1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 1000 The Battle of Tecoman

Colima, May 1683, 5.

During the period of King Philip II (reigned from 1556 to 1598), Spain was already a veritable empire on which the sun never set, and its colony expanded to the hinterland of Mexico and South America.In order to build a stable and unified currency system and facilitate the huge internal trade of the empire, Philip II decided to unify the coin design of the entire empire mint.

At that time, in addition to several mints established in Spain, Spain established three large-scale mints in Mexico in the Viceroyalty of New Spain in the American Territory, and in Potosi and Lima in the Viceroyalty of Peru. A large amount of silver and gold was minted into various currencies in circulation.

The period from Philip II to Philip III (reigned 1598-1621) is a golden age in Spanish history.Although there was also the failure of the Armada to be destroyed by the British regiment, the Spanish Empire was still strong during this period, so the coins produced by various mints during this period were also more exquisite.

These coins were not only widely circulated in the European market, but also flowed into the East in large quantities through the trans-Pacific trade, which greatly promoted and prospered the commodity economy of Ming Dynasty.

After the death of Philip III, Philip IV ascended the throne (reigned 1621-1665).This gentleman has a wide range of hobbies and luxurious tastes, and he likes everything that is expensive but has no benefit to the country.During his reign, Spain was deeply mired in the war in the Netherlands and the 30-year war in Europe. While military expenditures were flowing like water, the royal family's expenditures were still extremely huge and extravagant.

During this period, Spain's annual military expenditure far exceeded the government's revenue budget, and even the national debt was unable to repay, and it went bankrupt several times. Therefore, it had to step up the allocation of silver from the American colonies to fill the treasury.

Under such a background, the Spanish rulers no longer cared about the beauty of the silver coins, as long as the silver was heavy enough, and the Mint of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which was under tremendous pressure, wanted to ship the silver bullion directly in order to catch up with the work.Therefore, the mint molds of this period are no longer finely carved, and the process of casting is just to knock on the emblem, and there is no requirement for details.

Even, in order to catch up with the construction schedule, the Governorate of New Spain also arbitrarily decided to build mints directly near silver producing areas such as the Saucito Silver Mine, Guanajuato Silver Mine, and Colima Silver Mine to speed up the casting of currency. .

When the landing troops of the Qi army concealed their actions, rushed forward quickly, and entered the defenseless city of Colyma with lightning speed, and completely controlled the mint factory, what appeared in front of the officers and soldiers was countless piles of silver and a large number of coins. Badly minted silver coins.

"What a waste of money!" A Renyong captain (lieutenant) officer grabbed a handful of silver coins from the box, looked at them, and then threw them back. They look like low-quality coins! This will leave us in Qi, and they will probably be treated as counterfeit coins."

"It's nothing, at least it looks like a coin." Another officer watched carefully with a silver coin, and said: "In some remote areas of Qin State, some market vendors And ordinary people, in addition to using a lot of scattered silver, they will also cut a few complete silver coins with scissors for commodity transactions."

"Tsk tsk..., look, this coin die-casting machine is even more crude, and it's hand-made!" An officer squatted next to a manual die-casting machine, looking curiously, "Does this thing also need to be disassembled and packed?" ?”

"This broken thing, why is it worth packing and taking away?" A military captain (captain) glanced at it, shook his head and said, "Just pack and seal the silver, gold ingots, and coins, and destroy everything else. Yes, say hello to the Yinzhou soldiers who are carrying supplies, clean your hands and feet, and don’t keep them privately. Most of these coins are going to be transported back to the mainland to be re-melted.”

"This time we are attacking Spain's American territories, and the number of troops here is still a little less." An officer commanded the soldiers to pack and seal boxes of gold, silver and coins, and said with regret: "It is reported that only the new There are no less than ten silver mines in the Viceroyalty of Spain, which provide the Spaniards with silver worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year. It is like sitting on a pile of silver mountains. If this territory is taken away, it will definitely make the The Spaniard vomited three liters of blood, and even killed half of it directly!"

"Don't think about it here!" an officer sneered, "How many troops will it take to seize such a large piece of land, at least 1 people? But if you count on your fingers, how many troops does our army have in total. Besides, the distance is still so far, how can the logistics be guaranteed?"

