Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 62 Harvest
"They have no intention of surrendering yet?"

The "Wavebreaker" had been circling the Spanish ship for more than an hour and had fired seven or eight rounds of artillery fire, almost completely destroying the structures on the opponent's deck and causing heavy casualties to the crew on board.

Especially the last few rounds of bombardment, which used brutal buckshot. At a very close distance, countless pieces of gravel and iron chips swept across the deck of the Spanish ship like a storm, knocking down a large number of Spanish sailors who were still resisting stubbornly.

The entire ship was filled with wailing. The bodies of sailors with blood holes all over their bodies were lying there. There were even more wounded people lying on the deck, wailing miserably and helplessly.

The enemy's counterattack became weaker and weaker, and in the end, it was almost non-existent. Many Spanish sailors even dropped their weapons, hugged their heads, huddled in the corner with pale faces, and kept begging and praying to God.

Luo Zhenhui stuck his head out of the command console and carefully observed the Spanish ship, but saw that the other side seemed to have no intention of lowering the flag and surrendering, so he couldn't help but frowned.

These Spaniards are really brave, their fighting morale is quite strong!

Even though he knew he couldn't escape or win, he still resisted and continued to fight us.

Could it be that they want to wait for us to come over to board the ship and then attack us?

"Do you want to throw a few homemade bombs over there?" Meng Shengxin asked.

"Let's not do that! What if we throw a bomb over there and it sets the ship on fire?"

"If we continue to bombard them, we won't have many shells left."

"Or, let someone make another call."

"Well, let's try again. ... Hey, these Spaniards are really brave. Even at this point, they still refuse to surrender."

"Yes, that's truly awe-inspiring courage. When we establish an army in the future, both the army and navy must possess this kind of determination and courage to fight to the end."

In war, qi is the main thing. If the qi is strong, you will win; if the qi is weak, you will lose.

Qi is a fighting spirit and a determination to win. It strengthens belief, elevates fighting spirit, and achieves victory.

Hence the saying that when two brave men meet on a narrow road, the braver one prevails.

Only those with courage can be invincible and victorious in every battle.

It is precisely because of this courage to advance forward and daring to overwhelm all enemies that our army in later generations was able to generate powerful combat effectiveness and win one victory after another.

In this era, we should inherit and carry forward it.

Harvey and others hid behind the side of the ship and began shouting loudly at the Spanish ship opposite, demanding that the other side surrender unconditionally immediately, so that they could enjoy the proper treatment as prisoners of war.

If you continue to resist, we will take the most drastic measures, blow the entire ship into pieces, and let everyone on board die in the sea.

In order to give the other side time to respond, the "Break the Wave" also stopped firing and waited quietly for the Spanish ship's reply.

About seven or eight minutes later, just when the crew of the "Break the Wave" was getting impatient and was about to continue the bombardment, the Spanish ship opposite lowered all its sails one after another, and also lowered the Burgundy Cross flag that symbolized the Spanish royal family.

"Get ready to board the ship and receive our spoils!" Luo Zhenhui's expression brightened up and a smile appeared on his face.

Damn it, I'm really worried that these Spaniards will fight to the death.

In the end, they may even force you to perish along with the ship, directly sinking this large sailing ship loaded with gold and silver, leaving us with nothing.

If they were really so decisive, they could only express their greatest regret and sorrow while admiring the courage of the Spaniards.

In order to track the Manila galleon, the "Breaking Waves" wasted its remaining fuel, started the motor several times, and turned on the radar search equipment, so that it could always follow the direction of the other party's escape and keep close behind.

Finally, at the first sign of the day, they quietly approached the Spanish ship, which had thought it had escaped pursuit, and dealt it a fatal blow. In the battle that had lasted just over an hour, despite the "Break"'s "cordially" greeting the enemy with its six guns, repeatedly bombarding it, destroying its deck structures and killing and wounding many of them, three of their own men were also hit by stray bullets, one of whom was wounded in the chest and was in serious condition, receiving emergency treatment from the military doctor.

Now that the Spanish ship has lowered its flag and surrendered, the gold and silver it carried will become our spoils of war, and all our efforts will be worth it.

When the "Break the Wave" carefully approached the Spanish ship, several crew members, holding daggers in their mouths, quickly climbed over the side of the ship and jumped onto the deck of the other ship.

