Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
The withdrawal of the Indian troops left a gap on the left side of Almagro's position. But they had to capture the hilltop from here before they could attack the enemy from a high position. As a result, the attacking soldiers quickly climbed up from the side of the mountain to the top of the mountain. After the vanguard troops occupied the hilltop, all the governor's troops went up to the top.
At this time, the enemy troops on the top of the mountain had all withdrawn to the bottom of the mountain, and the enemy's follow-up troops had just entered the plain. Seeing that the governor's troops were already occupying the hills on the edge of the plain, Almagro hurriedly ordered the troops to quickly deploy on the plain, placing 230 cavalry on the right side. The cavalry were armed with spears, including 50 cavalry. Not only does he wear a long sword, but he also wears a matchlock gun. Then, he placed the infantry with 200 archers and 150 harpooneers on the left. Finally, more than ten large artillery pieces and small artillery pieces of the artillery were placed among the cavalry and infantry. to await a decisive battle with the Governor's troops.
The governor observed the enemy's position on the hill for a while. Seeing that the sun was going to set soon, he decided to attack the enemy. According to the previous deployment, he ordered Alvarado to lead the cavalry to attack the enemy from the right wing, ordered Holguin to lead the cavalry to attack the enemy from the left wing, and ordered Adjutant Carvajal to lead the infantry to attack the enemy from the center. As a result, the three troops rushed down from the hill towards Almagro's troops in the plain.
However, as soon as the Governor's troops rushed from the hills to the open areas of the plain, they came within the range of Almagro's artillery. The artillery began to fire at them, and shells fell among the attacking troops. More than 30 people were killed and injured immediately.
However, for some unknown reason, the angle of the cannon's firing suddenly changed, and the shells began to fly over the heads of the attacking soldiers and land far behind them. This is obviously not a technical problem of artillery shooting, but a deliberate human behavior. Because the person who directed the artillery firing was the artillery engineer named Pedro de Candia. He was one of the thirteen loyal knights who initially followed Pizarro on his adventure, but later became disgusted with the tyranny of the Pizarro brothers, so after the assassination of the Marquis of Pizarro, he turned to support Al Magro Group. After Governor Baca de Castro sent Cervantes to contact him and instigate rebellion, he felt that he should still stand loyal to the country. Therefore, facing the attack of the Governor's troops, he deliberately adjusted the angle of the artillery fire so that the Governor's troops could reduce casualties and quickly occupy Almagro's position.
However, he did not expect that Almagro was right next to him, watching over him. Seeing that all the artillery shells fell behind the enemy, Almagro held a long sword in his hand and immediately shouted to the artillery lieutenant, "What's wrong with you? Quickly adjust the shooting angle."
However, the artillery lieutenant issued the order calmly, but the order he issued was still wrong. The shells seemed to be deliberately avoiding the enemy. This made Almagro suddenly convinced of his treason, so he cursed at the unfortunate knight, "You are betraying me. You abominable traitor." With that, He thrust the sword in his hand into his abdomen. The artillery lieutenant screamed and fell to the ground.
Almagro began to personally command the artillery units. He asked the artillerymen to adjust their angles and start firing. The cannonballs fell on the crowd of attackers one after another, knocking down a large area of the governor's soldiers immediately. The attacking infantry was so blasted by artillery fire that they did not dare to move forward. Adjutant Carvajal asked the officers to supervise the battle with long swords in their hands, forcing the soldiers to move forward. But when the infantry saw that the cavalry had stopped charging, they shouted desperately for the cavalry to charge forward quickly so that they could follow behind and charge forward. The cavalry hesitated for a while, then charged forward. However, immediately after, the opponent's artillery shells fell among them, causing heavy casualties to the cavalry. The cavalry squadron began to scatter. The officers supervising the battle waved their swords and forced the fleeing cavalry back.
Although the Governor's troops had the upper hand in numbers, Almagro's troops had the advantage in weapons. Because many of the cavalrymen in the governor's army were only equipped with battle axes instead of swords. While the cavalry was fighting, the infantry on both sides continued to shoot at each other with matchlocks, causing great damage to the other side's cavalry. But Almagro's heavy artillery group aimed accurately and hit hard, knocking down large swaths of the enemy's advancing infantry columns to the ground.
