Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 248: Wind Moves (Part )

On October 10, at 12:7 p.m., five kilometers northeast of Guangfeng City (now Saanich City).

Colonel Eric Garcia Matrete looked at the bodies lying on the ground, his face tightened and his brows furrowed.

The feeling of unease that welled up in his heart grew stronger, as if an invisible hand was pulling at his nerves.

He had a vague feeling that the pirates might be setting a terrible trap for them!

Ten days ago, the expeditionary fleet attacked the pirate port and was met with fierce counterattacks from the enemy's coastal artillery. Many warships were damaged to varying degrees, and more than a hundred people were killed or wounded.

Even more heartbreaking was the loss of the Dawn Light.

The poor "Light of Dawn" was almost shot into a sieve. From a distance, its entire hull was riddled with bullet holes, and several sails were torn into countless pieces by various shells.

Although it still stubbornly floated on the water, its hull was severely tilted, and its mainmast and mizzenmast were broken. It looked like a ravaged girl, miserable and helpless.

No one could save it, and no one dared to turn back to save it.

The firepower of the coastal artillery was very fierce, completely covering the entire harbor. If it were not for the god of luck favoring us Spaniards, more warships might have been "left behind" under such intensive artillery fire.

After evacuating, the expeditionary fleet headed west and found a secluded bay. They lowered the sails, dropped anchor, and took a short rest to rebuild their low morale and repair the damaged ships.

That night, fleet commander General Gomez had a heated discussion with several other senior officers on the next combat strategy.

Captain Calles of the "San Jose" said that if the pirates' ports were so difficult to attack, then the fortresses they garrisoned must have more stringent defenses.

If we land rashly, we will most likely return empty-handed or even suffer a military defeat.

In this case, it is better to set up a temporary camp nearby to prepare for a long-term battle.

The fleet then blockaded the pirate port, restricting their entry and exit.

At the same time, two supply ships were sent back to Mexico to bring more supplies to the expedition fleet.

In fact, he wanted to say that it would be better to return to Mexico and end this expedition.

But he didn't dare to say no.

However, Major General Marc Calderón Bernal, deputy commander of the expeditionary fleet, disagreed with this. He believed that with the pirates' strength, they would definitely not be able to build their nests as thick as hedgehogs while completing the defense of the port.

They are pirates and certainly do not have such strength or financial resources.

You know, after we occupied the Philippines, it took us nearly a hundred years to build the well-equipped and heavily defended Manila Fort, and we also built Fort Santiago and Fort San Philip on the coast, enabling us to hold out for a long time.

This group of pirates has established their lair here for no more than eight years. How can they build a complete defense system in such a short time with their limited manpower?

It is obvious that the other side must have started to strengthen the defense of their port batteries and deploy such a large number of artillery after being discovered by our exploration fleet two years ago.

The purpose of doing this is to use this powerful firepower to create a huge deterrent to our expeditionary fleet, thereby preventing subsequent landing operations.

It is reported that the pirates have several armed warships, but they were not seen when facing our large-scale attack.

This shows what?
After the pirates realized that they could not defeat our expeditionary fleet with just their few warships, they hid all of them and did not dare to come out to actively meet the enemy.

Then they unloaded all the cannons from the ship and placed them in the harbor to prevent us from capturing the port.

They were a group of pirates who had neither the ability nor the technology to cast cannons. This meant that when they strengthened the defenses of the port's coastal artillery batteries, they could no longer take into account the defensive strength of the fortress they occupied.

Therefore, we can completely avoid the pirates' port, find another suitable landing beach, and then go straight to the pirates' lair.

As long as we break through their fortress, we can turn around and counterattack the port artillery, and the battle will end smoothly.

At that time, with the intention of making great achievements, Colonel Matret, the army commander, also agreed with Major General Bernal's statement and expressed his strong approval.

In the past, the Caribbean Fleet raided the pirate islands of Tortuga and the Bahamas (mainly New Providence) several times. As soon as the Spanish army troops completed the landing, the pirates on the islands would scatter like birds and beasts, either fleeing to the inland jungles or fleeing to the sea in a panic by boat, and they did not dare to fight head-on.

These pirates simply bullied merchant ships that had little military power. When they boarded the ships, they could easily subdue the sailors with their ruthlessness and then loot the merchant ships.

But once they had to face the Spanish regular army, they would be no match for it and could only flee in panic.

Therefore, Colonel Matret was absolutely sure that as long as he could land smoothly, he could defeat the pirates.

Of course, if the pirates choose to hold their ground and fight a city attack and defense battle with the landing troops, it might cause them some trouble.

After all, they only carried a small number of land-based artillery, only five. If the pirates' fortress was equipped with artillery, it would be difficult to suppress the enemy's firepower and cover the troops' siege.

