Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 184 Situation Assessment
"Everyone, tell me, how should we deal with the arrival of the Spaniards?"

On May 5, in the conference room on the second floor of the administrative building, an expanded meeting of time travelers, which was convened temporarily due to the attack of Spanish ships, was underway.

What kind of impact and changes will this sudden change bring to the development of Xinzhou Huaxia, and what countermeasures will be taken in the future, are the topics discussed in this emergency meeting.

Yesterday, after a fierce bombardment from the harbor fort, several masts of a Spanish ship that invaded the bay were successfully broken, causing it to lose its power.

Under the deadly threat of crossfire from both sides of the strait, the battered Spanish ship finally chose to raise the white flag and surrender to the coastal artillery.

Another Spanish ship stationed outside the bay fired several rounds of artillery in a demonstrative manner, then reluctantly withdrew from the bay and headed towards the open sea.

Afterwards, the Marines captured the surrendered Spanish armed ship in a small boat and brought more than 60 Spanish sailors ashore.

When such a group of dejected captives were escorted into the city, it immediately caused a sensation in the entire Shixing Fort.

Initially, when the decision-makers assembled the Marines and made a small-scale mobilization of the militia, many residents were worried that the Spanish would really invade on a large scale.

In recent years, people have been preparing for famine or war. Everyone has more or less a sense of potential crisis and urgency. While worrying about food security, they are also vaguely vigilant that the Spaniards may come at any time and then a war may break out. Everyone knows that Xinzhou Huaxia will fight them sooner or later.

Now that the "wolf" has finally arrived, the residents are feeling a little relieved, but also a little worried.

Can we win?

Although, from the officials of the decision-making committee to the team leaders of the colonization production teams, they were constantly instilling in the residents the unity and strength of the Chinese in Xinzhou, and also belittling and ridiculing the Spanish barbarians in order to boost and encourage the morale of the residents, many people were still a little hesitant and unsure whether they could withstand the invasion of the Western barbarians.

Although we in Xinzhou Huaxia have been actively preparing for war in order to deal with the invasion of the Western Barbarians, whether it is the weapons workshops stepping up the research and production of artillery and muskets, or conducting military training for all young and strong men, and even forming a professional standing army and building powerful coastal defense artillery, some residents still have deep-seated worries.

Because the population of our Xinzhou Huaxia is too small.

The entire Qiming Island, including men, women, young and old, has only five or six thousand people, and their strength is very thin and weak.

Think about it, when the Ming Dynasty’s official army faced the Jiannu or the Mongols, they always dispatched thousands or tens of thousands of troops.

With such a small population in Xinzhou China, how many troops can we send if we want to go to war with the Western Barbarians?
Even if all the strong men were mobilized, there would only be two or three thousand of them. Could they defeat the Western barbarians?

I heard that the Western Yi have more than millions of people under their control in their southern territories. Even if we exclude the more numerous indigenous people, there are probably hundreds of thousands of "real Yi" people.

They should be able to easily send thousands of troops, or even tens of thousands?!

If we are attacked on a large scale by them, can our Qiming Island really withstand it?
The rumbling sound of artillery continued to be heard from the direction of the port. Whether it was the farmers working in the fields or the craftsmen working in the workshops and mines, they all became distracted and kept looking towards the port.

They were very worried, fearing that at the next moment, countless Spanish barbarians would come from the port, destroy their crops, burn their houses, kill them and their families, and shatter all their hopes.

When the shelling in the port gradually subsided, they heard waves of cheers.

Soon afterwards, several mounted militiamen appeared in the city and the countryside, shouting and preaching.

We beat back the Spanish!

In the evening, a group of Spanish prisoners, escorted by Marines, passed through the wooden city gate and marched majestically along the wide cross street to the square. All the residents began to cheer and make noise, and gathered on both sides of the street.

I heard that only two ships of Spanish barbarians came.

It is said that the Spanish barbarians had their masts knocked off before they could even reach the dock, losing power and being captured by the Marines.

