Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
After nearly two days of traveling day and night, the Inca King Manco finally returned to Tambo Palace with his princess and soldiers. When Huajical learned that the Inca King was back, he went to the foot of the palace to greet him.
Before approaching the main hall of the palace, you can see from a distance that the entire palace has been renovated and its old appearance has been replaced by a new one. Walking towards the palace from the stone steps at the bottom of the mountain, the first thing you see is the ceiling of the palace. The roof of the palace has not been replaced with new grass for several years, and the color of the grass has long turned into moldy gray due to exposure to wind and sun. Moreover, a fire broke out for some reason during the last Spanish attack and attack, and part of the ceiling was burned down. The ceiling of the palace hall in front of me has been replaced with neat and strong new grass. Under the golden sunlight, it exudes a warm and soft tone.
Walking further up you can see the wall of the outer courtyard. Although the courtyard walls were made of huge stones, they were the main offensive and defensive positions of the two armies. Therefore, many stones fell off and were damaged, and some huge stone gates were knocked down. But now everything has been repaired, and even the stone gate that was knocked down by the Spanish has returned to its original place. Entering the courtyard wall, the palace hall is in front of you. The walls of the palace are also made of huge stones, and these smooth and hard brown stone walls have been painted with a layer of bright red paint, which glow translucent and dazzling under the sunlight.
Entering the main hall along the corridor, you can see many rooms in the palace. Most of the outer rooms were occupied by soldiers. The room was empty, but it was clean, because most of the soldiers slept on the ground with some animal skins or hay. There are many soldiers living in some rooms, and some rooms are filled with corn and some weapons. Judging from the food reserves, it can feed an army of thousands of people for at least half a year.
Further inside is the room where the prince lives. There is a bed and several tables and stools in the room. The middle room of the palace is the bedroom where the Inca king lived. The room not only has a relatively large double bed, but also the bed is covered with brand new red carpet. There are two large wooden boxes for clothes next to the bed. There are two large wooden chairs and a small table opposite the bed. Next to the bedroom is the concubine's room. There is only a small bed and a wooden box in the room. Opposite the Inca royal room is a larger room with three large tables and more than ten wooden chairs. This is the meeting hall of the palace. It was specially used by the Inca king to summon ministers and hold meetings. There is a small room next to the meeting hall. There is a table and some chairs in the small room. This is the restaurant of the Inca king and queen.
Manco was already a little tired after walking for nearly two days, so he took a general look at the palace and said to Prince Wakikar, "Very good. I will make you the palace minister." Wakikar Upon hearing this, he said, "Thank you, Your Majesty." Manco returned to the door of his room, suddenly stopped, and asked Wakikar, "How many soldiers are there in the palace now?"
Wakikar said, "There are four to five hundred soldiers." Manco said, "If four to five hundred people want to resist the attack of hundreds of Spanish cavalry, they can only hit the stone with an egg."
So, he pondered for a moment and said to Wakikar, "You must prepare the palace for defense, because the Spanish cavalry may soon pursue you. Furthermore, you immediately send someone to contact Mokwa and ask him to lead him quickly." The troops rushed back to the palace." Wakikar said, "Yes, please rest assured, Your Majesty."
However, what pleased Manco was that Commander Mokwa arrived at noon on the third day with more than a thousand soldiers. They were sent by the Inca King to attack the Spanish garrison. However, just as they were about to attack the Spanish garrison at night, someone suddenly reported that Gonzalo had led 300 cavalry to attack the Inca troops stationed in Guamanga. The troops carried out an encirclement and suppression campaign, and the Inca King asked him to lead the troops back quickly. So Mokwa immediately led his troops back to Guamanga.
However, when they returned to Guamanga, it was already early the next morning after the Spanish attacked Guamanga. As soon as they entered the town, they saw corpses littering the streets and intersections. The whole town was filled with the smell of blood. They knew that a fierce battle had just occurred here. They heard that the Spanish cavalry had gone north to pursue the Inca king, so they did not dare to stop in the town, so they went south along the royal road, and met the Huajical princes in Abancay. The person to contact. Only then did we know that the Inca King had returned to Tambo Palace.
In order to prevent the Spanish attack, Manco asked Mokwa to divide the only 1,500 troops into two front and rear areas for defense, especially the backyard of the palace as the focus of the defense. Because several of the Spaniards' attacks were from behind the palace as a breakthrough. However, just as Mokwa and his soldiers returned to the palace, someone reported that the Spanish cavalry had also arrived and were resting on the flat grassland of the Yukai Valley. Hear the news. Manco immediately rode on his horse, led Mokwa and five hundred soldiers, and came from the forest on the side of the palace mountain to the woods in the Yukai Valley. From the woods, he carefully observed the place where the Spaniards were resting.
