The Inca armies and the warrior mita (enforced service)
In early years of Inca dominion, the armies were gathered only once the harvests were safely stored away, and the soldiers were accompanied on their campaigns by their wives, called rabonas by the Spaniards, whose duties were to look after and feed their men, as well as cure their battle wounds.

Later on, with territorial expansion, it became impossible to maintain these traditional practices, and regular armies were conscripted by the "warrior mita" system. This system enabled the collection of troops to conquer remote regions like Charcas, Chile and Ecuador, implying for the soldiers years of absence, and sometimes permanent absence from their hometowns.

Tupac Yupanqui organized his armies by squadrons, according to origin and type of weapons used, putting them under the orders of captains of the same racial stock. There were soldiers armed with macanas (spiked clubs), hondas (slings), porras (clubs), estólicas and others. Musical instruments included drums, seashell trumpets and flutes. The soldiers were dressed according to the fashions of their hometowns, and wore feathered headdresses with copper, silver or gold bands, according to their ranks in the army. In some cases, they wore warpaint. Before the attack, they shouted and sang rude songs to disconcert the enemy. The chroniclers tell that the shouting was so intense that "the birds would fall to the ground terrified".

One of the young Tupac Yupanqui's first conquests was in Chincha, where a short time before, general Capac Yupanqui had carried out a first raid, obtaining recognition of Cusco sovereignty over the area. He had also obtained certain advantages, such as the construction of an aclla huasi with its crew of mamaconas who sewed clothes and provided drinks for the troops and worship as part of the reciprocity arrangement, as well as the construction of a house called Hatun Cancha, as a seat of Inca administration.

Tupac Yupanqui's reign signaled the confirmation of a reciprocity treaty with the Chinchanos and the Inca demanded more land for the state. The local curacas preferred accepting the reciprocity terms to risking a war, which they would probably lose, and would upset their commercial barter.
This method explains the rapid expansion of the Inca empire, since the mere presence of Cusco troops was often enough for the annexation of the major ethnic groups to Tahuantinsuyo. However, although the system favored the rapid growth of the Inca state, it was also a determining factor of its fragility, since the appearance of Pizarro's hosts was often enough to dissolve the fragile links of reciprocity between ethnical authorities and the Inca sovereigns.

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