Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2449 Strategic Choices

On March 1702, 3, Sheng Dehong's ship arrived at the port of Genoa.

This is a main naval battleship, just arrived from the Caribbean Sea, one of the "Jiqi" class escort gunships, the ship is named "Winter Solstice", and Rear Admiral Cai Anguo, commander of the Navy's European Task Force, also arrived with the ship.

Mr. Cai Anguo is already in his sixties, so he could have stopped coming to Europe and just concentrate on retirement in the warm Brazilian military port city.But he thought he was in good health and was full of desire for honor, so after much consideration, he resolutely decided to come to Europe.And when he came, a group of 50-[-]-year-old officers in the navy could only die down, and no one could compete for the position of commander-in-chief of the task force.

The "Winter Solstice" set off from the local Zhenhai Port Naval Base and traveled northward along the coast of Brazil. After stopping at Huaiyuan Island for supplies, it visited Xinjing Port in the Free State and held a meeting with its high-level officials.Cai Anguo highly praised the major achievements of Xinjing Moshi in economic construction in the past ten years, and expressed his admiration for his fearless courage in accepting a large number of South African Black Eight Banners, Indians, and Mestizos.He also promised to the Free State that the Caribbean Shipping Company will definitely strengthen economic cooperation with the country, purchase more food, timber, leather and cotton from the Free State, and promote the economic and social development of the country.Finally, on behalf of the East Coast government, he donated [-] yuan in cash and a batch of living materials to the newly developed cities of Haiquan (located in the later Haiquan City) and Chengtian (located in the later Vicksburg) in the Free State. The country continues to work hard to develop, and at the same time accepts more people of Indian descent from the Black Eight Banners and the East Coast.

After leaving Xinjing Port, the "Winter Solstice" went to the mouth of the Mobile River and inspected the territory of Air Canada.Because it is the Navy's own company, Rear Admiral Cai Anguo was not polite, and directly asked them to complete three major tasks in the next few years: 10. Cooperate with the Huaiyuan County Government to strengthen trade in the Caribbean region, It is necessary to organically combine the economies of the Free State, the Soviet Union, Florida, Huaiyuan Island, Mobile Colony and Spanish America, and strive to improve the company's performance; [-]. Cooperate with the National Intelligence Agency to instigate the Kingdom of Spain as soon as possible The colony of Florida became independent, and after its independence, it gave a certain degree of support to ensure its political stability; [-]. Continue to do a good job in immigration transportation. South Africa’s Black Eight Banners transportation has been transported for so many years, and there are still nearly [-] people stranded there. Air Canada There are suspicions of dereliction of duty in this matter. In addition, there are a large number of Indians and Mestizos in the country, and some of them must be diverted to North America. Air Canada must continue to work hard.

Air Canada doesn't really dispute the first two points.It is their wish to increase the trade volume, and instigating Florida's independence is also of great benefit to them. After all, this colony is independent to do business with them, and it will become a cash cow for them in the end.But they have been resistant to increasing the intensity of immigration transportation for many years.If the boss is urgent, they will ship more. If the boss doesn’t urge them, they will ship less. In short, they can save as much as possible. After all, the Free State doesn’t give them money, so why let them do it for nothing.There was even an incident where Air Canada secretly sold black immigrants from the Eight Banners to the Dutch and English for profit, and it was dealt with severely in the end.

Now a large number of mestizos and Indians have been cleared out of the east coast, and there will be more in the future.These people are currently working in construction teams, mines, forest farms, farms, etc., but the east bank government cannot restrain them for a lifetime, and will give them freedom sooner or later and send them away.Therefore, Air Canada does not have to shirk in this matter, and no matter how conflicted it is, it must do so.This is a political task. As a state-owned enterprise with monopoly trade rights, Air Canada has enjoyed the benefits, so it must have the awareness to pay.Fortunately, the management of the company is relatively strong now. The immigration mission has not been compromised in the past two years, and it is still ordering new ships. It plans to expand the immigration transportation capacity by more than half to better complete related tasks. The higher-ups were somewhat satisfied, and planned to renew their monopoly privileges for another 20 years as a reward.

After the "Winter Solstice" left the mouth of the Mobile River, it stopped at the Port of St. Augustine in Florida. It was not only a supply, but also a boost to the local Hispanic white class, letting them know that the East Coast government has always been paying attention to them. Give them up, let them not be afraid, do it hard, do it with confidence, and do it boldly!If something goes wrong, the East Coast government will help them wipe their asses, and the Spanish repressive army will not even see the lighthouse of St. Augustine Port!Of course, the task of receiving some Indians and Mestizos must also be completed. Whether they like it or not, this is the price the East Coast government should pay for protecting them, and there is no room for negotiation.For this reason, the East Coast government is even willing to give them some of the old sailing ships that have been eliminated at a low price, so as to improve their transportation capacity.

Florida is independent, and the Texas General District is facing strong pressure from the Great Soviet Union. In the future, the Spaniards will not have any foothold in North America.Of course, their fate in South America will not be any better. Their era has basically come to an end, and it is time to retire from the stage.

After leaving St. Augustine, the frigate "Winter Solstice" did not delay any longer. It ran at full power and followed the ocean current across the Atlantic Ocean, and finally arrived at the port of Praia in the Cape Verde Islands.Here, Rear Admiral Cai Anguo held a small-scale ship review ceremony, and had a little fun.Afterwards, he called Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yafu of the Marine Battalion, and together with the staff, he carefully considered the details of the future capture of the Canary Islands.People on the east coast must seize this important archipelago and then quickly. For this reason, they have formulated a detailed plan to seize the island, which will be completed by the navy.

