Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 807 Sea Toll Station ([-])

March 1650, 3, sunny, off the coast of the Bahamas.

Li Yi held up a monocular and carefully observed the large sailing ship ahead.The sailing ship is a three-masted Galen ship, with a tonnage of about 400 tons, which is an incredible big ship in the trade with the New World.We must know that the average tonnage of the fifty or sixty ships in the famous Spanish treasure fleet is only about 400 tons, and the tonnage of ships from other countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal, and France to the colonies is generally only two to three hundred tons.This shows how rare it is for this three-masted galleon to appear in this sea area.

The ship was flying the flag of the Kingdom of France, had a deep draft, and appeared to be full of cargo in its holds.In terms of armament, it is also at the general level of ocean-going merchant ships, equipped with a total of 12 artillery pieces of various calibers.The number of crew members cannot be seen, but it should not be too many. After all, it is a merchant ship, and attention should be paid to controlling costs. There will be about 50 or [-] people.

It really is a good fat sheep!Li Yi put down his binoculars and looked back at a row of officers standing behind him with their heads held high, with a smile on his face. He waved his hand and said in a relaxed tone: "French big fat sheep, full load Goods from the old continent, do it, brothers! Do you still need me to rush you?"

Everyone who heard the order immediately agreed, and then scattered to the areas they were in charge of to start commanding.The boatswain yelled loudly to adjust the yard, the chief engineer went to the bottom to inform the stoker to start increasing the furnace temperature, the gunner commanded the gunners to tear off the gun cover, the navigator stared at the ship in front with wide eyes, and began to adjust the course.The army officers and soldiers accompanying the ship also silently picked up their muskets and began to prepare for loading ammunition. After a while, they will be an important force to take over the enemy ship.

These army combatants are all elite soldiers drawn by the Ministry of the Army from the militias of the counties. Because this time they are performing a privateering mission that is equivalent to piracy, the Executive Committee did not send regular army soldiers, but ordered the Ministry of the Army to recruit soldiers from the counties. The best militiamen were selected to form a force of more than [-] people, and accompanied the navy to the Caribbean Sea.Of course, the Ministry of the Army is willing to do this. After all, they are also very jealous of the navy going to sea to make a fortune. Now they send some soldiers to help. financial.

The sun is shining brightly on the sea today, and the visibility is very good.Under Li Yi's order, his ship "August [-]th" took the lead and rushed out from the hidden sea area.Followed by four auxiliary ships, they are a repair ship ("Sea Engineer"), a fresh water supply ship, an ammunition supply ship, and a coal carrier. No armament or very little armament, but the advantage is that the speed is extremely fast, and there is no danger of being captured by the enemy in battle.

"Fat Sheep" apparently also found this group of uninvited guests, and it panicked and began to turn the bow of the boat, preparing to run away in the wind.The strait between Florida and Cuba, which is only tens of kilometers away, has always been a sea area where pirate ships are active, and every ship passing here will be extremely vigilant.Although this French ship has a large tonnage and a lot of artillery, it is also fearful when sailing, for fear that some unscrupulous pirate ships will come up to rob them, so the captain of the ship discovered several malicious ships rushing over at the first time. East coast ships.

Moreover, the well-informed French captain also recognized this kind of ship with a tall chimney rising amidships: this is a ship owned by the pagan east coast people!Reminiscent of the high tariffs imposed on all kinds of goods from the east coast in China just a few months ago, the experienced captain immediately understood that things could not go well today.

"God bears witness, the great France has never singled out the East Coast Republic. In fact, the British, Dutch and Portuguese Jewish merchants are the biggest victims of this high tariff policy..." The captain crossed his chest, Then he took off his hat and shouted to the sailors standing behind him with pale faces: "That is the main battleship of the Pagans on the east coast. Count the number of gun holes. We have no chance of winning. Now listen to me Yes, Monsieur Pires, I'm going to throw some of the heavy cargo in the hold overboard, or we won't get away."

Mr. Pires, who seemed to be the owner of the goods, had a heartache on his face, but he also knew that life and death were at stake, so he nodded emphatically.He also didn't think the sneaky east coast ships flying no flags were simply coming to talk to them.

A large number of heavy iron objects were thrown into the sea first, then the tiles used for building houses, and then various mining machines, barrels of wine... As the bulky goods were thrown into the sea, The speed of the ship was obviously much faster.But I don’t know if the sailors made mistakes in their busy schedule or what, the cargo in the cargo hold at the rear of the ship was obviously more than that in the front, which made the stern of the ship slightly upturned, which affected some of the speed of the ship in the rough seas.

