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priority but was to be a gradual process taking years. Meanwhile, Ahuitzotl's concerns were elsewhere. |
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The next campaign took place in 149192 and was directed toward the rebellious Gulf coast of present-day Veracruz.
39 The army marched out of the basin of Mexico, through present-day southern Puebla, and into central Veracruz, conquering the towns of Chinantlan (Chinauhtla), Coyolapan, Cualtepec, Cuextlan, Quimichtlan, Tlallocatepec, Acatlan, Totomihuacan, and Xicochimalco (see map 15),40 further consolidating Aztec control of the empire. |
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During the same season, and either as part of the same campaign or as one of a series of consolidating actions near the basin of Mexico, the Aztecs fought the Cuauhnahuacas, and Tetzcoco's King Nezahualpilli fought Totolapan,41 possibly as part of a flower war with Huexotzinco.42 Nezahualpilli gave captives from Huexotzinco, Tzotzollan, and Totolapan to Ahuitzotl, and they were sacrificed in Cuauhnahuac.43 |
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A flower war at this level of violence required substantially fewer warriors than a war of conquest, so its simultaneous exercise was easily within the capacity of the Triple Alliance, but the incidence and ferocity of these clashes was increasing. Many of the allied cities fought flower wars against the same group of enemy cities. In this case the Tetzcocas under Nezahualpilli apparently played the main role, not the Aztecs, and Xochimilco fought Atlixco in 1490,44 which may have been connected with the Huexotzinco xochiyaoyotl. The Aztecs also fought a xochiyaoyotl with Atlixco soon after, in 1492.45 Following the Huexotzinca war and the wars to the east, the Aztecs also conquered Atizapan, just to the north of Tenochtitlan,46 probably as an isolated action. |
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Ahuitzotl next turned south in a major campaign (1494) into the Huaxyacac region which had thus far been neglected. The stated reason for this campaign was to reconquer Xaltepec which had rebelled, and this campaign largely consolidated prior conquests in the region. |
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