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Hello and welcome to Western Sieve.
Episode two hundred and forty two Spanish Recovery.

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We ended last time with Lan Nochiste
The Night of Sadness. Cortez and

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his men tried to break out of
technosht Clan on the night of June thirty,

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fifteen twenty, but they were discovered
before long. Cortees find himself fighting

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for his life the riches of Mexico
a distant afterthought. Only about half of

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all the Europeans in Technostclan made it
out alive. All the gold meant for

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Charles the Fifth was lost, but
more importantly, Cortez's plan to bring them

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Mexican Empire into the Castilian world under
Charles the Fifth crashed and burned. If

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Cortez was going to justify his expedition, which he still needed to do,

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then he was going to have to
go back to the drawing board and figure

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out a different way to crack Technostclon. This time, the Spanish takeover would

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not be peaceful. But before Cortes
could even think about going back to the

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Central Valley, he needed to regroup
and recover the European defeat on the bridges

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of Teenos t clan was the largest
setback up to that point by Europeans in

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the New World. The Mexico,
of course didn't know that, but when

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they placed the bodies of the European
side by side, thinking they looked like

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quote white maize ears, they really
believed they had seen the last of the

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Europeans. Those who had captured important
European prisoners were rewarded as usual. They

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were allowed to cut their hair in
a special way signifying their status. Those

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who had captured a prisoner single handedly
would have their faces painted red at a

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special ceremony. The Mexica cleaned up
their temples, set their idols back in

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place, and tried to settle back
into their lives. The Spanish might look

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back on the evening as lenochitiste,
but to the Mexica, this has been

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a night of triumph. What we
do not know was how important the Mexica

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considered a sacrifice of the Europeans they
captured. Certainly we know Antia Scalands captured

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were prized. Regardless, all the
men captured that night were ritualistically sacrificed.

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Typically, prized captives had their heart
removed and placed in a ceremonial offering called

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the eagle bowl, and the captor
was allowed to consume some of the thigh

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of his captive. There was actually
a whole order as to who got to

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eat what part. If multiple people
were involved in the capture, the first

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person got the right thigh, the
second the left thigh, the third the

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right upper arm, the fourth the
left, one fifth the right fore arm,

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and the sixth the last. Their
heads then would be on display in

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a ceremonial skull rack, so for
that matter, were the horses heads.

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The Mexico for their part, would
not have pitied these Europeans. According to

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tradition, they would become quote companions
of the eagle end quote who would for

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four years sit in attendance on the
Sun itself. Despite the air of triumph,

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the damaged cause to the Mexican Empire
by the Kunquistadors had been immense.

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The unquestioning loyalty of the Mexica people
to the emperor, for example, was

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done the subject. Peoples on the
coast had rebelled with astonishing enthusiasm. There

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were no doubts about getting any more
tropical products from the Totonacs. Most of

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the nobility, the priesthood, and
the warrior class had all been murdered by

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Alvarado. Morale had been shaken by
the success of a tiny number of conquistadors

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with their devastating new weapons. Two
leading monarchs of the Triple Alliance, which

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by the way, had managed the
empire for years, had died violently,

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and much of the city of Technostiklan
had been burned. The duty of trying

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to help the Mexica recover fell to
their new king, Kriklawak, Montezuma's brother.

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The good news was, while this
Banish were certainly formidable opponents, they

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were not gods. But Mexico had
fought them on the bridges. They could

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fight them again if needed. The
Spaniards could be beaten, they could be

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killed. Now we have to imagine
the celebration afterwards, as described thus Lee

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quote. Paths were adorned, the
courtyard prepared, the ground leveled. Reed

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tips were arranged and draped. Some
plucked and removed the feathers from birds and

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dressed them. Slew, singed and
dressed dogs, or prepared and cooked meat.

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Some ground and powdered tobacco with a
heavy straw, filled tubes with it

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that made tamalies using dried grains of
maize. They made white ones with beans

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forming a seashell. Some mixed them
into chocolate, some kicked stew and roasted

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chilies. End quote. Now,
this celebration that greeted the Mexica after the

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departure of the Spaniards wasn't particularly wise. The Europeans were hardly defeated. In

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fact, there were only several miles
away limping along. Kliklawock made no effort

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to pursue his defeated foe. He
believed the Europeans were broken forever. He

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was wrong. Cortes was already regrouping
at the first place on land where the

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expedition rallied, beneath what became known
as the Tree of Sorrows and Tacuba.

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Cortes made a clear speech to his
injured army that he was not thinking for

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a moment of regarding the defeat an
noch Triste as anything more than a tactical

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setback. With a tremendous show of
calm, insisted that he still proposed the

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very Tenoshti Klan as a prize to
the King of Spain. In the short

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run, the surviving Europeans would make
for Plascala and as he hoped, recuperate

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there in the company of their allies. Now that his original plan of capturing

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the city without a fight was over, he would find an alternative, making

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more use of long resentful tributaries of
the Mexican Empire. Now, even in

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those very first days after La Noche
Triste, some kind of plan was developing

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in Cortez's mind. Clearly, the
first night he was downcast, he had

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with him about four hundred men and
thirty horses, nearly all of the wounded.

