Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 205 The Spanish Dilemma

January 1632, 1, Mexico City, Viceroyalty.

After reading the letter in his hand, the Governor of New Spain, Count Juan Martínez Montañez of Ávila, frowned, his expression became serious, and his right hand trembled slightly, showing that he was extremely excited.

"Your Excellency the Governor..." Seeing this, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Esteban Olivarez, the Governor's aide-de-camp, immediately looked over with concern.

"We've lost, we've lost..." Governor Count Ávila sighed deeply, leaning weakly against his chair as he muttered, "Our Kingdom of Spain has suffered a shameful defeat. Those Dutch rebels will surely celebrate their victory in Amsterdam all night long..."

"Governor, we suffered a defeat in the Netherlands..." Lieutenant Colonel Olivares' expression froze.

Damn, did those Dutch rebels defeat the kingdom's elite legions?
"Take a look," Governor Count Ávila said with a wry smile, pointing to the letter on the table. "...a letter from Count Zamora. He told me that the Kingdom's main naval fleet was completely annihilated by the Dutch in Antwerp. Our Kingdom of Spain has suffered a devastating defeat not seen in decades, and we have almost lost our naval superiority in the Netherlands and even the North Sea."

"What?" Lieutenant Colonel Olivares grabbed the letter on the table in a somewhat inappropriate manner.

On the night of September 1631, 9, a Dutch naval fleet raided Antwerp at night.

At that time, the Spanish fleet that had been stationed in the bay was caught off guard and was completely blocked in the harbor.

The Dutch took advantage of the wind and launched a fire attack, which immediately caused flames in the harbor to shoot up into the sky. Dozens of the Spanish Navy's main warships were set on fire. It was not until ten o'clock in the morning of the next day that the fire slowly subsided.

Afterwards, after an inspection, it was found that more than 60 large and small warships in the port were almost all burned, and the casualties of naval officers and soldiers reached more than 4,000, which was almost the loss of another "Invincible Armada".

After this battle, the Kingdom of Spain's attempt to invade the Netherlands again was completely shattered, and it also lost its control of the sea in the Netherlands. The war situation between the two sides also changed, and the Kingdom completely lost its maritime advantage over the Dutch.

Once, the Spaniards said a very vicious word, "I would rather leave a poor Netherlands to God than leave a rich Netherlands to the devil."

However, this wealthy and unruly United Provinces has not only become stronger and stronger since the rebellion, but also richer and richer. After dealing a heavy blow to the Spaniards in Matanzas Bay, Cuba three years ago, it once again dealt a heavy blow to the Spaniards in Antwerp.

The defeat in this naval battle not only thwarted the Spanish Kingdom's plan to attack the Netherlands, but also caused the kingdom to lose a large number of main battleships and thousands of excellent sailors, almost breaking the backbone of the navy.

It would take eight to ten years for the Spanish Kingdom's naval power to recover.

What is even more terrifying is that after suffering such heavy losses, the Kingdom of Spain was not only unable to maintain its established maritime hegemony, but even the security of the kingdom's many overseas territories could not be guaranteed.

It can be predicted that the increasingly powerful Dutch navy would take this opportunity to launch large-scale attacks on Spanish merchant ships at sea and attack the weakly defended colonial territories.

The Caribbean, New Spain, Peru, Brazil, the Philippines, and the recently captured northern part of Formosa Island were likely to be attacked by the Dutch.

Moreover, under such circumstances, the treasure fleet that is about to return to the Spanish mainland this year will probably face serious maritime risks.

If it were intercepted by the Dutch again, it would be a huge disaster for the Kingdom of Spain.

Because the Genoa Bank Consortium has expressed "serious concern" about the kingdom's financial crisis, and for the sake of risk control, lending funds is no longer as easy as before, and the interest rate on loans has been increased by two percentage points.

Once the treasure fleet was intercepted by the Dutch, the Spanish Kingdom would inevitably face a serious financial crisis, and might even fall directly into financial bankruptcy (defaulting on debts) as before.

You must know that in order to maintain its hegemony in Europe and defend the sacred Catholic world, the Kingdom of Spain had to borrow heavily every year, resulting in half of the kingdom's fiscal revenue (at its peak, 65% of the fiscal revenue was used to repay debt interest) being used to pay the interest on the debts owed.

The Count of Avila succeeded the former Marquis of Rivera as Governor of New Spain. In addition to cleaning up the mess left by the other party, he also had an important task, which was to find ways to make money, and make more money, and then continuously send it to mainland Spain to support the increasingly weak finances of the kingdom.

The Habsburgs had too many enemies to deal with in Europe and too many royal interests to protect throughout the world.

All of this is inseparable from the massive influx of gold and silver from the Americas.