But it doesn't matter. The landing troops can head straight to the port, disarm the coastal artillery, and then let the fleet sail into the port, unload several 18-pound and 24-pound naval guns from the ship, drag them to the front of the fortress, bombard continuously until a hole is broken, and finally rush in with one final push.

A mob of people, presumably with limited combat effectiveness, might cost us a bit of time, cause some casualties, or even cause us other trouble, but it ultimately won't change the outcome of the battle. That is, we will undoubtedly win.

General Gomez pondered for a long time and finally agreed to the suggestions of Major General Bernal and Colonel Matret.

Captain Calles's approach, while prudent, was too conservative and unrealistic.

At this time, it was already early October and the temperature had dropped significantly. If a temporary camp was set up on the spot, not to mention whether the supplies they brought could sustain the needs for the next few months, the coming severe winter cold would probably put the entire expedition fleet into a huge crisis.

Because the fleet did not carry much winter supplies, it was simply not enough to support them in a long-term battle with the pirates.

Not to mention, we have to build a camp here for a long-term stay.

This is so unrealistic!

Of course, there is something difficult to understand why General Gomez rejected Captain Calles's suggestion.

Not reconciled!
He was appointed by the Governor-General as the commander of the expeditionary fleet to wipe out the northern pirates. However, he did not expect to suffer a defeat in the first battle, which seriously hurt his proud self-esteem.

Why was it that the Caribbean Squadron could sweep out pirates and clear out enemy nests with ease like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, but when he led this task force to attack pirates, he encountered such "trouble"?
What he wanted was a victory, and a crushing victory.

He admitted that he had indeed underestimated the pirates.

Captain Calles had repeatedly dissuaded him from entering the harbor and trying to seize their dock, saying that the enemy's artillery fire was fierce and had damaged and captured the "St. Vincent".

But he still held on to a lucky mentality, thinking that with the powerful firepower of nearly 200 artillery pieces on his side, he could suppress the enemy's artillery positions.

Shouldn't pirate ports be like Tortuga Island or the Bahamas, with only a dozen or so weak cannons for a slight deterrent effect?
Although he was slapped in the face by the cruel reality, Gomez still didn't believe in his heart that this group of pirates would have too much strength.

We need to try again.

The fleet stayed in a bay a few leagues west of the pirate port for two days to repair the damaged ships. Then they weighed anchor and set sail one after another, slowly sailing around the southeast of the pirate port, looking for a suitable landing point.

After sailing for nearly three days, the fleet finally found a relatively flat beach on the coast three leagues southeast of the pirate port and began landing operations.

At the beginning of the landing, Colonel Matreth was very nervous.

On the desolate beach, the number of soldiers landing in each wave was very small, and they had to wade across a shallow beach of more than 20 meters. If they were suddenly attacked by pirates, they would inevitably fail and stop at the beach.

After personnel and supplies came ashore one after another, more than a thousand people gathered together, artillery, equipment, tents, food, and tools were scattered everywhere, and the whole scene became a mess again.

Fortunately, the landing operation went smoothly. During the two days, there was no attack from pirates, and a temporary camp was established.

However, just as the entire army set out, preparing to pass through the dense jungle and head towards the pirate port, frequent attacks began.

The enemy hid in the jungle and continuously attacked the troops with various traps, arrows and guns.

At the end of the day, they had only traveled less than half a league, and during this journey, more than 20 soldiers were attacked, 18 were injured, and 6 died, throwing the entire army into panic.

When they set up camp to rest at night, the enemy shamefully made all kinds of loud noises around the camp, preventing the soldiers from sleeping peacefully.

A small team of soldiers was sent to drive them away, but unsurprisingly, they were ambushed by the enemy under cover of darkness, resulting in several casualties.

So Colonel Matret had no choice but to order his soldiers to stay in the camp and ignore the noise made by the enemy.

The landing troops were "harassed" by the enemy all the way and advanced forward with difficulty.

Under the endless attacks, it took the entire army two full days to get out of the jungle and come to an area full of farmland, and the view instantly became wider.

However, Colonel Matret's mood did not relax, but instead became tense.

Because he saw a small group of cavalry, about ten or so, standing in a wheat field that had just been harvested. Although the formation was not very strict, it stood in a solemn manner and was staring at them coldly.

In the cornfields on both sides, which were more than one person tall, there were faint shadows moving around, as if countless enemies were lying in ambush.

A small group of soldiers who had just gone to investigate were attacked by bows and arrows and muskets before they even got close. They could only flee in a panic, dragging the bodies of their companions.

What frightened him even more was that in the dense forest behind him, birds would occasionally fly over the treetops and fly away in panic.

He knew that the real battle seemed to be about to begin.

The pirates may have set a terrible trap here.

Standing at the edge of the farmland, Colonel Matret subconsciously looked towards the port in the distance.

Can we rendezvous with the fleet there?

(End of this chapter)