Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
The Inca king's military camp was in the forest about half an hour's journey from the mountainside. The forest blocks out the sun and is airtight, and there is a large open area deep in the forest. The trees here have been cut down and the ground has been leveled. Along this open ground is a small square courtyard. The wall of the small courtyard is about two meters high, and there are five rows of houses built from south to north. The first row of houses were stables, housing about thirty horses. These horses were all snatched by the Incas from the Spaniards, or bought from the market with gold. With these horses, the Inca King Manco formed himself the most elite palace guard. These elite palace guards lived in the row of houses behind the stables. The second, fourth and fifth rows of houses were occupied by other soldiers of the palace guard. The Inca king, the Inca princes and generals lived in the third row of houses.
There are two gates in the south and north of the small courtyard. The front door of the courtyard leads to the Inca barracks not far to the south, and the back door of the courtyard leads to the northern mountain of the forest. There is a secret escape route there. There were four guards guarding the door with spears in their hands, and there were also guards guarding the surrounding courtyard. Whenever there is a sign of wind or grass, the guards will sound the horn to call the police.
Last night, because he was hosting those Spanish people, he drank a lot of wine and went to bed very late. Manco also woke up very late. He lazily got up, walked to the door and looked outside. At this time, the sun has risen to halfway in the sky, and it’s time to have breakfast soon. Normally, he would always get up at dawn, ride his horse and lead his cavalry guards to the edge of the forest, check on the sentry on duty, then ride back, and then have breakfast. After breakfast, he led the troops to the training ground of the barracks for drills. After training for an hour or two, he went back to the house and played with the princesses or princes and generals until dinner. In the past few years, his life has been almost like this.
After a while, the sound of a bell rang in the yard. This was the bell for the guards to have breakfast. I saw the soldiers walking towards the canteen behind the yard. At this time, Princess Tapalaka came from the next room and said to Manco, "Your Majesty, it's time to eat."
Manco responded and came to the next room. The next room was the Inca kitchen and dining room. A large wooden table lay with steaming polenta and potato dishes, along with some corn tortillas. It can be said that corn and potatoes are the most important foods in this country. Almost all the land here is planted with corn, and it is planted in different seasons. The corn in some fields has just sprouted, the corn in some fields is already mature, and the corn in some fields has already been harvested and put into warehouses. Some corn is yellow, some corn is purple, and some corn is white. If there is enough land and labor, one year's corn harvest can feed a family for two or three years. Some potatoes are grown by farmers, but many are wild. Wild potatoes grow everywhere in the wild jungles and wastelands. In some places there are so many potatoes that farmers ignore them and let them grow as they please. However, in the minds of the Inca people, the Inca king had supreme dignity and power, with endless delicacies of meat, and often fresh fish and shrimps delivered by courier express from the seaside thousands of miles away. Therefore, corn and potatoes are generally not eaten. However, for the Inca king who was currently in a difficult situation, there was almost no other food except corn and potatoes.
The Inca king's breakfast and dinner were prepared by the princess. The Incas always had two meals a day, but Manco had become accustomed to a three-meal-a-day lifestyle during the time he lived with the Spaniards. However, after Manco retreated from Tambo Palace to Vilcabamba, he returned to the Inca life of two meals a day. Because this is a place deep in the mountains and wilderness, there is a very shortage of food and vegetables, and it cannot even support an army of 1,000 people. Therefore, the Inca King sent most of the soldiers back home, leaving only a guard force of about 200 people. .
Seeing Manco sitting at the dining table, Princess Tapalaka shouted to Princess Koropuku who was busy, "Come here, let's eat."
Princess Koropuku responded, wiped her hands, left the stove, came to the dining table and sat down to eat with the king and Tapalaka.
Manco had two princesses. One was Tapalaka, who fled from Tambo Palace with him. She was the daughter of Prince Vakilar. The other princess was named Koropuku, who was also the daughter of a prince. Tapalaka was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time, and is now twenty-one or twelve years old. She is still young and beautiful, but she is no longer as lively, cheerful and fast-talking as she used to be. Instead, she appears more mature, calm, virtuous and elegant. Koropku was only seventeen or eighteen years old and had been living with the king for two or three years. She is not only beautiful in appearance, but also gentle in temperament and taciturn. Although they are princesses, their clothes are simple and their hands and feet are busy. The life of Inca King Manco was taken care of by the two of them.
The three of them were eating and talking. Tapalaka said to Manco, "Who did you drink with when you came back so late last night?"
Manco said, "Paul came back from Guamanga and brought seven Spaniards with him."
When Tapalaka heard this, he immediately said, "I hate the Spaniards the most. Princess Okoro was killed by them."
Manco couldn't help but be startled and thought of Okoro. She was not only his princess, but also his biological sister. He stopped eating and looked a little heavy, but he said to Tapalaka, "Princess Okoro was killed by Pizarro. We should bear our hatred on Pizarro. But Pizarro also They were killed by others. And these people who came to me were the people who killed Pizarro." Then, Manco said, "I heard from Paul that because they participated in the riot that killed Pizarro, the Spanish governor was arresting them. Arrest them, and once they are caught, they will be sent to the gallows. So, they have no choice but to come to me. Not only do you hate white Spanish people, but I also hate white Spanish people. But, on our own we are We cannot defeat the Spanish whites, so we must use them to defeat the Spanish whites.”
Tapalaka looked at Manco with suspicion and said, "But is this possible? Didn't you always say that white Spanish people cannot be trusted?"
Manco explained, "White Hispanics cannot be trusted, but they can be exploited."
