Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 537 Santa Fe, attack the sun! (one)

On October 1646, 10, when more than 10 members of the Changkaisheng detachment were distracted by the monotonous and boring scenery on both sides of the Parana River, the cavalry at the forefront fired warning shots.Chang Kaisheng, who was riding on a tall horse, was startled at first, and then sent messengers to inquire about the news.

Word soon came back that some gauchos had been spotted by the forward cavalry.The gauchos, who seemed to have been employed by the Spaniards, roamed the fields with cutlasses, and when the cavalry from the east coast came to drive them away, they scattered in a flash.But before long, they will quietly return.This time the East Coast cavalry set a trap and killed two gauchos with a salvo of rifles, and the gang died down.

After hearing the news, Chang Kaisheng understood that this place must be close to Santa Fe City.Although there are two towns of Santa Fe and Corrientes on the map along the Parana River marked by people on the east bank, due to the de facto closed state of the Parana River Basin, no traveler from the East Bank has ever visited through this closed land.They also only knew the existence of such a city here through the words of the Spanish sailors who came and went, and they knew the approximate location, but they had to search along the river for the specific location.But now, they should have approached the city.

After ordering the cavalry to expand the scope of investigation, Chang Kaisheng ordered more than 20 people in the whole detachment to speed up the march, and sent someone to notify the fleet that was walking on the Paraná River to let them pay attention to the surrounding situation.After giving the order, Chang Kaisheng thought about it and was still worried, so he sent [-] militiamen with guns to each ship, and then he was a little relieved.After all, all the supplies and supplies of the entire army are on board, so there is no way to be careless.

Right now, this section of the Parana River Basin is criss-crossed, with forests and reeds everywhere, and because of the existence of shallow swamps, the fleet is separated from the main force by a certain distance, so Chang Kaisheng is very worried about their safety .Fortunately, the road was fairly peaceful. The Spaniards didn't know whether they were too late to react, or there were no decent surface ships at all. In short, the inland river fleet transporting supplies was not attacked by any enemies.But this is not a reason for Chang Kaisheng to relax his vigilance, after all, it takes ten thousand years to be careful.

When the troops marched here, everyone became mud monkeys one by one.There are swamps and mud everywhere, an undeveloped scene.Many people's clothes and shoes are completely soaked, even the cavalry are no exception. They often need to lead their horses through some swampy areas, and both people and horses are very tired.Had it not been for the accurate information sent back by the brothers of the 1st Company of the Cavalry standing in the front, Chang Kaisheng would have even doubted whether there were any Spanish towns in this wild land.

Sure enough, the Paraguay region and the later Argentina region are two worlds at this time!Paraguay is densely populated, rich in products, and has a relatively developed economy, while Argentina is a poor and miserable place.In the hundreds of kilometers from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe, people from the east coast encountered only a few Jesuit missions.There are very few white farmers in these mission areas, less than 200 in total. They employed some gauchos, and at the same time enslaved a large number of Indians. They farmed and grazed locally, and their lives were still decent.

Such a sparse population and wild land opened the eyes of soldiers from the east coast.They always thought that their country was already sparsely populated, but they did not expect that the neighboring La Plata was even more sparsely populated.You must know that in the past decade or so, the Spaniards have vigorously immigrated and developed the La Plata area because of the threat of facing the east coast, and this has made the area a little more popular.If there hadn't been more than ten years of continuous immigration, it is conceivable that people from the east coast might not even encounter these missionary areas on the road.

For these Spanish villages that might threaten the retreat of the people on the east coast, Chang Kaisheng didn't treat them well. There was also a lot of food and livestock to be confiscated, and all weapons were also confiscated.As for those Kelandi Indian slaves, they were all released naturally.Seeing the expressions of astonishment and then inexplicable gratitude on the faces of those released Indians, Chang Kaisheng was very satisfied and decided to give them some weapons for "self-defense".Well, they are all rapiers, spears, matchlocks and so on that were confiscated from the Spaniards. I hope these Spanish peasants and gauchos will have a good time after the East Coast Army leaves.

On October 10, after two days of trekking in muddy water, swamps, and grasslands, the army on the east bank finally saw a port city standing on the right bank of the Paraná River from a distance.There is no doubt that it is Santa Fe, the outer port of Asuncion City's trade.All the goods shipped from the western colonies will be gathered in the port of Santa Fe, and then either go north to trade with Paraguay, or they will be transported by water to the port of Buenos Aires together with the goods exported from Paraguay, and then transported by sea Shipped back to mainland Spain in the Old World.

