Hello and welcome to Western Sieve. Episode two hundred and forty two Spanish Recovery.
We ended last time with Lan Nochiste The Night of Sadness. Cortez and
his men tried to break out of technosht Clan on the night of June thirty,
fifteen twenty, but they were discovered before long. Cortees find himself fighting
for his life the riches of Mexico a distant afterthought. Only about half of
all the Europeans in Technostclan made it out alive. All the gold meant for
Charles the Fifth was lost, but more importantly, Cortez's plan to bring them
Mexican Empire into the Castilian world under Charles the Fifth crashed and burned. If
Cortez was going to justify his expedition, which he still needed to do,
then he was going to have to go back to the drawing board and figure
out a different way to crack Technostclon. This time, the Spanish takeover would
not be peaceful. But before Cortes could even think about going back to the
Central Valley, he needed to regroup and recover the European defeat on the bridges
of Teenos t clan was the largest setback up to that point by Europeans in
the New World. The Mexico, of course didn't know that, but when
they placed the bodies of the European side by side, thinking they looked like
quote white maize ears, they really believed they had seen the last of the
Europeans. Those who had captured important European prisoners were rewarded as usual. They
were allowed to cut their hair in a special way signifying their status. Those
who had captured a prisoner single handedly would have their faces painted red at a
special ceremony. The Mexica cleaned up their temples, set their idols back in
place, and tried to settle back into their lives. The Spanish might look
back on the evening as lenochitiste, but to the Mexica, this has been
a night of triumph. What we do not know was how important the Mexica
considered a sacrifice of the Europeans they captured. Certainly we know Antia Scalands captured
were prized. Regardless, all the men captured that night were ritualistically sacrificed.
Typically, prized captives had their heart removed and placed in a ceremonial offering called
the eagle bowl, and the captor was allowed to consume some of the thigh
of his captive. There was actually a whole order as to who got to
eat what part. If multiple people were involved in the capture, the first
person got the right thigh, the second the left thigh, the third the
right upper arm, the fourth the left, one fifth the right fore arm,
and the sixth the last. Their heads then would be on display in
a ceremonial skull rack, so for that matter, were the horses heads.
The Mexico for their part, would not have pitied these Europeans. According to
tradition, they would become quote companions of the eagle end quote who would for
four years sit in attendance on the Sun itself. Despite the air of triumph,
the damaged cause to the Mexican Empire by the Kunquistadors had been immense.
The unquestioning loyalty of the Mexica people to the emperor, for example, was
done the subject. Peoples on the coast had rebelled with astonishing enthusiasm. There
were no doubts about getting any more tropical products from the Totonacs. Most of
the nobility, the priesthood, and the warrior class had all been murdered by
Alvarado. Morale had been shaken by the success of a tiny number of conquistadors
with their devastating new weapons. Two leading monarchs of the Triple Alliance, which
by the way, had managed the empire for years, had died violently,
and much of the city of Technostiklan had been burned. The duty of trying
to help the Mexica recover fell to their new king, Kriklawak, Montezuma's brother.
The good news was, while this Banish were certainly formidable opponents, they
were not gods. But Mexico had fought them on the bridges. They could
fight them again if needed. The Spaniards could be beaten, they could be
killed. Now we have to imagine the celebration afterwards, as described thus Lee
quote. Paths were adorned, the courtyard prepared, the ground leveled. Reed
tips were arranged and draped. Some plucked and removed the feathers from birds and
dressed them. Slew, singed and dressed dogs, or prepared and cooked meat.
Some ground and powdered tobacco with a heavy straw, filled tubes with it
that made tamalies using dried grains of maize. They made white ones with beans
forming a seashell. Some mixed them into chocolate, some kicked stew and roasted
chilies. End quote. Now, this celebration that greeted the Mexica after the
departure of the Spaniards wasn't particularly wise. The Europeans were hardly defeated. In
fact, there were only several miles away limping along. Kliklawock made no effort
to pursue his defeated foe. He believed the Europeans were broken forever. He
was wrong. Cortes was already regrouping at the first place on land where the
expedition rallied, beneath what became known as the Tree of Sorrows and Tacuba.