"It is said that the Spaniards didn't seem to have used many troops when they conquered the entire America..."

"One moment, another moment. When the Spaniards conquered the Americas, they faced the indigenous kingdoms with extremely backward productivity and scattered and disorderly Indian tribes. The weapons they used were wooden spears and stones. How could they resist the aliens? Invasion by colonial powers? And now you look at the situation in the Americas? Leaving aside other places, there are hundreds of thousands of Spaniards in Mexico alone. If they go through a full mobilization and recruit some Indians who belong to them, it will be enough Tens of thousands of people can be armed!"

"Oh, it's a pity." The officer said with regret: "In the past two months, we don't seem to have encountered any decent resistance from the Spaniards. Their garrison will not be really mobilized by us." You have to run around, but you can't face our army directly?"

"What's the matter, you still want to fight a battle with the local Spanish garrison?... I think this situation is very good, avoiding the truth and pretending to be false. At least the troops did not suffer too many casualties."

"Hehe... Do you think the Spanish army is watching us somewhere and ambushing us when we retreat to the sea?"

"No way...? You damn crow mouth summoned the Spaniards!"
-
May 5, Puerto Manzanillo.

"Colonel, it is reported that the army of the people of Qi is about 2000 to 300 people, and our troops have only [-] people left after two months of long-distance travel. I am afraid that we may not be able to intercept them with confidence." Kill on land." Captain Guillermo Hernangomez Goyle reminded his officer softly: "Are we recruiting some militias locally to increase our attack power?"

"No, we can't delay any time." Colonel Jose Calderon Borralo waved goodbye to the local colonial officials who saw him off, and said firmly: "Colima is only eleven leagues away from the sea. , and retreat to the coast at the slowest marching speed, it will only take four or five days. If we spend a lot of time in the local area to recruit militias and armed volunteers, we may not be able to stop the return of the people of Qi in time."

"As for the gap in the number of troops, I don't think it is a very serious problem. The Qi people plundered the city of Colima, where there is a mint that stores a large amount of gold and silver. I think this is also the choice of the Qi people. The biggest factor in the attack here. Captain Goyle, a group of troops who have robbed a lot of property, what do you think they want to do most at this moment?"

"... Hurry up and retreat to the ship, and then carry out a dirty distribution of property?" Captain Goyle suddenly had a picture of a group of robbers sitting on the ground and dividing up the spoils.

"That's right!" Colonel Borralo said confidently: "A group of robbers with huge treasures, when they are suddenly attacked by us, how much fighting power do they have left? Moreover, the people of Qi dare to go deep into the inland It is so far away, it can be described as extremely rampant. I guess that the Qi people must have no artillery when they rushed to Colyma. I believe that when our troops suddenly appeared in front of the Qi people and bombarded them with fierce artillery fire, the only way the Qi people could What we did was to leave their backs to us, and then flee to the sea with all our might!"

"Colonel, if we can defeat and severely injure the people of Qi at the seaside, it will greatly boost the morale and morale of the entire Governor General of New Spain." Captain Goyle was inexplicably excited, "At that time, we will become the entire American territory, Oh no, will be the hero of the whole Kingdom of Spain."

"That's right, in a few days, we will all be heroes." Colonel Borrallo looked at the long line and continued to move rapidly to the southeast, full of expectations in his heart, "Pisaro and Cortez will help us The Kingdom of Spain conquered America, and today I will lead you to save and defend America."
-
June 6, at 4 am, Tecoman (about ten kilometers from the sea).

Lieutenant (Lieutenant Colonel) Zhang Xurong, the commander-in-chief of the landing force, rode on a horse and stopped on a small hillside. Seeing that there were nearly a hundred crying Spanish women in the middle of the long convoy, he couldn't help frowning.

"Sir, those women were captured by the Yinzhou Township Corps in Colima City and Spanish manors along the way." Sun Yanlin, the staff officer of the landing force and Lieutenant Xuanjie (Major) said: "They claim that the governor of Yinzhou There are few women in the country, so I decided to get more women in the Spanish American territory, so that I can bring them back and distribute them to the immigrants, so that they can feel at ease."