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The first night after the retreat,
the Europeans rested a while in a

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temple at Otokalapo. Today this is
a church known as the Virgin of the

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Divine Assistance. Now, even though
Quiklalak did not coordinate any attacks on the

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Europeans, different bands of Mexican warriors
constantly harassed their enemy. The Europeans got

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what rest they could and set out
again at midnight in the early hours of

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July the second, fifteen twenty.
Those capable of fighting were in the front

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and rear of the column, with
the wounded in the middle. Their march

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on July the second was a mere
five miles. The expedition stopped at the

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hilltop town of Teahquan, where they
were warmly received. The people there had

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been conquered by the Mexicans in the
fourteen thirties, and it consistently suffered since

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the men received food and the horses
fodder. But this support was as psychologically

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heartening as it was materially beneficial.
From there they marched onto a town called

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Atomba, on the northeast side of
the Lake. Now Here, at last,

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Kikawach decided that he would try to
crush the Europeans once and for all.

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He mounted a large force and gave
Chase. He didn't commit himself to

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commanding the army, but gave that
over to his deputy. The battle that

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was fought at Autumba was exhausting for
the Europeans. As usual, the Mexica,

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with their obsidian blade swords, fought
to capture and not kill, so

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there were very few Castilian fatalities,
but the sheer numbers of the Mexica tired

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the already wearied ranks of Cortez's army. They fought hand to hand for hours.

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The small band of surrounded Europeans seemed
to have no chance of breaking out.

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One observer wrote, truly, our
enemies were innumerable, and we could

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resist, but feebly, Cortez said, quote, since we were all tired,

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nearly all of us wounded and fainting
from hunger end quote. By about

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noon, after several hours of constant
fighting, Cortes perceived that his men were

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about to collapse. One man recalled, quote, our spirits were low end

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quote. A decisive action was necessary
if the entire expedition wasn't going to come

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to an end Right then and there, Cortez provided it. He had seen

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for a while in the distance a
couple of Mexican captains in glittering feathers.

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Contemporary accounts don't tells exactly what they
were wearing, but they were resplendent.

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Leaving a deputy in command of the
infantrymen, Cortes took five horsemen to attack

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this group with lances. They rode
at and threw the undisciplined ranks and overwhelmed

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and surprised the leaders. Mexican war
costumes cumberson as well as heavy, were

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designed to overawe, but these things
really had no effect on the Europeans.

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The lead commander was knocked to the
ground by Cortes, while one of his

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compatriots killed the man with his lands. It was the loss of this standard

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as much as even more the loss
of the leader which counted against the Mexica.

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Now this was partly due to psychological
effect, but also because without a

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battle standard, Mexico didn't know which
way to go anymore, and the disappearance

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spelled confusion. Leaderless and unable to
communicate, the Mexican ranks broke. The

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Mexico lost this battle because they were
badly organized and still hadn't figured out a

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way to deal with mounted troops in
an open terrain. The Mexica, in

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fact, had been here inches from
inflicting a devastating final defeat on Quartz hand.

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Cortez lost at Atumba, his expedition
would have been wiped out and he

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would be a footnote to history.
And as a result, Atumba is always

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ranked amongst the most important of Cortez's
victories. Frankly, though, if anyone

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or anything deserves credit for the victory, it would be the Spanish horse.

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If there was a statue commemorating the
victory, the statue should be of the

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horse, not Cortez. The Mexican
defeated Automba allowed Cortez to continue his slow

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marched back towards Plus Gala, now
back in Technostiklan. The result of the

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Otomba defeat was that two factions rose
around Kliklawak. One was a militant faction

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that wanted to declare war on any
group that had or was aiding Cortez.

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The other was what you might call
the appeasement party. They wanted to give

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the Europeans whatever they wanted on the
conditions that the Europeans not return. Ultimately,

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the militant wing won out. As
a result, several of Montezuma's old

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friends and family, including several of
his children, were put to death.

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In the meantime, on July ninth, fifteen twenty, the conquistadors crossed the

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mountains back into the Kingdom of Tlascala. The army was still nursing its wounds

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when Cortez issued one of his least
popular orders. He ordered everyone in the

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expedition who possessed any gold to turn
it over. The reason was simple,

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the expedition was flat broke and it
needed the gold to purchase new allies.

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Still, the order was not popular
and we do not have any indication how

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successful it was. When Cortes reached
Luscala, he found out just how far

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his star had fallen. Sure,
the Tluscalands were still willing to help him.

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They hated the Mexica after all,
but their support would come with a

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steep price. Specifically, they had
four conditions. One they wanted Cortez to

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guarantee to hand over the city of
Cholula to them. Two, they wanted

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to be able to garrison a special
fortress within tenocht Klan itself. The Tlus

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Glands believed this would protect them from
any attacks by the Mexica in perpetuity.

