Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 69 Decisive Battle: Interlude ([-])

The sound of rumbling guns resounded throughout the sea.

Time went back to ten days ago.Off the Valdivia River, the Yunsheng No. [-] flying the Spanish flag suddenly opened fire on an approaching Spanish ship. The violent artillery fire stunned the Spaniards, and the Spanish crew on the deck waving and cheering were bombarded by grape bullets Immediately lay down in pieces.The "Galicia Flying Fish" on the other side also opened its gun door, and the water-like shells fell on the bow of this poor Spanish ship, causing many large and small wounds.

Ten minutes later, the Spanish battleship "Red Trout" with a full load and displacement of 10 tons slowly raised the white flag.When Julien D'Eblol led a group of sailors to climb onto the deck of the ship, he was shocked by what he saw.The deck was full of fallen sailors and crew members. Many people had died, but there were still many wounded crying.The dead are generally killed by one or several tiny oval projectiles piercing through the body, which is a masterpiece of grape bullets.Baptized by grapeshots fired by large-caliber naval guns at close range and without shelter, Julien can only say that God has abandoned these poor Spaniards at this moment.

"British? French? Or Dutch?" Falcao, the captain of the "Red Trout" who surrendered, looked coldly at Julien who boarded the ship and asked.

Julien didn't answer him, and the sailors under him were not interested in listening to the old Spanish man's nonsense. They tied up all the surviving Spaniards and sent them to be imprisoned on Yunsheng No. [-]. interrogate these prisoners of war.

"You have violated morality and the laws of war by raising the flag of the Kingdom of Spain! You should be ashamed! Shameless Frenchmen!" the old Spanish man was still chattering as he was taken away from the ship.

"The victor is not to be condemned!" Julien suddenly replied a sentence that was often talked about by the time-traversing crowd. After finishing speaking, even he himself was stunned, and then slowly shook his head.

The battleship "Red Trout" was well maintained. Although this time it was beaten up by nearly twenty artillery pieces from two warships of Xiao Bailang's fleet at close range, the main reason was the loss of personnel, and the damage to the hull was not very serious. big.Yu Lian ordered people to go back to the "Galicia Flying Fish" to get tools and spare ship materials looted from Chiloe Island, and began to carry out some simple renovations on the warship.

……

"Okay, honorable Captain Falcao. I'm sorry that we invited you to my ship in such an unharmonious way. In fact, we need to know some latest news about your country's fleet stationed in Callao. , I think you can give us a satisfactory answer, can't you?" Xiao Bailang looked at the Spanish captain who was pressed on the seat like a rice dumpling in front of him and said, and after he finished speaking, he signaled with his eyes that he was urgently removed from the seat. Father Pedro was recalled from the land to interpret.

Father Pedro, a language genius, cleared his throat, and then stuttered into Spanish to translate.There was no movement for a long time after the translation, only to find that this guy was staring at the bulkhead of the ship, and he was still muttering: "It's unbelievable, it turned out to be a ship made of iron! Unbelievable! The devil, it must be Devil! Lord Almighty, please redeem my soul."

Father Pedro curled his lips, stepped forward and kicked Captain Falcao doglikely, and then repeated Xiao Bailang's question again.

Captain Falcao, who came back to his senses, spat at Father Pedro angrily, looked at the priest's uniform on Father Pedro, and said contemptuously: "The Lord will not forgive your sins, shameless rebellion by turning to heretics! Violating morality, disobeying the prevailing laws of war among nations, and relying on despicable and shameless tricks to get away with a meager victory! Tell you, Tartans, I, Falcao from Valladolid, refuse to answer any of your questions !"

Father Pedro translated his words, and Xiao Bailang laughed angrily when he heard it, and he ordered to the left and right: "Okay, children, take this honorable Mr. Captain down to warm up, I hope this will help him correct Recognize the situation he's in. Be careful, don't screw it up."

Twenty minutes later, Captain Falcao, with a bruised nose and swollen face, was dragged back again by several strong sailors.Xiao Bailang looked at the Spaniard lying on the ground, he paced slowly without speaking, and the military boots made of cowhide fell on the floor with a clanging sound.After a while, Wang Tiehui, the captain of Yunsheng No. 10, came in from outside the cabin with a few sheets of paper full of words.He had just conducted a surprise interrogation of some of the captured Spanish sailors and a few junior officers, and this is what he got from the interrogation.

