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I cannot figure out which version of this sentence sounds better.

After Cortés’s army had been surrounded by Montezuma’s soldiers, this alliance turned out to be critical to Cortés’ victory.

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After Cortés’s army was surrounded by Montezuma’s soldiers, this alliance turned out to be critical to Cortés’ victory

I understand that 'had been surrounded' is pluperfect so it happens further in the past. This seems to create a nice contrast between 'surrounded' and 'turned out to be.' However, I'm not really sure which version of the sentence sounds better.

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The second sentence is grammatically correct because of two reasons: 1. The conjunction 'after' gives the idea of precedence of the first event. 2. The chronology of two events is not broken. So two verb forms /Past Simple/ in the second sentence are correct.

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