The Governor's troops were frightened and faltered, and began to retreat from the terrifying artillery fire. However, Carvajal ran over waving his long sword and shouted loudly, "Brothers, are you about to retreat now? Isn't it embarrassing? You all cheer up and follow me in the direction." As he said, He waved his long sword and, under the cover of muskets, leaped forward, braved the hail of bullets and rushed over, and quickly rushed to the enemy's artillery position.
Almagro's artillery fire suddenly stopped. At this time, Alvarado held the king's flag and came from the right. Orguin came from the left carrying the king's banner. So the hand-to-hand combat began. The cavalry from both sides fought in a melee on the flat open ground. The horses neighed and the riders fought hard. Long swords and battle axes clanged, and muskets and spears were scattered in all directions. Then, the infantry of both sides also fought together, slashing with swords and axes, the sound of killing was loud, the sky was dark, the earth was dark, and the sun and the moon were dim. It was a formidable struggle, a battle between brothers and friends. All turned against their enemies with the fury of worldly hatred. No one begged for life, because the vise of hatred is so strong that it can tear the closest family ties to pieces, which can be said to be a loss of humanity.
At this time, night had already fallen, and the battlefield was blurred by the night, making it difficult to see clearly. But the desperate battle continues. The officers and men of the Governor-General wore red armbands, while the officers and men of Almagro wore white armbands. One side shouted "Long live Baca de Castro!" and the other shouted "Long live Almagro!" Both sides prayed for the blessing of their military apostle, Saint James.
Holguin, commander of the left flank of the Governor's troops, was killed early in the battle after being hit by two musket balls. However, his troops continued to charge, and Almagro's position almost fell. Alvarado, who directs the right wing, is facing off against Almagro himself. Although Almagro was young, he was extremely talented and brave, trying to defeat his opponent's team with repeated charges. As a result, all the spears were broken, and casualties on both sides were heavy. This is a true desperate fight between brothers, relatives, and friends. Since the two sides were evenly matched, it was difficult to tell who was superior. The battle lasted for a long time but there was no winner.
Because 40 cavalrymen in Alvarado's cavalry unit were drawn by the governor as a reserve unit, the strength of his unit was greatly weakened. This gave Almagro's troops a considerable advantage in strength. Not only did they pull down the flags of Holguin's troops, but they also pulled down the flags of Alvarado's troops. Seeing that the position of Alvarado's troops was about to be captured. Almagro also felt that victory was in sight, and began to shout to the soldiers, "Catch them alive, don't kill them!"
At the critical moment when the outcome was about to be decided, Mr. Baca de Castro, who had been standing on a high slope on the edge of the plain to observe and watch the battle, saw that the night had darkened and the battle had reached its final moments. , feeling that it was time for him to lead the reserve team into the battlefield. He waved to the 40 reserve cavalry members behind him and shouted, "Follow me and charge forward." Then, he took the lead and rushed down the high slope. The cavalry followed him, shouting, and rushed down the high slope into the crowd where the two armies were fighting fiercely.
At this time, the two armies had suffered heavy casualties and were exhausted. Alvarado's soldiers were retreating steadily. Almagro's troops were at the end of their rope. Suddenly, Mr. Governor led a new force and rushed over, which immediately changed the situation on the battlefield. Almagro's troops were repulsed by the fierce attack of the governor's cavalry and fell into chaos. Alvarado's soldiers, who were retreating, began to regroup and continue fighting.
Almagro blocked the retreat of the soldiers and fought with the governor's troops again. Although Almagro's troops were at the end of their strength, their morale was not diminished, and they quickly killed more than ten people from the governor's cavalry. However, their physical strength was exhausted and they could no longer hold on. Soon they were scattered and driven back by the governor's cavalry.
The retreat of the cavalry caused a rout across the entire line. For a moment, the cavalry, infantry and artillerymen fled in the dark, trampling on each other in chaos. Almagro tried his best to prevent the troops from disintegrating and turn the tide, but all these efforts were in vain, and instead exposed him to danger. There was a young soldier who followed him firmly and refused to retreat. He shouted, "We have killed the bully Pizarro. We would rather die in battle than go to the gallows." While using the spear in his hand and The enemy troops fought hard. As a result, he was cut down to the ground by the charging cavalry. Almagro saw that the defeat was certain and beyond control, so he had no choice but to flee in panic at night.
