Wild North America 1846

古巴
In a hidden small fishing port in the Gulf of Malate, only 760 kilometers southeast of Havana, a steam iron-hulled ship of hundreds of tons anchored quietly, docked in the bay more than 200 meters from the shore, and several wooden boats came and went Meanwhile, goods are being transported.

In the dense jungle on the coast, there are many Cuban rebels armed with muskets, spears and big knives, guarding vigilantly to prevent the Spanish patrols from suddenly killing them.

For this batch of important smuggled goods, the newly-appointed president of the rebel government of the Republic of Cuba, De Cespedes, and his close comrade-in-arms and the commander of the Southeast Rebel Army, San Agustin del Blaso, all came to this small fishing port , to welcome this batch of important smuggled goods delivered by Chinese businessmen.

on board

After counting the quantity of the goods, they handed over 172 kilograms of gold, 550 kilograms of Spanish silver pesos and some precious jewels with some heartache. These were all the funds collected by the factory owners and plantation owners in the rebel army from selling their properties. The total value reached 34 Tang yuan.

The poor jingle of the Republic of Cuba is willing to pay such a huge sum of money because of the importance of the smuggled goods on this ship.

This steam freighter of several hundred tons carried 6500 front-loading smoothbore rifles, 720 Colt lever rifles (long-barreled), 200 revolvers and 45 barrels of black powder, in addition to 30 tons of flour and 2 Thousands of precious canned beef offal and other materials, as well as some tents, shovels, ropes and other sundries.

These materials are enough to equip two musket rifle infantry divisions with good strength, bringing the combat effectiveness of the Cuban rebel army to a new level.

If used well, the current passive struggle situation may be reversed.

Returning to the shore in a small boat, President De Cespedes' expression was still immersed in excitement. He looked at his close comrade-in-arms San Agustín del Brazo standing beside him with a gloomy face, and asked involuntarily;
"Dear St. Agustin, shouldn't you be excited now? We finally have a large number of muskets and weaponry, as well as cans of offal that are very durable and stored, which can save lives at critical times! In the whole of Central America, only Chinese businessmen are willing to do our big business."

"Damn... But these despicable Chinese businessmen also emptied our pockets. The Southeast Rebel Army has more than 13300 soldiers, but they can't even take out 1000 silver pesos in their pockets. Under the blockade of the Spanish colonial army, our People have been eating sweet potatoes for a whole week."

"The situation will always get better, believe me... With this batch of weapons and equipment in hand, we can give the Spanish colonial army entrenched in the town a big surprise. We can seize the grain and a lot of wealth stored by those Spanish planters, grain There are problems that can be solved, which can quickly increase our strength."

"Mr. President, do you know what I was thinking on the boat just now?"

"Oh...let me guess...won't it be to rob those Chinese merchant ships?"

"You are right, Mr. President, but those cunning Chinese businessmen are very vigilant. Their sailors are fully armed, and there are sailors with rifles in the cabin. Therefore, my people did not dare to act rashly."

"Thank God...it's right to be more cautious. Dear San Agustin, if you really offend the powerful Chinese businessmen in Cuba, no one will smuggle these weapons and equipment to us in the future. You don't know that there is a Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Havana , if you act recklessly, the entire Chinese business community will not be willing to deal with us, that would be too bad."

"is it so serious?"

"What do you think?" President De Cespedes asked back, then walked to a large pile of wooden boxes on the shore, reached out to open the lid, and inside were neatly placed smoothbore rifles. The oil was scrubbed so that it was shiny and shiny, and it looked very attractive.

President de Sespedes reached out and took out a smoothbore rifle, opened the trigger and looked at it, and said with satisfaction; "Man, although it is a used second-hand product, it is still a good baby!"

"Mr. President, do you regard these rags as treasures?" San Agustin del Blasso rolled his eyes and said dissatisfiedly: "As far as I know, the armed militias of the Tang Empire are no longer used. They are generally equipped with advanced lever rifles. After the North American War, the old-fashioned muskets in the warehouses of the Tang Empire piled up. Those black-hearted Chinese bought them back at the price of scrap metal, and Sell ​​it to us at a high price and make a huge profit from it.”

"Oh...poor St. Agustin, my friend, you get what you pay for, we don't have that much money to buy cutting-edge advanced equipment, and it's good to have these smooth-bore rifles." The rebels President De Cespedes smiled as usual, patted him on the shoulder and said comfortingly.

President De Cespedes was a wealthy businessman who owned a sugar factory and several plantations before he led the crowd to revolt against Spanish tyranny. He was down-to-earth and not so ambitious.

The three melons and two dates of the new Cuban government can only buy this kind of stuff.

The shelves of Chinese merchants in Havana are full of beautiful things, including all kinds of weapons and even artillery, but they can't afford them, and they are out of touch with their actual needs.

The most urgent thing for the Cuban rebels at present is to equip muskets instead of fighting the Spanish colonial army with spears and knives.

