On July 3, four warships of Xiao Bailang's fleet were intercepted by two Spanish batteries that had been prepared for a long time when they traced up the Valdivia River to the outside of Valdivia. Xiao Bailang, knowing that he had no chance, ordered the fleet to turn around and sail south in the direction of Chiloe Island.

On 5 July, the fleet arrived at the Chacao Strait, where the sea was strong. The last time he passed by the Chacao Strait, Xiao Bailang wanted to make a move on Chakao City, but he was disturbed by a heavy rain that lasted for a long time. This time, the sky was high and the clouds were light, and the visibility was also very good, and the four battleships stopped at double anchor in the strait, lined up, and bombarded the city of Chakao, which was covered by only a few small-caliber coastal defense guns.

The naval artillery shelling continued for three hours. During this time, the Spaniards' shore defense batteries and towns were ravaged by more than thirty naval heavy guns. At twelve o'clock in the afternoon, the army made a major landing, and the Spaniards began their feeble resistance.

Sheriff Lucio sat on the ground trembling and waited for the Tatars to arrive. He is a descendant of an early Spanish colonist, more precisely a mixed descendant of Spanish colonists and Araucans. The Lucio family, who had lived in the city of Chacao for generations, finally got ahead in his father's generation, and thanks to the appreciation of a noble Spanish governor, his father climbed to the position of sheriff of the city of Chacao, and the Lucio family finally mixed up with the status of decent people in the small place of Chacao. After the death of his father, he naturally took over the position of sheriff and began to spare no effort to help the Spaniards suppress the Araucan revolt.

Lucio had always been ashamed of the Araucan blood, which made up three-quarters of his blood, and for this reason he went to Lima to purchase a certificate of "blood purification"(1) from the king's emissary to prove the purity of his Spanish blood. Some time ago, due to the armed attack of the Tatars, the city of Castro on the eastern side of Chiloe Island, in the Bay of Córdoba, was destroyed. The small number of Spanish garrisons in the area was wiped out, and the vicious Tatars distributed their captured weapons to the Araucans, who had been oppressed and enslaved for many years. After the Tatars left, these Araucans, who made up the majority of the population in Castro, took bloody revenge on the remnants of the local white people, killing more than 50 white Spaniards, and only a few who were sheltered by the church were lucky enough to escape.

These few whites, sheltered by the Church, fled to the city one after another, and they recounted to the colonial officials of Chacao the horrific scenes of the Araucan uprising. Over the next few days, the Araukans of the city began to flee continuously, and from time to time there were some Araukans armed with hot and cold weapons outside the city. By this morning, the flight of the Araukan had reached its climax, and more than twenty Araucan lumberjacks had fled into the dense woods with their logging axes.

Sergeant Lucio and several police officers were preparing to go outside the city to hunt down the fleeing Araucans when the Tataran attack came unexpectedly. Four huge battleships flying the red double-sword goshawk flag were moored outside the harbor, and only a few salvos of guns on the battleships made a few old bronze guns on the batteries dumb. Next, these terrifying cannons began to attack the city with impunity. A few shells even landed right around Sergeant Lucio, and the jumping iron bullets grazed the two hapless Spanish Army soldiers, creating horrific blood holes in their bodies. The bloody scene frightened Sheriff Lucio, and his legs suddenly failed to support his body, and he fell limply to the ground.

Xie Hansan commanded the army to line up on the pier, and the landing operation to seize the pier just now was very smooth. The first provisional platoon, which landed first, easily routed the few remaining defenders of the Spanish docks after the naval artillery bombardment, at a small cost of one dead and one wounded. When the soldiers of the four platoons were finished, Xie Hansan gave an order, and the soldiers changed into horizontal formations, stepping on the rhythmic drums beaten by the drummers, and the whole team rushed towards Chakao City with unstoppable momentum.

Sergeant Lucio sat on the ground and did not dare to move, and he, along with several policemen around him who had not had time to escape, threw his weapons on the ground and allowed the Tatars to pass by him. The Tatars, dressed in dark blue uniforms, with large black-brimmed caps, leather belts and ammunition packs, sabers at their waists, and flintlock pistols, walked past him with neat steps, feeling the vague gaze of these men as they passed over him, and Lucio felt that he was almost unable to breathe with nervousness.

Twenty minutes later, the battle, which was almost indistinguishable from an armed march, was over. Again, at the cost of two deaths, the army captured Chacao, the last large town on the island of Chiloe, where the Spaniards had been. The army took control of all the points in the city, and everything was handled with ease, such as releasing prisoners from prisons, collecting ransoms per capitation, carrying all kinds of supplies, and so on.

Just when the traversers were busy, a group of unexpected people came to the door.

"You're from Araucan?" Xie Hansan stared at the red-faced natives in front of him with a scrutinizing gaze. They were dressed in sackcloth and wore pigtails characteristic of the Indians on their heads.

"Yes, maybe you can call me Vicente by my Spanish name." "I'm from Porto Castro and I'm here to save my brothers and sisters who are still suffering under the guardianship levy system (2)," said a middle-aged man in Spanish. Now, thanks to you, the armies of the Spaniards, strangers, have been crushed by you. My brothers and sisters are finally free! ”

"Freedom is short-lived, Araucan! I don't want you to die senselessly. Xie Hansan pondered his words and said, "At this time, I don't need to hide it from you anymore. It is impossible for our fleet to occupy this place permanently, on the contrary, we will soon leave here after a little repair. The main fleet of the Spaniards was approaching, and with them a large number of land forces. After we leave, they will regain their dominion over the place. At that time, the fate of the native Araucans will be so miserable that the Spaniards will even put you to death. What are you going to do? ”

"We will fight the Spaniards to the end!" The middle-aged Araukan waved his arms and said excitedly.

