Cortés and his force on their arrival in in Cempoala are greeted by twenty dignitaries and cheering townsfolk.

Totonac ruler Tlacochcalcatl, still chafing under Aztec rule, welcomes Cortés and promises fifty thousand warriors to help defeat Tenochtitlan.

Cortés quickly persuades the Totonac chiefs to rebel against the Aztecs, taking prisoner five of Moctezuma's tax collectors.

Cortés, whose forces are numerically inferior, surprises his antagonist with a night attack, during which his men wound Narváez in the eye and take him prisoner.

He persuades the rest of Narváez's men to join him.

After Cortés permits the defeated soldiers to settle in the country, they "passed with more or less willingness to Cortes' side."

Cortes gains their support when he "promised to make them rich and give them commands.”