Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1592 First Mixed Battalion ([-])

On January 1, the last day of January 31, a strangely shaped ship sailed into Xinjing Harbor at the mouth of the Mo (or Mississippi) River.

The reason why the shape of this ship is weird is that it hangs the flag of the East Coast Republic of China, but it is not any type of ship that is popular in the country. It looks rather like the light three-masted ship built in Europe. Sailboat - This type of vessel is generally used for privateering or smuggling at sea.

In fact, it is similar. This ship was built in the famous Saldan shipyard in Amsterdam. It has an oak hull, pine deck, and fir mast. It is equipped with 18 large and small artillery pieces. The warships running fast, not to mention the slow-moving merchant ships loaded with cargo.

The name of the ship is "Tiger Shark", a very flamboyant name, and the owner is Su Mo, a second-generation wearer from the east coast.Probably tired of the rigid and unfree life since he was a child. After he became an adult and made his first money, he threw himself into the extremely exciting pirate business, and he specialized in activities in the Caribbean, robbing the past. Merchant ships of Spain, France, England and the Dutch West India Company.

Some people may ask, this piracy is also a felony on the east coast, and no documents such as privateering licenses have been issued to private individuals (even the official robbery organized by the Navy has never been recorded in writing), this Somo Are you not afraid of legal sanctions?Hehe, that's what I said, but in the case that all European countries have privateering licenses, even if the East Coast officials do not issue such certificates, they still turn a blind eye to domestic privateering ship owners who specialize in robbing foreign merchant ships one-eyed.What's more, he is a second generation born with a golden spoon in his mouth. Although he does not have the position of heir representative or the shares of Dong'an Company, his relationship network is not bad anyway.Under such circumstances, anyone who wants to punish him for piracy will think twice, not to mention that he is very careful and has been active in the Caribbean Sea all year round, leaving no clues to others at all.

At this time, there are several ships moored in the pier of Xinjing Port. In addition to the "Tiger Shark" in Somo, there are also several foreign ships, namely the "Prince Karl" from Sweden and the "Duke of Chatre" from France. ", the "Geldemarsen" from the United Provinces, the "Honest Britton" from England.Without exception, these ships are resting and resupplying in Xinjing Port, and doing some small business, but they need to avoid people on the east coast, because the Caribbean shipping companies on the east coast have always regarded the Free State of the Black Eight Banners as their backyard. Whoever comes to grab business may make them very unhappy.

Xinjing Port is a very small wharf, and the layout is very messy. The river bank next to the wharf commercial area is the developed farmland.Su Mo clearly remembered that the last time he came here (August), these farmlands were still full of low-slung rice—different from the east coast, rice is a common food in this emerging country—this The meeting is already empty, obviously it has entered the slack season.

After the ship anchored, Su Mo and a group of key sailors changed into decent clothes, and then rowed a small boat ashore. While buying fresh water, he quietly discussed the sale of stolen goods with a few bright-faced brokers— ——The "Tiger Shark" robbed mostly merchant ships traveling between the old and new continents. Except for American specialty goods (which they will sell to Mobile City or Huaiyuan Island), the stolen goods obtained were cloth ( Most of them are cheap linen), ironware, daily necessities, wine and even oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, etc., all sold to the Free State at a low price in exchange for profits and some supplies.

"Shopkeeper Su, did you bring some good goods this time?" A Ming broker in his thirties and wearing a long gown came over and asked winkingly.

This guy was originally from the Guangzhou Mansion of the Ming Dynasty. After being forced to come to the east bank, he was displeased with the left and the right, so he was dispatched to the Free State of North America. The result made him even more disappointed, but he could no longer return to the east coast. up.Fortunately, he has a flexible mind and a relaxed body, so after years of hard work, he has now become a well-known business broker (of course he also runs some small businesses, but the scale is not large), helping Air Canada and other countries all the year round. The pirates contacted the market and cooperated with Su Mo and others several times, and they also established trust with each other.

