Why are the Spanish so slow in delivering news?

In fact, the reason is very simple. First, it is limited by the terrain. The endless Andes Mountains stretch along the west coast, resulting in the western coastal areas of Peru being discontinuous small plains at the foot of the mountains. If you want to go to Lima by land from several port cities, you must cross the dangerous Andes Mountains.

The Spaniards were well aware of the evil they had done. The Indians in the mountains hated them to the core, and would kill them if they saw a small group of Spaniards entering the mountains.

Therefore, these southern cities were connected to Lima by sea, but they were all caught by Lin Feng's fleet. Before leaving, they set fire to all the ships, shipyards, and docks. There was really no way to report the news.

So on June 1, 1576, the defenseless city of Lima, the pearl of the west coast, was looted by the evil pirates of the Ming Dynasty. Twelve ships, including the Viceroy's ship, the 'Great Pizarro', were stolen, with a loss of more than 10 million pesos!

In addition, the port, shipyard and all ships were burned down, and even the city of Lima suffered serious fire.

In fact, the city of Lima was one league away from the harbor, and less than one-third of the rockets fell into the city, causing only three or four fire points.

For other cities, such as Salvador in Brazil, a fire in broad daylight is not a big deal. If discovered early, it can be put out with little effort.

But it's fatal for Lima, which is a world-famous "rainless city"!

The subtropical high-pressure belt, southeast trade winds and the Peruvian cold current together create Lima's tropical desert climate. There is no thunder or lightning all year round, and it is dry and rainless all year round, making everything in the city flammable.

People in the city quickly put out several fires, but the fire inevitably spread and all efforts to put out the fire were in vain.

The raging fire soon engulfed the entire city of Lima. People had no choice but to gather in the Plaza de Armas to avoid the fire, hugging and crying. A poet who witnessed this scene wrote an immortal poem:

'On June 1, Lima died.'

Because he couldn't dodge in time and his hair was burnt, the Vice Prince was furious and had to dive into the fountain. He still couldn't figure out who these pirates who suddenly appeared were.

Until the political magistrate reminded him that it was said that a group of Ming pirates had robbed His Majesty's treasure ship on the east coast of New Spain last year.

"The Flying Dutchman, the ghost ship?" His Highness Jose also remembered this and quickly asked someone to fetch the King's wanted warrant issued last year.

After a long time, the clerk reported that the wanted poster was burned...

This is normal, because documents are the most likely things to catch fire. Every fire is a good opportunity to make sure the higher-ups have no evidence and write off the bad debt.

Governor José was in another fit of impotent rage. He waved his hands exaggeratedly, the burnt hair on his head trembled, and he cursed excitedly in Andalusian slang.

"I have no idea who the enemy is, and I have no ability to pursue and retaliate. My boat and a year's harvest were even stolen! I... fucking... fuck!"

The officials and attendants looked at each other in bewilderment and could only let him spray all over their heads and faces.

When the vice king was tired of talking, the political officer reminded him that he had to find a way to notify Colombia and Central America to be on high alert and report to Admiral Leon in Port Hambray.

"I...n...Ma...isn't this nonsense?!" The Vice King kicked the political officer's butt. "Think about it quickly!"

Lima is a big city after all, so there are ways to deal with it. The government official took people to the docks and found a few ships that were not burned. Then he quickly sent people to act separately.

~~

A few days later, cities such as Trujillo and Tumbes north of Lima received alarms one after another, closed their doors and windows, and ships left the port and headed north to avoid danger.

However, the pirate fleet seemed to have disappeared and did not attack any city or rob any ship for a long time.

This made the Spanish relax their tense nerves, thinking that the Eastern pirates had already returned along the ocean current. So everything went back to normal, and the ships heading north also returned.

Inertia is so terrible that once people get used to ease and comfort, it is difficult for them to make changes because of an accidental event.

Of course, it cannot be said that there has been no change at all. Members of parliament from all over the country have submitted proposals to the council to strengthen coastal defense, and after a few years of wrangling, it will be almost time to start working on it.

These Spanish and native white people on the west coast were obviously too stupid and naive. How could the wolves be willing to leave the grasslands with abundant prey? The reason they disappeared temporarily was just because they had no more food and had to find a way to relieve themselves.

Lin Feng now has less than a thousand men under his command. Although all of them can operate a ship, after looting Lima, they no longer have the manpower to operate more ships.

To maintain basic combat effectiveness, the Liu Daxia needs a minimum of 250 people, the three frigates need a minimum of 75 people each, the transport ship needs 60 people, and the newly captured 800-ton sailing ship needs at least 100 people. That's 635 people.

There were only about 340 people left who could move. Even if 21 boats were used, it was not enough to meet the minimum number of crew members. They could only use the method of towing one boat with another, which could save a lot of manpower such as navigators and lookouts.

Like Liu Daxia and the Spanish galleon named "Xiao Ming", both were towing three cargo ships.

Although the sea was calm and breezy, worthy of the name 'Pacific Ocean', sailing with families was like fleeing, and there was no one to relieve the shift, which was a huge drain on the crew's physical and mental strength, making it impossible to sail far.

Moreover, the entire west coast of America is Spanish territory, there is absolutely no place to sell the stolen goods!

