Chapter 345: The Age of the Cross Enclosure

[I'm a little busy today, update a chapter, and make up for it tomorrow if I have time.] 】

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On the northern outskirts of Las Vegas, a squad of heavily armored cavalry emerged from the woods.

A maroon horse stopped in front of a wooden cross, and it was Ma Guangyuan, the commander of the jaguar and leopard ride.

Looking at the Spanish characters on the cross, Ma Guangyuan, who had just learned some Spanish, snorted coldly.

"A broken cross is a monument to sovereignty, is this how the Spaniards circled Mexico?"

That's right

The cross in front of Ma Guangyuan does not represent a tombstone, but a monument to the sovereignty of the Spaniards, a sign of sovereignty over the region.

The Spanish Empire was so strong that they only needed to put a cross somewhere and write the words of the Spanish Empire, which meant that it was the territory of the Spaniards.

This strength reflected the strength of the Spanish Empire, and other countries did not dare to establish settlements on this land when they saw the cross.

Of course, this powerful empire had already begun to decline by this time. As Europeans continued to challenge the authority of the Spanish Empire, this method of colonization by the Spaniards seemed somewhat ineffective.

In many places, especially around North America and the Caribbean, European powers had begun to ignore these crosses and seize the Spanish colonies.

With a bang, Shi Tingzhu's mount next to him directly kicked the cross away. It seems that the cross has been a little old, and when it was kicked by a war horse, it suddenly shattered into a pile of rotten pieces.

The days when a cross could circle a small town are over, at least in the face of the Imperial Jaguar and Panther Riders, as if they no longer existed.

"We're coming, and the situation is about to change"

Shi Tingzhu smiled, pointed to Las Vegas in front of him, and said: "The Indians have sent news that the Spanish silver transport team in the city has not left, and tens of millions of gold and silver treasures are stored in a small Spanish stronghold."

Ma Guangyuan asked: "Our intelligence has also arrived, there are only 500 Spanish troops in the town of Las Vegas"

"Do you want to do something to Las Vegas?" Shi Tingzhu said with some excitement: "We can completely take down this small town."

Ma Guangyuan shook his head and said, "We have been robbing for almost two months, and the Spaniards have already gotten the information. But don't you think it's a little strange that the Spaniards haven't acted so far? ”

After Ma Guangyuan said this, Shi Tingzhu also felt strange.

"You mean the Spaniards are plotting an operation against us?"

"We'll find out soon"

"How did you arrange that?"

Ma Guangyuan smiled, pointed to the other side of the town and said, "There they are"

Shi Tingzhu looked in the direction that Ma Guangyuan was pointing, and saw a large group of Indians and blacks rushing towards the small town of Las Vegas.

Looking at the number of people, there are no less than 5,000 people. Among them, the Indians are the majority, about 3,000 people, all armed with a variety of weapons, including many strange weapons, which is really dazzling. The black slaves were armed with shovels, pickaxes and other work tools, and they seemed to be inferior to the peasant army in the country on the whole

Shi Tingzhu's face was full of surprise, and he said in disbelief: "Won't you let this group of people attack Las Vegas?" What's the difference between that and death? ”

"That's right"

Ma Guangyuan smiled slightly, anyway, it wasn't his own person who was sent to death, so he didn't care.

"What kind of medicine are you selling in your gourd?"

"Read on and you'll know"

Ma Guangyuan smiled and said nothing, making Shi Tingzhu confused.

When the motley army of Indians and blacks rushed to the town of Las Vegas, they soon found that the alarm bells were ringing in the town.

As the motley army stormed the town, the streets of the town were deserted, and when the natives tried to break down the door, they were suddenly met with a return fire from the Spaniards.

Bang bang bang

The Spaniards in the town shot at the intruders through the windows and doorways, and after a puff of white smoke came out, one or several people were shot and fell to the ground.

At close range, the bullets fired by the Spanish arquebuses could lightly shoot through the unprotected **, and even pierce the bodies of several people with one shot.

