Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1295 Promoting Peace by Fighting ([-])

The Cape Verde Islands are a key node in the overseas trade of the Kingdom of Portugal. In fact, their status in the entire colonial system is not low, and it is also one of the key points that they must not give up-ships from the mainland to Brazil and Southwest Africa can be in This is to avoid bad weather and obtain supplies and ship maintenance services by the way; merchant ships returning from the Far East via Mozambique and Angola can also stop here to accumulate sufficient energy to complete the last journey back to Lisbon; even, here is from Portugal. Brazil's excellent relay point (the distance from the Cape Verde Islands to both sides is about the same), from here to the south for a short distance and then across the Atlantic Ocean, you can make full use of the help of ocean currents and save a lot of effort; not to mention that the Cape Verde Islands themselves are far from The African continent is very close, and it is still a pretty good window for trade with Africa. After building a large warehouse here, slaves, placer gold, ivory, timber, livestock, leather and other goods on the African continent can be easily transshipped. And the industrial products from the old continent can also be transported to the coast of the African continent very quickly, so the trade should not be too smooth.

To sum up, the Cape Verde Islands are really a good place, with an excellent geographical location, otherwise it will not become a submarine optical cable relay station connecting Europe, Africa, and Latin America in the future. It is indeed unique.

Well, after talking about the advantages, we have to talk about the disadvantages.The biggest shortcoming of this archipelago is probably the drought and lack of water, and it is not a general lack of water. The place with the most annual precipitation is only two to three hundred millimeters, and the less is even less than one hundred millimeters, but the evaporation is so low. Strong, so it goes without saying how difficult it is for the people living here.

Lieutenant Commander Jiang Yaohui, who was recently transferred to the captain of the "Control East" battleship, has come to the port of Praia for the second time. The last time was about ten years ago. The captain, together with his old partner Ding Zhen, went to the island to buy supplies, and by the way sold some dirty goods robbed at sea to the Portuguese.Unexpectedly, time has changed, and this time he actually stood on the land of Puerto Playa as a conqueror, which is quite touching to think about.

The island was as barren as ever, and not far from the port of Playa, there were deserted and arid grasslands everywhere.The ground made of volcanic lava and the high temperature brought by the poisonous sunlight make most areas here unsuitable for plant growth.Occasionally some new tender green shoots will grow in the rock cracks after the rain, but they will soon wither under the lack of water and exposure to the sun, but they are not dead yet, showing a dry state of malnutrition. There are not many green shoots on the island. Herbivores do this for a living.

"It is said that when the Portuguese first discovered Santiago Island, there were still trees in the area next to the Port of Playa. Unfortunately, the Portuguese destroyed this forest in order to build the city, and it has not recovered so far." Already on the pier After a while, Lieutenant Cai Anguo said boredly, looking at the bare island and the large number of truncated cone-shaped hills.

"How do you know?" Jiang Yaohui wondered as he looked at the young man in front of him, the son of Cai De, the boss of Dafeng Food Company.

"I learned from this book, a German travelogue, kept in the library on the island. You know, I took German as an elective when I was studying at the nautical school." Cai De shook a thin booklet in his hand and said .

An attendant brought two horses to the two, which should have been raised by the Portuguese on the island.Jiang Yaohui and Cai Anguo had nothing to do, so they rode their horses to the small town in the east, which was the center of the Portuguese rule on the island. There was an abandoned castle, church and farm - relying on the nearby A farm created by the trickle of water.

The town is called Ribera Grande, just a few kilometers east of the Port of Praia. At present, some Portuguese farmers are operating planting and animal husbandry, providing flour, vegetables, fruits and even meat to the port.The number of black people in the town is very small. It is said that they were killed in a pirate massacre decades ago, so most of the immigrants in the town now immigrated after that time.Of course, the center of Portuguese rule on the island was later moved to Praia, which is near the port in the west, and in order to avoid a repeat of the past, they built a fort in the port, while retaining a small but capable army to resist pirates , it has been relatively peaceful for decades.It's just that their level of preparation can only defend against pirates at an average level. Facing the "pirates" on the east coast who are armed to the teeth and bring more than 700 cannons, they are still not enough to watch, so a conditional surrender is actually the best Good choice.

The residents of the town opened up some farmland along the stream, and planted some bananas around their residences. Soldiers from the east bank have already collected supplies—according to the surrender agreement, the Portuguese need to provide supplies to the east bank unconditionally. Yes, whether it is ammunition or food, of course it will not exceed their tolerance limit.

The castle was originally abandoned, but there are Portuguese peasant women cleaning it under the guidance of the town officials. Wang Tiehammer intends to put some patients (the most likely to produce patients on long-distance voyages) in and take good care of them, and wait for the boat group to return. They take away.The people on the east bank of the church did not requisition, which is one of the surrender conditions of the Portuguese. At this moment, several priests were comforting the panicked people at the door. Some Portuguese children were not as panicked as their parents. They watched the people on the east bank Come and go on the road, not afraid at all.

