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St. Augustine's neighborhood is quite large, and as the center of the Florida area, it is almost a tenth of a mile long and wide. The neighborhood is dotted with residential houses, shops, warehouses, churches and Spanish colonial institutions. Of course, one of the most striking buildings is the fortified Doge's Bastion.

The cool sea breeze blowing from the Matanzas River dispersed the smoke that filled the city, and the small stone fortress, with a circumference of just over 300 meters, revealed her current scarred honor. Stones, sandbags, powder kegs, earth bombs, and muskets were piled up on the narrow head of the city, and the Spanish colonial legionnaires, dressed in dishevelled clothes, poked their heads out and looked out toward the riverbank. Behind them were the inhabitants of the city, as young as eleven or twelve, as old as fifty or sixty, and even women, who were scattered throughout the city, loading the soldiers' guns, carrying powder kegs and bombs for them, and sometimes even taking part in the battles themselves. It was the tenacity of the Spanish defenders and the heroic actions of the inhabitants that kept the small castle alive after a day and a night of siege by pirates.

And in the neighborhood not far below the city walls, their old adversaries, the pirates, were hysterical and terrified like the end of the world. The flight of three ships, including the Lucky, and the sinking of two ships, the Esmeranda, cut them off all supplies, ammunition, and retreats, and they had to gather together in vain to wait for God's judgment.

A dozen fierce pirates dragged some of the four- and six-pounder guns to the shore and fired at the river, taking advantage of the favorable terrain on the shore. Their shelling was not without results, and a four-pounder shell luckily hit the broadside deck of the "East Coast Falcon", resulting in the death of one gunner. After receiving the signal, the three warships of the privateer formation of the Republic of the East Coast fired several spectacular salvos, and more than 100 shells directly bombarded the dozen pirates and artillery who took the initiative to kill them into slag.

After the shelling stopped, the pirates who had gathered together were immediately killed and wounded, and the rest were scattered. Some of the clever ones took the initiative to fly the white flag, and the rest of the less clear-headed ones either hid in the houses on the streets and left their fate to God, or fled into the reckless primeval jungle and swamps behind the city, leaving their fate to the crocodiles and vipers.

Landing operations are always so annoying. Xie Hansan reluctantly put on cowhide military boots filled with river water, and began to order the soldiers to advance in formation. More than 200 soldiers from a sentry post of the army and a company of the security army lined up on the riverbank, wearing white shirts with round necks and blue trimmed military trousers, cowhide military boots with stagnant water, sabers straddled at their waists and rifles in their hands, marched towards the St. Augustine neighborhood with solemn faces.

"The Army's bunch of." On the deck of the "East Coast Eagle", Lu Ming, who was holding a telescope, groaned weakly, "This formation is put out, for fear that others will not know that we are from the East Coast." This kind of formation, which is a little like a swarm of pirates fighting a war, we simply raise the national flag and the naval flag. ”

"Huh. The army is not very good at fighting, but it is a set of formations and pomp and circumstance. You didn't look at Peng Zhicheng, wearing a set of general's dress all day long, and wearing white gloves, hum, the upper beam is not right and the lower beam is crooked, I think it's normal. Wang Tiehammer also smiled, complaining that the army is a common hobby of the navy.

The Spaniards on the city walls and the remaining pirates in the neighborhood also looked stupidly at the neat and well-armed "white shirt" troops until they entered the block. The resistance in the block can be said to be negligible, after all, the fools who dare to carry out suicide attacks against dozens of cannons on the river and more than 200 rifles in front of them are a minority after all, and most of them choose to surrender their weapons sensibly.

Shou Daoshi, who temporarily served as the acting company commander of the security forces, and his deputy Anda 15 led their new recruits to pull all the surrendered pirates to the bank of the river and guard them in the open field, and then searched the pirates' belongings one by one. These guys had taken over most of St. Augustine's neighborhood before, and they had gotten a lot of money, and they had to spit it all out.

There was a slight commotion among the pirates, and some of the agitated pirates shouted loud voices in a language that the soldiers did not understand.

