Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1468 Take the lead

"One-two-one, one-two-one..." Outside Huaiyuan Port, Zheng Dalin, who had just been promoted to lieutenant for a few days, was urging the officers and soldiers of the Nationalist Army to carry out training.At this time, Huaiyuan Island is extremely hot and humid, and the higher-ups have also deliberately lowered the intensity and density of everyone's training, but this does not mean that everyone does not need to train, and what should come is still there, such as the most basic lineup and firing guns, etc. .

After all, although the officers and soldiers of the Fengguo Army are miscellaneous troops, the basic treatment is not bad. Although they can’t eat meat every day, at least they won’t make you hungry (like the Portuguese colonial army in Diu Disbanded in the rainy season, and the scene of soldiers begging for a living on the street will never appear), and some canned fruits, canned bacon, or chocolates can be distributed every now and then to adjust, and there are more or less every month. Closely related to the meaning, it is much better than the Spanish who owe their salary for several months or even a year, and the soldiers have to fish at night.

The only thing they lack is probably the tenacious will to fight. It may be possible to fight against the wind and peace, but it may not be good to fight against the wind. After all, they are mercenaries.Especially the people on the east coast promised that they would be granted citizenship on the east coast after the war regardless of whether they won or lost this battle. A sense of honor, many people may not be able to withstand it when they need to work hard.But then again, do you really need to go all out to win when you eat to attack France's overseas colonies?Maybe there will be some tough battles, but most of the areas should have surrendered after hearing the news, so these miscellaneous cannon fodder troops are almost enough.

And in another barracks separated by a wall from the officers and soldiers of the Fengguo Army, hundreds of regular army troops are collectively maintaining their firearms.The composition of these units includes the first and second companies of the first mixed battalion, the first company of the independent field artillery, the first company of the independent engineering corps, and some miscellaneous staff members. High-spirited, it can be regarded as a tyrannical force-the captain Lan Fei who led them once said with a smile that he would take these people with him. It was also taken down as a "gift" to the motherland. Of course, this is all a joke.

As the saying goes, before the army moves, food and grass go first.In areas with hot flashes like the Caribbean Sea, the scope of "food and grass" should also include a large number of medicines, such as aspirin, essential oil, cooling oil, carminative oil, active oil, safflower oil, cinchona cream, fortune wine, opium Wine, aloe vera oil, senna leaves, etc., and some other traditional Chinese medicine pills that have been approved and verified by the compilation teams of "Ming Medical Records" and "Song Medical Records" were also included in the joint staff headquarters' purchase list in advance. will be distributed to the warehouse on Huaiyuan Island.

In fact, don’t underestimate these medicines that don’t seem to take up much space. They are really worth a lot of money. How many people outside want to buy them but still can’t buy them (limited by the shortage of raw materials, although the production is slow growing, but always woefully undersupplied).If it weren't for the face of the military department, even if they are all state-owned pharmaceutical factories, they would definitely not sell them to you so cheaply.You know, in the tropics, whether these medicines are available or not is really two concepts!It can be said that under normal circumstances, when fighting in tropical regions, the loss of personnel caused by battle deaths and injuries is definitely far less than that caused by diseases. The so-called disease is fiercer than tigers. The biggest enemy of the shore people is actually not the French, but the acclimatization and various diseases!

"It's been less than a week since I came to Huaiyuan Island, and I feel very uncomfortable all over my body." Captain Lan Fei, wearing the army's summer combat uniform, fanned the wind with a cattail fan, and said, "Eat in Patagonia. I have spent time in the sand, lying on the ice in Whale Harbor, and sweating in Brazil, but compared to the tropical Huaiyuan Island, those things are really childish. It is really uncomfortable here, and something will definitely happen if you stay here for a long time. I remember when the Dutch East The Indian company besieged the Port of Malacca, which was still under Portuguese rule, and mobilized thousands of people. The siege lasted for half a year. As a result, few people were killed in the battle, and more than [-]% of the workforce was lost due to illness. Finally, they had to retreat sadly. This is still dominated by natives. As for our troops, they are in such a miserable state when fighting in the wild. Think about it, how can our group of children from the capital from the prairie on the east coast adapt to the humid and hot climate here? The same goes for the officers and soldiers of the Fengguo Army , I remember either from cold Russia, or from dry Ottomans, the climate here is less adapted to us than us, maybe only some Italians from Sicily and Naples can be better, but it is limited. Alas , this battle is not easy to fight, we can only take one step at a time."

