Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 23 "Grass-beating Valley" (Part )
"Are you Spanish?" Mayor Carvalho Cortes looked at the man in front of him in astonishment, his eyes wide open and his face full of disbelief.

Among the group of pirates who raided our town, there were actually Spanish people!
This is so shocking.

Not only did they betray the king and become shameful pirates, but they also joined others in plundering their own Spanish compatriots.

Oh, may the Lord forgive him.

"..." Under the mayor's puzzled and slightly contemptuous gaze, Adro Papu Gomez felt a sense of indescribable... shame, but then he became a little angry. He brandished the dagger in his hand and knocked hard on the church door, saying viciously: "Shut up and stay inside, otherwise we will kill you!"

Damn it! This guy is our prisoner, the one we have the final say over. Why is he looking at me like that?

This self-righteous guy acted condescendingly when he spoke, which was disgusting to look at.

If he dared to say anything insulting, I would take the opportunity to teach him a lesson.

"I want to see your leader..." Stared at by the fierce eyes of the Spanish pirate, Mayor Carvalho Cortes couldn't help feeling uneasy, but when he thought about the fact that two days had passed and the pirates neither came to negotiate with them nor took any further measures against them, but just locked them up in the church, everyone felt a kind of speechless depression and fear.

What exactly are they going to do?
More than 160 people, including old people, women and children, were detained here, filling the small church. The crying, sobbing and anxious shouting made everyone nervous and anxious.

The old man was worried that his son had met with an accident, his wife was afraid that her husband had been killed by pirates, and the child kept calling for his father, hoping that he would come back and give him a comforting hug.

It was originally thought that these pirates would leave immediately and escape far out to sea after looting the property.

However, after the first day, they did not leave, and drove the townspeople away to carry away the looted items.

The next day also passed, and they still did not leave, continuing to loot property in an orderly manner.

Today is the third day, and they still seem to have no intention of leaving. They keep loudly urging the residents of the town to transport various supplies to the seaside.

They seemed to be a group of extremely down-and-out pirates, not only looting any valuable items in the town, but also taking even simple daily necessities.

Everything from large millstones, iron plows in the fields, and cattle and horses to small items like pots and pans, needles and thread, spatulas, nails, and even books, picture albums, charcoal pencils, and paper in residents' homes had to be packed up and taken away.

It can be imagined that after such a "carpet-style" plunder by the pirates, the entire town would be left with nothing, and in a short period of time, it would probably be impossible to maintain normal production and life.

They are not looting, they are simply moving the town!

I don’t know where these pirates came from, and why they are so poor.

It's just... so tasteless!
No, we must talk to these pirates. We can't let them rob things so wantonly.

At least we should leave some basic living supplies for the residents of the town.

However, to the disappointment of Mayor Carvalho Cortes, the other party ignored his request at all, saying that their leader was very busy and had no time to see him.

"Mr. Cortes, I suspect these pirates aren't from Europe." Father Morelos peered through the crack in the door for a moment before whispering, "They're most likely from an indigenous Indian tribe, mixed with some European pirates, including the Spanish."

"Hmm?" Cortes turned and looked at him in confusion. "Father Morelos, what basis do you have for your judgment? How could a Native American tribe launch a surprise attack on us from the sea, and bring along so many European pirates?"

"Their appearance!" Father Morelos looked up and gestured towards a pirate in navy blue attire in the distance. "Have you observed that man closely? He looks completely different from us Europeans, but somewhat similar to those Indians. Furthermore, the Spanish pirate guarding the door is clearly taking orders from that Indian-looking man. So, I suspect they're most likely an Indian tribe hidden somewhere, aided by an alien civilization, enabling them to launch this attack on us from the sea."

"Father Morelos..." Captain Miguel Hidalgo of the Agustin seemed to have something to say, but he felt it was a bit absurd in his heart, and he hesitated for a moment.

"Mr. Hidalgo, what do you want to say?" Mayor Cortes asked bluntly, "Have you discovered something? Or do you know something?"

"It's about the identity of this group of pirates..." Hidalgo pondered for a moment and said, "Just now, Father Morelos said that some of these pirates look somewhat like Indians, and he suspects they are from an Indian tribe. However, I have a different opinion. I think those pirates with non-European faces may be from the East. I don't know if you have been to Acapulco and Mexico City, but there are scattered people with Oriental faces in these two places. Yes, I think these pirates who look like Indians are probably from the East. As far as I know, there are many pirates in the waters of Japan, Ming Dynasty and other places in the East, and they are very powerful."