Chinese businessmen could indeed obtain advanced king-style rifles, but the price of such rifles was high, and they used equally expensive copper-cased fixed bullets. Even the Spanish colonial army did not have equipment, let alone the impoverished Cuban rebels?
take a step back

You can buy a Prussian Mauser rifle with paper fixed bullets or an M1841 rifle, which is also known as a Dreiser firing pin rifle.The gun was developed by Johann Nicholas von Dreiser in 1841, and it served in the Prussian army until 1836, and was then replaced by the Mauser rifle on a large scale.

The Dreiser striker rifle is 142 cm long, weighs 4.7 kg, and has an effective range of 600 meters. It has a manual bolt action and a rate of fire of 10-12 rounds per minute. It is a very advanced breech-loading rifle.

But this kind of rifle is also expensive, and the use of paper fixed bullets needs to be imported from Prussia, and Cuba has no local production capacity, which is a fatal weakness.

Once the Spaniards completely blocked the sea area, after the advanced rifles in the hands of the rebels ran out of bullets, they all turned into fire sticks.

Backwardness has the convenience of backwardness. These old-fashioned smoothbore rifles using black powder and lead bullets have very low logistical requirements and are just right for the Cuban rebels to use.

The batch of arms in front of me can be seen that they have been carefully wiped and maintained before they are sold.

Although these guns have been around for a long time and may be older than everyone present, as long as they don't affect their use, they are good guns, which shows that the Chinese merchants are still very reliable.

steamer

Zhu Fengchen, who once appeared in the Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce in Havana, was dressed as a captain. He wore a wide-brimmed cowboy hat and a briar pipe in his mouth. He sat in the captain's room and watched the busy scene of unloading cargo at the bow with vigilant eyes. Chatting with the helmsman in a nonchalant manner.

The helmsman was also an action member belonging to the General Security Bureau, and he asked in a relaxed mood; "Boss, can we take a breather when we go back this time?"

"I can't pick it up for a while. The Spanish blockade is very tight, and the land transportation is basically cut off. The rebel army on the north side of the island is almost at a standstill. I have to find a way to go back and load a ship of food."

"Hey, when are we going to fight fires like this, when will we end?"

"Hehe...don't worry, the situation will improve soon. The rebel army won't be idle after getting these weapons, enough to turn the southeastern provinces upside down. Just wait and see...there will be more such weapons business in the future do it!"

"Boss, anyway, I don't like these Cubans. You don't see many decent people. They look around and have ulterior motives. How are they different from bandits and thugs running around?"

"Don't care so much, let them fight the Spaniards first!"

Zhu Fengchen put one hand on the revolver, took off the briar pipe with the other hand and looked out, only to see the guys at the bow waved their hands, meaning that the ship was finished when the cargo was loaded.

So Zhu Fengchen pushed open the hatch of the captain's cabin and went out, stood on the railing and shouted loudly to the engine room behind; "Boys, boost the boiler pressure and start the steam engine, we are ready to return!"

"Alright, Captain." An engineer in the engine room responded loudly.

There were 33 armed sailors on this small and medium-sized coastal steam freighter. Under their strict protection, the Cubans on the shore basically did not dare to act rashly.

After the last small wooden boat full of goods left, a large cloud of thick white smoke rose from the steam freighter, the copper steam pressure valve screamed, and the reciprocating "hole, hole" pattern of the steam engine was heard. The sound, the power is transmitted to the propeller at the stern and pushes away a large group of water splashes.

The guys at the bow worked together to win the anchor, and the steam freighter drew a clear semicircular track in the bay, heading towards the blue ocean in the distance.

from start to finish
This steam cargo ship did not raise a flag to indicate its identity. Under normal circumstances, this is a black ship, that is, a smuggling ship.

The Spanish sea power has not yet reached the level of being able to completely blockade the surrounding areas of the huge Cuban island. They can only cruise around some important cities, such as Havana and Santiago, and they are powerless to other vast remote areas.

Just aiming at these vacancies, the smuggling ships of the General Security Bureau can conveniently transport supplies and weapons to the rebel army, provided that they have money.

This seems logical, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why Chinese businessmen continued to deliver supplies to the Cuban rebels at the risk of being discovered by the Spaniards. It was a good reason driven by money.

Shangfeng did not want ordinary Chinese businessmen in Cuba to be involved in aiding the rebel army. The starting point was also to protect these Chinese businessmen, because they did not have the ability to resist risks.

Ordinary Chinese businessmen have limited capabilities. Even if they can provide some guns, ammunition and food, the quantity is very limited.

If the Spanish authorities get all the stolen goods, there will definitely be no good fruit to eat.

In this era, the information in the Cuban colony was blocked. Even if the diplomatic representative office in Havana had great powers, it could not keep track of the movements of many remote Chinese manor owners or businessmen, let alone rescue them in time.

A few times, I rushed to the news that the Spanish Governor's Palace had already obtained solid evidence and confessions, which were almost undeniable. This made the diplomatic representative office fall into a very passive position, and could only forcefully speak to the important person.

The transportation of large quantities has to rely on armed smuggling, which has plunged Cuba into war and turmoil for a long time...