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

The next morning, just after breakfast, the King of Inca sat down in a chair in his bedchamber, and his heart was filled with anxiety and irritability at the thought of Prince Ninan Kuyucchi's condition. www.biquge.info Prince Ninan was a conscientious prince who was honest and steady, simple and kind, strict with discipline, and generous, and was very loved by the Inca people. With his death, the position of prince will fall on Washcard's shoulder. In fact, Huascal is also very good, in the more than ten years since he left Cusco, he has governed the Inca capital and the people in an orderly manner, so that there has never been any rebellion and crisis between the Inca people and the provinces, which has fully demonstrated the demeanor of a king.

At this moment, someone suddenly came to report that a messenger had arrived urgently from Tumbes. Tumbes is a coastal town nearly 1,000 kilometres from Quito. Although the road from Tumbes to Quito was unobstructed and the post stations were connected, it would have taken two or three days for the messengers to cross the mountains and rivers and cross the river at the earliest. Therefore, if it is not very urgent and important information, the local administrator will not send people to send thousands of miles and 100,000 people to the palace in a hurry.

When Vajna Capac the Great heard that a messenger had been sent by Tumbes, he was astonished, for whenever news came from afar with a hundred thousand hurried men, it was usually either a disaster or a rebellion of a chieftain, and there was little joy or rejoicing. Therefore, with a frown, he ordered his attendants to send the messenger to the main hall of the palace to wait for the summons.

The outer chamber of the royal palace is the main hall where the king summons his ministers or messengers. Except for some gold or treasure ornaments hanging on the walls of the main hall, there is only one large golden chair in the whole room. The large gold chair weighed about two to three hundred pounds, and it took two people to carry it. The chair was placed in the center of the room, with a solid gold pad under each of the four legs.

King Kabak, supported by several young princesses, walked from his bedroom to the main hall of the outer hall. At this time, several close ministers of the royal palace had already arrived in advance, and they respectfully pressed their faces on the ground and waited for the arrival of the king. As soon as Emperor Kabak sat down on his chair, he raised his hand slightly to Haya who was standing beside him. Haya immediately shouted outside the door, "The messenger of the herald enters the temple." ”

As soon as Hayya's shout fell, he saw a messenger in uniform walking from outside the door to the main hall of the palace with weariness, and when he saw Vajna Capak the Great, he did not dare to raise his head, but threw himself to the ground, and with his face to the ground, he timidly reported, "The supreme King Incas, who has been appointed by Kulaka, the governor of Tumbes, to report to the king something important. ”

The king said, "It doesn't hurt to say it." "A few days ago," said the messenger, "a strange and ominous sign appeared over the bay in front of the town of Tumbes, when a large ship with wings appeared from the clouds, illuminated by the sun, and a bearded white man in a robe made of thunder and lightning was sitting on the boat and approaching us. Puzzled by this, the chief of Kulaka asked the priest to perform a sacrifice and calculate, and the priest said that this was a sign of great calamity. Therefore, the Grand Governor of Kulaka sent a servant to report the matter to the King of Inga. ”

When Vaina Capac the Great heard the messenger's story, he immediately remembered a story he had heard from his elders. Long before the reign of the Inca monarchs, there was a bearded deity from the shores of Lake Titicaca who called himself Contici in the Wacamamayo Valley. He was tall, with a snow-white complexion, a noble demeanor, great strength, and a white robe. When people were disrespectful to him, he would get angry and set a mountain on fire with thunder and lightning to punish the people severely. The terrified people, knowing that their actions had angered the gods, asked him for forgiveness and forgiveness. The all-powerful gods then forgave them, extinguished the fire, and hurried toward the distant mountains, finally descending into the sea in the northern region. Before going down the mountain into the sea, he left a message to the people saying that he would come back.

In addition, he had heard from his fathers that the almighty god Contici would one day emerge from the water to rule the Inca Empire. Moreover, it is said that Contici is a white man who is more intelligent and taller than the Incas, and asks them not to fight against the gods, but to submit to the rule of the gods. So, at the hearing of the messenger's words, Emperor Vajna Capac felt a sense of despair and disillusionment that he had never felt before, and his head immediately ached violently. He raised his hand weakly at the messenger, and asked the attendant to take the messenger to eat and rest, while he sat on a chair with his head in his hands. The concubines beside him hurriedly helped him out of the main hall of the outer hall, returned to the dormitory, and helped him to a large bed covered with gorgeous red felt.

Vaina Capac the Great lay on his bed, thinking about what the messenger had just told him. The Incas believed in superstitions and signs, sometimes to the extreme. So, the Messenger's account gave him a sense of impending or a catastrophe.

After a while, the prince and princess also came to visit the king. They stood respectfully by the king's bedside. Prince Atahualpa knew his father's mood and thoughts, so he sat on his father's bedside and thought of ways to comfort him. He said, "What the messenger is talking about is nothing but a strange and abnormal celestial phenomenon, so why should my father worry about it?" Besides, the Inca royal family has been in line for more than 500 years, the heavens and the earth are peaceful, the great cause is unified, the borders are unlimited, and the whole world is submissive, so why should the father worry?"

