Dominic Sandbrook

with Atahualpa as a prisoner.

And the Spanish use this to their advantage.

So as they did in Mexico, they allow him to receive, as you mentioned, to receive messengers, to receive tribute.

They let his advisors come and go.

So these blokes turn up with these massive ear spools in their ears and, you know, all of this.

Dominic, I mean, we're not the rest is ants, are we?

Yes, to the sound of the panpipes, surely.

So even Atahualpa's generals, because don't forget there's been civil war, even his generals act as though nothing has changed.

It's important for people to realise there are various armies roaming around.

So two of Atahualpa's key generals who will play a part in the next couple of episodes are in the south.

There's a guy with the excellent name of Kisikis who has just captured Cusco.

And there's another commander, basically the commander-in-chief, the oldest of the commanders, who's called Chalcuchima.

And Chalcuchima is midway between Cusco and Cajamarca.

And both of these guys have about, I don't know, 40,000 men or something.

Now, there's a third general who we don't need to worry about right now called Rumunyawi, who is much further north.

He's in Quito in the kind of home base of the Atahualpa side of the civil war divide.

Atahualpa says to these three generals, stay where you are, don't interfere with the ransom, wait for it to be collected.

The foreigners will go once the ransom is paid and we can get on with the business of finishing off the war, killing our enemies and cementing control of the empire.

The question, I suppose, is would his generals have tried to rescue him anyway?

And I would guess probably not, because everybody is so disorientated and baffled.