Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1253 San Salvador

"It's all gone..." On June 1660, 6, off the coast of San Salvador, Brazil, under a clear sky, Minister of the Navy Li Yi put down the telescope on his chest and murmured.

After all, the main fleet on the east coast was completely empty!The Portuguese naval ships that were originally parked in the port of San Salvador are now empty. In the empty harbor, there are only three or two Portuguese merchant ships that do not know where they came from. There is no more masts in the past. .

These grandchildren!Minister Li Yi cursed fiercely, but he had no choice but to accept this fact.Soon, he asked the staff to bring a huge map and spread it on the table, rubbing his chin with his hands, wondering what he was thinking.

In the history of old time and space, the Portuguese established a total of 1532 cities and 1650 towns in Brazil between 6 and 31. Except for the many inland towns in the diocese of Sao Paulo in the south, the rest are mostly located along the coast.However, in this time and space, stimulated by the rise of the East Coasters, the Portuguese built more towns in Brazil, especially as the East Coasters pushed into the Rio Grande do Sul and Gerard Mountains, the Portuguese inland The development of Brazil has been greatly strengthened-but in any case, the population, economic and political centers of all Brazil are still on the coast at this time.To be precise, the northeast coast, originally General Pernambuco and now General Bahia.

The entire northeast coast of Brazil is dominated by an export-oriented economy.Initially, it was exported to Brazil (for dyeing, musical instruments and shipbuilding). After the sumac was cut, cash crops, mainly sugar cane, began to be planted on the open land.This crop introduced from Europe was extremely adapted to the climate of several military regions such as Pernambuco and Bahia in northeastern Brazil from the very beginning, and then the entire industrial chain of sugarcane plantations, sugar mills, and ocean transportation and sales developed rapidly. up.

Since it is an export-oriented export economy, it must be developed by relying on seaport cities.In fact, it is similar. Olinda, Recife, and San Salvador are almost the first coastal towns to be established. Large sugar cane plantations are located in the vast countryside outside the city (most of the estates are located only a few days away from the city. ), while sugar mills, shops, shipyards and even banking chambers of commerce are located in the city.In terms of population structure, whites—especially Portuguese—are at the top of society. They are generally government officials, military officers, big businessmen, workshop owners, manor owners, etc.; In the middle class, they are generally artisans, lower-level officials, small businessmen, middle and lower-level military officers, etc.; the status of Indians in the third class is much lower. Although the law stipulates that they are not allowed to be enslaved, in fact they are generally laborers under guardianship. , life is quite difficult; as for the blacks, they are completely bottom, slaves, consumables without any protection of rights, and their lives are much worse than that of Indians.

"Since the northeastern part of Brazil was occupied by the Dutch, Bahia and other areas recovered earlier have become the key business areas of the Portuguese, as well as the economic and political center. On the contrary, the most prosperous and prosperous Pernambuco General District After years of tug-of-war, the economy has been greatly damaged, especially towns such as Recife, Olinda, and Fortaleza have just been recovered by the Portuguese army. If you don't take it..." After looking at the map for a long time, Li Yi whispered to himself.

"But the Bahia General District is definitely a tough one. It's not easy to fight. The main military force of the Portuguese is probably concentrated here. Let's not talk about the white army they transported from the old continent. Let's just talk about it. The number of Indian and black troops commanded by Diaz and Dias is many times that of ours. If you count the part of the Sao Paulo Banner troops recruited, the troops deployed in the area from Bahia to Pernambuco are not complete. There are tens of thousands of people, and many of them are accustomed to using firearms. They are not lacking in combat experience, and their supplies are much more abundant than ours. We have less than 1639 army soldiers on hand. Is there any chance of winning? You know, when the Dutch West India Company attacked the small town of Recife (not a city, it belongs to the city of Olinda) in 35, it used 7300 ships, nearly 1170 land and water officers and soldiers, and 42 artillery pieces , and later in order to consolidate and expand the scope of the Recife colony, they sent an additional 4000 ships and [-] soldiers from Europe, and this was enough to defeat the Portuguese offensive." Captain of the "August [-]th" Lieutenant Commander Sankai, acting as the commander of the First Fleet, shook his head, then raised his voice, as if deliberately speaking to someone next to him: "This is still at that time, after experiencing the lessons of the year, now the Portuguese are in Bahia. A large number of coastal defense facilities have been built on the coast of Pernambuco, and the number of troops is several times larger than that of the past. It is not advisable for our fleet to directly invade the port of San Salvador. If we find a nearby coast with weak defenses If you land, let’s not talk about transportation and supply issues, it’s easy to be surrounded by more than several times the enemy. Even if you don’t encircle, the supply, disease and guerrilla along the way (the Portuguese initially drove away the Dutch through guerrilla warfare in history) One time) and many people died, so how many achievements are left in the combat power is a question mark.”

