Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve Episode two hundred and fifty six to the
Amazon. In our last episode, Mango Inca's great rebellion sputtered out. There
was no great climax. Instead, I guess I think about Manco's rebellion like
the tide. It came in, failed to reach the sand castle only inches
from its apex, and then it receded. Mango came tenttalizingly close to eliminated
the Bizarro presence once and for all. But close only counts in horseshoes and
hand grenades. As they say. At the of our last episode, Manco
made the gut wrenching decision to abdicate control over ninety percent of his kingdom.
He decided to make a tactical retreat to the Amazon rainforests. This was a
place he was certain Pisarro could not and would not follow him. But as
we will see today, Francisco Pisaro is nothing if not determined. From the
central Andes, Manko and his followers made their way to the land of the
Antis. The Antis Indians lived on the eastern foothills of the Andes. As
the mountains began to give way to the rainforest, these people were actually not
indigenous to the region, if I'm being honest, These were settlers whom the
Inca had long before forced to migrate. The Inca wanted a sort of border
or buffer on their eastern flank, and the Antists provided that protection. The
land was very good. The Antists were able to produce cocoa leaves and traded
with the people of the Inner Amazon. The largest town and it really wouldn't
be fair to call it any more than that was vitkos Vikos was only seventy
miles from Cusco, as the crow flies, and here Manko decided would be
his new capital. Now. Meanwhile, back in Cusco, things were not
going well for the Pizzaro's. Almagro, who last time seized Cusco by force,
had Hannando and Gonzalo Pisaro under lock and key in directed defiance of Francisco's
order. Almagro had by now decided he was going to take Cusco by force,
regardless as to what Francisco might order or anyone else. There was no
great empire to the south, and regardless who was to say that Cusco was
not in southern Peru and hence subject to his jurisdiction anyway, Almagro was going
to hold Cusco at all costs and appointed his second in command, Rodrigo orgonz
a man who we met last time, a man who had been with Almagro
for about five years. Orgonos was the son of poor Jewish shoemakers who had
been forced to convert to Christianity after the end of the rigon Quista. In
order to keep Cusco safe, Almagro ordered Orgonez to march out with a force
of Spaniards and Incan auxiliaries to take out a nearby moderately sized force under the
command of what Pisato subordinates. So this is essentially an outright civil war.
At this point. Not only did Orgones smash this force, but then and
he managed to convert much of this army's Spanish troops to Almagro's side. When
Orgones returned from this victory, he gave Almagro two pieces of advice. First,
he said Almagro needed to execute the two Pisardo brothers immediately. If freed,
Orgones knew that Hernando and Gonzalo would seek to avenge their present humiliation.
Second, he asked Almagro for permission to immediately launch an attack on Lima.
Francisco Pizaro was weak at the present. If they took him and his brothers
out, then they would be the undisputed leaders of Peru. Almagro did not
take either piece of advice, and he would come to regret it. But
for the moment, Almagro was concerned more about Manco Inca. He worried that
if he committed his forces to attacking Lima, then Manko might attack a relatively
undefended Cusco. So instead of finishing off the Pisados, El Madro ordered Orgones
to first capture or kill the rebel Inca emperor. It would be a decision
he would come to regret. So in mid July fifteen thirty seven, Orgones
left Cusco at the head of an army of three hundred Spanish cavalry and different
foot soldiers. Very quickly, they found their path blocked by trees and boulders
deliberately placed there by Manco's troops. But by this time Manco's brother Paulu,
was working with El Magro's faction, and once again we see how local infighting
allows a foreign power to dominate the situation. Paulo's men cleared the obstructions,
and the army proceeded. Now, before the army left Cusco, Almagro had
Paulo crowned emperor, further fracturing the Inca elite. Paulo had no intention of
throwing in with his brother, and he had rebuffed multiple requests from Manco Inca
to join him in Vitkos. According to one chronicler quote, every day they
sent messages to Paulo telling him to come and join them in Vitkos, as
he had served long enough with the Christians. But Paulo warily replied that he
