Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 851

On February 1651, 2, the waters near Cape Verde.The battleships "National Will", "East Coast Doctrine" and "Control the East", the battleships of the First Fleet of the East Coast Republic Navy, are wandering in an unknown corner, and they are responsible for the supply of fresh water for the entire fleet. The heavy-duty "Grocery Merchant No. 15" supply ship quietly sailed into the Port of Playa on Santiago Island.

Navy Captain Jiang Yaohui was standing helplessly on the pier smoking a cigarette.

The bare pier, the towering volcano, the scorching sun and the air that seems to contain a lot of dust constitute most of the scenes on this monotonous island.There is not much rain here throughout the year, and the coastal plain formed by volcanic lava is full of sand and dust. Only in the far distance near the peaks are there some green trees.At the foot of the mountain, there are dry grasses that are slightly yellow due to lack of water. Some cattle and sheep are weakly chewing on these dry and waterless food. Life is as difficult as the colonists on this island. Incomparable.

There are some seasonal rivers on the island, and the river water will fill the entire dry riverbed in an instant only in the short rainy season.At this time, the bottom of these riverbeds is a little wet, but you can hardly find the river water. It seems that there has been a heavy rain just a while ago, but the river water has been absorbed by the thirsty land and hot air before long, and you can't find any more. traces of it.

There are some small lizards and insects at the bottom of the river. They take advantage of the fact that there is still a little moisture at the bottom of the riverbed-this will cause some grasses to start growing briefly-and seize the time to come out to look for food.But the tragedy is that they are often quickly preyed on by some hungry birds, and the environment here is really too harsh for them.

"Sir, the Portuguese have already taken the linen, wine and agricultural tools we sent over, but I don't think they used them themselves. Most of these guys will be resold to the colonies on the African continent. Especially the mainland opposite Mozambique Island At present, the Zambezi housewives have always had a high demand for these supplies." Jiang Yaohui's adjutant, Ding Zhen, the son of Ding Wei, one of the veterans of the navy, wiped the sweat from his forehead and reported.

"Where do you care if they sell it? It's good if you can accept it! These bad and bubbling Portuguese businessmen are really courageous. They dare to accept anything of unknown origin!" Jiang Yaohui slapped Ding Zhen's army lightly. Putting on the hat, he scolded with a smile: "But who told us to give a low price? As the saying goes, money touches people's hearts, not to mention that we are 'money' worth tens of thousands of pesos, and even gods are tempted! Okay, the things that should be purchased Have you purchased all of them? The brothers at sea are still waiting."

"Already purchased!" Ding Zhen nodded immediately and said, "I bought salted fish, dried meat, vegetables, live cattle, live sheep, and salt. Oh, by the way, I also bought a lot of barrels of fresh water, enough for us It's been a while."

Jiang Yaohui already has a deep understanding of how dry the island is. The fresh water that Ding Zhen can purchase is mostly collected by the Portuguese colonists on the island from the small trickle flowing between the mountains deep in the island. Yes, the price is quite high!But from another point of view, the island is so dry, the rainfall is so rare, and the sunshine is so strong, isn't it a great convenience for the artificial beach to dry salt?In fact, this is also the case. The Portuguese opened up sun-dried salt fields on many islands near the Cape Verde Islands, and the sun-dried salt was exported to Africa and South America. The Cape Verdean salt dumped to the entire Viceroyalty of Peru began to be gradually turned away.

This time, the water supply ship of the people from the east coast sailed into the Cape Verde Islands, mainly to buy supplies for the battle fleet cruising in the sea, and the Spaniards and Verde in the Canary Islands who can deal with it nearby Angle of the Portuguese.The Spaniards are obviously not a good choice, so you can only go to the Portuguese to buy supplies, including food, fresh water, and canvas rigging and ship boards.

In addition, by the way, it is their mission to throw away some less eye-catching and easier-to-sell materials that were looted during this trip.The Portuguese on the island are indeed very eager for materials such as metal farm tools, wine, and linen, because they can resell them to other colonies in addition to their own use-this is a natural advantage that foreign businessmen do not have.

Of course, the people on the east coast were not stupid enough to sell the supplies looted in the nearby waters on the island.In fact, not long after they arrived nearby, the battleship "August 300", which was the first to plunder the waters near Florida, had even returned to the mainland to rest, and the battleship "Control East" had also rushed to take over.Before that, they tossed and tossed in various places in the Caribbean Sea for more than half a year, and the results were quite fruitful. They captured a total of eight large and small ships, sunk more than ten ships, seized materials (most of which have been auctioned off at low prices), and cash More than one million yuan, and more than [-] sailors from various countries were captured—all of them have been transported to the local Changshan Iron Mine for controlled use.

