Puerto Pisco only resisted for half a day before falling.

In fact, this small, predominantly agricultural port, founded in 1640, was only garrisoned by a mere seventy or eighty soldiers, who withstood only a round of attacks by the Vanguard, the Crandic Volunteers and Polish mercenaries, before collapsing. The amount of gold and silver found in the city was extremely limited - in fact, the commanders on the east coast were not very concerned about it, they were more concerned about how much grain they found in this small port.

In fact, the Peruvian town, which has only a few hundred inhabitants, has a lot of food, with more than 50 tons of wheat, 100 tons of corn and a small amount of cassava and other miscellaneous grains in the hold. This food, together with the food that had been looted at Chiloe Island, Corral, and Valdivia some time ago, was enough for almost all the officers and men of the Pacific Task Force for three or four months.

The food problem was temporarily solved, so the people on the east coast had time to spend time on the Spaniards in Callao, and Lieutenant Colonel Lu Ming, who led the team, did not believe that the Spaniards could spend a few months with him until 1648, when both the Flota and Gajaanes fleets were going to return to Spain. The returning Spanish treasure fleet failed to bring back Potosí's silver bars, so can it still be called a treasure ship?

After the battle in Cusco, the two or three thousand East Coast Army troops who landed did not even bother to stay here longer, and after collecting supplies, they simply abandoned the Peruvian town and then sailed to the Callao Sea to join the main warship formation. The Grocery Store No. 2 supply ship did not keep up with the large army, and she took the supplies she had captured a while ago (gold, silver, leather, ship materials, works of art, and more than 700 freed Alaucan slaves) to the southern city of Araucan, where she planned to store them first, and then transport some military canned food, wine and other supplies back to the Peruvian coast (the East Coasters had set up a small temporary supply depot here).

October 27th. Has been wandering off the coast of Callao for several days. And after sinking a Spanish fishing ship that was coming from the north with a stupid head. The number one target of the Pacific Task Force on the east coast, the Spanish-Peruvian fleet, was finally dispatched. Perhaps knowing that other ships without firepower were of limited use in naval warfare, the Peruvian fleet dispatched only five specialized warships, and some of the other transports did not carry army soldiers to help in the war, as they were used to doing.

The Spaniards moved, and the East Coast Navy, which had been waiting for a long time, was naturally not ambiguous. First, five auxiliary ships (one of whom had not yet returned to Araucan) took advantage of their high maneuverability to dodge to the side, and then the three capital ships adjusted their sail booms and increased the power of their steam engines, and swooped down on the outermost ships of the Spanish-Peruvian fleet with unparalleled maneuverability.

The three battleships of the people on the east coast formed a long snake formation, with the flagship battleship "August 10" leading the way, followed by the battleship "Cadiz Rock". And at the back was the battleship "East Coast Doctrine". These three battleships seized the T-shaped prefix from the beginning, and when they entered the firing range, they were the first to carry out a corrected test firing.

The smoke on the sea gradually increased, and soon the two sides were within a range of six or seven hundred meters, but this range was almost the best range for the ships on the east coast with larger guns and larger diameter ratios, but it was not very good for the Spaniards, and some of their short-barreled guns could not even effectively hit the enemy. So they were constantly adjusting their course, trying to get closer to the ships on the east coast.

It's just that how could the people of the East Coast let them get their way! Led by the flagship "August 10th", the three battleships on the east coast with great firepower continued to adjust their course with maneuverability that stunned the Spaniards, and then accurately captured the outermost of the five Spanish battleships, and concentrated their firepower on a round of onslaught when the remaining Spanish battleships were unable to turn around and rush to support in a short time.

After more than two hours of continuous work. Two ships of the Spanish-Peruvian fleet withdrew from the battle with heavy losses and fled desperately back to the nearby port of Callao. And then silently licked the wounds under the cover of the powerful coastal defense battery. After the two warships withdrew from the battle, the remaining three Spanish warships finally recognized the form, gave up the idea of defeating the East Coast Fleet, and began to rush towards the harbor to take their lives.

It's just that there is no such good thing in this world, it is easy for the Spaniards to come out, but now it is difficult to go back! Originally, it was to lure you to go to sea to fight, but now how can you let you go back so lightly! The two battleships that escaped with injuries just now are just that, and now the number of warships on both sides that are still fighting on the sea is 3V3, so you have to leave one or two behind.

The three Spaniards fled in a zigzag formation, with the San Lorenzo at the front, followed by the Conqueror of Araucan and the Countess Alfonso. The three warships on the east coast tried their best to intercept them, and at this time, they couldn't care about the distance, so they leaned in one after another and smashed chain bombs and red-hot bombs at the three Spanish warships like no money.

More than half an hour later, seeing that the "San Lorenzo" had withdrawn to the maximum range of the Spanish coastal defense battery, the three main warships of the people on the east coast finally achieved heavy results: after the baptism of chain bullets, the "Araucan Conqueror", which had already broken a mast, was severely damaged again, the foremast was hit many times and then broke violently, and the canvas on both sides of the middle mast was also largely damaged, so its speed suddenly slowed down.