Bullets were being fired into the streets from all sides, and the thousands of Spaniards in Las Vegas town seemed prepared, with muskets and other weapons ready to deal with the invaders.

For a time, the natives suffered numerous casualties, but they still charged regardless of the cost, trying to break in.

From the telescope, Shi Tingzhu said with a sigh: "No wonder millions of natives were slaughtered by the Spaniards in a few years, and their charge at any cost is simply to challenge the Spaniards' projectile reserves with their lives." ”

Unless the Spaniards ran out of projectiles, the natives simply did not have a chance to fight in close quarters. However, the Spaniards hid in their houses, and the javelin, the only long-range weapon of the natives, did not have much effect.

At this time, several thousand natives rushed out of the woods, and they rushed directly to the Spanish barracks.

The Spanish barracks were not large, but they were much stronger than the houses. Like a bunker, built high, like a huge mud pile.

As soon as the natives approached, the Spanish army opened fire, and after each round of shooting, many natives were killed.

The natives posed little threat to the Spanish barracks, but the dwellings in the rest of the town began to be breached. Although the ordinary Spanish colonists had firearms, they did not fight back as formed as an army after all. Hiding in a house alone can kill several people, but it can't stop the other side from having too many people.

Soon, many of the dwellings were occupied by the natives, and the Spaniards were killed or captured alive, and their fate awaited them was to be sacrificed alive.

Shi Tingzhu looked at Ma Guangyuan and asked, "I haven't seen you send troops over, are you going to give up those tens of millions of wealth to Indians or blacks?" ”

"What's the hurry?"

Ma Guangyuan replied: "Don't you see that the Spaniards are preparing again?" ”

Shi Tingzhu nodded and said, "Of course, with our recent looting, they naturally have to be prepared, but with these five hundred Spanish troops and some Spanish immigrants, they will definitely not be able to last a day, such a crazy attack by the natives, at night, the Spaniards will definitely die."

"Yes, they rely on these people, and they will definitely not survive tomorrow."

Shi Tingzhu still didn't know what Ma Guangyuan's purpose was, so he had to continue to observe the situation.

Soon, smoke rose over the town hall in the center of the town, which was a wolf smoke signal similar to that in the east.

"Are they signaling?"

Shi Tingzhu was suddenly attracted by the smoke.

Ma Guangyuan said: "Yes, I just want to see when the other party sends a signal for help."

Shi Tingzhu paused for a moment, and then guessed: "The Spaniards you said are prepared, not only in the town, but also in the vicinity, where there are Spaniards coming to reinforce them?" ”

"Beware of making the ship of ten thousand years"

Ma Guangyuan said: "The Spanish army has not shown up, perhaps it has been hiding nearby, if we act rashly, once we are ambushed, the consequences are unimaginable."

Shi Tingzhu nodded and said, "Yes, after all, we are not operating in China, and we don't know anything about here." On the territory of the Spaniards, you should be careful"

As soon as he finished speaking, he rode out of the woods and approached.

"The report found a large contingent of Spanish troops on the way"

Ma Guangyuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "How many people?" ”

"About 20,000 people are heading here."

"Good Risk"

Shi Tingzhu also wiped a cold sweat and said, "Let them stop attacking."

Stop the attack?

Apparently impossible

Ma Guangyuan sneered: "I didn't invite them here."

Shi Tingzhu was stunned for a moment and asked, "You didn't invite them, so why did they attack Las Vegas so madly?" ”

Ma Guangyuan smiled and said, "I just told the big chiefs of the Indians that there seem to be chiefs of several tribes imprisoned in the town of Las Vegas, and they sent out a message to those black leaders, telling them that there are only tens of millions of gold here."

Shi Tingzhu immediately smiled bitterly when he heard this, and secretly said that Ma Guangyuan's move was too damaging.

"If you don't tell them, once the Spanish army comes, they will all die"

"Then I can't take care of it"

Ma Guangyuan looked at the time and said, "I just want to know how long it will take for the Spaniards' army to arrive for reinforcements."