Cortes made a clear speech to his injured army that he was not thinking for
a moment of regarding the defeat an noch Triste as anything more than a tactical
setback. With a tremendous show of calm, insisted that he still proposed the
very Tenoshti Klan as a prize to the King of Spain. In the short
run, the surviving Europeans would make for Plascala and as he hoped, recuperate
there in the company of their allies. Now that his original plan of capturing
the city without a fight was over, he would find an alternative, making
more use of long resentful tributaries of the Mexican Empire. Now, even in
those very first days after La Noche Triste, some kind of plan was developing
in Cortez's mind. Clearly, the first night he was downcast, he had
with him about four hundred men and thirty horses, nearly all of the wounded.
The first night after the retreat, the Europeans rested a while in a
temple at Otokalapo. Today this is a church known as the Virgin of the
Divine Assistance. Now, even though Quiklalak did not coordinate any attacks on the
Europeans, different bands of Mexican warriors constantly harassed their enemy. The Europeans got
what rest they could and set out again at midnight in the early hours of
July the second, fifteen twenty. Those capable of fighting were in the front
and rear of the column, with the wounded in the middle. Their march
on July the second was a mere five miles. The expedition stopped at the
hilltop town of Teahquan, where they were warmly received. The people there had
been conquered by the Mexicans in the fourteen thirties, and it consistently suffered since
the men received food and the horses fodder. But this support was as psychologically
heartening as it was materially beneficial. From there they marched onto a town called
Atomba, on the northeast side of the Lake. Now Here, at last,
Kikawach decided that he would try to crush the Europeans once and for all.
He mounted a large force and gave Chase. He didn't commit himself to
commanding the army, but gave that over to his deputy. The battle that
was fought at Autumba was exhausting for the Europeans. As usual, the Mexica,
with their obsidian blade swords, fought to capture and not kill, so
there were very few Castilian fatalities, but the sheer numbers of the Mexica tired
the already wearied ranks of Cortez's army. They fought hand to hand for hours.
The small band of surrounded Europeans seemed to have no chance of breaking out.
One observer wrote, truly, our enemies were innumerable, and we could
resist, but feebly, Cortez said, quote, since we were all tired,
nearly all of us wounded and fainting from hunger end quote. By about
noon, after several hours of constant fighting, Cortes perceived that his men were
about to collapse. One man recalled, quote, our spirits were low end
quote. A decisive action was necessary if the entire expedition wasn't going to come
to an end Right then and there, Cortez provided it. He had seen
for a while in the distance a couple of Mexican captains in glittering feathers.
Contemporary accounts don't tells exactly what they were wearing, but they were resplendent.
Leaving a deputy in command of the infantrymen, Cortes took five horsemen to attack
this group with lances. They rode at and threw the undisciplined ranks and overwhelmed
and surprised the leaders. Mexican war costumes cumberson as well as heavy, were
designed to overawe, but these things really had no effect on the Europeans.
The lead commander was knocked to the ground by Cortes, while one of his
compatriots killed the man with his lands. It was the loss of this standard
as much as even more the loss of the leader which counted against the Mexica.
Now this was partly due to psychological effect, but also because without a
battle standard, Mexico didn't know which way to go anymore, and the disappearance
spelled confusion. Leaderless and unable to communicate, the Mexican ranks broke. The
Mexico lost this battle because they were badly organized and still hadn't figured out a
way to deal with mounted troops in an open terrain. The Mexica, in
fact, had been here inches from inflicting a devastating final defeat on Quartz hand.
Cortez lost at Atumba, his expedition would have been wiped out and he
would be a footnote to history. And as a result, Atumba is always
ranked amongst the most important of Cortez's victories. Frankly, though, if anyone
or anything deserves credit for the victory, it would be the Spanish horse.
