Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 53 Blackmail
"Tell him we need a ransom of 40,000 pesos for the entire town. If there's one pesos short, we'll kill one person. If there's ten pesos short, we'll kill another person and burn down a house. If there's a hundred pesos short, we'll burn down an entire street! ... If there's a thousand pesos short, hmph, we'll massacre your entire town!"

Late at night on December 12, more than 27 crew members of the "Break the Wave" broke into Manta and quickly took control of the city hall, church, court and militia armory, and captured a number of town officials including the alderman, the bishop of Manta, the prosecutor, and the sheriff.

During the night attack, three patrolling militiamen were killed, and seven or eight residents who "bravely" resisted were also killed or injured, which greatly shocked the entire town.

Because it was late at night and the town was attacked suddenly, there was no time for people to react. When the sounds of gunfire, screams, and intermittent cries of the dying rang out in the streets, all the residents were frightened.

The women hugged their children tightly and huddled in the corner of the house with fear on their faces.

The men were guarding the door of the house, holding old-fashioned matchlock rifles, bayonets, or kitchen knives, and peeking at the situation outside through the cracks in the door.

However, in the dark night, nothing could be seen. All that could be heard was the constant barking of dogs, the occasional shouts, and the sporadic sound of gunfire.

Apparently, a group of armed men broke into the town and tried to take control of everything.

There is nothing to do except pray silently to God.

Where did this armed group come from?

How many people are there?

What is their purpose?
Nobody knows.

Nor did he dare to take the initiative to go out and find out the real situation.

For many years, except for occasional sporadic attacks by Native Americans on residents of the small town who were away from home in the suburbs or wilderness, the small town had never been subjected to a large-scale attack.

Even decades ago, when those hateful English pirates ravaged the Pacific coast, they never visited the small town of Manta.

Now, disaster has struck.

Oh, God bless us!

When the sun rose and the sky became bright, the frightened residents of the small town looked outside, only to find that the streets were deserted with almost no pedestrians.

However, when they tried to push open the door and step out tentatively, they would be severely scolded by several pirates holding guns and knives at the corner of the street, preventing them from taking any further action.

No one was allowed to go out.

Their attitude was fierce and resolute. Several residents of the small town bravely ran out on the pretext of buying food, and were immediately shot at by their muskets.

Although they were not hit due to the distance, this action did scare the residents of the small town.

They are pirates!
They really dare to kill people!

Everyone closed their doors and windows, anxiously waiting for their unknown fate.

Meng Shengxin, who was in charge of the team, ordered his men to bring the mayor of the small town to him, and then pretended to be fierce and announced to him the matter of paying the ransom.

A rough estimate shows that there are nearly 800 residents in the small town, and each person is required to pay 50 pesos or equivalent gold and silver in exchange for their life safety, for a total of 40,000 pesos.

During this period in Europe, whether it was wars between countries or pirate looting activities, there were traditional items such as "ransom for the city" and "ransom for the head". That is, when occupying an enemy town or pirates raiding a coastal port, they would demand a huge ransom from the other party in exchange for the safety of the town or the people.

Of course, the sailors of the "Wavebreaker" could also plunder on their own, but considering that they were too few in number, if they broke into houses and looted, they might provoke resistance from the residents of the small town, which would most likely cause casualties and would be difficult to resolve.

In this case, we should fully respect the traditional customs of Europeans and directly let the small town pay a high ransom fee. This is much easier than doing it ourselves.

Manta's city administrator, Doroteo Arango, is a native white man who bought this position five years ago with the help of his grandfather's legacy and his own years of hard work.

That's right, in the Spanish American colonies, except for a few officials such as governors, county sheriffs (in areas with a large Indian population), mayors (in towns with a large number of European immigrants), and supervisors (generally located in frontier areas) who had to be appointed by the royal family, most colonial government positions could be bought and sold.

