The towns appealed to the Spanish garrisons at Villa Rica and Veracruz and Juan de Escalante, the conquistador then in command, warned Qualpopoca not to threaten the Totonacs and demanded gold as recompense.
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The province had only recently been added to the Aztec Empire through conquest, and when Hernán Cortés arrived in the region (now the Mexican state of Veracruz) in 1520, one of his first acts was to overthrow Aztec dominon by seizing Aztec tribute collectors in the town of Quiahuiztlan and only returning them after a personal request from the Aztec Emperor.