Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 106 St. Augustine (VIII)

In fact, there was a slight deviation in Lu Ming's prediction.

The French pirate ship "Sea Literature", stranded on Anastasia Island at the mouth of the Matanzas River, put up some resistance under the command of the captain, and finally forced the "Red Trout" to launch several rounds of broadside. The French on board the ship were brought to their knees only after their gunners were eliminated by a single shot.

In this tiny battle, two gunners on the starboard side of the "Red Trout" were hit, resulting in the death of four gunners and the vicious incident of wounding two gunners.For this reason, the furious Lieutenant Guo Zili ordered the execution of all the officers on the "Maritime Writer". After sending the army to take over the stranded ship, he ordered the French shipwrights to continue repairing the damaged ship. hull.

As expected, the Spaniards were able to recognize their own situation, and they once again sent Lieutenant Alessis to pass on a message, saying that the privateer formation had been granted a license by General Florida in the castle to use the ship repair yard by the Matanzas River. The facilities and spare ship materials inside.Of course, he was talking nonsense, because at this time the "Eagle of the East Coast" had already entered the shipyard for repairs: dealing with leaking ship decks, cleaning plankton on the bottom of the ship, repairing damaged canvas, etc.

To be honest, the Spaniards' selection of colonial points is really good. In 1562, the French established Fort Carolina near here.Since then, French pirates have used this as a base to start endless raids on Spanish colonies and maritime transportation lines in the Caribbean.In order to eliminate the threat, Menendez was ordered to lead the fleet to capture Fort Carolina.After defeating the French, Menendez founded St. Augustine at the mouth of the Matanzas River.The city guards the bay of Matanzas and is located at the key point where the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean connects the north and the south with the Caribbean Sea, and its strategic position is extremely prominent.

By 1634, the city had a population of nearly 2000, with primary cotton processing and fishing as its main economic activities.It has factories and facilities such as forts, ship repair yards, and ginning yards. It is also a port for trade with the nearby Indians. Its economy is relatively prosperous. It can be said to be the leading big city in Florida, and its radiating range even reaches as far as the British colonies in the north.However, after this battle, the development of the city may have to go back a few years.More than two-thirds of the city's blocks were severely damaged, and people suffered heavy injuries. It might not take a year or two to recover.

Within days of the privateering formations of the Eastern Republic repelling the pirates, some daring Spanish residents began to move out of the castle and into the St. Augustine neighborhood to tidy up their homes.These unlucky ones now have almost nothing, and there seem to be few grains to survive.The farm they cultivated on the outskirts of St. Augustine was also destroyed in a mess during the war. It seemed that there would be no harvest this autumn.

In addition to these ordinary residents, businessmen also want to cry but have no tears.Especially those merchants who have hoarded a large amount of goods in warehouses and warehouses in the city. Their cotton, fur and mahogany are now being piled up on the ships of those unknown guys in the ship repair yard, and it seems that they have no intention of returning these materials. Come back, doing business in this era is really high-risk. Pirates, wars, storms, etc., if you are not careful, you will fall from the clouds and lose everything.

Fortunately, most of these St. Augustine businessmen have relatively strong capital, and they generally own large cotton or tobacco plantations in places such as Pensacola in West Florida.Although the loss of the goods here is painful, it will not hurt the muscles and bones, especially after Lu Ming specially sent someone to tell them that the east coast area buys cotton at a high price and at the same time sells a large amount of high-quality and cheap cotton cloth and woolen cloth. The enthusiasm was obviously mobilized.

At this time, there were nearly 1 white immigrants in various colonies in the Florida area, plus some mixed races and free Indians. The population of the entire Florida colony is estimated to exceed 10 if slaves are not included, which is equivalent to another Lapla. The scale of the tower.The commodities needed for the formal trade of this colony are all transported by cargo ships from Veracruz and Havana, but like the Spanish colonies in other parts of the Americas, they are limited to the poor industrial capacity of Spain, and they can only supply the colonies. A very small fraction of the product, maybe less than [-]%.In fact, most of Florida's imported goods are smuggled by British merchant ships in the neighboring Gualai area, especially consumer goods such as cotton cloth, wine, and livestock. Not to mention the high price, the supply is still intermittent. After all, the British The production capacity of the colonies in the Gualai area is limited, and it is not stable to rely solely on transportation from England.