"Mr. Hidalgo, are you saying these pirates came from the East, from the Ming Dynasty?" Mayor Cortes asked incredulously. "How did they get to America? You know, only we Spaniards control the trans-Pacific shipping routes. Only we Spaniards can cross the vast Pacific and travel between America and the Philippines."

"More than 40 years ago, the Englishman Francis Drake also crossed the Pacific Ocean, arrived in the Philippines from America, crossed the Indian Ocean, went around the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to Europe."

"You mean to say that this group of pirates from the East also controlled the route across the Pacific Ocean, and then came to America from the distant Ming Dynasty just to plunder our town?"

"They certainly didn't come here specifically to plunder this town," Hidalgo said thoughtfully. "I think they might have built a stronghold somewhere. This raid ashore wasn't to plunder property, but to obtain the necessary supplies to meet their survival needs."

"..." Mayor Cortes looked at Father Morelos, half believing and half doubting what he said. Were the Orientals also going to try to colonize America?
is it possible?

However, if it is true, it is shocking.

America should be the America of us Spaniards!
-
Antonio Diaz winked at his companions and quietly pointed to the woods not far away.

The companion raised his head and glanced at the two pirates in front of him. It seemed that his attention was not on them. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded slightly.

After more than two days of observation, they found that the number of pirates who attacked the town was not large. They might have left some people to guard on the ship, so there were only more than 30 pirates in the town.

In addition to assigning some personnel to look after the elderly, the weak, women and children at the church, these more than 30 pirates also had to free up a considerable number of manpower to drive the town residents to pack up the looted supplies and then transport them to the seaside using horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts.

Not to mention that they also had to send guards to several intersections in the town to monitor the arrival of outsiders, making their control measures not very strict.

Although the pirates immediately confiscated all the muskets, swords, spears and other weapons in the town, they also packed up and took away all the iron tools such as axes, saws, hoes, sickles and so on from the residents' homes, leaving everyone without any weapons to resist.

But they did not have strict control over the personnel, especially those who were carrying supplies. They just held guns and supervised them from a distance.

If you want to take the opportunity to escape, it is not impossible.

The residents of the small town may have been worried that the pirates would harm their families, so they had to obey their orders and did not dare to escape. They could only honestly move all kinds of supplies to the shore, and then use several small boats to transfer them bit by bit to the large sailing ship docked in the bay.

But these sailors passing by here have no such constraints at all, and can sneak away when the other party is not paying attention.

These pirates are not killing anyone now, but who knows if they will start a massacre when they leave?

Rather than relying on the mercy of pirates for your life, it is much safer to escape from danger in time.

There were only five or four pirates supervising them in carrying supplies, three of them were armed with muskets and one was armed with a dagger. If they ran fast enough, they should be able to distance themselves from them in a short time and then sneak into the woods.

As long as you can run thirty to fifty meters, even if they shoot, they will definitely not hit you.

"Run!" Antonio Diaz shouted, turned around and ran towards the woods.

At the same time, the other two companions also spread their legs and followed behind, running out with all their might.

The sudden incident stirred the townspeople who were driving their carts into a frenzy, and they all turned to look. Many young men also expressed hesitation, as if considering whether to follow the three sailors and flee, quickly hiding in the woods and escaping the pirates' clutches.

"boom!"

There was a crisp gunshot, and a sailor running at the back fell to the ground.

"boom!"

Another gunshot rang out, and another sailor was knocked down.

When Antonio Diaz heard the gunshots, he didn't take it seriously at first, thinking that the pirates were just shooting to scare them so that they would stop him and let him be captured again.

As a result, the pace of running couldn't help but quicken a bit.

However, after two consecutive gunshots, he heard the sound of his companions falling to the ground one after another behind him. Suddenly, he felt a chill on his back, which was a signal of extreme danger.

Could it be that the pirates' muskets can hit us accurately?
"boom!"

Another gunshot rang out, and Antonio Diaz felt as if his back was hit by a sledgehammer. All his strength was suddenly drained away, his vision went dark, and he fell to the ground.

"Anyone who dares to move will be killed without mercy!"

The pirate who was shooting slowly pointed the gun at the chaotic townspeople and shouted loudly.

(End of this chapter)