1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 260: The Bay of Cannibals

The sea breeze blows gently, the sun shines on the golden beach, in the camp on the beach, food is stewed in iron pots, sailors gather around the iron pots drinking and chatting, and the fleet with the double-headed eagle flag flying high is anchored in the harbor not far away.

Next to the largest tent, Christopher Columbus was leaning against a big tree, reading his navigation notes.

"On September 1467, 9, under the guidance of God, the West Indian Exploration Fleet finally discovered the western continent, but it was a wilderness covered with dense forests."

"We found some indigenous tribes, but they were unwilling to communicate with us and hid in the jungle."

"We discovered a large river and named it the Orinoco. The water flow was so large and the current was so strong that we could not go upstream. We mapped it and left."

"We also found a large island near the Orinoco River. There are some indigenous people on it. They make a living by fishing and hunting, and they also grow some unknown grains. There are very few people, and the largest tribe has only a few hundred people."

"We stayed on the island for a while, and the priests on board performed a 'miracle' using black powder. The local chiefs were horrified and regarded us as messengers of God. They received a simple baptism under the auspices of the priests, abandoned their original beliefs, and converted to Orthodoxy."

"However, they do not seem to understand the true nature of Jesus Christ and regard Him as the God of Fire. But that does not matter. There will be plenty of time for that later."

"In the days that followed, we helped the Orthodox chief defeat his enemies. The powerful force displayed by our sailors made him no longer doubt our identity as God's messengers. He also sent his three sons to our ship to study theology and Greek."

"We named the large island Trinidad, after the locals, and the gathering place of this chief we called Port Cyril."

"Later, we left Cyril Harbor and continued to explore northwards. We discovered many islands one after another. These islands were arranged neatly to form an island chain."

"After comparing the nautical chart, I was so excited that I couldn't describe it in words. The distribution of islands here is very similar to the legendary archipelago."

"Legend has it that there is a mysterious archipelago west of the Canary Islands. If we cross this archipelago, we can reach eastern Asia directly."

"I immediately decided to name the archipelago the Antilles, according to the legend, as part of the West Indies, and to continue exploring."

“It is worth mentioning that the Nicaea carries an expedition team, most of whose members are from major chambers of commerce and navigation schools. They will assess the value of each piece of land and decide on the future investment and development direction.”

"Among the expedition team, there was a young man named Amerigo Vespucci, who was sent by the Free City of La Spezia. He disagreed with my idea and believed that the land we discovered did not belong to India or even Asia, but was a completely new continent."

"This was simply heresy. I severely criticized him, but I still accepted his suggestion and named our initial landing place Venezuela, which means "Little Venice". There are many rivers here, and it does have some similarities with Venice, the second richest city in Europe."

"According to the agreement we signed with His Majesty, all the territories discovered during this exploration will be integrated into the Saint Constantine Colony. This will be the Empire's second largest colony after New Thrace..."

Columbus turned to the next page of his navigation notes.

"However, the lands we first discovered did not contain any valuable gold, silver or jewelry, and the local indigenous people had a low level of civilization, so the expedition team was not very satisfied."

"I took a quick look at their records and saw something like 'worthless'... How stupid!"

"Next, we continued to explore the Antilles along the island chain and found another island. The land here is fertile and the natives there are obviously richer than those we have seen before. I named it Puerto Rico, which means "Island of Plenty."

"This island has a small population and a small area, less than half the size of Crete. There are some small gold mines on the island. The natives there treated us very badly and tried to attack our camp. I had no choice but to launch a counterattack and occupied their largest settlement. I named it San Juan to commemorate the great Baptist..."

"We rested for a while in the port of San Juan, collected some gold, and forced the prisoners to help us build the castle."

"During this period, two young native men who had volunteered to accompany us learned some Greek sentences and were able to communicate with us in a simple manner. They then took on the duties of translators and were responsible for managing the native captives in San Juan Harbor."

"The languages ​​of these indigenous peoples are about 70% similar. The two young men were able to understand them and communicate normally with the Puerto Rican natives."

