In fact, Lu Ming's prediction was slightly off.

Stranded on the island of Anastasia at the mouth of the Matanzas, the French pirate ship "Sea Writer" put up some resistance under the command of the captain, and finally forced the "Red Trout" to fire several broadside salvos to eliminate their gunners, and only then did the French on board give in.

In this petty battle, two crews on the starboard side of the "Red Trout" were hit, resulting in the vicious incident in which four gunners were killed and two were injured. For this reason, the enraged lieutenant Guo Zili ordered the execution of all the officers on board the "Sea Writer", and after sending the army to take over the stranded ship, he ordered the French shipwrights to continue to repair the ship's broken hull.

The Spaniards were able to recognize their situation, and once again sent Second Lieutenant Alessis to convey that the privateering formation had been granted permission by General Florida in the castle to use the facilities of the shipyard on the banks of the Matanzas River and the spare materials contained therein. Of course, he was talking nonsense, because by this time the "East Coast Eagle" had already sailed into the shipyard to be repaired: dealing with leaky planks, cleaning the bottom of the ship from plankton, repairing damaged canvas, etc.

Truth be told, the Spaniards chose a good level of colonization. In 1562, the French founded Fort Carolina in this neighborhood. Since then, French pirates have used it as a base for a never-ending raid on Spanish colonies and sea lines in the Caribbean. In order to disarm the threat, Menendez was ordered to lead a fleet to capture Fort Carolina. After defeating the French, Menéndez founded St. Augustine at the mouth of the Matanzas River. The city is strategically located on the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the north and south of the Caribbean region.

By 1634, the city had a population of nearly 2,000 people, with primary cotton processing and fishing as its main economic activities. With factories and facilities such as forts, ship repair yards, and ginning yards, and at the same time, it is also a port for trade with nearby Indians, and its economy is relatively prosperous, and it can be said that it is the largest large city in the Florida region, and the radiation range is even as far as the British colonies in the north. However, after this war, the development of the city may be set back by a few years. More than two-thirds of the city's neighborhoods have been badly damaged, and people have suffered heavy damage, and it may not take a year or two to recover.

Within days of the privateering formations of the Eastern Republic repelling the pirates, some of the daring Spanish residents began to move out of the castle and into the St. Augustine neighborhood to tidy up their dwellings. These unfortunate eggs now have almost nothing, and they don't even seem to have a few grains left to survive. Their farms on the outskirts of St. Augustine had also been destroyed in the war, and it seemed that this autumn would not be a good harvest.

In addition to these ordinary residents, the merchants also wanted to cry without tears. Especially the merchants who have hoarded a lot of goods in the storehouses and warehouses in the city, their cotton, furs and mahogany are now piled up on the ships of the unknown guys in the shipyard, and it seems that they have no intention of returning these supplies, doing business in this day and age is really a high-risk thing, pirates, wars, storms, etc., if you are not careful, you will fall from the clouds and end up with nothing.

Fortunately, most of these St. Augustine merchants were well-capitalized, and they generally owned large cotton or tobacco plantations in places like Pensacola in West Florida. Although the loss of goods here was painful, it was not painful, especially after Lu Ming specially sent someone to tell them that the east coast area bought cotton at a high price, and at the same time sold a large number of high-quality and cheap cotton cloth and woolen wool, the enthusiasm of these merchants was obviously mobilized.

At this time, there were nearly 10,000 white immigrants in various colonies in the Florida area, plus some mixed-race people and Indian freemen, and the population of the entire Florida colony is estimated to exceed 50,000 if you don't count slaves, which is equivalent to the size of another La Plata. The colony's formal trade required all imports of goods from Veracruz and Havana, but like the Spanish colonies in the rest of the Americas, they were limited to the meagre industrial capacity of the Spanish mainland, and they could supply only a small fraction of the colony's needs, perhaps less than 10 per cent. In fact, most of Florida's imported goods were smuggled by British merchant ships in the neighboring Gualai area, especially consumer goods such as cotton cloth, liquor, and livestock.