If there was a statue commemorating the victory, the statue should be of the
horse, not Cortez. The Mexican defeated Automba allowed Cortez to continue his slow
marched back towards Plus Gala, now back in Technostiklan. The result of the
Otomba defeat was that two factions rose around Kliklawak. One was a militant faction
that wanted to declare war on any group that had or was aiding Cortez.
The other was what you might call the appeasement party. They wanted to give
the Europeans whatever they wanted on the conditions that the Europeans not return. Ultimately,
the militant wing won out. As a result, several of Montezuma's old
friends and family, including several of his children, were put to death.
In the meantime, on July ninth, fifteen twenty, the conquistadors crossed the
mountains back into the Kingdom of Tlascala. The army was still nursing its wounds
when Cortez issued one of his least popular orders. He ordered everyone in the
expedition who possessed any gold to turn it over. The reason was simple,
the expedition was flat broke and it needed the gold to purchase new allies.
Still, the order was not popular and we do not have any indication how
successful it was. When Cortes reached Luscala, he found out just how far
his star had fallen. Sure, the Tluscalands were still willing to help him.
They hated the Mexica after all, but their support would come with a
steep price. Specifically, they had four conditions. One they wanted Cortez to
guarantee to hand over the city of Cholula to them. Two, they wanted
to be able to garrison a special fortress within tenocht Klan itself. The Tlus
Glands believed this would protect them from any attacks by the Mexica in perpetuity.
Three they wanted to divide any spoils evenly. Four they want to propel actual
freedom from paying tribute to whoever was ruling from technosh Declan. Cortez, not
really having any choice, agreed to all their terms. Now, in the
long run, these guarantees would do the Tlascalans very little good. Cortez and
his expedition remained in Tlascala for twenty days, recovering from their wounds. Back
in Technoshtklan, Emperor Kliklawak announced that he would remit all tribute for one year
from any town which killed the Europeans or expelled them from their territory. Now,
in addition to this, Cortez was facing four other major problems. First,
he had to send back a messenger to Vera Cruz asking for new soldiers
and supplies. He had to be really careful about this message. It was
crucial that he not spook the men remaining. If they refused to come,
or worse, assume the cause was lost and sailed for Cuba, then he
was doomed. He needed to get new men without acknowledging how badly he had
been defeated. Second, Cortes received word that a party of sick and wounded
men whom Cortez had just sent on to Vera Cruz while he was recovering in
Tlascala. Those two sick or wounded to campaign at all, had been ambushed.
Everyone had been killed. Most importantly, all the supplies and a lot
of Mexican silver was lost. Third, Cortes had to deal with the commander
who had been in Tlascala during La Noche Triste. This man, Juan Paez,
had continued to sit in Plascala long after the situation in technosht Klan had
grown dire. The Tlascalans had offered to march with him to technosh Declan to
the aid of Cortez, reportedly with one hundred thousand men, but Paiez refused.
Cortez strongly reprimanded him. Now, but it wouldn't be the last time
Paiez would be accused of being a coward. Finally, of the remaining three
hundred or so men, many now began agitating for a return to Cuba.
No doubt, most of this believed that they were just lucky to have survived
La Nochtiste. They had zero intention of rolling the dice again. These men
were tired and afraid. They were in a strange land, surrounded by enemies.
They made the following written demand to Cortez. Quote, very magnificent,
Sir, the captains and soldiers of this army of which your Excellency is General,
appear before you and say to you that the deaths, damages and losses
which we have suffered well in the city of Technostyclon, whence we have just
come, as well as on the road from there, are all well known
to you. Most of our men and horses are dead, the artillery is
lost, our ammunition is exhausted, and we are lacking in everything with which
to carry on the war. In addition, in this city, where we
seem on the surface to have been given a good reception and shown good will,
we have found for certain that they are trying to reassure us with pretended
words and deeds in order to lull us into a false sense of security,
and then, when we least expect it, they will attack us and finish
us off. We cannot believe that these Indians will keep faith or promises with
us, nor go against their own people in their neighbors in our defense.