The consequences of the ship's stalling in this desperate run were well known, but by this time the "San Lorenzo" and the "Countess Alfonso" had lost the courage to continue the fight, and they took advantage of the interception of the "Araucan Conqueror" by the easterners, and fled into the port of Callao, hiding under the protection of the coastal defense batteries. As for the poor companions, perhaps they can only be helped by praying to God.

And when the foremast was broken and the midmast canvas was extensively damaged, the fate of the "Araucan Conqueror" was already doomed. At this moment, after several other Spanish warships fled back one after another, the three main warships of the East Coast Navy, which had no worries, concentrated on dealing with this frigate with a displacement of only 500 tons.

The outcome of the battle was obvious, and the Spanish ships were eventually sunk after resisting for more than an hour - because they refused to surrender. After the battle, the East Bank Navy carried forward the spirit of humanitarianism. The Spanish sailors and sailors who had fallen into the water were rescued and taken into custody. So far. This breakthrough battle of the Peruvian fleet of the Spanish Navy came to an end. Five Spanish warships were sunk and two were seriously damaged, and the remaining two were also demoralized, losing the courage to continue fighting for a short time, and the port of Callao remained under de facto siege.

After the breakout battle on the 27th, the Spanish port of Callao fell into a dead state again. Seeing that he didn't know how long he was going to spend with these Spanish turtle grandchildren, Lu Ming ordered all five auxiliary ships to go north to find a place to settle in the harbor on the third day (29th), after all, these ships were loaded with thousands of army soldiers, and it was not good for health to hang around outside. Therefore, it is better to go ashore to cultivate first. Wait until it's time to call them in, and many land battles don't require everyone to go together at all, and they can even take turns to save their body.

Before the outbreak of the war with the east coast, the Spanish colonial legion of Lima had rapidly recovered to more than 7,000 men, and had supported more than 1,000 men in Paraguay and 2,000 under the city of Santa Fe, which had already eliminated nearly half. If you include the soldiers stationed in the important colonies, the Spaniards at this time did not have any decent mobile forces to fight the army on the east coast. With the control of the sea and the large number of land forces accompanying the battle, they could easily select the coastal towns of the Viceroyalty of Peru and attack them with superior forces and superior firepower. The Spaniards, who were scattered in their forces, were simply unable to defend themselves.

Of course, this is only the judgment of the East Coast Army staff officers, and they still have to be cautious when encountering specific problems. Therefore. Thinking about it, Lu Ming simply ordered a few auxiliary ships not to attack the towns on the mainland (for fear of being besieged by the Spanish army), but to occupy an outlying island as a temporary resting place. As for which outlying island it was, Lu Ming only looked for it on a map with a high level of secrecy, and determined that San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos Islands was a temporary resting place for the army.

The port of Bakrizo in the northwest corner of the island is an excellent haven for boats. Moreover, the entire archipelago was only visited by a few Spanish explorers, missionaries and the like in the early days, and since then there have been no Spanish colonists since then, except for the occasional visit of a few pirates, and it is a terra nullius that is perfect for the East Coast auxiliary fleet and army to recuperate.

After the logistics support fleet headed north to find the island of San Cristobal on the 29th, the three main warships on the east coast (carrying a small number of army soldiers) were still cruising off the coast of Callao Harbor, monitoring the movements of the Spaniards day and night. As soon as the Spanish fleet tried to leave the port, they would pounce viciously and force the Spaniards back into the harbor.

Although he didn't know the situation inside Callao and Lima, Lu Ming thought about it with his toes and knew that the Peruvian governor of the Spaniards was probably so worried that his hair turned gray. Why? For no other reason, the war is raging at home, and there is a shortage of money! The Potosí silver mine supplies the mainland with more than three million pesos worth of silver bars a year, and if you add to that the dozen or so other small silver mines scattered in Chalcas, Chile and Peru, the entire Peruvian Viceroyalty supplies nearly five million pesos of silver to the Spanish mainland every year. If you add in some of the gold associated with the silver mines, then the figure is more than two million pesos.

One can imagine the far-reaching impact of the more than 7 million pesos worth of gold and silver on the European continent if it were not shipped back to Spain in time. After all, Mexican gold and silver alone (probably less than four million pesos) would not be enough to sustain Spain's many fronts. Unless the King of Spain orders Mexico to stop trade with Manila, reduce the outflow of silver, and impose taxes on Mexico, Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean islands, and then ship the "surplus" silver back to the country, it will be possible to prevent Spain's finances from collapsing immediately, but it will still be unsustainable in the long run.

Quite simply, the ban on the trade in Manila's galleons and the increase in taxes in the American colonies would undoubtedly harm the interests of the local native white class and cause them strong resentment. Moreover, even if you were to try to ship more goods from the American colonies back to sell them without raising taxes – not to mention how difficult it would be to increase production capacity in Peru or New Spain – it would probably be a no-brainer, because the pricing power for American goods was in the hands of the Genoese, Portuguese Jews, and the Dutch. When there is more supply of goods, prices will naturally fall, which is an unbreakable truth for thousands of years!

"So, I'd like to see how calm you are in Spain! Callao Harbor, I'm blocked! Lu Ming snorted coldly, looked at the looming city of Lima, and said in his heart. (To be continued......)