The afternoon sun was very warm, and the river flowed quietly beside the grass. There were several white tents set up on the grass at the bend of the river. Around the tent, some soldiers were playing together, some were lying on the grass, and some were singing leisurely. The war horses were scattered around on the grass, and some even ran far away. Judging from the number of people in Spain, there are about two hundred people, all of whom are cavalry. However, judging from their loose and casual appearance, it seems that they are not here to fight, but just to have fun.
Manco said to Mokwa next to him, "What's wrong with these Spaniards? It doesn't look like they are going to attack us." Mokwa said, "The Spaniards may be tired. It's better to rest for a while and wait for the evening. Attack us again. Attacks at night are their specialty."
Manco said, "Yes, tonight, we must be well prepared to prevent the Spanish attack." Mokwa said, "Yes, my king." He looked again in the woods beside the Yukai River Valley. After the meeting, Manco left a few here to continue to closely observe the movements of the Spaniards, while he and Mokwa returned to the palace with the soldiers.
Once back at the palace, Manko asked Mokwa to assemble his troops. After the horn sounded, more than 1,500 soldiers quickly gathered in the inner courtyard of the palace. Inca Manco stood at the height of the palace passage and preached to the soldiers, "Soldiers, more than two hundred Spanish cavalry are stationed on the grass in the Yucai Valley, waiting for the arrival of night so that they can attack us at night. . Therefore, I want you to have a good rest and sleep in your rooms this afternoon, and be ready in the evening to prevent the Spanish attack. To this end, I ordered Commander Mokwa to lead 800 soldiers to guard the backyard of the palace, Waqi Prince Kal led 600 soldiers to guard the front yard of the palace. The remaining 100 people will serve as the guards for me and the princess, and I will lead them." Commander Mokwa and Prince Wakikal quickly said, "Yes, my great king."
So Mokwadang took 800 soldiers from the assembled troops to the backyard of the palace to set up defenses. Among the seven hundred people left behind, Manco selected a hundred young and strong soldiers as his bodyguards. All the remaining soldiers were left under the command of Maharaja Wakikar.
Manco first came to the backyard and saw Mokwa practicing the night defense formation. He ordered more than 800 soldiers armed with bows, arrows and javelins to stand in two teams inside the courtyard wall. Moreover, heavy troops were sent to guard Shimen. As soon as Mokwa waved the flag, the first group of soldiers exposed their bows, arrows and javelins on the courtyard wall and started firing and projecting towards the outside of the courtyard. After the soldiers of the first team finished launching and projecting, the soldiers of the second team began to launch and project the second batch. By the time the soldiers in the second team finished launching and projecting, the soldiers in the first team were also ready for the second launch and projectile.
Later, they conducted defensive drills against the Spaniards as they stormed into the compound. They disguised some soldiers as Spaniards. When they rushed into the courtyard from the stone gate or the courtyard wall, Mokwa waved the flag, and saw many soldiers holding spears and surrounding the attackers. Use an overwhelming advantage to contain or destroy the enemy soldiers rushing into the courtyard.
Manco was very satisfied after watching the drills conducted by Mokwa and his soldiers. Then, we went to watch the exercise of Maharaja Wakikar. Prince Wakikar had never led an army to fight, so he had his soldiers stand inside the courtyard wall to resist the Spanish attack in a desperate defense posture. Moreover, after setting it up like this, I don’t know what to do next.
In response, Manco called the school officer named Ibaku to serve as Wakikar's adjutant. Colonel Ibaku asked the trumpeter to blow the rally call. After the soldiers gathered, he said to the soldiers, "The Spanish weapons are longer than our weapons, their skills are stronger, and they have greater advantages than ours. Therefore, we try our best to Do not engage in close combat with them. Instead, we should use our bows, arrows and javelins to shoot them. In order to fully and effectively kill the Spaniards, we should use the courtyard walls as concealment and cover, waiting for the Spanish to approach and attack them. When they reached the outside of the courtyard wall, they suddenly appeared in front of them, shooting arrows and throwing javelins at them.
As he spoke, he divided the soldiers into three echelons, lurking in the courtyard wall, and used the flag in his hand to direct them to shoot arrows and throw javelins, and to direct the soldiers to encircle and counterattack the Spaniards who rushed into the courtyard wall. They even practiced covering the Inca retreat. So, Manco felt happy to see this. He was immediately appointed deputy commander of the palace troops.
Night fell quickly. The night in the mountainous area is very quiet, as if there is no movement at all. Only the stars in the sky were twinkling, and the crescent moon was hurriedly driving in the bright sky. Other than that, I could only hear the gentle sound of wind blowing by my ears from time to time, or the occasional whine of a lone wolf from afar or the flapping of birds flying across the sky.
