Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
The day has finally arrived. Hernando must use his words and evidence to prove whether he should be found guilty or imprisoned.
This morning, he was escorted by four guards of the Royal Guard to the court of the Spanish Court. The court was in a building not far from the palace. In front of the building is a small square. After passing the square and going up more than thirty steps, you will see the front of the Spanish Court. There is a large door in the center of the front of the court, and two small doors on both sides of the main door. Four guards armed with matchlocks stood on both sides of the court gate, giving people a solemn and majestic feeling.
When Hernando was escorted by soldiers to the court, he saw a crowd crowding in front of the door, about three to four hundred people. They were almost citizens who had nothing to do with this lawsuit. They just had nothing to do and wanted to come over and watch the excitement. Because this lawsuit is a case in which a brother and a partner of the Pizarro family, the richest and most powerful family in Spain, the conquerors of Peru, killed each other over land and property, and the victim's soldiers and The witness of the entire incident, Diego Almarado, has been constantly condemning and demonstrating in the past few months, which has long caused great shock and public outrage in Spain.
But the most terrible thing is that there are forty or fifty soldiers from Almagro's past among these crowds. Wearing tattered old-fashioned military uniforms, they stood in the most prominent position in front of the court with banners reading "Severely punish the evil Pizarro brothers" and "Down with the bullies and severely punish the murderers." Of course, there were also some soldiers who followed Hernando to escort gold and silver back from Peru, as well as his relatives and friends in the crowd. But there were not many of them, only about twenty people. Compared with the number of people and the atmosphere of the entire scene, they seemed weak and outnumbered.
When Hernando was escorted out of the carriage by the royal guards, the Almagro soldiers rushed toward him, angrily shouting slogans, "Down with the bully, long live the king!" and " Hernando is the criminal who hanged General Almagro." The Royal Guards immediately showed their swords and guns, and surrounded Hernando with a human wall, not allowing the soldiers to approach. The soldiers gathered around, pointed at Hernando and shouted, "Kill this bully, kill this murderer."
Hernando immediately felt that the situation was unfavorable, but he was not afraid, held his head high, and looked at these ragged but vicious soldiers with extremely contempt. Under the escort of the royal guards, he strode up the steps towards the court gate. When he saw his soldiers, relatives and friends waving to him, he smiled frankly at them and walked straight into the court.
He was first held by the guards in the lounge for a while, and then he was taken into the court until the court session. The court was very quiet, with more than 200 seats filled with people, and some people standing in the aisle. And the people sitting in the first few rows are either his soldiers and relatives, or soldiers over there. And that Diego Almarado stood on the plaintiff's bench. He held dozens of pages of written indictment in his hand and stared at Hernando with a very stern, angry and unforgiving look. This knight who was loyal to his commander always remembered the commander's great trust to him before his death, asking him to return to Spain to defend the rights of young Almagro. He agreed to the command and made it his mission to defend little Almagro's rights.
Hernando certainly knew the soldier whom the king named a knight. He has the same persistence and tenacity as Almagro, but he is more educated, wise and strategic than Almagro. He heard from his brother, Marquis Pizarro, that he had gone to Pizarro many times to ask for the return of Almagro's land and property, but he was always rejected by Pizarro's words: "Because of crime, all the land and property of Almagro have been lost." All property was confiscated" and sent away. However, he was able to persist in fighting for his dead commander. This made Hernando feel very uneasy. Because what he fears most is this kind of unswerving and desperate person. Without him, perhaps there would not be this situation and the opening of the court today. He, Hernando, would not stand here facing prosecution and trial in court.
The formidable prosecutor began his case. Although his indictment was very long and could take an entire morning to read, the knight was a master storyteller. He read the indictment as if he was eloquently, plausibly, and even telling a true and shocking story. He started with the story of Pizarro's gang with Almagro and Luke, and the various adventures Pizarro and Almagro experienced together until they conquered Peru together. The two became feuding because of their struggle for power, and finally Because he fought for his own interests, he was deceived by the Pizarro brothers and strangled by Hernando. The whole incident was detailed and vivid in his narration, well-founded and clear between right and wrong. However, in his narration, the Pizarro brothers were exaggerated into heinous bullies and scoundrels, while Almagro was a sincere, humble and humiliating gentleman. This will obviously make the court and people hate Hernando more and sympathize with Almagro even more.
