Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1278 Another Battlefield ([-])

1660, December 12th, Xiangshan County, sunny.

Major Junior was sitting in the county office's custody room, flipping through some documents in his hands.The documents were recorded in Chinese and Arabic numerals, compiled and compiled by the State Intelligence Agency, and then distributed to the Far East.Previously, the original copies of these Portuguese information had been placed in a corner of the Heishui Port archives. Yantai and Ningbo each had a handwritten copy. This time he led the army to fight at the Pearl River Estuary. Major Er borrowed this copy, intending to get to know his enemy well first.

Sitting next to him with a helpless face is Hao Yaotong, the son of Nanming Xintaihou and Chaozhou General Military Officer Hao Shangjiu. So he called Hao Yaotong back from Sanshui, moved his troops to Xiangshan County, and ordered him to cooperate (supervise) and (monitor) the actions of the people on the east bank—well, so far, his main job is probably to help The people on the east coast have transferred grain and grass, which is what Duke Hui promised. On this day when the army on the east coast is here, they will support the grain and grass for one day.In addition, Hao Yaotong did not prohibit the food trade between the gentry and merchants in Xiangshan County and the Portuguese after the Portuguese army in Macau attacked and defeated the people on the east coast a while ago. A fortune - however, this is not enough for outsiders.

The reason why he was helpless at this time was probably due to the fact that the people from the east coast occupied his county government office, and at the same time, the [-] volunteers who landed "invited" his troops out of the barracks, and the doves occupied the magpie's nest. Well—his grandma, I, Hao Yaotong, were also good at suppressing bandits in Lianzhou in the past.If it hadn't been for my father's ten thousand warnings not to offend the arrogant yellow-clothed thieves, I'm afraid I would have led my brothers to fight with them. Isn't it just that there are so many shotguns and small cannons, do you think there are none in Laozi's camp?

Of course, what he did with Hao Yao, who was "a man from the East Coast", was nothing more than his own obsession.In fact, he himself knows that it is okay for his subordinates to suppress mountain bandits in Lianzhou. If they are compared with the five thousand well-trained and murderous yellow-clothed officers and soldiers, the gap is much bigger, not to mention the equipment and combat skills. Fa, just this spirit is completely different.If you really want to make an analogy, maybe the old battalion of King Chuang can compare with one of them. Of course, this is only from the spiritual level, and the equipment is still far behind-the goddamn yellow-clothed thief, Not only are muskets, bayonets, leather armor, kettles, military boots, waist knives, spears and other equipment readily available, but there are also a lot of canned food, dried fish and other high-quality food on weekdays, and even some sucrose and shredded tobacco are distributed every once in a while. , Wine and other things to enjoy, even the fucking straw paper to wipe your butt, this soldier is almost like an uncle, right?With such a cost, with the richness of the bandits in yellow, it is estimated that they can support thousands of people. It is probably similar to the team that Qi Shaobao pulled up in Zhejiang back then, but it is already quite powerful.

With these five thousand yellow-clothed soldiers escorting them, Hao Yaotong wisely gave up the Xiangshan county government office, and at the same time mobilized the gentry in the county to send some pigs, sheep and rice wine to reward the army, while he sat on the sidelines and acted as an advisor to the people on the east coast. If you have any questions, you will answer them immediately, and your life is really not going well.

What did Hao Yaotong think? As a senior officer of the Blackwater Pioneering Team, Major Junior didn't bother to care. What he cared about now was probably the strength of the Portuguese in Macau.It's a pity that the last Ming Dynasty was chaotic from top to bottom, and the level of officials was also very low. After asking many people, they couldn't tell how many people and how many Francois there were in Macau, which made people crazy.Fortunately, he still has information to look up, and many of them have been obtained from the Spaniards in recent years-don't forget that Spain and Portugal were merged for many years back then-the accuracy should not be too high. Low, perhaps some clues should be found from this.

