Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 454 Dawn (Part 3)

February 5, light rain, Yichuan Fort (now Berkeley, California).

Rainwater dripped through the gaps in the rattan helmet, lingered on Yao Shunzi's nose for a moment, and finally splashed into the muddy training ground.

He gripped the flintlock pistol tightly in his hand; the barrel was already slippery from the rain, and the sweat seeping from his palms mixed with the rainwater, making it increasingly difficult to hold.

"Load!" The voice of Wei Dashan, the militia captain, wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, pierced through the rain and struck the eardrums like a hammer blow.

Yao Shunzi frantically reached for the gunpowder pouch at his waist, but his fingertips were stiff from the cold, and he almost dropped the pouch into the mud.

The old immigrant Pan Laizi next to him spat and chuckled in a low voice, "You son of a bitch, the gunpowder is wet, it won't even make a sound!"

Yao Shunzi glared at him, gritted his teeth, broke the gunpowder pack, poured it into the barrel, stuffed in the lead bullet, and then took out the purging rod and pressed it down hard.

His movements were a beat slower than the others. Some people in the queue had already finished loading and were glancing at the captain, waiting for the next instruction.

"Raise your guns!" Wei Dashan shouted.

More than eighty flintlock muskets in two rows were raised in unison, their muzzles pointing at the straw targets in the distance.

Rainwater flowed down the gun barrel, accumulating into small puddles on the flint mechanism.

Yao Shunzi squinted, trying to aim, but the rain blurred his vision, and the grass target was just a hazy shadow under the gray sky.

"First column, move out!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

The gunshots sounded muffled in the rain; more than 30% of the muskets failed to fire, and the smoke was extinguished by the rain before it could dissipate.

Yao Shunzi's gun fired half a breath late, and the recoil made his shoulder go numb.

On the distant grass target, there were only a few scattered bullet holes; most of the lead bullets had flown off somewhere.

"Second column, move it!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

The misfire rate was still over 30%, and very few shots hit the target.

Wei Dashan walked to the front of the line with a dark face. His boots stepped into the mud pit, splashing mud onto Yao Shunzi's trouser legs.

“With this level of marksmanship, you wouldn’t even be able to withstand a single volley from the Western cavalry!” He suddenly drew his saber, the tip pointing towards the distant bay. “The Spanish warships are coming. Do you want to wait until they land before kneeling and begging for mercy?”

No one answered in the queue; only the soft patter of raindrops hitting raincoats and straw hats could be heard.

Yao Shunzi shrank his neck, and the cold rain flowed down the brim of his hat into his collar, making him shiver.

Will the Western barbarians come?
Last winter, they also held a large-scale militia training exercise, saying that the Western barbarians had learned that our Xinhua had settled and settled here, and that they might attack at any time and kill us all.

But a year has passed, and even the smallpox plague has vanished without a trace, yet not a single trace of the Western barbarians has been seen.

Furthermore, the entrance to the bay was guarded by Yuzhou City (present-day San Francisco) and North Fjord Fortress (present-day Sausalito, opposite San Francisco), and numerous coastal defense batteries were deployed on both sides. It wouldn't be so easy for the Western barbarians to break in.

Not to mention, last month, headquarters also transferred an army unit here, making the defense even more impregnable.

Tell me, what must the Westerners be thinking to come to our Yongning Bay and make a fool of themselves?

"Captain, muskets aren't very effective in the rain. If the Westerners come, I reckon they won't be able to fire many anyway," a voice suddenly came from the ranks.

"Rain will wet the gunpowder. Couldn't you have prepared a dry cloth beforehand?" Wei Dashan cursed. "Before each reload, you have to wipe the muzzle dry while covering the gunpowder pack, and wrap it with a dry cloth immediately after firing. You all need to remember that. In a rainy day, as long as your musket fires, you have a high probability of killing the enemy and outliving them!"

"This is too much trouble!" someone muttered under their breath.

"If you're afraid of trouble, then go and get yourself killed!" Wei Dashan sneered. "Captain, this rainy weather is chilling, why don't we switch to bayonets for combat? ...At least we can warm up a bit," Pan Laizi suggested.

Upon hearing this, Wei Dashan paused for a moment, then turned and glanced back at the sidelines.

"Then let's change the subject! It'll be two-on-one bayonet fighting, and we have to train it like real combat!"

He turned and walked toward the weapons rack, and began distributing wooden sticks, about the length of muskets, to the militiamen.

Shi Sanfa, the militia captain of the Yongning Bay colonization area, slowly walked over, beckoned, and called Wei Dashan closer.