"Then, Mr. Adrian Falcao from the Peruvian fleet, are you a little more sober now?" Xiao Bailang asked suddenly after reading the interrogation report, "Tell me, the main force of Callao's fleet is Didn't set off? When did it set off? How many warships are there?"

Adrian Falcao didn't speak, but kept chanting, as if he was praying to God.

Xiao Bailang was a little angry for a moment, and then he slowly laughed and said: "Mr. Falcao, you are a pious citizen of God, maybe you don't care about your own life so much. Then, please see that you are also a citizen of God. For your sake, save your loyal and poor subordinates, because in 10 minutes I will order them to be executed one by one. They have become our captives because of your stupid judgment, and now they will die unless I order them to be pardoned. Do you understand? Think it over, Mr. Strong Captain."

"You are a devil!" Captain Falcao murmured in a low voice, "Everything you do is the devil's deeds..."

"Is it the same as what you did to the miserable Indians?" Xiao Bailang retorted, "I'm about to lose patience, Mr. Falcao. Your young adjutant - Felipe from Valladolid Falcao is about to be hanged, pray for your nephew, poor man!"

"...my 'Red Trout' is here to make a forward stop this time, and the main force of the fleet anchored in Callao hasn't set off yet." Adrian Falcao confided with difficulty, his expression looked extremely painful And complicated, "The scheduled departure date is July 7th, because the battle in the La Plata area has taken up too many resources, and the material preparation work before the fleet's departure has not been fully completed, but the governor stipulates that it should not be later It will set off on July 10. This time, a total of 7 warships will go south. The flagship is the 'San Lorenzo' with a displacement of 10 tons and more than 8 cannons. Baron Nunes will serve as the commander of the fleet. After going south, Valparaíso and Compceción will be the main supply ports, and General Santiago will send part of the army on board to accompany the battle as usual."

"Why are there only eight warships? So few?" Xiao Bailang asked with a frown.

"Wait more than a month, and the Gaia Anez fleet will arrive in Cartagena, and then they will travel north to Puerto Bello. Governor Gutierrez must keep enough warships on hand to escort the fleet to Panama City trades with the galleon cargo transported by land from Bello Port. The sea around here is not very peaceful, and pirate ships from the English, Dutch, and even French often come to rob them. There are no battleship escorts The trade fleet is very dangerous, and the governor dare not take this risk." Adrian Falcao explained.

"That's right. But the Spaniards really think highly of us. I'm really flattered that they sent half of the remaining Callao warships to deal with us." Xiao Bailang got the answer he wanted, and relaxed Said: "Father Pedro, tell the captain that he and his crew are now pardoned for capital crimes. They will be imprisoned by us until the end of the war, and if anyone will pay a ransom for them at that time, We won't mind giving them freedom. Well, when we're done, take them to the hold and lock them up. Watch tight, and don't do anything to me!"

After the interrogation was over, Xiao Bailang sent people ashore in a traffic boat to inform the landing personnel to bring the various supplies they had snatched to the "Galicia Flying Fish" as soon as possible, while discussing the next itinerary with Wang Tiehammer in a low voice.

"I think it's better to withdraw as soon as possible. Now many Spanish towns along the coast know our arrival. I guess it will become more and more difficult to go ashore to rob in the future. It's meaningless for us to stay here. Press I said, now we might as well turn around and rush to Chiloe Island, hand over some of the seized weapons to the Araucans, and help them gain some advantage as much as possible before the main Spanish counter-insurgency arrives. Create as much trouble as possible for the Spaniards." Wang Tiehammer said cautiously, smacking his mouth.

"Well, what you said makes sense." Xiao Bailang agreed, "The farther north you go from here, the more powerful the Spaniards will be, and the more dangerous they will be to us. I think it's better to just accept it and turn around and go south. , before the arrival of the Spanish main fleet. As for what to do next, to be honest, I don’t have any idea, let’s take it one step at a time. To end this war, the key is to see the land. How about it. I have to admit that no matter how noisy we are here, it is not the main battlefield. Only when the army wins a decisive victory can this war be stopped."

(End of this chapter)