"Sackcloth, grease, sauce and vinegar, farm tools..." Sumo sighed a little when he mentioned the names of these products. He had been wandering in the sea for several months, but he didn't know whether it was bad luck or something, and he only caught one. The merchant ships from Holland, sailing from Vlissingen to Tobago, were loaded with cheap things, which disappointed him greatly.

"It's all hard currency, no problem. Mr. Mo in Hexi is recently reclaiming new cotton fields, and there is a great demand for these materials. However, ironware from the Old World is not as durable as the East Coast, so the price has to go down a little. Let’s not talk about grease, sauce and vinegar, as long as the quality is good enough, the linen is the same, but there are a lot of cloths arriving in Hong Kong recently, and the price may not satisfy shopkeeper Su, but there is no way to do it.” The long-cloth broker said immediately after hearing the words.

"A large amount of cloth flooded into Hong Kong, what's going on?" Su Mo asked with a frown.Lately, his luck has been very bad, and his income has shrunk as a result, how can he bear it.

"So shopkeeper Su, you know that recently your country's navy has joined forces with the Spaniards to do a big business deal. They assembled an unknown number of warships and fought fiercely with pirates around the pirate island. It is said that they only fought against the pirates. Sinking a ship will kill those murderous demon kings.” At this point, the long-clothed broker looked around subconsciously, then lowered his voice and said to Sumo: “The pirates lost a stolen and The supply port, there is no way, many people ran to Xinjing Port to sell the stolen goods, which greatly impacted the market. There is no way, shopkeeper Su, there are only so many people in our free state, how can we eat a lot of cloth in one go , Spices, tobacco, sugar tea and so on, the prices have fallen sharply recently, you are more unlucky..."

"The Navy and the Spaniards are partnering to fight pirates? The Caribbean fleet and the Windward Fleet?" After hearing the news, Su Mo felt a little chilly. Nima, the two fleets merged, and at least six or seven warships could be drawn to Tortu. What kind of pirates can fight against them head-on?In fact, he felt that he was surprised that the pirates got a victory in this battle. It must be that the idiots in the Windward Fleet who couldn't support the wall with mud were unlucky.

Now that the navy has launched an operation of this scale, I should restrain myself recently, so as not to be accidentally wiped out by these powerful warships, and then I will not be able to cry.Well, after the resupply at Xinjing Port is over, let’s go to the west coast of Texas. Recently, several pirate ships from the east coast have been haunting there. I heard that there is a set up for everyone. The stronghold for exchanging needs and exchanging supplies (located near Texas City in later generations), you might as well go there to avoid the limelight, and inquire about some news with those veterans by the way.

Thinking of this, Su Mo didn't want to worry about the price anymore, he just planned to quickly sell the stolen goods and exchange them for money, and then run away quickly.However, before running away, it does not prevent him from looking around the city for news, especially those foreign merchant ships moored in the port. It is hard to say which ship among them is a part-time pirate.

The inquiring news made Su Mo feel a little heavy.Because according to the information he inquired from the British merchant ship (or is it a pirate ship?) "Honest Britton", the navies of the East and the West have indeed obtained absolute command of the sea off Tortuga Island, And sent a well-equipped army unit ashore.The captain of the ship, Cox from Bristol, told Somo that there are indeed a considerable number of pirates on Tortuga Island, but he does not think that those people have the capital to fight against professional soldiers who are good at fighting. Combat power is not at the same level as those stupid soldiers in New Spain.

After hearing this, Su Mo didn't dare to stay here any longer, and planned to sail away in a few days.At the same time, he is also very envious of the coalition forces attacking the island, because he is too aware of the wealth of Tortuga Island!In addition to the large number of pirates from various countries on this island, there are also various commercial organizations-the founders of these commercial organizations have complicated backgrounds, and their main business is to acquire stolen goods. Among them, the Spaniards seem to be the most. These greedy guys They generally have a respected status in New Spain and Peru, but they have a great time colluding with pirates. In many cases, they will even secretly inform the pirates of the departure date and voyage route of many merchant ships so that the pirate ships can intercept them. This shows the degree of insanity.