When Prince Huascal saw that the king was still frowning, he sighed worriedly, so he persuaded the king, "My father fought all his life, fought in the north and south, and everywhere he went, he attacked the city and pulled out the villages, and the people were obedient.

Emperor Vajna Capak felt that the king had a point, and thought, "Yes, in all his life, only others were afraid of him, and when did he ever fear others?" but he still said with trepidation, "If this man is a barbarian, I will go through the army and trample them down like mole crickets." But this is the god Contici, he has extraordinary strength and wisdom, which we ordinary people and salient beings cannot compete with and compete. ”

Prince Atahualpa was unconvinced and said, "My father has hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, not to mention killing him with one shot and one sword, even one person and one saliva can drown him." Princess Anna next to her persuaded her father, "What Brother Wang said is very reasonable, how can a strange celestial phenomenon predict a bad omen and break the heavens." ”

Listening to the persuasion of his sons, Vaina Capac the Great seemed to be comforted, but he was still not at ease, so he asked Prince Atahualpa to summon the most famous shaman in Quito to measure and decipher this celestial phenomenon. Atahualpa thought about it and asked Haya to call Charkuchma.

It was not about two or three hours before Charkuchma arrived. Charkuchma was a palace shaman, the maternal uncle of Prince Atahualpa, and the elder brother of the royal princess Parya. In the Inca shaman, who was equivalent to a chancellor, presided over the criminal law of the country, presided over the ceremonies of the royal palace, etc., and had great power. Therefore, the shamans were generally the uncles and brothers of the Inca kings.

Chalkuchima came to the chamber of Vajna Capak the Great, knelt respectfully beside the king's bedside, and waited for the king's questioning. The king asked Princess Anna, who was beside him, to tell Charkuchma the signs told by the messenger of Tumbes. Charkuchma nodded, and then whispered to the king, "The supreme King of Inca, by the judgment of his ministers, this is a harbinger of great calamity. Emperor Vajna Capac looked stunned and hurriedly asked, "How?"

Showing a look of fear, Charkuchma said to the king, "According to the signs, this man is only the bearded deity who calls himself Contic. The gods of Contici can soar through the clouds and mist, drive ships and fly into the sky, and they are specially punished for the strong and the weak, and they are uneven. Wherever he appears, disaster will befall the people there. ”

Emperor Vayna Capac was already frightened by the unusual signs that Tumbes had appeared, and when he heard the words of the High Priest of Charkuchma, his heart was even more flustered and worried. He waved his hand to tell Charkuchma and his relatives who were guarding him to stand down, and wanted to lie down quietly for a while, because he felt that he was indeed a little tired, and wanted to sleep quietly for a while.

As soon as everyone left, the room fell silent. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep for a while, but as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw someone come to report that there had been a rebellion in the province of Calanque, on the border of Quito, and that the rebels had gone mad and savage, and had slaughtered all the governors and officials he had stationed, and had eaten their flesh alive, and had taken their hearts and heads as sacrifices. When he heard this, he was so angry that he almost fainted, thinking that these northern barbarian savages were really evil, untamed, and dared to be so bold and rampant, they were simply openly provoking him, the supreme Inca king, and if they were not killed all, they would not be able to eliminate the hatred in his heart, and they would not be able to make an example of the people who would make an example of them. So, he rushed from the city of Cusco to Quito that night, mobilized his army, personally led the army to command, and soon surrounded tens of thousands of rebels, forcing them to surrender at any cost. He then ordered the surrendered rebel captives to be taken to the edge of the Great Lake on the border between the two provinces, and all of them were beheaded. At that time, the blood of the rebel officers and soldiers stained the entire lake of Yavarkocha red. In order to make their descendants remember their crimes and punishments. However, when the rebellion was swept away and triumphant, he was not at all happy, but had a sad and sad feeling that someone dared to plot a rebellion during his reign, and it was so inhumane that he had to resort to the method of violence to quell the rebellion, so that he might be offended by the sun god and fall into the notoriety of brutality. He knew that during the time of the Inca king Viracocha, there was also a rebellion of the Chanca, and instead of killing and surrendering, the king of Viracocha appeased the surrenderees, so that the Inca kingdom has been peaceful and stable for more than a hundred years, and the country and the people are safe.

Just when he was depressed and upset about this, he suddenly heard a loud noise, and saw a white-faced giant in a robe riding a big ship with wings rising from the flat waves of the sea, and above the blue sky and white clouds, shouting at him, "Are you guilty?" he quickly knelt down and replied, "The supreme god of Contici, the Inca king Vajna Capac the Great is well aware of the sin of killing the army, please forgive the sins of the Inga king!"

But the god Contici said, "This sin is too great to be forgiven, and even if I spare the king, the sun god will not spare the king." Then a deafening loud noise broke out between heaven and earth, and then he saw a raging fire burning in the sky, and rushed towards him, and he was so frightened that he cried out desperately for help while running towards the palace in despair. But, wherever he went, the god of death always followed him closely, and as he got closer and closer, he cried out in terror and despair when he saw that the fire was about to burn him, and he felt that he had passed out.