The enmity and war between them and the past will turn to friendship and peace,
so that together they may be more powerful against us and so destroy us.
Of all this we have seen and understood the beginnings. Besides, we
see that your Excellency, our leader in general, is badly wounded. The
surgeons say that your wound is dangerous, and they fear you may not survive.
All these things, if your Excellency will examine them afford good reasons for
us to abandon the city and not wait for a worse conclusion to our affairs
than exist at the present. We are also informed that your Excellency, without
taking in consideration the urgent sufficient reasons to put a stop to the conquest,
intends to go ahead and continue the war, a plan which, if put
into effect, lead to our destruction. We therefore ask and beg your excellency,
and if necessary, demand that you leave this city with all the army
and set off for Vera Cruz, so that what is most to the service
of God and his majesty can be determined best end quote. Cortez responded with
his usual brovado. He quote said that to show the natives, especially those
who are allies, that we lack courage, would turn them against us the
sooner. After all, fortune always favors the brave. Furthermore, we are
Christians who trust in the great goodness of God will not let us perish utterly,
nor allow us to lose such a great and noble land, which,
as ben or is in the service to your Majesty. Nor could I abandon
so great a service to the Great Charles the fifth as continuing the war.
I determined therefore that I would go on on no account go across the mountains
to the coast. On the contrary, I told them that disregarding all the
dangers that work I might lie ahead of us, I would never abandon in
this land. Apart from being shameful to myself and dangerous for your all,
it would also be a great treason to the Majesty Charles the Fifth. I
resolved to fall out our enemies wherever I could, and oppose them in every
possible way end quote. It was a straightforward appeal to the men's sense of
honor. Cortes knew his countrymen well, he knew what buttons to push to
keep them going as usual. It worked. The rebellions simmered but didn't boil
over. But Cortez wasn't going to take any chances immediately. He began planning
a new campaign, idle Hands, after all of the devil's playthings. This
campaign, though, would not strike at Technoso Decline, at least not immediately.
Courtes had something else in mind. He would strike at the province of
the Pecca. Tepecca was a hilltop fortress and the center of tribute for the
region for technoheticlon for a century. It had resisted incorporation into the Mexica Empire
and had only recently become a dependency. It was a crucial source of both
foodstuffs and cotton for the Mexica. Plus, Tepecca lay in the middle of
the best route from Technostclon to Vera Cruz. If Cortes could liberate the region
from Mexica control, then he could deprive technosht Clon of one of its most
important vassals while simultaneously protecting his route of escape. There were other reasons that
Cortes chose to Pecca as his target. The tax Lacans really wanted him to
attack it, and the alliance really mattered to Cortez at this point. Moreover,
it would be devastating to Morale and technosh Declan to lose to Peca,
and to top it off, he needed a distraction, a common enemy to
fully incorporate Nabatis's men fully into his army. Hence, after a twenty day
rest, Cortes's army moved toward Tepecca on August the first, fifteen twenty.
Cortes could not take all of his men, some were still too wounded to
fight. The tax Lacans, however, had more than made up the difference.
They contributed several thousand warriors to his cause. Tepecca is only forty miles
from Plascala, so Cortes reached the edges of its territory after only four days.
At the small town of Uxenko, Cortes and his messengers ahead, requiring
the Tepecans to explain their attitude toward the Europeans. In other words, Cortez
wanted to know, are you with us or against us? The Tippecans sent
a defiant reply, so two days later Cortes attacked. The battle was completely
one sided. European fire arms, horses and the ferocious Texlacan warriors were all
too much. In the end, about four hundred Tippecans were killed. Cortes
moved into the center of the city, and there Tepeca offered its submission and
allegiance to Charles the Fifth on September the fourth, fifteen twenty. Cortes on
this occasion was especially brutal after the battle, breaking with his previous practice,
he enslaved all the wives and children of every man who had been killed in
battle. These people were sold for ten pesos each, branded on the cheek,
and became slaves in the European sense for the first time ever in Mexico.
