Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 176 The Attacking Fleet ([-])

The battle seemed to be over as soon as it started.

When the army's four artillery were dragged to the gap in the collapsed British wall and fired a few shells into it, the fighting spirit of the British to resist quickly collapsed.

The first was the collapse of their black servant soldiers. These blacks who could usually oppress some indigenous people were killed and wounded by the artillery of the East Coast Army. Most of them collapsed on the spot, and a small part directly surrendered to the East Coast Army.

After the defeat of the black servants, the British musketeers under the command of James made the last tenacious resistance, resulting in the casualties of several East Coast Army soldiers who advanced aggressively.However, the East Coasters would not engage in a face-to-face musket fire with them.Under Zhu Liang's order, the riflemen carefully covered the four artillery pieces and moved forward, and then used the artillery to destroy the houses held by the stubborn British one by one.

After James was seriously injured by an explosive bomb fired from a 12-pound gun on the spot, the remaining British finally woke up from their frenzy. They surrendered unconditionally to the East Coast Army under the command of officer Heywood.

"This is the era of artillery, what kind of will to fight and what kind of tactics are all scum under the bombardment of cannons." Complacent Zhu Liang stood on the ruins with a saber in his hand, looking at the scattered dozens of people who were killed. Bound British captives.

"People from the east coast, I am the councilor of the Council of Guyana Traders Company. I demand the treatment I deserve. You can't treat me so rudely!" A big fat man suddenly shouted in the crowd.

Zhu Liang looked for his reputation and had a good time.This is a middle-aged fat man in a dress. Judging from the crisp fabric of his dress, it should be new wool blended with short wool and silk. Most people can't afford such clothes.Just look at the unkempt ordinary British musketeers around it. They generally wear linen or cotton clothes, and they are dirty. This is the normal dress of dicks.

"Bring him up." Zhu Liang said, playing with the command knife in his hand.

Anda Fifteen, who happened to be beside Zhu Liang, and another soldier volunteered to walk into the crowd, and brought up the heavily tied fat man.

"Who are you?" Zhu Liang asked in English, "If you deceive me, I don't mind another headless corpse by the river."

"People from the east coast, stop your dangerous behavior. You are talking to a noble English lord." The middle-aged fat man still has a bit of backbone, maybe it is arrogance, which makes him not worry about himself at all when facing Zhu Liang for the safety of our lives, "we were compelled to surrender to you, but that does not mean that you have won everything. The Guyana Traders Company is a famous company with a dozen powerful warships, and our allies, the East India Company, the Merchant Adventurers The company, Maurice Stone Tucker Company has countless warships and merchant ships, we can easily strangle you by the throat, I think you can already feel the pressure of this suffocation."

"Untie this gentleman." Zhu Liang ordered casually, and then said in English: "But I want you to recognize the fact that you are only a prisoner at present, and stop talking to me in that arrogant manner. I am a Soldiers, my temper is not very good. Sometimes it is difficult for me to control my temper. Sir England, do you know that once I can't control my temper, I will probably do some terrible things regardless of the consequences. Take him Go down and hand it over to the agents of the General Intelligence Bureau for interrogation."

The officers among the captives, as well as those treasurers, clerks, liaison officers, merchants, etc. from the Guyana Trading Merchant Company were all screened out and interrogated individually, and the agents of the General Intelligence Bureau obtained a lot of valuable information.

The warships on the river sailed into the simple pier next to the trading station one by one.At this time, the frigate "Beagle" also rushed back with a group of prisoners. They rushed upstream last night, but were blocked by two small wooden forts of the British, and could only retreat to the battleship.This morning, with the help of the guns of the frigate "Beagle", they finally captured these two forts of the British, killed a dozen white British musketeers and three times as many black servant soldiers, and captured Large quantities of gold and gold ore that have been roughly purified.

Of course, the dog's head gold they seized is nothing compared to the inventory in the store.Under the coercion of the army soldiers' sabers, the British captives became the leading party. They opened the warehouses in the trading station one by one, and the piles of grain, ivory, fur and gold bars inside made people dizzy.Especially those army bumpkins who saw these items for the first time were breathing heavily and couldn't move their eyes.

However, they quickly managed to regain their composure under the blow of the officer's scabbard. The officers announced that [-]% of the amount would be allocated to all the officers and soldiers of the navy and army who fought this time. This just right promise aroused the shocking excitement of the soldiers Cheers.