But what the French are doing is doomed to futility.Even without refitting the latest high-horsepower marine steam engine, the speed of the "August 3" is still 4-18 knots higher than that of this heavy-loaded French merchant ship, which is almost fatal at sea.Therefore, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the naval officers and soldiers on the east coast, who had already finished their lunch in batches, finally caught up with the French merchant ship that was dumping vinegar into the sea at this time.They looked at the panicked French crew with joking eyes, and then under the command of the officer, they mercilessly launched a violent bombardment at the French with astonishingly powerful 24-pound and [-]-pound guns.

The sea suddenly filled with thick gunpowder smoke, and the iron bullet slammed into the deck of the French ship with a scream of death. The debris was flying, the sailors were screaming, and the officers were roaring. The French ship was in chaos. The "August 24th" was unhurried, and relied on its superior maneuverability to try to control the distance from the opponent. The 18-pound, 12-pound, and [-]-pound artillery on the ship poured ammunition on the enemy ship for free.Hollow iron bombs, explosive bombs, chain bombs, hot bombs, etc., as long as they can be fired, they will all be smashed on the heads of the French!However, due to the lack of mobility of the ships and the range of the artillery, the French could not cause enough damage to the battleships of the people on the east coast, so they could only be beaten passively, which was terrible.

An hour later, three cannons on the port side of the French merchant ship were misfired, the foremast was also broken, and the canvas was damaged in large areas; two hours later, the topsail and topsail of the topmast caught fire under repeated blows from hot bullets , the raging fire quickly burned the mast and cables, and a large piece of canvas with fire fell to the deck, covering a group of French crews who were shooting at people on the east coast; three hours later , the captain's cabin was destroyed, the mizzen mast was broken, many places on the ship were on fire, and the crew were also killed and injured in large areas; four hours later, the fear of death finally overwhelmed everything, and the "East Coast Pirates" widely circulated among European crew members could not be ignored. The rumors of murder became their last straw. A dozen French crew members killed the captain and cargo owner of the ship, and then surrendered with a white flag... The battle is over!

Pei Qin from the Qingdao County Militia Brigade frowned and stepped onto the messy deck of an enemy ship. Most of the dozens of brothers following him came from various towns in Qingdao County. They were holding rifles with bayonets on them, Carefully gathered the surviving sixteen French crew members in one place, then collected their weapons, escorted them to the side of the deck, and transferred them back to the big ship in a small boat.It is true that the people on the east coast will not kill these surrendered French sailors, but these people will never be easy. Their final destination may be the construction site of the Liangyang Railway, or Xinhua Island Somewhere in the plantation, in short, it will no longer appear in Western society, and this also prevents the French government from getting the most direct evidence of the privateers of their ships on the east coast.

"Coats, trousers, capes, scarves... a lot of tattered textiles, some linen, some wool, not much cotton. Look at the color, it's indigo extracted from a plant, it's so fucking bad, it can't be washed a few times The color faded away! How dare you sell this kind of junk to Peru and Mexico? People in Peru and Mexico have been fooled by these junk for more than 100 years? Damn, I still think it’s taking up space when I bring these junk back... ..." Li Yi, who was standing on the deck of the ship, sarcastically sarcastically at the booty brought back by his subordinates, then sighed, and continued: "Take it first, go back and transport it to Xinhua Island for sale, and manage planting there The slave owners of the garden should be happy to buy some for their slave workers, anyway, those contract slaves don’t need to wear anything nice.”

Unfortunately, the French ship captured by the East Coasters suffered too much damage and was slowly sinking at this time, and it seemed that it could not be towed back to the mainland for repairs.Therefore, the people on the east coast also started the intense work of transshipment of spoils.The goods on board are basically goods smuggled into Peru, such as clothing, ironware, wine, mining machinery, tiles, etc. - most of them are looked down upon by people on the east coast, which is very discouraging.But think about it the other way around, if you destroy this French smuggling ship full of goods, then less such goods will flow into Peru, and the corresponding people on the east coast will be able to export more such goods to Peru. You can make a lot of money, but you can't make double money at the same time.

Of course, the cabin is not without things that people on the east coast need, such as candles, mercury (used in mines), lead blocks, European-style copper and silverware, etc. that the French have not yet had time to throw away. Always get some money back.Thinking of this, Li Yi's face finally softened a little.

"Hurry up and transfer the goods back, then leave here, and set up a toll booth elsewhere!" Looking at the sky with only a smear of sunset glow left, Li Yi smiled and gave orders to his subordinates, and then went to enjoy his dinner.

(End of this chapter)