Therefore, as an important intermediate trade node, Santa Fe City should still have a large population.According to the comprehensive analysis and estimation of the military department, the population of Santa Fe City should be around 3000 people, one-third of which are whites, and the rest are mixed-race gauchos.As for the Indian slaves, it is difficult to estimate the number. It is estimated to be several to ten times that of the whites.

Of course, the above figures do not include the largest Spanish military force in the La Plata region-the La Plata Infantry Regiment.People from the east bank of this infantry regiment have already figured it out. Its strength is about [-] people, most of them are musketeers, and a small part are breastplate spearmen.As for the equipment of the musketeers, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the wealthy Paraguay region, half of them have been equipped with flintlock guns, and the other half still use the old-fashioned matchlock guns.Their leader was named Anthony Carlos, a captain or major of the Spanish Army, who had systematically studied modern military theory in Spain.

It is worth noting that the Spanish resistance in Santa Fe may be far more than the La Plata Infantry Regiment. In addition to about a hundred local defenders, they may also have a large number of troops from the mission areas in the upper reaches of the Paraná River. The Guaranís helped.But the good news is that the equipment of these Guarani people is very poor. Not only are there very few muskets, but there are not many armors, bows and arrows. Most of them should be spearmen, and the training time is limited and the combat quality More often than not.But they are a nuisance after all, and they deserve to be treated with caution by the East Coast Army.

During the two days of October 10th and 12th, people on the east bank frantically excavated fortifications, built temporary docks, and spent time in temporary camps.Although everyone is exhausted, the militia brothers who undertake logistical support tasks cannot take turns to rest like the regular army.They had to unload supplies as soon as possible, build camps and temporary docks, in addition to digging trenches, erecting barbed wire, assisting artillery to dig fortifications, etc., in short, they were too busy.

Naturally, the Spaniards did not watch the East Coasters complete all these two days.They sent a large number of Guaranís to make a tentative attack on the unfinished camp of the East Coasters, but they were repulsed by violent volleys and artillery strikes by the army brothers who had been prepared.They didn't stop anything, but left dozens of corpses on the grass in vain.

After the failure of the attack during the day, the Spaniards did not give up. They sent more Guaranis to attack the camp on the east bank at night.However, they failed to return in front of the three barbed wire fences. With poor equipment and poor combat skills, they could not break through the heavily fortified position of the people on the east coast, but lost even more people. Manpower, and even his own morale were severely hit.

According to Li Dayan, a reporter from the "Pravda" who accompanied the army, on October 10, the East Bank Army threw a total of no less than 13 corpses into Parana Hanoi, all of which were Guaraní people.These corpses will float down the river, and I don't know how the Spaniards downstream will be frightened when they see them.

On the morning of October 10, the camp of the people on the east bank was roughly completed.They used the wood they brought with the ship to set up a small temporary dock at the confluence of the Parana River and the Salado River, and moored the fleet here.At the same time, four "Amur River" inland shallow-water gunboats with a draft of only 14 meters also began to patrol nearby, and from time to time bombarded any Spanish facilities they encountered on the shore. The Spaniards who were caught off guard suffered heavy casualties. The Indian slaves on the pier were even more scattered.And when the Spaniards finally mobilized artillery to defend the pier, the gunboats of the East Coasters had already drifted away.

At the confluence of the Paraná River and the Salado River, where there are many shoals and lakes, there are too many places for inland river steam gunboats with extremely shallow drafts. Dozens of Spanish farms, lighthouses, docks, warehouses and even Logging camps and fishponds were ravaged by the 8-pound guns on the gunboats.The Spaniards' years of colonial efforts were shattered into ruins, and the losses were not insignificant.If we want to restore the many facilities here in the future, I am afraid that it will take a lot of money and several years of time.

On October 10, after another day of dawdling, in the early morning of that day, the East Coast Army was almost dispatched to form an array in the south of Santa Fe.Santa Fe City is the same as Buenos Aires, except for a few important buildings that are made of stone, most of them are brick and wood structures, and there are no decent walls—if wooden fences are counted.For such a city, there is no reason why the army on the east bank with the support of many artillery can't break it.

Seeing two or three thousand soldiers lined up outside the city on the east bank, complete with infantry and cavalry artillery, and four extremely fast and extremely flexible gunboats on the river to help out, the Spanish La Plata infantry did not dare to fight face-to-face after all. .They decided to rely on the houses in the city for defense and wait for the army on the east bank to attack.

(End of this chapter)