Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 181 Testing
"Hoo ho ho..."

"Hey!..."

Two slow horses used as temporary means of transportation ran swiftly to the Shixing Port wharf. As soon as the horses stopped, the riders jumped off the horses, threw away the whip and reins casually, and ran towards the coastal artillery position.

"What's the situation now?" Luo Zhenhui climbed up to the fort observation post and asked directly after seeing the fort's person in charge, Wang Jiarong, without even catching his breath.

"The two Spanish armed ships are temporarily stationed on the sea outside the bay. They may not be clear about the specific situation and dare not force their way in." Wang Jiarong said as he handed the telescope in his hand to Luo Zhenhui.

"Have all the fishing boats outside the bay returned?" Luo Zhenhui took the telescope, walked forward a few steps, and looked intently in the direction of the bay.

"All six fishing boats were able to safely enter the harbor and were not attacked by the Spanish armed ships."

"Are these the only two ships the Spanish have brought?"

"Right now, there are only these two ships." Wang Jiarong thought for a moment and added, "However, according to information previously provided by our smuggling partners, the Spanish search fleet usually consists of three to four armed ships. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that more ships are hiding from our sight."

"If the Spanish ship dares to break in, are you sure you can keep them all?" asked Mo Tianhai beside him.

"..." Wang Jiarong was stunned for a moment, then said cautiously, "Although our gunners have undergone months of shooting training, they have yet to experience actual combat, so they probably won't be able to perform effectively. Even if we manage to launch an artillery attack, we can't guarantee that we'll be able to accurately hit the Spanish ships in the first few rounds. Unless they stubbornly rush into the bay and engage our artillery."

"..." Mo Tianhai smiled when he heard that and didn't ask any more questions.

During this period, unless one had an absolute firepower advantage, no fool would use warships to engage in bombardment against coastal artillery batteries.

Without a large number of powerful explosive bombs, solid bullets alone would not necessarily destroy the solidly built artillery position even if the bombardment continued for more than ten rounds.

On the contrary, if the coastal defense artillery fired just a few shells at the warship, it would inevitably cause serious damage to it.

If you are lucky enough, you might be able to hit the part below the waterline and sink the battleship directly at sea.

And these two Spanish ships are so cautious, staying far outside the bay, they probably won't rush in rashly and compete with your coastal artillery to see who can withstand more attacks.

"They will definitely break in!" Luo Zhenhui put down the telescope and said in a deep voice.

"Testing our strength?"

"That's right." Luo Zhenhui nodded and said, "It's impossible that after years of exploration, they discovered our base and then returned to Mexico without saying a word! If they didn't test our strength, how could they gather troops to fight us when they return?"

"So, they will try to rush in later..." Wang Jiarong's eyes suddenly lit up.

"It's better to get close and then hit them, and try to keep them."

"Yes, Director!" Wang Jiarong saluted excitedly, then turned and walked towards the artillery command post.

"It would be great if the Breaking Waves was here." Luo Zhenhui looked back at the two Spanish ships anchored on the sea in the distance, sighed slightly, and went to the artillery shelter with Mo Tianhai.
-
"Did you find out more useful information?" Plutarco Elias Calles, captain of the Spanish exploratory fleet "San Jose", turned around and saw the first mate Fernandez coming over, so he asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Captain," First Mate Fernandez said dejectedly. "None of us can understand the captives' language, so we can only interrogate them using simple hand gestures. ... Therefore, the information we obtain is quite limited."

"However, what is certain is that there are coastal defense batteries in the port, but the exact number is unknown. Well, it could be seven or eight, or perhaps a dozen. The numbers given by the prisoners are inconsistent."

Three days earlier, the San Jose and St. Vincent had sailed along the left coastline into the "Great Gap" of the American continent. Less than two days into their journey, they unexpectedly collided with several small fishing boats. After a chase and a battle, they sank two of the boats and eventually captured five natives.

After a brief interrogation of the captives, the Spaniards were overjoyed.

Found them!
Of the five captives, three were local Indians, and the other two were members of the pirate gang.

Although they did not speak the same language, after some gestures and guesswork, the Spaniards roughly learned some information about the pirates.

The land on the left side of the coast is an island, and the pirates occupied the southeast end of the island, built several strongholds, opened up a lot of farmland, and established many workshops, which made it easy to achieve self-sufficiency in food and daily necessities.

As for their specific number, it surprised the Spaniards a little.

Although the two pirates gave different figures, one said three thousand people and the other said five thousand people, no matter which number was true, they were very surprised.

With so many people occupying this island, it seems that it is no longer a simple pirate stronghold!
You should know that in the Caribbean Sea, the number of pirates entrenched on the notorious pirate island of Tortuga (now Tortuga Island in Haiti) was only three to four thousand at its peak.

However, these pirates belong to different pirate gangs and are not a tightly organized group.

Once they are swept and wiped out by the Spanish naval fleet, they will immediately scatter like birds and beasts and hide in the depths of the sea.

After the Spanish army leaves, they will re-occupy the pirate island.

Like a group of annoying flies, they cannot be eliminated or driven away, and they always keep an eye on the Spanish merchant ships traveling to and from the Caribbean.

And now, a group of pirates numbering thousands actually occupied this island on the Pacific coast. They were placed under a tightly organized ruling body, reclaiming wasteland for farming, and establishing factories and mines, with an implicit posture of large-scale colonization.

This seems to be making things a little tricky.

It was originally believed that the pirates who repeatedly attacked port towns and merchant ships along the Pacific coast were just a group of scum and villains who specialized in looting. Even if they established strongholds, they were only temporary camps, like Tortuga Island.

When the American colonial authorities assembled a fleet and armed soldiers, they would come to sweep the pirates' dens, capture some pirates who had not escaped, and finally burn them to ashes. This would mean eliminating the pirate forces and safeguarding the dignity and honor of the Kingdom of Spain.

But no one expected that this group of pirates actually planned to "settle down" on this island and carry out colonization, which was a clear challenge to the authority of the Kingdom of Spain.

Because the entire American continent legally belongs to the Kingdom of Spain and cannot be violated by any country or force.

You pirates are a little too bold!

They attacked Spanish port towns and looted Spanish treasure ships, but instead of fleeing to other places, they stayed here without any scruples and refused to leave.

"Although there are coastal defense batteries within the harbor, we still need to conduct an armed reconnaissance," Calles said solemnly. "We need to test the pirates' true strength."

"Signal the St. Vincent to enter the bay immediately."

"Yes, Captain!"

(End of this chapter)