Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1291 Using Fights to Promote Peace ([-])

On June 1661, 6, the people on the east bank arranged for several transport ships to start transporting Ilheus's timber inventory to China, and by the way, some transport ships were recruited from China, otherwise so much timber would have to be transported until the year of the monkey.Of course, their behavior of squeezing civilian transport capacity may arouse great resentment from the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Immigration, but what does it matter?Now the allocation of transport capacity is no longer under the management of the Government Affairs Council system, but is under the overall planning and distribution of the State Planning and Production Management Committee. These bird people are not happy to immediately allocate ships when they see that a large amount of high-quality timber can be transported back to China!

In view of the resistance of the Portuguese during the offensive and defensive battle of Ilheus, Major Xiao Xi ordered a punitive war tax of twenty pesos per person to be levied in the city. , until he repaid all the arrears including the shipping fee - this action caused more than [-] whites and more mixed-race descendants and Indians in the city of Ilheus to be abducted by the east coast people. The city can be described as devastated.

Major Xiao Xi left half of the Chengshan County Security Corps (about 1000 people) to stay here to assist the transport ship in transferring all kinds of spoils. At the same time, he also asked them to go to the nearby manor to collect taxes and raise military expenses and food by themselves.As for the main force, they have to board ships and continue to the north to attack other towns.

On June 6, the East Coast fleet intercepted two British merchant ships off the coast of Recife.The two ships were loaded with weapons, ammunition and other supplies in short supply in Brazil. It seemed that they were going to enter Recife for sale. All the goods on board were bought (it could be resold to the Courlandians in the future), and then they were asked to leave the coast of Brazil and return to Europe as soon as possible. They did not want to break out of a full-scale armed conflict with the British right now.

The appearance of the East Coast Fleet caused a commotion in Recife.This port city, which was just captured by the Portuguese from the Dutch West India Company for less than two years, has gradually restored some of its former prosperity. After all, the land here is indeed very fertile, and the conditions for developing plantations are also very good. Superior—at least, Recife, Olinda and the inland areas have convenient transportation, which is conducive to the large-scale transportation of materials and personnel. In addition, when the Portuguese or the Dutch control this area, they are constantly introduced from the Old Continent. Immigrants and capital, and the introduction of black slaves from West Africa at the same time, made the sugar cane planting industry in Recife not decline too much even in the era of frequent outbreaks of war. Now, after peace, the speed of development here immediately accelerated. Get up quickly, and there is a tendency to catch up with several other generals.

However, now the people on the east coast have decided to delay the development of Recife once again! On June 6, the entire fleet anchored off the city of João Pessoa, north of Recife, and then started a new round of landing operations.The landing operation this time is different from the previous one. Bahia and Pernambuco are already heavily fortified areas. The landing operations of the people on the east coast can no longer be as careless as before. Major Xiao Xi has already decided that the entire army of more than 21 All the people landed here to make perfect preparations; at the same time, some warships were sent to wander between San Salvador and Recife, prompting the enemy to divide their forces so that no more east coast landing troops could pose too much threat.

From June 6st to June 21th, this yelling landing operation lasted for three or four full days before it came to an end. It is estimated that it was not long before the news reached Fortaleza and Olinda. Most of the Portuguese military and political officials are still arguing fiercely over whether to send troops to rescue.It will probably take a few days until they really make a decision—whether it is to rescue or not to rescue, but when it really comes, will the army on the east coast be afraid of them?

After the 25th, continuous heavy rain fell in the northeastern part of Brazil. Although it caused some troubles for the people on the east coast, it probably caused more obstacles to the possible reinforcements from other places.In the afternoon of the same day, the people from the east bank built multiple canopies outside the city, and then bombarded the enemy city with the artillery brought by the army.Although the rainy and humid weather is not good for gunpowder to prevent moisture, the damage caused by 16 artillery pieces in one afternoon is still amazing, and the buildings in João Pessoa City were damaged a lot.

That night, the artillery positions continued to bombard, and the Brazilians in the city also organized a manpower out of the city to carry out a desperate assault, but they were quickly blocked by the East Coast Army and ordered them to stay. Nearly a hundred corpses were lost.

The hand-to-hand combat on the night of the 25th left a deep impression on the Brazilians, so much so that on the 26th, the people from the east coast shelled outside the city for a whole day, and the enemy was willing to shrink their heads and endured the whole day.

