The whole of the interior of Central and Upper Peru was in revolt, and the viceroys of Peru and Buenos Ayres, Don Augustin de Jauregui and Don Juan José de Vertiz, were thoroughly alarmed. The former despatched Don José Antonio Areche, as "visitador," with extraordinary judicial powers, and a force commanded by Don José del Valle as Mariscal del Campo, to Cuzco; while the latter named Don Ignacio Flores, then Governor of Moxos, as commandante-general, to put down the rebellion in Upper Peru. Areche, accompanied by General José del Valle, and Don Benito de la Matta Linares, a judge of the Royal Audience at Lima, arrived at Cuzco on February 23rd, 1781, where an army of 15,000 men was collected, consisting of the tribes of the recreant caciques, negroes and mulattos from the coast, and a small force of Spaniards. Early in March General del Valle prepared to commence the campaign. But, before his army marched out of Cuzco, the visitador Areche received a letter from Tupac Amaru, in which he represented the earnest endeavours he had made to obtain justice for his people; the habitual violation of the law by the Spanish officials; the cruel and intolerable oppression caused by the _repartimentos_ and the _mita_; and the absolute necessity of some reform in the administration. He concluded by proposing a negotiation by which these ends might be attained without bloodshed. This despatch is very ably written, and is a monument of the noble and enlightened views of this great but most unfortunate patriot.[224] The answer of the visitador Areche was a brutal menace, better suited to a follower of Zengis Khan than to a Christian judge. He refused all negotiation, vowed the most horrible vengeance, and concluded by saying that, if the Inca surrendered at once, the cruelty of the mode of his execution would be lessened. The Spanish General del Valle protested against the brutality of this reply.[225]