1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 946 The Barbaric Growth of American Colonial Forces

On August 1678, 8, Nanyang Fort (now Commodore Rivadavia, a city in southern Argentina).

"What's the situation in the north now?" Qi Zibo, governor of Gyeongju (Qi belongs to America), turned around and asked indifferently.

"Return to Your Highness." Bi Maojie looked at His Highness Prince Qing, who was dressed in the uniform of an officer of the Qi State Navy, standing in front of a map of America with his hands folded, and looked up at him without being angry, so he bowed down and replied respectfully: " The Spaniards had seized Luohe Fort (now the city of Necochea, Argentina), Junzhou Fort (now the Port of Blanca, Argentina), and Xianping Fort (now the Port of San Blas, a port in south-central Argentina), and pulled out the We are located at the two outposts at the mouth of the Xiang River (now the Negro River in southern Argentina). At present, they have assembled more than [-] armed men and are attacking Hengzhou Fort on both sides of the Xiang River (now the city of Bieder in central and southern Argentina). horse) and Fort Linxiang (City of Carmen de Patagones).”

"How many warships did the Spaniards come?" Qi Zi continued to ask calmly.

"The situation at sea is not clear, but there are eight to ten Spanish warships in Xianghe." Bi Maojie thought about it, and then said: "Three of them have a large scale, and the displacement may be between [-] tons and [-] tons." It looks like [-] tons. Oh, yes, according to the confession of the captured Spaniards, they may deploy warships and armed forces from the Pacific side to raid our colonial strongholds in Chile and the Channel.”

"The Spaniards are really generous!" Qi Zibo smiled, walked slowly to the window, looked at the hustle and bustle of the city, and took a deep breath, "They actually created a double attack, Try to keep us from head to tail, and then break them one by one, and finally drive us out of this vast American continent."

"Your Highness, a few years ago, the Spaniards had already lost consecutive battles in front of us. Not only did they lose more than 1000 people, but they also allowed our forces to gradually approach the La Plata region. This has attracted their attention. Bi Maojie carefully reminded: "Today, the Viceroyalty of Spain and Peru has assembled more than 2000 officers and soldiers, more than ten ships, and at the same time mobilized the local colonial armed forces on the Pacific side to attack our colonial strongholds in Chile and the Straits. The momentum is huge." Here, we cannot be careless!"

"There are only two frontier strongholds in the Chilean coastal area, and the value is not very significant. If you lose it, you will lose it." Qi Zibo said leisurely: "And the Ning'an Fort in the strait (now Punta Arenas, Chile) ) and Fort Suiping (now Porvenir, the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Chile) have been established for more than 4000 years. The city defenses are strong and tightly guarded. The author said, the wind and waves in the strait are high, the weather is harsh, and the sea conditions are extremely complicated. How will the Spanish ships launch an attack? I am afraid that in the end, they will not even be able to block the two castles."

"As for the Atlantic side, don't look at the Spaniards who are now rushing in, gathering thousands of troops and more than ten warships. But can their supply and logistics be guaranteed? Huh, just relying on the thousands of immigrants in the La Plata area Population, how long can it support the war? If the Spaniards transported supplies from distant Paraguay and Bolivia here, then I don’t know how much gold and silver will be spent. Once the Peruvian Governor-General has no money in his pocket, he will turn to those local It is estimated that these people will be forced to overthrow their Governor's Palace!"

According to a rough estimate by the State of Qi, so far, the total number of Spanish immigrants to the Americas has been around 50 to 60, but most of them have flowed to big cities such as Mexico City, Lima, Asuncion, and Bogota.At first, only more than 1 people moved into the huge La Plata, and it has not exceeded [-] until now.From the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to the south, the vast Pampas grasslands and Patagonia are all Indians (mainly the Mapuche, Pevenchez, and Thuelche people).

After 30 years of war in Europe, Spain's entire country has declined irresistibly. As far as Spain itself is concerned, it has neither the motivation nor the financial resources to carry out large-scale colonization of that vast wasteland.

And Qi Zibo, who arrived in America nine years ago, with the financial support of the Royal American Trading Company and driven by his inner desire, suddenly accelerated the speed of colonial expansion.In a few years, Mingzhou Fort (Rio Gallegos, the capital of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), Tongyi Fort (Santa Cruz Port), Nanyang Fort, Xingyang Fort ( Puerto Madryn), Hengzhou Fort, Linxiang Fort, Junzhou Fort, Xianping Fort and other strongholds, the forces have reached the La Plata area.

