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Part 16: Dusk
With the Spanish impasse was finally take care of, Cuauhtémoc was free to order his 120.000 men to march in the direction of the Triple Alliance's eastern borders once more, so that they could at last launch their long overdue campaign against the Purépecha. The tlatoani spent three vital months (including all of spring) blockading Veracruz, and though the steady adoption of pack animals by the military eased the logistical burden of supplying such a gargantuan army significantly, moving so many warriors from one end of the empire to the other was still a difficult task, especially in the Mesoamerican summer's sweltering temperatures, violent tropical storms and hurricanes. As a result it wasn't until late July that the Mexica were ready to launch the invasion, but despite these hurdles morale was still high: most of the troops were veterans of the great campaign their sovereign embarked upon back in 1528, and they remembered how their enemies scattered before their unstoppable advance.
The first target of the offensive was
Taximaroa, a frontier outpost that prospered as an area where Mexica and Purépecha merchants could trade under strict control. It was also the site where the Triple Alliance's first attempt to conquer the Iréchikwa Tzintzuntzani was crushingly defeated (1), so its capture would be a significant ego boost for an army which already considered itself to be the best to exist in its corner of the world. On July 28 1536, the Mexica army surrounded Taximaroa and attacked its defenses from all sides, overrunning the hopelessly outnumbered garrison in a few hours. It seemed like yet another victory, but the officers who got into the thick of the action sent ominous reports to their superiors: some of the Purépecha warriors were clad in armor and shields distressingly similar to their own, the main difference being that theirs was made of bronze instead of steel. They were dismissed as a curiosity.
With Taximaroa secured, it was decided by Cuauhtémoc and his commanders to divide the army so as to put less strain on their logistics. While a force of 30.000 men and 12 cannons, led by Matlatzincatzin (2), would be sent north with orders to take the fortress of Acámbaro (
map for reference) and thus secore the invaders' northern flank, the remaining 90.000 would march in the direction of Tzintzuntzan itself, in the hopes of either taking the Purépecha capital or drawing them into a decisive battle, where they would be crushed by their superior technology and firepower. Little did they know they were playing right into their enemy's hands: Tangaxuan had been receiving reports of Mexica troops massing in large numbers on his empire's eastern borders since early in the year, and when the Triple Alliance got stuck in its unexpected crisis with Spain, he began to assembly his own invasion force at Cutzamala, where it could advance against either Acapolco, Tollocan or Zacatollan. Though he was too far away to aid Taximaroa in time, the irecha now had a chance to defeat the Mexica in detail.
Some scenes of the invasion of Michoacán, as depicted in a codex.
The siege of Acámbaro began on August 8 1536, and it didn't take long for Matlatzincatzin to notice its defenses were far more formidable than the ones of the various cities the Triple Alliance conquered in its previous campaigns. The fortress was surrounded by a wooden palisade, a rampart behind it, along with caltrops and spikes that made a cavalry charge suicide. The garrison was much larger than Taximaroa's, too, and they had ample supplies and experience from fending off the frequent raids made by Chichimeca nomads. After making camp north of the fortress so as to have easy access to the waters of the Lerma River, Matlatzincatzin ordered a small probing attack to be made, one whose purpose was to gather intelligence on any weak spots in the Purépecha fortifications. Though the force he sent was easily repulsed, the information the Mexica general received was enough for his artillerymen to prepare their guns.
The bombardment they unleashed lasted for half an hour, the roars let out by the Mexica cannons echoing throughout the battlefield, drowning out everything else, and covering it in clouds of dust and gunpowder. After a few minutes of tense, deafening silence, the infantry rushed forward like wraiths from the smoke, their cries almost rivaling the noises made by their artillery. The Mexica warriors poured through the breaches in the palisade opened by the bombardment and began to climb up the rampart, only to be met by a rain of arrows and crossbow bolts, the best shooters among the Purépecha aiming at their enemies' legs, the least protected areas in their bodies. A frenzied melee ensued, the attackers trying to climb and the defenders pushing them back down, all the while swords, shields, spears, macuahuitls and quauholollis were swung about loudly, earning blood-curdling screams from those who they hit.
The carnage went on for at least two hours, before the unthinkable happened: the exhausted Mexica warriors were ordered to pull back and regroup. For the first time in more than a decade, they had suffered a defeat, even if a temporary one. Still, while popular wisdom is that Matlatzincatzin didn't order a second assault later in the day because of the shock of the Triple Alliance's until then invincible troops being forced to retreat, it is more likely that he judged it wiser to let his bloodied men recuperate and soften up the defenders with another bombardment the next day. The Purépecha preempted him, however, by launching a sortie in the middle of the night in which they caught the besiegers completely by surprise and destroyed four cannons, decreasing their firepower by a third and shaking their morale even further. But there was only so much the defenders could do without help from the outside, and the summer heat meant their water ran out in a few days.
Acámbaro was stormed on August 13, after five days of cannonades, assaults and sorties. Though the Mexica won in the end, and sent what remained of the enemy garrison to Tenochtitlan to be sacrificed, their gunpowder reserves were dangerously low and it would take at least another day of rest for them to march in support of the main army's advance against Tzintzuntzan. Both forces were at least dozens of kilometers away from each other, and though the Iréchikwa didn't have enough horses to train possess an organized cavalry arm like the Triple Alliance did, it had more than enough to serve as scouts and messengers who informed its own armies of their enemy's plight.
