The friends of the
young prince took advantage of this feeling, and succeeded in forming a
coalition against his enemy. A day was fixed for a general rising, and on
the date appointed Nezahualcoyotl found himself at the head of an army
strong enough to face that of Maxtla and the Tepanecs.
The two armies soon met and victory rested on the banner of the young
prince, the forces of Maxtla being badly beaten. No longer a hunted
fugitive, but at the head of a victorious army, he marched in triumph to
the capital which he had left with a price on his head, his joyful
subjects crowding to the route of march to render homage to their rightful
sovereign. The Mexicans, who were angry at the tyrannic conduct of Maxtla,
readily allied themselves with the young victor, and a series of bloody
battles followed, the usurper being at length defeated under the walls of
his own capital. He was dragged from the baths, to which he had fled for
concealment, and sacrificed to the cruel gods of the Aztecs; his royal
city was razed to the ground, and its site was reserved as the great
slave-market of the surrounding nations.
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