Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 988 Deterrence ([-])

April 1653, 8, sunny.

In the hot port of Recife, Li Renjun looked at the big hole in the roof with a slightly depressed look.This hole is not small, it was caused by a hollow shell that flew from a distance outside the city. It seems that although the Portuguese had to suspend their offensive and retreat back to the rear to rest, they obviously didn't want to waste all their efforts before leaving. The cannonballs brought in by Huzhili took a lot of effort to transport them back, so these cannonballs are now "given" to the Dutch for free, so that the Dutch have to spend a lot of money to repair their houses after the war.

However, the destruction of the house by the Portuguese shells was just a small episode. In fact, Li Renjun was quite happy today.Because the two ships of his family sailed into Recife again after five and a half months, full of various commodities, and came with them, as well as several other private merchant ships from the east coast.Under the escort of naval warships, they passed through the waters frequented by Portuguese warships, and grandly transported a large amount of key materials to Dutch Brazil.

In the past five months, Li Renjun, who has retired from the army, has also been staying in Recife, acting as a non-staff diplomat of the government of the East Coast Republic, and Koney, director of the Dutch West India Company, who also came here to inspect. Liss Bickle talked happily.The Dutch are very aware of the importance of this New World country on the east coast to Dutch Brazil. Today, this rich colony that continuously provides tobacco, dyes and sugar for the Seven Provinces Alliance, if the people on the east coast have not always supported them and brought them If the weapons and ammunition, daily necessities, industrial parts and even combatants that they depend on for survival are lost, the morale of the Dutch may be reduced to an extremely terrible level.Cornelis even suspected that if the naval ships on the east coast had not kept driving away the Portuguese warships trying to attack Recife, the city would probably fall before the end of this year.

So, thank the people on the east coast, they dispatched warships to deter the Portuguese at the critical moment, otherwise the current Dutch Brazil may no longer exist.

"I heard that when your fleet arrived in Recife this time, it encountered an unreasonable interception by the Portuguese navy off the coast of Salvador Bay?" Cornelis, who was standing under the hole with Li Renjun, looked at the roof with lingering fear. , and then pretended to be calm and asked.Damn it, he really wants to go back to his sturdy official office that he spared no expense to build, but Li Renjun doesn't seem to want to leave here in a short time, so he can only stand with him in this house that has just been hit by shells Chat bullshit.

"No, that's not accurate." Li Renjun finally turned his head, stopped looking at the hole, and only listened to him say slowly: "According to the information I just received, although the Portuguese gathered a large number of ships in El Salvador Bay, they They did not dare to provoke our Great East Coast Navy. In fact, there were only a few Portuguese armed merchant ships tentatively asking to inspect our transport ship, but they were warned by our escorting gunboats, so they finally retreated to El Salvador Bay. In a short period of time, it seems that they are afraid to make trouble."

When Li Renjun said this, his tone was rather arrogant.It is no secret that the Portuguese navy's main fleet arrived in Brazil. Both the Dutch and the people on the east coast know this fact.However, the staff officers of the Navy Department of the East Coast Republic carefully analyzed the power balance between the enemy and us, and at the same time dispatched fast warships to conduct repeated investigations off the coast of Brazil. They believed that even if the Portuguese came out in full force, their naval power would not be stable. They had 6 battleships and a large number of sail escorts. The first east coast fleet of gunboats, so the Executive Committee needn't worry about it, just do what the business should do, continue to pull the sideways, and just ignore the Portuguese.

Even some young and radical officers of the Admiralty advocated that some ships of the Third Fleet be transferred back to the Zhenhai Port Naval Base, and then gather the elite main forces of the two fleets to sail northward to find the main force of the Portuguese fleet and force them to fight decisively. The First World War destroyed the naval ships it had accumulated for more than ten years, so that there was no sea presence in the South Atlantic Ocean that could threaten the people on the east coast.

Of course, their radical idea was quickly suppressed by the Minister of the Navy Lu Ming, because it was too appalling, and the bureaucrats in the executive committee who were used to being stable would never agree.However, this incident also reminded Lu Ming, so he quickly ordered the First Fleet, except for the necessary escort ships, all naval ships must gather at Zhenhai Port, and they must also patrol in formation to avoid falling behind. Shanshi is taken advantage of by the enemy. After all, although people have no intention of hurting the tiger, the tiger has the heart to seek others, so it has to be guarded against.

In this way, as a large number of Portuguese and Eastern naval fleets gathered in a small sea area, the situation in the southern coast of Brazil became unprecedentedly tense.Regardless of repeated requests or warnings from the Portuguese, the east bank continued to transport supplies to Cape Town, South Africa, Dutch Brazil, and even parts of the West Indies in its own way. Of course, their "worst" behavior was to openly send troops to reinforce Recife, The front line of Fortaleza is the platform of the Dutch West India Company.