"The militia training in your Yichuan Fort is far inferior to that in Yongning (now Auckland)!" Shi Sanfa said, brushing the water droplets off his raincoat with a hint of sarcasm.

"Commander-in-Chief..." Wei Dashan rubbed his hands and smiled, "As you know, Yichuan has a small population and heavy land reclamation work. In the winter off-season, we also have to repair water conservancy projects and build roads. If we pull them out for militia training, their enthusiasm will be a little low."

"Hehe... Look at what you're saying, making it sound like the militia of Yichuan are the busiest in the entire settlement area." Shi Sanfa shook his head and said, "Which immigrant in any settlement isn't busy from the beginning to the end of the year? Are you so busy reclaiming land that you forgot to bring your sword? If a fight really breaks out, do you think the Western barbarians will wait until you finish repairing the irrigation canals before they make a move?"

"Commander-in-Chief, the Western Barbarians wouldn't... attack us, would they?" Wei Dashan asked cautiously.

"What do you say?"

“Last year, five thousand immigrants came to our Yongning Bay settlement area. Adding that to the existing population, that makes more than eight thousand people. We can easily gather one or two thousand armed militiamen. Even if we can’t fight the Western barbarians in formation, with our strong fortifications and camps, we can at least hold off the siege of thousands of Western barbarians.”

"Do you think the Western barbarians wouldn't be so stubborn as to offer themselves up for death?"

"Hehe..." Wei Dashan chuckled and said in a low voice, "I suppose they don't have the guts to come and kill us, do they?"

“In the past, the Western barbarians would mostly not fight us to the death for this wild land,” Shi Sanfa said with a wry smile. “But now, that’s not necessarily the case!”

"What?"

"The gold mines of Sandao Gou (now the town of Coloma, California)!"

"..." Wei Dashan was stunned. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"What do you think?" Shi Sanfa glared at him. "If the Westerners could barely tolerate our Xinhua's previous 'cross-border' land reclamation, incorporation of indigenous people, and smuggling trade when they were stretched thin, then the news of a large gold mine in Sandao Gou will definitely make them covet it. They will absolutely not give up this readily available treasure!"

"It's been a year since the news of the discovery of the Sandaogou gold mine came out, but the Western Yi haven't made any moves yet?" Wei Dashan said in surprise.

"How do you know they haven't made a move?" Shi Sanfa said. "News came from the port of Acapulco that the Mexican colonial authorities began expanding their forces two months ago, preparing to increase the number of troops from 3,500 to 4,000 to 5,000 in the next year. What do you think their purpose is in expanding their army?"

"Do they really dare to rob Xinhua?"

"The Westerners have been fighting tooth and nail in Europe, suffering repeated defeats. They must be broke by now. And if they hear there's a huge gold mine in Yongning Bay, do you think they wouldn't be tempted?"

The Spanish government, exhausted by its wars, was constantly racking its brains to find a way to keep its coffers empty. In order to continue its wars for European dominance and to aid its relatives (Austria), it had to spend a lot of money every year, which had already put its finances in a state of deficit.

One can foresee how their eyes will turn bloodshot when they learn that there is a rich gold mine in the Yongning Bay Colony, which is nominally still their territory.

During this period, Spain plundered the largest amount of gold and silver from its American colonies (including the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru), amounting to approximately 250-300 tons of silver and 5-10 tons of gold. More than 60 percent of these were transported back to Spain.

The Sandao Gou gold mine, where Yongning Bay is located, can easily produce 2-3 tons of gold per year with just simple mining tools. However, due to the strict control of the Xinhua government, there has been no large-scale participation of private gold prospectors.

This amount is close to 20% of the precious metals produced by the Spanish from their American colonies each year, which is an enormous fortune for the Spanish government, which desperately needs hard currency.

Although Yongning Bay is more than 2,000 miles away from Mexico, news travels quickly.

Even if the Spaniards couldn't come over in person to confirm the news, they could easily obtain relevant information through the smuggling hub, Black Shark Island.

Every year, hundreds of new Chinese merchant ships traveled to and from Yongning Bay, bringing news of the area to the Spanish.

Moreover, the Yongning Bay Settlement Area government did not seem to deliberately try to block news of the gold mine in Sandao Gou; almost all officials and immigrants knew about this inland gold mine.

If the allure of gold mines is not enough to tempt the Spanish to take the risk, then the fact that the colony government sent an exploration vessel two weeks ago, carrying more than forty armed exploration team members, to the San Diego Bay area to "investigate" the local geography and customs, will likely further stimulate the sensitive and fragile psychology of the Spanish.
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(End of this chapter)