Wild North America 1846

Chapter 648 The cunningness of the veteran colonists

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 648 The cunningness of the veteran colonists

The Spanish Royal Navy is indeed a veteran maritime powerhouse. Although it has long lost its former glory, its heritage of spanning the world's oceans for hundreds of years is still there.

It can be seen from the itinerary of its royal fleet to support the Cuban special task force that its Taoism is very profound.

The Spanish special fleet did not take the traditional route from New York to Europe, because it would have passed through the Royal Naval Base in New York's Long Island and the Royal Naval Base in Templeton, which belonged to the Tang Empire. Wouldn't it be equivalent to sending meat to your door?

This large-scale task force has been heading south since its departure from Spain, along the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean, passing through Morocco, Western Sahara, and Mauritalia in West Africa.

After being resupplied in Senegal, the long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean began. The other end of this waterway is the northern part of Brazil in South America. It is also a traditional slave trade route, the infamous "Triangular Trade" old route.

.

This route does take a bit of a detour, but it is safer.

With rich navigation experience, the task force successfully arrived at the northern coast of Brazil, then followed the South American continent northward and bypassed Suriname, French Guiana, British Guiana, Dutch Suriname, and Belgian Guiana.

Entering the Spanish colony of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Crinidad and Tobago Islands are located on the northeastern coast of Venezuela, which already belongs to the Caribbean coast. The Spanish have colonized and operated here for more than 300 years and have relatively complete port facilities.

From here, continue about two thousand kilometers northwest, which is the destination of this trip, Cuba.

From the choice of this long route, we can see how stupid the Spaniards are.

Northeastern Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela in South America are the places where the Tang Empire's influence is weakest, and the large task force formations are most likely to escape the opponent's interception.

Facts have proved that the Spaniards made the right bet.

With the existing Atlantic Fleet strength of the Royal Navy of the Datang Empire, it is unable to control the long stretch of the Atlantic Ocean from north to south, and can only defend key areas.

General Juan Espartero, commander of the task force and commander of the Royal Navy, was a close friend and political ally of Prime Minister Serrano. He was a staunch royalist and supported Alfonso XII, the son of Isabella II.

He was restored as one of the real powerful figures of the Spanish King.

As early as 1874, the Spanish Republicans split into federalists and autonomists. The autonomists encouraged local independence and fought against the federal government, which led to the Spanish Civil War.

The royalist officers, eager to restore the monarchy, took advantage of the civil unrest to eliminate the republic and crown Alfonso XII as king.

Before the special mixed formation arrived in the Trinidad and Tobago Islands, strict military control had been implemented on the colony to prevent any information from leaking out, thereby jeopardizing this crucial expedition.

in this regard

The Spaniards showed the sophistication of veteran colonists, which is indeed remarkable, and basically did not reveal any weaknesses.

On April 23, 1878, the special task force finally breathed a sigh of relief after successfully arriving at the Trinidad and Tobago Islands.

On the one hand, General Juan Espartero arranged for the large task force to seize the time to replenish clean drinking water, vegetables, dried meat, grain and fruits. On the other hand, he arranged for the soldiers of the Spanish Expeditionary Force to go ashore to rest, and on the other hand, he explored the enemy's Royal Atlantic Fleet.

information.

Soon he got the latest news;

At the Royal Navy bases stationed in Long Island and Campton, New York, the main force of the Atlantic Fleet is still in port. However, there is an ironclad "Duke of Hawaii" leading two Tornado cruisers out of port to perform tasks. Most others have not seen any changes.

"Almighty God, your glory is everywhere!" General Juan Espartero said with a face full of joy and made a false sign of "ten" on his chest, and then his heart was relieved.

My own family knows their own affairs.

Don't look at the mighty Spanish Royal Navy's task force, which has more than 170 ships, including 26 sailing cruisers, sailing battleships, and sailing frigates, and thousands of artillery pieces. It looks quite powerful.

In fact, these sailing warships are more than a hundred years old, and the youngest ones are fifty or sixty years old. They are all maritime warships of my grandfather and grandfather's generation, and they are the assets accumulated by the Spanish Royal Navy.

In the Port of Madrid, there are also sail training ships that have been in service for a longer period of time. The oldest one can be traced back to 200 years ago. They can be sunk by a single wave at sea.

During this long journey, about half of the sail warships leaked water. Fortunately, the Spanish Royal Navy soldiers responded well and did not capsize in the Atlantic Ocean.

Don’t you know how much fighting power you have left?

Spain's politics have been highly corrupt in the past few decades, and many people have been harmed. During the reign of Isabella II, she was famous for her debauchery. She was eventually overthrown by the angry Spanish people and was forced to live in exile in France.

What followed was a period of more than 10 years of ownerlessness, turmoil and civil war, which lasted until the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain.

Less than a year after it became stable, another vicious incident broke out in Havana, where Chinese businessmen were killed, which led to the conflict with the Tang Empire and the outbreak of this war...