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Three they wanted to divide any spoils
evenly. Four they want to propel actual

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freedom from paying tribute to whoever was
ruling from technosh Declan. Cortez, not

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really having any choice, agreed to
all their terms. Now, in the

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long run, these guarantees would do
the Tlascalans very little good. Cortez and

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his expedition remained in Tlascala for twenty
days, recovering from their wounds. Back

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in Technoshtklan, Emperor Kliklawak announced that
he would remit all tribute for one year

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from any town which killed the Europeans
or expelled them from their territory. Now,

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in addition to this, Cortez was
facing four other major problems. First,

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he had to send back a messenger
to Vera Cruz asking for new soldiers

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and supplies. He had to be
really careful about this message. It was

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crucial that he not spook the men
remaining. If they refused to come,

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or worse, assume the cause was
lost and sailed for Cuba, then he

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was doomed. He needed to get
new men without acknowledging how badly he had

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been defeated. Second, Cortes received
word that a party of sick and wounded

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men whom Cortez had just sent on
to Vera Cruz while he was recovering in

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Tlascala. Those two sick or wounded
to campaign at all, had been ambushed.

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Everyone had been killed. Most importantly, all the supplies and a lot

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of Mexican silver was lost. Third, Cortes had to deal with the commander

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who had been in Tlascala during La
Noche Triste. This man, Juan Paez,

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had continued to sit in Plascala long
after the situation in technosht Klan had

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grown dire. The Tlascalans had offered
to march with him to technosh Declan to

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the aid of Cortez, reportedly with
one hundred thousand men, but Paiez refused.

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Cortez strongly reprimanded him. Now,
but it wouldn't be the last time

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Paiez would be accused of being a
coward. Finally, of the remaining three

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hundred or so men, many now
began agitating for a return to Cuba.

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No doubt, most of this believed
that they were just lucky to have survived

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La Nochtiste. They had zero intention
of rolling the dice again. These men

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were tired and afraid. They were
in a strange land, surrounded by enemies.

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They made the following written demand to
Cortez. Quote, very magnificent,

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Sir, the captains and soldiers of
this army of which your Excellency is General,

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appear before you and say to you
that the deaths, damages and losses

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which we have suffered well in the
city of Technostyclon, whence we have just

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come, as well as on the
road from there, are all well known

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to you. Most of our men
and horses are dead, the artillery is

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lost, our ammunition is exhausted,
and we are lacking in everything with which

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to carry on the war. In
addition, in this city, where we

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seem on the surface to have been
given a good reception and shown good will,

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we have found for certain that they
are trying to reassure us with pretended

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words and deeds in order to lull
us into a false sense of security,

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and then, when we least expect
it, they will attack us and finish

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us off. We cannot believe that
these Indians will keep faith or promises with

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us, nor go against their own
people in their neighbors in our defense.

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The enmity and war between them and
the past will turn to friendship and peace,

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so that together they may be more
powerful against us and so destroy us.

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Of all this we have seen and
understood the beginnings. Besides, we

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see that your Excellency, our leader
in general, is badly wounded. The

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surgeons say that your wound is dangerous, and they fear you may not survive.

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All these things, if your Excellency
will examine them afford good reasons for

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us to abandon the city and not
wait for a worse conclusion to our affairs

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than exist at the present. We
are also informed that your Excellency, without

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taking in consideration the urgent sufficient reasons
to put a stop to the conquest,

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intends to go ahead and continue the
war, a plan which, if put

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into effect, lead to our destruction. We therefore ask and beg your excellency,

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and if necessary, demand that you
leave this city with all the army

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and set off for Vera Cruz,
so that what is most to the service

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of God and his majesty can be
determined best end quote. Cortez responded with

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his usual brovado. He quote said
that to show the natives, especially those

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who are allies, that we lack
courage, would turn them against us the

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sooner. After all, fortune always
favors the brave. Furthermore, we are

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Christians who trust in the great goodness
of God will not let us perish utterly,

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nor allow us to lose such a
great and noble land, which,

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as ben or is in the service
to your Majesty. Nor could I abandon

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so great a service to the Great
Charles the fifth as continuing the war.

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I determined therefore that I would go
on on no account go across the mountains

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to the coast. On the contrary, I told them that disregarding all the

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dangers that work I might lie ahead
of us, I would never abandon in

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this land. Apart from being shameful
to myself and dangerous for your all,

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it would also be a great treason
to the Majesty Charles the Fifth. I

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resolved to fall out our enemies wherever
I could, and oppose them in every

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possible way end quote. It was
a straightforward appeal to the men's sense of

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honor. Cortes knew his countrymen well, he knew what buttons to push to

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keep them going as usual. It
worked. The rebellions simmered but didn't boil

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over. But Cortez wasn't going to
take any chances immediately. He began planning

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a new campaign, idle Hands,
after all of the devil's playthings. This

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campaign, though, would not strike
at Technoso Decline, at least not immediately.