Lin Feng was reluctant to abandon any of them. In her words, I got them by my own ability, why should I let others have them?

But if this continues, the situation will be too dangerous.

Ah! Ah! Ah!

She was so worried that she almost grew a beard. Then Zhang Xiaojing gave her an idea, saying that she could learn from the squirrels and hide the spoils in a safe place first and come back to get them later.

Lin Feng's eyes lit up at first, but then dimmed again.

"South America is amazing. The coastline looks like it was cut by a knife. I haven't seen an island in over a month."

"There are still islands." Zhang Xiaojing smiled and pointed to the sea chart seized from the vice king's ship and said, "I think Devil Island is quite suitable."

~~

The so-called Devil's Island was named by a lost Spanish missionary. It is located 1,880 kilometers northwest of Lima. It is a rare pearl on the smooth surface of the eastern Pacific Ocean.

However, half a century after the discovery of Devil's Island, the Spaniards regarded it as a forbidden area and never set foot on the island.

First, because the respected bishop recorded:

'It's like God rained stones here, the ground is full of magma ash, and no grass grows. The land and creatures here are like from hell, and the groundwater is saltier than the sea.'

Second, it is located on the equator, 1,000 kilometers away from the South American continent. The Spanish were terrified by the equatorial doldrums. Who would go to such a worthless devil's place to seek death if they were tired of living?

However, according to the top-secret ocean current map drawn by Zhao Hao, the location of this archipelago is at the intersection of cold and warm ocean currents - the Peruvian cold current and the equatorial countercurrent meet here, so there is no need to worry about no wind, and it also saves the need for sailors. As long as the boat is handed over to the ocean current, it can successfully reach the island and return to the American continent.

So Lin Feng readily accepted Zhang Xiaojing's suggestion and, following the guidance of the nautical chart, sailed northwest for ten days. Then, a large archipelago appeared in the Beidou team's sight.

According to aerial measurements, this archipelago consists of 13 large and small islands and 19 reefs, covering an area of ​​about 300 kilometers from east to west and about 200 kilometers from north to south. It is scattered in an area of ​​nearly 60,000 square kilometers of sea. It is a wonder in the barren eastern Pacific Ocean.

After confirming that there were no signs of human activity on the island, a large fleet of 27 ships slowly entered the archipelago.

At this time, Zhang Xiaojing was obviously excited. She asked Lin Feng to lower the boat for her and immediately took the scientific expedition team ashore. Lin Feng secretly wondered, she strongly advocated going to Devil's Island, was it to hide the stolen goods or for sightseeing?

Shaking his head, Lin Feng also released the expedition team and asked them to explore the sea area as quickly as possible. While updating the navigation charts, it was more important to find a place to properly hide the stolen goods.

This is Ma Yishan’s old specialty. Every time Lin Feng succeeded in robbery, he was the one who hid the stolen goods and he never failed.

While Lao Ma led his men to set off, Lin Feng was also busy. She directed the crew to transfer all the gold and silver on the cargo ship to six ships including Xiao Ming using the cranes on Liu Daxia and Gaoyou Lake.

When reviewing the cause of the sinking of the Tianbao, someone asked if we had given it a name that was too big, and that the ship could not be stable. In view of this, when naming the new sailboat, we deliberately gave it a humble name, "Xiao Ming", which was easier to keep.

Because the tonnage of the Xiao Ming was larger than that of the wrecked Tian Bao, the total ballast of the six ships was exactly one thousand tons.

As a result, there were only 6 tons of gold and 300 tons of silver on all the cargo ships. Commander Lin still needed nearly 200 tons to achieve his goal of replacing all the ballast stones with gold and silver.

"My life is so difficult. It's not easy to achieve a small goal..." Lin Feng sighed to the sky and could only agree dejectedly to the proposal of using 200 tons of pure copper to make up the number.

But when the crew suggested adding more pure copper, she flatly rejected it.

"It's a bit of pursuit, okay? We're not planning to go home right away!"

Everyone laughed and held back.

But Lin Feng accepted all the 200 tons of sweet potatoes, 200 tons of corn, 100 tons of wheat, 100 tons of beans, 10 tons of soybean oil, and 100 tons of saltpeter on the cargo ships. It is not easy to resupply in enemy territory. Besides, these are much more valuable than gold and silver when crossing the ocean.

The remaining 4,000 tons of cargo would be hidden on Devil's Island first. This included 2,000 tons of pure copper, a considerable amount of lead and tin, the skin and fur of the grass mud horse, and thousands of tons of bird droppings...

At this time, Lao Ma also selected the second island on the westernmost side of the archipelago. There is a very hidden lagoon to the west of that island, and there is a large island blocking the entrance to the lagoon. If you don't drive to the strait between the two islands for a close look, you won't be able to discover the hidden world here.

Lin Feng was very satisfied with this, so he ordered his men to drive the remaining cargo ships into the lagoon one by one, anchor them all close together, and then securely fasten them together with ropes.

Still feeling reassured, she directed the crew to take advantage of low tide to drive rocks and wooden stakes under the boat to secure it firmly in order to prevent the sea water from overturning it.

In fact, there are never strong winds and waves here, but it is always better to be cautious. What if the boat leaks?

These are all General Lin’s treasures.

p.s. Good night.