"These natives told us that there are several large islands to the west of Puerto Rico. The tribes there are very powerful, but I doubt it. After all, no matter how powerful the tribe is, it can't stop our guns..."

"On December 1467, 12, I left 20 sailors, two priests and an interpreter in the port of San Juan, and set sail with the fleet to the west."

A sailor handed Columbus a glass of wine, which he took, drank in one gulp, and continued reading.

"These islands are so close that it took us two days to reach the edge of the big island. Since the fleet arrived at this island on a sunny Sunday, I named it Dominica Island in Latin."

"There are too many islands, and it takes a lot of time to explore them. I saw that the natives on the islands were very primitive, so I simply split the fleet into two. I took the Saint Cyril, Nicaea, and Chalcedon to continue exploring westward, while the rest of us stayed behind to draw charts of the surrounding seas, spread the true faith, and build initial strongholds."

"After only one day of sailing, we discovered another large island. To be on the safe side, we did not land on the island for the time being, but circled the island to observe the situation."

"This island is really big. It's roughly long and narrow in shape. It has a large population. There are quite a few natives on the shore alone."

"Oh my god, this must be the legendary Japan. It seems my guess was right. This is the eastern part of Asia. I was very happy and called that kid Amerigo over to give him a good scolding..."

"According to the records of the Arabs, Japan is an isolated island country overseas. The powerful and wealthy Eastern dynasty mentioned by Marco Polo must be on the western continent. Thinking of this, I can't wait."

"Before I left, I asked Your Majesty to write three letters to the Indians, Ming people, and Japanese people respectively. Now they are finally going to come in handy."

"But what I still don't understand is that His Majesty didn't seem to have any interest in writing the letter. The letter was very sloppy. Why is that? Doesn't he want to find Ming and Japan?"

When Columbus saw this, he thought about it again, but still couldn't figure it out, so he simply turned to the last page.

"On December 12, our exploration fleet dropped anchor in a good harbor, and I, along with 31 sailors, officially set foot on the land of Japan."

"On the beach, we found an indigenous fisherman who was picking up seafood. He told us that there are indeed many powerful tribes on this island. There is indeed a continent to the west of the island. The countries on the continent are extremely powerful and can make paper and have their own writing system."

"I can't describe my excitement in words. It's obvious that this is Japan and Ming. But Amerigo still raised questions. I couldn't help but scold him again."

"Then, I formed a simple delegation, including a priest, two sailors, an interpreter, and the native fisherman, and went to meet the king of the Japanese with the emperor's letter."

"This delegation is led by my second mate Carathes, who has been on expeditions with the emperor. I have great confidence in him. Amerigo volunteered to go with the delegation, and I agreed to his request."

The logbook ended here. Columbus thought for a moment, went into the tent, picked up the quill pen and dipped it in ink.

"January 1468, 1. Carathes and his companions have not returned yet. I think they have been received by the King of Japan."

"During the previous exploration, we collected some plants according to the emperor's order. These plants are not found in the Mediterranean world. To be honest, I don't know which plants the emperor wants. I can only take the crops grown by the natives. Since they are growing them, they must be valuable..."

"We set up a camp beside a small river, dug a trench, and settled down here, waiting for good news from Carathes."

At this moment, there was a sudden commotion outside the tent, probably the delegation had returned.

Columbus smiled knowingly, stopped writing, closed the logbook, and pushed open the curtain.

The sailors were noisy and seemed very shocked. Columbus frowned and walked up.

"What happened?"

Columbus pushed through the crowd and was shocked.

In the crowd, a disheveled figure sat on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Amerigo? Is that you? Where are the others?"

When Amerigo saw Columbus, he burst into tears and hugged his thighs.

"Master Columbus... this... this is not Japan!"

“They call this place Cuba!”

Americo cried breathlessly.

"They are all dead! I am the only one who ran back!"

"Lord Carathes was stoned to death by those demons in order to protect me!"

"what happened?"