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Courtes had something else in mind.
He would strike at the province of

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the Pecca. Tepecca was a hilltop
fortress and the center of tribute for the

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region for technoheticlon for a century.
It had resisted incorporation into the Mexica Empire

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and had only recently become a dependency. It was a crucial source of both

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foodstuffs and cotton for the Mexica.
Plus, Tepecca lay in the middle of

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the best route from Technostclon to Vera
Cruz. If Cortes could liberate the region

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from Mexica control, then he could
deprive technosht Clon of one of its most

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important vassals while simultaneously protecting his route
of escape. There were other reasons that

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Cortes chose to Pecca as his target. The tax Lacans really wanted him to

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attack it, and the alliance really
mattered to Cortez at this point. Moreover,

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it would be devastating to Morale and
technosh Declan to lose to Peca,

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and to top it off, he
needed a distraction, a common enemy to

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fully incorporate Nabatis's men fully into his
army. Hence, after a twenty day

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rest, Cortes's army moved toward Tepecca
on August the first, fifteen twenty.

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Cortes could not take all of his
men, some were still too wounded to

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fight. The tax Lacans, however, had more than made up the difference.

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They contributed several thousand warriors to his
cause. Tepecca is only forty miles

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from Plascala, so Cortes reached the
edges of its territory after only four days.

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At the small town of Uxenko,
Cortes and his messengers ahead, requiring

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the Tepecans to explain their attitude toward
the Europeans. In other words, Cortez

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wanted to know, are you with
us or against us? The Tippecans sent

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a defiant reply, so two days
later Cortes attacked. The battle was completely

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one sided. European fire arms,
horses and the ferocious Texlacan warriors were all

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too much. In the end,
about four hundred Tippecans were killed. Cortes

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00:24:26.599 --> 00:24:30.319
moved into the center of the city, and there Tepeca offered its submission and

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allegiance to Charles the Fifth on September
the fourth, fifteen twenty. Cortes on

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this occasion was especially brutal after the
battle, breaking with his previous practice,

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00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:48.680
he enslaved all the wives and children
of every man who had been killed in

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battle. These people were sold for
ten pesos each, branded on the cheek,

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and became slaves in the European sense
for the first time ever in Mexico.

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Cortez declared that the children of any
enslaved woman would become a slave property,

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and therefore wealth suddenly recreated itself.
This is a story that will come

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to dominate the Americas. But I'm
guessing you already knew that. Cortes then

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set about conquering the entire province around
Tepecca. His treatment of all those cities

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and towns was the same. This
campaign was one of the most brutal,

254
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:38.319
but also one of the most important
of Cortes's time in Mexico. By winning

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this campaign, Cortez cut tetnsht Clan
off from the sea to the east one

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over half of what is today Mexico, and severed the Mexico ties with the

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tropical regions to the south. In
a report detailing these events, Cortes himself

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admits to the autrocities. Quote,
when we crossed the border into Depecca,

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that is, into the Mexican Empire, from Plas Gala, many of the

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natives came out to fight us and
defend the road as best they could from

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strong and dangerous positions. Not to
give an account of everything which befell us

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in this battle, which would take
too much time, I will only say

263
00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:22.359
that after we had completed our demands
for peace on Your Majesty's behalf, and

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with which they had not complied.
We made war on them, and they

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fought many times against us. With
the help of God and royal fortune,

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good of your Majesty, we always
routed them and killed many, without killing

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or wounding a single Spaniard. And
within twenty days we had pacified and subdued

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many towns and villages, and the
lords and chieftains had come forward and offered

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themselves His Majesty's vassals. I have
driven from those provinces many of the Mexica,

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who had come to help the people
of Depecca make war on us,

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to ensure they did not become our
allies. In a certain part of this

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province, where they killed ten or
twelve spans, the natives have been very

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warlike. I made certain of them
slaves, of which I gave a fifth

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part to Your Majesty's officers, for
they are all accounibals. I was also

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moved to take those slaves so as
to strike fear into the Mexicans, and

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00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:18.000
also because there are so many people
over there that if I did not impose

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a great and cruel punishment they would
never be reformed end quote. Meanwhile,

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Quiglauak was doing his best to restore
morale and technosht Klan and the overall strength

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of the Mexica Empire. The temples
were repaired and the idols restored, yet

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very little of what was done was
of a military nature. Many historians,

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and I do mean many, blame
the final collapse of the old Mexican Empire

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on this laxidaisical attitude in the interim
between lan Nooce Triste and Cortes's return.

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This really isn't fair for several reasons. First, they did do some things.

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The Mexico built new fortifications, They
had longer spear fashioned to try and

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deal with the longer Spanish swords.
Second, they didn't have any idea if

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00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:12.079
or when Cortez was going to return. Third, they, much like the

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00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:17.440
Byzantines, tried to use wealth and
diplomacy to try to get someone else to

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finish off the Europeans. It wasn't
necessarily their fault that none of these things

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worked. Cortes used the establishment of
the base at Topecca as an opportunity to

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00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:32.920
take stock of his legal position.
He wrote a lengthy report to send back

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to Spain, essentially the document planes
Navarez for the entire La Nochitiste debacle.