"So, Your Excellency the Governor..." Lieutenant Colonel Olivares quickly finished reading the letter and looked up at Count Ávila, who was lost in thought. "Will the Kingdom's navy's defeat in Antwerp... (this isn't even a defeat, it's a truly humiliating defeat) affect our attack on the pirate island to the north?"

"Right now, the most important task for our Viceroyalty is to find a way to safely transport this year's treasure fleet back to Seville." Count Ávila took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "The fleet transporting gold, silver, and supplies from Peru should have arrived in Panama. After being escorted across the isthmus, they will be reloaded and shipped from Puerto Bello (present-day Portobelo, Panama)."

"The journey from Porto Bello to Havana involves passing through the treacherous Caribbean Sea. Therefore, we must mobilize all available armed ships in the Americas to provide escort throughout the journey. The North Atlantic waters between Havana and Seville are also an ideal location for the Dutch to launch attacks. We must remain vigilant and pay close attention."

"Therefore, whether it is the armed ships we have requisitioned or the Caribbean Fleet that was originally assigned to perform the escort mission, they must remain vigilant and accompany the treasure fleet all the way until it safely reaches the Spanish mainland."

"Governor, if this happens, we won't have enough warships to attack the pirate island!" Lieutenant Colonel Olivarez looked at him in astonishment.

"A mere few thousand pirates won't amount to much." Count Avila sneered. "Even if they're allowed to linger for a few more years, they won't pose a substantial threat to our Mexican region."

"However, Your Excellency, Governor, according to the confessions of those two Eastern pirates, their power is expanding rapidly. In just a few years, the population they control has grown from less than 200 to over 5,000," Lieutenant Colonel Olivares reminded. "Furthermore, they also bring in large numbers of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty every year to build cities and forts and reclaim wasteland, appearing to be engaged in a large-scale colonization."

"If we don't eliminate them while they're still weak, once they've established themselves and their strength has grown to a certain size, it will probably take even more energy to send out troops to eliminate them!"

"My dear Francisco, you still haven't understood what the most pressing matter in our Viceroyalty is right now," Count Ávila patiently explained to the young man. "Whether it's our New Spain, Peru, or even the Mediterranean Italian territories, our primary responsibility is to collect as much local tax revenue and mining output as possible, then ship it to mainland Spain, thereby ensuring the financial needs of the royal family and the government to the greatest extent possible."

"Currently, our Kingdom of Spain is facing challenges from numerous nations across Europe, and the military threats we face are becoming increasingly frequent. ...Alas, perhaps you don't know this yet, but at the same time as our Spanish navy suffered a severe defeat at Antwerp, the Kingdom of Sweden inflicted a crushing defeat on the Imperial (Holy Roman Empire) army at the Battle of Blydenfeld. Seven thousand Imperial soldiers were killed, over nine thousand captured, and countless more wounded."

"In this battle, the Imperial Army lost all its artillery and baggage, as well as a large amount of gold and silver coins it carried with it. It is believed that the Swedish army, after requisitioning captured Imperial soldiers, not only did the Swedish army not weaken, but actually strengthened it."

"Under these circumstances, the Kingdom of Spain must quickly transfer several elite regiments to Germany to stabilize the Imperial Army's front and prevent its collapse."

"The mobilization of troops, the replenishment of large quantities of military supplies, and the payment of soldiers' salaries all require the importation of gold and silver from the Americas. If we launch a military operation against the Pirate Island now, it will inevitably divert more of our energy and consume gold, silver, and supplies that should be supporting our homeland."

"More importantly, in order to escort the treasure fleet, we're currently unable to muster enough armed ships along the Pacific coast to attack the pirate island. According to the information sent back by the San Jose, the enemy has built several coastal defense batteries in the harbor and forts on land. They pose a significant threat, far beyond the ability of two or three armed ships and a few hundred soldiers to completely eliminate them."

"Let's wait a little longer. Perhaps by July or August, we'll be able to gather enough supplies and more ships for the expedition. Then, we can wipe out those pirates once and for all and put an end to their troubles."

Young people, if you want to achieve great things, you’d better wait a little longer.

"..." After hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Olivares sighed slightly in his heart and said no more.

The Governor's words were clearly perfunctory and evasive, as if he didn't consider the suppression of the northern pirate island to be of any importance. Given the predicament facing Spain and Mexico, the idea of ​​completing all preparations for an attack on the northern pirate island by July or August of this year was a pipe dream, utterly impossible.

If the situation in mainland Europe deteriorates again, or if the American colonial authorities are unable to raise additional war funds in a short period of time, I am afraid that by next year they may not be able to form an expeditionary fleet to wipe out the pirate island in the north.

