Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 516 Smoke of War (Part 4)

On April 24, the setting sun, as red as blood, bathed the simple mud-brick houses of Ameka town in a beautiful golden hue.

The more than 3,000 officers and soldiers of the Xinhua Special Task Force, weary from their journey, finally stopped their arduous ten-day march in this unfamiliar valley.

The soldiers leaned against the walls or simply slumped on the ground. Many ignored the dust on the ground, untied their heavy packs and belts, and checked their worn-out soles and mud-covered leggings.

The military medical officer, accompanied by his assistant, moved among the soldiers, conducting thorough examinations of those who were seriously ill and applying precious herbal remedies.

The entire team was filled with a complex mix of extreme fatigue and relief.

The ten-day journey was far more difficult than expected.

Starting from the Banderas Valley and heading east, the entire unit seemed to be traversing a desolate, uninhabited area, a corner forgotten by the world.

The paths marked on the map are often blurry, or have long been covered by dense vegetation, or have been washed away by seasonal streams.

The only way eastward is along the narrow, winding paths worn down by mules and travelers over the decades. Along the way, one must constantly cut through thorns, trek through rugged and steep mountains, wade through icy and swift streams, and endure the scorching heat of the plateau during the day and the biting temperature fluctuations at night.

Besides the natural obstacles, what weighed heavily on the officers' minds was the unsettling emptiness and desolation along the way.

Along this journey of over 180 kilometers, all that could be seen were barren mountains and arid plateaus, with pitifully sparse traces of human activity.

During the journey, the troops only encountered a few isolated Spanish manors and Jesuit missions nestled in valleys.

These buildings, constructed of adobe or wood and surrounded by simple fences, are less like strongholds of civilization and more like isolated islands struggling to survive in the vast wilderness.

The plantations were usually small and managed by one or a few white plantation owners, employing a small number of Creoles or Mestizos as overseers, while the real labor force consisted of a large number of numb-faced, ragged Native American slave laborers.

They grow corn and wheat, graze cattle and sheep, and live a nearly self-sufficient, isolated life.

The situation was similar in Jesuit missions, where priests in black robes held Bibles and crosses, attempting to spread the Gospel of God while relying on the labor of Native Americans to maintain the missions.

The total number of white people in all these strongholds was less than one hundred.

Such a sparse population density was unbelievable to the soldiers from Xinhua.

I originally thought that Xinhua was a vast and sparsely populated country, and that if you went inland for 100 kilometers or to the far north, you would find a primitive and wild wasteland.

It was completely unexpected that Mexico, a colonial territory known as the most dazzling jewel in the crown of Spain, would be so desolate deep inland.

It should be noted that the Spanish occupied and ruled Mexico for over a century, yet they failed to develop the land into a prosperous and thriving place. Instead, it became so desolate and barren, truly a waste of this land.

Based on the pre-war strategy of "resupplying locally, weakening the enemy's potential, and creating chaos in the rear," Lu Pingqiu, commander of the special task force, issued an order to thoroughly "sweep away" all Spanish strongholds along the way.

The manors and mission areas encountered along the way were ruthlessly attacked and destroyed.

All white people, whether plantation owners, overseers, or missionaries, were detained and forced into hard labor in the army.

The warehouses and cellars were opened, and the grain, cured meat, wine, cattle, sheep, and horses stored inside were all registered and requisitioned as military supplies.

The soldiers were even pleasantly surprised to find some fresh vegetables and fruit orchards, which greatly improved their diet, which had been consisting of dry rations for days.

After dealing with the supplies and white prisoners, the officers released all the large number of Native American slave laborers, restoring their freedom.

The eyes of these poor Native American slaves were filled with fear, confusion, and resignation to their oppression. Long-term enslavement made "freedom" seem distant and unfamiliar to them.

The soldiers piled up the weapons they had captured from the Spanish—old matchlock guns, rapiers, spears, machetes, and even farm tools—in front of the Native Americans, gesturing for them to take these weapons to "protect themselves and defend their freedom."

This was not only out of a sense of pity, but also out of a profound strategic consideration. The freed and armed Native Americans would likely bravely fight back against the Spanish colonists who oppressed and enslaved them, thus igniting war in Spain's backyard.

