Inca Elegy (Novel) "The Fall of the Inca Empire" (Volume 2) by Zhang Baotong
After the Inca King Manco Capac was killed by the Spanish rebels, his five-year-old son Seri Tupac inherited the throne and served as the Inca King, with the prince acting as assistant. Because Vilcabamba is located in the mountains of Urubamba and the Apurimac River, 150 kilometers northwest of Cusco. It is hidden among peaks more than 4,000 meters high. It is remote, dangerous and uninhabited, so it is not well known by people. Know.
During this period, the Spanish were busy with internal affairs and reforms and did not pay much attention to the Inca king hiding in the mountains. Therefore, Seri grew up peacefully until he was 19 years old, but he was only the ruler of Vilcabamba. Not the ruler of the Inca Empire. In order to surrender the Inca King Cerri, the Governor of Peru, Pedro de la Gasca, sent people to Vilcabamba to negotiate with Serri, promising that as long as Serri left Vilcabamba, he would give Serri a large area of land. The Cusco land and numerous horses allowed him to live a peaceful and prosperous life.
Vilcabamba was deserted and life was difficult. The Inca kings had long been tired of this boring and evasive life. They had even lost confidence in defeating the Spanish. So, after several rounds of negotiations, Seri agreed to the Governor's request. However, just as he was about to leave Vilcabamba, something happened. Paulius Inka is dead. Paoliu was the puppet emperor raised by the Spaniards after Manco fled Cusco. His death was sudden and unexpected, as if sending a signal: that the Spaniards would betray their promise. Because when Pauliu ascended the throne, the Spaniards also gave him some promises. However, those promises did not save his life. As a result, Seri immediately gave up his fantasy of leaving Vilcabamba and going to Cusco to live a life of leisure and wealth.
Two years later, in 1556, the new governor Andres Hurtado de Mondoza arrived and once again wanted to hold peace talks with Serri. This time, the Spaniards thought of a trick to trick Serri into coming to the Spanish stronghold for negotiations. This way they could control the Inca king. After several negotiations, the Spaniards finally succeeded in persuading Serri to leave Vilcabamba.
The young Seri was carried to Lima on a luxurious chair by more than 300 attendants. Governor Hurtado received him kindly. In accordance with the terms of the negotiations, Seri reaffirmed his right to rule the Inca Empire and was baptized, taking the Christian name of Diego. He received a full pardon from the Spanish colonists and was awarded the title "Prince of Yucai", with large estates and considerable income. He chose to settle in Yucai, near Cusco, but he had given up the red Bora crown that symbolized royal power.
Under the arrangement of Pope Julius III, he married his sister Kusi Valkai and gave birth to a daughter. He did not return to Vilcabamba because that was not allowed. The following year, Seri also died suddenly, and people suspected that he was poisoned by the Spaniards.
After his death, his half-brother Titu Cusi reoccupied Vilcabamba and continued the fight against the Spanish. Titu Cusi is the son of Manco Inca and the brother of Cerri Tupac. He held on to Vilcabamba for another five or six years. Later, Francisco de Toledo, the governor of Peru, sent someone to negotiate with him, and the content was to leave Vilcabamba in exchange for accepting the prince's treatment and allowances. Suffering from the desolation and hardship of Vilcabamba, he agreed to the governor's request and was baptized in 1568 and converted to Catholicism. In order to protect Manco Inca's body, he left his brother Tupac Amaru in Vilcabamba.
In 1571, Titu died suddenly and Tupac Amaru, who stayed in Vilcabamba, succeeded to the throne. During the investigation, he discovered that his brother was poisoned by his close confidants Martin Depando and Spanish monk Diego Ortiz, so he sent people to execute the two murderers. The murder of Spanish monk Diego Ortiz attracted the attention of Governor Toledo, who took the opportunity to send troops to carry out a large-scale siege of Vilcabamba in 1572. Because the Inca soldiers in Vilcabamba were too few and had weak weapons, the barracks was quickly breached. Tupac Amaru was arrested, taken to Cusco, and executed in September of the same year. His death thus declared the complete demise of the ancient Inca kingdom.
2021.1.20. in Xi’an
