Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 235 I’m here to take you in!
The Spanish hesitated for two years and never sent troops to attack the Chianti Island. In addition to being "busy with trivial matters", another important reason was that they believed that these "pirates" were nothing more than scabies to the Mexican authorities and were insignificant, so they did not take them seriously.

However, a few months ago, the Spaniards, who had always remained calm, were finally provoked by some small actions of Xinhua.

Last January (1632), a group of pirates attacked Los Mochis, a small coastal town in the northwest of Culiacán Province, Mexico.

Not only did they loot the entire town and kidnap more than 200 Spanish residents, but they also instigated and instigated local Indians to revolt and launch bloody revenge on the Spanish farms scattered nearby.

As the pirates left with their spoils, they left hundreds of weapons to the Indians, including a large number of muskets.

These Indians then continued to connect with more tribesmen and tribes, moving north in a guerrilla manner, and continuously launching attacks on Spanish farms and villages.

The situation in the northwest suddenly got out of control, and the riots showed a tendency to expand to inland areas, causing panic among local people. They kept sending letters for help, hoping that the Mexican authorities would send troops to suppress the riots.

After hearing the news, the Governor of New Spain, Count Juan Martínez Montañez of Ávila, dispatched 500 soldiers from various places to the northwest to quell the riots.

After more than a month of fighting, the colony wiped out several groups of rioting Indian rebels and slightly stabilized the local situation.

However, some cunning Indians, knowing they were no match for the enemy, split up into small groups and fled into the dense forests in the mountains in an attempt to fight to the end.

Under such circumstances, the Mexican authorities had to mobilize more troops to surround and kill them, search out as many of them as possible, and deal the most resolute blow.

In this Indian riot, at least four to six hundred Spanish residents were killed, countless farms were destroyed, several towns were severely attacked, and dozens of surrendered Indian tribes were affected. One-third of the Culiacán province was in a state of disorder.

For this, the rioting Indians must be severely punished and all of them must be sent to the gallows!
However, during the process of suppressing the rebellion, the colonial army learned from the captured Indian rebels that the pirates who attacked the coastal town of Los Mochis had mostly oriental faces, except for a few who had European features, which was very similar to the pirates who attacked Mexico a few years ago.

It was they who "liberated" the local Indians, gave them a large number of weapons, and then instigated these once docile Indians to launch riots and carry out indiscriminate revenge on the Spaniards.

It was obvious that this group of pirates was trying to artificially create chaos in Mexico and get the colonial authorities into endless trouble.

This is so harmful. His heart is despicable and his actions are hateful.

We in Spain are "busy with things" and can't spare the time to kill you for now, so we'll let you jump around for a few days.

Well, you don’t want to restrain yourself, and you don’t know how to hide your edge. You even come to my Mexican region to stir up trouble. Don’t you know how to spell the word death?

The Governor of New Spain, Count Ávila, was very angry, and the consequences were naturally serious.

He immediately ordered the colonial garrison to formulate a military plan to eliminate the pirates and prepare to launch a war, so as to completely eliminate the security risks in the north once and for all.

According to the investigation report of the original exploration fleet, the pirates' lair was more than hundreds of leagues away from Mexico (1 league is approximately equal to 5557 meters). If they wanted to cross the sea for an expedition, they would probably have to use a lot of armed ships.

Moreover, this group of pirates possesses considerable military force. There are many coastal defense batteries built in the port, and there may also be fortresses built on the shore. They are not as easy to deal with as the weak Indians.

To this end, the colonial generals submitted a rough military offensive plan to the governor after months of repeated discussions and calculations.

The expeditionary force needs to mobilize eight to ten armed ships, several material supply ships, and assemble a landing force of 1,500 people. Only in this way can they be sure to break into the pirate lair and wipe out all the pirates.

When the Governor, Count of Avila, saw the military plan, he immediately became angry.

Eight to ten warships and an army of fifteen hundred men, are they going to wipe out the pirates?
Mobilizing and assembling so much military force is enough to destroy a small country!

In this wild region of America, why would it be necessary to mobilize such a large-scale military force to eliminate a group of pirates entrenched on the northern coast?
Don't you know how much financial resources it would cost to mobilize an army of this size?

The question is, does our Viceroyalty of New Spain have money?

Although silver mining in northern Mexico is increasing, silver production has increased significantly compared to before.

However, this silver needs to be repatriated to Spain to maintain the financial stability of the kingdom and cannot be easily used for other purposes.

As for the new taxes collected from the colonies, in addition to making up for the "deficit" of the colonial government, a considerable portion of the money was to be sent to Europe to support the military operations of the royal army on the European battlefield.

Not to mention, in order to quell the Indian riots in the Northwest, the colonial authorities not only embezzled a large amount of financial funds in advance, but also levied and solicited donations from local businessmen in order to support this military operation.