There is no doubt that these merchants who bought stolen goods built large-scale warehouses on the island, stored a large amount of goods or money, and recruited a large number of mercenaries to guard the wealth for them on the island.These merchants wandering on the edge of gray use guns, alcohol, women and money to control pirates, let them work for themselves, and reap huge profits.It is conceivable that when the east bank army landed on the island, these merchants and mercenaries would definitely resist desperately, but it was useless. Su Mo did not believe that they could withstand the well-equipped east bank army—regardless of whether it was a regular army It is still a miscellaneous army such as the Baoguo Army and the Youguo Army.

In addition, many retired pirates and their families lived on Tortuga Island all year round. These people generally run wineries, restaurants, taverns, brothels, slaughterhouses, and some also run related businesses. Ship-related handicraft workshops (early east coast people recruited craftsmen and sailors here), should also have a lot of spare money on hand.For these people, it is conceivable that the army on the east coast who landed on the island would not let them go.As for their wealth, hehe, it will naturally be confiscated as spoils of war, otherwise why are you so busy!

On February 1671, 2, after letting the sailors from the East Coast, Russia, and Italy on board go ashore and indulge, Somo's "Tiger Shark" set sail in a hurry, bid farewell to Xinjing Harbor, and then sailed all the way Headed west, toward the Texas coast.And more than a week after they left, two "Star" class light cruisers on the east coast escorted a troop carrier to Xinjing Port, and then anchored here.

In addition to carrying a large amount of seized loot on the troop carrier, there are also hundreds of officers and soldiers of the First Mixed Battalion. They arrived in the Free State earlier, and will be stationed here in order to help this difficult country Retrain the army and consolidate national defense—of course, if the situation is suitable, they don't mind attacking the Indians who are too noisy. It just so happens that there are many new recruits in the army who have no actual combat experience over the years, just to let them hone their skills. As they did on Tortuga before.

Major Lan Fei, the battalion commander of the First Mixed Battalion, as the leader of the team, also arrived in the Free State with the ship this time.And after he got off the ship, he immediately met with Xinjing's "Supreme Emperor", the leader of the East Coast Advisory Team, and Army Major Tian Xing, and handed him some documents from the local Joint Staff Headquarters, and handed over the next stage of work—for Lan Fei looked down on Tian Xing's so-called advisory officers who were former intelligence officers, and he didn't think they could train the black soldiers of the Free State well. He might have to rely on his sons to work hard.

The leader of the Free State, Xinjing Moshi, was a little trembling when Lan Fei got it, but after learning exactly about their mission and purpose from Tian Xing, he immediately became ecstatic.Mohan, the second king of the Free State, first sent several royal duck boats—a kind of boat from Guangdong, China. This kind of boat (or sampan) can raise hundreds of ducks. During the day when the Banqiao was put down, the ducks searched for food in the river by themselves, and at night they returned to the boat along the Banqiao under the call of the owner—they came to improve the food for the First Mixed Battalion, and then ordered the slaughter of pigs in the city—this kind of pigs They were raised by themselves, not dead pigs thrown by passing ships. Many European merchant ships who came here to replenish water complained that the blacks who boarded the ships to feed their pigs and cattle always made small moves, causing the livestock on board to die, and then The sailors would discard it on the river, and it eventually became the food of the local blacks. There is no doubt that a lot of pigs and cattle died during the docking of merchant ships from various countries-planning to flatter the first mixed battalion so that the next It can help them fight against the nearby Choctaws, Mobiles and other aborigines.

And after giving all these instructions, Mohan, the leader of the Free State, left the pier near the palace in a river boat painted with vermilion paint and decorated with dragon patterns and similar patterns, and headed towards the harbor Come on, he came to see Lan Fei in person.

(End of this chapter)