Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 124 Turtle Island
On August 8, the fleet set out from Rio Grande do Sul and, after sailing on the sea for half a month, arrived at the central area of ​​the Caribbean Sea. From the ship, one could see scattered small islands not far away and a piece of land dozens of miles away.

Sun Bin stood at the bow, looking at a small island with dense vegetation in front of him, and said to Chen Sen beside him, "This small island in front is of moderate size. It is a good transit station for our army in the Caribbean Sea."

Sun Bin was talking about an island closest to the fleet. There were two larger islands nearby. However, compared with the other two islands, the front island had steep terrain and a small arable area. On the island of dozens of square kilometers, only a dozen simple wooden houses and a row of sparse rubber trees growing randomly could be seen.

A watchtower near the sea was leaning crookedly against an oak tree. The port built next to the coast might have been destroyed by a storm, leaving only a pile of timber corroded by sea water.

It was obvious that the island had been abandoned for some time and became a piece of ownerless land in Sun Bin's eyes.

"Mr. Sun has a good eye. This island is close to Puerto Rico and Haiti, and is surrounded by dense islands. It is a good place for our small fleet to hide." Chen Sen nodded in agreement, and then changed the subject, "But I don't know which country this island belongs to. If it is a colony of Britain or France, the fleet will face attacks from the British and French navies if it builds a base here. In this way, the mission entrusted by the prince will be ruined."

The Caribbean Islands have always been an ideal base for pirates and an important waterway for the two major European powers, Britain and France. The British and French navies often cruise the Caribbean region and crack down on pirates active on their colonial islands, making it difficult for many Caribbean pirate forces to attack the colonial islands of Britain and France. Even the islands abandoned by Britain and France will have warships patrolling regularly to prevent pirates from occupying the islands and posing a threat to the waterways.

The fleet passed by many islands along the way, but most of them were either occupied by naval forces of European countries or were too small to be suitable as bases for the Chinese fleet. The island in front of them had a good area and geographical location, so after approaching the island and observing it for a while, Sun Bin considered using this small island as the base for the Chinese fleet without considering the issue of the island's ownership.

"There are so many islands in the Caribbean Sea. It doesn't mean that the island we have finally chosen belongs to Britain or France, right?" Sun Bin smiled and turned to ask Li Han who was returning with the Chinese diplomatic team: "Brother Li Han, you have been in the Caribbean Sea for a long time. You should know the news about this island. Why don't you introduce the specific ownership of this island and the surrounding situation of the Caribbean Sea to us, so as to help us make a judgment."

"I had planned to give you a detailed introduction to the situation around the Caribbean Sea when we got to Feilong Island. Since Mr. Sun asked, I will give you a brief explanation."

Li Hancong walked up to the bow and pointed to the island in front and said, "This island originally belonged to France, but was later bought by the King of Denmark and became a Danish colony. The Danes named it St. John's Island, but because it is shaped like a turtle, the brothers of the Heavenly Kingdom Navy call it Turtle Island.

Turtle Island is about 50 square kilometers in area. There was originally a plantation on the island opened by the Danes. However, the Americans abolished the slave trade a few years ago, and the Danes lacked slaves to grow economic plants. This small island and the other two larger islands gradually became deserted. As Turtle Island is the smallest in area and was hit by a storm three years ago, the Danes completely abandoned it, and the more than 100 slaves on the island were also moved to the largest island, Santa Cruz. "

"The Danes also have colonies in the Caribbean?"

Sun Bin asked doubtfully.

No wonder Sun Bin was suspicious. Whether it was fighting against the foreign rifle team composed of soldiers from Britain, France and other countries in the mainland, or Li Mingyuan's explanation of the general situation of the Western powers after joining the Chinese Independence Army, Denmark was not mentioned. However, such a small country that seemed to be insignificant actually had colonies in the Caribbean Sea, which was valued by Britain, France and the Netherlands. As soon as Li Han's words came out, the first thought in Sun Bin's mind was disbelief.

"Turtle Island is indeed a Danish colony. Mr. Sun, don't underestimate Denmark. Although I don't know how powerful Denmark is among European countries, the Danish navy is much stronger than ordinary pirates in the Caribbean Sea."

In order to deepen Sun Bin and others' understanding of the Danish Navy, Li Han continued, "A year ago, a relatively powerful pirate in the Caribbean joined forces with other pirates to attack Puerto Rico. As a result, intelligence was leaked, and 5,000 pirates and local rebel forces in Puerto Rico were defeated by the Spanish in one fell swoop. More than 1,000 of the 5,000-man force escaped. The remaining pirates were unwilling to fail after escaping, and wanted to make up for the losses from other places. Finally, they chose the Danish colony in the West Indies as their target.