It is said that after the Spanish barbarians were beaten, they were so scared that the other ship was terrified and fled, abandoning their companions.

I heard that more than ten Spanish barbarians were killed or wounded, and the rest were captured.

It is said that……

In short, the Spanish barbarians were driven away and hid somewhere in shame.

Although the Marines and more than 300 mobilized militiamen have not yet lifted their state of readiness, it is certain that the Spanish barbarians will no longer be able to land and threaten our safety!

Everyone can eat and drink as usual, and everyone can rest assured. The workshop will continue to operate and produce, and the crops in the fields will be fertilized, watered and carefully cared for as usual.

However, ordinary residents can maintain normal production and living order, but as time travelers, they need to make a detailed assessment of the impact of this unexpected attack by the Spaniards on the yet to be fully developed New Continent Chinese territory.

"Through brief interrogations of the captured Spanish sailors, we can basically determine that there were three attacking Spanish ships, armed merchant vessels belonging to their exploratory fleet." Kuang Xu briefly reported on the interrogation of the prisoners. "After entering the Qiming Strait, they split the fleet into two. Two armed ships explored along the coast of Qiming Island, while the other sailed along the coast of the Olympic Peninsula, heading deep into the North American continent." "According to their prior agreement, no matter what the three ships ultimately discovered, they would reunite at the entrance of the Qiming Strait in a month, and then sail south back to the port of Acapulco."

"In addition, we learned from the captives that before arriving at Shixing Port, the two Spanish armed ships attacked several Nuu-chanul whaling boats in the waters near Dayu Harbor (present-day Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island), sinking three of them and capturing five people, two of whom were fishermen we sent to the Nuu-chanul tribe to learn whaling."

"Although those two fishermen don't have complete information about our entire Xinzhou Huaxia territory, they will definitely reveal some basic information, such as the approximate population, industrial and agricultural production, corresponding armaments, and annual immigration activities, so that the Spanish can have a general understanding of us."

"If the Spanish American colonies learned of our situation, how many troops would they send to attack us?" Someone asked a question that everyone was concerned about.

"According to information provided by our smuggling partner Pedro, the Spanish and mixed-race population in the entire Mexican region is between 500,000 and 600,000. Including the Indians they control, we estimate their manpower to be over one million. This is an absolute crushing force for us."

Li Xianqing glanced at the information in his hand and said seriously, "In addition, there are approximately 5,000 to 6,000 troops stationed in Mexico. More than 60% of these soldiers are native white Creoles and mixed-race Mestizos, while the rest are naturalized Indians."

"While these armies' combat effectiveness isn't as strong as their European counterparts' elite legions, their strength shouldn't be underestimated. After decades of warfare, the Spanish army has a very high rate of firearms adoption, around 60% to 70%. Furthermore, they also have a sizeable cavalry unit, far surpassing ours in battlefield mobility."

"They won't send all five or six thousand of their garrison troops to attack us, right?"

"As for how many troops they'll send later, that probably depends on how much they value us and their assessment of our strength," Li Xianqing said. "However, according to our preliminary estimates, the Spanish will deploy a maximum of 2,000 to 3,000 troops, and a minimum of 1,000."

"If they only have a thousand men, we are absolutely confident that we can wipe them out right here on our doorstep." Mo Tianhai said confidently, "We currently have 1 strong men, most of whom have undergone 3- years of military training. With a little armament, we can become an army of several thousand men, giving the Spanish a force advantage of more than three times theirs."

"If the Spanish arrive with only two or three thousand men, things might get a bit tricky. We'll need to recruit all the nearby Indian tribes and force them to volunteer to fight and make the necessary sacrifices to help us repel the Spanish. Well, the civil affairs department can teach them more about the Spanish's brutality and greed. If we lose the war, no one will be safe!"

"We'd better not be complacent when facing the Spanish!" Luo Zhenhui said, "You know, we don't have much of an advantage over the Spanish in terms of weaponry. Although the Mexican garrison is only a third-rate unit, they still have a high proportion of musketeers, and many are even equipped with flintlock rifles."

