Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1272 Escorting the Storm ([-])

At noon on January 1661, 1, off the coast of Cadiz.

The fierce naval battle has lasted for a whole hour, and both sides have suffered a lot of casualties. Among them, although the Portuguese have a large number of ships, their losses are greater, and this is obviously also on some ships cruising far away. The spectators expected that the east coast has such a powerful battleship, such a magical steam engine, and well-trained naval officers and soldiers (it can be seen that long-term training and tacit cooperation, they are professional soldiers, not like temporary recruitment) , the Portuguese navy is well-known even in the old continent, but how can it be its opponent?

It is necessary to invest huge sums of money in the research of steam engine technology!People from the Old Continent who watched the battle had this idea in their hearts, because the sea battle in front of them told everyone with living facts, how much help a fleet of steam engine sailing ships with powerful firepower can provide in battle!I believe that after witnessing today's events, whether it is Madrid, Paris, Lisbon, The Hague or London, there will be a wave of research on steam engine technology, which will not only promote industrial development, but also be closely related to the vital naval construction.It can be said that any country with a little bit of ambition will not turn a blind eye to the fetish of steam engine sailboat!

Of course, the Eastern and Portuguese navies, who are in the middle of a fierce battle, naturally don't know what the people watching the battle think. They didn't even pay much attention to the ships flying foreign flags that followed from the port of Cadiz. Ship, they only have each other in their eyes now, and they only have one thought: to sink the enemy to the bottom of the sea!

For the sake of the battle so far, except for a few ships of the Portuguese fleet that were not involved in the melee, the other ships had already been fought by the four battleships on the east coast, and they had no formation. Word.The sea is full of gunpowder and smoke, even with the constant sea breeze blowing, the visibility is still extremely low, and the casualties on both sides are also very large-so far, Portugal has sunk two armed merchant ships including the "Correa" and a professional ship. The warships, and the four battleships of the East Coasters were also shot hundreds of times. The sailors were killed and injured, and the hull was covered with injuries, but they were far from sinking.

However, the Portuguese probably didn’t have time to rely on their numerical advantage to eat up these east coast battleships—especially the most arrogant and fierce three-deck battleship "Executive Committee"—one by one, because of the large number Up to seven east coast escort gunboats have been bombarding their fleet with broadside artillery on the periphery, causing the sinking of the professional warship "San Sebastian" and damaging many ships.If they are allowed to go on like this, this battle will be impossible to fight, so the Portuguese have also begun to form a difficult formation, and plan to seize the upper hand again, but this is under the interference of the four battleships on the east coast. So easy to succeed?

Sure enough, as soon as Portugal started to move, the battleships on the east coast relied on their fast maneuverability to move around, constantly disrupting the enemy's formation, and at the same time maximized the power of their two-string artillery, sending hot shells to the enemy ships. It's like not giving up until all the shells are fired.

The battle suddenly fell into the same old way as before. The two sides fought in a melee on the sea surface, bombarding each other with artillery fire at close range, while the sail guard gunship fleet of the East Coast people kept attacking the enemy ships with side cannons on the periphery. Extent gave full play to its superiority in firepower, causing the casualties of the Portuguese to increase sharply, and gradually became a little overwhelmed, and their determination to fight began to waver.

When the two sides fought until four o'clock in the afternoon, the naval battle had been going on for five hours. Not only were the personnel and ships severely damaged, but the shells and gunpowder were also insufficient. This is the end of this exhausting battle for all.After all, the naval battles in this era are relatively long. When the big fleets are in decisive battles, they often lose a few dozen ships to each other for most of the day, and the ammunition and personnel losses are not light.

This naval battle, which took place off the coast of Cadiz, has caused the sinking of six Portuguese warships (four armed merchant ships and two professional warships) and the serious injury of a gunboat escort on the east coast ( As a result, a relatively fierce naval battle has been lost in this era, not to mention that a large number of ships on both sides were injured-especially the "Executive Committee" that attracted the most firepower from the Portuguese. In the battle, more than 250 rounds were shot, and many officers from the captain, first officer to second officer were injured; the front mast was completely broken, the upper and lower floors of the forecastle were in a mess, and flour, salted fish, and beer were scattered all over the place; A large part of the ship's plank on the port side fell off, and the water continued to flood in when the wind and waves were strong, making the damage control team busy; It is said that the damage is not light, and it needs a complete overhaul to restore its original combat effectiveness again.