was friends with these men Almagro's faction, who were so courageous that no matter
what they intempted, they always emerged victorious, and that when there were only
two hundred Spaniards in the city of Cusco, more than two thousand Indians had
been assembled to kill them, and the only honor and benefit they got from
it was to leave many children fatherless and many women widows. More than fifty
thousand men died in the war, according to what he was told. Paulo
advised the messengers and other Indians who were going back and forth from his camp
not to take up arms against the Spaniards end quote. Paulo was, like
many people, an opportunist. He vastly preferred life as a puppet emperor living
in luxury compared to a subordinate in some far off jungle village. But for
the moment, however, Mango had other things to worry about. A native
runner had just reached him with news that a large Spanish force was making its
way down the Lucamayo River on its way to the Omnibamba Valley, where Manko
were presently visiting. If Manco didn't immediately flee, the messenger said, then
the Spaniards would surely capture or kill him. Manko therefore climbed onto his royal
litter and was borne across the river over the hanging bridge at Chichikacha, leaving
instructions behind for the town's defense. Not long afterwards, Orgones and his men
arrived and found a legion of native warriors defending the town again. According to
the same chronicler as before quote, Orgonz as soon as he was quite close,
ordered the crossbow men to shoot many arrows, so that the Indians,
seeing the damage that was being done to them, might decide that it was
best to abandon the fort. To some extent, the Indians proved themselves to
be brave and determined, defending the area and the fort and launching many darts
and stones against the Christians. But the Spaniards wore them out so much that
they were compelled to abandon that place, and to save their lives, they
hurried to use their last resort, which was to flee. The Spaniards reached
great havoc among them, leaving many of them dead or wounded. Quote The
next morning, Orgones crossed the bridge and reached the outskirts of Vitkos. Evidently
Manko's unreachable location was anything but Manco was already gone by then, having fled
further up into the mountains this time, and despite riding through the night,
there was no sign of Manko to be found in or around Vitkos. The
renegade emperor had once more seemingly vanished. Orgones did manage to capture Manko's son,
Titukusi. This was very important, not so much for Orgonz at the
time, but for posterity. You see, Titukusi is the source of essentially
all our knowledge about the Inca side of things. During Manko's reign. So
whenever I have given you an eyewitness account of internal Inca affairs, generally that
has come from the pen of Titukusi. Regardless, apart from the failure to
capture Manko Inca, Orgonz's expedition had been a resounding success. The back of
the insurrection had been broken. No matter where Manko fled, the reality was
he would have hardly any followers left to lead. But back in Cusco,
the political situation remained tenuous. No one had yet been able to determine whether
Cusco lay within Almagro or Francisco Pisaro's half of Peru. For the moment,
Almago had vastly more military strength and two of his brothers held prisoner, so
Francisco decided he would be better to try to negotiate with his former partner.
These negotiations worked back and forth through a go between an elderly lawyer named Gus
Barter de Espinoza. Espinoza's strategy was, frankly, just to get the two
sides to agree to something anything. If Pizarro and Almagro agreed to some border,
any border somewhere, then the whole matter could later be brought to a
final conclusion in Spain before the King's Council when they had time. The biggest
problem, as Espinoza saw it, were the two Pisaro brothers in Almagro's custody.
He knew, just like Orgonez, that they were likely, if not
certain, to seek revenge if released, which he also knew would destroy any
effort at peace. For months, these negotiations dragged on, all the while
fresh reinforcements continued to arrive in Lima, strengthening Francisco Pizzaro's bargaining position. During
this period. By the way, somehow, and honestly, I've read multiple
different primary and secondary histories about this, and all of them to sort of
flippantly throw this out there, but during this period, somehow Gonzalo Pizzaro manages
to escape from prison, I don't know how and joins his brother in Lima.