An hour later, Jiang and Cai, who felt very bored, rode back to the port of Praia with a group of officers and soldiers of the Black Eight Banners who had collected food. Both of them are military officers, so they are naturally eligible to be seated.

To be honest, Jiang Yaohui didn't like this fat Portuguese governor because he heard that when the warships on the east coast were bombarding the city, he ran to the town of Santo Domingo in the mountains to take refuge, and directly left Praia, who was struggling with blood stasis. Hong Kong military and civilians.However, considering that it was this guy who fled the battle that caused the morale of the army and civilians in the city to drop, and then negotiated with the people on the east coast and surrendered decently, the East Coast Fleet lost at least 300 casualties (maybe more, because the navy is obviously not good at land warfare) , so this person still has "good points".

The dinner was very sumptuous, including chicken, duck and fish, as well as a large pot of grilled lamb chops, wine, vegetable soup, fruit, and baked golden white bread. It can be seen that the Portuguese cooks are very conscious of being conquered. He didn't dare to be sloppy when entertaining the gentlemen - perhaps this is also due to the credit of the fat governor, because it is said that he was the one who found a band that was playing in the restaurant at this time.

The officers ate and chatted, and the dinner lasted two full hours before it came to an end.Wang Tiehammer ordered the chief mates and navigators of each ship to return to the ship first, while the captain stayed behind to hold a brief meeting. Of course, they had cleared all the Portuguese in the dining room before that, and a group of people were called outside the door. Dozens of officers and soldiers of the Black Eight Banners stood guard to prevent anyone from approaching.

"What do you think of the Cape Verde Islands?" Wang Tiehammer picked up a glass of wine, took two sips, and asked.

Everyone looked at each other when they heard the words.After a long while, Major Sankai, acting as the commander of the First Fleet (it is said that he will be officially promoted to the commander of the First Fleet and lieutenant colonel after returning to China), stood up and said in an unhurried tone: "What else is there to say? This The archipelago is poorer, and the drought is indeed a little dry, but it is not so barren, and it can also develop small-scale agriculture and animal husbandry, which is more than enough to be a supply base. I suggest that the navy take this place, Don’t give it back to the Portuguese, let’s use it ourselves, how about that?”

Sang Kai's words were like a stone thrown into the water, causing ripples immediately.

Lieutenant Commander Huang Yang, the captain of the "Executive Committee", said hesitantly after hearing the words: "It may be difficult to keep the Cape Verde Islands. How could it be possible to give up the necessary place in Southwest Africa! Although the existence of the Cape Verde Islands does not seem to be so important now that overseas trade is almost cut off, the Portuguese must still restore it in the future The idea of ​​trade, so the archipelago should not give up, and we may find it difficult to force them to agree to this condition."

"If you don't agree, fight until you are convinced. To put it bluntly, what do the Portuguese have now? The fleet is crippled and dare not leave the port, and the coastline can only be bombarded by us. Such a failed country, we need to give them too much face Is it?" Although the captain of the battleship "Fubo Wanli" is a junior, what he said on this occasion is aggressive, just listen to him continue: "Isn't it because we are afraid that the Portuguese will threaten our trade routes? What? It is inconvenient for us to concentrate escort every year, and it will lead to some market losses, but this is not a big problem. The only thing we need to worry about is that the centralized escort takes up too many naval ships, so we can draw them out There aren't many that are used elsewhere."

Unsurprisingly, Mo Lieel's words aroused whispered discussions among the officers present. Jiang Yaohui, Cai Anguo, Zhou Yu (the captain of the "Golden River Tiger" frigate, son of Zhou Shenwo), Sang Kai, Huang Yang and others all looked sideways.However, this matter is indeed very appetizing to their navy. As a naval officer, who doesn't want to see his country's warships roaming all over the world, and at the same time have their own ports or supply stations at various key nodes?At present, the Cape Verde Islands are obviously such a "key node", but it is more difficult to obtain her.

"Captain Mo's words are reasonable, and I agree." Lieutenant Zhou Yu, who is also the second generation of wearer, stood up, looked at everyone and said, "This opportunity is too rare. The Portuguese navy is in Cadiz Bay and Mozambique Island. After a big defeat, our strength has been greatly damaged. Now we should take this opportunity to put forward what we think of, and the Portuguese will carefully weigh the gains and losses. Otherwise, there will be no such shop after passing this village. It may not be so easy to find such a good opportunity to force the Portuguese to submit, please think carefully."

Both Mo Lieel and Zhou Yu are the new generation generals of the East Coast Navy. They grew up in the era when the country was booming. In a country that is going downhill, they will be blamed if they don’t step on it hard. There is a big difference from the relatively conservative and moderate way of thinking of the older generation-of course, this may also be because they are relatively young. After two or 30 years of hard work, I believe that the way of thinking about problems must be very different from today's. However, at this time, they really strongly demanded to capture the Cape Verde Islands, and there is no shortage of forces behind them.