Cortez declared that the children of any enslaved woman would become a slave property,
and therefore wealth suddenly recreated itself. This is a story that will come
to dominate the Americas. But I'm guessing you already knew that. Cortes then
set about conquering the entire province around Tepecca. His treatment of all those cities
and towns was the same. This campaign was one of the most brutal,
but also one of the most important of Cortes's time in Mexico. By winning
this campaign, Cortez cut tetnsht Clan off from the sea to the east one
over half of what is today Mexico, and severed the Mexico ties with the
tropical regions to the south. In a report detailing these events, Cortes himself
admits to the autrocities. Quote, when we crossed the border into Depecca,
that is, into the Mexican Empire, from Plas Gala, many of the
natives came out to fight us and defend the road as best they could from
strong and dangerous positions. Not to give an account of everything which befell us
in this battle, which would take too much time, I will only say
that after we had completed our demands for peace on Your Majesty's behalf, and
with which they had not complied. We made war on them, and they
fought many times against us. With the help of God and royal fortune,
good of your Majesty, we always routed them and killed many, without killing
or wounding a single Spaniard. And within twenty days we had pacified and subdued
many towns and villages, and the lords and chieftains had come forward and offered
themselves His Majesty's vassals. I have driven from those provinces many of the Mexica,
who had come to help the people of Depecca make war on us,
to ensure they did not become our allies. In a certain part of this
province, where they killed ten or twelve spans, the natives have been very
warlike. I made certain of them slaves, of which I gave a fifth
part to Your Majesty's officers, for they are all accounibals. I was also
moved to take those slaves so as to strike fear into the Mexicans, and
also because there are so many people over there that if I did not impose
a great and cruel punishment they would never be reformed end quote. Meanwhile,
Quiglauak was doing his best to restore morale and technosht Klan and the overall strength
of the Mexica Empire. The temples were repaired and the idols restored, yet
very little of what was done was of a military nature. Many historians,
and I do mean many, blame the final collapse of the old Mexican Empire
on this laxidaisical attitude in the interim between lan Nooce Triste and Cortes's return.
This really isn't fair for several reasons. First, they did do some things.
The Mexico built new fortifications, They had longer spear fashioned to try and
deal with the longer Spanish swords. Second, they didn't have any idea if
or when Cortez was going to return. Third, they, much like the
Byzantines, tried to use wealth and diplomacy to try to get someone else to
finish off the Europeans. It wasn't necessarily their fault that none of these things
worked. Cortes used the establishment of the base at Topecca as an opportunity to
take stock of his legal position. He wrote a lengthy report to send back
to Spain, essentially the document planes Navarez for the entire La Nochitiste debacle.
Cortes argued that because he was forced to leave Technosotyclan, everyone mess things up
in his absence, He's not wrong per se. However, Cortez clearly downplayed
his own role in appointing Alvarado in his stead and then mismanaging affairs after he
returned into the city. Cortes wrote another document to go along with this one,
essentially a joint letter from the army, in which the army demands that
Cortez be allowed to remain not just their military captain but the official mayor of
Vera Cruz. The purpose behind this letter was to forestall any additional European efforts
to colonize the region and hence replace Cortez. These letters are unique for an
additional reason. Cortes wrote that Charles the Fifth should think of himself as the
emperor of what he calls New Spain. This is the first time that anyone
in writing expressed the belief in a far flung empire spanning multiple continents. Previously,
most thinkers still wrote about Christendom as the overarching ideal. Cortes's suggestion that
there might be a Spanish empire who was truly novel at the time. Frankly,
there wasn't really even such a of Spain. Yet Spain is still cast
Deal and Aragon, at least in terms of the beliefs of the people who
lived there. To suggest that Charles the fifth might be the emperor of a
new Roman empire beyond the seas, that was quite the logical leap. While
Cortez was defending his legal position through this series of letters, he was also
preparing for a return to Technostiklan. Critically, Cortez ordered the construction of a
series of small ships, which would change the balance of power on the lake.
