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He caused the cabildo of Cuzco to write letters to the other cities of Peru to concur in his elevation and to give assistance in the cause, and wrote many letters himself to various individuals in Las Charcas and other places, soliciting them to join him.
A Congress prolonged his dictatorship amid adulations that bordered on the grotesque. Eastward of Peru in the vast mountainous region of Charcas, on the very heights of South America, the royalists still found a refuge.
The events which had taken place in Las Charcas were soon known at Lima; and as several of the soldiers in that city were attached to the party of the viceroy, they spoke almost openly of going away to join Centeno; and, from the small attention paid by Lorenzo de Aldana to repress these men, he was even suspected of favouring the same cause.
Meanwhile the viceroy at Lima, on receipt of his letters, ordered the Armada of the South Sea to prepare to sail, and sent word south to Chili and throughout the province of Peru from Las Charcas to Quito, to forward the King's revenues for shipment to Panama. Within less than a fortnight all was in readiness.
When Pedro de Hinojosa took possession of his government of Las Charcas in place of Paulo de Meneses, he found a great number of soldiers in the country, who were exceedingly troublesome, as there were neither sufficient quarters nor provisions for so many; on which he took occasion to reprove Martin de Robles and Paulo de Menezes, alleging that their quarrels had drawn so many soldiers thither, for which reason they ought to provide for them, and not allow them to die of famine.
Bermudez added, that within a very few days they had learnt, from some Indians who occasionally traded into the province of Las Charcas, of the revolt which had taken place in Peru, but had been unable to procure information respecting the causes of this insurrection or as to who were chiefly engaged in it; for which reason he had been sent on before to inquire into these circumstances, and had received orders from the captains and other principal persons in the expedition, to offer their services to the party that acted for the royal interests, in which cause they might be of material importance, as they had a considerable number of excellent horses and plenty of arms.
Intact, except for the loss of Chile, it had found territorial compensation by stretching its power over the provinces of Quito and Charcas, the one wrenched off from the former New Granada, the other torn away from what had been La Plata. Predominantly royalist in sentiment, it was like a huge wedge thrust in between the two independent areas.
On the same day in which Pizarro was beheaded, his lieutenant-general Carvajal was drawn and quartered, and eight or nine of the insurgent captains were hanged; and in the sequel several others of the principal persons concerned in the revolt were punished when taken . On the day following the president went to Cuzco with all his army, whence he sent Alfonzo de Mendoza with a detachment into Las Charcas, to make prisoners of those who had been sent into that district by Gonzalo in quest of silver, and such as might have fled thither from the battle.
To gain them over to his purpose, he represented that Centeno had revolted without any just cause, and had usurped authority in Las Charcas for his own private ends, under pretence of serving the king; whereas Gonzalo Pizarro, being actual governor of the kingdom of Peru, ought to be obeyed as such till his majesty sent orders to the contrary.
The troops were disheartened by this desertion, and even Pizarro for a moment faltered in his purpose, and thought of retiring with some fifty followers to Charcas, and there making his composition with government.
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