Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1472 Saint Christopher's Turtle Shell

Sailing on the sea has never been an easy task!

For example, the distance between Santo Domingo, France and St. Christopher Island is only a few hundred nautical miles. When the current or wind direction is unfavorable, your efforts will be in vain.Starting in the early morning of May 5th, the east coast fleet consisting of two "Star" class light cruisers, a fresh water supply ship, an ammunition supply ship, a troop carrier, and two civilian transport ships, set off at the After tossing at sea for more than ten days, it was difficult to catch a moderate southwest wind, and then quickly adjusted the yard, and sailed to the sea near the port of Basse-Terre to anchor in the future by using the crosswind. It was May 8, 1667, and it was really not easy.

After they left, Lieutenant Zheng Dalin, who was staying at the Cape of France, had fully shrunk. At present, all the elite troops of the two companies have retreated to the urban area and the coastal defense fort, leaving the vast wilderness to the French or pirates (if any) , to ensure that he will not be defeated one by one by looking for opportunities.

Of course, their contraction is believed to be temporary. After the reinforcements from the Free State and Air Canada arrive after hearing the news, they will basically not be afraid of the threat of the enemy. At that time, they can even gather ships and manpower to push back Tortuga Island, let’s drive these pirates away first—of course, if the people on the east coast make up their minds to be traded to the French by Santo Domingo after the war in exchange for commercial benefits, that’s another matter.

The port of Basseterre was a big port in later generations, but in the 17th century today, the scale here is still small, and there is only a small wharf for ships that come to trade to dock.Due to the special colonial situation on the island, the pier is actually divided into two areas. One is the main pier controlled and used by the British, and the other is the new pier built by the French later. The scale is not large or small. There is a certain distance from the British pier, but it is not too far. After all, there is only such a beach on the island that is suitable for building a pier.

The history of the French colonization of this island probably dates back to the period of St. Christopher's Company. At that time, this company competed fiercely with the British colonists on the island. It probably used all means except war. .The result is that their financial situation is getting worse and worse, so that they finally take the risk and want to rob the people on the east coast to tide them over.

At the same time, the business of their rivals, the British, was booming, especially the famous Maurice Stone Tucker Company, who shipped a large amount of tobacco from the island to London every year and made countless profits.After the tobacco profit margin decreased slightly, they turned to open up some sugarcane plantations, and they are now making a profit. They are really well managed, much better than those Frenchmen.

Alright, let's go back to Frenchies.When St. Christopher's company failed to rob people on the east coast and its finances were about to collapse, it had to undergo a painful reorganization, that is, it introduced new investors to inject capital, but the result was still useless. A few years later, the new Investors have also declared bankruptcy, which is extremely sad.

However, the history of the French colonization of St. Christopher Island did not end there. The French government later took over the banner of colonization. They used various means, such as pardoning the "sins" of some Huguenots for believing in Protestantism, on the condition that Let it invest in the Caribbean or Quebec colonies.In addition, the two governments of Richelieu and Mazarin also gave these people a certain amount of financial subsidies, which prevented the French colonial banner from falling down on St. Christopher Island, and eventually developed slowly. Get up and compete with the British on the island.

But now the French colonization of St Christopher's Island was about to suffer a serious setback.Because their kings are very concerned about their own fame, are very keen on expanding the territory of France, and covet the rich Southern Netherlands and even the United Provinces, so they launched a campaign aimed at annexing the Southern Netherlands, Franche-Comté, and Lorraine. , Strasbourg and other places - in the name of fighting for his wife's due inheritance.

This kind of behavior should have been no problem in the past, but they have to pay a certain price for forgetting a huge variable outside the chessboard.This variable is the East Coast Republic of China, a pagan country that developed rapidly based on the New World, and is now appearing more and more in the eyes of people in old Europe, such as this time: Who would have thought The country would have thought of cede territory in the New World colonies in exchange for people from the east coast to help them declare war on the Kingdom of France!Although judging from the current situation, France's foundation is on the mainland, its investment in the sea has been maintained at a lukewarm level, and its naval power is also very weak, but once the French Santo Domingo is really included Many overseas territories in the country were uprooted one by one by the people on the east coast, but it was enough to make them feel sad for a long time. After all, these overseas colonies can also bring a lot of commercial benefits to France every year, and they can also participate in the Caribbean Sea through these fulcrums. In the tide of smuggling trade.Therefore, it is a pity to lose these places!

On May 1667, 5, under the escort of the light cruisers "Southern Cross" and "Sirius", the East Coasters landed on the southwest coast of St. Christopher Island.Compared with carefully avoiding the enemy's fort in Cape de France, the landing of the people on the east coast was extremely easy. Hundreds of troops took seven or eight small boats to go back and forth between the coast and the transport ship for half a day. To stop it, without the baptism of coastal defense heavy artillery shells, and without the interception of enemy warships, in short, it went smoothly, so smoothly that people wondered if this was an exercise after all.

"This is not a drill, so be on the alert! The whole team, the whole team, don't make a fuss, hurry up, hurry up! Wait for the French to get ready to drive you into the sea?"

"Listen to the password, listen to the password! Follow your respective officers closely, quickly, gather at the big banner, don't dawdle! You miscellaneous cards, the quality is too poor, I can guarantee that if the regular army comes, it only takes half of your time to be able to The whole team is over, and it's not like you twittering and talking so much nonsense!"

"Go ashore first and go out on alert after the whole team is completed. Use the squad to find a bunker or concealment by yourself, and be ready to intercept the enemy who rushes out to prevent us from landing at any time! Remember, as soon as there is a situation, turn off the warning gun decisively. Don't hesitate!"

