Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 530 The Burning of the Barracks Incident ([-])

"Sir, that's the camp of the Spaniards." In the darkness, on a hillside in the Corrales mining area, several sneaky shadows were squatting there looking at a brightly lit camp in the distance below the mountain. .

There seems to be a temporary camp made of wood, with oil lamps, torches and other lighting objects everywhere in the camp, and a shallow trench was dug outside the camp, which seems to be to prevent some wild animals - because it is obviously impossible to prevent enemy.According to investigations in the camp, there seems to be a Catholic priest, four Spanish officers and 25 Guarani soldiers. They set up a temporary camp here immediately after arriving here a week ago, and then raised the flag of the Kingdom of Spain .

The Spaniards are here to set up a military post!The militiamen stationed at the nearby military depot immediately reported the news layer by layer. In mid-to-late August, personnel from the Gendarmerie, the Army, and the Mei Organ arrived after hearing the news.While sending people to negotiate with Spain, they asked the other party to dismantle the outpost immediately and return to their starting point, so as not to cause unnecessary misunderstanding; Know where to go.

The Spaniards of course rejected this, and at the same time they asked the east bank to dismantle the military depots set up in the so-called Tacuarombo gold mining area, because this is the natural territory of the Kingdom of Spain.Of course, the people on the east bank would not retreat at will, but began to monitor the Spaniards—they didn't dare to use violence against the Spaniards until they got the authorization from their superiors.

On August 8, the 20th Company of the Army arrived at Canyon Fort by train, marched quickly to the mining area, and then camped on the spot near the military depot. At the same time, it began to patrol the mining area.

On August 8, intelligence agencies on the east coast, who were surprised by the quick response of the Spaniards this time, came one after another.Gendarmerie Commander Putin came to the front line in person, and Sun Heiqi, Han Zhen, the backbone of the Mei Agency's action team, also brought a number of capable plainclothes detectives to Fort Merlot and Baichiya Fort in the rear to inspect the work, With the strict investigation of spies, the situation in the northwest region suddenly became tense.

At this time, in Dongfang County, the capital, Foreign Minister Xu Xin also urgently met with Baron Raul Bravo, the Spanish special envoy stationed in the capital, to discuss the military confrontation between the east bank of the Tacuarombo River Basin and Spain. After a "frank" negotiation, the result of the negotiation was that they ended up unhappy.Baron Bravo didn't seem to know that his compatriots reacted so quickly this time, and set up a military post here only a month after getting the news.But regardless of whether the order to set up an outpost here was inspired by the upper echelon, or simply based on the righteous indignation of nearby Spanish officers, the fact now is that Spain has extended its military presence here.Baron Bravo naturally wanted to protect the interests of the Kingdom of Spain, so he refused to give up an inch in the negotiations with Xu Xin, and his tone was extremely tough. Don't be too pushy.

Xu Xin, who has been engaged in diplomatic work for many years, is naturally not an idiot. He is very clear about what it means for the Spanish to build a military outpost here, which means that the possibility of a military conflict between the two sides is infinitely magnified.Xu Xin, a member of the moderate civil service faction, to be honest, he is also a member who believes that the war between the East Bank and Spain is inevitable, and at the same time he also agrees with the East Bank to start a war with Spain.

But unlike the radical soldiers who were eager to take advantage of the lack of preparation of the Kingdom of Spain and crush its military presence in La Plata, Xu Xin believed that it would be better to prepare for another one to two years before going to war, so that the chances would be greater.Even today, when the Spaniards have discovered gold mines, Xu Xin believes that Spain, which is deeply involved in the 30-year war, cannot quickly complete its military preparations. In addition, its main naval force has been severely damaged and its large ships have been completely lost. It will not be able to prepare for a full-scale war with the people on the east coast within two or three years.Then, the people on the east coast may not be so anxious, they can wait for more supplies and population to be hoarded, and the army and navy will expand before going to war in an all-out way, which will increase their confidence.

And his views are quite representative among the civil servants, and most of the civil servants are still in favor of suspending the war, even if it delays the war for a year.They also need to conduct a series of diplomatic shuttles to negotiate with the Dutch and the Portuguese respectively, in order to stabilize these two countries as much as possible, so that they can stand on the side of the people on the east coast as much as possible in the war, and at least keep neutral.Of course, it would be even more ideal to maintain a friendly posture or even form an alliance with the Ottomans and French - although this is unlikely.