However, there is a saying in later generations that is very good, it is easy to scratch the egg if you take a big step.In just nine years, Qi Zibo rapidly expanded the colonial power of the Americas to La Plata. Although he relied on advanced firearms to bully no decent opponents in this vast wasteland, the power reached others so quickly. Under the eyes of the Spaniards, it is a bit too contemptuous.

Although Spain has begun to decline, it is still a global colonial empire and one of the few powerful countries in Europe.Moreover, they have colonized the Americas for more than 180 years (since Columbus landed in America in 1492), which can be said to have a deep foundation.In their eyes, except for Brazil, the entire American continent is their family's private land, which cannot be coveted or touched by anyone.

But luckily now, the people of Qi entered the American continent without making a sound, and then rushed from the southernmost strait area, and killed La Plata in one fell swoop, cutting off a huge piece of their own territory.What frightened the Spaniards even more was that the move of the Qi people seemed to have cut off their sea passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

How can this be tolerated?All methods must be exhausted to drive the Qi people out of the American continent, to preserve the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Spain, and to maintain the sacred dignity of the kingdom.

At the beginning, Spain thought that the Qi people who came to colonize were nothing more than some "stragglers" who were all spontaneous forces of the people.

Therefore, in June 1673, after the General District of La Plata reported the matter to the Governor of Peru, and had not received a clear reply, he couldn't wait to mobilize more than 6 local armed militias, and took three galleys to kill the Arrived at a nearby stronghold of Qi State - Junzhou Fort, ready to expel those daring invaders.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the battle was fought, the Spaniards touched a bag at one end, and more than [-] people were killed and injured by the Qi people stationed in Junzhou Fort, and they fled back to Buenos Aires in embarrassment.

Seeing the retreat of the defeated army, the colonial authorities in La Plata were shocked. After careful questioning of the officers who led the team, they learned that the Qi people who colonized the Americas not only built simple fortresses, but also possessed a large number of advanced artillery and muskets. The local Indians are so weak in force.

While the colonial authorities in La Plata quickly reported the situation here to the Governor of Peru, they again mobilized and assembled more armed militias.In order to raise troops, the Spaniards also spent a lot of money and recruited more than 100 local gaucho cavalry to accompany them.

However, the result of the second expedition was undoubtedly a complete tragedy for Spain.When 320 armed militiamen and more than 100 gaucho cavalry landed at Junzhou Fort and launched a fierce attack on the Qi people, a Qi fleet composed of four armed merchant ships raided the Spanish warships parked on the shore.

After a short and fierce battle, a small galley was sunk, two three-masted sailboats and two medium-sized galleys were damaged and captured by the Qi people.Only one merchant ship escaped from the harbor in the chaos and returned to Buenos Aires with injuries.

The Spanish militiamen and gaucho cavalry who landed stared dumbfounded at their retreat being cut off, and they were caught in a dilemma in an instant.

However, under the command of the commander, the Spaniards still tried to attack Junzhou Fort several times, but under the artillery counterattack of the Qi people, they lost dozens of people and had to be defeated again and again to the starting position.

After night fell, the Gaucho cavalry, who knew the situation was not good, left the army at night and fled to the north on horseback, leaving more than 300 La Plata militiamen at a loss.

Under the persuasion of the defenders of Junzhou Fort, the Spaniards, whose retreat was cut off, had to lay down their weapons and surrender to the Qi people after a stalemate for several days.

When the news came back to Buenos Aires, the Spanish colonial authorities turned pale with horror. More than 300 militiamen were exhausted in the first battle, and the patchwork expedition fleet was almost lost.Now, they are not worried about whether the Qi people can be expelled from La Plata, but whether the Qi people will take advantage of the situation to attack and seize Buenos Aires (founded in 1580), which has been built for nearly a hundred years.

The Spaniards sent several waves of messengers to Asunción, Santa Cruz, La Paz, and Lima, requesting emergency support from the Viceroyalty of Peru in response to the attack of the Qi Chinese.

In September 1675, the Viceroyalty of Peru mobilized more than 9 colonial troops from Paraguay, 150 armed militiamen, and more than [-] Guarani servants, and marched into Buenos Aires.

After some rest and replenishment, the Spaniards gathered 800 people, boarded seven armed merchant ships, and then attacked the colonial stronghold of the Qi people.

The Spaniards had a stalemate with the Qi people in Junzhou Fort for more than half a month, but they were unable to capture the city, so that the morale of the army was weakened, so they planned to adopt a long-term siege to force the Qi people in the castle to run out of ammunition and food. , can voluntarily surrender.