"At least 2000 people come to Asia via the Cape of Good Hope every year, and in some years even as many as 5000, with an average of 3500 people a year. Based on this calculation, there should be more than 2.5 Portuguese in the entire Asian region, which cannot be compared with the Atlantic Ocean. But it is also very impressive. After all, the number of white employees of the Dutch East India Company in the Far East did not exceed 1.2. Well, there is another record here. In 1600, Brazil accounted for the vast majority of Portuguese citizens in overseas colonies, followed by Asia. , Africa (mainly concentrated in the estates in the Zambezi River Basin) and the Atlantic Islands divided the rest; most of the Asian immigrants came from the Entre Douro-Minho area in the northwest (it was shot by the east coast escort fleet a while ago) Booming places), a few are from the area behind the mountains, and they are all places with strong folk customs..." Junior spent his youth in Lisbon, so he has a little understanding of the inside story of the Kingdom of Portugal. When looking at these materials, it is also getting twice the result with half the effort.

"It's worth mentioning that the percentage of 'capable of using arms to fight' is very high among the 2.5 people, because too many of them are unmarried bachelors. Well, here are the detailed percentages, married colonists, soldiers , priests, officials, people who betray religious beliefs (what the hell is this?), criminals, hooligans/sailors, the proportions of each major category are very detailed. If we speculate like this, then the population of Macau at this time should be 2.5-3 Among them, the number of whites should not exceed 1.5, and the number of mixed descendants should not exceed [-]. The rest are mostly Ming people, and there are a very small number of Malays and black servants. Such a population size and structural ratio, mobilization Five thousand soldiers is not difficult at all, and if it is an extreme mobilization, there should be more, which is very difficult. I am afraid that we will not be able to defeat them with our own strength, so the only way is to besiege for a long time?" After much deliberation, Major Junior realized that he really only had the tactic of siege, which had the lowest cost and the best effect, although the effect was slower, but it was impossible.

If it hadn't been for the fact that they have been fighting with the Dutch and the British in the Far East for decades and lost a lot of population, it would not be surprising that the number of white people in Portuguese Asia would reach 20 to [-]. More than [-] descendants of mixed blood, given time, it is really a huge force to be armed!Fortunately, none of this happened. The Portuguese fought fiercely with the enemy in India, the East Indies, Malacca, Ceylon, the Middle East, Macau and even East Africa, which greatly depleted their own population. Otherwise, this group of people might really be able to do it. Achieve much higher than now.

After the plan was made, Major Junior didn't hesitate any longer. Anyway, the current troops, under the leadership of Gao Cuihuan and Dong Dalang, have already set off to the border of Macau City, preparing to rebuild fortifications and blockade the enemy city.Together with them, there were more than 400 brothers from the newly established Yantai Artillery Company and Yin County Artillery Company, armed with a total of 16 light artillery pieces, vowing to surround and trap the Portuguese to death!

The two brigades and artillery count 4400 people, and are currently under the command of the veteran Gao Cuihuan.This gentleman was originally an official of Xiajin County appointed by Dashun, and he had an inseparable relationship with Pei Qin, the commander-in-chief of Qingdao Fort who had been transferred back to the mainland.When Marshal Mo first formed the Stand Up Team, he was one of the first batch of officers. He has successively served as the squadron leader, deputy team leader, and team leader. The captain of the regiment, after [-] or [-] years of hard work, is already one of the few senior officers in the entire Blackwater Pioneering Team system.

As for Dong Dalang, the captain of the Fifth Brigade, this guy is the nephew of Dong Xueli, the commander of the Fifth Division of the New Army (the site is Penglai County, that is, Dengzhou City). After finishing his studies at the Military and Political University, he joined the Standing Up Team system. He started as a deputy squadron leader, and now he has climbed to the position of acting captain of the Fifth Brigade.This brigade was formed on the basis of German mercenaries captured by the Cossacks. After years of reorganization, one-third of the soldiers were still of German origin. The original German commander died of a serious disease half a year ago, but Dong Dalang picked up a Cheap.

But if he still wants to get rid of the word agent on his head, he has to perform well in the siege of Macau, otherwise he will be beaten back to his original shape at any time and continue to be that boring deputy captain.In addition, even considering his own future, he must firmly seize this opportunity. The family members of his uncle Dong Xueli were originally in Ningxia, but they were killed by Niu Chenghu, the general of Dashun Ningxia General Power, in one go. At that time, Dong Xueli trained his nephew Dong Dalang as his successor, and Dong Dalang was also a well-known "Major General" in Dengzhou City.But who knows that good luck tricks people, Dong Xueli, who has taken several concubines in Dengzhou, has a son again, and his attitude towards Dong Dalang has become a little subtle, forcing Dong Dalang to leave Yantai helplessly and work hard again, which is miserable enough .