Almagro was now faced with an excruciatingly difficult choice execute his remaining prisoner,
Hernando Pizarro, or release him. Keeping him in custody indefinitely just wasn't going
to be a long term solution, so his captains all urged Almagro to just
kill Hernando. Now arguing that he would never forgive the old conquistador for keeping
him locked up. But in the end, Espinoza, who was arguing to
have the man released, arguably because Gonzalo having been released, more or less
just forces his hand at this point. I mean, there's no chance the
pros forgive al Magro if he executes Hernando. At this point, there's maybe
a tiny chance they forgive him if they do let him go, And Spinoza's
argument seems to have gotten to Almagro. You know, the thing of it
is is al Magro just kind of like Francisco Pizarro's an old man, and
now he's sixty three years old. You know, he knew killing Hernando would
be in civil war and didn't want that to happen. I mean, even
if he won, by the time he won a protracted civil war, he
would likely be in his late sixties or early seventies. So eventually he released
Hernando on the man's pledge that he would uphold the piece. Of course,
Almagro's captains, especially Oregonez, had been right. Within two months of his
release, the civil war between the Pisaros and Almagro had been declared, and
Hernando was right there in the middle of it. On Saturday, April the
twenty six, fifteen thirty eight, at dawn mid a swampy area called Las
Salinas, some two miles west of Cousco, two European armies faced each other
preparing for battle. Francisco Pizaro, now years old, had remained in Lima
and had placed his thirty eight year old brother, then in charge of recapturing
the Inca's former capital. With the various reinforcements of men and supplies that had
arrived in Lima, which had included a ship sent from Mexico by Cortez himself,
Hernando now commanded a force of more than eight hundred Spaniards and several thousand
Native auxiliaries. At least two hundred of Hernando's troops were mounted cavalry, fully
armored and wielding lances and swords. These Hernando had divided equally and positioned on
either of his two flanks. In the middle were five hundred armored foot soldiers
bearing shields and swords. In the front two rows stood a hundred hark abus
men. The guns were currently the vogue in European warfare, as their lead
projectiles could penetrate the thickest of armor, thus eliminating the need for hand to
hand combat. On the other side of the plane, Almagro's forces five hundred
men compared the Hermandos more than eight hundred waited. These were comprised of two
hundred and forty cavalry, about two hundred and sixty foot soldiers, six cannon,
and six thousand native warriors bearing mace clubs and slings. The native warriors
had been supplied by now Emperor Paolo Inca, who, like Manko, now
wore the scarlet emperor's fringe and rode at his own royal litter. Almagro had
instructed Paolo to position his warriors around the edges of the plane, with orders
to kill any Spaniard who tried to flee the battle, no matter which side
they belonged to. Paolo dutifully transmitted the order to his captains. Almagro was
now too sick to ride a horse, but he turned his army over to
his second in command, Rodrio Rogonez, who had hoped in vain to prevent
this battle which was about to unfold. According to one chronicler quote, Governor
Almago had come out from Cusco in a litter with his army, and before
arriving at Las Salina's he reached a plane where he said to his captains that
they would now see how the negotiations had ended up, and how he had
been rejected, and how he would not be coming to battle if things had
not broken down in such a manner, since war was a disservice both to
God and his majesty. That they could now see how Hernando Pesaro and his
brother, despite so many promises in negotiations, had come looking for them,
while those who followed their banners did so because they believed that all the land
would be divided up among them. Once they discovered that they had been deceived,
however, they would never dare to start a war again. Since justices
on your side, he told the men, fight fiercely so that victory will
be yours, and that they will be punished severely land quote. Hernando meanwhile
took time to address his own men, many of whom were actually newly arrived
in Peru, and who ironically found themselves not about to fight the native insurgency
that they had been summoned for, but instead against their own countrymen. Nevertheless,
the Spaniards on both sides realized that if they were victorious on this day,
then they would surely be rewarded with lands and spoils the Kingdom of Peru.
Each of the assembled combatants understood was very much up for grabs. According
to a chronicler again quote, when he was a few miles away, Hernando
Pisado halted before his captains and his men and made a speech justifying his cause.
He said that Almagro had incited the war while he Hernando had been in
Cusco striving for justice in the name of the king, and that Almagro had
imprisoned him and treated him brutally, as everyone knew, but that more as
a point of honor than because of past injuries. He wanted to punish those
who followed Almagro and who shared in his blunders, because they had helped him
commit his past mistakes, and that now, by the order of the Governor
Francisco Pizaro, they had come to regain the city of Cusco and to free
it from Almagro's oppressive rule. When the war was over, there would be
many provinces and discoveries to divide among them, which would be awarded to them
and not to any others end quote. As the two forces readied themselves,
Governor Almagro had a seat prepared for himself on a nearby hill where he could
watch the battle unfold. On adjacent hills, a crowd of native onlookers stood
in anticipation of a spectacle that they had never seen before. Two armies of
bearded invaders seemingly about to attack each other in what the natives could only assume
was the foreigner's version of Inca style civil war. Again, according to one
chronicler, as the news of the battle that was about to be fought between
the men of Chile and those supporting Pizarro spread far and wide, natives from
many towns came to attend, overjoyed that such a day had arrived, and
believing that some satisfaction might be had for the injuries they had suffered from the
Spaniards. They stood on the slopes and the hills, hoping that neither the
Spanish captain would be victorious, but that somehow everyone would die and be killed
with their own weapons. The wives of the Indian chiefs and the Spaniards servant
girls also came out of the city and went to see who those were going
to fight in the battle now. According to some Rodrigo oregonz now rode up
before his troops, encouraging them and boasting a good deal. He was a
veteran of the Italian Wars, and the Oregones was certain that Hernando would not
attack, even though he wielded superior numbers, as Hernando had to know the
kind of carnage that his troops would suffer. Instead, Orgones told his men,
walking back and forth briskly sword drawn, Hernando's troops would surely break away.
