroy this small bridge quickly." So, several soldiers used short knives to cut off the ropes binding the wooden bridge, and then threw the tree trunks into the river. Seeing those tree trunks being slowly washed away by the river, everyone got on their horses with confidence and continued to gallop towards the deep mountains. I walked on the mountain path for an unknown amount of time without seeing a village. It wasn't until the sky became bright that they came to a small village. The small village is really not big, with only a few dilapidated and lonely farmhouses, and in front of the farmhouses is a cornfield. Except for the sound of a few roosters crowing, there was complete silence.
At this point, Manco dismounted and asked Tusak to take two soldiers to the village to ask for some clothes and some food, and then continued on their way, because they knew that the Spanish cavalry would catch up at some point. Watch Tusak leading two soldiers into the village. Tapalaka got off his horse, walked to the path, and knelt down to pray in the direction of a high mountain. Manco rode up to her and said, "Who is the princess praying for?" Tapalaka said, "I am praying for the poor Princess Okoro, I hope she will not be caught by the hateful Spaniards. ." Manco shook his head gently and said reproachfully, "It's all my fault. If he had listened to Prince Wakikar and Tusak and evacuated Guamanga yesterday afternoon, this tragedy would not have happened."
Tapalaka said, "You can't blame the king, it's just that the Spaniards are too powerful. We have troops and sentries at the dangerous pass on the nearby mountain top, but why don't they have any effect." Manco cursed, " How could these damn sentries and defenders allow the Spaniards to break in casually?"
At this time, Tusak came back with two soldiers. They brought several pieces of tattered clothing, some from women and some from men, and some dry and hard corn cakes. Tusak gave the best clothes and the largest piece of corn tortilla to Manco and the princess, and then everyone else gave each of them a piece of clothing and a small piece of corn tortilla. After everyone put on their clothes and ate something, they felt much warmer. Because the temperature in the mountains is very low in spring, you can still see patches of snow on many shady slopes. Especially at night and in the morning, the wind was very strong and the temperature was even lower. If we hadn't been running for our lives in a hurry, everyone would have been too cold to bear it.
Inca King Manco, his wife Tapalaka and the guards fled quickly towards the mountain path. This embarrassing look made them feel embarrassed. However, being able to escape alive from the Spanish sneak attack is already a blessing in itself. Therefore, they could only truly escape the Spanish pursuit by rushing on their way non-stop.
They ran in a hurry for most of the day, and it was not until noon that they met the people sent by Prince Yuri to greet them. When the man saw Manco and Tapalaka wearing the tattered and dirty clothes of farmers, he simply couldn't recognize that the people in front of him were the Inca King and Princess. Therefore, when he saw the king kneeling down and worshiping, he immediately took off his own clothes and put them on for the king.
Manco asked the visitor, "How far is it from the small village of Vicuna?" The visitor said, "There is at least fifty or sixty miles of mountain road." Everyone couldn't help but sigh after hearing this, because it was five or sixty miles away. The ten-mile mountain road would take them at least half a day. However, now that someone was leading the way, everyone walked faster.
We walked until it was dark, and then we arrived at the small village of Vicuna. The small village of Vicuna is a very remote village deep in the mountains. One side of the small village is surrounded by mountains with protruding peaks, and the other side is surrounded by original tall and dense forests. The forest is all over the mountains and fields, and it is boundless. As long as strangers enter and walk for a while, they will quickly lose their way. Therefore, when the Inca King Manco passed by here on the way from Tambo Palace to Guamanga, he had already used this place as a refuge in the future and had always stationed people here.
Before entering the village, Prince Yuri led a few people to greet the king at the entrance of the village. When Manco saw Prince Yuri, he did not dismount and asked, "Is everything ready?" Prince Yuri said, "Yes, my king. Everything is ready." But Manco was very unhappy. Gege asked, "Why are there no sentries at the entrance to the village or at the intersection? What if the Spanish cavalry comes?" Prince Yuri looked a little embarrassed and said, "But, my king, there are only two maids and a chef here. There is not a single soldier." Manco then remembered that when he left here, he did not consider leaving some soldiers here, so he had to say to the guard officer Tusak, "You first send two guards to guard here. The Spanish cavalry You may catch up at any time, so you must not ignore it at all." Tusak said, "Yes, my king."
Manco took the princess and followed Prince Yuri into the village. The village is very small, with only a dozen or so households crowded into a flat and narrow mountain col. A small stream flows by the village. There is a small Shaigu Ping next to the creek. Some potato and tomato vegetables are grown around Shaiguping. And those farmhouses of the same dilapidated size are located in front of a hillside, close to the mountains and rivers.
The rooms where the Inca king and princess lived were two huts very close to each other by the creek. There are two oil lamps placed in the room, which illuminate the cabin brightly. There was a small bed lit by an oil lamp. The small bed was covered with brand new red velvet wool felt. There are two large wooden boxes next to the crib. These items seemed to take up most of the cabin. There was a small wooden table in the remaining space. There are two small stools next to the small wooden table. The furnishings and supplies in the house look relatively simple, but they are very clean. After a whole day of escaping on rugged and steep mountain roads, I felt a very warm and peaceful atmosphere and feeling when I entered a hut like this.
Entering the house, the princess immediately began to take off the tattered and dirty peasant clothes for the Inca King, and took out a pair of brand-new and gorgeous clothes from the wooden box for Manco to put on. Then, she also put on a set of beautiful and noble clothes for herself. Then, a young and beautiful maid began to serve plates of food on the table. The dishes served included roasted potatoes, tomato salad, chili sauce, and roasted rabbit, along with a large plate of boiled corn and a jug of wine. The heat and aroma of the food soon began to waft through the hut.
