[citation needed] On Christmas Day 1808, Venegas and his division attempted a surprise attack on a brigade of French dragoons at Tarancón.

At the Battle of Uclés, 12,500 French foot soldiers and 3,500 horsemen under Marshal Claude Perrin Victor crushed the force led by Venegas.

[3] In mid-July 1809 Venegas and his 23,000 soldiers sparred with the French IV Corps, carefully avoiding being drawn into battle with 20,000 troops of superior quality.

According to the strategic plan, Venegas was supposed to ensure that the IV Corps did not combine with other French forces against Arthur Wellesley's British and Gregorio García de la Cuesta's Spanish armies.

However, the IV Corps managed to elude Venegas and join the army of Joseph Bonaparte for the Battle of Talavera on 27–28 July.

Before the powerful invading army, the Spanish defenders rapidly collapsed and the Supreme Central Junta fled to Cádiz.

José María de la Cueva, 14th Duke of Alburquerque was able to bring 12,000 troops to reinforce the weak Cádiz garrison.

In the crisis, Venegas ensured that all boats in nearby waters were transferred to Cádiz and ordered the demolition of all forts on the Isla del Trocadero and the adjacent peninsula to prevent their use by the enemy.

This problem was resolved when the Junta appointed Venegas to the position of Viceroy of New Spain and gave Alburquerque command of Cádiz.

He arrived in Veracruz August 28, 1810, and made his formal entry into Mexico City to take up the position on September 14, 1810.

He announced the abolition of tribute on October 5, 1810, in a Nahuatl-language broadside titled "Ayamo moyolpachihuitia in Totlatocatzin Rey D. Fernando VII".

He raised the Tres Villas regiment, with troops from Córdoba, Xalapa and Orizaba, and accepted a contingent of 500 Negroes freed from the haciendas of Gabriel J. de Yermo.

Trujillo knew the insurgents were now marching in the direction of the capital, from Tepetongo to Toluca, so he moved to occupy the latter place.

However, in a moment of apparent indecision, Father Hidalgo, after a series of triumphs and within striking distance of the poorly defended capital, ordered a retreat toward Vallodalid.

He ordered General Félix María Calleja to march to the aid of the capital from San Luis Potosí.

In his march from Querétaro to Mexico City, Calleja met the insurgents in the plains of San Jerónimo Aculco, where he defeated and decimated them (November 7).

A remnant of the rebel forces began retreating northward, where they hoped to receive moral and material aid from the United States.

Venegas now believed the insurrection over, but then came the news of the activities of Ignacio López Rayón in the center of the country and the victories of Father José María Morelos in the south.