The first volume of "Scarlet Sunset" (The Fall of the Golden Empire) novel Zhang Baotong

"The Fall of the Golden Empire" is divided into two volumes, "Blood Sunset" and "Inca Tragedy". Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info "Bloody Sunset" tells the tragic political, cultural and military actions of the fall of the Inca Empire. The Inca Empire was a powerful empire full of gold, fertile fields, and culture, with more than 40 million people. The 11th monarch, Vaina Kabac the Great, was in the heyday of the Inca Empire, conquering and ruling large swaths of South America from Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru in the south. However, in his later years, Vaina Cabak made a far-reaching decision on the succession of the Inca Empire, dividing the empire between his eldest son, Huascal, born to him and his own sister, and Atahualpa, born to him and the princess of the former king of Quito. At first, the two brothers lived in peace, but later, the two fought a civil war. Atahualpa defeated and captured Huaskar alive in 1532 and seized the throne. Just as Atahualpa was returning victorious, his army of 70,000 was defeated by more than 100 people led by the Spanish colonial adventurer Pizarro, and he himself was captured, and in order to save his life, he offered to exchange gold for freedom. But the Spaniards reneged on their promise and hanged him in the small town of Camajaca, and thus the Inca Empire came to an end. But Manco, another heir to the throne of the Inca Empire, continued to lead the Incas against the Spanish invaders.

1. The prosperity of the Golden Kingdom is peaceful

Scarlet Sunset (The Fall of the Golden Empire) (Volume I) novel Zhang Baotong

1. It was one morning in August 1526. When the strong sunlight from the equator shines through the windows into the royal palace of Quito, the whole palace is suddenly dazzling and magnificent. The entire palace was covered with gold leaf and walls, the floor was covered with gold bricks of the same size, and even the stones used to build the palace were made of melted gold water. Everywhere the palace went, there were many handsome men and women, as well as countless tigers, lions, bears, deer, cats, dogs, alpacas, and foxes. The size and form of these people and animals are completely cast according to the real thing, and they are vivid and lifelike. The gold-leafed walls are covered with butterflies, lizards, snake pythons and waterfowl, which seem to climb up and down in a playful manner. In a country that worships the sun, gold is a symbol of nobility and worship. The glow of gold became the most attractive color in the entire kingdom. The Inca Empire was a powerful empire full of gold, and the gold treasures in the royal palace of Quito were innumerable. The Imperial Dining Pavilion in the palace is the most noble and luxurious place in the palace. Gold and jewels filled the room, and all the items were extravagant and represented the highest status of the entire empire.

At this time, an old man in his sixties was eating. He sat on a large chair of pure gold, and in front of him was a pure gold dining table about 1.5 meters long and 90 centimeters wide. On the table are delicately patterned, uniquely shaped clay pots, wine utensils and tableware, compared with the golden items in the room, but they look simple and elegant, and extremely noble. The vessel for wine is a clay pot in the shape of an alpaca, and the cup for drinking is a clay vessel in the shape of an alpaca. The shapes of the other cutlery are also very delicate and detailed. The pig's trotters are held in a clay pot shaped like an eel, and the hare is served in a round jar with two ears. And the boiled corn and stewed potatoes are the kind of round pots that say deep but not deep and shallow. And the clay tray with tomatoes resembles a canoe anchored in a calm sea. In short, every item on the table is so simple and simple, full of rhyme, it can be said that it can be said that it is the best or the best in the palace tableware. Because in the Inca Empire, where gold was everywhere and pottery was scarce, pottery was much more precious than gold, and only royal relatives and nobles could own it.

The various delicacies and wines on the table were delivered by courier from all over the empire. There are fresh grapes from the south thousands of miles away, seafood, fish and shrimp from coastal towns, wolf meat from the northern forest areas, and spicy spirits from the capital city of Cusco. But the old man's favorite food is still Quito's native pig's trotters and corn.

The old man was dressed in clothes specially made of the fluff of a huge poisonous spider in the dense forests of the Tumbes region, which was not only very comfortable and smooth, but also very rich and gorgeous. In order to make clothes for the Indica emperors, local officials did not hesitate to capture human lives, and hired a large number of farmers to catch this huge and poisonous spider all year round. And this kind of expensive clothing that was exchanged for his life was worn only once, and then given as a gift to his favorite chieftain or minister.