At the last moment. They would attempt to race around their flanks,
hoping to reach Cusco and seize it and thus avoid open combat on the cold,
silent planes beyond Cusco, with the ownership of Peru hanging in the balance,
and with Manko's spies, of course, watching from the hillsides those Spaniards
who had them close their visors. The cavalrymen lifted their lances and unsheathed their
swords. All looked at their commander, preparing and waiting for the signal to
attack. Hernando Pizarto, his horse snorting, presumably looking down his lines,
then directly at Orgones across the plane from him, not taking his eyes from
him, Hernando Pizzato raised his sword high, held it aloft for a moment,
and then quickly brought it down. He was going to attack. Orgonez
had been wrong. A hundred of harkabus men now pulled their triggers, which
brought a smoldering wick in contact with a line of powder leading directly to the
barrel of the gun. The guns exploded, projecting lethal lead balls like invisible
rockets toward orgones as men. Hernando's crossbowmen meanwhile also fired their weapons, launching
a volley of metal tipped arrows at enemy troops behind them. Hernando's army now
began advancing across the plane, obeying their orders to carry out a frontal assault.
Orgones, stunned that Hernando was attacking instead of attempting to avoid a battle
as he predicted, watched as huge clumps of his footmen and many horses and
cavalrymen around him suddenly went down as if their legs had cut out from under
them. Quote Then the battle began, and Captain General Rodrigo Oregonez, seeing
that the enemy harquebussers were gashing his troops, said to one of his captains,
who commanded fifty cavalrymen, charged, Sir, with your squadron and break
up the harquebusers. The captain answered, do you mean me to be butchered?
Then Orgonez raised his eyes to heaven and shouted, protect me, Almighty
God, and attacked the enemy single handedly, a big, powerful man riding
a powerful, light gray horse. And he speared a foot soldier and cut
off the head of harquebusser and wounded another in the thigh, returning to the
ranks of his own men in the face of the enemy. End quote,
and now the slaughter began. Both armies sort of smashed into each other,
the footmen with swords and pikes, the cavalry with their lances, everyone shouting
ironically Santiago or long lived the King, both sides shouting the same thing on
different occasions. Then the men joined together. The sounds of metal clanging,
men shouting, horses neighing, and more arquebus explosions, which of course is
startling the natives more than anything else. Decimated by Hernando's fierce weapons attack at
the beginning, and sorely outnumbered, Orgon as his troops at first struggled to
hold their ground. Then, under the full onslaught of Hernando's attack, they
slowly began to fall back. Almagro's field commander nevertheless continued to fight fiercely from
his horse, attempting to rally his troops by driving his sword under the open
visor into a man's mouth, and then slashing at another, spurring his mount
ever fiard. As his men continued to fall back, he entreated them not
to retreat or going as swiveled and charged as volley after volley of bullets ripped
his horse out from under him, throwing the marshal to the ground. Regaining
his feet, orgones continued to fight, although this time on foot his sword.
Soon, however, six of Hernando's men closed in, attacking the marshal
simultaneously. As the men stabbed him repeatedly, Orgonez finally fell with shouts of
triumph. Several of the men now ran their swords completely through the Marshal's body
until their sword points impaled the stiff soil below. This son of Jewish cobblers,
who had stolen a noble pedigree, and who had hoped, like they
had all hoped, to rule his own kingdom of natives, was finally dead,
shoving a sword into the base of Orgonez's neck. This soldier now lifted
the bloodied bearded head on high for all of pis Otto's enemies to see.
Elmagro's troops now broke completely and began to flee, intent only on saving their
lives now. At some point during the melee, Paolo Inca, who was
watching all this, of course, and whose troops had been fighting on behalf
of Almagro, abruptly and suddenly switched sides, Realizing that the battle was lost
and abandoned now by even his own native litter bearers. Diego de Almagro,
who could see it all unfolding, desperately caught hold of a stray mule and
began riding it back toward Cusco, kicking the animal in the sides to hurry
it along. The Battle of Las Salinas, as it became known, was
a complete route. The losses were absolutely staggering, about one hundred and twenty
on Almagro's side, about nine that single digit nine for Hernando. A few
days later, Hernando Pizaro went to visit the defeated al Magro, a man
with whom he had always competed with for power and who he had long despised.