Then Princess Paria woke him up, "What's wrong with the King?" The King opened his eyes in astonishment, and saw the light of an oil lamp shining in the room, surrounded by Washkal, Manco, Prince Atahualpa, and Princess Anna Yama. They were all watching him with a look of concern and doubt. And he was lying in the arms of his beloved concubine Paria. Only then did he realize that he was not dead, but had a nightmare.

Although he woke up from a nightmare, the fear and foreshadowing of the dream made him unsettled. He lay quietly in the arms of his concubine, panting rapidly, and the cold sweat on his forehead was like a sudden raindrop. He knew that the dream was not a good omen, because according to the Inca dream interpretation, burning the body was a harbinger of illness and death, and the absence of a place to hide was a sign of doom. The Incas believed not only in superstition and witchcraft, but also in celestial phenomena and omen in dreams. And this horrific nightmare seemed to convey a very sad and terrible message to him: that he would soon die.

He really never thought about death, nor did he really think about it. Because he felt that he could not have died so early. Because he was not very old, and he had not seen a sign of death. Now, however, the signs have finally appeared.

Lying quietly in the arms of his concubine, looking at the magnificent houses with golden walls and the faces of his amiable and lovely relatives, he really couldn't imagine what death was like, and he really didn't want to leave without letting go.

The sensitive and delicate Princess Anna seemed to sense the fear in the heart of the Inca king from her father's dull gaze, so she went to her father's side, gently touched the king's forehead with her hand, and whispered deeply, "Father, what is wrong with you?" said the Inca king very quietly but very fearfully, "I feel like I am going to die." I'm dying. ”

When the princess heard this, she burst into tears, put her face on the king's body, and said, "No, you are the son of the sun god, the emperor of the Incas, you will not die, you will never die." ”

However, the Inga Emperor, who was regarded as the son of the sun, was extremely afraid of death, despite his lifelong conquest and dominance. Death heralds the end and destruction of the entire world. This fear made him anxious and physically and mentally restless. So, he decided to summon the noble and aged priest of the royal palace, Riticaleba, to watch the celestial phenomena and predict the future for him. Because the Incas believed that what happens in heaven determines what happens on earth. Each tribe or each person has its own planet, and one can predict good and bad luck by observing celestial phenomena and stars.

That night, the wind was calm and the night sky was clear. Vayna Kabak the Great, with his beloved three princes and Princess Anna Yama, sat silently on a lawn in the main hall of the palace. The noble and aged priest of the royal palace, Riticaleba, was looking at the Milky Way stars in the night sky for a long time with his hands behind his back. He was the cousin of Kabak the Great, and was not only in charge of the ceremonies and ceremonies of the Kingdom of Quito and the royal palace of Quito, but also had a great reputation for observing the heavens and predicting the future.

The king did not see the priest replying for a long time, so he asked, "How is it, my cousin?" ”

The princes and princesses beside the king wept bitterly when they saw the priest weeping bitterly. The king was displeased, and said, "If you have something to say, why are you crying?" the noble and aged priest of the palace still cried aloud, "see for yourself, noble king, that Jupiter and Saturn are together again." Every time two stars meet, it is the end and end of a world. I see that the Inca Empire is exhausted, and the end has come. ”

The Great Dynasty looked at Jupiter and Saturn closely, and the two planets did indeed conjunct. The oracles handed down by the ancestors say that Jupiter and Saturn have met forty times in the past few hundred years, the last time was eighty years ago, when the Andes was full of landslides and volcanic eruptions, torrential rains, floods, and floods that flooded the city of Cusco, and all the Incas felt the end of the world. At this critical moment, the wise Inca Emperor hurriedly summoned various tribes across the country to send delegations to the city of Cusco on the day of the winter solstice to worship the gods, because they believed that the road to their ancestors was open on this day. Each delegation brought two innocent young children to worship in the most solemn ceremonies in Cusco, after which some of the children were taken to the high peaks of the Andes as sacrifices to the great gods. The Incas called this ritual the taking of children to the stars, that is, to bring the Incas' supplication to heaven to plead for the sun and moon to be forever young, and to plead for the peace and happiness of the Incas. This prayer may have been a manifestation, as the flood withdrew from the capital city of Cusco, the volcano gradually subsided, and the Inca Empire returned to its former calm.

The Great Kabak pondered for a long time, and said to the priest of Riticaleba in the tone of the pleading of the sun god, "I will have the priests of the whole kingdom come and pray, I will have the heads of every tribe come and worship, and I will send an earnest plea to the stars, and whatever the great sun god needs, I will fulfill." ”

However, the noble and elderly palace priest shook his head helplessly, and whimpered sadly, "Everything is useless, my supreme king, my noble monarch, you see that among the stars of the galaxy, the sun has deviated from its orbit, and the door of hope has been closed. Everything is already useless. ”

The king seemed to despair, like a clay sculpture of a candle in its last years, standing there for a long time, motionless, and for a long time he said, "Is there not even a little hope?" The shaman was speechless from grief, but shook his forehead vigorously on the ground. The king lowered his head, as if he was enduring sorrow, but he still did not hold back, and suddenly cried, and then, as soon as he turned around, covered his face and left alone. (To be continued.) )