Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 548 Uprising ([-])

"Sir, these are all the Kelandi people I can find." Outside Santa Fe, a young trainee staff officer reported to the detachment commander Chang Kai Shenghui.

Chang Kaisheng nodded slightly, and then looked critically at the unkempt and ragged Kelandi Indians.There were more than 500 of them, and they were of various heights, but most looked emaciated, a sign of overwork and chronic malnutrition.Many people still have scars on their bodies, as if they have been abused by their guardians (the guardians in the guardianship system, but actually slave owners), and their hands and feet are still in shackles, and they walk with rattling noises.

But don't look at their extremely miserable physical appearance at the moment, but they are very uplifting mentally.Because this army from the south actually drove away the Spaniards who had been oppressing them all year round, and planned to release these poor people and let everyone be free.This is so beautiful!

"The natives of the colder regions of South America, such as the Kelandi, Chaluya, and Araucan, are not suitable races for slavery. They advocate freedom and are aggressive by nature. They are far less docile than blacks, and even less durable than blacks. If it is not necessary, it is not cost-effective to capture them as slaves.” In Chang Kaisheng’s mind, an investigation report by the General Administration of National Intelligence on the Indian race in the area near the east coast came into being, and this report contained such a paragraph , he remembered very clearly.

In fact, the Spanish colonists in the southern half of South America have always been very dissatisfied with the Araucans and the Kelandi, because they are definitely not qualified slaves in the eyes of the Spaniards.Especially those Araucans, who not only fled around, but even attacked Spanish colonial points in turn, and started a long-term guerrilla war with the secret funding of suspicious foreign forces, which made the Spaniards tired of coping.

The Araucan people in Chile are like this, and the Clandis in La Plata are not good at it.These peoples rebelled against Spanish rule throughout the 17th century, and there were even several major uprisings during this period, the largest of which seems to have occurred in the 17s-that is, a few years later.After the uprising broke out, the Spaniards dispatched troops from Peru and bought many Indians to fight for them. It took a lot of money and a long time to suppress the uprising.After this uprising, instead of reducing the oppression of the Clandians, the Spaniards intensified their efforts and instituted stricter control measures. A large number of Clandians died under the brutal tyranny of the Spanish colonists. By the 50th century The descendants have been reduced to the point where they can no longer launch any uprisings.

And in this time and space, on the eve of the outbreak of the Kelandi People's Congress uprising, due to the sudden start of the war, a large number of troops from the east bank poured into La Plata.They defeated a considerable number of Spanish troops, and Spanish white farmers from all over the country fled to the country one after another. This greatly shook the foundation of the Spanish rule in the eastern part of La Plata—at least in the lower reaches of the Paraná River. The basis of human rule has disappeared.Everywhere the East Coasters went, they released the local Indian slaves and white indentured slaves, distributed them weapons, and secretly encouraged them to avenge the Spanish.

It is worth mentioning that the living conditions of the large number of indentured slaves from Central and South Europe in the La Plata region are no different from those of the Kelandi people. They have also been crazily squeezed and abused by their masters.When these people came to the New World from the mainland, they had already signed an agreement with the captain or the colonial company, which guaranteed that after arriving in the New World, they would work for the white farmers and ranchers who bought their ownership for a certain number of years (usually 3 years). -7 years).Knowing that these people will be free after the expiration of the period, the master shows no pity for them, and the work intensity is even higher than those of the Kelandi people-because the Kelandi people are the master's private property, they are more worthy of "maintenance" ", in order to create greater value for the master, and these contracted slaves are only equivalent to leased goods, and naturally they will be used to death.

Therefore, whether it is the Kelandi or the white indentured slaves, they also hate the Spaniards.And when the East Coast Army announced that they would be free and distribute weapons to them, these people immediately cheered.Within a week of getting the weapons, these men flooded the farms, ranches, and estates of the countryside, attacked the Spanish ranchers who had brutally enslaved them, and divided up their money and cattle and sheep, and then those who spent many years working hard The manors, warehouses, and houses that were built were also burned to the ground by the vengeful slaves full of irrational fanaticism.