"Don't worry about the unimportant supplies. If they get soaked, they'll be soaked. Don't be afraid! Prioritize dragging the strategic supplies to the landing site and protect them properly. Next, we can eat and fight with these things. We can't let them go!"

"The officers are watching you. Anyone who doesn't work hard, is afraid of death, and hides behind will be recorded by the staff officers who supervise the battle. How can there be good fruit in the future? So cheer me up Come on, don't be ashamed!"

"Don't worry, the French are nothing to fear! The French on this island are mostly indentured slaves. They have no intention of resisting, and they are basically defeated at the first touch. Unlike the ruling core in Cape France with a large number of troops, the armed forces here are so small Poor, everyone can basically take it down with nothing!"

The above are all kinds of chaotic sounds that filled Captain Lan Fei's ears when he landed on the coast.Indeed, these miscellaneous troops of the Fengguo Army are really ineffective. The beach landing battle was messed up by them. Head—Of course other European countries are not much better at this time. The landing of the Spanish Flemish Army in the Southern Netherlands and the landing of the British army in Dunkirk were all messed up. The difference is similar, so there is nothing to be ashamed of, everyone is mutual.

The landing process lasted for a long time, and it was indeed as the East Coast officer said when he was cheering up. The French may have been scared out of their wits or lacked troops, so they did not send a single soldier to stop them.On the other hand, the British side, not far from here, is facing a big enemy. Hundreds of white men armed with rifles and looking like militiamen were armed urgently, and then looked nervously at the Fengguo army. Hundreds of officers and soldiers tossed about on the beach.

These people even pushed out two small-caliber cannons, aiming at the east bank from a distance, and it was obvious that they were on guard.At the end, the representatives of the British came over with a white flag to inquire. After learning that the target of the army on the east coast was the French on the island and their territory, they breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at the aliens with complicated expressions. The believers acted.

After the Fengguo army landed, they did not attack immediately. Instead, they assembled troops on the landing site, dug simple fortifications, and were ready to meet the French who came over (if any) at any time, so as to cooperate with the crucial forces behind. Landing of Artillery, Engineers, and Supplies.

The entire landing operation lasted until the evening before it was declared over. Captain Lan Fei ordered the whole army to rest here for one night, and then attack after dawn.In order to ensure safety, they took the trouble to nail long wooden stakes around the landing site, pulled up multi-layered barbed wire, dug fire-proof trenches, and arranged light and dark sentries. After all these methods were used, they started Burn fire to cook, eat in batches, rest, and build up physical strength.

The first night of the landing was not very peaceful, because the French, who had not stopped the landing of the people on the east coast before, took action.They bombarded the camping area of ​​the people on the east bank with several small-caliber artillery on the hillside not far away, and caused some casualties (this is still when the beach is soft and can effectively absorb the kinetic energy of the shells). Captain Lan Fei was extremely annoyed: These bastards dare not fight face to face during the day, but use such obscene means to harass at night, it is extremely shameless.

Under his order, the eight artillery pieces of the landed East Coast Army were moved over, concentrated fire on the place where the artillery flames appeared, and after tossing around midnight, knocked down one of them, forcing the operator to go to the other side. The French of both guns stopped firing and moved away in the dark.As for why the army was not sent there, the main consideration was that the black lights were in the dark, and it would be unattractive if the enemy caught a trap, so it would be better to stay still than to move.

The night of May 5th passed amid such turmoil. Early in the morning on the 25th, after breakfast, hundreds of soldiers from the Fengguo Army, with the cooperation of the artillery brothers, lined up in a dense formation and headed towards France. The human control area is slowly advancing.

At the beginning, the French still had some large-scale resistance, but they were beaten up by the dense volley of guns from the east bank, and then the hiding place was followed by the 105mm and 120mm guns of the first independent field artillery company. The smoothbore guns were knocked out one by one, and the result was doomed: dozens of French died in this asymmetrical battle, and the people on the east coast won a big victory, and they took one gun and pushed directly to the core colonial area of ​​the French .

There are stretches of farmland everywhere in the colonial area, which are full of cash crops such as tobacco and sugar cane. In the usual season, there are a large number of indentured slaves or black slaves working hard in the fields, but this time they are all gone.There is no one in the field, leaving only silent crops and farm tools that are occasionally found abandoned here.

"The French fled into a small fort. This is what the British told us. These Frenchmen built a fort in the colonial area many years ago, which can accommodate more than 200 people. They store some ammunition, Drinking water and other supplies. There are also artillery on the city walls. If they don't take the initiative to attack, it is really difficult to break through. Unless we work hard to bring the heavy naval guns over like last time and bombard the French walls at close range , but it may take three to five months, because I found out that the walls are made of extremely solid rock." The intelligence staff quietly walked to Captain Lan Fei and said softly: "This is not easy! We didn't have that much time, we didn't have that much ammunition, and they figured that out."

Although the words of the intelligence staff were not pleasant to hear, they were true. The French colonized St. Christopher Island for more than [-] years and used the extremely rich volcanic rocks on the island to build a very small fortress.Although its capacity is limited, it can only garrison more than two hundred soldiers, but it is really hard to chew, because its tortoise shell is thick enough, unless you have time to grind with them bit by bit, but this is definitely not the case for any command Things that officials try to avoid.

"First send people to guard the French in this fort, and at the same time send people to negotiate with them to see if they can surrender honorably. They can leave with their own weapons, property and families. We will not interfere. If they have no ships , we can give you a few small boats for free, provided that they hand over the fortress." Captain Lan Fei immediately made a decision based on the situation, only to hear him continue: "In addition, some manpower will be allocated immediately to sweep the surrounding villages and manors. , take hostages if necessary, and threaten these Frenchmen to surrender, I don't care about the reputation, I just want to occupy the French colonial area on Saint Christopher Island!"

(End of this chapter)