Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2492 Steel Black Shark ([-])

"Captain, the Cactus is flying a white flag to request surrender. It is a troop carrier." The first officer ran over excitedly and reported to Huang Jiandonghui.

Huang Jiandong nodded, raised his binoculars and looked over.However, perhaps things have changed. I saw that the white flag was being lowered rapidly, and an aristocratic Spanish officer pulled out his rapier from a sailor's chest, and then kept waving it, shouting something loudly.Around him, dozens of soldiers were surrounded, and they were excited, beating the sailors who wanted to surrender.

It's clear that some people don't want to surrender!

"Send them to meet their gods." Lieutenant Colonel Huang Jiandong put down his binoculars and walked to a window at the back, looking at the horizon in the distance.There was nothing to be seen there. The warships that had followed them had disappeared, but the muffled sound of cannons could be heard faintly. They should have exchanged fire with the Xiangfeng Fleet. I don't know what happened.

Of course, Lieutenant Colonel Huang Jiandong was not very worried that they would lose.In fact, even without the participation of armored battleships, the dozen or so escort gunboats and light cruisers could still easily defeat the Spanish Windward Fleet. The only suspense is probably how much it will cost.

The Windward Fleet, hehe, was almost gone back then. It was rebuilt by consultants on the east coast, in order to do their best to preserve the wealth of the Kingdom of Spain in the Caribbean Sea and prevent it from being sucked by other European countries.After all, in the eyes of people on the east coast, all these wealth belong to us, and none of you can take advantage of it.

In today's Windward Fleet, there are about ten serious professional warships, some of which were transferred from Europe, and some were built in Havana (this is the largest Spanish shipyard in America, in fact, it is also the largest in their entire country. , the most advanced shipyard), and the warships ordered on the east coast many years ago, the types are very complicated, and the tonnage is also different, but they are indeed professional warships, there is no doubt about it.

In addition to professional warships, the Windward Fleet also has 4-6 remodeled armed merchant ships, but the tonnage is not large.These ships can naturally fight against the enemy, but they can only fight pirates or bully smuggling ships. If they fight against the regular navy of any country, they will be doomed.After all, Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries in continental Europe have long stopped advocating armed merchant ships to go to the battlefield, and they are also gradually phasing out these unqualified ships.Unless there are no ships available at the end of the war, the possibility of these modified ships going to the battle line is too low.

But this time the Spaniards dispatched two armed merchant ships, plus four professional warships ranging from 300 to 800 tons, escorting more than a dozen transport ships of various types, and headed for Havana.This is not to say that they pretended to underestimate the enemy. In fact, they never expected that the people on the east coast would be so decisive that they would not hesitate to resort to force to prevent them from sending troops to Florida to suppress them.If the people on the east coast had engaged in several incidents at sea before this, and then warned Spain several times in the most severe tone, then they might have dispatched the main force of the Windward Fleet just like China dispatched the main escort of the Beiyang Navy in later generations. There were not many signs before the personnel incident, and they went directly. The Spaniard was really caught off guard.

There are six ships capable of fighting, and each transport ship has 4-8 cannons. If this strength can cope with the general situation, there is really no problem.The pirates in the Caribbean Sea are not so arrogant. Those people will only choose single-handed merchant ships full of high-value goods instead of transport fleets full of soldiers and weapons. The pay and benefits are completely unequal - and it is very likely No benefit at all, nothing to pay for - they wouldn't do it, unless it was a larger privateer fleet sponsored by the state in private, but that has disappeared for many years.

But the Spaniards were really unlucky this time. They encountered the worst situation, which was the strong interception of the regular navy on the east coast.The people on the east coast actually dispatched a line of main warships, plus extremely powerful armored monsters, just to intercept a transport fleet of the governor of New Spain.This kind of determination was really something the Spaniards didn't expect, so they were caught blind all at once. At the same time, they were also a little aggrieved and angry. For a Florida, you are going to go to war like this. As for it?Don't forget, you have huge interests in Peru and New Spain. As long as the two governors give orders, you don't need to introduce any discriminatory policies. Just ordinary hints can greatly reduce your business income .This is the case, you actually did this, who gave the order? How dare you!

Self-pity will not solve the problem, it will only cause more pain and hasten your own death.Just like the nobles on the "Cactus" transport ship glaring at the people on the east coast, there was no applause or admiration to greet them, only more than a dozen shells flew over.