Cortes realized he needed to starve the Mexica into submission more than anything else.
He couldn't do that while the Mexica controlled the lake. These ships would
alter his position decisively, but by far and away, the biggest change to
Cortes's situation in Mexico was way beyond his control. As I mentioned two episodes
back in fifteen eighteen, a major smallpox epidemic began in Hispaniola modern day Haiti,
and the Dominican Republic. By late fifteen nineteen, the plague spread to
Cuba. Then, of course, Navarez took the expedition and the epidemic to
Cozumel. Historians cannot say for certain still today whether it was Navarez and his
expedition that ultimately landed smallpox in Cozumel, but after he left, smallpox decimated
the population. Certainly, though, we are confident it was Navarez and his
expedition that brought smallpox to mainland Mexico. Old Mexico didn't have any experience with
viruses. The Totoknac people were decimated. The Mexica, as its spread inland,
had no clue how to respond. Most of the priests interpreted the new
disease as a punishment from the gods, which, by and large it's how
Europeans also still thought about disease Mexican Town. After Mexican Town was depopulated,
in many streets, there was no means of collecting the corpses. Mexican officials,
anxious themselves about catching the disease from the dead, more often than not
just leveled the dead person's house on top of them. Those who did not
die were left scarred physically and mentally, in many places, half of the
population died. It was a worse epidemic than the Black Plague in the fourteenth
century. Compounding problems, the deaths of so many laborers meant that there was
no one to plant or harvest corn. There was no one to grind the
maze, so starvation followed. By September of fifteen twenty, smallpox reached Chaliko.
By October it was in Technoshti Klan worse still in Mexica could not help
but notice that while the disease killed thousands of them, it seemed to spare
the Europeans. Hence, it certainly looked like the gods had decided with Cortes.
Cortez, oddly, and I think really interestingly, didn't seem to grasp
any of this. He didn't seem to understand how devastating the plague was on
the Mexica people. He did notice, however, all the deaths in and
around Tepeca. Because so many local chiefs died, Cortes got to play the
role of kingmaker in the region, which only strengthened his personal grip. While
thousands of Mexico died, Cortes continued consolidating his power. He dispatched his loyal
lieutenant Sandoval to the north, where for thirty days he worked to pacify the
regions successfully. No doubt, he was aided more by small Box than anything
else. The success in the north of Plascala had the same effect on the
region as the wars waged to the south and west of Topecca. Things were
going so well, in fact, Cortes didn't hesitate when several members of Navarez's
expedition asked for permission to return to Cuba. Cortes figured he was better off
without them. Around Christmas fifteen twenty, Cortes returned to Tlascala. He was
in an infinitely better position than he had been six months prior. There he
planned his strategy for the next phase of his grand campaign, how to reconquer
te Nosti Klan. Cortez left about sixty men in Tepecca with a few cannons
and a few horses. As for himself, he had bigger plans. It
turned out that the emperor Kliklawak would never get a chance to face Cortez.
He died of smallpox and was succeeded by his cousin Katamak Quatomac was in his
mid twenties at the time. He was young, brave, and determined.
Given the circumstances facing the Mexica, he was the perfect choice for the leader.
Frankly, he was the only choice. Amak's mission was to fight,
but to stand a chance against Cortes and the Tlascalands, he also needed allies.
While he was seeking out allies, Cortes remained in Tlascala planning his next
move. Several new ships arrived in Vita Cruz then fall, bolstering his men
and supplies. He now had eighty crossbowmen and arquebusser's plus forty horses. He
had eight or nine field guns, though he was painfully short on powder.
He had probably five hundred and fifty infantrymen. Cortes, as usual, had
his fairly small army supported by a massive number of Tlascalan allies. Numbers are
hard to estimate. Cortes was offered eighty thousand men. According to the records,
he took ten thousand. Still, that's twenty Pluscaland warriors for every European.