Most of the captured and sunk ships were French merchant ships, but there were also some unlucky Danish, British, and Dutch ships.At present, new pirate legends have even circulated in the Caribbean Sea and some coastal areas. It is said that a newly-rising pirate is robbing the ships of various countries passing by. You will think that another navy came here pretending to be a pirate to carry out private plundering activities. This undoubtedly violates the unspoken rules that all countries have unanimously abided by, so it must be severely cracked down on, otherwise the trade and colonization in the Caribbean Sea and even the New World will be severely affected. big impact.

For this reason, the Spaniard's Windward Fleet even sent several warships to patrol several sea areas where "accidents" frequently occurred. Fortunately, they did not meet the people on the east coast, otherwise they would have to be beaten and sunk to the bottom of the sea.But the people on the east coast also understand that these ships of their own can no longer stay here for a long time, otherwise they will be exposed sooner or later-in fact, they are not far from being exposed. Well, if someone with a heart does a careful investigation, they will find some clues sooner or later-so the whole army was decisively transferred to the waters near the Cape Verde Islands, and continued to carry out the great cause of "private plundering".

Starting from the Cape Verde Islands, it is quite convenient to go north to the Canary Islands, south to the Gulf of Guinea, and west to northeastern Brazil, so it is really an important place.Near the Canary Islands in the north, there are still quite a lot of merchant ships, and many of Gein's ships going to the Caribbean Sea have to pass by here (including the Spanish "Gaya Anes" fleet, that is, the treasure fleet departing from the port of Cadiz); In the Gulf of Guinea in the south, there are commercial stations or colonies of many countries, and it is the place where ships returning to Europe from Asia must pass. Or the Portuguese ships, the people on the east coast are not going to touch them for the time being, they mainly focus on the French!

"A gentleman takes revenge from morning to night!" This is the words of Lieutenant Commander Li Yi, who has returned to China, and the officers and men of the navy on the east coast have always used this to "encourage themselves", that is, to specialize in French ships and make the French cry , Get scared!Anyway, their country is currently fighting a civil war and a foreign war at the same time. It's very chaotic, and they can't spare the energy to deal with other things for a while.And by the time they are able to withdraw from the domestic chaos and turn their attention elsewhere, the trade between them and the New World may have shrunk by at least one-third to half.

In fact, things have developed to this stage, and they have gradually deviated from their original purpose.A year ago, when the executive committee approved the navy to go north to attack French transport ships, its original intention was only to attack France's own cotton textile industry, so that it could not obtain key raw materials, and at the same time, it also caused the French to brazenly raise tariffs. The loss of the east bank was a bad breath.But now that the continuous private piracy has been going on for nearly a year, the navy that has played out has gradually liked the private piracy itself, not just for the sake of venting.

Therefore, based on the principle of changing places with one shot, the East Coast Navy rushed to the waters near the Cape Verde Islands, and then went north to attack the French merchant ships near the Canary Islands-most of these were French ships going to the New World for smuggling trade.In addition, they sometimes went south to the Gulf of Guinea to attack French ships returning from the Indian Ocean—whether they were going to the East for exploration, trading ships or ships going to New Huaxia Island. As long as they hit, they would all be sunk or captured.

Today, they have sunk a small French transport ship near the Canary Islands. At the same time, they have also hit a French ship returning from Madagascar near the Gulf of Guinea and sunk it on the spot. - because it is not easy to find a boat in the middle of nowhere.As for other victories, there is not yet, maybe the peak season of sailing has not yet arrived, but the people on the east coast have a lot of patience, so I spent it with you French, what's the matter?You can bite me!

"Let's withdraw the supplies after purchasing. The Portuguese on the island are smart people. Don't they know that the supplies we sell are stolen goods? But they won't ask, and we won't tell them. It's just making a lot of money." Jiang Yaohui straightened his cylindrical navy cap and said, "Let's go, we still have to be busy. This sea area is not a place to stay for a long time. After a few votes, I guess we have to hurry Change the place, otherwise people will find out. And the brothers have been out for so long, I heard that the officers intend to let some ships go south to South Africa to rest and recuperate. It’s our turn to do good deeds!” (A great event where the pie falls from the sky, a cool mobile phone is waiting for you! Follow~click/Chinese website official account (add friends on WeChat-add official account-enter qdread), Participate now! Everyone has a prize, now immediately follow the qdread WeChat official account!)

(End of this chapter)