"Besides, the Spanish have an absolute numerical advantage. Even if they suffer a defeat, it won't weaken their strength. They can mobilize a new batch of troops to attack us and continue to compete with us in terms of attrition and strength. We are different. Not only are we short on manpower, but we also don't have abundant supplies."

"So, the Spanish have much more capital than us and can afford to fail many times, but we absolutely cannot fail even once. Otherwise, we will suffer a devastating disaster. Who knows, we might even be driven into the sea by the Spanish, or driven into the woods to become savages!"

"Indeed, we must be cautious in facing the Spanish and must not underestimate them," Li Xianqing continued. "You must know that although Spain is in decline, they are, after all, the first empire on which the sun never sets. They are a world-class power with a vast empire and a powerful nation."

When everyone heard this, they all nodded in agreement.

Yes, Spain did not really begin to decline until the Napoleonic era.

Before that, they had always been one of the major powers in Europe.

"By the way, after Spain suffered a head-on attack from the port artillery and lost an armed ship, did it continue to stay in the waters near us to further search for intelligence related to us, or did it go directly back to Mexico to ask for help?" Zhang Ruosong asked.

"We did some simple deductions with the Marines and unanimously concluded that the Spanish would temporarily remain in the nearby waters, continue to observe the situation at our Shixing Port, and then return to Mexico together after the agreed time to rendezvous with another ship."

"In other words, while the Spanish armed ships stay in the nearby waters, we are very likely to be blockaded by them. Whether it is a small boat going out to sea to fish or a transport ship traveling between Fenzhou Fort and Jinchuan Fort, they may be attacked by them?" Zhang Ruosong frowned.

"If I were the commander of the Spanish exploratory fleet, I would definitely anchor my ships not far from Shixing Port. Besides continuing to monitor and investigate our situation, I could also attack any ships passing through that area, thereby creating a certain level of military deterrence against us."

"Shun Yun-1 and Shun Yun-2 sailed to Fenzhou Fort to transport coal just a week ago. Calculating the date, they should be back within the next ten days. If the Spanish armed ships stay and don't leave, I'm afraid..."

"So, we plan to send Feijian-1 to sneak out of Shixing Port at night and intercept the two coal ships at Jinchuan Fort."

"Is it still in time? ...Will I miss it if I'm halfway there?"

"It should be... in time."

"Can we use some means to destroy or capture the Spanish armed ship stationed outside Shixing Port?" Li Liang suddenly asked.

"Currently, there isn't a single armed vessel in Shixing Harbor. Destroying or capturing a Spanish ship is quite...difficult." Kuang Xu glanced at him and said calmly, "Unless the Spanish make another foolish move and charge into the bay, allowing our coastal defense batteries to catch them and bombard them."

"Even if we don't have any capable ships, we can still launch a surprise attack on the Spanish ships." Li Liang did not give up despite the other party's direct rejection. He glanced at the time travelers present with a scorching gaze and licked his lips. "We can transform a few small boats into fire ships and then launch an attack on the Spanish ships at night."

"Remember, during the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, Zheng Zhilong used a large number of fire attack ships to severely damage the Dutch East India Company's fleet, establishing Ming Dynasty's maritime supremacy in one fell swoop. Well, even if our fire attack ships can't destroy or capture Spanish ships, they can at least scare them and prevent them from approaching the waters near Shixing Port again."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Wang Jiarong, the head of the port's artillery fort, immediately agreed upon hearing this. "From the Battle of Red Cliffs during the Three Kingdoms period, to the Battle of Poyang Lake in the early Ming Dynasty, and Zheng Zhilong's Battle of Liaoluo Bay, these are all classic battles where fire attack ships were used."

"If the ancients could use it, we can certainly use it too. We can modify a few fishing boats, load them with fire starters, and use them against the Spanish. We might even achieve unexpected results!"

"It would be best if we could keep all the Spanish ships here and prevent them from escaping back to Mexico. Our Qiming Island can remain hidden for at least a few years, giving us more time to develop."

(End of this chapter)