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their reinforcements from entering. The Aztecs then began the attack, forcing the outnumbered Tlatelolcas back to the temple of Quetzalhuah near the marketplace,
19 where Axayacatl is credited with killing Moquihuix in single combat. Tlatelolco was defeated, losing 460 dead, and the temple was burned.20 |
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After the battle people came to Tlatelolco from Xochimilco, Cuitlahuac, Mizquic, Mexicatzinco, and Huitzilopochco. Axayacatl killed the rulers of those towns, as well as the rulers of Colhuacan, Cuitlahuac, and Huitzilopochco.21 Although the Xochimilcas had not aided the Tlatelolcas, they had not assisted the Aztecs in a timely manner, so their king, Xihuitl-Temoc, was also killed.22 Axayacatl also placed an Aztec military governor over Tlatelolco.23 Thus he punished those who had conspired with Tlatelolco, secured his hold over his tributaries, and generated greater loyalty among the successors of the executed rulers, as the Aztec manipulation of succession increased the number of local rulers who also had kin ties to Tenochtitlan.24 Consequently, Tenochtitlan emerged stronger from this civil war. |
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Except for a small war with Huexotla the following year25either the result of the Acolhua succession struggle or as part of the consolidation following the defeat of TlatelolcoTenochtitlan now had no challengers left in the heart of the empire. Axayacatl had successfully expanded north and south, and Tlaxcallan and its allies were safely contained to the east. The Aztecs next turned westward in a series of campaigns aimed at expanding and strengthening their flank and blocking any expansion of the Tarascan Empire, the only serious competitor to the west. The western conquests fall into |
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