Dominate the Country

On the second day of the fifth lunar month, a Chinese navy fleet left the ocean near the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico in a rainy day.

The Chinese navy, which has been here again since late April, has visited many important coastal towns and residential areas in San Salva, San Jose, Salina Cruz and Puerto Angel in the past few days.

Now they set sail and head farther south.

Chai Daji wore an oilskin raincoat and walked on the spacious deck of the No. 128 exploration ship. This second-hand decommissioned naval warship has seemed to have been reclassified into the navy. Now his ship is about to set sail for Chile with the team.

This is a magical trip. The last time the flying scissor fleet carried out the southward sweep policy, after defeating the Peruvian squadron in Lima that had not yet had time to join the Spanish main fleet on the west coast, they entered the Chilean waters southward. When they returned, there was an unexpected surprise on the ship. It was loaded with high-quality saltpeter. This was simply a miracle, and it also solved a big problem for the expeditionary force.

The fleet also brought back part of the information there. The Chileans had just carried out a great uprising more than ten years ago. There, the conflict of interests between the Spaniards and the native whites, mixed-race people, and a few indigenous people was very fierce and the contradictions were sharp.

Therefore, native white and mixed-race people are willing to help China. As long as China is willing to pay for guns and guns, they can continuously send China saltpeter that is everywhere in the Atacama Desert.

Chile is a place very rich in resources. The copper mines here are an important source of interest for the Spanish in the Americas. There is so much saltpeter in the Atacama Desert that no one cares about it. There are massive amounts of high-quality natural minerals 0.5 meters above the ground. ~~2 meters underground, the high-quality saltpeter layer can be 1~~3 meters thick.

The large quantities of saltpeter transported back from Chile by these clipper bow fleets solved the most difficult problem for China's North American Expeditionary Force - gunpowder.

If the entire army cannot supply its own gunpowder, which is in huge demand, it will be difficult for the expeditionary force to show off its capabilities in America. Although their goal was only to seize California, California was too desolate, and even the Spanish had just entered. The expeditionary force captured this place effortlessly.

The main forces of the navy and army were devoted to the war and defense against Britain. The military strength they retained in California, an area they had just begun to operate, was as weak as tissue paper. The expeditionary force was completely marching all the way, and they captured The entire California, and also took advantage of the Baja California Peninsula.

The entire operation went extremely smoothly, but everyone in the expeditionary force knew that their real test had not yet come. Therefore, solving the problem of ammunition required by the entire expeditionary force is itself one of the tasks planned by the expeditionary force.

There is a lot of sulfur in North America. There are hot springs and volcanoes that smell of sulfur everywhere. You don’t need too much high-quality natural sulfur.

Charcoal is also a piece of cake.

The only difficulty is saltpeter.

There are no natural saltpeter mines in North America. Maybe there are, but Chen Ming doesn't know where they are. The largest producer of natural saltpeter in the world that Chen Ming knew was Chile, where a natural saltpeter mine belt stretching for more than a thousand miles was buried in the Atacama Desert.

So he told the expeditionary force's top brass the truth in the form of a 'secret order'.

The clipper bow fleet that performs the mission only needs to perform the mission, there is no need to worry so much.

This secret order aroused so many inexplicable speculations within the entire expeditionary force, but Chen Ming ignored them completely.

Now that the two sides have made the first transaction, the second one is not far off. Chai Daji serves as a guide, and at the same time, the No. 128 exploration ship he commands is also a member of the transport fleet, so his status is still very important in the entire fleet.

There were some rough waves on the sea, and the ship was bumping violently, but Chai Daji was patrolling the deck as if he were walking on flat ground. After staying on the ship for several years, he had long been accustomed to all this.

The day he couldn't bear the loneliness and came to the First Overseas Exploration Bureau from the Military Academy, he had to get used to the bumps of the sea.

"Captain, the people in Tehuantepec Bay are so poor. I have been here for ten days and haven't caught anything."

In order to stimulate the fighting spirit of the expeditionary force, Chen Ming had previously announced that half of the spoils obtained by the army during the North American War could be kept by himself, one-third would be handed over to the troops, and the remaining one-sixth would belong to the country. The ratio suddenly became higher. A lot.

The clipper bow fleet that had swept south earlier had their mouths full of oil, but it was their team's turn, and they happened to catch up with a poor place like Tehuantepec Bay.