When it was getting dark in the afternoon, the Portuguese fleet turned and headed southeast, probably to the port of Tangier.The Portuguese have been operating there for many years, the fortress is extremely strong, and the firepower of the fort is relatively dense. It is indeed a good place for the large fleet to stay and "heal the wound".As for the people on the east coast, almost all the battleships in the battleship fleet, especially a few battleships, suffered heavy casualties and were about to run out of ammunition, so they all sailed into the port of Cadiz.

The Spaniards attach great importance to this victorious and returning east coast fleet, because it is their country, and they are not sure that they can defeat this Portuguese fleet.Therefore, the attitude of this meeting has been greatly improved compared to before, and all the requirements of the people on the east coast for supplementing shells and gunpowder are met, but the price is still a bit cheating.In addition, the Spaniards also expressed that they could help the East Bank to repair the ships, provided that the East Coast people gave a certain consideration. Considering the importance of the escort mission and the sensitivity of the battleship, Major Ding Wei, who led the team, rejected the "good intentions" of the Spaniards. It is decided to send the ship to the Ottoman Empire for repairs, where it is safer. Anyway, several severely damaged battleships can still sail, can't they?

Of course, he also left a total of 488 injured sailors on each ship in the port of Cadiz to recuperate and wait for the fleet to return. There are several large shops in the port of Cadiz, where their family wholesales New World specialties all year round. The business scale is huge, so there is enough space and personnel to accommodate injured sailors on the east coast.As for the medical expenses for the wounded and sick, it is very simple, just transfer the account from the Bank of La Plata, which is convenient and quick.

On January 1, the people on the east coast did not stay in the port of Cadiz. After unloading part of the cargo, the whole fleet set sail again, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar eastward, and entered the relatively calm Mediterranean Sea; February 18 , the fleet is divided into several groups to unload in Hong Kong, Livorno, Pisa and other places (and also buy some local products), and meet at the port of Messina in Sicily a week later, and then cross Mexico Take the strait and enter the Ionian Sea.

The voyage in the Ionian Sea was smooth sailing-the wind was a little weak-they finally arrived at the port of Smyrna, the largest port of the Ottoman Empire, on February 1661, 2.After the convoy arrived here, the situation of the escorting battleship caused great shock to the Ottomans. After learning that it was caused by a fierce battle with the Portuguese navy, the Ottomans all expressed their admiration, which is said to be stronger than that of the Venetians. The fleet is even more fierce, Lord!

The maintenance of battleships and frigates will naturally be contacted by the person in charge of the local east coast trading station.As for those merchant ships, they began to go to various ports with merchant stations in batches (one of them went to the coast of Albania halfway), such as Salonika, Burgas, Kaffa, Haji and other places-especially those who went to The merchant ships in Haji Port, loaded with cannons, textiles, steel bars, medicines, armor, guns, and sabers, will bring back more than 15 Transylvanian and Polish women (mostly in between 30-[-] years old).

These women joined the more than 50 Ukrainian, Moldavian, and Transylvanian slave girls who had been transported to the port of Smyrna by the Black Sea liner company, and they will be transported to the port by the east coast fleet and some French and Dutch merchant ships. On the east bank, for this reason, the people on the east bank need a total of more than [-] yuan in cash including shipping costs--poorly, the trade profits obtained by transporting a large number of goods this year, after repaying the debt owed for buying prisoners of war and female slaves last year and even the year before, After the loans from various companies and the money of these female slaves this year, there is not much left, and if you purchase some Ottoman specialties-such as camels, horses, lead-tin mines, graphite, carpets, tapestries, raw silk, raisins and other commodities ——In that case, there would probably only be [-] million yuan left to bring back to China, which is beyond words.