Argue that Cortez and a handful of Europeans brought down Old Mexico is simply
not true. Cortez, a handful of Europeans and thousands of Mesoamerican Indians brought
down the Mexican Though Cortez was setting out with a force similar in size,
if maybe superior in quality, to that which she had gone to technost Klan
about fourteen months previously, his strategy was now different. In fifteen nineteen,
he had hoped to impose his personality in Montezuma and then use him as a
puppet. Now he planned to defeat Montezuma's successor in battle. But when he
left for technost Clan, Cortez's number one strategy to reduce the capital city remained
incomplete. The ships were not finished. When Cortez left plas Gala for Technosti
Klan on the twenty seventh of December fifteen twenty, they were still working on
the vessels. So basically Cortes's plan was to establish a base for him at
Texcoco on the eastern shore of the Lake of Mexico, launch what forays he
could, and wait for the ships to arrive. Cortes reached Texcoco on December
thirtieth, fifteen twenty. He was met by the lords of the city bearing
banners of peace, they told him. Quote, Our Lord and King sends
to say you that he covets your friendship is waiting for you peacefully in Texcoco.
The squadrons who have been waiting in the ravines to attack you on your
way down, set by h Adamak, have nothing to do with us.
End quote. Cortes accepted the show of friendship, but both he and his
captains believed that this was a ruse, and they camped five miles outside the
city. They were wrong. The Europeans remained in tex Coco for about four
days and got nothing but a warm welcome. Most of the residents of tex
Coco, however, left town playing it safe. Everybody remembered how the Europeans
had recently massacred a group of Mexica just for dancing, but text Coco was
not willing to try and dispatch the clunquistadors. Now that the tables had turned
on the Mexica, essentially everyone was jumping ship on their alliance. All Cortes
had to do was ride the wave. At the end of the four days,
three Texcan lords came to see Cortez. They told him that in the
past, when they had fought against him, it was because they were ordered
to do so by the Mexica. Now they wanted to be on his side
from now on. They promised they would do everything he commanded. When q
Adamok found out about these negotiations, he sent his own messengers. He told
the text Cocan people to remain faithful, that the Europeans were sure to be
defeated this time. The text Cocan lords responded by arresting the Mexican messengers,
turning them over to Cortez. Cortez realized that his plan was working. If
he continued to circuit around the lake, then he might be able to turn
all of Quadamak's former allies against him. Then he could begin the siege from
a superior position. So he set out on a reconnaissance mission around the lake.
He started by going southeast. Now in fifteen nineteen, when he arrived
at the Nocheticlan, it had been on the northern side of the lake,
so Cortes had not made any contact with any of the Mexica dependent states to
the south. His first target was the important town of East Tellapala. Initially,
Cortes intended to garrison the town in the end, he didn't, and
that decision proved to be providential. The Mexica opened a breach in one of
the nearby dikes, flooding the town head Quartz and his men men inside,
they might have drowned, which of course was the plan. As it were,
they lost most of their gunpowder. When Cortez awoke, he found himself
surrounded by water, with Mexican war canoes streaming down upon his position. He
quickly determined his present position wasn't worth the cost in men to hold it,
and fought his way back to Texcoco. Once again, the Mexica misinterpreted this
as a sign that Cortes was defeated once Overall, the Mexica culturally never retreated
from a forward position, but again they didn't understand that Europeans saw battles differently.
Again, it cost them once back in tex Coco, the lords of
Chalco and Tamilanko sent word that they too would like peace with Cortez. Chalco
was an especially important town, so this was great news for the Europeans.
Every city that flipped to Cortes added manpower to his expedition and took defenders away
from the Mexico. First However, Cortes needed to defeat the Mexican garrison within
Chalco. He dispatched his trustworthy lieutenant Sandoval, who fought several critical battles before
re establishing Chalco as an independent city with no need to pay tribute to Mexico
for the first time in fifty years. In a sign of things to come,
Sandoval suffered no casualties. At the end of January, Hugh Adamok was
inaugurated as emperor. Immediately he set about rebuilding the defenses around technoshty Klan.
