Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
It was surprisingly peaceful inside and outside the palace. There was no light, no figure, not even a sentry in sight. However, at the height of the palace, there were many pairs of eyes staring at the open space at the foot of the mountain in front of and behind the palace. And more than a thousand Indian soldiers were lurking quietly in their rooms or inner courtyards, waiting to face the Spanish attacks and attacks.
The stars have been twinkling, and the moon has been walking in a hurry. The wind in the mountains is still blowing non-stop. However, it was still calm at the foot of the mountain in front of and behind the palace. According to the Indians' judgment, the Spaniards generally liked to launch attacks after midnight, but midnight had already passed. The stars are so hot that they can hardly keep their eyes open. The moon is almost back home. Even the wind had stopped from exhaustion, but there was no sign of the Spaniards at all. However, the people in the palace still did not dare to relax at all, because the Spaniards might suddenly appear in front of them at any time. However, until daybreak, no Spaniard was seen. Manco had to let the soldiers who had been lurking all night go back to the house to sleep.
Since he had hardly slept all night, Manco himself was very sleepy, so after handing over the day's guard duty to Mokwa, Manco returned to his room. At this time, Princess Tapalaka had not yet gotten up. Seeing Manco return to the house, she asked, "Did everything go well at night?" Manco said, "I wonder what happened to the Spaniards. There was no movement all night." After saying that, he sat by the bed and asked the concubine to undress and untie him. Tapalaka sat up from the bed with his upper body naked, and while undressing Manco, he asked, "Do they know that we are already on guard?" Manco said, "Maybe so."
Tapalaka stripped off Manco's clothes, then opened the warm quilt and let Manco in. Manco's body was cold because he stayed out for most of the night. The princess hugged Manco tightly and used her own body temperature to warm the king's body. But King Manco was very sleepy. He lay in the princess's arms and soon snored and fell asleep.
However, before sleeping for a while, the prince opened the door and announced, "Your Majesty, the Spaniards are coming." Upon hearing this, Princess Tapalaka hurriedly pushed Manco awake and said, "Your Majesty, get up quickly. The Spaniards are coming." Upon hearing this, Manco quickly pulled up a pair of pants from the bed and put them on. Then, he jumped from the bed to the ground, put on his shoes and put a piece of clothing on his body, and ran out.
However, when he ran out of the room, he saw that it was quiet outside, and there was no tense scene of soldiers dispatching or the enemy. This made him feel a little strange. At this time, the guard standing guard in front of the door saw Manco running out of the room in such a panic, and asked, "Why is the king so panicked?" Manco said, "Didn't you say that the Spaniards are coming?" The guard said, " Your Majesty, there is no need to panic, Commander Mokwa is patrolling the front yard with his soldiers."
Manco then entered the house again, and after asking the princess to put on all his clothes, he hurried towards the front yard. When I arrived at the front yard, I saw nearly a thousand Inca soldiers, under the command of Mokwa, lurking in the inner courtyard of the palace in full formation. Seeing the king coming, Mokwa pointed at the Spaniards down the mountain and asked Manco to watch. Manco went up to a big rock next to Mokwa and looked down the mountain. He saw only about thirty Spanish cavalry at the foot of the mountain. This made him feel somewhat strange: How could the Spaniards only send about thirty cavalry to attack the palace in broad daylight?
This reminded him of when Orgones attacked the palace, he had thirty cavalry ambushed under the hill in front of the palace, while the main force launched the attack from behind the palace. So, he asked Mokwa, "A large force of the Spanish army will definitely launch a surprise attack from behind the palace." But Mokwa said, "I have sent Ibaku to lead 400 soldiers to guard the backyard."
While the two were talking, they saw three people striding towards the palace from down the mountain. Two of these three people seemed to be soldiers in military uniforms. They each held a long sword in their hands and walked on both sides. Walking in the middle was a middle-aged priest. Manco knew that there were often chaplains in the Spanish army, who were dedicated to saying mass in churches or praying for people before they died. But why are they sending a priest here today?
When the three of them reached the middle of the stone steps, the two Spanish soldiers stopped, while the priest continued walking towards the palace on the top of the mountain. When Manco and Mokwa saw that only the priest came over, they knew that this must be the Marquis of Pizarro sent to persuade him to surrender. Therefore, Manco asked the soldiers to temporarily relax their vigilance and gather in the inner courtyard.
Soon the priest came closer. Manco also recognized this person at this time. This person was Valverde, the Bishop of Cusco. Manco dated him several times in the past when they lived in Cusco. Although many Spaniards held him up as a model of impartiality and selflessness, Manco always believed that this was just an illusion, as he saw him doffing his hat in front of Pizarro more than once. Because how can a person who bows his head before power remain impartial and selfless?
Because he had never had a good impression of the bishop, he did not want to meet the bishop directly in this way. He whispered a few words to Mokwa and returned to the council chamber.
After a while, Bishop Valverde reached the top of the mountain and came to the stone gate of the outer courtyard of the palace. At this time, the stone door suddenly opened, and Indian soldiers swarmed up and tied him up with ropes. The Bishop of Cusco struggled and shouted, "Let me go, I am a friend of your Inca king."
However, the Indian soldiers did not listen to him at all. They tied him up and brought him to Commander Mokwa who was standing in the courtyard. Bishop Valverde saw that Mokwa was a very senior officer, so he said to Mokwa, "Call your Inca king and say that I am Bishop Valverde and that I am his friend." However, Mokwa said , "That's not possible, our Inca King is sleeping. We can't disturb him." Valverde was a little anxious and shouted at Mokwa, "I was sent by Governor Pizarro. An important matter is to meet with the Inca King. I want you to tell him right away that I want to see him right away." However, Mocva ignored him and said to the soldiers, "Take this Spaniard who doesn't understand etiquette. Lock him up." So the soldiers took Bishop Valverde and locked him up in a small room.
