Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 627 Siege

On October 1647, 10, it was sunny, with a southeast wind of force five.

The large-scale east coast fleet slowly left the coastline, hovered on the sea for a while, then lowered most of its sails, then turned around and headed south, using steam power to drive slowly at a low speed of two knots.While driving, the repair ship "Sea Engineer" sent more than a dozen technicians to board the battleship "Easternism" in small boats, and began to repair some damage on the ship with the assistance of the sailors.

The battleship "East Coast Doctrine" was slightly injured when it was bombarded with the Spanish naval battery in Callao just now, but it was the brave action of the captain of the ship, Captain Huang Yang, that the East Coast people finally figured out The reality of the Spanish fleet in the port: The Spanish-Peruvian fleet moored in the port of Callao now has five warships in total. The largest four-masted warship is obviously its flagship "San Lorenzo". We can only rely on guesswork for the few battleships.According to the information held by the people on the east coast, two of the four ships should be the "Countess Alfonso" and the "Conqueror of Araucan". As for the other two ships, I don't know. Knowing that it is a two-masted Galen ship, the number of cannons should be around 30 by visual inspection-of course, the caliber and ratio of diameter to diameter cannot be compared with the naval guns on the warships on the east coast.

"It seems that the Spaniards have also built two new ships and launched them in the past ten years, which is really surprising." In the captain's room of the battleship "August [-]", the captains of the three main battleships, the chief and deputy commanders of the army All the officers were present and listened to the instructions of Lieutenant Colonel Lu Ming, the commander-in-chief of the task force.

At this time, Lu Ming poured himself a glass of wine, pondered for a while, and said, "But the strength of the Spanish Peru fleet is just like this. At its peak, there were more than ten warships, and now only half of its strength is left. Everyone, Spanish Peru Although the number of ships in the fleet is larger than ours, except for the flagship, the other four ships are not our opponents. Now our first task is to lure the Spanish navy to leave the port to fight our army, so as to The first battle is successful, and the biggest threat in the South Pacific waters will be completely wiped out."

"Commander, we all understand what you said, but the problem is that the Spaniards will not fight." Huang Yang, the captain of the battleship "Easternism", said gloomily. A shell from a Spanish coastal defense gun hit the bridge, and the splintered sawdust hit him right on the forehead, and his eyes were covered with blood.Fortunately, this was not a serious injury, so the bandage did not affect Huang Yang's continued performance of his captain's duties.

"The Spaniards also know how much they have. They are now huddled in the port of Callao, relying on a large number of coastal defense forts to deal with us. We can't forcefully rush to the port, which is too disadvantageous, but blocking it outside is not a problem. Ah. And I think their land defense forts are also well built. There must be a lot of armies in places like Lima and Callao. I heard that the headquarters of the Lima Colonial Legion is here. Although the thousands of people we have on hand The number and equipment must have surpassed the Spanish defenders in Lima, but I don't think it is very possible to take this city." Huang Yang continued, "Now if we want to let these old Spanish turtles come out, I will It seems that there is only one chance to wait."

Everyone present here understands the opportunity that Huang Yang mentioned, that is, waiting for the annual Gaia Anes fleet to berth at the port of Cartagena (now Venezuela’s Cartagena) via Santo Domingo. After receiving the news of the arrival of the fleet, the Governor of Peru will order a large number of South American specialties (cotton, tobacco, cocoa, sugar, leather, dyes, etc., but more importantly, gold) to be escorted by warships of the Peruvian fleet. Silver and precious metals) transport ships headed offshore to the port of Panama.

After this mixed fleet of warships and transport ships arrived in Panama, at this time the Gaia Anes fleet had almost finished its mission in Cartagena (trading, collecting special products), and had already anchored in Puerto Bello (now the Portobero).At this time, the two sides exchanged materials through mule and horse transportation. Industrial products and daily consumer goods from the Old World were transported to Panama through mule gangs, while goods from the New World were also transported to Port Bello on the other side of the isthmus through pack animals.

At this time of year, Puerto Bello will usher in the busiest time of the year.With the arrival of the fleet and the gathering of merchants from Peru, Mexico, Texas, Florida and other places, the 40-day bazaar will begin. A large number of merchants and civilians conduct transactions here, and the business is abnormal. Prosperity.

It's almost time for the Gaia Anez fleet to arrive now, because they usually set off from Cadiz in midsummer and then spend more than two months arriving at the port of Cartagena. At this time, they will stay in this port for a while It lasts for a month, and then usually moves to Puerto Bello at the end of the year.In other words, today in late October, it is almost time for the Gaya Anes fleet to arrive. If the Governor of Peru gets the news at this time, he should order the Peruvian fleet to escort the transport fleet to leave for Panama.