The Spanish Royal Navy has not acquired new ships for decades. Two new sailing frigates have been in the shipyard for more than 10 years, and they were stopped after being built halfway through.

Firstly, it was because there was no financial allocation, and secondly, even if it was built, it lagged behind, and the Spanish Royal Navy had no interest in persisting.

The direction of naval development in the world today is ironclad ships. All European powers are building new ironclad ships one after another and eliminating a large number of old sailing warships.

This is the current situation of the Spanish Royal Navy, which is still resting on its laurels from more than 100 years ago.

In this regard, General Juan Espartero also felt deeply helpless, and he could not help but feel infinite regret that the glory of the empire had passed away.

The question comes back to the special task force. Except for the 26 sailing warships from the Spanish Royal Navy, there are more than 170 ships in the special task force. The others are all iron-hulled cargo ships and troop carriers, some of which are leased.

Portuguese merchant ships and French merchant ships.

These iron-hulled ships were the main force of transportation, responsible for transporting a total of 36,000 Spanish expeditionary forces and a large amount of military supplies to support the Governor-General of Cuba.

The purpose of the task force was not to fight against the Tang Imperial Navy, but to transport the 36,000 Spanish expeditionary troops and a large amount of military supplies ashore.

Cooperate with the existing forces of the Spanish Governor's Palace to defend the city and fortress, compete with the invading Tang Empire army, drag the war into a protracted period, and fight the war with gritted teeth.

The remaining two thousand kilometers of the voyage were the most dangerous, and they always made General Juan Espartero so frightened that he could not sleep at night.

After learning that the main force of the Atlantic Fleet was still docked in New York Harbor and Campton Harbor, General Juan Espartero could not conceal his excitement and immediately issued an order;

"The Spanish sailing fleet was divided into two, and I personally led the main force to form an assault fleet to take charge of combat missions.

The remaining sail frigates and light brigs formed a security fleet, forming a tight security line 15 to 30 kilometers ahead of the assault fleet to guard against enemy ships.

The troop transports and cargo ships transporting supplies in the task force were organized into three waves. The first wave followed the sailing fleet and moved at the same time, striving to be the first to land at the ports along the Cuban coast.

The second and third wave fleets set off one after another with an interval of two days and landed in Cuba according to the established route.

The first wave of the Spanish sailing fleet to protect the fleet will set off early tomorrow morning. We must transport the expedition officers, soldiers and supplies ashore before the enemy reacts to complete this important mission."

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief." The Spanish officers on hand responded in unison.

The Spaniards' method of dealing with the Tang Empire's armored ships was very simple, that is, once they discovered the enemy's main fleet, they immediately disbanded the formation and fled in all directions.

If you can escape from a ship, it is a ship. If you cannot escape, fight to the end, entangle the main force of the enemy ship as long as possible, and win a glimmer of life for the friendly ships, until the sea is finally stained with blood.

This is a tragic and helpless choice, but this is the cruel reality.

There are still more than 72,000 colonial troops under the Spanish Governor's Palace. If they can join the 36,000 expeditionary troops, their strength will undoubtedly increase. With the solid fortress and city defense, they can compete with the invading Tang Empire army.

It is still unclear who will win?

This was also the last stubbornness of the Kingdom of Spain. As for the distant Luzon Islands, the Spaniards did not even bother to send reinforcements because they simply could not get there.

The Suez Canal controlled by Britain, France and the Tang Dynasty guarded the passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and the Spanish could not get through it no matter what.

Even if it passes, it will be intercepted in the Red Sea area, which is equivalent to having meat delivered to your door.

There is no need to consider this global route that goes south along the west coast of Africa and bypasses South Africa.

The Spaniards now have neither the strength nor enough ships to carry out this task. Their ocean transport capacity is only 500 to 800 people at best, and it will take more than a year.

After such a long time, the day lily has become completely cold.

It was impossible to cross from the Atlantic side, and the entire America from north to south was under the control of the Tang Empire.

Without its consent, the British would not dare to boast that during the period of free travel, at least the problem of ship supply would not be solved.

When you really face such a behemoth, will you know how terrifying it is?

undeniable

The Spaniards from the Pyrenees have never lost their tradition of bravery and have a strong and straightforward character. They will never give in to the blackmail of the Tang Empire, just like a bull that will not hit the south wall and never look back.

This task force's transoceanic expedition can be said to be a desperate move, just to safeguard the glory of the Spanish Empire in the past and not to be trampled into the mud by the world's powers.

The next day, early morning.

The mighty Spanish sailing fleet escorted a wave of landing ships and set off. The destination was a Cuban port more than 2,000 kilometers away. Any port would do, and it did not have to be the port of Havana.

This was the cunningness of the veteran colonists. General Juan Espartero subconsciously felt that sending troops and supplies to the Port of Havana was too dangerous and might lead to unnecessary losses.

That being the case

Then other Cuban ports can also be used. As long as the expeditionary force can be transported ashore smoothly, Havana and other important provinces can be reached on foot, but it will only take a little more time.

Compared to the risks taken, it's totally worth it.

(End of chapter)