On June 6, scouts reported that a Portuguese army had appeared more than 27 kilometers to the south, with a size of about 20, most of whom were Indian soldiers.After hearing the news, Major Xiao Xi decided not to keep the city of João Pessoa as an eyesore any longer. He sent two thousand Indian cannon fodder from the second battalion of the Volunteer Army to launch an attack. After several hours of fierce fighting, he followed closely behind. The Sixth Mixed Battalion of the Chinese Army entered the city, broke the enemy's last resistance with a fierce hand-to-hand combat, completely occupied the entire city, and disarmed more than 200 Brazilian prisoners of war who surrendered, but they have never been promoted. Raise the flag of the east coast to confuse the Portuguese.

At noon on the 28th, the sleepy and tired Portuguese army arrived a few kilometers south of the city of Joao Pessoa. After learning the news, Major Xiao Xi left more than 1000 people from the second brigade of the Volunteer Army to control the city, and then led four mixed The main army of the Battalion, half of the county security regiment militia and some technical arms went head-on, intending to fight the Portuguese head-to-head-they had had enough of the annoying security battles in the battle with the Brazilians, Now there is an opportunity to put up a majestic formation and wipe out the main force of the enemy in one fell swoop.

That afternoon, the main forces of the two sides met in the south of João Pessoa City. Looking at the [-]-strong East Coast Army, the Portuguese commander was probably torn to death, whether to fight or not to fight—of course Even now, he has no chance to choose. After hearing that João Pessoa fell, he still decided to go north. If he didn’t shoot a single shot, he would return to Recife and let the pagans on the east coast stay there. If he does endless robberies, there will be endless troubles waiting for him.It is precisely because of this that he, who was responsible for rescuing the city of João Pessoa and the surrounding large sugarcane plantations, resolutely led his officers and soldiers to rush over, but he did not expect that there were so many troops from the East Coast...

Captain Yang Liang stood on the grass in great excitement. He held a command knife in one hand and the reins of a horse in the other. Sitting immediately was Major Xiao Xi, the commander-in-chief of this battle. At this moment, he was holding up a telescope to observe the enemy's situation.

The east bank army, which is mainly composed of four mixed battalions, has also been deployed at this time. A total of 16 infantry companies have been arranged into four square formations, each with 960 musketeers; technical arms other than infantry are also based on the principle The four battalion artillery companies and the two independent field artillery companies accompanying the army added up to 48 artillery pieces, which were arranged in the gaps between the infantry phalanxes as the main output firepower; the four cavalry companies were Deployed on the far right wing of the entire army, due to the continuous rain and hot weather, a large number of horses accompanying the army died. At present, only about [-] horses are still able to move, but they are still quite a force; as for the supply company and the engineering platoon Non-front-line fighters were also issued sabers and rifles. Together with half of the militia from the Chengshan County Security Regiment, they were deployed behind the formation to act as a reserve team for combat.

The sun was in the sky, and even in a theoretical winter, the battlefield was still unbearably hot.Major Xiao Xi, who was riding a horse, waved his hand, and several young orderlies immediately went to deliver the order excitedly. They were so nervous that some of them fell down on the muddy ground.

After the order was conveyed, the military band first played "Victory Belongs to the Army March", and a vulture flag was raised high, and the infantry phalanx slowly started to stand still under the command of the officer.Soon, with Major Xiao Xi's right hand slamming down, the infantry phalanx began to move forward slowly, and technical troops such as artillery, cavalry, and luggage also quickly followed. Thousands of them wore big black hats and wore The officers and soldiers of the East Coast Army in dark blue uniforms slowly pressed towards the Portuguese with various emotions, such as excitement, nervousness, or indifference.

The Portuguese have also completed the array.Perhaps because of the colonial legion, they have a relatively high proportion of muskets, but the army still inevitably trains a considerable number of halberds and spearmen, which makes their firepower at a disadvantage when shooting at each other, not to mention that they have no cavalry , and there are only 20 artillery pieces (maybe, it was raised from various parties, and the general army does not have so many artillery pieces), and most of them are small and medium-caliber, which is completely incomparable with the people on the east coast, but they have no choice.

Because the troops directly under him were left in the city of Joao Pessoa, Captain Yang Liang, who came over to join the battle with a shameless face, acted as the groom of the supreme commander, but he didn't feel dissatisfied in the slightest.In the Polish-Russian War, he had seen tens of thousands of battles, and he dreamed of participating in a face-to-face battle. Unfortunately, the endless siege battles and public security battles had dampened his appetite. The two sides gathered thousands of troops each and staged a battle of thousands of people in the wild. If he was willing to miss it, he would be out of hell!

After walking for about five or six minutes, Yang Liang only felt that the muscles in his right hand leading the horse were a little stiff. He was sweating all over his body because he was nervous or because the weather was too hot. The ground under his feet was also a little muddy. Nearly slipped and fell three times.At this moment, Major Xiao Xi, who was riding on a horse, gave the order to stop the advance, and the soldiers in the front row began to load ammunition and ammunition.The Portuguese continued to advance, perhaps because the distance in front of them was not yet within the effective range of most of their artillery.