Now, to launch an expedition against the northern pirates, it would take so much military force. How could the Mexican authorities afford the corresponding expenses?

No, we must reduce the size of the expeditionary force and eliminate those pirates at the lowest cost.

Requisitioning eight to ten warships is too many.

An army of 1,500 people is even more outrageous!

Not to mention that there are not so many warships in the Pacific region, and it would take time and effort to transfer them from the Atlantic or the Caribbean Sea. Even if there were, there wouldn't be so many naval forces deployed, right?

Pirates, at most, possessed only two or three armed ships, limited in tonnage and combat effectiveness. They might be quite effective against lightly armed merchant ships, but they were no match for the heavily armed Spanish warships. In the past, the Caribbean Squadron had repeatedly raided the pirate island of Tortuga (present-day Tortuga Island, Haiti), but they only required three to five warships and a force of 300 to 400 men to wipe out the pirates.

The colonial generals were speechless after their carefully formulated military plan was rudely rejected by the Governor-General.

Because, after in-depth communication with the commander of the exploration fleet, they all agreed that the group of pirates entrenched on the northern coast were not as simple as they imagined.

They had a warship of gigantic size, which was not only extremely fast but also made of an extremely strong ship material. It could smash the intercepting ship in two without causing any damage to itself - of course, it was also possible that the damage was only minor.

What is even more frightening is that this group of pirates continues to import "contract slaves" from the Ming Dynasty. The manpower they control is between 5,000 and 6,000, most of whom are young and strong.

If this group of pirates were attacked by the Spanish expeditionary force, they would definitely arm these "indentured slaves" and then drive them to counterattack the landing army.

It is reported that this group of pirates not only possesses a large number of firearms, but can also produce swords and spears by themselves, which is enough to arm a considerable army.

If the landing force is too small, it is very likely that they will be driven into the sea.

Even if the pirates' combat effectiveness is not high, the makeshift armed forces of several thousand people are still quite threatening and must be treated with caution!

However, the Governor's consideration is not unreasonable.

If there is not 200,000 or 300,000 pesos in military expenditure to mobilize so many troops, I am afraid that this military operation cannot be supported.

With the current financial income of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, it is really impossible to raise this expense in the short term.

In desperation, the colonial generals made major revisions to the military offensive plan.

Five warships, two supply ships, and 1,200 soldiers.

However, this plan was again rejected by the Governor-General.

It’s still too expensive!
Just as the Mexican authorities were struggling with how much troops to send to suppress the pirates, shocking news came from Panama.

Moreover, this news is related to the group of northern pirates.

After suffering successive military attacks from the Viceroyalty of Peru, the rebellious Guaymiye people fled to the Azuero Peninsula and launched a guerrilla war against the Spanish colonial army.

On November 1632, 11, the Guaymiye people ambushed a colonial army of more than 18 people in the Chitré area, killing and wounding more than people, achieving a brilliant victory.

Afterwards, the Guaymiye people took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack, successively breaking through several Spanish military strongholds, threatening Panama City at one point and threatening to cut off the Isthmus Road.

According to a military report issued by the Governor of Panama, the Guaymiye people received funding from a group of Eastern pirates, who not only provided them with a large amount of weapons and equipment, but also provided several fighters with rich military experience to guide the indigenous people's combat operations.

When the Governor, Count of Avila, learned the news, he did not laugh at or despise the incompetent Peruvian authorities, but instead keenly sensed the serious threat posed by the Eastern pirates.

Not only do they come to the coastal areas of Mexico to cause trouble, but they also have the ability to disrupt the situation in Panama.

Therefore, if it is allowed to grow stronger, it will sooner or later pose a greater threat to the Spaniards.

The expedition against pirates must be launched immediately!

As a result, the Mexican authorities no longer worried about how much money the military operation would cost.

If there is no money, then just increase some taxes temporarily.

If military expenses are still not enough after raising taxes, then merchants will be asked to donate and the money will be levied.

As for the military forces to be dispatched, they will be assembled and mobilized according to the plan submitted by the military for the second time.

It is said that the pirates built their lair in a very decent manner and should have accumulated a lot of wealth. When they occupy it, they will probably have a lot of loot, which may be able to slightly make up for the cost of this expedition.

After all, a sea expedition is an extremely complex systematic project. There are countless things to prepare, such as the mobilization of warships, the assembly of troops, the collection of supplies..., which immediately made the entire Viceroyalty of New Spain busy.

According to the traditional European principles of warfare, before the army goes on an expedition, it is necessary to send an envoy to declare war on the enemy, thereby demonstrating the power of the Kingdom of Spain.

So, in early April, Lieutenant José Andrés Guardado, under the order of the Governor-General, boarded a liaison speeder and, under the guidance of several crew members of the exploration fleet, braved the strong northwest monsoon and came to the pirates' lair to officially inform them.

Still dare to make trouble?

I’m here to collect you!
(End of this chapter)