Speaking of plight, Cuauhtémoc's situation became increasingly dire the further he marched to the west: the landscape became more and more arid, which, combined with the soaring temperatures and adoption of a scorched earth policy by the Purépecha, led to the death of scores of pack animals from hunger, thirst and heatstroke every day (3). His troops were strung out as a result of the ensuing logistical difficulties, and worst of all, the garrisons left behind to protect their line of communication were picked off one by one by Tangaxuan's approaching army, so they didn't even know if Acámbaro was captured or not. At long last his vanguard came in contact with an enemy force of some 20.000 men entrenched at
Guayangareo on August 20, but the tlatoani, believing this to be the vanguard of the main Purépecha army instead of what it really was (a small detachment whose purpose was to hold the invaders in place long enough for Tangaxuan to catch up), held off on attacking until the next day, so as to give enough time for his scattered army to concentrate.
Once again Cuauhtémoc unwittingly played into the enemy's hands, and one can only imagine the horror he and his generals must've felt at the dawn of August 21, when they saw Tangaxuan's army of roughly 80.000 men on the horizon, moving ever closer to their rear with each passing minute. They had only a few hours to scatter the Purépecha troops in front of them before the trap closed, and with the most direct path littered with caltrops and a ditch behind them, a frontal attack by the horsemen was suicide.
The Battle of Guayangareo, as shown in a codex.
The Battle of Guayangareo began with a flanking march by the cavalry, so as to get in a position where they could actually charge at their opponents, while the infantry closed in from the front and cleared as many obstacles as they could before they too attacked. The cannons were pointed away, towards the incoming enemy army, with orders to unleash hell as soon as they got in range - the Mexica commanders hoped the smaller Purépecha force would be scattered by then, which would allow the bulk of their troops to assist them and snatch what would without a doubt be their toughest victory yet. But no plan survives contact with the enemy, and this one was no exception, for the 85.000 or so strong Mexica army was paralyzed with delays brought about by exhaustion and unfamiliar terrain. To make matters worse, several cavalry units charged too soon, either because of inaccurate orders or out of fear that the Spanish mercenaries (who still an important presence in the military, despite the fiasco earlier in the year) would deprive them of potential sacrifices. Whatever the reason, the result was the same: without support from the infantry, most of the Mexica horsemen involved in the attack were torn to pieces.
With his cavalry neutralized, Cuauhtémoc had no choice but to order an all out frontal attack straight into the heart of the Purépecha field fortifications, in the hopes that his troops' vastly superior numbers would overrun their positions in time to turn around and face the main enemy force. Though they were gradually pushed back, the outnumbered Purépecha fought hard for every inch of ground, their bronze shields and cuirasses allowing them to resist blows that would've cut through their old armor with ease, to their foes' astonishment and terror. The screams and cries of both sides' desperate struggle were drowned out by the thunderous sound of cannon fire, signaling that Tangaxuan was ready to engage at last. Panic spread through the Mexica ranks as they realized the trap was closed, and the battle promptly devolved into a massacre. Only 20.000 Mexica warriors escaped death or captivity, thanks in no small part to the havoc their artillery wrought in the Purépecha ranks, tearing large holes in their lines.
Having only barely avoided capture himself, Cuauhtémoc ordered a general retreat back to friendly territory, abandoning all the lands the Triple Alliance had conquered in the campaign. During this retreat he met with Matlatzincatzin and the force that captured Acámbaro, and the shock with which they reportedly reacted to their comrades' state has since been immortalized by far too many books, films and television series out there. The Purépecha followed their steps closely, their lack of cavalry preventing them from doing anything more to obstruct or harrass their enemies' retreat. When Cuauhtémoc entered Tollocan, a major city roughly halfway between Tenochtitlan and the western border, on September 5, the people greeted his downtrodden men with stunned silence, then surrendered to the Purépecha when they arrived a few days later. Panic gripped the streets of the capital when its inhabitants learned of this news, and the tlatoani's arrival did little to assuage their fears. Nor did the sighting of Purépecha troops in the outskirts of Tlacopan, on the eastern shore of Lake Texcoco, on September 13 - the enemy was within the very heart of the Valley of Anahuac.
Even so, the atmosphere over Texcoco's streets couldn't be more different. The birthplace of the famous philosopher-king Nezahualcoyotl, whose contributions (such as the dike named after him and the reconstruction of the Chapultepec aqueduct) were critical to the growth of the Triple Alliance in its formative years, its status as an equal to Tenochtitlan had been undermined for decades, a process that culminated with the election of Cacamatzin as tlatoani in 1515, after much pressure from Moctezuma II. This loss of autonomy was deeply resented by the city's notables, and with their overlord in mortal peril, they wasted no time launching a revolt which ended with Cacamatzin's assassination, his replacement by Ixtlilxochitl II (4) and the expulsion of all Mexica troops from Texcoco's vicinity. They promptly made overtures to Tangaxuan, who accepted their aid without hesitation.
The Triple Alliance was no more, and from that moment on Tenochtitlan was under siege.
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Notes:
(1) Only one source I found in my research says this is where the battle took place, so this is a bit of a shot in the dark.
(2) The guy who led the Mexica in the Battle of Otumba IOTL. To be honest, I picked him because I don't know the names of any other prominent people in the Aztec military in real life, and for me it's still too soon to create original characters just yet.
(3) I used this map as a reference for climates in Mexico, and it seems to me that Michoacán is noticeably drier than the area around Mexico City and so on. if not necessarily arid.
(4) He helped Cortés in the OTL siege of Tenochtitlan, and was later baptized.
