|
|
|
|
|
|
|
attacked Tlaxcallan.
72 In the conflict the Aztecs took only 40 prisoners, Tetzcoco 20, Tlacopan 15, and Tlatelolco 5. As punishment for their poor performance the king made the officers wear maguey fiber mantles and forbade them to wear sandals or to enter the palace for a year.73 But Tlatlauhqui-Tepec, an ally of Tlaxcallan, was also conquered around the same time, as was nearby Tepeyacac later during the same campaign. Also probably conquered as a result were Xicotepec, Panco, Tlachiyauhtzinco, Teoatzinco, Atzomiatenanco, and Tecozauhtlan.74 While individual battles did not always favor the Aztecs, the cumulative effect was to strangle Tlaxcallan further. In response to this increased military pressure from Tenochtitlan, Tlaxcallan attempted to centralize its alliance structure, which reduced the independence of its allies. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At this time fighting broke out between Huexotzinco and Tlaxcallan, but the reasons are unclear. The dispute may have been over spheres of influence since these city-states had clashed earlier;75 but it is most likely that Tlaxcallan's attempt to assert its dominance alienated the previously dominant Huexotzinco. In the clash the Tlaxcaltecs destroyed the Huexotzincas' fields, causing many to die from starvation, so the Huexotzincas and their lords fled to Tenochtitlan and Amaquemecan, where they were granted refuge.76 Huexotzinco now sought an ally that would give the Huexotzincas sufficient support to free them from Tlaxcaltec domination; hence it allied with the Aztecs. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
While Huexotzinco wanted help in resisting Tlaxcaltec encroachment, the Aztecs were seeking an ally who would assist in the ultimate downfall of Tlaxcallan. But if the Aztec goal was to be accomplished, Huexotzinco's independence was doomed. Huexotzinco's political importance depended on its role as a fulcrum in the Tenochtitlan-Tlaxcallan regional balance of power. Without another power to play off against its current ally, Huexotzinco's importance was vastly reduced. Its significance lay largely in the power it could add to its partners, not in what it wielded alone. Thus the interests of Huexotzinco and Tenochtitlan were fundamentally divergent. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In one of the two campaign seasons following Nezahualpilli's death (151516 or 151617) the Aztecs launched another campaign into the Huaxyacac area (see map 19). The war began because Tlach- |
|
|
|
|
|