The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 581 Cuba, We Are in Trouble

As the war between Colombia and the United States began, some people finally became vigilant.

A manor in Santiago, Cuba, is brightly lit and bustling.

Men and women dressed in decent clothes danced to the music, or drank and chatted in the manor.

The ladies' laughter makes the men's hormones start to rise.

The host of the banquet, Federico Betancourt, walked into the study on the second floor with several people.

"With what's happening in Colombia recently, the prices of tobacco and coffee are rising internationally! This conflict will last at least a few months, and we should have a good harvest this year!"

"The price of quinine has increased the most. After all, tobacco and coffee are not necessities, but quinine is! Now the quinine from Peru and Colombia cannot be shipped out. The price of quinine was already very high in the first half of the year, and the price has skyrocketed in the past two days! If there is a channel to get a batch of quinine..."

The others were still talking about business matters with smiles on their faces.

This sudden war caused the prices of tobacco and coffee in Cuba to start rising, and it is estimated that the prices will continue to rise for several months, which makes them feel very good.

This banquet was an internal banquet of the Betancourt family, and the participants were all members and family members of the Betancourt family in various places.

Those who came to the conference room were several important figures of the family in various regions.

Federico Betancot lit a cigar, took two puffs, and interrupted the discussion.

"I have an important question for you!"

The voices of several people suddenly stopped.

"Has anyone approached you before and wanted to buy the Chinese workers on the plantation?"

"That's true, but I refused!" said one of the Betancourt family members, whose plantation is near central Cuba.

Others shook their heads.

Then someone else said, "I seem to have heard of this. Manuel Vidal told it as a joke at a banquet!"

"After all, Chinese laborers are the cheapest now! They are like donkeys, they only need a few whips to work hard, and they don't need to eat too much."

As they spoke, the others also smiled.

"Is it funny?" Federico Betancourt asked.

"His tone was very funny at the time. What's the matter?" The Betancourt family member shrugged.

"We are in trouble!" Federico Betancourt's face was gloomy. He once joined the Union Army in the United States to participate in the Civil War. After the Cuban War broke out in 1868, he returned to Cuba and led the revolutionary army.

Therefore, he is much more informed than others and more sensitive to danger than others.

He heard about this at a banquet a month ago and didn't take it seriously at the time.

However, in the Colombian War, Chen Zhengwei joined the war as a Chinese leader and led a fleet, which immediately made him alert.

Colombia is too close to Cuba.

Why did Chen Zhengwei's fleet come here around Cape Horn? Did he plan to invade Colombia a few months ago?
Santa Marta was far less important to him than Panama.

So what is his purpose?
"What trouble?" The others were somewhat confused and nonchalant when they heard this. After all, the Betancourt family was one of the most influential families in Cuba, and it also controlled a part of the independence army.

Who would cause trouble for them?
"It's not just us! Many people are going to be in trouble!" Federico Betancourt said after taking a deep breath.

"Are you talking about those Chinese workers?" Someone finally realized something.

"It's them!" Federico Betancourt's face looked unhappy. He wished he had known this earlier.

He has close contacts with the United States, so he knows very well what kind of person Chen Zhengwei is.

That guy is a lunatic who likes to stir up trouble for no reason, not to mention that these people rejected him.

"That American madman? Chen? Do you mean that he will send the fleet to attack us?" someone asked after frowning and thinking.

"Why else do you think his fleet appeared in Columbia?"

"But this is Santiago! The Spaniards won't let him do whatever he wants!" someone said immediately.

"Unless he fights a battle with the Spanish Navy first!"

As soon as these words came out, the others nodded.

After all, Cuba is a Spanish colony, and the Spaniards would never watch Chen Zhengwei attack Santiago.

"But he will never give up! With that guy's style, no one knows what he can do." Federico Betancourt said immediately.

"We need to communicate with other families and hand those Chinese over to him!"

"They won't agree!" The others immediately shook their heads.

"Whether they agree or not, I have to do something to avoid a conflict with that madman!" Federico Betancourt said immediately.

He also felt that Chen Zhengwei would not attack San Diego, but he was sure that Chen Zhengwei would not give up.

