No distrust, however, was raised in the breast
of the viceroy, and, when informed of the preparations of Gonzalo
Pizarro, he took no other step than to send a message to his
camp, announcing the extraordinary powers with which he was
himself invested, and requiring that chief to disband his forces.
He seemed to think that a mere word from him would be sufficient
to dissipate rebellion. But it required more than a breath to
scatter the iron soldiery of Peru.
Gonzalo Pizarro, meanwhile, was busily occupied in mustering his
army. His first step was to order from Guamanga sixteen pieces
of artillery sent there by Vaca de Castro, who, in the present
state of excitement, was unwilling to trust the volatile people
of Cuzco with these implements of destruction. Gonzalo, who had
no scruples as to Indian labor, appropriated six thousand of the
natives to the service of transporting this train of ordnance
across the mountains. *5
[Footnote 5: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 5, cap. 8.]
By his exertions and those of his friends, the active chief soon
mustered a force of nearly four hundred men, which, if not very
imposing in the outset, he conceived would be swelled, in his
descent to the coast, by tributary levies from the towns and
villages on the way. All his own funds were expended in
equipping his men and providing for the march; and, to supply
deficiencies, he made no scruple - since, to use his words, it
was for the public interest - to appropriate the moneys in the
royal treasury.
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