"Tropical, just get used to it. If you don't get used to it, it's just a dead word." Zhou Shuren, the mayor of Huaiyuan Township, stated a cold fact in a calm tone. The immigrants dispatched by the State Development Bureau are currently dying of various diseases. As well as the number of unaccustomed people, there are already more than 100 people. Even if they are fully prepared (of course, ordinary immigrants do not have enough drug indicators), it is really a challenge to open up wasteland and live in the tropics. This is a terrible thing, otherwise the officials and their families who were dispatched to the south in ancient China (that is not in the tropics) would not be crying. The death rate is really high. Some exaggeration, but not much better.

"Tell me about the French, what kind of power they have nearby. We have sent merchant ships to Santo Domingo several times, but we have no clue. We only know that there is a French army there, but the number of people and the strength of the fighting force are all the same. I don’t know. Although I am very confident that I can defeat them, I am not used to not knowing the inside story of the enemy.” Maybe because he didn’t want to talk about the damn weather on Huaiyuan Island anymore, Lan Fei wiped his sweat with a towel, and shifted his mind casually topic.

"There is still no definite information. You have seen it before. Captain Cai Anguo's 'Southern Cross' captured the dozens-ton French merchant ship off the coast of Saint Christopher Island. The sailors and businessmen on it came from Nantes. , I have been to French Santo Domingo twice, but I still don’t know anything about the situation there. Even when our people asked him, has King Louis XIV sent to the island in the past two years? When it comes to the Huguenot soldiers who are not very popular with him, these people still can't give a definite answer. So, probably only the French officials living in the corner of France can figure it out." Zhou Shuren spread his hands when he heard this, He said in a helpless tone: "People from the National Intelligence Agency are very anxious about this, and people from the Gendarmerie have no idea, because they will not be able to place personnel there for a while. The previous work has really failed."

"If, I mean if—" At this point, Zhou Shuren glanced at Captain Lan Fei, and then said cautiously: "If you have any troubles about the siege of Santo Domingo, I suggest you contact the Navy , let them continue to block the island from the outside world, and put it in trouble. For example, I remember that Nantes merchants supplied canvas and meat to various colonies including French Santo Domingo. You can follow This way of thinking makes these island colonies unbreakable."

How long would that have to wait!Lan Fei directly vetoed this idea in his heart, and let their proud army rely on the naval blockade to win, which he disdains.What's more, he also insisted that with the two light cruisers "Southern Cross" and "Sirius" under the command of Cai Anguo, it would be impossible to block the French Santo Domingo, Saint Christopher, Marti Nick, Guadeloupe and other French colonies.Besides, the French are not fools. They can also invite ships from the Netherlands, Britain, Portugal, and other countries to trade in their colonies at high prices. Just as you openly imported supplies to the United Provinces during the Anglo-Dutch War, do you people on the east coast dare to intercept the merchant ships of your quasi-ally the United Provinces?You know, the French are in an alliance with them now, don't you dare to stop them!Then block the fart, don’t you give money to the Dutch for nothing?

However, what Zhou Shuren said just now is correct, that is, people on the east coast actually know very little about the strength of the French colonies in the Caribbean.The main reason is that the trade exchanges between the two sides are relatively small, and the French colonies are also in a semi-closed state. Except for specific foreign merchants (mainly merchants of the Dutch West India Company), they trade with local merchants for the rest of the time. merchants in the ports of Nantes, Le Havre, Bordeaux, Dieppe, La Rochelle etc. From Richelieu, Mazarin to Louis XIV's pro-government era, he has always supported it with all his strength.In this way, it is understandable that outsiders don't know much about the French Caribbean islands. Who made it relatively closed?

