 Around this time, the news began to arrive of Francisco Pizarro's conquests in Peru and the rich plunder that his soldiers were taking there, undermining the morale of Montejo's already disenchanted band of followers.Montejo's soldiers began to abandon him to seek their fortune elsewhere; in seven years of attempted conquest in the northern provinces of the Yucatán Peninsula, very little gold had been found.Towards the end of 1534 or the beginning of the next year, Montejo the Elder and his son retreated from Campeche to Veracruz, taking their remaining soldiers with them.