"The Spanish transport ships are all moored in the port of Callao. Some of them are obviously full of goods, and the hull has a deep draft. The Spaniards usually transport the goods and taxes of this year to Lima in advance. Then it will be escorted to Panama by sea at the end of the year." Captain Huang Yang continued to analyze, "Our only chance is here, and that is to wait for the Spanish and Peruvian fleet to leave port, and then seize the opportunity to destroy their fleet in one fell swoop, and even capture several A ship full of cargo, and we'll make a lot of money."

"But don't the Spaniards transport by land?" Xie Hansan, the army commander who was sitting on the side, said, "The Spaniards aren't that stupid, are they? Will they force their way out of the port even though they know we are guarding outside now?" It seems unlikely! I don’t know their traffic conditions very well, but I think they may be able to transport them by land? I mean transport these valuable goods to the port of Panama by land.”

"According to the information we have, if the Spaniards want to send a large amount of materials—perhaps two to three thousand tons—through four to five thousand kilometers of rugged mountain roads, across Lima, Quito, Santa Fe, Bogota, and Panama How crazy would it take to transport a trial court area to the port of Panama? Moreover, these places are mature routes for the Spaniards, and they have not invested huge sums of money in repairing land transportation all year round, so the possibility of land transportation It is very small, and the transportation volume will never be large.” Huang Yang immediately began to refute after hearing Xie Hansan’s words: “Now the Spaniards have complete land transportation facilities in the inland of the Viceroyalty of Peru, basically only the Lima inspection The trial court area, and the land transportation facilities in parts of the two major trial court areas of Chalkas and Chile are still good, but the rest of the area is in a mess."

Hearing Huang Yang's eloquence, Xie Hansan sneered twice and did not speak again.

Huang Yang squinted at him, an army bumpkin, and continued to say triumphantly: "The Lima Procuratorate District is the most densely populated, most prosperous, and best industrial base (simple primary industry, mining) in the Viceroyalty of Peru. , pack animals from Piura, mercury from Huancavelica, industrial products from Quito and Cusco, and food from Cochabamba are all indispensable materials to maintain the production of the Potosí silver mine. Materials from Cavelica (mercury), Cusco (consumables and tools), and Cochabamba (wheat) are essential for the Potosi mining area. Once these three areas reach Poto If the roads in the west are cut off, then the Potosi silver mine can stop production. Therefore, the Spaniards have been spending a lot of manpower and material resources to improve the roads between these provinces for more than 100 years to ensure that the transportation of silver will not be affected. Any impact. But apart from these areas, from Lima to the north to the Panama Procuratorate District, the northernmost tip of the Governorate of Peru, the road is all transported by sea, and the land transportation is in disrepair and is completely unable to provide large-scale The convoy passes."

"So, we just need to firmly block the Spanish fleet outside Lima." Lu Ming stood up at this time, walked to the window, and glanced outside at the city of Lima, which was gradually drifting away. Then he said in a deep voice: "Then we'll just wait. We're not in a hurry anyway. It's the Spaniards who are in a hurry! Everyone, please remember that our purpose of entering the Pacific Ocean this time is neither to capture the city nor to plunder supplies. It is to strike at the Spanish war potential and war will."

"The silver mines in the Viceroyalty of Peru (mainly Potosi, and there are seven or eight small silver mines in Puno and Villarrica in Chile and Lima) are of great importance to the Kingdom of Spain, and all Silver is shipped to Panama from the Port of Callao in Lima, so as long as we block Callao, this batch of silver and a large number of other valuable commodities cannot be shipped to Panama, and the Spaniards shipped them from the Old Continent The industrial products, weapons, ammunition, and consumer goods cannot be smoothly distributed through Lima to the vast inland towns (most of the more than 300 towns in Peru are inland). Then things will change.”

"So..." Having said that, Lu Ming walked back to his seat, slapped the table with his right hand, and raised his voice: "The six auxiliary ships will immediately carry the main force of the army to Pisco in the south, and capture that Small town, try to obtain key supplies. This small town has not been established for a long time, and the Spaniards have no troops there. The special product in that place is only wheat, and it is very poor, so the army immediately searched for all food and livestock after occupying it. Let's go, as our supplies for the siege of Callao port, this operation is under the unified command of Captain Xie Hansan. In addition, I personally lead the three main warships, cruising in the coastal waters of Callao, closely monitoring the movements of the Spaniards. I mean Let’s make a decision, let’s do it like this! Everyone should prepare for departure now, don’t waste time!”

(End of this chapter)