Columbus frowned, took out a bottle of wine and handed it to Amerigo.

Americo took the wine, took a few gulps, and his expression looked much better.

"Sir, under the guidance of the native fisherman, we went inland from the coast and arrived at a primitive tribe."

Amerigo sobbed.

"They didn't have metal tools and were still using stone tools, which was very primitive. From then on, I was convinced that this was definitely not Japan."

"However, we still followed your instructions and gave them the letter of credence and several gifts. The chief paid no attention to the letter of credence, but liked our gifts very much and asked us to give him more."

"He told us that this island is called Cuba and that there are two kinds of people living there. One is the Taino, who are timid and cowardly, and the other is them, who came across the sea from outside, are the best warriors, and are born to be the masters of the Taino."

"I felt something was wrong. The natives we met in Dominica were very gentle and friendly, and could communicate with us normally, but this tribe exuded an indescribable sense of oppression, which made people feel very uncomfortable."

"The next day, he gathered us together to participate in their tribe's celebration."

“It was only then that my doubts were suddenly resolved.”

A flash of fear flashed in Amerigo's eyes.

"Celebration? What's going on?"

Columbus asked.

"Their celebration is human sacrifice, my lord."

Amerigo muttered.

"Not only did they perform human sacrifices, they also ate people and peeled off their skins and covered themselves with them."

“Their sacrifices were the Taino.”

Amerigo turned his head mechanically and looked at Columbus.

"My Lord, they are the devil."

Columbus was silent for a while, clenching his fists.

"and then?"

"Then, except for Lord Carathes, we all couldn't help but vomit, which caused great hostility from the chief."

When Amerigo mentioned Calathes, he felt sad.

"Their chief and priest started to scream, and the natives nearby rushed over, stabbed the priest to death with wooden spears, and attacked us."

"There were too many of them. We were completely unaware of this and were caught off guard. We were unable to mount an effective resistance. Lord Carathes, wearing his armor, fought desperately and took me into the jungle."

"They chased after us very quickly. Lord Carathes led the enemy away and allowed me to hide in a dirt cave."

"In the cave, I didn't dare to say a word. Lord Carathes was very brave and kept shouting loudly, leading the enemy to where he was."

"Finally, I heard a dull crash, and Lord Carathes' voice never sounded again."

Amerigo closed his eyes in pain.

"After hiding in the cave for a day, I crawled out of it, looked at the sun, and groped my way back."

Amerigo hugged Columbus' legs, and his tears left a clear tear mark on his dusty cheeks.

"Sir, you have to avenge them!"

Columbus clenched his fists, his nails dug into his flesh, and his eyes were red.

He stroked Amerigo's little head and hugged him.

"Americo, I was wrong. This is not Japan, and it is even less likely to be Ming."

"It was because I was too stubborn and utilitarian that I stubbornly believed that they were civilized people, so I brought them embassies and gifts instead of swords and muskets."

"It was I who killed Carathes."

Columbus walked up a hill and looked around at the sailors.

"Followers of Jesus Christ! Soldiers of Rome!"

"Since 1453, the Eastern Empire has embarked on the road of revival. No one dares to look down on us, let alone kill our envoys."

Columbus sneered. "Even if I go to Rome, Paris, London, Moscow, Vienna as an envoy, I can insult all the monarchs from Ireland to Khitan."

"Even so, can they kill me? Do they dare to kill me!"

Columbus waved his hand.

"Tell me what will happen if you kill my Roman envoy!"

"die!"

The sailors roared.

"well said!"

Columbus waved his right hand.

"Kill one of my envoys and I will massacre his entire nation!"

"Put on your leather armor, pick up your swords and muskets, and avenge our brothers!"

"kill!!"

The sailors waved their swords in indignation.

As he was speaking, the sailor on sentry came running over.

"Master Columbus! The cannibals are coming!"

"It's that cannibal fisherman! He knows we're here!"

Columbus gritted his teeth and drew the scimitar from his waist.