I don’t know if after a year or two of delay, these Eastern pirates will become more powerful and stronger?

Oh, God bless us, I hope this group of Eastern pirates will be like the mob on the "Pirate Island" Tortuga (now Tortuga Island in Haiti), and they will collapse without a fight as soon as our Spanish army comes.
-
"...Will we be executed by the Western barbarians?" Zhang Aping lay on the pile of weeds in the cell, staring blankly at the roof above.

"If he's dead... then he's dead," He Yougen replied weakly. "In our current situation, can we really expect the officials of Xinhua to come and rescue us?"

"Maybe... they will come to save us?" Zhang Aping said in a low voice.

"Cough cough cough..." He Yougen couldn't help but want to laugh after hearing this, but Xiyi had made a cut on the corner of his mouth, which immediately affected the wound and made him feel excruciating pain. He tried to hold the laughter back, but choked himself and let out a violent cough, which made the corner of his mouth hurt even more.

How to save?
There is a huge disparity in strength, the distance is so far, and they are still detained in this inland city. Does our Xinhua have the ability to attack them?
"Fuck his mother, just kill me!"

"It's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. Just bear with it..." Zhang Aping turned his head and looked at him.

"I'd rather die than live under this kind of torture!" He Yougen said hatefully.

"We've told them everything we know, and I think the Westerners won't have anything else to ask." Zhang Aping consoled him, "If we do, I'm afraid they won't come to torture us again."

"Could the Western Barbarians be so kind?" He Yougen naturally didn't believe it. "Even if they don't torture us, how many days can we endure being thrown into this cell?"

“…” Zhang Aping was silent.

Yes, if we fall into the hands of the Western barbarians, how can we get any good results?

It's just the difference between dying early and dying late.

Half a year ago, the two of them were brought here together with several Nuchanuur people who were captured at the same time. In order to force them to tell more information about Xinhua, this group of black-hearted Western barbarians actually used all kinds of means to torture those Nuchanuur people in front of them.

Within a few days, he brutally killed three Nuchanul people in an extremely cruel way, which frightened the two of them to death and made them tell everything they knew again.

Even when they were asked about things they didn't know much about, they made up a lot of fictitious things in order to avoid being tortured.

Over the past few months, perhaps because they felt that they could not get anything out of them, Xiyi gradually reduced their torture and then imprisoned them in this dark prison.

The food he ate every day was like pig food, and he was alternately full and hungry. He was also teased and humiliated by the Western Yi jailers from time to time, and his life was worse than death.

I thought about committing suicide, but every time the time came, I could never make up my mind, and there was always a glimmer of hope in my heart.

Maybe Xinhua’s army will come to rescue them.

Alas, will they come?
"Crash..."

The wooden door of the cell was opened, and a thin man, hunched over, walked in slowly.

"...It's time to eat." The visitor said in a cold tone.

He spoke Chinese and had a Han Chinese face.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Aping and He Yougen did not stand up, but curled up their bodies and slowly crawled over.

"You... have harmed all of us..."

The man silently watched the two of them wolfing down their food. After a while, he suddenly said something incomprehensible.

"Huh?..." Zhang Aping was stuffing a handful of corn paste into his mouth. After hearing his words, he looked at him.

"The Spanish master has arrested all of us..." The man looked at them with resentment, "Just because you occupied land in the north and killed the Spanish master, we are all being used as scapegoats."

"..."

Zhang Aping and He Yougen looked at each other, then continued to stuff the corn paste in the rice bowl into their mouths.

"...There are more than a hundred of them, including their families!" the man said angrily, kicking over the food bowls in front of the two of them. "What are you eating? You all deserve to die, all of you deserve to die!"

"Hehe..." Zhang Aping stared at him angrily and sneered, "What? Xiyi doesn't want you slaves anymore?"

"You..." The man's face immediately changed after hearing this. He took a step forward and kicked Zhang Aping. "Don't you need to work like slaves in that bandit den in Xinhua?"

"...I can live an upright life in Xinhua!" Zhang Aping raised his head and spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground.

"Be an upright human being?" the man sneered. "Whether in Ming Dynasty, Luzon, or even in Mexico, no matter where the masters are, will they treat us common people as human beings?"

"Humph, no matter where else, the officials in Xinhua will treat us as one."

“…” The man stared at him coldly and didn’t speak for a long time.

"Seven or eight days ago, your Xinhua bandits attacked a town on the northwest coast of Mexico, completely enraging the Spanish master."

After saying this, he bent down to pick up the rice bowl on the ground and then left the cell.

"Ha..., the officials from Xinhua are here to rescue us." Zhang Aping took a long time to come back to his senses. He turned to look at He Yougen and muttered.

(End of this chapter)