With a few "bangs", the artillerymen began a nervous test firing. At this time, the battlefields of the two sides were about 700 meters apart, and they were within the range of the 12-pound field artillery. Several impatient gunners adjusted the elevation angle of the gun barrel to 3 degrees. The fired shells landed on the side of the Portuguese who was walking in disorder, but they looked weak, and the ground was relatively muddy, which effectively absorbed the kinetic energy of the shells, greatly weakening the effect of ricocheting the enemy - but there is no doubt that these The shells still startled the Portuguese because they didn't have artillery with such a long range.

"Boom! Boom!" More and more 12-pound artillery joined the firing sequence. At this time, many of them fell into the Portuguese army and caused some casualties. It's a pity that the ground is really too muddy and there are a lot of shells When it can only jump for a while, it loses most of its strength, and it can't cause too much results.

"Change explosive bombs!" After seeing the enemy approaching a little more, Captain Bernini, the artillery commander, ordered all 8-pound and 12-pound artillery to exchange explosive bombs.Although this kind of artillery shell is very unreliable-especially in such a humid and hot environment-it is better than continuing to fire solid ammunition, so the gunners decisively changed the ammunition and continued to perform shelling missions on the enemy.

As the distance between the two sides got closer, the results of the bombardment became greater and greater, although only about half of the shells could be accurately delivered over or in front of the Portuguese army, although only a third or even a quarter of these shells It can explode, although the shells that can explode may not be able to cause effective damage, but the enemy's losses are still staggering. Nearly 6 people were killed and injured in just five or six minutes.And after the distance between the two sides was shortened to within 300 meters, the power of the artillery increased exponentially, and the enemy's casualties began to become more severe.

Of course, the people on the east bank also suffered certain shelling casualties at this time.Yang Liang, who was leading Major Xiao Xi's horse, saw a soldier obliquely in front of him was rubbed by the solid iron bullets, his thigh was completely broken and flew out, and the spurted blood covered the ground. He cried and fell down in front of Yang Liang, looked at him with tears, and said in a weak voice: "Please help me, I'm just married, my son is only half a year old, please help me..."

Yang Liang sighed, ignored him, and still led the horse, standing in front of the commander-in-chief, looking at the array that the two sides were getting closer.

The artillery continued to shoot, perhaps because some Indians had never experienced such a brutal battle. The Portuguese army had some uncontrollable routs, because their casualties were close to [-] at this time, and the East It was only on the shore that the enemy's artillery caused a few dozen casualties.

"Guns down!" The officers looked at the semaphore and gave orders one after another. Before the soldiers in the first row had time to wipe off their sweat, they put the 32-C flintlock rifles in their hands and pointed them forward. Although the Portuguese army on the opposite side was in chaos Among them, many people still stopped and pointed their loaded muskets at the people on the east bank.

"Aim, prepare—let go!" With the sound of a sharp copper whistle, the two sides fired their muskets at almost the same time. The only difference was that the muskets of the people on the east coast were more, denser, and more orderly; Portugal's shooting was a bit sparse and the order was inconsistent, which may reflect the difference in fighting will between the two sides.

After shooting, the officers and soldiers on the east bank immediately began to reload explosives and ammunition nervously, and some soldiers in the back row also stepped forward quickly to fill in the vacancies caused by the deaths of the soldiers in the front row.Soon, the two sides launched the second and third rounds of volleys, each with different casualties, and then - a shocking thing happened, but the Portuguese army, which had only fired three rounds of volleys, shamefully Fleeing, unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere, they threw down their flags and weapons, and ran back. The officers couldn't stop shouting, which showed the low morale.

Lieutenant Yang Liang, who was hit by a stray bullet and knocked off his military cap just now, slapped his thigh excitedly. Unexpectedly, he pulled the rein in his right hand, causing the Lusitano horse to neigh.At this time, Major Xiao Xi also issued various orders at the right time. The messengers walked through the smoke and quickly passed on the order: the artillery continued to carry out the artillery mission; The enemy's formation is to expand the results of the battle; the rest of the soldiers put on bayonets and charge with bare blades!

The three orders were executed perfectly, the artillery continued to shoot, and the cavalry brothers held up their sharp sabers and galloped in the hot sun, constantly harvesting the lives of the enemies who showed their backs. Thousands of soldiers on the east coast with good bayonets have already formed a loose formation and hurried up. There is no suspense about the defeat of the Portuguese army!

(End of this chapter)