"Well done! Form your formation! Get ready to meet the enemy!"

More than a hundred sailors immediately took action, quickly put on light leather armor, and picked up their weapons. Some were spears, some were swords and shields, and some were crossbows and mushkot heavy muskets.

The cannibals came running over with wooden spears and slings, their teeth bared.

When the sailors saw these savages clearly, their eyes turned red on the spot.

The cannibals running in the front were all wearing bloody human skins. The sailors recognized the owners of the skins; they were all members of the diplomatic mission.

"Raise your guns, raise your crossbows, and shoot!"

"I don't want any prisoners, kill them all!"

Columbus roared.

bang bang bang-

The air was filled with smoke and flames. The cannibals' arrogant roars came to an abrupt end, and the painful howls and screams of terror resounded throughout the earth.

Then, a volley of crossbow arrows pierced the cannibal's chest.

With just one round of volleys, the morale of the cannibals collapsed on the spot. The leading few fell to the ground, and the rest either fled in all directions or knelt on the ground with their heads in their hands.

"Let the crossbowmen kill those who are running away first! Ignore those who are kneeling on the ground!"

Columbus roared.

"Everyone, follow me and charge!"

Columbus picked up his scimitar, rushed forward first, and killed everyone he saw.

Filled with hatred, the sailors rushed towards the cannibals, swords flying.

The battle ended quickly. The cannibals did not achieve any results with their stone tools. The chief and several warriors who rushed to the front were shot dead on the spot. Those who escaped were killed first, and the rest knelt in a group.

"Clean up the battlefield and count the dead and wounded - never mind, no need to count."

Columbus took off the chief's skin and stared at his broken face in silence.

"Rest in peace, Carathes. I will avenge you."

"Leave one and kill the rest."

Columbus said something, turned around, walked towards the priest's tent, and handed the human skin to the priest.

"Father, pray for him. He is a true warrior and worthy of being one of His Majesty Isaac's earliest followers."

The priest nodded and made the sign of the cross on his chest.

When Columbus returned to the battlefield, the killing had stopped. Amidst the blood and limbs, the surviving cannibals were howling in fear. The interpreter squatted beside him, asking for information.

"grown ups."

Amerigo and several sailors came over carrying the skins of other members of the delegation, their eyes full of sadness.

"Give it to the priest, and they will all go to heaven."

Columbus crossed himself.

He walked towards the interpreter and patted him on the shoulder.

"Ah, sir, it's you!"

Columbus, with his face covered in blood, frightened the interpreter.

"Did you find out where the tribe is?"

Columbus said indifferently.

"He can't explain it, but he can take us there."

The translator said simply.

"Okay, let him take us there right away."

Columbus walked forward, grabbed the cannibal, and as he screamed in pain, stabbed him in the right eye socket.

"When wild animals are in pain, they will unconsciously want to return to their caves. The same is true for him."

Columbus wiped the blood from his face.

"This is to prevent him from being sneaky."

Columbus looked at the interpreter.

"Tell him that one of our sailors also went to their tribe. Although I can't remember the exact route, I can definitely tell if he deliberately took the wrong path."

"Tell him that if he dares to have any evil thoughts, you won't even have the other eye anymore."

The interpreter gestured, and the cannibal immediately nodded in horror, saying something.

"What is he saying?"

Columbus asked.

"Sir, he said that all the food, wood carvings, clay pots and offerings of his tribe are given to you, and he begs you to spare his life."

The interpreter looked at Columbus and was silent for a moment.

"My Lord, this island does not have the gold or gems you want, but the land is more fertile."

"You have just killed nearly all the able-bodied men in their tribe. They have nothing left."

"Moreover, according to what he said, it seems that only middle-aged men have the opportunity to enjoy the sacrifice. Others are not qualified."

"Why, plead for mercy?"

Columbus sneered and stared at the native interpreter with a ferocious look.

"Don't forget, you are now a Christian. Just now, they killed your brothers and skinned them and wore their skins on their bodies."

"Yes, my lord."