The Imperial Dining Pavilion was a very large room, and among the dozens of people here, all of them, except for the old man, were his closest concubines. They serve the elderly in the most pious and humble way. The old man first pointed to the plate of wolf meat. A woman hurriedly bowed and handed the plate of wolf meat to the old man with her eyebrows raised. The old man picked up a piece of wolf meat from his plate with his hand and ate it. By this time, the other woman had already bowed, and held her two washed hands under the old man's mouth. The old man chewed for a while, and then spat out the hard meat and bones that had not been chewed into the woman's hand. The old man pointed to the plate of trotters again. So the two women immediately bowed and left, one of the other two women holding the plate, and the other putting clean hands under the old man's mouth.

The old man took two bites and accidentally dropped the pig's trotters on his clothes. So the old man stood up and went into the side bedroom to change his clothes. At this time, the women in the room knelt on the ground, carefully picked up every hair that the old man had fallen on the ground, and then put it in his mouth and ate it. A few close concubines followed the old man into the bedroom.

In the dormitory, it's a different story. Although it is not as large as the Imperial Dining Pavilion, the items inside are more expensive and varied. There is a large golden bed in the room, and the pure gold screen divides the room into two sections. Inside the screen is the place where the king and his concubines sleep, and outside is where the king and his concubines change their clothes and dress. All kinds of gorgeous and noble clothes are placed in rows, whether it is the spider fleece coat of the king or the alpaca fleece coat of the concubines, each of which can be exchanged for a large pile of gold.

Under the service of the concubines, the old man quickly changed into a whole set of brand-new imperial clothes, and returned to the imperial dining pavilion to continue dining. Waited until the old man finished eating. The concubines kept all the food he ate and vomited, as well as the clothes he had changed, so that not even a single hair could be thrown away, and was sent by the postmen to the capital city of Cusco, where they were kept in a special palace and burned at the end of the year. Because the Incas believed that these things contained the soul of the king, and if they fell into the hands of the wicked, it would affect the divine power of the king.

This old man was Vajna Kabak the Great, the twelfth emperor of the present Inca Empire. In the more than 30 years since he succeeded his father, the Tupa Inga Emperor, he has expanded the Inca Kingdom into a huge empire with a population of more than 5,000 kilometers from north to south and tens of millions. Now he not only controls Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, but also conquers Ecuador and the mountainous country of Quito in the north. Now he is the son of the sun, his word is the law, and he can decide the life and death of anyone.

The old man left the Imperial Dining Pavilion and returned to his bedroom, leaning back on the chaise longue, closing his eyes and recuperating. Then Haya the steward came and announced, "Your queen, princes, and ministers are waiting for your summons in the inner chamber of the council. The old man answered lazily, and was supported by the two favorite concubines, and more than a dozen favorite concubines surrounded him and walked towards the inner hall of the meeting.

The inner hall is located on the side of the dormitory, and it is a place where the royal family and princes and ministers are summoned to discuss state affairs. The house is arguably the most luxurious and noble part of the entire palace. The room is about 30 square meters, except for those gold-cast birds and beasts, there is only one thing in the whole house, that is, the king's seat. The seat resembles a large square block of stone, without armrests or backrests, but is cast in a recess in the middle of the stone so that the king can sit. The throne rests on a large square solid gold pedestal in the center of the room.

Today, however, there are chairs and a long table opposite the throne in the inner chamber. This is where the king of Inca wants to summon his relatives. For more than thirty years after King Kabac succeeded to the throne, the Inca Empire continued to expand its territory northward. Especially in the past ten years, the Inca Empire has encountered very strong resistance in the process of controlling the Ecuadorian region, and was almost expelled from Ecuador, so that the Inca Emperor himself had to leave the capital of Cusco and go to Quito to supervise the battle, and only then stabilized the war. Since then, he has never left Quito Norte. So, over the years, the whole family has rarely had the opportunity to sit together.

Venerable Vaina Kabak came to the inner chamber and took his seat on the throne. The family members hurriedly bowed down to the king. The king cordially waved his hand to his family and motioned for everyone to sit down. Then everyone respectfully sat down beside the king in turn.

On the opposite side of the king to the right are Queen Rava Okro, Princess Pariya, and Princess Anna Yama. Opposite the king, facing to the left, are Prince Huascal, Prince Manco and Prince Atahualpa. Prince Ninan Kuyuch did not arrive due to illness.

