Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1246 After the Autumn Harvest

The East Coast at the end of April is in full swing.

Thanks to Tianzun, the weather in this planting season is really good. Whether it is the Yazihu ​​Basin where the major grain counties gather together, or the newly emerging Wujiang Agricultural Belt, they have all achieved excellent harvests.According to rough statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, the average yield of wheat, which accounts for most of the grain production on the east coast, is close to 190 catties per mu. The output has increased, and the worry is that they may not have enough funds to open the acquisition at the moment. This is really a happy trouble!

Now, with the assistance of horse-drawn wheat harvesters, horse-drawn corn harvesters, horse-drawn soybean harvesters, and horse-drawn pasture harvesters, the autumn harvest work in rural areas across the country is basically coming to an end, and farmers have turned to threshing. , Yanggu, drying, warehousing and other follow-up links.Of course, after being busy with these things, we still have to plow the land and prepare for the autumn sowing, but I believe that in a month or so, the countryside will gradually calm down and enter a relatively idle stage, and at this time, we have already rested After a period of time, the militiamen, who have almost recovered their physical strength, will be recruited on a large scale to go north and enter various starting positions, preparing to start the operation against Pakistan that is still planned, the so-called "Operation No. [-]" plan.

The "Operation No. 2" plan is a concise and clear battle plan, which is roughly divided into two parts, namely the army and the navy.Needless to say about the army, the South Route Army, which is dominated by militias, has a huge number of more than 7000 people. The main battalion is the main force, plus a security regiment serving as a logistics and logistics force. The total strength exceeds [-], and its combat power should not be underestimated. The organized militia acts as a continuation army on standby, and is ready to reinforce each battlefield at any time.

It is worth mentioning that this is not the ultimate mobilization force of the people on the east coast. If necessary, they can increase their troops by 50% on the basis of the current strength, but that would cause too much damage to the economy. Moreover, it is not so necessary, so it is not accepted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Compared with the army, the combat tasks of the navy are much more arduous.The first thing they have to do is to assemble all the main ships (unfortunately, the powerful "Executive Committee" went north to the Caribbean Sea and missed this crucial battle) to go north, search for the main fleet of the Portuguese Navy, and fight it decisively, completely defeating them, Eliminate them and gain command of the sea off the coast of Brazil.

This is not an easy job. In fact, the Portuguese navy has a great reputation and the quality of their sailors is also very good. They are especially famous in Europe for their accurate shooting skills.What is even more disturbing is that after experiencing the last gate-blocking incident at the mouth of the Tejo (Britain and the Netherlands both sent main fleets to block the gate of Lisbon), the Portuguese learned from the painful experience and invested a lot of money that had been squandered in shipbuilding and sailors. In the training business, especially their royal family has also reduced a lot of palace expenses to support the construction of the navy, so now they can mobilize more than 50 ships at a time-this is the last battle of Recife It was shown in the defeat of the West India Company, when the main force of the Portuguese navy quietly assembled in the Bay of San Salvador, suddenly appeared and broke the West India Company's blockade of part of the coast of Brazil, and then they set off for West Africa, unplugging multiple The strongholds or trading posts of the Dutch sank many merchant ships or warships of the Dutch West India Company, and the results were extremely brilliant.Therefore, this is not an opponent that can be underestimated, and people on the east coast must treat it with caution.

Therefore, the people on the east coast began to mobilize the main ships more than half a year ago-the Second Fleet and the Third Fleet have been mobilized-the Yunji Town Harbor Naval Base, and they hold cooperative combat meetings every day to repeatedly deduce various warships. It can be said that they have done a lot of homework to reduce the possibility of chaos in wartime.