On December 12, the Portuguese army in Macau fought fiercely with the East Coast. This time, the skilled team did not give the Portuguese any chance.Both sides put up a classic Spanish square formation, with spearmen, musketeers, and artillery lined up among them, and the only thing missing was some cavalry.

As a result, there was a fierce battle all afternoon, and hundreds of people were killed and injured on both sides. The Portuguese colonial army was not as good as the troops who stood up and fought for many years. The fighting will was a little weak and the fighting skills were lacking. In the end, they were defeated and returned to the city of Macau. It's time to go out of the city to fight.In this battle, Dong Dalang's Department (Fifth Brigade) faced the Portuguese Army Gentlemen's Group (that is, the Whites' Group) head-on attack, but fired the highest rate of fire of the muskets in training, which completely defeated the will of the enemy on the opposite side - the shooting was fast and intensive. Formation switching and transshipment are all right. Dong Dalang's fifth team has indeed played at a higher level than before, and his post-war recovery is already a certainty.

The battle on December 12 also caused a great shock in Xiangshan County.They originally thought that the No. 13 Division of the New Army was already a good unit—at least it looked neat on the outside—and they might not be able to fight it on their side, but such a unit was actually swept away by the Portuguese in Macau. It made Li Chengdong's subordinates recognize their own strength, and then recalled the past when hundreds of Franji mercenaries fought against the superior infantry of San Francisco in the field during the Battle of Guilin, and won the battle , I feel that Ming's military is really outdated.But it turned out that such a powerful army couldn't beat another army in yellow called the "Stand Up Team". What kind of army is this?Those who were not in Shandong had no way of knowing, but they probably belonged to a group similar to Jieshuai Yabing and Tianzi's army, it was really terrifying.Thinking about how I looked down on them before, I absolutely dare not have such thoughts now, just kidding!

And this victory also brought another "dividend" at the same time. Under the suggestion of Hao Yao and others, the number of merchants and gentry trading with the Portuguese in the countryside was greatly reduced, and now there are only a few "traitors" rowing boats at night Just take the river to Macau for trade.However, it is said that there are a lot of people from Xinning and Xinhui to sell food and water (the well water in Macau is a bit salty, and white men don’t like to drink it very much). In addition, the Dan people living on the nearby water also took the opportunity to sell their catches. , food, melons and fruits (acting as a second-hand dealer), and made a lot of money.

People on the east coast have no good solution to this situation. They can only release the four naval gunboats that came with the army to patrol the water surface. But how can this completely cut off Macau's foreign trade? It's completely unrealistic .As a result, Major Junior sent someone to Guangzhou again, asking Li Chengdong to restrict the local area, prohibiting all trade with the Franji people, and "not leaving the country with a single grain of rice."

Li Chengdong is in a dilemma, because the Ming court has exerted tremendous pressure on him whether it is internal, local or Yongli court, and Li Chengdong has to weigh the consequences.However, after promising to give his men [-] muskets, [-] pairs of iron armor, [-] leather armors, and a large number of bows and arrows, Li Chengdong's warlord nature once again overwhelmed the politician's nature, and finally agreed to the request of the people on the east coast. Send confidant generals to lead troops to various places, and strictly ban the "treacherous people" who trade with Franji in the local area.At the same time, they also turned a blind eye to the large number of Dan people captured by the naval gunboats on the east coast who traded with Franji. It doesn't matter if he takes him away as a cow or a horse, what does it matter to Li Chengdong?Is it worth it to make people on the east coast unhappy for these rootless Dan people?

In this way, under the joint blockade of the people on the east bank and Li Chengdong, the Duke of Huiguo of Nanming, the life of the Portuguese in Macau suddenly became sad.Although there are still desperate people in the local area who are willing to bring fresh water to Macao for trade, but the quantity is small, not enough to meet the needs of tens of thousands of people in the city. Most of the time, they still need to rely on the food stored in the warehouse, but this is nothing at all. Long-term plan, after all, there will always be a day when the stored food will be used up, so what should we do then?

(End of this chapter)