He ordered canals deepened so that they couldn't be filled in The Mexicans also prepared
darts, long lances, and other weapons of wars. Hugh Ademok was more
vigorous in his commitment to war than either of his predecessors had been. It's
interesting to think about what might have been had he been in charge in the
first place, but he wasn't. By the end of January, Cortes assumed
the ships he had ordered would be ready, so he sent Santoval to Tescala
to bring them to the lake. Sandoval left, but he hadn't made it
very far before he met a party bearing the ships to Texcoco. It's really
difficult to overstate the importance of these ships and the battles to come. It's
sort of like the modern equivalent of getting powerful anti aircraft systems to neutralize an
opponent's aerial advantage, Just like Cortez was doing to Mexico's allies around the lake,
Cortez was about to take a disadvantage and transform it into his favor.
From Texcoco, Cortez set out for Tacuba. Tacuba was a member of the
Mexican Triple Alliance, but it was the smallest member. Still, it held
an important position due west of tech No Declan. In fact, it was
along the causeway that connected Tacuba to the city that Cortez and his men had
made their getaway during La Tacuba, however, would not turn its back on
the Mexica. The reality was that many of Tacuba's nobles had intermarried into the
Mexican royal line, so they had too much to lose by supporting Cortez.
Tacuba in fact, had rebuilt the entire causeway Cortez had partially destroyed during Lannoche.
Triste, in fact, immediately apparent to him as he approached the town.
Cortes spent six days around Tacuba, constantly fighting skirmishes and trying to get
the lords of the town to switch sides. Ultimately, Cortes was unable to
break the town and had to return to Texcoco. The reason he had to
return, however, had a lot more to do with inter whole problems.
Several men came to him with allegations that there was a plot to assassinate Cortes
and replace him. The leader of the plot was Antonio de Villafana, who
just so happened to be the brother in law of Diego Velasquez, the governor
of Cuba. Cortes, as usual, acted decisively. He went to Sandoval
and explained what was happening. Sandoval gathered up what many could and immediately arrested
Villafana. Viafana was tried and hanged, all in the scope of about an
hour. Cortes would later tell the men that Villafana had swallowed the list of
his fellow conspirators before Cortes could get it. This is almost certainly false.
If there was a list, and I mean who carries around a list of
their fellow conspirators, then Cortez definitely saw it, but he probably didn't need
too. The men who had thrown in their lot with Villafana would have been
easy to guess. They would all be people with connections to Governor of Alasquez,
and in the end it didn't really matter. Most of the likely conspiracers
left for Cuba within a few weeks. Cortes was smart enough to appoint himself
a bodyguard. However, on March the fifteenth, fifteen twenty two, messengers
arrived from Chalco that a large Mexico force was on its way. According to
the message, it was twenty thousand soldiers strong. Cortes was frustrated and dispatched
Sandoval with a force to support their new ally. In the end, though
said force wasn't needed, Chalco defeated the Mexico on their own. If there
was ever a sure sign that the days of old Mexico were numbered, this
was it. Sure. The Mexicans could not seem to break Cortes and his
European technology, but the fact that they could no longer feet other Indians meant
that the game was nearly over. And it's hard to tell exactly when this
happened, but at some point around fifteen twenty two, Quatomac himself gained the
nickname of Quote Falling Eagle end Quote, which is never a good nickname to
have. So long as Cortez already had troops on their way to Chalco,
he decided he would continue his circuit around the lake. By and large,
this maneuver succeeded. From Chalco, Cortez went to the town of Kumawakan and
from there to Cuernavaca, but she reached in mid April. Ultimately, Cortez
marched around the entire circuit of the lake, and the Mexica were powerless to
stop him. Cortez bought a few engagements. The Mexica seemed to believe that
they had fought off an attack, but Cortez was merely conducting a routine reconnaissance.
The battle for technosht Clon was about to begin. As always, if
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check out a free seven day trial of Western Sieve two point zero or Deep
Into the Peloponnesian Wars at this point, if you like the whole thing over
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