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Cortes argued that because he was forced
to leave Technosotyclan, everyone mess things up

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in his absence, He's not wrong
per se. However, Cortez clearly downplayed

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00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:59.680
his own role in appointing Alvarado in
his stead and then mismanaging affairs after he

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returned into the city. Cortes wrote
another document to go along with this one,

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essentially a joint letter from the army, in which the army demands that

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Cortez be allowed to remain not just
their military captain but the official mayor of

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Vera Cruz. The purpose behind this
letter was to forestall any additional European efforts

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to colonize the region and hence replace
Cortez. These letters are unique for an

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00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:32.440
additional reason. Cortes wrote that Charles
the Fifth should think of himself as the

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00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:37.359
emperor of what he calls New Spain. This is the first time that anyone

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00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:45.079
in writing expressed the belief in a
far flung empire spanning multiple continents. Previously,

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00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:52.839
most thinkers still wrote about Christendom as
the overarching ideal. Cortes's suggestion that

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there might be a Spanish empire who
was truly novel at the time. Frankly,

305
00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:02.839
there wasn't really even such a of
Spain. Yet Spain is still cast

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00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:06.440
Deal and Aragon, at least in
terms of the beliefs of the people who

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00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:11.279
lived there. To suggest that Charles
the fifth might be the emperor of a

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00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:17.359
new Roman empire beyond the seas,
that was quite the logical leap. While

309
00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:22.319
Cortez was defending his legal position through
this series of letters, he was also

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00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:27.680
preparing for a return to Technostiklan.
Critically, Cortez ordered the construction of a

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00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:33.119
series of small ships, which would
change the balance of power on the lake.

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00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:41.759
Cortes realized he needed to starve the
Mexica into submission more than anything else.

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00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:48.839
He couldn't do that while the Mexica
controlled the lake. These ships would

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00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:56.640
alter his position decisively, but by
far and away, the biggest change to

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00:30:56.759 --> 00:31:03.319
Cortes's situation in Mexico was way beyond
his control. As I mentioned two episodes

316
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:11.279
back in fifteen eighteen, a major
smallpox epidemic began in Hispaniola modern day Haiti,

317
00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:17.880
and the Dominican Republic. By late
fifteen nineteen, the plague spread to

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00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:26.400
Cuba. Then, of course,
Navarez took the expedition and the epidemic to

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00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:33.279
Cozumel. Historians cannot say for certain
still today whether it was Navarez and his

320
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:41.680
expedition that ultimately landed smallpox in Cozumel, but after he left, smallpox decimated

321
00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:47.960
the population. Certainly, though,
we are confident it was Navarez and his

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00:31:48.039 --> 00:31:56.599
expedition that brought smallpox to mainland Mexico. Old Mexico didn't have any experience with

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viruses. The Totoknac people were decimated. The Mexica, as its spread inland,

324
00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:09.920
had no clue how to respond.
Most of the priests interpreted the new

325
00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:15.759
disease as a punishment from the gods, which, by and large it's how

326
00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:22.680
Europeans also still thought about disease Mexican
Town. After Mexican Town was depopulated,

327
00:32:23.880 --> 00:32:30.039
in many streets, there was no
means of collecting the corpses. Mexican officials,

328
00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:36.440
anxious themselves about catching the disease from
the dead, more often than not

329
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:42.440
just leveled the dead person's house on
top of them. Those who did not

330
00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:50.000
die were left scarred physically and mentally, in many places, half of the

331
00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:55.400
population died. It was a worse
epidemic than the Black Plague in the fourteenth

332
00:32:55.400 --> 00:33:02.640
century. Compounding problems, the deaths
of so many laborers meant that there was

333
00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:08.279
no one to plant or harvest corn. There was no one to grind the

334
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:17.359
maze, so starvation followed. By
September of fifteen twenty, smallpox reached Chaliko.

335
00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:25.559
By October it was in Technoshti Klan
worse still in Mexica could not help

336
00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:30.440
but notice that while the disease killed
thousands of them, it seemed to spare

337
00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:37.440
the Europeans. Hence, it certainly
looked like the gods had decided with Cortes.

338
00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:44.119
Cortez, oddly, and I think
really interestingly, didn't seem to grasp

339
00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:50.119
any of this. He didn't seem
to understand how devastating the plague was on

340
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:54.839
the Mexica people. He did notice, however, all the deaths in and

341
00:33:54.880 --> 00:34:01.599
around Tepeca. Because so many local
chiefs died, Cortes got to play the

342
00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:08.280
role of kingmaker in the region,
which only strengthened his personal grip. While

343
00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:16.199
thousands of Mexico died, Cortes continued
consolidating his power. He dispatched his loyal

344
00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:22.480
lieutenant Sandoval to the north, where
for thirty days he worked to pacify the

345
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:28.280
regions successfully. No doubt, he
was aided more by small Box than anything

346
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:34.400
else. The success in the north
of Plascala had the same effect on the

347
00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:39.280
region as the wars waged to the
south and west of Topecca. Things were

348
00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:45.519
going so well, in fact,
Cortes didn't hesitate when several members of Navarez's

349
00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:52.400
expedition asked for permission to return to
Cuba. Cortes figured he was better off

350
00:34:52.440 --> 00:35:01.239
without them. Around Christmas fifteen twenty, Cortes returned to Tlascala. He was

351
00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:07.559
in an infinitely better position than he
had been six months prior. There he

352
00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:14.400
planned his strategy for the next phase
of his grand campaign, how to reconquer

353
00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:21.599
te Nosti Klan. Cortez left about
sixty men in Tepecca with a few cannons

354
00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:29.239
and a few horses. As for
himself, he had bigger plans. It

355
00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:35.159
turned out that the emperor Kliklawak would
never get a chance to face Cortez.

