Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 27 San Diego Bay
In 1542, the Portuguese Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, on the orders of Antonio de Mendoza, the Governor of New Spain, led an expedition consisting of the "San Salvador" and another ship, the "Santo Domingo", to explore the Pacific coast of North America in search of the legendary "Strait of Anian".

During this voyage and expedition, Cabrillo "discovered" most of the coast of California and entered a bay with an extremely advantageous geographical location. He named the place "San Miguel" and claimed that the entire area belonged to the Spanish Kingdom.

In November 1602, the Spaniard Sebastian Vizcaino was commissioned by the Governor-General to survey and map the California coast in detail.

Vizcaino arrived at the bay where Cabrillo had landed on the San Diego, surveyed the harbor, Mission Bay, and Point Loma, and named the area San Diego after the Spanish Catholic saint San Diego de Alcala.

However, the Spanish occupied too much territory and had no extra energy to expand their sphere of influence to the San Diego Bay area.

So, although they surveyed and mapped the topography of most of the California coastline, they simply put it aside, neither building forts nor migrating there, but simply loudly claiming that the sovereignty of this vast area north of Mexico belonged to the sacred King of Spain.

And then... uh, nothing happened.

San Diego is still just a conceptual geographical name. Apart from a few Native American tribes nearby, there are endless jungles and wilderness. No new civilization has ever set foot here.

However, on January 1626, 1, a slender three-masted sailing ship was quietly anchored in San Diego Bay, avoiding the storm raging outside.

"Do you think it's possible for the Spaniards to find Qiming Island (Vancouver Island) where we are?" Chen Rui lay on the narrow bed and kicked the bed with his feet.

"Impossible, unless they have radar or satellites." Shu Wendong closed his eyes and replied lazily.

"That may not be the case. Didn't the Spanish galleon we captured find us more than three months ago?"

"That was an accident."

"We've plundered a Spanish coastal town this time. They'll surely be furious, and might even send countless ships out to search for us. What if they find us? What if the Spanish send wave after wave of troops to attack us? How will we cope?"

"English pirates have plundered Spanish territory countless times, but we have never seen them send out numerous ships to find them! Haha, if they really come to our door, we will tie you up and hand you over to the Spaniards to apologize, in exchange for their stopping the war!" Shu Wendong said angrily.

"Just kidnapping me will make the Spanish retreat?"

"Of course not! You're the only one among us who speaks Spanish. If we hand you over to them, they won't even need a translator when they try you! For everyone's safety, you should just take all the blame."

"If sacrificing me means the development of the entire base, I'll accept it," Chen Rui grumbled. "I'm afraid the Spanish will wipe us out completely, like countless other Indians, disappearing silently into history. In this time and space, they're bound to make a big splash."

"What big fuss are you trying to make?"

"Of course, we must occupy this land that originally belonged to the United States. We will all become founding heroes and be admired by future generations. Oh, and now that we're here, we can't let the British be the empire on which the sun never sets. We must seize this brand and colonize the entire world."

"How come you and Han Jian share the same idea? You're always thinking about becoming king and conquering the world! To put it nicely, you have lofty goals and aspirations. To put it bluntly, that's just daydreaming and wishful thinking! At least, for the next thirty to fifty years, our goal is to survive and develop!"

"Tsk!... Look at you, you're such a loser!" Chen Rui sat up from the bed and said contemptuously, "With the scientific and technological knowledge we possess, how can we not replace the British and build our own empire on which the sun never sets?" "The scientific and technological knowledge we possess?" Shu Wendong couldn't help but laugh when he heard it. "Then let me ask you, can you smelt iron? Can you farm? Can you spin and weave? Can you build machines? Let's not talk about the most advanced machine tools and electronic components, just the most primitive steam engine. Can you make it? Can you make a musket or a cannon by hand?"

"..." Chen Rui was speechless after hearing this. After a long pause, he said angrily, "I can't do any of these things you mentioned! However, as long as I understand the production principles of these things and get a bunch of craftsmen to try them out, I'll be able to make them sooner or later!"

"Climbing the tech tree is a long and tortuous process. You can't just understand the principles and easily create something like that." Shu Wendong also sat up from the bed, then hopped down, saying leisurely, "For example, the principles of the atomic bomb are known to everyone in the world. But how many countries can actually build it?"

"You're such a boring person!" Chen Rui curled his lips and said, "Sometimes, people always need to have an ideal, and it has to be a very lofty and far-reaching ideal. Otherwise, what's the difference between you and salted fish?"

"Let's go, you idealistic salted fish." Shu Wendong smiled and patted his shoulder, then put his arm around him and walked out of the cabin. "It's almost time for our shift, it's time for us to go up and enjoy the sea breeze."
-
"Pity!"

Captain Luo Zhenhui of the Breaking Waves felt very sorry when he saw two small boats exiling seven or eight sheep to Coronado Island in San Diego Bay.

Three days ago, when the "Break the Wave" was sailing in the waters near San Diego Bay, a sudden storm swept in. In order to avoid suffering too much damage, it immediately took shelter in the bay and waited for the weather to improve.

During a routine inspection of the bottom hold, a Spanish sailor reported that the bottom hold was loaded with too many livestock and poultry, making it unbearable for the residents of the town living near the bottom hold. For several days, they could not eat anything.

Furthermore, the livestock and poultry were packed too closely together, leaving countless piles of manure. This not only contaminated a large amount of supplies but also impeded air circulation, causing many animals to become sick or even listless. If they had not been evacuated, I'm afraid more than half would have died by the time they reached Qiming Island.

In desperation, they had to reluctantly abandon some of the livestock on the small island of Coronado.

"Captain, we may have to come to Mexico again in the future," Wei Yingbin whispered. "These livestock are kept on this island, so they won't run away. It won't be long before they multiply by the hundreds or even thousands. When we head south again and plunder Mexico, we can take them for supplies."

"Being a robber for a long time becomes addictive," Luo Zhenhui said, shaking his head. "Look at Spain and Portugal. They were like two greedy robbers. They colonized the Americas for hundreds of years, but they simply plundered and extorted to satisfy their own extravagant needs. They paid no attention to strengthening their domestic foundations or developing industry and commerce, leading to their being surpassed by the rising power of Britain. As a result, they possessed vast colonial territories and abundant mineral resources, but they did nothing to enhance their national strength."

"Self-reliance has always been the foundation of our Chinese people's struggle to stand on their own among the nations of the world. We must certainly inherit and carry forward this tradition." Wei Yingbin smiled and said, "However, we are currently extremely poor and have almost no foundation to speak of. We can't even meet the most basic living conditions. In this situation, taking some advantage of the Spanish can save us a considerable amount of time in our development."

"Well, no matter what, our future development should be centered around ourselves, with innovation as the only path forward," Luo Zhenhui said. "The revolutionary pioneer Sun Yat-sen once said, 'If I firmly believe it is feasible, then even the difficult task of moving mountains and filling the sea will eventually succeed. If I firmly believe it is not feasible, then even the easy task of snapping a branch will never bear fruit.' I deeply agree with this! In the future..."

"An enemy is attacking!"

"Alarm! ...More than ten small boats are approaching from the southeast!"

As the two were talking, they suddenly heard the sailor's warning from the bow. They were startled and immediately looked towards the southeast.

In the fine mist, seven or eight small boats were vaguely seen floating on the sea, heading towards the location where the "Breaking Wave" was anchored.

"All personnel immediately prepare for battle!"

Damn it, I’m not going to run into the Spaniards here!
(End of this chapter)