Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 70 Decisive Battle: Interlude ([-])

On July 7, when the four warships of Xiao Bailang's fleet traveled up the Valdivia River to the outside of Valdivia, they were intercepted by two Spanish forts that had been prepared for a long time.Knowing that he had no chance, Xiao Bailang ordered the fleet to turn and head south towards Chiloe Island.

On July 7, the fleet arrived in the Chacao Strait, where the current is turbulent.The last time when Xiao Bailang passed by the Chakao Strait, he wanted to attack Chakao City, but he was disturbed by a long-lasting downpour.This time the sky was clear and the visibility was good. The four warships stopped at double anchors in the strait, lined up, and bombarded Chakao City, which was only covered by a few small-caliber coastal defense guns.

The naval bombardment continued for three hours.During this period, the Spanish coastal defense artillery batteries and towns were ravaged by more than 30 naval heavy artillery in turn, and they were riddled with holes.At twelve o'clock at noon, the army made a large-scale landing, and the Spaniards began their weak resistance.

Sergeant Lucio sat trembling on the ground, waiting for the Tartans to arrive.He is a descendant of an early Spanish colonist, more precisely a mixed descendant of Spanish colonizers and Araucans.The Lucio family that has lived in Chacao City for generations finally came to the fore in his father's generation. With the appreciation of a noble Spanish supervisor, his father climbed to the position of Sheriff of Chacao City. The Lucio family is in this small place of Chacao Finally, he also got mixed up with the identity of a decent person.After his father's death, he took over as sheriff as a matter of course, and began to spare no effort to help the Spaniards suppress the rebellion of the Araucans.

Lucio has always been ashamed of the three-quarters of the Araucan blood flowing in his body. For this reason, he spared no expense to go to Lima to buy a "blood purification" ① certificate from the envoy sent by the king to prove The purity of his Spanish blood.Some time ago, due to the armed attack of the Tatans, the city of Castro on the east side of Chiloe Island and in the Bay of Cordoba was destroyed.The small number of local Spanish garrisons were completely wiped out, and the vicious Tatans distributed the seized weapons to the Araucans who had been oppressed and enslaved all year round.After the Tartans left, these Araucans, who accounted for the majority of the population in Castro City, launched a bloody revenge on the remaining whites in the area. More than 50 white Hispanics were brutally killed. Only a few guys who were sheltered by the church were lucky. escaped unharmed.

These few whites sheltered by the church later fled to Chacao City one after another. They told the colonial officials in Chacao about the terrible scene of the Araucan riots.In the next few days, the Araucans in Chacao City began to flee, and some Araucans with hot and cold weapons appeared outside the city from time to time.By this morning, the escape of the Araucan people reached its climax, and more than 20 Araucan loggers fled into the dense forest with logging axes.

When Sergeant Lucio led a few policemen and a small group of Spanish troops were preparing to search for the fugitive Araucans outside the city, the Tartans attacked unexpectedly.Four huge battleships with red twin-sword goshawk flags were moored outside the port. The artillery on the battleships only fired a few salvos, and the old bronze cannons on the fort were silenced.Next, these terrifying cannons began to attack Chachao City unscrupulously.Several shells even landed around Sergeant Lucio, and the bouncing iron bullets grazed two hapless Spanish Army soldiers, creating horrible blood holes in their bodies.The bloody scene frightened Sergeant Lucio out of his wits, his legs were unable to support his body immediately, and he fell limply to the ground.

Xie Hansan commanded the army to line up on the pier, and the landing operation to seize the pier just now went very smoothly.The tentative first platoon that landed first, after paying a small price of one death and one injury, easily defeated the few remaining Spanish dock defenders after the naval artillery bombardment.When the soldiers in the four platoons finished forming, Xie Hansan gave an order, and the soldiers changed from column to horizontal. With the rhythmic beat of drummers, the whole team rushed towards Chakao City with an unstoppable momentum.

Sergeant Lucio sat on the ground and didn't dare to move. Together with the policemen around him who hadn't escaped in time, he threw their weapons on the ground and let the Tartans pass by him.Dressed in dark blue military uniforms, black-brimmed caps, cowhide armed belts and ammunition bags, sabers on their waists, and flintlock guns held flat, these Tatans walked past them with neat steps, feeling the Lucio only felt that he was so nervous that he could not breathe.

Twenty minutes later, the battle, which was almost indistinguishable from an armed march, was over.The Army took Chacao, the last large Spanish town on Chiloe, again at the cost of two deaths.The army controlled every key point in the city, and everything that followed was easy to do, such as releasing prisoners in the prison, collecting ransoms by head, moving various materials, and so on.

Just when the people who traveled through were extremely busy, a group of unexpected people came to the door.

"Are you from Araucan?" Xie Hansan stared at the red-faced natives in front of him with scrutiny.They were dressed in sackcloth, with Indian pigtails on their heads.

"Yes, maybe you can call my Spanish name Vicente." A middle-aged man at the head said in Spanish, "I'm from Porto Castro, and I'm here to save my children who are still in custody. Brothers and sisters suffering under the taxation system. Now thanks to you, strangers, the Spanish army has been defeated. My brothers and sisters are finally free!"