About half an hour later, the door of the house opened. Mokwa came with a few people, untied the ropes from his body, and said, "Our king asked you, what do you want to say to him?" Valverde? The bishop said, "I am a friend of your king, and I was sent here by the Marquis of Pizarro. Why is your king so arrogant and not welcoming me in a friendly way?"
Mokwa said, "Our king said he has no friends like you. He doesn't want to meet you either." Valverde felt very embarrassed and asked, "Why doesn't he want to meet me?" Mokwa said, "Our king said that you are a flatterer who takes off your hat and bows your head when meeting Marquis Pizarro. It is impossible for such a person to guarantee any justice in front of Pizarro."
Valverde was very frustrated, but he felt that he couldn't leave like this, and he couldn't explain it when he went back to see the Governor. So, he said to Mokwa, "Since your king refuses to summon me, please send a message to your king, saying that I am entrusted by the Marquis of Pizarro to contact and negotiate with your king. Pizarro Marquis Luo wants to discuss the truce and peace with your king in person. He said that as long as your king is willing to stop the army and make a truce, he can let your king return to Cusco and become the emperor of the Inca Empire, and will also give him and you full rights. Power and treatment.”
Mokwa smiled coldly and said, "Our king knows your mission, so he asked me to tell you that a charming person like you will not guarantee your promise in front of Pizarro. He said to let you go back. Tell the Marquis of Pizarro to send another person who will not take off his hat when meeting the Marquis. He is only willing to talk to such a person." Bishop Valverde sighed like a deflated ball. He bowed his head and left the room where he was detained. When he walked outside the stone gate of the palace's outer courtyard, he stopped again and said to Mokwa, "Then, I will persuade Mr. Marquis to come to interview your king in person tomorrow." Then. , walking towards the foot of the mountain.
After Bishop Valverde left the palace, Mokwa came to the meeting hall and reported Bishop Valverde's words to Manco. Manco listened and said to everyone, "Everyone has heard that Marquis Pizarro wants to have peace talks with us. What do you think?"
Prince Wakikar said, "Of course it's good. In this way, we don't have to worry about fighting and dealing with them all day long." But Mokwa said, "What Pizarro said is right, but he This man is cunning and cruel. I heard that Almagro was deceived by him and let Hernando go, only to have Hernando hanged in the end. The words of the Spaniards cannot be trusted at all."
Ibaku also said, "I heard that Atahualpa listened to the Spanish and fell into the trap of the Spanish. After being caught by the Spanish, he was played like a puppet. In the end, he was hanged by the Spanish." After that, he said in a very warning tone, "Please don't be fooled by him."
Manco listened to these words and was silent for a long time, then asked, "If Pizarro really comes tomorrow, should I see him?" Mokwa said, "Pizarro will never come to the palace in person. He may We will choose a place in the Yukai River Valley as a place for peace talks between the two parties."
Ibaku said, "If he chooses a place next to the Yukai Valley, I think it would be better for the king not to go, because the Yukai Valley is relatively flat and spacious, and it is easy to be attacked and attacked by Spanish cavalry."
But Manco said, "If Pizarro wants me to negotiate, can I not go?" Everyone listened to this and remained silent for a long time. Seeing that everyone was silent for a long time, Manco said, "Okay, let me think about this carefully before talking about it." After that, he returned to his room.
At this time, Tapalaka was sitting in the room waiting for him. Seeing him come in, he asked, "I heard that a Spaniard was captured?" Manco said, "It's Valverde, the Bishop of Cusco. Pizarro sent him to make peace with me."
Upon hearing this, Tapalaka said, "What conditions do they have?" Manco briefly explained the situation. Tapalaka said, "That's great. This way we won't have to hide around like this in the future, and we can live in Cusco all year round."
But Manco sneered, "Do you think the Spaniards are really so friendly? If they were really so nice, I wouldn't escape from them." But Princess Tapalca said, "Princess Okoro is still with them If we don't agree, they will definitely wrong her and torture her." Manco said, "As long as it falls into the hands of the Spaniards, everyone will suffer torture and pain." After saying that, he asked Tapalaka to give her He took off his clothes and went to bed.
However, Manco couldn't sleep because he kept thinking that Pizarro would come to the Yucai Valley to meet him in person. He didn't like Pizarro at all. He was too insidious and cunning. Dealing with people like him would definitely lead to losses. Moreover, he didn't like this person at all and didn't want to see him at all. However, he also felt that if someone really invited him to have peace talks, how could he refuse? This put him in a dilemma.
Suddenly, a bold idea flashed in his mind: Why not set up a surprise attack to intercept him halfway? Yes, he could ask Ibaku to lead an elite soldier to ambush on the passage from Cusco to the Yucai Valley. When Pizarro and his men appear, they would intercept and capture Pizarro alive. Or kill. What a blow this would be to the Spaniards!
So, he immediately jumped up from the bed, got off the bed, and said to the prince who was guarding the door, "Go and call me Mokwa and Ibaku." The prince responded and walked quickly towards Go to the room where the prince lives. Before Manco could put on his clothes, the prince who guarded the door came to report, "My king, Commander Mokwa and General Ibaku are waiting for your king in the council hall."
Manco came to the meeting hall, sat on the chair, and told the two generals his thoughts. When the two generals heard this, they both clapped their hands and applauded. So Manco whispered to the two generals for a long time. After hearing this, the two generals nodded and said, "Yes, my king." Then they left the meeting hall.