"That's why the social conflicts here are so sharp. The Spaniards have taken away too many benefits. Even many native white people have stood against them." Chai Daji curled his lips and said. He once knew the country of Spain in detail. As one of the first people in the European world to eat crabs, Spain was really awesome when it was glorious. The original Spanish Grand Square was also rampant in Europe.

But it has been two or three hundred years since the colony was established, and it has not yet been able to properly digest the fat that has been eaten into the stomach. It is also intoxicating to play a hand of cards on your own to the current bad state.

Today's big salted duck is very despised.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and Chai Daji turned around and returned to the cabin. In the cabin next to him, through the gap in the door panel, Chai Daji could still see a man facing the west, holding a cross on his chest with one hand, and the other He placed his hand on a thick tome and prayed devoutly.

Chai Daji said with deep emotion: "Faith kills people." Spain kneeled down to faith, and these Portuguese people didn't learn to be obedient.

Because the expeditionary force was to operate in the Spanish colonies, when the army was formed, Chen Ming actually selected dozens of Portuguese to accompany the army. They can at least be translators, right? And when communicating with the locals, the Portuguese with European faces are more suitable than the Chinese with yellow faces.

Chai Daji prayed that the fleet could arrive in Chile smoothly.

Just as this Chinese naval fleet was struggling to move forward in the wind and rain, the main force of the Spanish West Coast Fleet under the command of Sucre Aricaru was slowly sailing out of the port of Panama City.

This is one of the earliest cities built by the Spanish in the Americas, and it existed in 1519 in the Western calendar. It was the starting point and base for the Spanish invasion of the Inca Empire in Peru, and it was also one of the important trade centers for Europeans in the New World of America.

This was a gathering place for the Spanish to plunder wealth and trade slaves. The Spanish gathered the gold, silver and jewelry looted from all directions in the city, and then transported them from the narrow Isthmus of Panama to the Port of Colon on the Caribbean coast by land, and then shipped them to Spain and then transferred to the Spanish mainland. The huge wealth of Panama City naturally aroused the covetousness of pirates.

In 1671, the British pirate Morgan attacked Panama City by force, and after looting everything, he set fire to the entire city and burned it to ruins.

Two years later, the Spanish rebuilt Panama City about 8 kilometers west of the ruins of the old city.

The status of Panama, which was severely damaged, has greatly declined, but it is still an important port on the west coast of North America.

The original base of the Spanish naval fleet commanded by Sucre was the Port of Acapulco, which was another end point of the America-Luzon Galleon Trade, but the Spanish fleet on the west coast of North America was very scattered, and he had no confidence in defeating the Chinese with only the little power directly in Sucre's hands.

So Sucre led the fleet to retreat to Panama Harbor and ordered warships from all over the country to gather at Panama Harbor.

Since the disaster that year, the Spanish have learned from their mistakes and spent a huge amount of money to clog up the forts in Panama Bay and the castles in the harbor. Today, the forts deep in the harbor have been built for hundreds of years. Although the artillery is still the artillery added decades ago, it is a huge threat to any warship that dares to invade, and the Spanish have also deployed some army soldiers for defense.

The Chinese navy fleet that is chasing can only be blocked.

Of course, Panama City, where so many troops are stationed, must be a densely populated [America region]. After hundreds of years of development, the population here has long exceeded that of the past, and the economy and agriculture are firmly in the first tier of the west coast of North America. If there were no sudden Chinese, the good life here would continue for another 34 years, and then with the independence tide of the entire America, it would get rid of the rule of the Spanish and become a part of the Republic of Gran Colombia.

Sucre led the fleet to set off, and his destination was the Colon Islands, one thousand kilometers southwest of Panama Bay.

It is an uninhabited desert island, which was discovered by the Panamanian bishop on his way to Peru. There are many giant turtles on the island, as well as some Inca pottery fragments, proving that these islands were occupied before the Spaniards. Many Spanish navigators stayed on the island in the 16th century. At the end of the 17th century, some pirates used these islands as hiding places, so it is not impossible for humans to survive here.

Sucre did not want his fleet to be blocked by the Chinese in the Panama Bay, although they could not get in. In that case, the long west coast would become a hunting pasture for the Chinese, and he, as a rear admiral, had to stop this phenomenon.

God knows whether the Chinese ships without restraint will rush out of the Strait of Magellan and run to the other side of North America.

So Sucre had to take action.

In addition, the Galapagos Islands belong to the equatorial region, which is a doldrums.