After brief negotiations, the two sides again received the safety promise of the "Breaking Waves" crew. Then the sailors on the Spanish ship climbed out of the cabin and the towers at both ends of the deck one after another, and threw their weapons on the deck one by one, waiting for the other side to deal with them.

Afterwards, more crew members of the "Breaking Wave" climbed over the side of the ship and came to the Spanish ship, ready to receive the gold and silver supplies on it.

"What? Their captain was blown into two pieces by a cannonball not long after we launched the attack?" Meng Shengxin had just stood firmly on the deck of the Spanish ship when he heard a Spanish crew member gloatingly reporting to him.

"Yes, sir," Alvarez replied with a smile. "It was the captain's unexpected death that temporarily deprived them of any organizational ability. That's why no one decided to surrender despite our continuous bombardment."

"Then where is their first mate?...Oh, by the way, where is the boatswain?" Meng Shengxin asked as he walked anxiously towards the cabin below.

"Sir, their first mate is a coward," Alvarez led the way. "When we were chasing him, he followed the captain's orders and went to the bottom hold to drag out a cannon to engage us. But when he saw we were quickly catching up to them and came under heavy fire, he hid in the bottom hold and dared not show his head. ... The boatswain? Oh, how unfortunate! Splinters kicked up by a cannonball pierced his calf and he was dragged to the stern tower for treatment."

"Have their casualties been counted?"

"I've roughly counted them. Eighteen of them died, and twenty-seven were injured. Well, that means nearly half of the crew can no longer fight. However, as time goes by, I believe their death toll will increase. ... They don't have a doctor as skilled as Mr. Dong on board!"

Meng Shengxin couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.

These people now all know that having a doctor on board will be the greatest guarantee of life for all crew members.

"Sir, we've made a fortune!"

As soon as Meng Shengxin went down to the bottom cabin, Harvey, who was sorting out his belongings, showed him a handful of silver pesos with an excited look on his face.

"How many are there?" Meng Shengxin took out a few silver coins from his hand and looked at them carefully in the dim light.

"That's a full forty-five boxes of silver coins!" Harvey pointed to the dozens of boxes neatly stacked in the cabin. "I estimate there's six hundred thousand pesos. Oh, of course, maybe even more. Plus, there's a large amount of copper here, probably over a hundred farengas (a Spanish unit of weight, 1 farenga equals 55.5 kilograms). Oh, sir, you might not know this, but these copper bars can be traded as currency in the Ming Dynasty."

"The mainland is short on copper, and these coppers can actually be traded as currency!" Meng Shengxin tossed a few silver coins into the cash box, leaned over to look at the copper blocks piled on the bottom of the cabin, and rubbed his face with his hands. "However, we'll need a lot of copper to develop our industry in the future. So, we have to keep these and can't trade them as currency."

"Oh, that's all right. I think these seized pesos and silver coins will be enough to support our immigration activities for several years."

"Indeed!" Meng Shengxin returned his gaze to the dozens of cash boxes and said with a smile, "No wonder, being a pirate is such a promising profession. Three years of quiet business, three years of profit upon opening! Although the gold and silver we seized this time isn't as much as the English pirate Drake, it's still among the best in the piracy world."

"Huh?..." Harvey was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding why these Chinese people kept mentioning the English and insisted on comparing them with them.

At this time, although Spain began to decline uncontrollably, it still relied on its vast colonies to maintain the kingdom's superficial prosperity and strong power.

The Spanish controlled the shipping routes of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and were the undisputed overlords of the sea.

The culture and art industries of the Kingdom of Spain reached their peak, and the Spanish monarchy was consolidated and strengthened. All of this enabled Spain to occupy a strong position in international affairs.

Although the small island nation of England managed to defeat the Spanish Armada, it did not shake the world hegemony of the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets".

In the eyes of the Spaniards, the English were just a group of second-rate pirates who could only hide in the shadows, use despicable means to attack Spanish merchant ships and plunder the Spanish wealth.

"Alright. Once the sailors have calmed down a bit, we'll supervise and instruct them to transfer the cash boxes to our 'Break the Waves.'" Meng Shengxin clapped his hands and said, "If we move quickly, we might have a chance to capture the other two Spanish ships and create a pirate legend!"

(End of this chapter)