Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 511 Misjudgment?

In many cases, it has to be said that the Spanish system in La Plata is deformed.First, economically and politically, the center of La Plata is Asunción.The affluent Paraguay region is far from comparable to the late-developed lower reaches of the Paraná River. It is densely populated, fertile, with herds of cattle and sheep, rich in grape wine and sweet corn, and is a veritable prosperous area.And just a few decades ago, these cities on the lower Parana River, including Buenos Aires, were still under the direct jurisdiction of Asunción, at least in name.

However, with the rise of the people on the east coast, it is obvious that the military center of La Plata has gradually shifted to the lower reaches of the Paraná River, and then gradually the political center has also tended to shift there.More and more institutions, including military structures, economic institutions, religious institutions, and political institutions moved here, which caused the population of the city to increase significantly.Of course, the lagging construction of municipal facilities also makes the residents who have recently moved to the city miserable-especially when it rains, you need to be accompanied by overflowing feces.

There was another patter of rain outside the window. Alvaro stood in front of the window, looking at the gray street covered by fine raindrops through the turbid transparent glass window with a few air bubbles.There are not many pedestrians on the street, but there are still some people who are running for their lives in the rain.

With a "creak", Domingos pushed the door open and walked in.I saw him taking off his wet raincoat and handing it to the servants behind him, while taking off his wet hat to salute Alvaro: "Good day, sir. Captain Rodrigo's wife, Baroness Sebastian The housekeeper came to pick up some whale oil soap, and the current stock is running out. There is no need to arrange too many people to guard the warehouse, so I removed half of the people and let them go back to the country ranch. Recently there Not very peaceful, need more people to stay, or the horses in the pasture will be stolen by those damned, despicable gauchos again."

"Damn gauchos, they are half barbarian and never know the meaning of the word civilization." Alvaro still stared out of the window motionlessly, but insulted others with the most vicious language in his mouth: "Savages are savages, and no matter how hard they try to hide it, in the end we see it in their rude behavior."

Domingos stood aside, expressionless and did not answer.

"Pedro, you have served in the Legion of Flanders for many years, what do you think of the combat effectiveness of the army on the east bank?" Alvaro finally turned around at this time, sat on a chair, and looked at the vicissitudes of life in Zhong Said the young mercenary Dominguez.

"Sir, there is no Flanders Legion anymore..." Dominguez said bitterly, "I haven't seen any scenes of the East Coast army fighting or training, so I can't make an effective judgment on its combat effectiveness. But I heard that on the east coast, even the most ordinary militiaman, his annual live-fire training is several times that of the standing army of the old continent, not to mention that they also have a lot of queue training and tactical coordination training. The militiamen are all In this way, the training intensity of the standing army will only be greater, and the combat effectiveness will only be stronger."

"On the contrary, look at our country." Domingos continued to judge, "Even in the elite Flanders Legion, many of the recruits recruited were mostly farmers who didn't know anything, or simply beggars, Tramps basically do not have any military literacy. The combat power that the Flemish Legion later possessed was completely honed in endless battles, which cannot be replicated. Look at the newly recruited soldiers in the country today. They did not have the ability to fight the French at all. Looking at the soldiers in La Plata, although the shadow of the fiasco more than ten years ago has dissipated, the quality of the soldiers is still not optimistic. I think After being trained by General Garcia, the level of the soldiers is very poor. The newly recruited central and southern Europeans are mixed with the veterans who survived the last big defeat. They have little combat experience and low morale-frankly speaking, they They are all fighting for dinner, I don't think such an army can withstand the attack of the East Coast army."

"Everyone who is aware of the current situation in La Plata will not want to fight against the people on the east coast." Alvaro emphasized his voice and said irritably: "Now that the trade has stopped, La Plata and even the neighboring Chalka The good times are over for the gentlemen of Santiago, San Diego. They no longer enjoy the cheap East Coast textiles, whale oil soaps and candles, hardwood furniture, fine leather goods and clocks, and the mines cannot use the strong and durable East Coast metal. Utensils, the plantation also lacks suitable agricultural tools, repair craftsmen also lack high-quality steel and hardware tools, and our wool, fur and meat cannot be sold. People are very dissatisfied, but they have no choice but to watch La Plata slip into the abyss step by step."