Despondent and worried about his fate, Almagro asked Hernando if his old partner,
Francisco Pisaro, planned to come to Cusco, that the two might settle
their differences. Hernando, knowing full well that his fate now lay in his
hands, was uncharacteristically kind to the old conquistador. He assured him that his
elder brother would be more than likely to visit, and that even if he
were for some reason detained well, Almagro could go visit Francisco Pisardo himself in
Lima in the city of Kings. Having reassured Almagro, Hernando left outside.
However, he gave instructions to begin judicial proceedings against his brother's former partner,
a necessary step before Almagro could be executed. For the next few weeks,
Hernando reassured Almago that his brother was sure to visit, and he also made
sure that his prisoner was well treated. Almagro, believing that the relationship between
him and his former partner could somehow be repaired, waited impatiently for the elder
Pisarto to what happens next is recorded by one chronicler as follows. Quote.
Hernando Pisaro, having assembled a great body of armed men in the house,
entered the prison cell of Governor Don Diego de Almagro and notified him of the
sentence of death, And when the unfortunate man hurt it, he considered it
to be an abominable deed, contrary to law, justice and reason. He
was astonished and replied that he would appeal to the Emperor and King. Hernando
responded that he Almagro should commend his soul to God, because the sentence would
be carried out. Then the poor old man fell to his knees and said,
Commander Hernando Pisaro, content yourself that the revenge you've already enjoyed. Be
aware that, besides the treason to God and the Emperor that my death will
cause, that you are repaying me poorly. For I was the first rung
on the ladder by which you and brother Francisco rose to power. Remember that,
when you were in my position and my council members were begging me to
cut off your head, I alone spared your life. End quote. It
didn't do any good. On July eighth, fifteen thirty eight, Diego de
Almagro gave his last confession. At the last moment, as he stood waiting
to be executed, Almagro turned to the men and tried to use guilt to
dissuade them from going through with it. Quote gentleman, doesn't all this land
belong to the king? Then why do you want to kill me? After
I have done his majesty so many services? Be aware, because if you
think that his majesty is presently far away, then it will soon seem that
his power is quite near. And if you don't believe that there is a
king here, then you better believe that there is a god who watches over
everything. End quote Ernando. However, at some point just kind of got
tired of all of this and decided enough. He gave the order and told
the men to get along with it. Almagro unable to believe that after having
helped to conquer the largest native empire that had ever been discovered in the New
World, this was how his life was going to end, and began to
cry out, you tyrants, you're stealing the king's land, and you are
killing me for no reason. Now, this is all taking place inside of
his jail cell, and no one can really see what's going on in the
street outside. Muffled shouts were heard for a time and then suddenly ceased.
Not long afterward, the town crier emerged from Almagro's prison and, hurrying was
followed by a priest in a long black robe. Both headed up the street
line with inca stone toward the main square, leaving the rounded corners of the
Temple of the Sun behind. As they walked, the crier composed in his
head the news he would soon shout out to Cusco streets for one and all
to hear, namely that Don Diego de Almagro, governor of the Kingdom of
New Toledo and native of Spain, was dead. Not long after Almagro's death,
news reached Cusco that Manko Inca had a new capital located deep in the
Amazon rainforest. The town of v Kamamba was now the capital of the new
Inca free state that had only one law, and he Spaniard was to be
killed site v Kabamba only thirty miles from Manco's previous capital. It was about
one hundred miles from Cusco, but it was more or less in the heart
of the jungle. Manko was supremely confident that Pizzaro would never find him here.
Immediately, he began remaking the town into a new imperial capital. Despite
his recent setback, and yes, that term is an understatement, Manko still
intended to keep up his goal of ejecting the Spanish from Peru. From his
capital, he maintained his lines of communication that sneaked westward from v Kabamba.