There is no real wind in the doldrums, but the wind is relatively weak and there is no fixed wind direction. It is a very annoying thing for large sailing warships. They turn the sails slowly. Once the wind suddenly comes, before the sails are adjusted, it changes the wind direction again, which is equivalent to tossing in vain. The utilization rate is extremely low, almost the same as having nothing. At this time, the ship uses the stern rudder more and the small-scale ocean current. The latter requires the pilot to be familiar with the geography.

This environment is very unfavorable for any sailing ship, but it is the most unfavorable for the clipper warships that rely more on the wind direction. The Chinese came to the west coast of North America for the first time, and Sucre was the local snake here.

A clipper bow with wind is a dragon, and a clipper bow without wind is a boneless insect.

The fact that the Galapagos Islands could become a hiding place for pirates for hundreds of years before is closely related to the geographical environment of the Galapagos Islands.

As long as Sucre leads the fleet into here, he can rely on the doldrums, look for opportunities to attack, and launch a wave of counterattacks. Out of the doldrums is the equatorial countercurrent, even if the Chinese chase him, he is not afraid.

Sucre wants to tell the Chinese people not to think that they can really roam the ocean just because they have one or two powerful gadgets. The ocean has many secrets, and the importance of geography and climate is no less important than equipment.

In the wind and rain, the two fleets passed each other perfectly.

The commanders of the two fleets did not find each other. Whether they can successfully reach their destination is not to be discussed for the time being. Just say that their luck at the moment is relatively good.

Sucre used the cover of night and wind and rain to successfully slip out of Panama Bay without being discovered by the Chinese. Although this phenomenon cannot be concealed for a few days.

As for the Chinese fleet heading south, this is a fleet with the main purpose of "transportation". Their combat effectiveness is far inferior to the main fleet that blocked Panama Bay.

…

At this time, on the other side of Mexico, on the east coast of America, the Port of Veracruz, an important port not far from Mexico City, a city the same age as Panama City.

Quintanalo Comal from France frowned at the Mexicans who were picking and choosing their goods, and a bad premonition came to their hearts. The current situation seems to have produced some new and unpredictable changes compared to the old market that has remained unchanged in previous years.

Simply put, these Mexicans don't seem to be very interested in his goods. God, what's wrong? The textiles from Lyon are definitely of first-class quality in Europe, although the price is a little higher than that of the British on the other side of the strait. But France is Spain's loyal friend, so if you want to buy textiles, you should buy from your own people first. Besides, France and Spain are at war with the British now, and the latter can't come here directly to trade.

But Comal's eyes told him that these old Mexican friends were really not interested in the cloth he brought. Not only that, they were also less enthusiastic about other necessities of life, such as knives and forks, small hardware, high-end candles, soaps, brushes, leather goods, etc. These old friends seemed to be only willing to pick and choose among those woolen cloths and linens, and they kept shouting that the prices were too expensive and asked Comal to lower the price a little.

Quintana Luoo Comal and his captain looked at each other, and both of them saw serious fear in each other's eyes.

There must have been a huge change in the Mexican market, and he knew nothing about it.

Comal was a veteran who traveled back and forth between the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and his business sense was very sensitive. Even many of the so-called Lyon textiles he brought this time were British goods purchased at low prices. These British people are the largest textile producers in Europe. When Spain and France said no to Britain, and when the Netherlands, Prussia, and Russia expressed dissatisfaction with the British, the British cloth overcapacity seemed to be an absolute phenomenon. Then they could only sell cloth at a lower price through the Dutch and Portuguese.

A middle-aged white Mexican native came over, "Comal, we are old friends, you can't cheat me like this."

"You sell woven cloth of almost the same quality for three pesos a piece! God, Chinese cloth, which is better than European woven cloth, is only sold for two pesos a piece. If I buy your cloth, I'm sure I won't be able to sell a single piece."

The middle-aged businessman seemed to be quite excited, looking at Comal as if he was looking at a madman. And at this moment, Comal looked at him and almost became a madman with excitement.

"Aren't the Chinese fighting with Spain? Why can you receive Chinese cloth?" Comal's forehead was swelling. Oh my God, China is also involved in the Mexican cloth market? This is a fatal threat to his plan to make a fortune.

"No, Comal. It's only the Peninsula people who are fighting the Chinese. We are Mexicans!"

The war between China and the Spanish colonial government could not stop the native Mexicans from smuggling more and cheaper goods to all parts of Mexico.