These three women in front of the king can be described as the noblest and most beautiful women in the Inca Empire. Queen Rava Ockello was the sister of Vajna Capac the Great, known as Koya, or Queen. Although the Inca kings could have hundreds of concubines or be called wives, they could only have one queen, and the queen could only be chosen from among the emperor's own sisters. But Vajna Kabak the Great was married three times in his lifetime. His first wife was his sister Pierku Vaco, but the queen had no children. King Inka's laws and customs required that the heir to the throne must be the legitimate son of his parents, and for this he married his sister Rawa Ocquero. This woman bore him the heir to the throne, Huascal. Later, he married his cousin Mama Lentu and had Manco Inka with her. The first king, King Tupak Inka Yupanki (father of Vajna Kabak the Great) and all the members of his Senate, decreed that the wives of Rava Okliu and Mama Lentu were his legitimate wives (i.e., Empress). The empress was an independent and powerful figure, in charge of the royal housekeeping, and played a large role in the political and administrative management of the empire.

Rava Oakliu wore a long golden dress that symbolized the dignity of the royal power, perhaps because of her age or because of her dignity, the texture of the dress was elegant and delicate, and the color was light. Her demeanor is noble and natural, smiling, although she is over fifty years old, her demeanor is still the same, her charm is extraordinary, and she has a kind of dignity and kindness in the world.

Princess Pariya is much younger than the queen, she wears a noble and elegant purple dress, but the color is much brighter than the queen, and she wears gold pendants and earrings on her nostrils and ears, her face is rubbed with seductive perfume, and her hairstyle is also carefully tidied up.

The young Princess Anna Yama is holy and serene, and she is stunningly beautiful. Her figure is slender, her manners are elegant, she is wearing a long dress with a harmonious combination of pure white and light blue, her long black hair is elegantly draped behind her, and her every move exudes the brightness and brilliance of a celebrity girl, especially her clear and dark blue eyes like a lake, which makes people feel refreshed at a glance and their hearts are transparent.

Look at the young and handsome princes. They were dressed in almost identical attire, with golden tassels on their heads symbolizing their status as princes and two large gold earrings under their ears, a symbol of the young man's nobility and prestige. They all wore the same brocade embroidered robes with red and gold. But their expressions and demeanors are different. Prince Huascal, who is nearly thirty years old, seems to be quiet and gentle, not good at words, perhaps because he has been guarding the capital for his father in Cusco all the year round, supervising the country, and rarely has the opportunity to patronize the northern capital of Quito, so the relationship with his father and brothers is not so close, and the relationship with the princes and ministers in other cities of Quito is relatively strange and unusual.

Prince Manco was the youngest of the three princes, only twelve or thirteen years old, and was actually just a child. He was born to Vajna Capac the Great and his cousin Mama Lentu, and had a legitimate right to the throne. Because he was still young and knew little about court etiquette, he didn't care much about his seat, but just sat in the middle of the two elder brothers according to the etiquette of the Inca palace.

Prince Atahualpa was three or four years younger than his half-brother, Prince Huascal, but he was tall and burly, handsome and dashing, physically strong, and extraordinary, with a kingly demeanor. In particular, he got along with his father since he was a child, was born and died, fought for many years, swept the world, not to mention hard work and meritorious service, and lived in a tent with his father all the year round, eating the same dishes on the same plate, and his father was not only as close as father and son, but also like a close friend, this kind of affection is incomparable with any prince. But because of his damn abominable bloodline and kinship, he had to be ranked behind others. And in terms of the right to inherit the throne, not to mention that he has no qualifications at all, even if he is qualified, he can only rank behind one or two hundred people. Therefore, he is particularly disgusted with the order of seats or the matter of succession to the throne, although he is full of anger, but on the surface he is quiet and calm.

The king coughed dryly in a low voice and said to his family, "It's really not easy for our family to get together today. In particular, Vascal and Prince Manco had traveled thousands of miles from the capital city of Cusco and had worked hard all the way. Today, my father and I have prepared a little wine, so that the family can be together for a while, and have a good drink together. As he spoke, he picked up his glass and drank with everyone.

The Incas ate only two meals a day at eight or nine o'clock in the morning and in the afternoon when the sun was about to set, and the meals were generally relatively simple, and they did not drink alcohol during meals. But after eating, drink alcohol specifically. The Incas had a habit of drinking, that is, if they didn't drink, they would stop drinking, and if they drank, they would drink bitterly. Both men and women will get drunk and rest. (To be continued.) )