He continually sent messages out saying one thing and one thing only, resist,
Resist the invaders at all costs. It was not over. And you know
he wasn't wrong. Pizzaro, even though he had emerged from the conflict with
Almagro successfully, still had less than two two thousand Spaniards in an empire that
was over two thousand, five hundred miles long. A rule of modern warfare
is that an occupying army should have a ratio of somewhere between ten to twenty
soldiers for one thousand inhabitants. Hence, to control the five million inhabitants of
the Inca Empire, the Spaniards theoretically needed fifty thousand to one hundred thousand soldiers,
So Frenziescopizato was attached short. When news reached Manco of a Magro's death,
his resolve only stiffened. At one point he hoped that the civil war
might break out between the Spaniards and tear them apart. That hope was gone
now he knew he had to rely on his own resources. Manko himself had
no intention of staying in Via Kabamba. He was soon back in the andes
north of Cousco, personally organizing bands of guerilla fighters, and he was incorporating
a new tactic into his campaign, outright terror. According to one chronicler quote,
the king Mango Inca had retired into the mountain fastness of the Anti Zuni
region with the Orejones and old military leaders who had made war on the Spaniards,
and as the merchants from Lima and other areas carried their goods to Cusco,
the Indians attacked them, and after seizing their goods, they either murdered
them or carried some of the way alive, and returning with them on horseback
to their mountain strongholds, they tortured those Christians they had taken alive in the
presence of their women, revenging themselves for the injuries they had suffered by shoving
sharp stakes in the lower parts of their bodies until they came out their mouths.
This news caused such terror that many Spaniards who private or even government business,
didn't dare go to Cousco unless they were well armed and had an escort.
After receiving reports that Manko had returned, Bizaro quickly appointed a lieutenant to
track him down, capture or kill him, and they almost did. The
Spanish raiding party got so close that Manco was forced to saddle one of the
captured horses and flee. Manko had never learned to read, but evidently he
had learned to ride. Spanish followed him, but quickly they walked into a
trap. As the men struggled up the slope of the mountain pursuing Manko,
one of them suddenly shouted a warning, causing the Spaniards to look up and
see the silhouettes of what appeared to be numerous warriors on the hilltop above.
The Spaniards were further stunned to see racing down toward them four natives on horseback
carrying lances, with many more warriors racing behind them on foot. Caught by
surprise on a steep path with a sheer drop off below. Seven crossbowmen raised
their weapons to fire as a handful of harquebussers desperately tried to light the wicks
of their guns as Mankoes warriors began hurling down sling stones and darts from above.
A few harquebussers fired, causing one native to die instantly, but by
then Mankos warriors were among them, smashing the Spaniards with their mace clubs,
hurling sling stones, and pressing the Spaniards back down the trails so forcefully that
many of the Spaniards and their horses simply tumbled off the slope, the men
screaming briefly before hitting the ground far below. Manko and his four horse cavalry
meanwhile effectively used their lances to stab and skewer the remaining Spaniards, who presumably
had never before been attacked by natives on horseback. After a fierce struggle,
the battle ended in a route. The captain, covered in wounds and with
his arm broken by a native battle axe, had eventually fallen to the ground.
He had committed two fatal errors. First, he had allowed himself to
be caught by surprise on steep terrain where he and his Spaniards were unable to
use their horses. And second, he had allowed Manko's warriors to attack them
from the heights above. Of the thirty men, twenty eight were killed or
else felt to their deaths. Only two escaped. Despite his success, Manko
knew that his present military situation was far different from the one he had enjoyed
years prior. Manko had far fewer troops, so he needed to avoid direct
confrontrations with Pisaro. He needed to fight a true guerrilla war based on ambush
and hidden run tactics. His goal was to kill small groups of Spanish soldiers,
steal their horses and arms, and incorporate this superior military technology into his
army. If given enough time, I think this might have worked, but
the reality was Mano didn't not have enough time. Not long after the latest
ambush, Francisco Pizaro lit a force of cavalry out of Cusco in pursuit of
Manco inca, Manco was already moving back east. However, catching him would
not be an easy task. As he moved, Manko fired off messengers to
his supporters across the Realm to the south of Cusco, his high priest villac
Umo was still hold up in a mountain. After receiving a message from Manco,
he began organizing resistance and carrying out orders to attack Spaniards anywhere and everywhere.
Frightened and comiendo owners found themselves once more being forced to travel with armed
guards for protection. These people would have to defend for themselves. Francisco and
his men were heading north. They still knew that if they could cut off
the head of the snake, then the entire rebellion would probably melt away.
Gonzalo Pizardo was left behind in Cusco with instructions to begin a campaign of terror
in the region. If this was to be an insurgency, then they would
treat it like one. There would be no distinction made between combat men,
women and children. Everyone was to be treated as an enemy and no one
given any quarter. In April of fifteen thirty nine, as the counter insurgency
in the north continued, Francisco Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarto met in Cusco in order
to discuss their plans for their next steps in the conquest slash reconquest slash reconquest
of Peru. Because of the complications caused by Almagro's execution, Francisco thought it
best that Hernando returned to Spain to exonerate himself. Hernando had too many enemies
by now. Francisco believed who could poison the king's ear and who could turn
the king against Hernando and as a result, the rest of the Pizarro family.