356
00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:43.519
He died of smallpox and was succeeded
by his cousin Katamak Quatomac was in his

357
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:47.599
mid twenties at the time. He
was young, brave, and determined.

358
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:53.639
Given the circumstances facing the Mexica,
he was the perfect choice for the leader.

359
00:35:54.639 --> 00:36:00.519
Frankly, he was the only choice. Amak's mission was to fight,

360
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:07.320
but to stand a chance against Cortes
and the Tlascalands, he also needed allies.

361
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:14.679
While he was seeking out allies,
Cortes remained in Tlascala planning his next

362
00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:20.280
move. Several new ships arrived in
Vita Cruz then fall, bolstering his men

363
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:28.559
and supplies. He now had eighty
crossbowmen and arquebusser's plus forty horses. He

364
00:36:28.599 --> 00:36:32.159
had eight or nine field guns,
though he was painfully short on powder.

365
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:40.440
He had probably five hundred and fifty
infantrymen. Cortes, as usual, had

366
00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:46.840
his fairly small army supported by a
massive number of Tlascalan allies. Numbers are

367
00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:52.639
hard to estimate. Cortes was offered
eighty thousand men. According to the records,

368
00:36:52.639 --> 00:36:58.559
he took ten thousand. Still,
that's twenty Pluscaland warriors for every European.

369
00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:04.079
Argue that Cortez and a handful of
Europeans brought down Old Mexico is simply

370
00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:12.079
not true. Cortez, a handful
of Europeans and thousands of Mesoamerican Indians brought

371
00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:15.639
down the Mexican Though Cortez was setting
out with a force similar in size,

372
00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:20.599
if maybe superior in quality, to
that which she had gone to technost Klan

373
00:37:20.679 --> 00:37:25.239
about fourteen months previously, his strategy
was now different. In fifteen nineteen,

374
00:37:25.639 --> 00:37:30.440
he had hoped to impose his personality
in Montezuma and then use him as a

375
00:37:30.440 --> 00:37:37.679
puppet. Now he planned to defeat
Montezuma's successor in battle. But when he

376
00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:45.840
left for technost Clan, Cortez's number
one strategy to reduce the capital city remained

377
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:52.079
incomplete. The ships were not finished. When Cortez left plas Gala for Technosti

378
00:37:52.119 --> 00:37:57.119
Klan on the twenty seventh of December
fifteen twenty, they were still working on

379
00:37:57.159 --> 00:38:02.360
the vessels. So basically Cortes's plan
was to establish a base for him at

380
00:38:02.360 --> 00:38:08.280
Texcoco on the eastern shore of the
Lake of Mexico, launch what forays he

381
00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:15.920
could, and wait for the ships
to arrive. Cortes reached Texcoco on December

382
00:38:15.079 --> 00:38:19.880
thirtieth, fifteen twenty. He was
met by the lords of the city bearing

383
00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:24.360
banners of peace, they told him. Quote, Our Lord and King sends

384
00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:29.599
to say you that he covets your
friendship is waiting for you peacefully in Texcoco.

385
00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:32.480
The squadrons who have been waiting in
the ravines to attack you on your

386
00:38:32.519 --> 00:38:37.679
way down, set by h Adamak, have nothing to do with us.

387
00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:42.719
End quote. Cortes accepted the show
of friendship, but both he and his

388
00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:45.880
captains believed that this was a ruse, and they camped five miles outside the

389
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:52.480
city. They were wrong. The
Europeans remained in tex Coco for about four

390
00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:57.039
days and got nothing but a warm
welcome. Most of the residents of tex

391
00:38:57.119 --> 00:39:02.199
Coco, however, left town playing
it safe. Everybody remembered how the Europeans

392
00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:08.000
had recently massacred a group of Mexica
just for dancing, but text Coco was

393
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:14.039
not willing to try and dispatch the
clunquistadors. Now that the tables had turned

394
00:39:14.039 --> 00:39:20.039
on the Mexica, essentially everyone was
jumping ship on their alliance. All Cortes

395
00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:24.239
had to do was ride the wave. At the end of the four days,

396
00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:30.599
three Texcan lords came to see Cortez. They told him that in the

397
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:32.599
past, when they had fought against
him, it was because they were ordered

398
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to do so by the Mexica.
Now they wanted to be on his side

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00:39:37.960 --> 00:39:43.559
from now on. They promised they
would do everything he commanded. When q

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00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:49.239
Adamok found out about these negotiations,
he sent his own messengers. He told

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00:39:49.239 --> 00:39:52.559
the text Cocan people to remain faithful, that the Europeans were sure to be

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00:39:52.599 --> 00:39:59.480
defeated this time. The text Cocan
lords responded by arresting the Mexican messengers,

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00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:06.679
turning them over to Cortez. Cortez
realized that his plan was working. If

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00:40:06.679 --> 00:40:09.280
he continued to circuit around the lake, then he might be able to turn

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00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:15.920
all of Quadamak's former allies against him. Then he could begin the siege from

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00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:21.039
a superior position. So he set
out on a reconnaissance mission around the lake.