During this period, the bureaucratic administration of the Spanish colonies had reached a point of extreme corruption. All colonial decrees, laws, institutions, and regulations were formulated for the benefit of the Spanish colonial rulers, with the goal of ensuring the absolute rule of the Spanish royal family and the endless plunder of colonial territories.

Government positions were seen as a path to social advancement and wealth. Official positions of all stripes and ranks were readily available for sale, leading to widespread corruption among officials of all ranks. A clerk who had inspected the colonial territories lamented privately to a friend that all officials viewed their time in the colonies as a period of happiness they would never experience again. If they didn't accumulate a substantial fortune during this time, they would become a laughingstock.

Perfunctory work and delays in official business were common phenomena in the colonial government, and lawsuits were decided based on the amount of money paid by both parties.

Some lawsuits have dragged on for decades or even generations without being concluded.

Countless tax officials not only allowed merchants to engage in smuggling in exchange for bribes, but also engaged in smuggling activities themselves.

Even the governor appointed by the king himself did not feel ashamed of accepting bribes, but instead took pride in his greed.

In order to ease the resistance of the colonial people, deceive the local people and promote the so-called "fairness" of the royal family, the Spanish royal family occasionally issued orders to "protect" the Indians and prohibit officials from engaging in corruption.

But colonial officials regarded it as a piece of waste paper and did not abide by it.

A common saying in their time was, "I obey, but I don't practice."

Moreover, these royal directives did not really attempt to stop the corruption of colonial officials, because most of the money they earned in the colonies had to be shipped back to the mother country. In fact, their corruption and fraud were often tacitly approved or even encouraged by the royal family.

In just five years as city official, Doroteo Arango amassed a large amount of wealth through various means and accumulated assets worth thousands of pesos.

Now, the pirates attacked at night and took control of all the officials of the small town. When he was feeling panic, the pirate leader called him and demanded a ransom of 40,000 pesos.

Hearing this astonishing number, he was speechless for a long time.

You pirates are so unprofessional!
Does our little town of Manta look like a place where we could come up with a 40,000-peso ransom?
This is not a big city like Lima, nor an important transportation hub like Panama, nor a regional trade center like Guayaquil.

Manta is just an insignificant coastal town, a temporary supply stop for merchant ships traveling across the Isthmus of Panama.

Each resident of the small town had to pay a ransom of fifty pesos, which was a considerable amount of money for an ordinary family.

What if a family has four or five children? Wouldn’t they have to pay a ransom of more than 300 pesos all at once?

Of course, as the mayor of a small town, it was not difficult for him to come up with a ransom of hundreds of pesos for his family.

But the problem is that these pirates don't care who in the small town can afford to pay and who can't, they just want a total ransom.

Oh, God, 40,000 pesos. If the collection is not complete and the shortfall is too large, will I have to fill it myself?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!
"Dear sir..." Doroteo Arango considered his words, bowed slightly to Meng Shengxin, and said humbly, "Our small town is impoverished, with a sluggish economy and a lack of commerce. It's not a major trade and shipping hub, and the residents live an extremely difficult life. Faced with such a high ransom, I believe most people cannot afford it, let alone pay their due share. I beg you, sir, for God's sake, to show your mercy and wisdom and minimize the ransom amount."

After listening to Lin Afu's translation, Meng Shengxin pondered for a while and did not respond.

Well, it’s really embarrassing to be a pirate and extort ransom!

He turned his head to look at Kuang Xu beside him, and his eyes told him how to respond next.

How did you guys do it the last time you robbed a Mexican town?
Kuang Xu's expression also froze, but he gave him a wry smile.

The last time we robbed a Mexican town, it was for supplies, not money, and we did it ourselves. No matter how valuable or small the items were, we packed up and took away everything that could be used in daily life.

But the purpose this time is simply to make money, which requires ruthless exploitation and plundering.

So, the two turned their attention to Harvey.

So, what do you Europeans do in this situation?

"If you can't raise the total ransom we demand, you will be the first to die!" Harvey pulled out a knife, put it on Doroteo Arango's neck, and said in a grim tone.

(End of this chapter)