If his brother took with him a newly chronicled written series of events that
featured obviously Hernando as an Indian fighter during a siege and a hero, and
of course, buckets upon buckets of new gold for the king, then Francisco
felt that his brother should be able to successfully plead his innocence. Gonzalo,
by contrast, who was now twenty seven, thought that the plan was terrible.
It would be best for Hernando to remain in Peru, he argued,
and if necessary, for him to just wait here, lance and sword at
the ready in Spain, Hernando could be at the mercy of his enemies and
with none of his family there to help him. Hernando, however, answered
ankrily, saying that Gonzalo was just a boy and didn't know the king.
In any case, Hernando had already made up his mind, so none of
this really mattered. He would return to Spain and he would meet with the
King. Then, once the issue of Almagro's execution had been taken care of,
he would go ahead and petition the king for additional favors. In other
words, Hernando took a very rosy view of the situation. On the day
of his departure, Francisco, Gonzalo and a small group of conquistadors accompanied Hernando
a short way out of town and then dismounted from their horses to say good
bye. Hernando embraced both of his brothers before taking pains to warn Francisco about
the potential danger of Amagro's followers, those who had gone with the now dead
governor of Chile and who had fought against the Pisardos, and who were still
bitter and destitute. According to Pedro Pisaro quote, Hernando Pisardo, on taking
leave of his brother the Marquis, said to him, you know that I
am going to Spain, and that, besides God, that we're all depending
on you. I say this because those from Chile are behaving very disrespectfully.
If I weren't going away, there would be nothing to fear, and he
told the truth, because they were very afraid of him. Make friends with
them and give them something to eat to those who wish it. But do
not allow even ten of those who want nothing to gather together within fifty leagues
from wherever you are, for if you do, they're bound to kill you.
Ernando Pizzaro send these words, allowed we all heard them, and embracing
the marquis, he set off and went away. Quote. One thing that
all the brothers agreed upon before Hernando's departure was that Manko Inca had to be
exterminated. Shortly thereafter, Gonzalo began organizing another expedition with the goal of finding
and killing the rebel emperor. Three hundred Spaniards immediately volunteered for the expedition,
both cavalry and infantry. This time, Paulu would go along and give the
expedition at least the veneer of legitimacy from Inca eyes. Paulu was desperate to
see Manko Inga dead. So long as he lived there was a chance that
Paulu could be supplanted, but if Manko died, then Paulu was the Spaniards
last chance at a puppet emperor. So in April fifteen thirty nine, after
Hanano departed, the expedition at last set out. Before long, the Spaniards
were descending the mountains and following their native guides into the dark, twisting world
of the Amazon. For them, the experience must have been like visiting an
alien planet. The impressive heat and humidity caused the men to sweat profusely through
their armor. The dead vegetation meant that they could not see perhaps more than
five yards in any direction. It was dark, it smelt of decay,
and strange sounds echoed all around them. Plus there was not a question of
if they would be attacked, but when they would be attacked. One Jesuit
priest wrote as follows quote. Those who live in the Amazon eat human flesh.
They are fiercer than tigers. Have neither God nor law, nor know
what virtue is. They have no idols nor likenesses of them. They worship
the devil when he represents himself in the form of some animal or serpent and
speaks to them. If they make a prisoner in war, you know that
he is oblebeion of low rank. They quarter him and give the quarters to
their friends and servants to eat or to sell in the meat market. But
if he is of nobal rank, the chiefs gather with their wives and children,
and like ministers of the devil, they strip him, tie him alive
to a stake, cut him into pieces with flint knives and razors, so
as not to dismember him, but to remove the meat from the fleshiest parts
of the calves, thighs, bucks, and fleshy parts of the arm.
Men and women sprinkle themselves with the blood, and they all devour the flesh
very rapidly, without cooking it or roasting it thoroughly, or even chewing it.
They swallow it in mouthfuls, so that the wretched victim seize himself eaten
alive. Quote. Walking single file, the Spaniards arrived at a canyon through
which two streams flowed. Crossing over the two bridges that had been recently constructed.