Tapalaka nodded and said, "I don't want you to be with them. Being with them will make me uneasy."
Manco said, "There is nothing to worry about. There are so many guards around me."
Princess Koropcu on the side said to Manco, "I have never seen Spanish people. Are they different from us Incas?"
Tapalaka said, "They are taller, whiter-skinned, and have bigger noses than us Incas. They are also cunning and more vicious than us Incas."
Koropcu said to Manco, "Can I go see him sometime?"
Manco said, "They live in the Inca camp. You can go and see them whenever you want."
After dinner, Manco came to the meeting room. Because the Inca king lived in the seven or eight rooms in the middle of the third row of the small courtyard, the meeting room and the reception room were also among them. Manco sat on the chair in the conference room and shouted to the guards in front of the door, "Call Prince Wakilar and General Mokwa."
Prince Huajical and General Mokwa both lived with the Inca King on both sides of the third row of houses. When they heard the Inca King's call, they quickly came to the meeting room and said, "Listen to the king's instructions."
Manco said to Mokwa, "Those Spaniards are here, and we can't let them idle. You go and assemble the guards. Let's take the guards to the barracks and let the Spaniards help train them. I want to see them." It depends on what they are capable of.”
Mokwa said, "Yes, my lord," and walked out.
After Mokwa left, Manko said to Maharaja Wakikar, "How much food does the army have?"
Wakikar said, "There is still a lot of food, which can feed the troops for a month or so. As long as we persist for another month or two, new food will be available in the spring."
Manco thought for a while and said, "It's better to prepare more food. In the spring or summer, we can gather all the soldiers who have returned home. We can look at the right time to carry out a raid on the Spanish residential areas in Guamanga or Vilkas." Attack."
Wakikar said, "We can only wait until the spring food comes. Now is the difficult period of drought."
At this time, Mokwa came to report, "Report to the king that the troops have been assembled."
Manco waved his hand and said, "Let's go to the Inca barracks."
Manco came to the passage between several rows of houses and saw more than two hundred guards holding spears or javelins neatly arranged in four columns. The thirty or so people in the front row were also holding horses. He said to General Mokwa, "Let's go." With that, he took the reins from the personal guard, jumped over, and climbed onto the horse. The cavalry team behind them also got on their horses and followed the king towards the south gate of the small courtyard.
Outside the small courtyard is a dense forest, but there is a path that has been trampled by people in the dense forest. About a mile south of the trail is the Inca military camp. Here is also an open area where trees were cut down and trimmed, but this open area is much larger than the open area in the Inca compound. Four rows of houses cover the four sides of the open land. Each row of houses has forty or fifty rooms. These four rows of houses can accommodate more than a thousand soldiers. Just because of the shortage of food and grass, the soldiers went home. Therefore, it seems empty and quiet here. Because there are still some food and weapons warehouses here, and some Inca guards are left to guard them. In the middle of these four rows of houses is a large, square training ground. It can accommodate thousands of people for training at the same time.
When the Inca Guard soldiers came to the training ground in the middle of the Inca barracks, the Spaniards had already come out of the house and came to the Inca King. The Inca king jumped off his horse and said to Flores, "I brought all the guards here and I want you to help train them."
Flores said, "I am willing to serve the Inca king." Many Spaniards have stayed in this country for many years and are very familiar with the Quechua language spoken by the Incas. Therefore, they were able to have familiar conversations with the Incas.
Flores took a Spaniard to train the cavalry of the Inca Guard, and asked Martinez to take others to train the infantry of the Inca Royal Guard. The thirty-seven-year-old Flores was originally a cavalryman who came to this country from Panama with Almagro. During the conquest of Chile, Flores's horse froze to death in the Chilean plateau, and he himself suffered severe frostbite. Therefore, after returning to Cusco, he recovered from his injuries and borrowed a lot of money from Almagro to buy horses. However, because of his hobby of gambling, he owed a lot of money to General Almagro and has never paid it back. However, Almagro generously canceled his debts when he saw that he had followed him for many years. This was also the main reason why he participated in the assassination of Marquis Pizarro out of gratitude to Almagro.
He took the Inca cavalry squad to the other side of the playground and began training the cavalry. As a cavalryman, you must first wear relatively bulky armor, which is an important guarantee for cavalry impact. However, the Inca cavalry did not have any helmets or armor at all. Therefore, Flores had to first teach others how to fight on foot and on the ground. Because cavalry often suffer casualties or falls from their horses, they must learn to conduct ground combat on foot. But the Inca cavalry not only didn't know how to fight on foot, they didn't even have such a concept, because they always thought that cavalry was for horseback fighting. But after Flores said this, they all admired Flores sincerely.
Flores taught the cavalry while doing the movements, watching their training, and constantly correcting their movements and essentials. However, the Inca cavalry used to be infantry, and they mastered the movements and essentials of foot combat relatively quickly. The next training item is immediate close combat. Flores and another Spaniard demonstrated on horseback with spears in hand, allowing the cavalry to practice on the ground before mounting their horses.
Finally, there is horseback archery. Flores first explained to everyone, then galloped on horseback, drew his bow and shot an arrow, and shot the arrow at a target made of grass dozens of meters away, winning warm applause from the Inca cavalry. Then, he asked the cavalry to start practicing one after another.
Everyone was in high spirits and continued training until the afternoon without stopping. Because when it was time to have dinner, the Inca king had to ask Mokwa to withdraw his troops and return to camp.
In order to thank these Spaniards, Manco wanted to invite them to drink at the Inca compound. So Flores and Martinez took the Spaniards to the Inca compound.
