At this moment Tupac Amaru might probably have entered Cuzco without opposition; but unfortunately, relying on the justice of his cause, he beguiled himself into the belief that he could accomplish by argument and negotiation what could only be obtained by the sword. He threw up embankments and entrenched himself in an encampment near Tinta, throwing out videttes to within three leagues of Cuzco; and on the 27th he issued an edict from his head-quarters at Tungasuca, setting forth the causes of his revolt. In this document he recapitulated the grievances which his people suffered, declared the tyranny of the Spanish officials to be impious and cruel, and called upon the Indians to rally round his standard. Early in December 1780 Tupac Amaru crossed the Vilcañota range, by the pass of Santa Rosa, and, entering the Collao, advanced by Pucara to Lampa. At every village he addressed the people from the church-steps, saying that he came to abolish abuses and punish the corregidors; and that he was "the liberator of the kingdom, the restorer of privileges, and the common father of those who groan under the yoke of _repartos_." Nothing was heard amongst the Indians but acclamations for their Inca and Redeemer.[219] On the 13th of December he entered the town of Azangaro, where he destroyed the houses of the Cacique Chuquihuanca, who had refused to join the insurrection. A private letter, dated January 1781,[220] says that he rode into Azangaro on a white horse, with splendidly-embroidered trappings, and that two fair men, like Englishmen, of commanding aspect, were on his right and left. He was armed with a gun, sword, and pistols, and was dressed in blue velvet, richly embroidered with gold, with a three-cornered hat, and an _uncu_, in the shape of a bishop's rochet, over all, with a gold chain round his neck, to which a large golden sun was attached. Having received repeated letters from his wife, reporting the threatening assembly of troops at Cuzco, he retraced his steps, by Asillo and Orurillo, to the valley of the Vilcamayu, obliging the curas of the villages through which he passed to receive him in their churches under a canopy, and to chant the _Te Deum_. On the 28th the heights of Picchu, overhanging Cuzco on the west, were covered with his army. His cousin Diego Tupac Amaru was detached to the eastward with 6000 men, to occupy the provinces of Calca and Paucartambo. Another detachment under Antonio Castelo, one of the Inca's most trusted followers, marched along the direct road to Cuzco, but was defeated two leagues from the city at a place called Saylla, and finally effected a junction with the main body on the heights of Picchu.