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00:40:21.920 --> 00:40:27.239
He started by going southeast. Now
in fifteen nineteen, when he arrived

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00:40:27.239 --> 00:40:30.480
at the Nocheticlan, it had been
on the northern side of the lake,

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00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:35.960
so Cortes had not made any contact
with any of the Mexica dependent states to

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00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:43.639
the south. His first target was
the important town of East Tellapala. Initially,

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00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:46.920
Cortes intended to garrison the town in
the end, he didn't, and

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00:40:47.039 --> 00:40:52.960
that decision proved to be providential.
The Mexica opened a breach in one of

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00:40:53.000 --> 00:41:00.000
the nearby dikes, flooding the town
head Quartz and his men men inside,

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00:41:00.599 --> 00:41:05.800
they might have drowned, which of
course was the plan. As it were,

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00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:09.679
they lost most of their gunpowder.
When Cortez awoke, he found himself

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00:41:09.840 --> 00:41:16.119
surrounded by water, with Mexican war
canoes streaming down upon his position. He

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00:41:16.199 --> 00:41:21.480
quickly determined his present position wasn't worth
the cost in men to hold it,

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00:41:21.519 --> 00:41:27.320
and fought his way back to Texcoco. Once again, the Mexica misinterpreted this

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00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:34.199
as a sign that Cortes was defeated
once Overall, the Mexica culturally never retreated

420
00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:40.719
from a forward position, but again
they didn't understand that Europeans saw battles differently.

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00:41:42.639 --> 00:41:47.280
Again, it cost them once back
in tex Coco, the lords of

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00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:53.320
Chalco and Tamilanko sent word that they
too would like peace with Cortez. Chalco

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00:41:53.440 --> 00:42:00.280
was an especially important town, so
this was great news for the Europeans.

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00:42:00.280 --> 00:42:07.280
Every city that flipped to Cortes added
manpower to his expedition and took defenders away

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00:42:07.360 --> 00:42:13.440
from the Mexico. First However,
Cortes needed to defeat the Mexican garrison within

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00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:20.840
Chalco. He dispatched his trustworthy lieutenant
Sandoval, who fought several critical battles before

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00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:25.400
re establishing Chalco as an independent city
with no need to pay tribute to Mexico

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00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:30.920
for the first time in fifty years. In a sign of things to come,

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00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:36.880
Sandoval suffered no casualties. At the
end of January, Hugh Adamok was

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00:42:36.880 --> 00:42:42.039
inaugurated as emperor. Immediately he set
about rebuilding the defenses around technoshty Klan.

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00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:47.239
He ordered canals deepened so that they
couldn't be filled in The Mexicans also prepared

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00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:52.840
darts, long lances, and other
weapons of wars. Hugh Ademok was more

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00:42:52.920 --> 00:42:55.840
vigorous in his commitment to war than
either of his predecessors had been. It's

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00:42:55.880 --> 00:43:00.519
interesting to think about what might have
been had he been in charge in the

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00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:07.360
first place, but he wasn't.
By the end of January, Cortes assumed

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00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:12.280
the ships he had ordered would be
ready, so he sent Santoval to Tescala

437
00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:15.760
to bring them to the lake.
Sandoval left, but he hadn't made it

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00:43:15.880 --> 00:43:22.199
very far before he met a party
bearing the ships to Texcoco. It's really

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00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:28.159
difficult to overstate the importance of these
ships and the battles to come. It's

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00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:32.800
sort of like the modern equivalent of
getting powerful anti aircraft systems to neutralize an

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00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:39.519
opponent's aerial advantage, Just like Cortez
was doing to Mexico's allies around the lake,

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00:43:40.599 --> 00:43:45.079
Cortez was about to take a disadvantage
and transform it into his favor.

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00:43:45.639 --> 00:43:52.159
From Texcoco, Cortez set out for
Tacuba. Tacuba was a member of the

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00:43:52.199 --> 00:43:57.800
Mexican Triple Alliance, but it was
the smallest member. Still, it held

445
00:43:57.800 --> 00:44:01.480
an important position due west of tech
No Declan. In fact, it was

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00:44:01.760 --> 00:44:07.960
along the causeway that connected Tacuba to
the city that Cortez and his men had

447
00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:14.599
made their getaway during La Tacuba,
however, would not turn its back on

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00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:20.599
the Mexica. The reality was that
many of Tacuba's nobles had intermarried into the

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00:44:20.599 --> 00:44:24.119
Mexican royal line, so they had
too much to lose by supporting Cortez.