At this moment, in the town of Ameca, the intelligence obtained from interrogating local residents gave the entire army a shot in the arm: the target city of Guadalajara was only fifty kilometers to the east! If they marched quickly, it would only take two days, at most three.

After a day of rest, the entire army continued its eastward march.

The road conditions on this last stretch were significantly improved. The road was wide and flat, and many sections had even been repaired by hand, covered with gravel and sand. Although it was not as neat and solid as the official roads in Xinhua, it was enough to allow large groups of people and supplies to pass smoothly.

Traces of drainage ditches can be seen along the roadside, indicating that the Spanish once invested some basic infrastructure in this area.

Moreover, the further east you go, the denser the signs of human activity become, and the desolate plateau landscape is gradually replaced by crisscrossing farmland and pastures.

After traveling only about 20 kilometers, the task force encountered three sizable estates, a large ranch with hundreds of cattle and sheep, and two indigenous villages with smoke rising from their chimneys.

These outposts are scattered across gentle slopes and valleys, clearly benefiting from increasingly fertile land and convenient irrigation conditions.

Unsurprisingly, these village strongholds were all swept away by the Xinhua Army. The few white guards and overseers in the manor were often disarmed and subdued before they could even utter a few screams of horror.

The warehouses were opened one by one, and the mountains of corn, wheat, beans, barrels of cured meat, cheese, and liquor inside made the quartermaster in charge of the inventory beam with joy.

The fat cattle, sheep, and horses in the pasture were quickly driven out and incorporated into the herd.

As the number of captured packhorses and vehicles continued to increase, the army's marching speed and carrying capacity improved significantly, and its overall morale soared.

However, this gradually prosperous land also meant that they were approaching the core area of ​​Spanish rule.

Soon, scattered figures on horseback began to appear on the distant hills and forest edges.

Those were Spanish militiamen, wearing wide-brimmed hats, carrying old matchlock guns, dressed in rags, and warily watching this large, well-equipped army with unfamiliar flags.

Their faces were a mixture of surprise and fear. They only dared to linger and observe from a distance. As soon as they saw the Xinhua Army sending out a cavalry squad to drive them away, they immediately turned their horses around, whipped their horses in a panic, and fled into the distance.

However, many unfortunate individuals were still killed on the spot by skirmishers with sniper rifles (mini guns) with extremely long range when they got a little close. This became an insignificant footnote in this not-so-intense skirmish, and it also made more Spanish militiamen afraid to approach the main army easily.

On April 28, the midday sun blazed down on the Guadalajara Valley. More than 4 Xinhua Special Task Force soldiers slowly approached their ultimate target—Guadalajara City.

The city lies quietly on a vast river valley plain, with the Santiago River meandering to the east, surrounded by sprawling farmland and pastures.

According to the confessions of Spanish prisoners captured along the way, the city had a permanent population of about five to six thousand, of whom about one-fifth were white, and the rest were mostly mixed-race Creoles, Mestizos, and a considerable number of naturalized Indians who had been assimilated into Spanish culture and served it.

However, the Xinhua soldiers were surprised by the laxity of the defenses in this city, which was known as a key provincial capital.

It was less a heavily fortified colonial capital and more a massive, unmilitarily prepared settlement.

From a distance, the city's outline appears low and loose, with no trace of the tall, sturdy brick (or wood) city walls commonly seen in the Ming or Xinhua territories.

Its so-called "city defense" was merely a simple rammed earth wall, mixed with wood and straw, with very limited height and thickness. It seemed more like a symbolic demarcation of the town's boundaries or a defense against attacks from surrounding Native American tribes that had not yet fully submitted. For a New China army with 3,000 elite soldiers and several light field guns, such fortifications were practically useless.

Most of the houses in the city are made of adobe, with a few churches or public buildings decorated with white mortar standing out slightly.

At this moment, the city, which had been sleeping under the warm midday sun, was clearly awakened by the sudden arrival of the Xinhua Army.

The shrill and frantic sound of the alarm bell echoed urgently and continuously over the valley, shattering the original languid tranquility.

Inside the city, figures could be vaguely seen running in panic, and the guards at the city gate, trying to close the simple wooden fence, appeared chaotic and desperate.

An atmosphere of panic has enveloped this unprepared "pearl" city.

Xinhua News Agency is calling!
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(End of this chapter)