Lu Ming's words are equivalent to bringing another choice to these merchants, and the price is so cheap and the quantity is sufficient.Some young radical businessmen were immediately moved. They have relatively small capital, small power, and shallow connections. It is difficult to buy those smuggled goods from the British on weekdays. The profit margins of second-tier dealers who rebuy in their hands are far lower than those of second-tier dealers who sit on the ground and count their money. At best, they are just earning some hard money.Now in the country in the south called the East Coast Republic of China, there is such a huge output of high-quality cloth for sale. As long as they are not lying, then this is definitely a good opportunity to turn around.

Lu Ming didn't know how the Spaniards would react.He is only responsible for planting this seed. As for whether this seed can grow into a towering tree, it depends on many factors.

On April 4, three ships including the "Eagle of the East Coast" were refurbished and maintained, and slowly left the St. Augustine Shipyard on the Matanzas River.At the same time, the 22-ton French pirate ship "Sea Literature" stranded on Anastasia Island has basically completed the repair of the hull under the intense construction of the ship repairers and is ready for long-distance voyages.

In more than a month, the Caribbean Sea will enter the hurricane season, and the danger of sailing will increase greatly.In addition, it has been more than three months since it came out, and it is time for the privateer formation to return.Therefore, after discussing with several other people, Lu Ming decided to end this privateering operation and prepare to return to Dongfang Port.

The goods looted along the way filled the warehouses of the four ships, and everyone was smiling. The total value of the goods and gold and silver robbed this time is conservatively estimated to be more than 20 yuan, which can be described as a great harvest. Individuals can share a huge sum of money.In addition, two pirate ships were also captured this time, which greatly supplemented the number of ships of the East Coast Republic Navy, and was of great significance.

On April 4, after a portion of food was humanely handed over to residents of St. Augustine.Led by the flagship "Eagle of the East Coast", the privateering fleet of the China East Coast Republic, which had expanded to four ships, was fully loaded with cargo and hundreds of captives, set sail, and slowly sailed out of the peaceful Matanza Si River, then turned to the southeast, and embarked on the return journey.

On April 4, the privateer fleet docked at Cape-France again. According to the plan, the fleet will dock here for one to two days.The ten security forces soldiers on the shore had previously arranged to bring a group of English pirate captives they were guarding onto the ship. At the same time, Lu Ming also sent someone to the Pasquale family's manor to inquire about the whereabouts of Xu Xin and others, and then he learned that The "Butterfly" had set off back to Bordeaux a week ago, and the three-member delegation from the East Coast Republic of China also went to inspect the market together.

After getting the exact news, Lu Ming didn't delay, and ordered the entire fleet to step up the purchase of supplies, and at the same time sold some of the looted goods to the residents of Cape France.Surprisingly, the purchasing power of these French immigrants in the corner of France is quite astonishing. They bought a large amount of spices, cotton cloth, silk, tallow and some jewelry at high prices, with a total amount of up to 2 yuan.On the second day, the whole fleet set sail again, left Cape-de-France, turned southeast, and headed for the next stop at full speed—San Salvador in the northeast of Brazil.

On June 6, the fleet arrived at San Salvador, the former capital of Brazil and the residence of the governor-now a city under Dutch rule.The privateer formation that had no friendship with the Dutch did not stay long. After selling the cotton cloth, some furs and some jewelry on hand, they left San Salvador and headed south along the sea wind that was getting colder.On the way, they stopped at San Vicente, which was controlled by the Portuguese, and sold a large number of the pirates' muskets and cannons, as well as some high-end furs and jewelry captured in the privateering operation. These were the commodities in short supply in Brazil at this time , they make a lot of money.

On June 6, the fleet docked at Zhenhaibao Wharf at the mouth of Yazihu ​​Lake.After learning that the privateer formation had successfully returned with a large amount of spoils, the entire Zhenhai Fort burst into cheers.The few residents of this small fortress are either family members of the Navy, or some of their families have joined the Security Force. This time, everyone returned smoothly, and the harvest is obviously huge, which makes them excited from the bottom of their hearts.The security forces disembarked and landed here. They were all residents of Zhenhai Fort and Ping'an Fort. They just disbanded and returned home at this time.As for their rewards, someone will distribute them later.

On June 6th, after a lapse of 20 months, Lu Ming and others once again set foot on the land of Dongfang Port, which has gradually become busy.There were two ships when they set off, and four ships when they returned, and the ships were full of goods and gold and silver. The Minister of the Navy, Wang Qinian, was so happy when he heard the news that he personally took a group of admirals from the Ministry of the Navy to the pier to greet them.

The perfect success of their operation this time can be regarded as a great embarrassment for the navy!

(End of this chapter)