After the meeting that day, he began to actively contact other families related to the Independence Army.

However, those people were unwilling to hand over the Chinese on the plantation.

"Maybe he will lose his mind and attack Santiago? That would be a great thing! No matter who wins between him and the Spanish Navy, it would be a great thing! So we can't hand over those Chinese to him!"

Looking at the telegram in his hand, Federico Betancourt slammed his fist on the table with a gloomy face.

Those people actually hoped that Chen Zhengwei could directly attack Santiago and then go to war with the Spaniards to weaken the Spanish army in Cuba.

Don’t they think about what would happen if Chen Zhengwei joined forces with the Spaniards?

The basis for those people's argument was simply that Cuba was one of Spain's most important colonies, and they would never allow the Americans to go to war with the independence army in Cuba, as that would shake Spain's rule and affect Spain's interests here.

So I don’t think the Spanish Governor will join forces with Chen Zhengwei.

Just like no one would let an outsider use a cannon to come into their house and kill a nest of rats.

In that case, even if the mice are gone, the house is gone too.

Federico Betancourt contacted a group of people, and only a very small number of them agreed to release the people, totaling less than 3000 Chinese workers.

Including the Chinese workers on the Betancourt family’s own plantations, there were less than 7000 people.

……

While Federico Betancourt was constantly contacting other families in Cuba, Chen Zhengwei and the US Army spent two days capturing two fortresses at the strait of Cartagena.

The resistance here is much more tenacious than that in Santa Marta.

However, Colombia's training and armaments were too poor, and both its artillery and rifles were far behind.

Fighting will cannot make up for the gap in equipment.

After the U.S. Army captured the two fortresses in the north and south of the strait after suffering more than 400 casualties, the gateway to Cartagena Bay was opened.

Looking at the American flag hoisted on Fort San Jose in the north, Chen Zhengwei whistled.

There was also a sinister smile on his face.

"We finally took it! Cartagena is like a virgin who was stripped naked and left there!"

At this point, his goal was achieved.

There are two more fortresses in Cartagena, but he doesn't really care whether he can capture Cartagena.

He wanted to blow up the Colombian Navy and the shipyard in Cartagena.

As long as the gates to Cartagena Bay were open, his goal would be achieved.

"Enter Cartagena Bay! Bombard all the ships and shipyards we see!" Chen Zhengwei stood up from his chair and shouted. In the past two days, the Colombian navy had tried to launch an attack in coordination with the fortress, but most of them were sunk on the spot, and only a few escaped.

Then several warships crossed the strait, and then the area in front of them became open, with a large number of ships docked at the dock.

In addition, there are several large docks.

After the Warrior entered the Bay of Cartagena, it lay directly across the sea with its guns protruding from the side gun hatches.

"Load the powder and load the bullets!"

"Aim for the ships in the harbor!"

"Fire!"

As the artillery commander gave the order, one cannon after another fired, and the shells flew towards the ships anchored in the harbor with a whistling sound.

Boom boom boom!

Suddenly, a ball of fire and a huge shock broke out on a medium-sized ship. The soldiers on the ship were blown away, and the mast broke and flew out.

Although Chen Zhengwei's artillery was propelled by black powder, the shells were filled with smokeless gunpowder.

The explosive power is more than twice that of a black powder blasting bomb, which has made naval commanders envious for a long time.

Soon after, other ships were also hit and exploded. Large pieces of broken wood and various debris flew everywhere with the explosions. Masts were blown off, holes were blown in the ships, and then fires broke out.

Large flames and thick smoke billowed from ships in the harbor.

Some small ships were even blown off.

Looking at the doomsday-like scene at the port, Chen Zhengwei's blood began to boil.

Even he didn't realize that the corners of his mouth were almost stretched to his ears.

Such a scene always made him happy, made the blood flow faster, and then put him into a state of excitement.

After several naval ships entered Cartagena Bay, they saw Chen Zhengwei indiscriminately bombarding all ships in the port.

A few of the ships flew the flags of Britain, France, Germany and Spain.

With a telescope, he saw a ship flying the British flag explode, and then the mast fell and hit the ship next to it.

"Send flag signals to inform them that he has blown up ships from other countries as well!" Robert Wyman said with a frown.

