open sea

Chapter 864
There are three forts in the official forest road between Mexico City and Changsheng County. Originally, the West India Committee planned to name these three forts the "Alva Line of Defense" in order to please the Duke of Alva, meaning indestructible.

However, within three months of the completion of the fortress, the first bastion has not yet been repaired, and the two countries have begun to sign a contract. In the so-called Mingxi common rule area, these three fortresses guarding the main road are like a joke .

Now they are called 'Bernal Lines', which means vulnerable.

The seven bastions in the plan have also become two simple log forts and one wooden and stone bastion today, which consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, and the result is meaningless.

This kind of thing can be frustrating for anyone, but it is not the most uncomfortable thing.

In the military fortress, the old Duke of Alva, dressed in black satin tailoring, stared at the wall and stood with his hands behind his back. He heard the monk sent to the border by the East India Affairs Committee say: "Last week, seven more plantations were abandoned. Fleeing the land with their family and servants, three people bought land at a high price near Fort Bernal, and the other four, oh, they went to other places to make a living."

The old prince didn't frown. It wasn't the first time something like this happened. He just repeated softly: "This is a deserter, a deserter."

"Your Excellency, three months ago, according to your request, the Indian Affairs Committee issued a decree to the whole of New Spain to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty and enter a period of peace. They have the right to leave here."

Alva ignored the provocations from the committee monks who seemed to be defending his power, he just asked: "You have investigated clearly, why do planters keep giving up their land? Is it because of those green cloaks?"

The border between Spain and Ming Dynasty was born in the war, and it seems that it has been accompanied by endless friction since its birth.

Friction is not necessarily limited to war, but confrontation without gunpowder will test people's will even more.

"Some people left because of hatred. The two barons thought it was a shame like the Moors ruled Iberia 900 years ago. They planned to go to other places to recruit mercenaries and explorers, waiting for the third war with Ming. .”

The monks in the committee said with a helpless wry smile on their faces: "This is not their guess. After discussion among many monks in the committee, we have unanimously judged that even if the contract is signed this time, it is only a delay of several years. According to Chen Mu's usual practice , when he gets familiar with the situation here, we will still enter a state of war with the Ming Kingdom."

Hearing what the monk said, Alva's expression relaxed. He walked slowly around the table and sat down, saying, "Your thinking is very correct. When do you think the next war will happen?"

The monk said: "In five to ten years, although the Ming Dynasty took over the cities on the west coast, they maintained a local life on this land. It seems that their purpose of coming here is to farm, fish and raise geese. , they have almost no cost to maintain the new land, but also produce very little.”

"Our redeemed captives said that they brought back a lot of big tortoises from Acapulco this year. Some of them had no plants and animals on board. They also cut down a lot of trees from the north but they didn't know how to transport them back. The silver that is not shipped back is still bought and sold with us."

"It's ridiculous, what the hell are they doing here?"

It's really ridiculous, because the way Ming and Spain treat the New World is completely different, which makes it difficult for the West India Affairs Committee to understand.

"The Ming Dynasty is very powerful, but no matter how much land they get, it will not generate enough benefits in a short time, but we can continuously send silver and gold back to the country and recruit more legion soldiers. We will prepare for a few years and go to war again The winner must be us."

There is almost no comparison between the two countries in the New World. Spain is a robber with a gun. It does not treat the aborigines as human beings. Naturally, there is no psychological burden. Backed by the legion, the planters supervise the aborigines and maintain the colonial expenses. It's big, but so is the income.

What the Ming people did in the New World looked more like farmers with cannons. Although the Beiyang Army was very powerful, they came here to farm in a down-to-earth manner, and less than [-]% of their income was handed over to the domestic.

The long-term military contact has given the West India Council a certain understanding of Ming. They believe that the reason why Ming won two wars in succession is because Ming is too big and has enough strength, but it does not have the right way to treat the new land.

Like them, [-]% of the output is collected, and more is obtained.

"Does the committee think so?" Duke Alva asked noncommittally, "Then why did the rest leave?"

"Some people are cowards. They think they can't protect the plantation, so they ran to the vicinity of Fort Bernal; some are unbearable to be humiliated. Those Indians who were enslaved in the past entered the land of the Ming country and turned into Ming people. They often appear in No one can stand the bravado around the plantation."

This matter is incomprehensible to the people of the Ming Dynasty and the Spanish plantation owners on the border. The people of the Ming Dynasty could not restrain the desire of the newly naturalized aborigines to cross the border to show off, and the Spanish plantation owners could not accept it calmly. This situation.

Many border conflicts were caused by plantation owners who seized, wounded, tortured, and killed the aboriginal people. Sometimes no one knew, and things just passed away. Inform the belonging villages of the attached aborigines.

Then there will be dozens or even hundreds of armed civilians, led by one or more village captains, across the border to rescue the people under control. If the people they are trying to save are tortured horribly or their heads are hung on the wall, the conflict will not be possible. avoid.

This happened three times, and all three times the entire plantation was liberated.

The West India Committee defined this kind of incident as a provocation to Spain, and reported the incident to Alva. The Duke asked them to contact Chen Mu by themselves, but they sent people to Changsheng, but they couldn't even see Chen Mu. Response that is neither salty nor light.

For the first time, the gatekeepers of the Eastern Military Mansion told their envoy five words: It has been recorded.

The second time, the guards of the Dongyang Military Mansion delayed reporting for an hour, and when they came out, they relayed Zhao Shizhen's words: The commander-in-chief knows.

For the third time, their envoy finally saw Zhao Shizhen. Zhao Shizhen was wearing an official robe on the balcony on the second floor, and said to the envoy outside the gate of the military mansion from a distance: "Chen Shuai said that there are only three things, let Alva take care of you." If you dare to hurt the people of our Celestial Dynasty, you will all go back to Iberia."

Since then, plantations on the east side of the border have been largely abandoned.

Alva now seems indifferent to what happened in the New World, and seems to only care about whether the musket workshop in Mexico City can make enough muskets for him on time to supply him with victory in the upcoming Spanish-Portuguese war.

But the old man's heart was like a mirror, he moved his fingers on the table, and said to the monks endlessly: "Did the committee find that from the border eastward to the Caribbean coast, our new nobles are trying to leave?" , Indians without human rights are scrambling to flee westward, and tribes are also migrating across the border."

"The committee believes that the third Mingxi war that will break out ten years later has already begun, and there is no need for legions." Alva raised his hand and nodded his head: "Use this to decide the outcome."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)