Even now, even the most ignorant people will not be optimistic enough to think that the Spaniards will remain indifferent to the cross-border reclamation of the East Coasters after they discover the gold mines.The core elites of the society with more conservative views and ideas have also begun to talk publicly about the financial difficulties of the Spaniards and their military training in La Plata.While shaking their heads and lamenting the inevitability of war, these middle-aged people who were more worried about war began to look forward to the huge dividends that war could bring them. In short, they were in a state of entanglement and anxiety.

However, among the young people who are deeply influenced by the ideology of communism and East Coastism, as well as the army with popular radical ideas, the argument of opening up the living space for the country through war is rampant. When will the war begin.The officers had no choice but to comfort them, promising that the war would come, they would win, and everyone's living standards would rise to a new level.

Among these people, the orphan students from Bingtuanbao and the mixed-race teenagers who gradually grew up are the most radical.These people have received military and national education since they were young, and they have been influenced by collectivism, East Coastism and even Communist ideology. They have a high degree of identification with the East Coast country and are more loyal to the country. The difference between working and fighting for money or living is that they have a sense of sacred mission to open up the living space of the country and expand the ideas of East Coastism, which makes them always full of passion in studying, working or fighting, and makes the fathers feel great. for surprise.

The Executive Committee is naturally very pleased to see this scene. The sharp sword that has been cultivated for ten years is about to be unsheathed. The national identity, cohesion and national character of the East Coast have also been strengthened in the country's crisis time and time again. Continuous military victories will greatly promote the formation of the nation on the east coast.

New nations, new ideas, new ideas, new beliefs, and a new sense of mission can only be born out of blood and fire.Without the tempering of blood and fire, this nation will always be just a mess, lacking cohesion.Any delusion to achieve the natural fusion and formation of the nation through the superficially warm and loving common life and common prosperity is unrealistic and naive, and it is doomed to fail, and the country they form will inevitably fall apart in the end.

Whether it is the civil service or the military, in fact, at this time, they all advocated going to war with Spain. The difference is that one is a deliberate war faction and the other is an urgent war faction, and there is no essential distinction.Naturally, the military officers yelled at the civil servants' request for a deferment of war, because when you are ready for war, aren't the Spaniards also ready for war? They are not fools!

When many forts and forts have been built in the La Plata area, and the number of troops has increased a lot, it will cost a lot more to fight, and this price will be paid by the soldiers!The battle to conquer La Plata, which could have been easily ended, will be full of twists and turns, and the sacrifices of the soldiers will also increase greatly. How can this make them not angry!

The interim meeting of the National People's Congress that just concluded a week ago has just passed a resolution. The main content of the resolution is to authorize the Executive Committee to take all necessary measures to resolve the current tension between the East Bank and the Kingdom of Spain, in other words That is, the executive committee has been authorized to go to war with the Spaniards.Of course, whether to start a war, when to start a war, and to what extent the war will be decided by the executive committee and the military department. It seems that the power of civil servants has successfully influenced the decision-making of the executive committee.

However, this state of delay in preparing for war has made the soldiers extremely annoyed.From various indications, although the Spaniards have not yet started to make substantive war preparations, things will definitely change if they delay, and it will be the soldiers who will suffer at that time.As a result, the radical officers of the military department, the conspirators of the gendarmerie, and some careerists in the Mei organization who secretly carried out activities behind the back of their superiors got together and began to plan a huge conspiracy to force the executive committee to quickly Make up your mind to go to war.

Right now, this conspiracy has entered the substantive stage of operation. The army defaulted, the gendarmerie took the lead, and Han Zhen, the deputy head of the Mei agency’s action team, led people to cooperate. They have been wandering around the Spanish military post for several days. Ready, just wait for action!

"Have all the 'evidence' been put in the designated place?" A middle-aged male voice with a muffled voice asked, "Don't go wrong, if things go wrong this time, you are all ready to pack up and go to the colony, right? For the rest of your life, you don’t want to go back to your home country again.”

The rest of the people remained silent, obviously aware of the seriousness of what they had done.

"Retreat." The middle-aged man called "Sir" whispered something, and then led his men to leave the dark hillside one by one, walking towards the way they came.They still have a lot to do, and tonight is a day destined to be remembered by history!Thinking of this, these secret agents even felt a little excited in their already cold hearts.

(End of this chapter)