"Is there anyone else who wants to say something? Let's talk freely. I'll write it down. Let's talk about this matter in advance. After we go back, we still have to make decisions from the Ministry of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and get the approval of the Executive Committee before it can be implemented. So Don't have any burden." Wang Tiechui said with a smile while drinking.

"I would say that the Cape Verde Islands mean a lot to us. As far as the route is concerned, if you sail all the way from the Ottoman Empire through the Strait of Gibraltar, Madeira Island, and the Canary Islands, in Verde It is indeed a very beneficial thing for ocean voyages to stop at the corner. Here, ships can be repaired, supplies can be replenished, injured or sick crew members can be accommodated, and the fleet can go south to catch the ocean current after being refreshed. Or northeast wind (only in spring and summer in the northern hemisphere), crossing the Atlantic Ocean to reach the northeast corner of Brazil, the success rate and safety will be much higher. From this point of view, the location of the Cape Verde Islands is very critical, and we have to take Next." Lieutenant Commander Jiang Yaohui said slowly.

"Of course, considering the sensitivity of this archipelago, it is too difficult for us to win all of them. I suggest that the Admiralty should make efforts to win at least one of the islands in the archipelago. Of course, we are negotiating with the Portuguese. At that time, the goal was still to take the entire Cape Verde Islands, and taking one of the islands was just a second choice. Well, about the choice of this island, Santiago Island, Mayo Island, Fogo Island and Santo Antão Island are probably valued by the Portuguese, and they may not be given to us. Then I suggest choosing San Vicente Island, because I heard that there is coal on this island, although I don’t know How about the texture, but is there anything more important to the Navy than this?" Jiang Yaohui asked again, "And, according to the information brought back by the frigate 'Golden Eye' that returned from San Antang Island, the island A bay is formed by a natural depression in the west, which keeps the turbulent sea at the periphery, and it is suitable as a shelter for the fleet. Therefore, I suggest that if you can only choose a part of Cape Verde, choose San Vicente Island, anyway The Portuguese don’t pay much attention to this place. So far, some colonists visit the island regularly every year. The open-pit coal mine has been discovered for so long and no one cares about it. Then it’s better to leave it to us, so as not to waste it in their hands. Ladies and gentlemen, think What's my idea?"

Unsurprisingly, the words of Jiang Yaohui, a lieutenant commander who was originally a resident of this time and space, aroused heated discussions among everyone.Wang Tiechui, who was already well-fed, sat at the head, looked at them with a smile, and didn't say anything. Perhaps watching the juniors quarreling over something was a very fun thing for him.

And such quarrels naturally have no results, after all, everyone is not a person who can make decisions, so in the end, they can only end hastily.However, everyone also reached a consensus on some aspects. For example, San Vicente Island is a must, and there is coal on the island, which is better than anything else, and the port conditions are not bad; The Horn Islands should also try their best to fight for it. After all, this opportunity is really great now. If they want to find this kind of opportunity to beat Portugal violently without causing too much sequelae, I don’t know if it will be the year of the monkey. Good to try hard.

The chubby Portuguese governor’s action to recruit and surrender the islands—in fact, it’s nothing, there are two salt farms on Sal Island, Boavista Island, and a fishing village on San Nicola Island, which are not worth mentioning ——Compared smoothly, it can be seen that this guy is actually quite prestigious, but he is really too timid.As for the Portuguese who were scattered across the islands, the East Coast Fleet didn't even bother to take care of them. The drought and poverty there were ok, so what could they do?

Therefore, after leaving 1661 officers and soldiers of the Black Eight Banners to garrison the Port of Praia, on October 10, 16, under the command of Commander-in-Chief Wang Tiechui, the East Coast Fleet set sail one after another, left the anchorage, and assembled in the open sea. After adjusting the formation, he sailed towards the port of Cadiz, Kingdom of Spain, following the southwest wind near the ground.

On November 1661, 11, the east coast convoy convoy with a number of 5 ships (51 ships had gone to the ports of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea for trade) arrived at the outskirts of the port of Cadiz, and then they were chattered by Spanish officials. Amidst the complaints - the Spaniards are also "tsundere" enough, obviously unable to refuse the east coast fleet to enter the port, but they always talk a lot of nonsense - drove in, and then bought supplies, placed patients, and by the way It also took back a group of wounded naval soldiers who stayed here to recuperate last year.

After the replenishment of water and ammunition was completed, the East Coast Fleet left the Port of Cadiz in batches again amidst the urging of the Spanish port officials, and began to gather in the open sea.This time, there were no unsightly Portuguese ships coming to harass them. Everything was going well, and the weather was looking good. Wang Tiehammer ordered the escort fleet to cross the Strait of Gibraltar eastward and head to the Mediterranean Sea to complete this year's trade.As for the Portuguese who are close at hand, hehe, there is no rush, let them have fun for two days, and then clean them up when they come back--how can all my colleagues in the Great East Coast Escort Fleet do such a good program? Will you forget?

(End of this chapter)