Mexica by Norman Spinrad

Author:Norman Spinrad
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Unknown
Publisher: ReAnimus Press
Published: 2013-05-27T20:55:34.635000+00:00

19.

We lingered in Cholula for two weeks after the massacre, as Cortes, in much higher spirits than my own, put things back in order, or rather put things into the new order, somewhere along the line having been christened “New Spain.”

He recited the Requerimiento before a pliant new paramount cacique he installed, who straightaway foreswore loyalty to Montezum and swore fealty to King Charles on behalf of his nation and to “Malinche” himself as his viceroy in New Spain. He removed the Tlascalans from the city, and soon enough, and with a surprising lack of rancor, caciques from the surrounding towns and villages arrived to ratify Spanish rule, and people began flocking in from the countryside to reinforce the diminished populace of the city.

When I expressed my surprise at how easily this had been accomplished in the aftermath of such an atrocity, Cortes told me that the “necessary lesson” had been a great aid rather than a hindrance.

“It established that the wrath of Malinche, or Quetzalcoatl, or whatever they choose to call me, is much more to be feared than that of Montezuma, and the fact that the nearby Mexica garrison made no move to impede us established that Montezuma fears me far more than I fear him, which further erodes his authority.”

He waxed quite ebullient over what he had accomplished.

“Consider what would have happened if a Muslim army had done likewise in a Christian city while a Christian force sat on its hands nearby. Surely the rule of the Christian sovereign who let it happen would crumble. And that is what is happening here. In Tabasco, in Totonaca, in Tlascala, and now here in Cholula, it has already happened. New Spain already exists, it already covers a territory as large as most nations of Europe. We have already seized an empire from Tenochtitlan, and without even being opposed by a single Mexica soldier. I tell you, Alvaro, Montezuma’s empire is rotten to the core. It is now clear that it was fractious and fragile before we even arrived on these shores, and we need only enter its capital to put an end to it. Indeed, if Montezuma is at all wise, he must realize that his only hope of retaining some shadow of his lofty position is to swear fealty to the Spanish crown and serve as my viceroy as I serve under King Charles, an office I will magnanimously grant him if he is quick about it.”

I found this hard to credit until emissaries arrived from Montezuma accompanied by tamanes bearing extravagant gifts by way of apology for the outrageous treachery of his disloyal Cholulan vassals. Far from protesting the atrocity that Cortes had committed, Montezuma thanked him for relieving him of the necessity of sending in his own troops to punish their perfidy, the Mexican garrison being stationed in the area in the first place in order to keep the unruly Cholulans in their place!

Of course I could not swallow this whole and neither did Cortes, but

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