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00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:32.039
Tacuba in fact, had rebuilt the
entire causeway Cortez had partially destroyed during Lannoche.

451
00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:37.159
Triste, in fact, immediately apparent
to him as he approached the town.

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00:44:38.760 --> 00:44:45.480
Cortes spent six days around Tacuba,
constantly fighting skirmishes and trying to get

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00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:51.280
the lords of the town to switch
sides. Ultimately, Cortes was unable to

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00:44:51.320 --> 00:44:55.960
break the town and had to return
to Texcoco. The reason he had to

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00:44:57.039 --> 00:45:00.760
return, however, had a lot
more to do with inter whole problems.

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00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:06.480
Several men came to him with allegations
that there was a plot to assassinate Cortes

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00:45:06.559 --> 00:45:10.719
and replace him. The leader of
the plot was Antonio de Villafana, who

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00:45:10.880 --> 00:45:15.679
just so happened to be the brother
in law of Diego Velasquez, the governor

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00:45:15.719 --> 00:45:21.239
of Cuba. Cortes, as usual, acted decisively. He went to Sandoval

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00:45:21.239 --> 00:45:25.599
and explained what was happening. Sandoval
gathered up what many could and immediately arrested

461
00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:31.199
Villafana. Viafana was tried and hanged, all in the scope of about an

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00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:37.880
hour. Cortes would later tell the
men that Villafana had swallowed the list of

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00:45:37.880 --> 00:45:43.599
his fellow conspirators before Cortes could get
it. This is almost certainly false.

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00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:47.840
If there was a list, and
I mean who carries around a list of

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00:45:47.880 --> 00:45:54.360
their fellow conspirators, then Cortez definitely
saw it, but he probably didn't need

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00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:59.440
too. The men who had thrown
in their lot with Villafana would have been

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00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:04.280
easy to guess. They would all
be people with connections to Governor of Alasquez,

468
00:46:05.280 --> 00:46:08.559
and in the end it didn't really
matter. Most of the likely conspiracers

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00:46:09.159 --> 00:46:15.559
left for Cuba within a few weeks. Cortes was smart enough to appoint himself

470
00:46:15.639 --> 00:46:22.440
a bodyguard. However, on March
the fifteenth, fifteen twenty two, messengers

471
00:46:22.519 --> 00:46:27.360
arrived from Chalco that a large Mexico
force was on its way. According to

472
00:46:27.400 --> 00:46:35.000
the message, it was twenty thousand
soldiers strong. Cortes was frustrated and dispatched

473
00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:38.639
Sandoval with a force to support their
new ally. In the end, though

474
00:46:39.119 --> 00:46:45.840
said force wasn't needed, Chalco defeated
the Mexico on their own. If there

475
00:46:45.960 --> 00:46:51.119
was ever a sure sign that the
days of old Mexico were numbered, this

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00:46:51.239 --> 00:46:54.800
was it. Sure. The Mexicans
could not seem to break Cortes and his

477
00:46:54.880 --> 00:47:01.760
European technology, but the fact that
they could no longer feet other Indians meant

478
00:47:01.760 --> 00:47:07.760
that the game was nearly over.
And it's hard to tell exactly when this

479
00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:15.840
happened, but at some point around
fifteen twenty two, Quatomac himself gained the

480
00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:22.599
nickname of Quote Falling Eagle end Quote, which is never a good nickname to

481
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:30.360
have. So long as Cortez already
had troops on their way to Chalco,

482
00:47:30.079 --> 00:47:35.280
he decided he would continue his circuit
around the lake. By and large,

483
00:47:35.280 --> 00:47:40.800
this maneuver succeeded. From Chalco,
Cortez went to the town of Kumawakan and

484
00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:47.599
from there to Cuernavaca, but she
reached in mid April. Ultimately, Cortez

485
00:47:49.039 --> 00:47:54.480
marched around the entire circuit of the
lake, and the Mexica were powerless to

486
00:47:54.599 --> 00:48:00.480
stop him. Cortez bought a few
engagements. The Mexica seemed to believe that

487
00:48:00.519 --> 00:48:07.280
they had fought off an attack,
but Cortez was merely conducting a routine reconnaissance.

488
00:48:08.880 --> 00:48:16.280
The battle for technosht Clon was about
to begin. As always, if

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00:48:16.320 --> 00:48:20.760
you'd like more content, check out
the website link in the show notes.

490
00:48:21.360 --> 00:48:25.079
If you're interested in add free versions
of the show, there's the Patreon page

491
00:48:25.079 --> 00:48:30.440
for that link, also in the
show notes, And if you're interested,

492
00:48:30.880 --> 00:48:34.599
check out a free seven day trial
of Western Sieve two point zero or Deep

493
00:48:34.599 --> 00:48:38.280
Into the Peloponnesian Wars at this point, if you like the whole thing over

494
00:48:38.360 --> 00:48:59.960
again, but with way more detail
and better audio quality,