open sea

Chapter 739 Troubled
Bernal was holding a corner of the Huangming flag and standing on the terrace of the Governor's Mansion. The view here is excellent, facing the broad Plaza de Armas in Mexico City.

If it is daytime, from this position, you can see the cathedral under construction opposite the fort bell tower in the middle of the square.

But at this time the moon was high, and Bernal could only see guards patrolling the dark streets with torches in the distance.

This morning, the new aristocrat near Taxco in the northwest, who is also the plantation owner of that land, the fat-brained Sanchez sent his stupid half-blood servant to ride all night to Mexico City.

The servant reported that a group of more than a dozen soldiers broke into his plantation below the mountain, killed several slaves, burned two cotton fields, and robbed some insignificant tobacco.

For this reason, Sanchez hoped that Bernal would hang the dozen or so soldiers in Taxco—a city standing on a plateau.

Spain captured the capital of the Aztecs and sent explorers to search for gold mines throughout the New World. No gold mines were found in Taxco, but a large amount of silver, zinc and copper mines were found there. It became the first plateau city in Central America to thrive on silver.

Taxco is only seventeen leagues, or two hundred miles, from Mexico City.

That stupid Sanchez won't use his brain to think about why there are riots so close to Mexico City?

At noon, the worse news came back. In the early hours of this morning, a broken army composed of 64 mixed-blood legionnaires passed through Taxco again. This time they had a clear goal and attacked a silver mine, killing twelve Two soldiers, controlling more than 800 Indian miners, pulled a full ton and a half of unprocessed silver ore in a horse-drawn cart, planning to go north.

The reason for this was that before they left Taxco, they were overtaken by another group of rout troops. One demanded to share the silver mine equally, and the other was unwilling. The two sides saw the magnificent Taxco and hit it off, leaving the ore carriage to gather troops Raided six plantations outside the city.

Coincidentally, the bad news is not only the rout of the army in the northwest of Mexico City, but also the letter to the north a few days ago. Since the Bernal Army retreated to the south, three of the four fortresses left in the main road All the teams retreated due to insufficient strength and fear of the intimidation of the Indian tribes gathering troops.

There is still one who has not withdrawn, and then wants to send a letter to let their team of 25 people disappear, the wooden tower has been demolished, and only a high Indian mound is piled up next to it.

Just now, the moon rose into the sky, and Bernal finally got completely conclusive and accurate news.

Herrera, one of the culprits responsible for the massing of the Indian tribes in the north, and his entire half-breed legion, had been annihilated.

The reason why Bernal conclusively believed that the army was wiped out was because six days had passed since the battle ended, and only three men had returned to Mexico City alive.

The three lucky ones are company captain Gomez, who was almost killed by mutiny after the company was defeated, the barber of Gomez company, and the loyal entourage of company commander Gomez. Also a cripple who hasn't gotten used to it yet.

The thighs were slashed by the cavalry of the Ming army, and the wounds were so rotten that the cripples ran back like sliced ​​Spanish hams. The healthy routs have not returned yet-this is definitely not coming back!

Lonely smoke was spit out from Bernal's mouth and nose. He swallowed a mouthful of wine from the Iberian Peninsula, stared at the dark red liquid in the glass, suddenly pursed his lips and leaned down from the railing, turned around and took a bottle from the wine cabinet. A tattered looking bottle of rum.

He bowed his head and poured it up, and didn't drink it, but just looked down. The rum in the silver cup under the light of the torch was a deep amber color, which made people unconsciously dazed.

Until the shoulders were covered with a blanket of Ottoman craftsmanship.

Just as Bernal came from a prominent ducal family in Spain, his wife also had a prominent background and came from the Kingdom of Bohemia under the Austrian Habsburg rule, but Spain had no right to speak because the family believed in Calvinism.

His wife didn't speak, Bernal sighed, still looking at the sparks of the patrolling guards on the dark street, said: "I used to think that Almansa was a coward, it's a pity, I seem to be wrong."

"Have you finished listening to the battle report?" His wife stood behind Bernal, took away his glass and said, "You don't like to drink this—although it can make people happy, the commander needs to have a clear head before the battle. I heard that the battle report only said that the Ming army appeared on the battlefield, so you opened the door and left."

Bernal turned his head and glanced at his wife, and said with drooping eyelids, "Herrera set up an formation facing the white horse in Shandong, and the Ming army appeared from behind the battlefield. There is nothing more to listen to."

"You should listen. Their descriptions of the strength of the Ming army are very different. The captain said that there were seven to eight thousand people, and his entourage also said that there were seven or eight thousand, but his barber explained that the army only gathered more than 8000 infantry behind. No spears, no artillery, not even a Swedish phalanx."

Bernal chuckled, and said: "That's impossible. Although Herrera is a bastard, his Peru can often resist the siege of thousands of Indians with a few hundred people, and last until the reinforcements feel defeated."

"His legion still has 100 knights and more than [-] light cavalry. If there is no spear, they will not only be unable to defend against the phalanx, but also unable to defend against the cavalry. A hundred light cavalry can kill hundreds of people."

His wife nodded and said: "That's true. The barber said that they have always had the advantage. The cavalry once trampled on the Ming army's line and held the knight back until the Ming army cavalry arrived... The barber didn't know anything about it."

Bernal turned his head, clutching the corner of the Huangming flag tightly in his hand, with the deepest doubt in his eyes, he asked, "Are you willing to believe what the barber says, but not the captain and his entourage?"

Some people in later generations say that war is a problem of mathematics, but in fact mathematics cannot solve all the problems of war.

War is a group of people with their own ghosts, each using the information they know to deduce the unknown, and make the next decision based on the deduced unknown.

As the head of the legion who has obeyed orders for a long time, Bernal has not yet fully mastered the ability to screen the overall situation information, but he still has a wife who can solve puzzles.

The wife said: "A defeated officer will exaggerate the enemy, but no one will be willing to reduce the size of the enemy who will defeat him, unless the Ming army has six thousand cavalry... Otherwise, I would rather believe the barber's words and attack Bernal's The Ming army was an army composed of [-] infantry and [-] cavalry."

This number of cavalry is already a high proportion in the general army.

Listening to Madam's analysis, Bernal's eyes lit up, which made sense.

"This is the reason why the Ming army did not follow the defeated army to attack Mexico City. Their strength is limited!"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)