After taking over the islands, the Straits Management Committee, which is already in preparation, will quickly follow up and carry out large-scale immigration to the islands, dilute the number of local Spaniards, and change the ethnic composition of the islands.In the future, the economy of this archipelago should be dominated by agriculture, fishery and tourism.As for the port transportation and logistics industry, it may not be able to compete with the Cape Verde Islands in the south.After all, the era of sailing ships will eventually go away. The Cape Verde Islands developed earlier, and the facilities are very complete. At the same time, there is a coal mine with a large reserve-this is very important-it can replenish fuel for ships passing by. The competitiveness is still much stronger than the Canary Islands, even though the latter is geographically closer to Europe and North Africa.

When the "Winter Solstice" gunboat passed by the Canary Islands, Cai Anguo also specially observed the islands with a telescope, focusing on the island's capital, Santa Cruz Port, a city that was once robbed by the English of more than one million yuan in goods.As a result, he found that the Spanish rule here was not stable, the port defense was loose, the soldiers were ragged and listless, and the artillery on the fort was also very missing. Someone resold it?).There are only two or three small warships moored in the harbor, their firepower is weak, and there are quite a few fishing boats, but they cannot fight.

The staff officers accompanying Major General Cai Anguo optimistically predicted that the navy only needs to mobilize more than ten main warships to completely suppress the enemy's forts, destroy the enemy ships in the port at the same time, and cover the brothers of the Marine Battalion to land at the right time to completely control the entire army. city.As soon as the Santa Cruz port is reached, the entire Canary Islands are basically helpless. It only takes a few days for the people on the east coast to land on each island one by one, and the war can be completely ended. It can be said to be extremely easy.

Although Major General Cai Anguo said that he should not underestimate his opponent, his thoughts in his heart were the same as those of his staff.Canary Islands, the days of the Spaniards are numbered!

The "Winter Solstice" arrived at Port Tange in mid-February 1702.The Navy has already determined that they will use Ceuta Port as their base in the future. The reason is that Danji Port has a vast inland hinterland, many plains, and great potential for development. It has greater potential to be used as a pure commercial port.The hinterland of Ceuta Port is all mountainous, and its future development potential is destined to be very limited, and its population will be far less than that of Danji Port. The environment is simpler, and it is suitable for use as a military port.Moreover, it is across the sea from the Bay of Gibraltar that the navy has already booked, and the distance between the two is only a dozen nautical miles. In case something happens, it will be easier to block it.

Major General Cai Anguo did not go to Ceuta Port for inspection, but after a whole day of chatting with Sheng Dehong behind closed doors at the Danji Hotel, he arrived at the port of Genoa* in northern Italy on the "Winter Solstice" gunboat.

As the "Godfather" of the Genoese Navy, the arrival of the high-level navy on the east coast made them very nervous, and the welcome ceremony was so grand that some young staff officers felt flattered.However, Sheng Dehong and Cai Anguo, these two old fritters, are at ease. Are you kidding me? The East Bank has the grace to rebuild Northern Italy, and it deserves any kind of treatment.

After staying in the ancient castle specially prepared in Genoa for guests on the east coast, the representatives of the two countries had another close talk.They didn't talk too much about the incident that happened in the Principality of Savoy a while ago. It was something that should be discussed after arriving in Milan, and it is not appropriate now.Sheng and Cai mainly talked with the top leaders of the Republic of Genoa about the next strategic choice of the Northern Italian Federation, that is, whether to go south or go west.

Going south is to follow the established plan, with the cooperation of the navy and the army, to attack Naples and Sicily, the two largest fortresses of the Kingdom of get off work on the Apennine Peninsula.The westward advance is to make persistent efforts, stop the peace talks with the Savoys, and march directly to Turin, defeat and disable the Principality of Savoy, and finally force it to join the Northern Italian Federation - it is conceivable that this way of joining However, the Principality of Savoy will have almost no status at all, just like the two regions of Drenthe and Limburg-Brabant in the Union of Seven Provinces in the north, it has a low status and no voting rights, just like a colony.

As far as the Genoese are concerned, of course they hope to go south, because this will use the navy they dominate, which will help increase the influence of the Republic of Genoa in the Federation.The position of the people on the east coast is basically the same as theirs, that is, they hope that they will go south. Naples and Sicily have a large area and a large population. Once they are taken, they can greatly enhance the strength of the Northern Italian Federation and solidify its foundation, which is crucial for future development. .But the people on the east coast also know that, given the complexity of the Milan council, this matter is still tossing, and if it is not complete, it will require debate and voting to make a final decision.

Furthermore, the timing is not right now.France and Spain have not yet been fully involved in the war. It is a bit unwise to attack Naples and Sicily rashly at this time. It is easy to attract the enemy's firepower to oneself, as the saying goes.Therefore, we have to wait and wait until the French invest their main force in the Southern Netherlands and the Rhine River Basin, and fight a few games with the Dutch and Austrians, and there is no turning back.Before that, it happened that the matter of the Principality of Savoy should be resolved first.It is time for this tragic country sandwiched between several major forces to make its own choice, or it may end badly.

(End of this chapter)