It is worth mentioning that this time the people on the east bank bought nearly [-] female slaves at the strong request of the Crimean Khanate Muhammad Glai Khan, but the Khan himself was not completely satisfied.But the money on the east bank is not brought by the strong wind. The tens of thousands of cavalry under the command of Grand Khan have been attacking everywhere in the past two years. There are too many "inventories" on hand, and they can't all be handed over to the people on the east bank. Things are not always so good, although the quality of the goods you gave is indeed good and the price has dropped a lot compared to before, but we really can't afford it!

Because of this matter, Gao Wengang lived in Bekchisalay for a long time at that time, and had a good exchange with Gelei Khan and his courtiers. He promised that the people on the east bank would provide the latest technology for their lagoon salt production project, and renovate the Tartar trenches. After designing a fortress system that meets the needs of future warfare, the Great Khan finally reluctantly agreed to sell the young female slaves on hand to the east bank.As for the remaining slaves, Gao Wengang also gave him an idea, that is, to continue to open up new plantations on the fertile black land on the northern shore of the Black Sea, and plant a large number of barley, wheat, rye, oats, peas, hemp, fruit trees, etc. The crops are then exported to the relatively food-deficient Italian regions. For this reason, Gao Wengang is even willing to introduce some Italian businessmen to him.

In addition, in order to solve the problem of insufficient funds of the Great Khan, Gao Wengang also suggested that they cooperate with the Armenian merchant group of the Ottoman Empire—Gao Wengang solemnly recommended the Hornician family who had a close relationship with the east bank—and then acted as The agent of goods on the east bank vigorously develops the market in the Dnieper River and even the Don River Basin, sells the goods on the east bank, and at the same time earns a lot of commercial income for himself. At present, the Great Khan has agreed to this in principle. Wait for the Hornician family to send someone to discuss in detail.

As for the Danube trade that people on the east bank value most, I'm sorry, the current situation in the Ottomans is complicated and the political situation is turbulent. , market development is relatively unfavorable.Fortunately, this is a long-term task, and there is no rush to complete it now. The people on the east coast still have time to operate their own commodity market. After all, they don't have any decent competitors in the Black Sea area, do they?

On March 1661, 3, the East Coast Fleet, which had been roughly repaired, was ready to sail.At nine o'clock in the morning, a group of more than 1 exiled Ottoman soldiers and their family members (mostly from the Ganishari Legion and Spasi cavalry) came to the pier and boarded the ship. The current losers in the Ottoman Empire (of course The lower class has been affected, and the upper class has no chance of surviving) Exile on the east coast has become more and more common, and people on the east coast are also willing to accept some exiles in order to maintain the civil relations between the two countries, so you can see that every one or two years A group of Ottoman soldiers or low-level officials and their families moved to the east bank.

These people were scattered immediately after they arrived on the east coast, and most of them have already converted for the second time in their lives.Because of their skills and knowledge, they still played a great role in the upsurge of building the East Coast—to some extent, they are relatively high-quality and high-quality immigrants among the immigrants from the East Coast.

At 10:30 in the morning, following the order of Major Ding Wei, the entire escort fleet set sail one by one. After adjusting the formation on the White Sea, the entire fleet set sail, sailed southwest, and embarked on the journey home. journey of.A month later, they arrived at the port of Cadiz again, picked up some of the injured sailors, and bought a large amount of supplies at the same time.

The Portuguese did not show up this time, which may be related to the tragic result of the last naval battle.However, the people on the east coast did not intend to let these people go easily. On April 4, more than ten warships from the east coast sailed to the coast of Cape Santa Maria, and then bombarded many coastal towns in the Kingdom of Portugal. They robbed a large amount of cattle and sheep, dried fish, wine, flour and other supplies, as well as more than 3 yuan in cash.Not to mention, the next day, they also intercepted two offshore galleys transporting grain to Lisbon nearby. The people on the east coast laughed at the grain on board and burned two Portuguese ships. This town caused more than 4 casualties of Portuguese residents, and then turned around and went south via the Canary Islands to return to the mainland of the southern New World.

(End of this chapter)