Tom Holland

I mean, I say armies.

They're sort of expeditions to try to beat Alvarado to the gold of Quito.

So one of them goes from the coast, and it's 200 men under one of Pizarro's captains, a guy called Sebastián de Benalcázar, who is from Andalucía.

The chronicler Thiertha de León said he was a man of little knowledge, poor origin, and a low intellect, which doesn't really inspire confidence.

Yeah, but actually he does quite well, as we shall see.

And the other is Almagro, Pizarro's partner.

Imagine if you're Almagro, right?

You've already been cheated out of a load of gold once.

Now you think, well, at least I'll probably get the gold of Quito.

And now Alvarado has turned up with his red trousers to get your gold.

Oh dear.

You're like, oh no.

So what happens next is a bonkers story.

It's very, I already mentioned Game of Thrones.

It's very George R.R.

Martin.

It's actually a shame that the Spanish chroniclers don't go into it in loads of detail.

So, you know, the details are a bit sketchy.

Ben Alcázar gets there first.

He goes across the desert of northern Peru.