open sea

Chapter 776 Taiyi
On May [-]th in the sixth year of Wanli, the dry and hot air on the west coast of the New World seemed to be able to ignite together. After a long confrontation on the entire west coast, the Eastern Military Government of the Ming Dynasty and the Bernal Army defending the king's glory and land in New Spain went to war.

On the same day, the huge fleet sailed from Gibraltar, Spain, sailed into the Gulf of Mexico via Havana, Cuba. The Duke of Alva, on the magnificent Spanish galleon, ordered the nobles in full armor to dock in small boats, and ordered the port cavalry to go [-] kilometers away. Send a message from Mexico City outside.

"Before meeting Bernal, I will not land with [-] fighters from Madrid. He must give me a reasonable explanation within a week as to why things have developed to the point of going to war with Ming."

The old and vigorous Duke of Alva was ready to drift on the boat for another week to express the royal family's dissatisfaction with Bernal. He said to the little nobles who followed him: "Your Majesty the King asked me to solve the problem with the Ming Kingdom. When we set off, the Portuguese army was also preparing to leave, we wanted to force Chen Mu to negotiate a peace, and then send troops to Lisbon."

The shortage of troops made the old Duke very anxious, and the empire was corrupted everywhere. Even mobilizing [-] troops became extremely difficult, and it was even impossible to assemble a sea ship that could allow another [-] troops to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a short period of time.

Whether it is waiting for the new warships in the ports of Seville and Valencia, or directly dispatching them from the Netherlands, there is no rush to wait, but they still have to use troops everywhere.

The other [-] troops prepared for him by the king can only be spread between Seville and Merida, in order to break through the border defenses and occupy Lisbon within a month when his fleet returns to attack Lisbon.

The smooth sailing made every sailor and army sincerely grateful for the gift of the gods, and the favorable wind for most of the voyage shortened their sailing time by at least a week. Even now, few people in the fleet composed of forty ships have suffered from bad blood. sick.

The reason why there were not many was that some people had scurvy before boarding the ship.

The aristocrats of the old road often have an inexplicable arrogance towards everything in the New World. Although they cannot do without the New World for food and clothing, their arrogance remains the same.

The little nobles who were sent to land were no exception. The squires with iron helmets on their heads and servants in linen robes rowed a small boat arrogantly and looked at the first conquered port with scrutiny after landing.

Because no one came to greet him, the little nobleman was even more dissatisfied with this, and even evaluated the Spaniards working here as 'lazy' and 'disloyal' idiots in a critical tone.

Patiently knocked on the door of the residents in the port, asking where the people had gone, but was told by the half-race hostess who closed the door that all men in the port who could take up arms were conscripted to fight against the enemies who occupied Mexico City The answer made the little noble's back feel cold from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.

"Mexico City is taken?"

Duke Alva, who heard the news, couldn't care less about his reserve, and issued countless orders in just 3 minutes.

Spanish light cavalry in heavy armor reconnaissance from the road to the west of Mexico City to determine the frontline combat situation; four infantry companies, three musketeer companies, and a cavalry company entered the port to build fortifications, and sent two cavalry teams to the north and south. The towns in the direction and the tribes attached to the Indians issued conscript orders.

In addition to strengthening the defense of the port, the Duke of Alva also sent ships to the West Indies, Havana and Santiago in Cuba, Spanish City in Jamaica, Haiti Island, San Juan and other cities issued martial law orders.

"One week, one week I have to know how bad things are in Mexico City!"

In the opinion of the Spanish veteran who has been fighting for decades and the most outstanding commander of the same period, the fall of Mexico City is very unfavorable to Spain, and it is even better to give the city to the Ming Dynasty directly in the negotiations.

This is like Lin Daoqian's Fenghuang Port or Magui's Majia Port being attacked. There will be no problem for the Ming capital, but once the Luzon Macheng or the military guard island is captured, the news will spread to the capital immediately. It's different.

Neither the perspective of God nor the timeliness of the dissemination process. For the Duke of Alba, the fall of Mexico City meant that he had to plunder all the towns along the coast that belonged to or did not belong to Spain, and put all property, population, weapons and equipment Transfer to the West Indies.

If Mexico City falls, even if all his [-] troops are filled in the New World, it will not solve the problem.

What can decide all of this right now is his ability to judge the situation.

What is interesting is that the Duke of Alva also chose the Harbor Mansion as a temporary command post. The command points of the two opposing armies are located in this building. The architectural style, color and layout are almost identical, except that one is on the west coast and the other is in the The east coast is [-] kilometers apart.

The profile portrait of the ancestor of the former port owner hanging on the attic was taken down and placed in front of the Duke of Alva. This portrait painted in the [-]th century during the Kingdom of Castile in Spain was more expensive than people imagined. Much, but at this moment, it is only a canvas for the old prince.

It's pointless beyond that.

The old prince closed his eyes, and the raging Tunisian port appeared in his mind. It was his deepest memory when he was the commander of Charles V's expedition. As the appearance of the Tunisian port gradually became clear, the old prince kept , an accurate road map of New Spain drawn on the back panel of the framed bust.

This is Aristotle's idea of ​​association, which spread throughout the Middle Ages and was almost forgotten by the Renaissance. Now, except for some nobles with family background who were trained in the ancient way when they were young, only Some heresies are used in new ways.

For example, the neo-Platonists who are influenced by Eastern philosophy and regard "the One" as the source of all things and the heretical followers of Hermes Esotericism, they use the star map as a mnemonic image, and use this to add to their own beliefs. understanding of the universe.

When the road map was drawn, the Duke of Alva soon came to the conclusion that the Ming army captured Mexico City, indicating that three cities must have been captured in Acapulco, Puerto Balta, Taxco and de Queretaro. Ming army occupied.

The situation he faced was that he had to recover Mexico City, which was huge and had a large population and complicated waterways, before he could continue the tug-of-war with the Ming army in several other towns.

Although he was burning with anxiety and negotiating a peace was inevitable, the Duke of Alva had already set himself a firm goal—negotiating a peace was by no means a surrender. occupied city.

Fortunately, on the second day of landing, the information sent back from the west proved that the facts were much better than he had imagined.

　I have a personal matter during the day today, Chapter 2 will be posted at night, sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)