These situations are especially evident in the Buenos Aires area at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. Liao Xiaoyao, the head of the 35th regiment of the Xuebing Regiment who stayed there, told him that some Spanish farmers came to him to complain about the "appalling" atrocities of the slaves. A little "surprised", and then perfunctorily sent a few soldiers to disperse the thugs.The Kelandi people who had just gained freedom were not stupid. Of course they knew that freedom was not won by themselves, but was given by the people on the east coast, so they changed places very wisely and continued to rob.And before leaving, they also gave a lot of looted money, food and livestock to the people on the east coast, which made Liao Xiaoyao nod secretly, after all, these Indians are not too stupid.

In this way, the situation got out of control wherever the horseshoes of the army on the east bank went.The freed Indians and a small number of white indentured slaves took weapons issued by the East Coasters (mostly cold weapons, a few were matchlock guns) and began to move around the countryside. The weak Spanish peasants could not resist at all. Robberies, murders, and rapes happened every day in the countryside. In the end, these Spaniards could only carry some food and soft goods, put on horseback, and fled to the surrounding area of ​​Buenos Aires for refuge.At least here, those Indian thugs who lost their minds did not dare to kill them.

Around the city of Buenos Aires, only some big landlords and big businessmen have the strength to protect themselves.For example, the Rodriguez family, a well-known local business leader, has a large number of hired workers in their farms and estates in the countryside, and there are also more than a dozen famous retired veterans of the Flanders Legion.Under their leadership, the men in the manor easily resisted the tentative attacks of a few small groups of Kelandi with their sharp firepower, and the manor survived.

But they are only a minority after all.In this intensified wave of Kelandi liberation, a large number of native whites or peninsula people lacked sufficient self-protection capabilities. Most of them were killed, their manors were destroyed, and their properties were plundered. The Enos Aires area returned overnight to before liberation.What made the Spaniards even more terrified was that this wave of uprisings, which had originally prevailed only in the southeastern region, now had a tendency to spread to the central and western regions, with slaves fleeing or being driven away from various Spanish settlements, villages or farms. Rescued by the rebels, while their original guardians, the Spanish colonists, either disappeared or died on the spot.These Kelandi rebels were so angry that they didn't even spare the white children, and even some Kelandi people who were on the side of the Spaniards were massacred, and the situation was deliberately condoned by the people on the east coast It got worse step by step.

What Chang Kaisheng has to do now is actually the same as Liao Xiaoyao, which is to start an uprising or riot by the Kelandi people in the Santa Fe area, and then completely disrupt the nearby situation and completely destroy the basis of Spanish rule.The troops on the east coast are seriously insufficient. Although they have occupied the two cities of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe, there are still a large number of Spanish villages or manors in the countryside.In fact, the Spanish and Portuguese colonists of this era did not like to live in cities. For example, in Rio de Janeiro in the 18th century, there were only 500 white residents in total, but in the vast inland rural areas around them, there were still people living in cities. There are five to ten times as many white farmers or ranchers.

So these scattered Spaniards were always a threat.Once the Spaniards mobilized troops from Peru and Chile, these dotted Spanish villages or farms were their natural supply points.Now that the people on the east coast have destroyed all these villages or farms through these rioting Kelandi people, even if the Spanish army comes from the north and west, they will fall into a difficult situation of lack of supplies.And if the supplies are transported from Chile, not only will the consumption on the road increase greatly, but the supply line will also be infinitely stretched, which will put them in danger.

All in all, these Kelandi people are very useful nowadays. The so-called pioneers of the king are talking about them.The people on the east coast are currently extremely short of troops, and the territory of La Plata is so vast, and there are so many goals they need to accomplish. The economic foundation, to contain the possible reinforcements of the Spaniards, so as to buy time for the people on the east coast to deal with it calmly.

"Unshackle them, and then have a good meal." Chang Kaisheng turned to the trainee staff officer and said, "Teach them some basic military knowledge after they are full, and then issue weapons and let them go. One day earlier To harm the Spaniards, let us share some pressure one day earlier. Who made us short of troops. It is too difficult to ask the local troops to come over. With the strength we have now, it is not enough to defend such a long area. It is nonsense for us to go on the offensive and destroy more Spanish cities!"

The intern staff naturally filtered out the second half of Chang Kaisheng's complaints, and then went to greet those Kelandi people who had just been freed.

(End of this chapter)