It is an indisputable fact that the relationship between the two sides has become increasingly tense, so it finally led to the "sea bombardment" incident just mentioned by Li Renjun.A total of six east coast merchant ships of different sizes (all dirty ships auctioned by the Navy), fully loaded with cargo, and escorted by two 400-ton sail escort gunboats, went northward along the coast of Brazil, with an extremely arrogant attitude.

As a result, it seemed that some Portuguese could not bear the attitude of the people on the east coast, so five Portuguese armed merchant ships stopped this small formation of east coast ships on the sea near the Gulf of Salvador, and then sent traffic boats to negotiate. Unashamed demands to inspect the cargo of ships, just as the East Coasters did in the coastal waters of Brazil - when their purpose was to force the Brazilian colonial authorities to reopen trade.

But the violent response of the navy on the east coast shocked the Portuguese.Two "Madao" class frigates drove over one from the left and one from the right, and then directly fired four or five shots at the Portuguese armed merchant ship in the lead-of course they missed.According to Li Renjun's information from the naval officer, the Portuguese were planning to go all out for a moment, but they were suppressed for some unknown reason, and the east coast fleet was allowed to continue northward after the channel was opened.

Maybe it was because the combined tonnage of the five Portuguese armed merchant ships was only over 900 tons, maybe it was because the combat power of the frigates on the east coast was not weak, and maybe they were also told by their superiors not to go to war without authorization. It's all over.

Ordinary people may just think that this is a normal sea friction, but Li Renjun feels that this is also an excellent test of the Portuguese bottom line.After all, their entire fleet from Europe is scary enough (the average tonnage is about 200 tons), and outsiders know nothing about what they plan to do. Therefore, this sea shelling incident is an excellent strategic test. He will help In order to let the decision-making department on the east coast know the bottom line of the other party.

Of course, the result is now very clear. The Portuguese did not have the courage to start a decisive battle with the East Coast Navy, or at least at this stage they were not ready for a full-scale naval battle, so they naturally retreated.Although the scene looks aggrieved, it is the right choice for the Portuguese navy. You must know that even if they requisition Brazil and civilian ships temporarily parked in the Gulf of Salvador, the total number of ships will not exceed 40. The tonnage is only about [-] tons, and most of them are not professional warships.

But what about their opponents?The total tonnage of the First Fleet of the East Coast people can easily reach more than [-] tons of professional warships. If a large number of logistics auxiliary fleets are added, there will be no pressure on the tonnage of [-] tons, not to mention that they have other battles Fleets (such as the Third Fleet, which is now widely known in Brazil and Peru), the total tonnage of warships is almost [-] tons. This is a figure that makes the Portuguese breathless, so they naturally retreat.

Of course, there is also the possibility of land wars that cannot be ignored. It is no secret that people on the east coast can easily arm a large number of militias (the training is more frequent than the standing armies of many European countries). A well-trained militia landed near San Vicente, El Salvador, and the Portuguese would be powerless to stop this huge firearms army, and could only allow colonial villages and cities to be occupied by the East Coasters.Perhaps the unyielding Portuguese people will eventually drive out the people on the east coast through guerrilla warfare, but the destroyed cities, farms, villages and factories will probably not be able to recover, so why bother?

Therefore, under comprehensive consideration, the behavior of the Portuguese is logical.When their big fleet came from Lisbon, they didn't know that the people on the east coast had resolutely intervened in this war. Now that they knew it, they didn't dare to bury this elite fleet that brought together His Majesty Joao's painstaking efforts. In that case What about the local coastal defense?How will the other colonies be maintained in the event of an accident?How to ensure the smooth flow of trade lines?Moreover, once the war becomes protracted, how can the supply of their personnel, ammunition, artillery, firearms, medicine, canvas and other materials be guaranteed?This is also something the commander has to consider more.

"Mr. Bikel..." Li Renjun thought about his words for a while, and then said: "Please forgive me, the decisive behavior of our navy has successfully deterred any possible blind moves of the Portuguese. But I don't think they will give up on you. The battlefield may not be in Brazil, but Africa is still very possible, so please pay attention to this point.”

Cornelis quickly understood Li Renjun's words. The Dutch West India Company had been deeply entangled with Brazil over the years. The two sides fought fiercely in the vast sea area from the west coast of Africa to the Gulf of Guinea in the north and Cape Town in the south. Many colonial strongholds changed hands many times. , such as some Portuguese trading posts and military posts in the Congo.Now that the Portuguese fleet is coming here, they will naturally not return to Lisbon without any success. Maybe they will load people to West Africa and attack the stronghold of the West India Company. This is really a challenge for the Dutch. No small trouble.

"What should we do?" Cornelis thought to himself. "The west African coast is also the business scope of the West India Company, and this matter can no longer trouble the people on the east coast. So what should we do? Perhaps the best way It is possible to dispatch the fleet from the mainland to Lisbon, but is the current situation allowed?"

Cornelis Bickle, the young director of the West India Company, was lost.

(End of this chapter)