"Fighting? Tell me, Araukan people, how many people do you have, and how many warriors do you have? How many muskets, and how many armor? Which of your warriors is stronger than the Spanish warriors? Xie Hansan asked.

"We have gathered more than two hundred warriors, plus our compatriots in the city of Chacao, we should be able to gather three hundred to four hundred warriors, we are all people who are not willing to submit to the rule of the Spaniards, we have nothing to fear!" The middle-aged man spoke so fast that Father Pedro, who was in charge of the translation, could barely keep up.

"More than 300 untrained farmers?" Xie Hansan said solemnly, "I bet the Spaniards can easily defeat you with only fifty elite musketeers plus two cannons. Use your brains before you decide, Araucan! Your very existence is the greatest threat to the Spaniards, and what you have to do is to try to avoid fighting with the Spaniards to preserve your strength, and then attack the colonies where the Spaniards are weak, and rescue your compatriots who are being enslaved by the Spaniards, and expand your influence. ”

Vicente was stunned by Xie Hansan's words, he was not uninformed in the Spanish society for many years, and after careful consideration, he had to admit that there was indeed some truth in what these strangers did say from nowhere.

"I'll show you the way." Xie Hansan didn't wait for the other party to speak, and continued: "You shouldn't be confined to this small island, it's very dangerous, and it is easy to trap yourself. You should cross the Chacao Strait to the north, where the valley of the Maolin River is fertile and abundant. The basis of the Spanish rule there is also weak, and you should expand your influence among the Araucans here, and win more of your countrymen into your cause against the Spaniards. Of course, as a sympathetic to you, we will support you with a batch of arquebuses, spears, swords, and armor free of charge. Even the five bronze cannons on the fort, if you have the means, you can take them away, this is our gift to you. ”

"Do you really want to abandon this place and go to the mainland to develop?" Vicente muttered to himself.

"The pattern of Chiloe Island is too small." Xie Hansan said, "How many people can you have on the island?" One thousand or two thousand? Too little, the Spanish navy can completely block the island, and then send an army to land and slowly wipe out you. Believe me, as long as the Spaniards bring in more than 200 troops, you won't even be able to hold out for a month. When the time comes, war, hunger, cold, and disease will completely destroy your will to resist, and the Araukans of this island will either die or be sold into slavery, and there will be no third way. ”

After leaving behind the group of Araukans who were bowing their heads and contemplating, Xie Hansan went directly to the warehouse in the city. Hundreds of Charuas were carrying all kinds of supplies in the warehouse, and a Spanish treasurer stood trembling beside him, his face crying without tears.

"Has the ransom been collected?" Xie Hansan pulled over a Charuya midshipman and asked.

"It's done, sir!" The Charuas stood right with their legs together.

"Well, leave the muskets and cold weapons of the Spaniards to the Araucans. Let's get on board, we don't have a lot of time. ”

"Yes, sir." "Also, the Spanish sheriff in the city has asked to take his family with us. For this, he will pay us all his wealth, well, this part is worth about 300 pesos. ”

"Hehe, what an interesting person." Xie Hansan thought for a long time before he remembered the Spanish sheriff who collapsed on the ground he met on the way to charge. "Does he have any reason why I should take him away?"

He said that he had been here for many years and was familiar with the culture, habits and life of the Araucans, as well as the affairs of the Spanish colonies. If in the future we have the heart to carry out some kind of activity in the south-central region of Chile, he will be able to contribute, at least he will be able to lead the way. Officer Charuya replied truthfully.

"Hahaha! Lead the way?! Xie Han sneered, "Okay, just take him and his family, and let them live with those Spanish captives first." Okay, everyone, hurry up and get your things on the boat. ”

On the evening of July 5th. After sacking Chakao City, Xiao Bailang's fleet quietly pulled anchor and sailed south along the western coast of Chiloe Island. That night, the city was so blazing that it could be seen from afar on the sea.

(1) Blood purification certificate: Whites and Indians of mixed race, white and black races can donate such a certificate to the King of Spain, which can legally change themselves to pure white blood.

(2) "Guardianship levy system": the indigenous policy of the colonies established by the Spanish crown in 1503. According to this policy, the king stipulated that the natives had to live in the villages together, and then entrusted a white guardian to supervise their mining, farming, construction, education, etc., and the guardian had the right to collect taxes in return. In fact, in practice, the white guardians of this policy treated the natives as slaves. Later, when the status of guardians could be hereditary, these natives effectively lost their personal freedom.

At the same time, there was another "system of assigned labor": indigenous people were assigned to officials, churches, and even private individuals to undertake specific labor projects. These labour projects are often very heavy and dangerous, working from dawn to dusk, and the long hours, overwork, poor food, and lack of safety have led to mass deaths and exodus of indigenous people. The fleeing natives automatically lost their free status and became so-called "cimarrones", and the capture of these fugitive slaves became a lucrative business for Spanish colonial officials.

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