Standing next to them were Lan Guo and Bai Shui, the battalion commanders of the Third Mixed Battalion and the Fifth Mixed Battalion of the Army. At this time, they heard the words of Sankai, a big navalist with a gun and a stick, and smiled at each other. Major Guo came forward and said: "Captain Sang is really knowledgeable. Our army is short of troops, and most of them are still in the south to expand the territory for the country. We really can't get too many people here. Therefore, the following battles still have to be done." It’s up to the navy, I hope you will continue to work hard to completely annihilate the Portuguese navy on the ocean, so that our army will not be threatened when it goes north and lands in the future.”

Lan Guo's words just hit the navy's sore spot, making Sang Kai speechless for a while.Isn't that right? Thirty ships of various types headed straight for El Salvador Bay (Halloween Bay) aggressively, thinking that they could fight the Portuguese to the death, but they didn't expect them to slip away long ago, and they didn't know where they were going. It's a hassle.You know, the fleet that the Portuguese slipped away has about [-] ships. Regardless of whether it is a professional warship or an armed merchant ship, it can cause you a lot of damage anyway.Dutch sailors in this era can last up to six months on board, and Portuguese sailors are not far behind. It is probably not a big problem to go out for half a year after replenishing at the port once. So how do you deal with these people who are wandering around and have feelings for you Malicious enemy ship?

It can be said that this time the navy failed to block and annihilate the Portuguese fleet, which is a great loss of points!The damage to national commerce, trade, and shipping, which will in future be very great, is almost beyond doubt.Therefore, the words of Lan Guo and others blocked Sangkai, and they really hit a sore spot.

"Okay, what time is it, and I'm still talking about this. What we need to do now is to unite with sincerity!" Minister Li Yi quickly stopped the smoky conversation between his subordinates, then walked to the window, took Pointing to the city of San Salvador, he said: "Look, this capital city of Portuguese Brazil was also attacked by the Dutch, but now the Portuguese have strengthened their defenses, and some projects lasted for almost 30 years before they were completed. The Portuguese In order to defend the city of San Salvador and the town of All Saints Bay in front of us, fifteen blockhouses were built. Look at the artillery positions on the blockhouses. If you attack by force, the casualties will be very large. There is also the polygonal San Marseille The Los de Mar Fortress was built by the Portuguese for many years. It is said that all the stones for the construction of the fortress were mined and polished in Portugal, and then transported to San Salvador as the ballast of ships. After 30 years of continuous repairs, reinforcements, auxiliary With the well-trained and enthusiastic Portuguese soldiers from the old continent, it is almost impossible for us to win at this stage. However, if we want to control the city of San Salvador and the town of All Saints Bay, this fortress is an unavoidable hurdle Otherwise, you will always be under the threat of artillery fire from the top and the side and rear."

"Since that's the case—" At this point, Minister Li turned around and said in a serious tone: "There is no need to spend too much time here. The next step is to implement the backup plan. The fleet will turn around and go south to the Portuguese generals such as Espiritu Santo and Seguro. The entire jurisdiction is extremely rich in forest resources and rich in high-quality timber, which is urgently needed by our navy. Our goal is to go there and choose an opportunity Land, then control several timber export ports, and then develop to the inland area, and control the logging farms and workers for my use."

After leaving a few auxiliary ships with faster speeds—meaning that the enemy's main fleet could not catch up—after continuing to search for the Portuguese fleet nearby, Li Yi led the large fleet back south and arrived in the early morning of June 6 off the coast of Porto Seguro.This port is a large timber export port, even larger than Port Ilheus (also a high-quality timber export port) closer to San Salvador, but its defenses are extremely weak-in fact, the entire San Salvador The defensive strength of Espiritu and General Seguro's jurisdiction is seriously insufficient-it is suitable for the people on the east coast to attack.

On June 6, after the landing operation that lasted for more than a day-during which no Brazilian troops came to interfere-the East Coasters immediately launched an attack on Porto Seguro with two main army battalions. It was extremely easy to break into the city, and this seemed to mean that the people from the east coast would be invincible in the entire area under General Seguro's jurisdiction in the future.

On June 6, after supplying some fresh water, the navy's main fleet went north again, trying to find the Portuguese main fleet, while the army officers and soldiers began to advance to the inland forest farms, and at the same time sent people to collect taxes and count in the urban area. The supplies (mainly high-quality ship materials that are being dried in the shade at the wharf) are extremely busy.

(End of this chapter)