"General Garcia is actually aware of the danger in this regard." Domingos shook his head and said, "But he can do too little. So far, only half a regiment has been formed in La Plata (600 People), and the combat thinking is very outdated. A considerable number of soldiers still use spears, and the proportion of musketeers is only half. What era is this? Since the east bank army led the trend of all firearms troops, flintlocks The guns and their tactics have evolved with each passing day, and the pikemen have been largely eliminated. But we are still fighting in the old way of fighting in the Spanish phalanx, which, IMHO, will only make us suffer another humiliating defeat. "

Since Garcia, who was born in the navy, served as General La Plata, he began to focus on restoring the long-lost local defense.While rectifying the original old army, he cleared all the soldiers who failed the assessment out of the army, and then used them to establish a "modern" police system after imitating the East Coast Republic, and vigorously cracked down on various criminal activities, making La Plata's public security situation With not a small improvement, won the unanimous praise of the upper class.

Secondly, he also recruited a large number of homeless people and local poor people to form a new army - the La Plata regiment.The station of this force is in Santa Fe between Asunción and Buenos Aires. In the open grasslands of the local area, the La Plata regiment often conducts some military training, and sometimes participates in the conquest of barbarians. War to accumulate combat experience.It's a pity that limited by financial factors, the number of La Plata regiments has just passed 600 people, live ammunition training is quite insufficient, and there are only four cannons - all of which are small caliber.Could such a force defend La Plata?I'm afraid even Major Anthony, the head of the La Plata regiment, doesn't have confidence.

Excluding the La Plata regiment, the Spanish armed forces in the local area are only the militia self-defense forces in some towns in the Paraná River Basin. The frontal battlefield, and the distribution is extremely scattered, unable to form a joint force.

"Relax first, Pedro." Alvaro squeezed out a smile, and said to Dominguez: "The latest information brought by the Inspector General shows that the king does not intend to start a full-scale war with the people on the east coast." , he was just very angry at some heinous things done by the people on the east coast, such as persecuting the believers of the Lord. The Governorate of Peru did not mean to go to war with the people on the east coast. The reason why they appointed the tough Garcia—the lowly The descendants of the pig herders-served as the general of La Plata, mainly to reorganize the defense of La Plata, and at the same time put pressure on the people on the east coast-including political and economic pressure, forcing them to give up some untimely Policy. In fact, Garcia was not authorized to go to war with the people on the east coast, and the gentlemen in the city agreed that there would be no war in La Plata, and the people on the east coast would not be foolish enough to provoke the great Philip IV. .So don’t worry, war won’t happen! Also, trade will resume in the future.”

"I'm not worried about us, most expensive sir. I'm worried that people on the east coast will misjudge the situation, which is terrible." Dominguez said worriedly. "They may have decided that we will take action against them." Force, so their fleet came to the Rio de la Plata, I think this is a red flag. It shows that the people on the east coast are already angry about some of our policies, so they issued a warning. But unfortunately the city council Many of the gentlemen did not pay enough attention to this, and they forgot the humiliating fact that Buenos Aires was under the guns of the enemy fleet the next day, and then His Excellency the Inspector General and General Garcia ordered all The withdrawal of the Great Chamber of Commerce from Colonia Free Trade City is undoubtedly a move to add fuel to the fire. I doubt whether the patience of the people on the east coast has been exhausted. Because of the influence of various factors such as tension, fear, and worry, I misjudged the situation and brazenly launched a war against La Plata. This is what I am most worried about. Nothing worries me more than this, really. .”

"I need a newspaper for the East Coasters, yes, it's called Pravda! Find a way to collect the latest prints of Pravda, I think we really need to understand the thinking of these heretics. Thank you, Pei Dero, I am very surprised by your experience. Maybe you are right this time. We need to study the recent actions of the people on the east coast. This will make the gentlemen who make policies on our side more cautious. The enemy has a clearer understanding." Alvaro said suddenly after thinking for a while.

(End of this chapter)