In fact, outsiders in this era have very limited understanding of French colonies.For example, many people don’t know that Colbert organized a maritime survey in 1664. At that time, he counted nine major trading seaports in the country and learned that there were 100 heavy cargo ships over 329 tons. At the same time, he also investigated the French Caribbean island colonies. The situation was investigated.The result of the investigation was locked in the safe of the Louvre as a secret, and outsiders had no way of knowing it. However, when Louis XIV talked with his close ministers, he inadvertently revealed that only Martinique and Guadeloupe The total number of white residents in China exceeds 8000, which is extremely impressive.

Another data is that in the ten years before 1664, the two ports of Dieppe and La Rochelle alone launched 65 voyages to Martinique. especially important), cotton, sugar, and even tropical timber, all became the basis for large-scale trade between these overseas colonies and the native land—unfortunately, it is still little known to outsiders, unless people on the east coast learn about it from the Dutch West India Company. Some people have written to the directors of the West India Company, including Cornelis Bickle, intending to find out the real strength of the French in the Caribbean, so as not to know anything about them once the war starts, although whether it is Both the army and the navy are confident of victory in this battle.

"It doesn't matter so much, let's stand on our own and do our own things well. For the rest, we'll see when the time comes! I don't believe it. With such a powerful army in hand, there is nothing wrong with those French!" Blue Captain Fei suddenly said that he had decided that before the battle started, he had to practice the coordination of various ministries so that there would be no problems.As for the inside story of the enemy, it's good to have some words, but it doesn't matter if you don't have them. Anyway, it will be clear after a dozen fights, and there are a lot of cannon fodder!

In the next more than a month, the army troops commanded by Lan Fei conducted arduous adaptive training on Huaiyuan Island. All the people were packed and sent to the Free State of North America, and some supplies such as tobacco, rice, and dried meat were exchanged from them, which is not bad.

During the period of their training, the two "Star" class light cruisers commanded by Captain Cai Anguo also engaged in anti-smuggling and anti-piracy activities in the offshore at the invitation of Ding Yiyu, the president of the Caribbean Shipping Company. It is not only to run in with the crew on the battleship, but also to make some extra money by the way.After all, this large-scale deployment of the navy and army cost a lot of money. If you can make up for it, you can get it back. In addition, the brothers can also share the bonus of the spoils (they will sell the spoils to Huaiyuan Island on credit, anyway, they also need it)?

On April 1667, 4, a fast liaison ship from Henghai Island arrived at Huaiyuan Port in heavy rain, and then told Lan Fei, Zhou Shuren and others an amazing news. At the same time, Captain Cai Anguo of the Navy also He has led the ship back to Hong Kong for maintenance, so he also heard the news that King Louis XIV of France has officially declared war on the Kingdom of Spain and personally led troops into the Southern Netherlands.

After hearing the news, the people on the east coast made a decisive decision and decided not to wait for the final instructions to start the war from the mainland, and immediately boarded the whole army to Santo Domingo, France, to carry out the attack mission on the Cape of France.At the same time, they also asked the fast liaison ship coming from Cape Verde not to leave in a hurry, but to turn to the headquarters of Air Canada at the mouth of the Mobile River and Xinjing Port, the capital of the Free State, to inform them The east coast and France have officially started a war. In the future, if they encounter French ships, they can be detained and fired without reporting.Of course, if possible, I also hope that they can send some ships or troops to help in the battle.

On April 1667, 4, after sheltering from the bad weather in Puerto Rico halfway, several east coast transport ships escorted by two "Star" class light cruisers anchored somewhere off the coast of Cape de France, and then put them down. A number of small boats were picked up, carrying part of the combat supplies and Feng Guojun officers and soldiers, and rowed to the shore.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, as the two light cannons dragged ashore roared and made a loud noise, the two sides began a formal exchange of fire!In the first battle, because the ships of the navy on the east coast did not dare to besiege ports and wharves with complete coastal defense facilities, the focus of contention between the two sides became landing and anti-landing.Before the French reacted, the people on the east coast had already sent hundreds of heavily armed soldiers ashore, and now it was up to the French to act.

(End of this chapter)