Lu Ming's words are equivalent to bringing another choice to these businessmen, and the price is so cheap and sufficient. Some young and radical businessmen were suddenly greatly moved, they were relatively small in capital, small in power, and shallow in connections, and it was difficult for them to buy those smuggled goods from the British on weekdays, and basically they could only buy them from the hands of the largest businessmen who acted as second-class dealers of the British, and the profit margin was really too far behind those second-way dealers who sat on the ground and counted the money, and at best they were just making some hard-earned money. Now in the south, in the country called the East Coast Republic of China, there is such a huge production of high-quality cloth for sale, as long as they are not lying, then this is definitely a good opportunity to turn around.

What the Spaniards' reaction was, Lu Ming did not know. He is only responsible for planting this seed, and whether this seed can grow into a towering tree requires the action of many factors.

On April 22, the "East Coast Eagle" and three other ships were repaired and maintained, and slowly drove out of the St. Augustine shipyard on the banks of the Matanzas River. At the same time, the 320-ton French pirate ship "Sea Writer", which ran aground on the island of Anastasia, was basically repaired under the intense construction of the repairers, and it was ready for a long voyage.

In just over a month, the Caribbean Sea will enter the hurricane-prone season, and it will be much more dangerous to sail again. In addition, it has been more than three months since it came out, and it is time for the privateer formation to return. Therefore, after discussing with several other people, Lu Ming decided to end this privateering operation and prepare to return to Dongfang Port.

The goods looted along the way were piled up in the warehouses of the four ships, and everyone was smiling, and the total value of the goods and gold and silver looted this time was conservatively estimated to be more than 200,000 yuan, which can be described as a great harvest, and everyone can get a huge amount of money. In addition, the capture of two pirate ships this time greatly complements the number of ships of the Navy of the Republic of the Eastern Coast, and is also of great significance.

On April 23, after a part of the food was humanely handed over to the residents of St. Augustine. The privateer formation of the Republic of East Coast of China, which had expanded to four ships, was fully loaded with cargo and hundreds of prisoners, and set sail with a full load of goods and hundreds of prisoners, slowly sailing out of the calm Matanzas River, and then turned southeast and embarked on the return voyage.

On 29 April, the privateer group again docked at Cap-de-France, where it was planned that the fleet would dock for one or two days. At the same time, Lu Ming also sent people to the Pasquier family's estate to inquire about the whereabouts of Xu Xin and others, and then he learned that the "Butterfly" had left for Bordeaux a week ago, and a three-member delegation from the East Coast Republic of China had also gone to inspect the market.

After getting the exact news, Lu Ming did not delay, and ordered the entire fleet to step up the procurement of supplies, and at the same time sold some of the goods looted on this trip to the residents of Cap-de-France. Surprisingly, the purchasing power of these French immigrants in Cap-de-France was quite astonishing, and they bought large quantities of spices, cotton cloth, silk, animal fat, and some jewelry at high prices, totaling 20,000 yuan. The next day, the fleet set sail again, leaving Cap-de-France, turning southeast and heading at full speed for the next stop, San Salvador, in northeastern Brazil.

On 1 June, the fleet arrived in San Salvador, the former capital of Brazil and the seat of the Viceroy, now under Dutch rule. The privateers, who had no friendship with the Dutch, did not linger long, and after selling their cotton cloth, some furs, and some jewelry, they left San Salvador and sailed south in the already chilling sea breeze. On the way, they stopped in Portuguese-controlled San Vicente for supplies, and sold a large number of muskets and cannons of pirates captured during the privateering campaign, as well as some high-end furs and jewelry, which were in high demand in Brazil at this time, and they made a lot of money.

On June 18, the fleet docked at the Zhenhaibao pier at the mouth of Yazi Lake. After learning that the privateer formation had successfully returned with a large amount of loot, the entire Zhenhai Fort was thunderous. The small number of residents of this small fort were either family members of the navy or family members who had joined the security forces, and this time everyone returned smoothly, and the harvest was obviously huge, which made them excited from the bottom of their hearts. The soldiers of the security forces disembarked and disembarked here, all residents of Zhenhai Fort and Ping'an Fort, and were disbanded and returned home. As for their rewards, they will be handed out by a dedicated person in the future.

On June 20, after a lapse of 4 months, Lu Ming and others once again set foot on the land of Dongfang Port, which has become increasingly busy. There were two ships when they set off and four ships when they returned, and they were full of goods, gold and silver, and Wang Qinian, the Minister of the Navy who learned the news, was so happy that he personally led a group of staff of the Admiralty to the dock to greet them.

The perfect success of their operation can be regarded as a great increase in the face of the navy!

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