They should be thankful that the people on the east bank did not use special bullets to send them to the sky. The pain of tearing their bodies is not something everyone can bear.They just used solid bullets to break the hull of the ship and let it sink quickly.And it was at this time that a dramatic scene appeared. After learning that the people on the east coast would not directly kill or injure their lives, but only to sink the ship and prevent them from going to Florida, the Spaniards on the ship woke up like a dream, and one after another Started to fight for the only traffic boat to escape.

They fought so hard that some of them shot at their comrades.The aristocrat who was so stinky just now has disappeared, maybe he has been transferred to the traffic boat, or he was trampled under the feet of the crowd, but who cares?Anyway, this troop carrier was going to sink, and the hundreds of them couldn't go anywhere, and most of them were doomed to die at the bottom of the sea, so there was really no need to pay too much attention to them.

The "Daimyo" ironclad continued to move forward. When its mighty gun barrel finally aimed at Captain Rodriguez's "San Marco", the master's legs softened and he knelt on the deck subconsciously.Nima watched the scene of several ships being sunk in a row. Captain Rodriguez felt that it was too exciting. Not only his legs were weak, but his whole body was already limp.Not just because of fear, but because of the ruthless efficiency with which the East Coast ironclads were sinking ships, which almost shattered any chance of Captain Rodriguez's escape.They are not on the same level, there is no doubt about it, resistance is meaningless, it will only cost lives in vain.

The "San Marco" troop carrier finally raised the white flag in time, which allowed them to avoid the tragedy of the ship being destroyed.But the "Damyo" ironclad ship still did not let them go so easily. After asking everyone on board to throw away their weapons and cut off the mast, they sent two sailors aboard as liaison officers, waiting for follow-up ships to come processing (if any).As for the "Daimyo" itself, it doesn't have that much time to talk nonsense with them. There are still many transport ships fleeing in front of them, so they can't be let go.

So, Captain Rodriguez waited for a group of people to wait on the sea for the next few hours.Because the mast was cut off, the ship lost its power, so it could only drift with the current in the sea, swaying slowly.But at this time, their hearts were extremely peaceful. The most dangerous time was over. It was better to be a prisoner than to be a fish food.So, a group of sailors and soldiers sat around on the deck, discussing which of the state-owned farms on the east coast, forest farms, mines, or construction teams has lower labor intensity, which has higher wages, and which has better food. Shangguan, who has been paid by the army for several months, lamented that he got up earlier than chickens and slept later than dogs. He often went to the forest to suppress bandits and went to the sea to drive out pirates. Where people are non-citizens.The military officers listening to each other looked at each other in blank dismay, and at the same time they were a little sad. What else can they do if the military spirit is like this?

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the sun in the west was already faltering, and the iron-clad battleship "Damyo" finally swaggered back.It looked all right, the paint wasn't even peeling off, and two Spanish transports followed.Captain Rodriguez had sharp eyes and recognized the troop carrier "Santa Ana" and the ammunition transport ship "Parrot". Both ships had white flags flying from their topmasts, and they seemed to be captured.I just don’t know how many transport ships the “Daimyo” has sunk or captured since then. I heard that they have a hot air balloon that can be lifted into the sky. trace of it.

Even if the captains of those transport ships were smart enough to disperse and flee in all directions.However, with the ability of the "Daimyo" to destroy opponents, coupled with its intelligence advantages and super high speed, it is probably not a problem to sink a few ships and capture a few ships.Captain Rodriguez estimated that it would be very good if two or three transport ships could escape smoothly in the end.Moreover, where can escape go?After a while, the people on the east bank can clean up the mess here, and then search towards Havana. If those ships that managed to escape dare to go to Havana, they will fall into the trap if they don't keep them all.

Alas, it is so difficult!There is simply no way out for people!Captain Rodriguez lamented, but saw that the returning "Daimyo" did not stop at their side at all, but continued to sail westward with the two captive ships.This is probably going to rendezvous with their main fleet, Captain Rodriguez guessed, and he didn't know what the battle would be like.But no matter what the current battle situation is, when this steel black shark passes by, the situation will probably be one-sided. This ship is so fierce that it is simply released by the devil to torture people.

(End of this chapter)