The army quickly sealed off these warehouses tightly, and only those who moved and counted materials were allowed to enter and exit.

"According to our rough estimate, the value of the gold bars, dog's head gold, ivory, fur and grain is between 15 and 20 yuan. The reason why the gap is so large is because we can't carry out the gold content of those gold bars and dog's head gold. Therefore, it can only be roughly estimated. But even so, this is a profitable operation, and the hearts of the British are probably bleeding, haha!" Army commander Zhu Liang saw his nominal superior— ——Commander of the Guinea Task Force, Lieutenant Commander Lu Ming came with several staff officers, and hurried forward to share the joyful news with him.

"That's right!" Lu Ming also showed a smile on his face, "I'll tell you another piece of good news. We also recovered a huge amount of gold from the stranded and sunk British merchant ship. It's conservatively estimated to be worth more than 3 yuan. If Including the seized teak wood from the Dutch merchant ship, as well as some furs, spices, and sugar confiscated on the way, our operation is probably the most profitable and successful in history.”

"Haha, thinking about the mournful faces of those government officials before we set off, it seems that we have made the right move!" Zhu Liang seemed in a very happy mood, "Now I want to see how the British spend their time. Are we going to attack the British trading post near the Gulf of Guinea next? Haha, it is good for them to block us, because it can weaken our war potential and sell more goods. Now it seems that their good days At the end of the day, I want to see how this Guyana Trading Merchant Company can sit still after losing so much gold, haha, happy!"

"This operation is so smooth, the Gulf of Guinea must have to make a turn on the way back." Lu Ming nodded, and said affirmatively, "The British's strength there is limited, and they are still scattered in multiple strongholds. , we took this opportunity to uproot it and show off the arrogance of the British."

The two were chatting, and soon a soldier came to report that more than 100 black slaves were found in the British dungeon.The two men who heard the report hesitated for a moment. It is said that the east coast is currently extremely short of manpower, and these more than 100 black slaves are excellent candidates for miners.However, they who are well aware of the habits of crossing people know that at present, neither government officials nor military officers in the country can accept black people entering the territory of the East Coast Republic.Therefore, how to deal with these black slaves has become a more difficult matter.

"Take them all, and then find a way to sell them to the Dutch or Portuguese at a low price." Lu Ming made a final decision and made a compromise decision.

All day on July 7, soldiers and sailors from the east bank were busy moving supplies and getting supplies.The British opened up some farmland relying on the trading station, and used a large number of black slaves for farming to supply the entire trading station and the supplies of passing ships.Now the crops in these farmlands have also become the trophies of the people on the east coast. The army dug up all the fresh vegetables in the fields, and at the same time swept away some livestock such as pigs and sheep to replace the food barrels that had already been stored. Bacon that grows maggots.

By the evening of the day, the material handling work was coming to an end, and the supplies had been replenished.Under the command of the officers, the soldiers began to pile up firewood and hay on the original site of the British trading station, and pour some kerosene from time to time. This was to prepare for a fire to completely destroy the traces of the British here.Not only here, the two British wooden forts upstream will also be burned.

On July 7, after spending a night with mosquitoes in the sultry Gambia River, the entire Guinea Task Force finally decided to set sail and leave here.Of course, before they left, all the British facilities were caught in a raging fire.The next time the British come here, I'm afraid everything will have to start from scratch.

The raid on Gambia lasted a day and a half. The army and navy had a total of about 100 people injured, sick, and dead. They killed and captured more than 200 British soldiers, more than 300 sailors, and no less than [-] black servants. Three ships were captured, one was captured, and a large amount of supplies and gold were seized.

In addition, they also captured a large number of officers and employees of the British Guyana Trade Merchant Company, some of whom were middle and high-level in the company.For example, Senator Exeter and Commander Heywood (Chris's whereabouts are unknown), these hostages will be a big bargaining chip when negotiating with the British.

After the task force left the Gambia River, it first sailed against the wind in the southwest direction for two days, then quickly turned to the southeast, and headed straight for the Gulf of Guinea.There are also several trading stations opened up by the British East India Company and the Merchant Adventurer Company. If they don't wipe them all out this time, it would be too sorry for this large-scale military operation.

(End of this chapter)