Shi Tingzhu looked at Ma Guangyuan and immediately understood his purpose.

"Yours Alone"

The two immediately looked at each other and laughed, all without saying a word.

More than an hour later, the Spanish army arrived and quickly wiped out the natives and blacks who had attacked Las Vegas.

Ma Guangyuan and Shi Tingzhu in the distance left immediately after pinching the time.

Las Vegas, a small medium-sized town in the Spanish colony of Mexico, is part of the Mexican state of California, located in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

At this time, California included only the eastern part of the Sierra Nevada, which was mostly a hot desert due to the mountain range, while the western part of the mountain range was a cool plain.

However, it's ridiculous. The high mountains made it impossible for the Spaniards to discover what was going on on the other side of the mountain. At this time, the seaside over there had become the second American colony of the Chinese Empire, the Fog City Fortress.

All the stones and timber needed to develop the fortress were harvested from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and while the workers were mining the stones, they accidentally discovered the gold veins in the quarry.

The natural gold veins, crisscrossed to the west of the Sierra Nevada, were the main reason why San Francisco became famous and California was renamed the Golden State.

Unfortunately, the Spaniards claimed the land, but never crossed the mountains to the west in search of mineral deposits. Just as the Americans discovered gold when the Spaniards gave it to the Americans. At this time, it became a colony under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Empire's Fog City Fortress, and the discovery of gold mines made the Chinese people in the Fog City Fortress feel the fun of gold panning.

The Imperial Government was originally prepared to nationalize all the gold mines, but in the end the Imperial Government abandoned the idea. For the sake of the development of the Americas, the imperial government decided not to compete with the immigrant Chinese in the Americas, and handed over the gold mining rights to the immigrant Chinese in the Americas, and the government only collected taxes.

In this way, the Imperial Government divided the areas under the jurisdiction of Fort Fog City and Fort Seattle as Golden State, and at the same time carried out large-scale propaganda in the Empire, and the discovery of a large number of gold deposits in Golden State immediately caused a new round of gold rush in the country.

This kind of government guidance is obviously very effective, and the empire is constantly plagued by natural disasters, producing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of victims every year. Natural disasters have long been a source of anxiety for people in disaster-prone areas, so immigration is the best option for them. Moreover, the conditions for immigration were extremely generous, and all of them were paid for by the imperial government, and the credit of the imperial government was even more convinced by the people.

Crossing the ocean was a chore before, so the early citizens of the empire chose to colonize Southeast Asia when they immigrated. But with the completion of the construction of the Nuwa-class transport carrier, taking a superliner to the Americas has become a sightseeing tour.

The construction process was dragged out far beyond expectations. Originally, the Nuwa-class transport carrier was expected to be completed and put into service in three or four years, so Deng Haonan even replaced the logs in the imperial palace and the imperial tomb to build the keel part of the hull. But things are unpredictable, and the craftsmen of the empire have no worries about raw materials, but they are a little overwhelmed by the fact that it was the first time to build such a large hull.

During the construction process, various problems followed, and the craftsmen and technicians had to solve them one by one. Fortunately, the wisdom of the Chinese is always surprising and praised, and although there are many problems, they are all solved in the end.

The most delayed time is because of the construction marks and specifications of the Nuwa, the construction standard of the first ship Nuwa is very high, because in ancient times there was a strict rule that the national housing area should not exceed the emperor. The size of the superstructure of the Nuwa was comparable to that of a palace, and when the cabinet learned of the situation, they firmly opposed the use of the Nuwa for transportation, and could only be used as a special vessel for the emperor to go to sea.

After Deng Haonan learned of the situation, he couldn't cry or laugh. However, those officials in the court were stubborn, and Deng Haonan had a headache arguing with them about this issue, so he had to change the original Nuwa to the Shenwu Emperor, which was used as the emperor's exclusive imperial ship, as the emperor's ship to attend the ship viewing ceremony and announce the amnesty.