Soon, the communicator climbed down from the observation deck, ran quickly to inform Director Liu, and then came up to inform Chen Zhengwei.

"Brother Wei, there are some ships from other countries over there. The navy just sent a flag signal to notify us!"

"So what?" Chen Zhengwei turned his head and glanced at Liu Guanchang.

"Is there any evidence that I was the one who blew it up? They were on the battlefield, and they were accidentally hit by the cannons of Fort Columbia. Isn't that normal?"

"They don't know how to run away even though the war has started. They deserve it!" Chen Zhengwei sneered.

"Keep firing, ignore them. Let them seek compensation from the Colombian government!"

"If all else fails, you can still seek compensation from the US government!"

When it got dark, there were still large flames burning in the direction of the port, which turned the sky red, and ships sank into the sea.

By the next morning, only one in ten ships remained in the harbor.

The ocean was littered with broken pieces of wood, sails, and ropes.

The next day, after resting, the US Army launched an attack on Cartagena in the afternoon. Chen Zhengwei also ordered the fleet to move forward and then entered the artillery range of the San Felipe de Barajas Castle in the center of the city.

In the afternoon, fierce exchanges of fire broke out again between the two sides. A Tel-class gunboat under Chen Zhengwei was hit continuously on the side of the ship, directly making two large holes. It then barely retreated to a distance and withdrew from the battle.

The battle lasted for a day and a half.

The U.S. Army finally stormed the Castle of San Felipe de Barajas.

This is the most important fortress in Cartagena.

The fortress of Cartagena was designed and built by the Spanish a hundred years ago. At that time, they only considered defense against solid artillery shells, but not defense against explosive bombs.

The fighting then continued for another half a day, with the Colombian Army gradually withdrawing from the fort and then evacuating Cartagena.

Another fortress collapsed directly under Chen Zhengwei's artillery fire.

Meanwhile, Colombian reinforcements were only a day's journey from Cartagena.

In the evening, Chen Zhengwei led his men directly ashore.

"Go to their shipyard, repair our ship first, and then burn down their shipyard!" Chen Zhengwei ordered immediately after going ashore.

The shipyard in Cartagena could only make simple repairs to allow the ship to continue sailing.

The damaged warship had to return to the United States for repairs.

Colombia’s navy and shipyards were burned down, and it took Colombia ten years to recover.

Chen Zhengwei also felt relieved.

Go to San Francisco to assassinate him and his family? How dare someone be so bold!

If he doesn't retaliate with the most violent means, who the hell would be afraid of him?

How can he do business if others are not afraid of him?
It's hard to bargain.

Of course, this is just the first step. After the United States controls the two ports, it will send additional troops and send the army deep into the interior of Colombia.

He wanted to see how long Colombia could hold out.

But that has nothing to do with him, he just needs to wait for news.

Chen Zhengwei walked and thought, and suddenly said: "Send a telegram to the White House and ask them if they want to issue war bonds!"

After all, the US government has no money.

Since we have no money, we have to issue bonds!
Issuing bonds definitely requires contractors.

He has such a close relationship with the White House, so of course the contract was given to him.

Chen Zhengwei felt a little regretful that this war started a little too early and the current strength of the United States was not enough to support them to continue fighting.

Otherwise, the war between the United States and Colombia would continue, and they could also sell weapons, ammunition, gunpowder and medicines.

If Colombia could be turned into a colony, he could also "acquire" a large number of mines in Colombia.

Colombia is rich in gold.

Unfortunately, the timing is not right.

The U.S. government is too poor now, and even if it wants to push it forward, it can’t do it.

Chen Zhengwei then checked into the best hotel in Cartagena, where many foreign businessmen were angrily condemning Chen Zhengwei's fleet for bombing their ships.

However, the moment they saw a group of people breaking into the hotel, their voices suddenly quieted down.

Then a bald French businessman stood up in anger, drunken and angry: "My baby is flying the French flag! You murderers actually killed it!"

His companion's face changed, he pulled him, and then was thrown away by him.

He had already drunk half a bottle of wine before Chen Zhengwei came in.

Otherwise he would definitely be more rational.

(End of this chapter)