Hualcopo, the fourteenth Shiri, ascended the throne of Quito in 1430. Tupac Yupanqui had completed the reduction of the coast tribes of northern Peru and the mountain tribes as far north as the present Ecuador border had ceased to resist him. From the coast valleys of Piura and Paita, he marched up the easy pass which leads over the Cordillera into the fertile plateaux of southern Ecuador, and after a few victories all the tribes as far north as the nudo of Azuay submitted, and transferred their allegiance from Quito to Cuzco. Loja, Zaruma, Jubones, the great valley of Cuenca, and Canar were taken away, and Hualcopo was deprived of all but his hereditary dominions--the old kingdoms of Riobamba and Quito. The Shiri possessed no army capable of undertaking an offensive campaign against the Incas, but, although terrified at Tupac's rapid advance, the ancient possessions of the Shiri remained faithful. Tupac spent two years in the province of Canar, erecting fortifications and recruiting his army by new arrivals from the south and enlistment among the recently conquered tribes. Meanwhile Hualcopo was fortifying himself in the valley of Alausi, which lies north of Azuay, and in the passes that lead over the Tiocajas nudo into Riobamba. About the year 1455 the Inca army advanced in force. Defeated in several minor actions, the Shiri abandoned Alausi and concentrated his forces in the passes of Tiocajas. After three months of skirmishes and sieges in which the forts fell one by one, the Caras were compelled to accept a pitched battle. The conflict was well sustained, but with the death of the principal Cara general, victory declared for the Incas and the Caras fled from the field leaving sixteen thousand dead.