They now emerged into a clearing that had high bluffs on either side and
was filled with the sound of rushing water. Pedro Pissaro later recalled, when
some Spaniards had crossed the bridge, the Indians who were hidden hurled down many
boulders the mountains above These boulders are huge stones that they throw from above,
and which come rolling down with great fury. These boulders carried away three Spaniards,
smashing them into bits and knocking them into the river. Those Spaniards,
who had already gone ahead into the forest found many Indian archers who began to
shoot arrows at them and to wound them. And had they not found a
narrow path from which they threw themselves into the river, they would have all
been killed. But they could not come to grips with the Indians, who
were hidden among the trees. The Spaniards had blundered into a trap. According
to the report of Titukutsi quote, my father Manko Inca heard from the spies
he had stationed on the roads, how Gonzalo Pisato and many others were coming
after them, and that three of his own brothers were coming with them.
And he Manko went there and found I don't know how many Spaniards, because
the forest was so thick you couldn't count them. And he fought with them
fiercely on the banks of the river and those bridges that the Spaniards had crossed
it turned out, had recently been built by Mankoes warriors in order to purposely
divert the Spaniards from the normal trail and lead them into the area where they
could be crushed by falling rocks. It was the ambush by boulder technique that
was the same that had been used by Manco's great General Quiso. However,
Manko's warriors bunkled the job and had released the boulders too soon. The ambush
nevertheless caused the long Spanish and Inca column to stop dead in its tracks.
After fierce fighting throughout the day, and with the Spaniards hardly able to see
the attackers, so well did the native Amazonians use the forest to hide in.
The Spaniards finally retreated That night, Gonzalo and his men retrace their steps
by torchlight back to where they had left their horses in order to regroup and
decide what to do. Demoralized by their recent casualties and by the shadowy Indians
who could let loose volleys of arrows yet who could scarcely be seen, the
Spaniard sent to Cousco for reinforcements. Now, at this point, all that
really stands between Manko and the Spanish army pursuing him was a single canyon blocked
by a large stone outcropping that formed a natural barricade. The Incas got a
round said barricade with ladders, which of course, they had now removed.
In addition, Mano had ordered a stone wall with windows be erected on the
top of said outcropping, making the defense more formidable. With hundreds of armed
Spaniards now only a little more than a dozen miles from his capital, and
according to his spies, with more Spanish reinforcements gathering in Cusco, those are
the ones Gonzalo sent for. He had to find a way to destroy his
enemies, or else make life so difficult that they had to give up and
return to the Andes. Gonzalo Pizzaro soon decided to mount a frontal attack against
the barricade, sending a force ahead with orders to seize it. As the
Spaniards began to scramble up the stone outcrop and reach the wall, Manko choose
this right moment, however, to reveal his latest military innovation. Loud explosions
suddenly erupted, and blasts of smoke issued from the perforations in the wall directly
before the attackers. Spanish prisoners apparently had shown Manko's warriors how to fire his
stockpile of captured harkabuses seized from Spaniards. It was for this reason that Manko
had left the small openings in the wall on top of the barricade. After
the stunt Spaniards had retreated and then began to examine the wall carefully, they
could see the barrels of the harquebuses manufactured in Spain, drawing direct lines of
fire on them. While surprising, Manko's innovation was hardly decisive, and after
days of skirmishing, the stalemate between the two sides simply wore on. The
Spanish were unable to break through Manko's stone wall, but with reinforcements from Coup,
Gonzalo decided he would try something a little more innovative. He had half
of his men conduct a faint. They peppered the defenders with a series of
half hearted but constant attacks. Then the other half of his men snuck around
the outcrapping and scaled the canyon edge so as to get to the heights above.
As the Natives focused on defending their position from the men below, They
suddenly found themselves under attack from crossbow men and hark abuses from above. Forced
to retreat, Manko again made the painful decision to withdraw from his most recent
capital. Gonzalo and his troops followed the stone causeway until they reached Kabamba,
until now a city that they had only heard about in legend. It stretched
out about a mile before them in a forest clearing, but it was totally
deserted. So in July fifteen thirty nine, Gonzalo gave up his latest chase
for Manko and returned to Cousco, exhausted. Upon hearing the news, Frenziesco
Pizarto decided to return to the coast, to Los Reyes and continue the work
of building his capital on the sea. Pisaro believed this time it was really
over. Manco Inca had been chased from yet another jungle capital. It was
over. The great rebellion was at an end. But Pizarto's troubles were not.
Of course, Just as it seemed he had beaten the enemy from without,
word reached him that he had a new enemy, one from within.
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