After achieving an absolute victory over the Portuguese Navy, the transport convoy (including naval transport ships and conscripted civilian ships) will be fully loaded with the main force of the army and combat supplies, land on the side of the valuable target city on the coast of Brazil, and then quickly destroy the enemy forces around the city. Villages, plantations, and control of traffic points to completely isolate these cities and force them to surrender-the staff of the Ministry of War believe that this will significantly reduce the casualties caused by the storm, and the manors around the city are densely populated and concentrated. Excellent robbery target, not to be missed, let alone give them time to react and connect.

Of course, the navy cannot send all its ships to Brazil to fight, because then the merchant ships will lack sufficient escorts.Recently, the Nanhai Company has reported to the Ministry of Communications a number of incidents of transport ships failing to return on schedule, resulting in huge losses of personnel and materials.They are sure that these ships either suffered from bad weather and unfortunately sank, or were attacked by pirates with no bones left, otherwise they would not have returned to their homeland for so long, and asked the Ministry of Communications and the Navy to carry out adequate enforcement measures against the merchant fleet while dispatching personnel to investigate. protection of.Otherwise, I am afraid that companies engaged in marine insurance business such as Dongbao Company and China Insurance Company will lose their fortunes.

Of course the navy takes this very seriously, but they can do nothing about it.Unless the centralized escort system used in the past was restarted, it would be impossible to provide protection for merchant ships sailing everywhere, because these ships were too scattered and their schedules were inconsistent. How to protect them?The centralized escort system is the only way. Although this method will hinder trade to a certain extent, it can only be done after weighing the pros and cons. There is no other way.

And the continuous disappearance of transport ships also cast a shadow over the people in the foreign trade and ocean transportation systems. Yes, once the war breaks out, the Portuguese will be able to attack from various places based on their geographic location and scattered overseas strongholds. Capture East Coast transport ships at sea, then capture or sink them into the sea.For this point, it is actually very difficult for the people on the east coast to guard against, and they can only passively hope that the vast sea of ​​land will make it difficult for the Portuguese to find ships on the east coast.

However, once a war really breaks out, based on the East Coast's reputation in Europe and conflicts of interests, do you think no one will get involved in troubled waters?How can it be!The British, French, even the Spaniards and some Nordic countries may send their own ships disguised as pirates or Portuguese to attack the transport ships on the east coast. The crash of the network.As for how to prevent this move, it depends on how the Executive Committee discusses with the Joint Staff Headquarters. Anyway, other than centralized escort, other methods are not very effective.

……

At the time when a large number of naval warships on the east coast gathered at the home port of the First Fleet, Mr. Charles was also watching all this with concern in the British Golden Deer Shop in Qingdao Port in the south.As a seasoned businessman and keen observer, Charles is more likely than the average person to detect the impending war on the east coast. In fact, it is not difficult to guess, because the closer the war is, the more things cannot be concealed. The rumors in the streets and the rapidly rising prices undoubtedly point to the war, and even the opponent has been identified, it can only be the Portuguese!

"In the southern New World, war is indeed imminent, and the people on the east coast should have been planning for it for a long time." Sitting in his bedroom, Mr. Charles began to write: "Needless to say, purely military technical preparations, this kind of preparation is Politically, it was organized by the military group led by General Mo - known as the "**** Group" in the East Coast society. General Mo once presided over the army's "Company to Battalion" operation, which is a new type of movement in the East Coast. The founder of the army is recognized as the strongest man in the world. Since the emergence of this country in 1630, warlords such as General Mo have always been able to reserve a key position in the highest authority for themselves. Their relationship with the government is good and bad. Bad, when it is good, it can actively cooperate with the government's decision-making, and when it is bad, it only regards the government as an institution that obediently passes military funding..."

