Hipólito de Villegas in charge of negotiating the financial support from the Buenos Ayres government. He finally returned to Chile with the army in 1817, and was appointed Minister of Finance by Bernardo O'Higgins, a position he held from February 18, 1817 until March 30, 1818. As such, he drafted the first budget for the new republic. He was again elected a deputy, this time for "Huasco", in 1823, but resigned a month later after the exile of O'Higgins. He withdrew from public life after that until his death at the age of 77. Hipólito de Villegas Hipólito de Villegas y Fernández Manzanares
Army of the North Goyeneche and Joaquín de la Pezuela, an able and experienced soldier, had the advantage, he negotiated with Goyeneche a 40-day armistice. The Assembly in Buenos Aires and the viceroy of Peru, José Fernando de Abascal, disapproved of this agreement. The royalists attacked by surprise, disregarding the agreement, before the arrival of reinforcements at the Battle of Vilcapugio on 1 October 1813. The royalist army, commanded by brigadier Joaquín de la Pezuela and with 4,000 men and 12 pieces of artillery confronted a patriot army with a high morale composed of 3,500 men, 14 pieces of artillery and cavalry mounted mostly