"Freedom is short-lived, people of Araucan! I don't want you to die meaninglessly." Xie Hansan said carefully, "At this time, I don't need to hide you anymore. It is impossible for our fleet to occupy this place forever. On the contrary, we will leave here soon after a little refreshment. The main fleet of the Spaniards is about to arrive, and with them there will be a large number of land forces. After we leave, they will resume their control here. Right to rule. At that time, the fate of the local Araucan people will be very miserable because of the evil deeds that slaughtered the Spaniards, and the Spaniards will even execute you all. What are you going to do?"

"We will fight the Spaniards to the end!" the middle-aged Araucan said excitedly, waving his arms.

"Fight? Tell me, Araucanians, how many people do you have, and how many warriors do you have? How many muskets and armor do you have? Are your warriors stronger or weaker than those of the Spanish?" Xie Hansan asked .

"We have gathered more than 200 fighters, and together with the compatriots in the city, we should be able to gather [-] to [-] fighters. We are all people who are unwilling to submit to the Spanish rule, and we are fearless!" Middle-aged People spoke so fast that Father Pedro, who was in charge of the translation, could barely keep up.

"More than 300 untrained farmers?" Xie Hansan said seriously, "I bet the Spaniards can easily defeat you with only fifty elite musketeers and two cannons. Use your brain before making a decision Come on, Araucans! Your existence itself is the biggest threat to the Spaniards. What you have to do is to avoid fighting the Spaniards to preserve your strength, and then attack the weak colonial points of the Spaniards everywhere to save you. My countrymen under Spanish enslavement, extend your influence."

Vicente was taken aback by what Xie Hansan said. He had lived in the Spanish society for many years. There is indeed some truth to it.

"Let me show you a clear way." Without waiting for the other party to speak, Xie Hansan continued: "You should not be confined to this small island, it is very dangerous and you will easily get trapped. You should cross the Chacao Strait To the north, the Maolin River Basin in the north is fertile and rich in products. The Spaniards' ruling base there is also very weak. You should go to the Araucans here to expand your influence and win more compatriots to join your cause , to fight against the Spaniards together. Of course, as a side that sympathizes with you, we will support you with a batch of matchlock guns, spears, light swords and armor for free. Even the five bronze cannons on the fort, as long as you have a way , can take them away, this is our gift to you."

"Do you really want to abandon this place and go to the mainland to develop?" Vicente muttered to himself.

"The layout of Chiloe Island is too small." Xie Hansan said, "How many people can you have on the island? One thousand or two thousand? It's too small. The Spanish navy can completely block the island and then send the army to land. , destroy you slowly. Believe me, as long as the Spaniards mobilize more than [-] troops, you won't even last a month. At that time, war, hunger, cold and disease will completely destroy your will to resist. This island The Araucans will either die or be sold into slavery, there is no third way."

After leaving the group of Araucans who were bowing their heads in thought, Xie Hansan went directly to the warehouse in the city.Hundreds of Charuyas were moving various supplies in the warehouse, and a Spanish treasurer stood beside him tremblingly, with tears on his face.

"Has the ransom been collected?" Xie Hansan asked a Chaluya trainee second lieutenant.

"The confiscation has been completed, sir!" the Charuya stood upright with his legs together.

"Okay, leave the muskets and cold weapons of the Spaniards to the Araucans. Then get on the ship quickly, we don't have enough time."

"Yes, sir," replied Officer Charuya. "Also, the Spanish sheriff in the city has asked to take his family and leave with us. For this, he will pay us all his wealth. Well, this Portions are worth around 300 pesos."

"Hehe, what an interesting person." Xie Hansan thought for a long time before recalling the Spanish police chief who had collapsed on the ground on the way to charge. "Is there any reason why he deserves me to take him away?"

"He said that he has been here for many years and is familiar with the culture, habits and life of the Araucan people, as well as the affairs of the Spanish colonies. If we intend to carry out some kind of activities in the south-central region of Chile in the future, he will be able to contribute his part. strength, at least he said he can lead the way for us." Officer Charuya answered truthfully.

"Hahaha! Leading the way?!" Xie Hansan laughed, "Okay, let's take him and his family and let them live with those Spanish captives first. Okay, everyone work hard and move things up quickly. boat."

The evening of July 7th.After looting Chakao City, Xiao Bailang's fleet quietly unanchored and sailed south along the west coast of Chiloe Island.That night, the flames in Chakao City were so bright that they could be seen from far away on the sea.

①Certificate of blood purification: Mixed races of whites and Indians, mixed races of whites and blacks can donate such a certificate to the King of Spain to legally transform themselves into pure white blood.

② "Guardianship Levy System": The colonial aboriginal policy established by the Spanish royal family in 1503.According to this policy, the king stipulated that the aborigines must live together in the village, and then entrusted white guardians to supervise their mining, farming, construction, education, etc., and the guardians had the right to levy taxes in return.In fact, the actual implementation of this policy completely treated the natives as slaves by the white guardians.Later, the status of guardians could be hereditary, and these aborigines actually lost their personal freedom.

At the same time, there was another "distributed labor system": Aboriginal people were assigned to officials, churches and even private individuals to undertake specific labor projects.These labor projects are often very heavy and dangerous, from dawn to dusk, long working hours, overwork, poor food, and lack of safety protection, resulting in a large number of deaths and escapes of the indigenous people.And these fugitive natives automatically lost their free status and became the so-called "fugitive slaves" (Cimarrones), and capturing these fugitive slaves for sale became a lucrative business for Spanish colonial officials.

(End of this chapter)