The Danish West Indies colony included Turtle Island, which consisted of more than fifty islands. St. Thomas was the slave trade center and commercial transit point in the heart of the Caribbean. The island was rich in oil and water, but the Danish military force consisted of only a dozen merchant ships and five or six warships. The navy and island garrison forces combined had no more than five or six hundred people.

There were just over a thousand pirates who escaped from Puerto Rico. After the operation failed, the pirate leaders annexed seven small pirate groups, increasing the number of pirates to 1,500. They also invited other pirate forces to attack the Danish colony together. However, most of the pirates who suffered a loss did not accept the invitation. Only some pirates who could not survive joined in. "

Li Han paused, and then said, "After gathering their forces, the pirates learned from their last lesson and did not immediately attack the West Indies. Instead, they waited until the Danish warships left the port before launching an attack on St. Thomas.

Nearly 2,000 pirates attacked the island aggressively, but they spent half a day trying to take down the bunker built by the Danes. Finally, they were ambushed by the Danish navy who came back to help. The leader of a large pirate group in the Caribbean was killed, and the remaining pirates were either captured or fled in all directions. It was no longer as glorious as before. "After Li Han finished speaking, he sighed, as if he still felt sorry for the pirates' failure.

"Brother Li Han, what you mean is that once we occupy Turtle Island, the Danes will also destroy us to ensure the safety of St. Thomas Island?"

“Yes, the commercial status of St. Thomas Island declined with the abolition of slavery. In order to maintain the normal operation of the archipelago, Denmark also injected funds into the colony. However, even if the archipelago cannot bring profits to Denmark, the Danes have no intention of giving up the archipelago.

After the pirates attacked the archipelago, the Americans sent representatives to buy the archipelago from Denmark. The two parties had initially signed an agreement, but the Danes did not fulfill the agreement in the end. In order to reduce expenses, Turtle Island was abandoned, and the investment in the other two islands was also reduced a lot. However, the military force did not decrease, but showed signs of strengthening. "

"Now that the most threatening pirates have been eliminated, isn't it unnecessary for the Danes to strengthen their defenses?"

Chen Sen said.

"No, the Danes are not guarding against pirates, but Americans." Sun Bin said thoughtfully.

"Mr. Sun is right. In the Caribbean region, the pirates are most afraid of not the British Navy, which will hang pirates if they are caught, nor the military-strong France, but the United States, which is close to the Caribbean.

Americans appear to be harmless businessmen on the mainland, but this is not the case in America and the Caribbean.

The Americans carried out extermination of the Indians on land. Many Indians who had been educated by Westerners fled to the United States through Mexico. Some Indians living near the sea had no way to survive and had to go out to sea as pirates. However, the Americans not only expanded on land, but also had their warships sailing on the oceans.

Nuevo Bajo Island was originally an uninhabited island in Colombia. Pirates from the surrounding areas often stayed on Nuevo Bajo Island. However, American warships occupied Nuevo Bajo Island and continued to attack nearby pirate forces under the pretext of cracking down on pirates. Then they occupied the island left by the pirates and refused to leave. Because of similar behavior, not only did the pirates regard the US Navy as a major enemy, but countries such as Britain and France were also dissatisfied with the US's behavior.

Americans have no credit in the Americas. They just occupied a large piece of land from Mexico a few years ago, and now they want to expand their land on the ocean. At the same time, they have ill intentions towards the Spanish colony of Cuba.

It would be strange for the Danes to feel at ease if such an expansionist country set its sights on the Danish colonies, so the Danes did not dare to relax the defense of the archipelago to prevent the Americans from sending troops to rob it. "

Li Han's words extinguished Sun Bin's thoughts of occupying Turtle Island. Turtle Island was a small island, and not only would the Danes not give it up, but even the Americans had gotten involved. If the Chinese fleet occupied Turtle Island, the Americans would probably be the happiest, as they could occupy Turtle Island in the name of suppressing pirates. In this way, the Chinese fleet's occupation of Turtle Island would become a dead end.

Li Mingyuan often said to the senior leaders of the Chinese Independence Army: The United States is the biggest obstacle to the development and growth of the Chinese Independence Army. When the Chinese Independence Army is still weak, Americans may not pay attention to it. However, when the Chinese Independence Army develops to a certain level, Americans will definitely get involved to stop the expansion of the Chinese Independence Army.

The United States is the biggest enemy of the Chinese Independence Army. Under Li Mingyuan's indoctrination, this statement has become a consensus among the top leaders of the Chinese Independence Army. However, Sun Bin realized the threat from the Americans earlier than others.

Sun Bin reluctantly turned his eyes away from Turtle Island and sailed to the central Caribbean Sea. He still hadn't found a suitable island to serve as a base. His main mission was to visit Prussia, so the task of finding an island to build a base could only be accomplished by Chen Sen and his sailors.

Thanks to Yunhai Shuyou Shitongzhou for the reward and support.

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(End of this chapter)