The interpreter did not dare to look at the furious Columbus and quickly lowered his head.

"Cannibal women will give birth to new children, and cannibal children will also eat people when they grow up."

Columbus shook his head slowly and looked into the depths of the jungle with a cold gaze.

"I'm not doing this for money, I'm only doing this for revenge."

"You have nothing? Then pay with your life!"

……

At the end of 1467, the Eastern Roman Empire's West Indian exploration fleet arrived in America, discovered Venezuela and the Antilles, and occupied a small port on Trinidad Island, naming it Port Cyril.

Next, the West India Exploration Fleet discovered a number of large and small islands along the Antilles chain, including Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and hoisted the flag of the double-headed eagle.

In early 1468, Columbus led his fleet to Cuba. He stubbornly believed that this long island was Japan, so he sent envoys to an indigenous tribe, bringing letters and gifts.

There are two ethnic groups in the Antilles. One is the kind and gentle Taino people, and the other is the foreign cannibal bandits. The latter have been robbing the former of their food, population and wealth, and holding sacrificial ceremonies, kidnapping women and eating men.

Unfortunately, Columbus failed to continue his previous good luck. He misjudged the level of civilization of the indigenous tribes and sent his delegation into a den of wolves, resulting in the tragic deaths of two sailors and a priest at the hands of cannibals.

On January 1468, 1, Columbus led 3 sailors to defeat the cannibal tribe whose blood was stained with the blood of Roman envoys. He left behind a guide with one eye blinded to lead them to find other cannibals, and the rest were slaughtered.

Next, Columbus used this method to successively defeat eight small cannibal tribes within a month, and all the cannibal tribes in central and southern Cuba were wiped out.

Good and bad are interdependent. The tragic death of the envoys and the subsequent massacre allowed Columbus to gradually understand the specific situation on the island of Cuba and learn about the eternal hatred between the Taino people and the cannibals.

Columbus began to use the political knowledge he learned at the Carthage Navigation School and immediately formulated future action plans, advocating an alliance with the Taino people and the elimination of the cannibals.

Columbus's massive massacre quickly attracted the attention of several Taino chiefs in southern Cuba. These gentle and kind natives showed great enthusiasm and respect for Columbus, invited him to the tribe to attend a banquet, and signed a covenant with him.

During their interactions, the expedition members claimed to be messengers sent by God, whose purpose was to eliminate the cannibals, save the Taino people from their suffering, and bring these lost lambs back into the arms of God.

Columbus declared that the Taino gods had abandoned them, otherwise they would not have sat idly by and watched them suffer from the poison of cannibals. Only the almighty God could save them.

After performing a series of "miracles", some Taino chiefs were conquered by the powerful military force displayed by Columbus and others, and were baptized as Orthodox Christians, declaring their allegiance to the legendary extremely powerful Roman emperor.

In the next two months, Columbus led the Taino people to launch a general attack on the cannibals, destroying one cannibal tribe after another. His prestige in the Taino tribe gradually increased, more and more people began to convert to God, and more and more chiefs signed protection agreements with Columbus.

In order to repay the kindness of Columbus and others, several Taino chiefs donated a small port to the Eastern Roman Empire and allowed them to build castles and churches.

Columbus named the port Havana according to the local language and made it the capital of the St. Constantine colony.

In March 1468, Columbus left thirty sailors and three priests in the port of Havana, led the fleet out of Havana, and reunited with the ships staying on Dominican Island, embarking on the return journey with precious nautical charts, maps and various crops.

In his journal, Columbus admitted his mistake and no longer called the land India, Ming or Japan. He agreed with Amerigo and named it the "New World."

On the map, Columbus detailed the settlements of the Taino and cannibals in the explored areas based on the Taino's description, and named this ethnic group, whose representative characteristic was cannibalism, the Caribs.

On the nautical chart, Columbus named this bay Caribbean Bay after the Caribs, using this terrifying word to warn himself and subsequent explorers.

The Bay of Cannibals.

(End of this chapter)