In the more than 50 years of Buenos Aires' more than 50-year history, the city has never been more crowded, with soldiers from the surrounding towns and the Paraguay region of the upper reaches of the Río de la Plata flooding the city. Having nothing to do, they either get drunk in the bar all day long, or they are fighting with the gauchos, and in short, there is not a moment of stopping. In addition, the rapid deterioration of law and order has also made the town councillors of the city of Buenos Aires quite unhappy, they did not agree to start the war, and now that the war has not yet been completed, their property has been looted and destroyed by the soldiers.

Captain Torres was also anxious about this, he was now sitting on a rising crater, the discontent of the soldiers and the gentlemen of parliament was like the anger that was about to erupt, he could even smell the pungent smell of sulfur, but he could not do anything about it. At this moment, he was extremely hopeful that the commander of Diego García's fleet would quickly defeat the Tartan fleet and then rush back to preside over the situation, and as for poor Viscount Fernández, Torres had already forgotten him for a long time.

"Sir, Mr. Manuel Ignacio Rodríguez asks for a meeting." The guards walked into Torres' office and whispered a report.

Torres, who was counting the material consumption data, raised his head and said with a tired face: "Let him in." ”

Manuel Rodríguez is an old man in his sixties, who started his career in the leather business from Seville to try his luck in the New World when he was young, and after decades of hard work, he has also created a small family business, and is now one of the city councilors of Buenos Aires. Without waiting for the guards to open the door completely, he pushed the guards away and went straight in, roaring at Torres, "We must stop this senseless war!" Torres, we must stop the war, it makes no sense! ”

"Dear Mr. Rodriguez, as to the justification of this war waged by the Governor, you may appeal to the Lima Magistrate and the West India Court of the Kingdom, and they will give you a complete answer. But I would like to remind you that we are now at war, and the Governor will not stop this war until we have achieved our goals or gained sufficient benefits. Torres said slowly, his voice low but firm: "Now everyone is fighting for the good of the kingdom, and I will not allow anyone to sabotage this war." Mr. Rodriguez, the order for your leather ammunition pack must be completed within a week, otherwise I will ask the Chirkas Court of Appeal to cancel your leather processing license. ”

Manuel Rodríguez looked at Torres coldly, and said after a while: "Very good, Captain Juan Cruz Torres, I will complete the order of the military on time." But lately the ruffians from Asunción have been making a lot of noise, and they have been looting in the suburbs at night, and several sheep have been missing from my pasture. Someone has to be responsible for this, 'Don' Cruise! This is also the unanimous opinion of the members of the Town Council, and I hope you will consider it seriously! See you again! With that, Manuel Rodríguez left Torres' office in a rage.

Torres put down his pen and looked at Rodriguez's back in the distance, with a slight headache. According to the plan, the army was supposed to complete the build-up in April, and then land near the port of Tatartan and launch an offensive. However, the plan is always just a plan, and the procrastination of the assembly of the local garrisons, the inadequate preparation of materials, and the untimely arrival of the commanders have caused the time for the army's departure to be delayed again and again. What a headache, the Tatars even had time to slowly harvest the grain in the wilderness, and then wait for the arrival of the kingdom's army.

"Bang!" The more he thought about it, the more depressed Captain Torres slapped the table angrily, not knowing who he was angry with. Just then, the guard pushed the door in again and reported, "Sir, there is something new. ”

"If there is a situation, just say it!" Torres glared at the other.

"It's a bit complicated." The guard's face was a little strange, "Sir, you can see what is going on when you open the curtain and look out of the port." ”

Torres stood up, pulled back the velvet curtains, and looked at the harbor hundreds of meters away, and was stunned. Outside the harbor, a large black ship stood like a hill, a red-bottomed double-sword goshawk flag fluttering high, and the swarthy guns on the deck were aimed at the harbor.

"God! Battleships of the Tatars! Torres blurted out, "Why doesn't the battery fire?" Hurry up and fire the cannon before she breaks into the harbor! ”

"Sir, this ship is out of range of the battery's shore defense guns." The guard whispered.

Torres suddenly came to his senses, but then became angry again: "Then what does this mean? Is this a demonstration? And what about Commander Garcia's fleet? It is a shame that he let the warships of the Tatars be blocked off the river de la Plata! Absolute shame! ”

"Sir, could it be that something happened to Commander Garcia's fleet?" The guard asked, slurring.