"Phew! The hairy pirates don't know whether they are alive or dead, and they have become prisoners of the ranks, and they are still so arrogant. Lord Xie has an order, but all those who do not obey orders, make loud noises, and flee with weapons among the captives will be killed. The longevity Taoist priest of the security army snorted coldly and said, "Anda, you take two platoons and find that there are those who meet these three conditions, and you will be killed." ”

"Hay!" Anda Fifteen immediately answered the order, and then led two platoons of security soldiers to pounce viciously. A platoon of soldiers stopped sixty meters away, loaded their guns with ammunition and lined up in two rows, 50 muskets aimed at this side.

Anda Fifteen, with fifty other soldiers armed with swords, rushed into the crowd of pirates, kicking the pirates who were standing there and making noise to the ground one by one. The slightest resistance was a head-on knife, and after some rectification, with the dozen or so headless corpses on the ground, Anda Fifteen succeeded in making the fierce pirates all silent, and honestly squatted on the ground with the back of their heads in their hands.

Once the pirates were subdued, the rest was easy. The soldiers searched their bodies one by one, and collected all kinds of coins, jewelry, and some valuable belongings from them and their parcels, and piled them up on the bank of the river. At the same time, the work of cleaning up the belongings scattered in the neighborhood is also proceeding in an orderly manner. A regular army officer at a checkpoint sealed off all the shops, warehouses, churches and other buildings in the block, and then sent personnel into the area to count the property; The remaining 50 security soldiers entered the houses in groups of threes and twos, rummaging through the belongings and money left in the houses.

After three hours, the locust-like soldiers had finally cleared the entire neighborhood. Thousands of furs, tons of cotton, brightly coloured textiles, rare dyes and spices, precious Brazilian mahogany, cured meats and animal fats, and vast quantities of gold and silver piled up on the banks of the river, and the industrious Chalua sailors sorted and packed them in small boats and transported them to the three warships anchored in the heart of the Matanzas.

The army soldiers who had cleared the neighborhood did not delay, destroying a few of the cannons left behind by the pirates, and then marched back to the riverbank. It was at this time that the Spaniards, who had been watching the city walls for a long time, finally sent an officer to negotiate.

"Gentlemen, I am Second Lieutenant Alessis of the Royal Spanish Army, please identify yourself." The Spanish officer, whose clothes and body were covered with the smell of gunpowder, asked vigilantly.

Xie Hansan's Spanish was not very good, but he still roughly understood the meaning of the Spanish envoy's words. "You don't need to know who we are, you just need to know that it was we who saved you, poor Spaniards, and that these supplies will be the reward we demanded. Of course, we'll be here for a few days and maybe use the facilities of your shipyard by the river. ”

"But these goods are the common property of the gentlemen and citizens of the city of St. Augustine, and you have no right to dispose of them." The Spanish envoy was still arguing, "This is the territory of the Viceroy of New Spain in the Kingdom of Spain, and you may only use any of our facilities with the permission of General Florida, provided that you are under our supervision." ”

"Mr. Ensign!" Xie Hansan raised his voice impatiently: "I think there are some things that may be more helpful for you to recognize the facts, are you a local?" ”

"No, I'm from Almeria."

"I suppose, then, to give you the origin of St. Augustine and the Matanzas." Xie Hansan said.

"Please...... Please speak. ”

In 1565, Menendez led a fleet to attack Fort Carolina, a French Protestant stronghold near St. Augustine. After defeating the French, he not only demolished the French castle, but also carried out an inhumane massacre here, where almost all the French inhabitants and their Indian allies were slaughtered. And this is where the Matanzas River comes from. Second Lieutenant, you should know exactly what Matanzas means in Spanish, yes, it means 'massacre'. Xie Hansan looked at the warships anchored in the center of the river and the Spanish fortress on the bank of the river, and said with a frosty face: "I believe that neither you nor I want to see a second massacre here after 69 years. Go back, second lieutenant, and report my words to your superior, and he will forgive you. ”

The pale-faced Spanish officer returned to the castle to die, and Xie Hansan didn't bother to pay attention to him, and continued to organize people to carry supplies. At this time, the "Red Trout" gunboat, carrying a sentry of army soldiers, began to sail to the mouth of the Matanzas River under the orders of Lu Ming. There was also a pirate ship that was being repaired because it ran aground on the reef, and there was no reason for the privateer formation to let it go, and in the present situation, it would be foolish for the pirate ship to surrender without knowing it, because the firepower of the gunboat "Red Trout" would not have much trouble dismantling them into planks.

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