That’s textbook tactics though. If you can’t overcome a superior force, ally with the minority faction and fight. The “stealing the flag” thing sounds a bit confabulated though.
Yeah. But remember, those Aztecs were quite caught up in their pagan religion
Similar to what Alexander almost pulled off at Gaugamela. Both times a smaller force managed to virtually decapitate a much larger force arrayed against them.
It is similar to Pizarro’s victory in Peru. He charged to the center and captured the king. In many primitive, even relatively sophisticated primitive societies, you take the leader or the Totem- the symbol of the tribe’s god, the good-luck piece and the spirit goes out of them and they collapse and flee.