However, on a night without any starlight, the people of Qi suddenly gathered more than a hundred bison with blades on their heads and fire behind their tails, driving them to trample on the Spanish military camp crazily.

At that night, the Spaniards were defeated. They were trampled by the cattle and killed nearly a hundred people.And the nasty gaucho cavalry left the Spaniards again, and galloped northward on horseback.

In the final count of losses, Spain found sadly that, except for more than [-] colonial troops and armed militias who escaped to the ship in time and survived, the entire landing force could be regarded as annihilated (the damn gaucho cavalry is not counted).

Three consecutive conquests against the people of Qi, all of which suffered disastrous defeats, shocked the entire Peruvian governorate. They had to calm down and began to carefully evaluate the real strength of the people of Qi in southern America.

Through inquiring information one after another from the Portuguese in Brazil, the cute and stupid Spaniards just got a general idea of ​​the specific situation of some Qi people.The Qi people not only established many colonial strongholds in the coastal areas of Patagonia, but also established several strongholds in the key Strait of Magellan, as well as in Chile on the Pacific side.

The total number of Qi people in the above-mentioned colonies may be between 2 and [-]. As for the Indians they control, it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of them. able to cope alone.

For this reason, the Viceroyalty of Peru began to carry out emergency mobilization within its jurisdiction. In addition to bringing together the colonial troops stationed in various places, it also recruited a large number of armed militias and Indian servants to prepare for a large-scale attack on the colonial strongholds under the control of the Chinese. , with an absolutely superior force, inflicted heavy losses on the people of Qi, thereby reversing the unfavorable situation of the colonial authorities and highlighting the power of the Kingdom of Spain.

After more than a year of preparation, the Spaniards assembled more than 700 colonial troops, more than 900 armed militias, and nearly [-] Indian servants, and arrived in Buenos Aires one after another.

When the Spaniards were actively preparing for the war, the Qi people were not idle. Not only did they set up another forward stronghold in the coastal area of ​​La Plata to monitor and warn the movements of the Spaniards, but they also continuously sent merchant ships to Brazil. The Portuguese purchased large quantities of grain, sugar, gunpowder, and stockpiled war supplies.

In fact, the development of Qi State's American colonies to the present is not entirely dependent on the continuous blood transfusion of the Royal American Trading Company to maintain them.

After more than 20 years of colonization, the entire American colony, including Polar Island (now Tierra del Fuego), gradually developed some industrial and agricultural productions tailored to local conditions according to the climate, geographical environment and natural conditions of each place.Timber processing, fishing and processing of seafood, refining of whale oil, obtaining fur of seals (sea lions), animal husbandry, and extensive agricultural planting.

Although these simple industrial and agricultural production activities cannot create much value, nor can they achieve complete self-sufficiency, nor can they contribute more profits to the Royal American Trading Company, but at least they can maintain the basic survival of the entire colony without worrying about difficulties. The danger of death.

As the governor of the American colonies, Qi Zi relied on his status as a royal prince and ignored the profit requirements of the American trading companies. However, all the wealth created in the jurisdiction and the profits obtained by the trading companies were invested in round after round. Round the construction and expansion of new colonial strongholds above.

Now the only factor that can limit his pace of expansion is not money at all, but the abundant population. To be precise, it is the lack of the most core Han people.

At present, the entire Qi-belonging American colony has a population of more than 4000, but less than [-] of them are purely Han Chinese.There are a large number of British, Dutch, Spaniards, French, Germans, and local Indians (mainly Ona, Tehuerche, Mapuche, Pevenche, etc.) Sri Lankans).

Of course, in the American territories of Qi State, there are also a large number of mixed blood, including Qi European mixed blood, Qi Indian mixed blood, European Indian mixed blood, and mixed blood between different Indian tribes. It can be said that among the many territories of Qi State, the race and blood relationship are the most complicated. an area of ​​.

Even Qi Zibo successively accepted several European women and local Indian women as side concubines, and gave birth to seven mixed-race children.In his opinion, in this empty and barren land, gold, silver and coins are not the most important. According to what his father once said, people are the most precious wealth in this world, and even more important resources.

"If you lose your land, you will lose all your land. If you lose your land, you will save all your land!" Qi Zibo glanced back at the map on the wall, and said meaningfully: "Now, let the Spaniards gain power for a while. Wait We looked for an opportunity, and then we will strike later!"

(End of this chapter)