The execution of Calvo and his followers changed the horrid aspect of the Valencian insurrection; the spirit of murder was checked, and the patriotic energy assumed a nobler appearance. Murcia and Valencia were united as one province; and towards the end of June, nearly thirty thousand men, armed and provided with artillery, attested the resources of these rich provinces, and the activity of their chiefs. The Valencians then conceived the plan of marching to the assistance of the Aragonese; but Napoleon had already prescribed the measures which were to render such a movement abortive. [Sidenote: S. Journal of Moncey’s Operations. MSS.] An order, dated the 30th of May, directed Moncey to move, with a column of ten thousand men, upon Cuenca; from that point he was to watch the country comprised between the lower Ebro and Carthagena, and he was empowered to act against the city of Valencia if he judged it fitting to do so. The position of Cuenca was advantageous; a short movement from thence to the left would place Moncey’s troops upon the direct line between Valencia and Zaragoza, and enable him to intercept all communication between those towns; and a few marches to the right placed him upon the junction of the roads leading from Carthagena and Valencia to Madrid. If Moncey thought it essential to attack Valencia, the division of general Chabran was to co-operate from the side of Catalonia. By this combination the operations of Lefebre Desnouettes at Zaragoza, and those of Duhesme in Catalonia, were covered from the Valencians; and at the same time the flank of the French army at Madrid was protected on the side of Murcia. [Sidenote: Ibid.] The 6th of June Moncey marched from Aranjuez by Santa Cruz, Tarancon, Carascoso, and Villa del Orma, and reached Cuenca the 11th. There he received information of the rapid progress of the insurrection, of the state of the Valencian army, and of the projected movement to relieve Zaragoza; he immediately resolved to make an attempt against the city of Valencia, and wrote to general Chabran, whom he supposed to be at Tortosa, directing him to march upon Castellon de la Plana, a town situated at some distance eastward of the river Guadalaviar. Moncey himself proposed, by a march through Requeña, to clear the country westward of that river, and fixed upon the 25th of June as the latest period at which the two columns were to communicate in the immediate vicinity of Valencia.