"Shut up, Raphael. If you think about it with your toes, you know that it can't be! The huge fleet of seven capital warships is no longer able to resist in this sea area. Torres retorted, "Damn cunning Tatars, they must have escaped the hunt of Garcia's fleet by luck, and then sneaked up to the mouth of the Río de la Plata, in a vain attempt to shake our will to fight!" These vile and shameless Tatars! ”

At this moment, I saw a puff of green smoke coming out of the guns on the deck of the battleship on the sea, followed by the rumbling sound of cannons. "God! They're firing guns! Guard Raphael exclaimed.

A 24-pound iron bomb flew over a long distance and plunged headlong into the water in the harbor, splashing a large column of water.

Captain Torres watched in a daze as the Tatar warship fired into the harbor, his face gloomy and terrifying. Not only him, but all the Spaniards in Buenos Aires who saw this scene grinned incredulously, as if they had seen some unreal vision. For the first time since its founding in 1580, Buenos Aires was subjected to hostile naval bombardment.

Álvaro accompanied his father, Manuel Rodríguez, on his tour of his workshop, and when he heard the news from the servant, he couldn't help but lose his voice for a moment.

"Álvaro, the strength of these Tatars has exceeded our expectations." Manuel's hoarse voice suddenly sounded, "I have a hunch that it may be difficult for the kingdom to achieve the desired result in this war, and the Tatars will gain de facto domination of the eastern coast region. Maybe they'll also get additional commercial benefits, and we'd better be prepared for that. ”

"Business interest?" Álvaro was a little puzzled, "Father, do you mean that the Tatars will receive the legal right to trade in the region of La Plata?" It seems hard. ”

"Certainly not an unrestricted right to trade." "Perhaps the Peruvian governor would limit the tonnage and number of ships that the Tatars could trade each year, as was the case with the few foreign companies that had been granted trade concessions in the Caribbean," Manuel explained. And this is our family's opportunity, and we must seize it! ”

……

"Ha Lu Ha, happy!" Wang Tiehammer grinned, "It's really cool to show off your power at the door of people's homes!" Look at the ships moored in the harbor, which one dares to come up and talk to us. Lao Tzu is here to provoke, what's the matter, does anyone dare to come up? ”

"There are only a few fishing boats moored in the harbor, and you expect this kind of cargo to come out and fight us alone?" Xiao Bailang also laughed and said, "You should be careful of some Spanish batteries, I think there are a lot of artillery, at least more than twenty." Don't capsize in the gutter, it's not worth taking a shot here. ”

"Don't worry. I looked, and the old 8-, 12-, and 18-pounder guns on the Spaniard battery couldn't go that far. Wang Tiezhu shook his head nonchalantly, "Don't worry, I won't break in, this time it's just to scare and scare these Spaniards, so that they know that they are not safe and are in danger at any time." Well, this is also part of the general battle, which shakes the enemy's determination to fight. ”

While the two were talking, several iron projectiles roared across the bay and smashed into the sea hundreds of meters in front of the port side of Yunsheng No. 1, creating some large and small water columns. Perhaps these Spanish coastal defense artillery officers and men could not stand the arrogance of Yunsheng No. 1, and they decided to respond to Yunsheng No. 1's provocation with shells.

"Okay, let's quit when you've had enough." Xiao Bailang held the binoculars and took a closer look, and wrote down the specific locations of the several gun emplacements fired by the Spaniards just now, and then said: "This time, the ship can carry a lot of supplies, as well as some army soldiers who accompany the ship, so it is important to go to the Falklands first." ”

Wang Qinian and Yunsheng No. 1 sank three Spanish coastal warships off the coast of the Dayu River, and at the meeting of the Executive Committee, they argued on the basis of reason, and finally obtained the authorization of the Executive Committee to requisition the two temporary arrangements of the Army. Peng Zhicheng left the meeting in protest in the middle of the meeting, and the contradictions between the sea and land once again intensified.

However, Xiao Bailang and Wang Tiehammer don't care so much, the quarrel is borne by Wang Qinian, and this limelight and meritorious thing can be done by themselves.

Yunsheng No. 1 turned the rudder, raised the sails, and slowly left Buenos Aires under the gaze of countless complicated eyes.

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