It was nine o'clock at night when the battle ended. At this time, the figures were no longer visible, but gunshots could still be heard echoing in the darkness. Many of the fleeing soldiers were captured by their pursuers, but many more escaped in the darkness. In order to escape pursuit and capture, many Almagro soldiers tore off the red armbands from the enemy's corpses and put them on their arms, pretending to join the pursuit, and then took the opportunity to escape from the battlefield.
Seeing that the night was already dark, the Governor was afraid that the fugitives would use the darkness to regroup and cause losses to their pursuit, so he asked the trumpeter to blow the bugle call to retreat. The pursuing soldiers began to return from all sides of the battlefield. At this time, the groans and screams of the wounded and dying soldiers could be heard everywhere on the plains of Chupas. Some seriously injured people even struggled and dragged their heavy bodies to hide in the bushes.
Before the fierce battle, the Indians gathered on the edge of the mountains like a dark cloud, watching the two white armies fighting each other with joy and gloating. Seeing that the battle was over, they rushed to the plain and began to strip off the clothes of the dead and even the seriously injured, and took away their belongings.
Throughout the night, the governor ordered his soldiers to be alert and alert. At dawn the next day, the governor ordered the soldiers to clear the entire battlefield. They carried the wounded who had survived the freezing humidity of the previous night to the barracks and handed them over to surgeons for care. Keep the priests busy receiving confessions and confessions from those who are to be put to death. They also dug four large graves on the edge of the battlefield and buried the bodies of the victors and the defeated indiscriminately. However, the remains of Alvarez de Holguin and several other prominent knights were transported to Guamanga. There, a grand funeral ceremony was held according to their military ranks, and the broken military flag was placed on their tombstones.
Although the governor's troops were the victor in this battle, they suffered heavy casualties. Because at the beginning of the battle, they were bombarded by Almagro artillery fire and suffered heavy casualties. Moreover, the number of injured was greater than the number of dead. Most of Almagro's troops were captured. They fled and hid in churches and monasteries in the small town of Guamanga, not far from the battlefield. However, their right to asylum was not respected and they were quickly cleared out by the governor's troops and thrown into prison. The young Almagro fled to Cusco with a small number of followers. However, they were immediately arrested by the alderman appointed by him.
After the two armies went to war and massacred each other, the victor always had to impose large-scale liquidations and appalling judgments on the loser. Baca de Castro appointed a committee headed by the evangelist Dragama, began to try all the prisoners, and sentenced about forty of them to death, and sentenced another thirty people, including Some physically disabled people were exiled.
After the trial, the governor entered Cuzco, and his first act was to decide the fate of the young prisoner, Almagro. They held a military meeting to discuss this. In view of Almagro's youth and the provocation to which he was exposed, some advocated pardoning the unfortunate chief. But most people believe that such forgiveness cannot be given to the rebel leader, and that only by executing him can the country gain permanent stability. So, the final decision was to execute the young leader.
When Almagro was brought to Cusco's central square, the square was surrounded by military security. The square was packed with people who came to watch. They all felt deep sympathy for the young Almagro. Because this was the place where his father, Almagro, was executed. His father was often relatively tolerant in his treatment of Indians. Except for brutally killing more than 60 Indian leaders during the conquest of Chile, he always had sympathy and compassion for the Indians. Heart.
Faced with the death penalty, Almagro Jr. behaved very calmly and confidently. Although the herald loudly announced his decision against the rebels, he angrily denied that he was a rebel. However, this denial is meaningless, because that decision is a reason for the winner to execute the loser. As a winner, you can always find countless such reasons.
The younger Almagro did not ask the judge for mercy, but asked that his bones be buried next to his father's. After his father died, his men wrapped him in a coat and buried him in the church cemetery in Cusco. During the execution, the executioner had to blindfold little Almagro, but he did not let the executioner blindfold him. Instead, after repenting, he embraced the cross devoutly and put his neck under the executioner's knife.
Almagro and Pizarro participated in the adventure of conquering the Inca Empire. In order to crazily plunder gold, they pushed the Inca Empire, which had a higher civilization and a high degree of autonomy, into the abyss, and trapped the Indians in a miserable situation with arbitrary atrocities and slavery. However, his fate was also very tragic, and the fate of his son Almagro Jr. was even more tragic.