"In addition to the army established on the basis of the conscription system, there are also a large number of 'patriotic' legions on the east bank, just like the Turks' Ganishari Legion. These young people receive military training and sacrificial chauvinistic education in the legion ( Strange East Coast name), and in view of the imminent war, many graduates of these regiments began to appeal to temper the slightly weaker people and unite them ideologically. Some of them even established associations, There are various names, such as 'Soldier Soul Promotion Association', etc., and they plan to take advantage of the east wind of this war to spread this trend of thought across the entire east coast." Mr. Charles wrote vigorously, "I think it is terrible, maybe any republic I am very glad that England is gradually breaking away from the influence of the dictator Cromwell and his remnants. Otherwise, if someone like Major General Lambert is in power, England will become like the East Coast. It is a dreadful country. I have only to think that the honorable gentlemen of the House of Lords are to be ruled by coachmen (Major General Pryde), shoemakers (Major General Huxon), boiler workers (Colonel Fox) and the like. Difficult to breathe, England must do all it can to avoid falling into the hands of the republicans, or just another wicked East Coast."

"It must be pointed out that, in view of the strength shown by the east coast fleet in the past, it is probably difficult for Portugal to win this head-to-head naval battle. Of course, it seems that it is difficult to suffer irreparable defeat in a short period of time. , the lack of overhaul capabilities, the lack of supplies and supplies will all become a noose around the neck of the Portuguese fleet. This noose is so powerful that it will suffocate the Portuguese to death at any time..." Mr. Charles also began to write here Sighing secretly, from his own standpoint, of course he sympathizes with the Portuguese, but he can't give enough help now, so he can only write to the Portuguese in Brazil after writing the report to the country. A letter reminding them of the possibility of war.I hope those guys who are fighting the Dutch can clear their minds. The enemy in the north is certainly hateful, but the wolf in the south is the most troublesome thing.

It is said that the war between the Portuguese and the Dutch West India Company has reached a critical moment, especially when the Portuguese navy has gradually gained maritime superiority. After the war, their army has recovered Fortale, which has been occupied by the Dutch for many years. The two cities of Sa and Olinda, and killed more than 1500 German mercenaries controlled by the Netherlands, achieved a decisive victory.Now they are full of ambition, intending to defeat the panic-stricken Dutch who retreated to the isolated city of Recife, and completely recover the entire Pernambuco area-this is not an unrealistic fantasy, their opponents have less than a thousand remnants Defeated, although Recife's city defense is strong enough, it is only a matter of time before it falls.The Dutch West India Company has lost most of the sugarcane plantations on the periphery, and the sugar mills in the city have also stopped working. This city can no longer bring any benefits to the West India Company. On the contrary, if it wants to keep her, it will need to invest a lot of money. What would you do if you were at the helm of the indebted West India Company?Probably can only give up!

Even if the East Bank brazenly declared war on Brazil at this time, the Dutch in Recife would not be able to restore their territory, because their manpower, material resources, and financial resources would not allow it.Unless the West India Company invests heavily, recruits mercenaries locally, purchases war materials and production materials, captures slaves in West Africa, and orders warships and transport ships in Amsterdam, it will be difficult to reverse the situation in Recife.But how difficult it is to increase investment, especially now that the West India Company is being taken over by the shareholders of the East India Company because it is about to go bankrupt. Consumption, the possibility is too low.

After Mr. Charles finished reporting the situation to the "relevant departments" in the local area, he picked up the quill and started writing letters to the Brazilians.The main content of the letter is to describe the increasingly restless situation in the East Coast—anyone who is not blind can see it—a few days ago, some German sailors bragged in the pier tavern that they saw it at sea. The huge east coast fleet is heading north, not to mention that there are also various rumors among the people on the east coast, which shows that the level of officials who know the news of the war has reached a certain level, and the scale of military mobilization has become larger and larger, making it difficult to keep secrets increase in magnitude.

After handing over the letter to an English businessman who was about to leave Hong Kong in the past two days, Mr. Charles returned to his bedroom and began to pray that the Portuguese would wake up and listen to his own advice to let the main navy fleet leave Hong Kong early. Letting the people from the east bank stop them and then end it in one go, the ending is too tragic, and the impact on the battle situation is too negative.

"May God bless!" Mr. Charles closed his eyes and prayed earnestly.

(End of this chapter)