Therefore, when the court asked Hernando to defend himself, he told the court what he had prepared over the past few days. These contents were actually relatively well prepared, and Hernando was also a eloquent orator. However, after Diego Almarado’s speech-like statement, and so many people present After the soldier testified for his statement, Hernando felt that his statement seemed weak and even unreasonable.
However, he knew that no matter how much he defended and justified, his arrogance and rudeness towards Almagro, his unreasonable dislike of Almagro, and his regard of Almagro as his brother's enemy were all A fact he couldn't deny. In particular, he executed Almagro without coolness, which was a very stupid and irredeemable evil that made him the devil in this court trial. These are facts that are hard for him to explain and cannot deny, and there are so many soldiers here to testify in person.
It can be said that the tendency of the court is one-sided towards the other party. All the statements made by the other party are facts, and all his defenses are not worth refuting. Therefore, this court battle can be said to be the biggest humiliation and failure in his life. Only then did he think about why the king refused to spare him this time. It was because the method he used against Almagro was so cruel and seriously hurt public sentiment. Therefore, the court and the people were worried. Never let him go. In the end, the court ruled in favor of the Almagro side represented by Diego Almarado, and Hernando was found guilty. Although the court did not publicly sentence Hernando, the royal family member told him privately that he must stay in the castle for 20 years. Moreover, he had to pay a lot of money for these losses and compensation.
This kind of verdict was not what Hernando wanted. What he wanted was an acquittal. If he stayed in this castle for 20 years, the rest of his life would be over. He would have no freedom and no dignity. He didn't want his lifelong struggle to lead to such a result. He called his cousin Faftila to him, handed a gold pot into his hand, and said, "There is no other way now but to go to Judge Faraday. Maybe he can come up with something for me. "
The cousin took the pot of gold to the court. Faftila came to Judge Faraday's room. Faraday received him warmly and said in a very regretful tone, "I'm sorry, I tried my best. However, that Diego Almarado refused to let Mr. Hernando go at all."
Faftila opened the small wooden box he brought, revealing the gold pot, and then placed the gold pot on the judge's desk, pleading, "I can only ask Mr. Judge to ask the king. As long as the king's One sentence and Hernando's sentence would be reversed."
Judge Faraday held the gold pot in his hand and looked at it for a long time, as if he couldn't put it down, but he thought for a while and said in a firm tone, "Let me think of a way to make the king have a crush on Hernando." Be compassionate and willing to forgive.”
Faftila immediately said happily, "Thank you Mr. Judge, if Hernando can avoid imprisonment and serve time, he will be grateful to you for the rest of his life."
Judge Faraday said, "Tell Mr. Hernando to reassure him that I will go to the palace to see the king tomorrow afternoon."
The next afternoon, Judge Rafaday came to the palace and met King Carlos I in the drawing room of the palace. As soon as he saw the king, he fell on his knees and cried bitterly, saying, "Judge Lafayette of Spain appeals to His Majesty the King."
Charles IV was immediately baffled by Faraday's method of appeal. He said to Faraday, "What do you have to appeal to me?"
Faraday said, "I am appealing on behalf of Mr. Hernando Pizarro. Only His Majesty the King can pardon his sins."
The king asked in confusion, "Why do you want to appeal on his behalf?"
Faraday said earnestly, "I beg His Majesty the King, for the sake of God, for the sake of his gray-haired, aging age, and for the sake of his many years of service to His Majesty, for the sake of their For the sake of conquering the New World for Your Majesty, the brothers agreed to his appeal, exempted him from hard labor and prison terms, and granted him freedom."
The king pondered for a while, then asked Faraday to stand up and sit on the sofa opposite, and said to Faraday, "I also want to give him freedom and exempt him from serving a sentence. But, will Diego Almarado agree? Those Almarados Would Magro's soldiers agree? And would the Spanish people who knew the truth agree? The nature of Hernando's killing of Almagro was so bad that almost everyone knew about it. If I can pardon him, then the Spanish people will think that I am shielding him."
Then, the king said, "Hernando's crime is too serious, his methods are too cruel, and he has seriously hurt public sentiment, so he must not be let go. This is why I imprisoned him in the town of Medina." Let him stay there for twenty years in a strong fortress. Because there, he can still enjoy relatively loose freedom and get the enjoyment he wants."