"Huh, the several attacks along the way are probably the local Spaniards' retaliation for our army's kidnapping of women....These township regiments really use the Spanish territory as a hunting ground, taking whatever they want, and acting recklessly !"

"The Yinzhou Governor's District is tens of thousands of miles away from the mainland of Hanzhou. The people under the jurisdiction are not only exiled prisoners, but also poor immigrants from various countries who have no food and clothing. In addition, they have not been established for a long time, and they have no way of being educated. Colonizing the barren land, the indigenous savages The tribe is surrounded by them. Since they rely on force in everything they do, they are naturally a little reckless. It should be known that decades ago, Weiyuan Island, where the humble position is located, was not so unscrupulous. Hunting and eating people Fans, subjugated people, and even plundered fertile fields, they committed a lot of crimes.”

"That's true." Zhang Xurong shook his head helplessly, "But this kind of behavior is still disappointing..."

"Report sir!" A scout came running quickly, with a faint trace of sweat on his head, and a bit of awe in his expression, "Spanish troops are found in Tecoman City ahead!"

"Huh?..." Zhang Xurong couldn't help but widen his eyes, and asked in great surprise, "How many people are there in the Spanish army?"

"The Spanish army numbered about fifteen hundred. . . . They had already lined up outside the city, blocking our way to the sea."

"The Spaniards are lining up outside the city?" Zhang Xurong looked at Sun Yanlin, looking a little surprised, "Go, take a look."

---------

In the morning, twelve thirty.

Jiichiro Taketa held the musket in both hands, and looked at the Spanish army formation hundreds of meters away, feeling his heart beating extremely fast, and swallowing saliva constantly in his mouth.It would be a lie to say that I am not afraid.

Looking from a distance, those Spanish soldiers were also holding muskets like them, and they were in a tight formation. They were not as chaotic as the local militia and civilian armed forces they had encountered in the past few months.Maybe, there are artillery deployed in the Spanish formation.If there was an exchange of fire, the opponent's cannons and projectiles could kill him.

The heavy breathing of his companion came from behind, it was obvious that everyone was as nervous as him at the time of the battle.Taketa Jiichiro really wanted to look back to see if his army was as well-arranged as the Spaniards, and whether all the preparations for battle had been completed.When the time comes to face the enemy, will they, as the vanguard, be able to obtain strong support from the rear.

"Everyone relax, try to take a deep breath, or eat a few pieces of sugar, don't be too nervous." An officer of the Qi State on the far right of the queue said loudly: "The Spaniards on the opposite side have never experienced a war, and their will to fight It is also generally low, as long as we rush in front of them, we will inevitably collapse and flee, and let us chase and kill them wantonly!"

"Boom! Boom!"

The Spanish army on the opposite side took the lead in bombarding. One shell deviated from the target and landed on the field on the right side of the team, while the other shell just hit the front of the line of servants, jumped a few times, and then quickly rolled towards the formation.

"what!"

"what!"

"..."

Jiichiro Taketa heard the screams coming from the left side of the queue, but the heart hanging in his throat couldn't help but fell back into his stomach, and then he looked over there.

"There is no military order, don't move around!" The Qi State sergeant in the formation shouted loudly: "Continue to stand in line and keep the formation!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The three 4-pound light army guns in the Qi army immediately launched a counterattack. After the shells escaped from the muzzle, they quickly smashed towards the Spanish army.

"go ahead!"

"go ahead!"

"go ahead!"

After hearing the series of commands issued by the officer, Jiichiro Taketa immediately held his musket, followed his companions on the left and right, and walked towards the Spanish army formation in a neat pace amidst the sound of drums and trumpets.

Almost at the same time, the Spanish soldiers on the opposite side, under the command of officers at all levels, marched in the same orderly formation, and rushed towards the Qi army.

"Boo! Hah! Hah!  …"

Behind the Qi army's position, a large cloud of smoke suddenly rose, rockets roared into the sky, trailing red tail flames, drawn a beautiful curve, and rushed towards the Spanish position. After a while, the rocket landed and exploded .The warhead of the rocket not only has shrapnel-shooting shotguns, but also incendiary bombs and smoke bombs, which immediately filled the battlefield with smoke and flames, covering the entire Spanish army formation.

(End of this chapter)