In this way, the first ship Nuwa added some palace structure design to the original standard, carved beams and columns, lacquered gold and silver, and the construction was no less luxurious than the imperial palace. Because of this, the first ship Nuwa was changed from a transport carrier to a royal sightseeing ship of Shenwu Emperor, and the construction time was delayed until the seventh year of Shenwu.

However, starting from the third year of Shenwu, because the previous Nuwa was changed to Shenwu Emperor, the Admiralty had to name the second transport carrier Nuwa, and in accordance with the requirements of the cabinet, the construction specifications were reduced, the construction of the superstructure was reduced, the original three-story attic was changed to two floors, and the tonnage was also reduced from 20,000 tons to 12,000 tons.

The advantage of lowering the standard is that the empire can increase the budget for building ships, and the cabinet blocked it once, so naturally it was embarrassed to block it a second time. The additional shipbuilding budget was quickly approved, the construction standard of the Nuwa-class transport carriers was reduced, and the construction period was also shortened, and by the time the Shenwu Emperor was completed, there were already two Nuwa-class transport carriers ready for service.

Although the construction specifications have been reduced, the 12,000-ton transport ship still plays a huge role. For this purpose, the imperial government set up a passenger transport company to transport immigrants and passengers.

With the large transport ships, both immigration and material transportation were much easier, and the empire had a huge financial surplus to support the construction of large ships. For one, large ships can give the empire a huge strategic projection capacity. Second, the construction of large ships has brought great impetus to the shipbuilding industry of the empire, making the shipbuilding industry of the empire as a whole develop rapidly, as if it has been injected with a shot in the arm.

The large-scale immigration brought a large number of people to the Golden State, making the area near the military fortress of Fog City, which was originally a single one, a series of houses appear to be vibrant.

However, with the emergence of more and more Chinese in Golden State, it was finally known by some foreign explorers, and then by the Spaniards.

When Reynoldsa, the governor of Mexico, learned of the situation, he was shocked, he never thought that the Chinese Empire had already made a move on the Americas.

When the scouts returned, Reynosa was so angry that he vomited blood when he learned that the Chinese Empire had built a fortress on the territory that should have belonged to them.

Inside Mexico City, at the offices of the Governor's Palace, Reynosa roared like thunder.

"Being able to build the Fog City Fortress is definitely not something that can be done in one or two years, they have been in the Americas for at least five or six years, or even longer."

Sheriff Casdila raised his concerns, and Reynosa thought about it, but the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. "Although the empire has claimed sovereignty on the Pacific coast of North America, there are very few imperial immigrants because the western part of North America is basically undeveloped wasteland. ”

Casdila nodded and said, "This gives the Chinese Empire a chance to exploit loopholes, and I'm afraid they started a long time ago."

"Why do you say that?"

"I guess they've been trading since the first time they came to Mexico."

"How is this possible?" Reynosa looked at Casdila in astonishment, but soon he regained his clarity and said, "That's right, they started from then on."

Reynosa then remembered the bribes he had received from Deng Haonan's Pacific Trading Company, and at the same time bought a large number of war horses from Mexico, including stallions, in an astonishing amount every year. Such a large number of horses had to be transported by ship in batches, and it was reported that the other party's ship transporting horses had gone north, and soon came back to continue transporting the next batch of horses.

"The fact that the ship they transported the horses came back so quickly shows that the other party had already established a horse farm somewhere along the Pacific coast at that time, and of course it had also established a base."

"Maybe the other side has already established more than one base"

Casdilla's words struck a chord in Reynoldsa's nerves.

Suddenly, Reynoldsa seemed to have a stern question in mind.

"We are still at war with the Chinese Empire, could it be that the unknown forces that attacked our northern towns this time were responsible?"

"They must have done it"

The door slammed open, and the Tiquelas army entered in a rage.

"It seems that His Excellency the Duke seems to have a very bad face"

The pot calling the kettle black

Tiqueiras glared at Reynosa angrily, sat down and said, "My plan didn't work, the other party will not attack the place where there are troops stationed, even if there are only a few hundred troops, the other party will not approach"

It turned out that Tiqueiras was preparing to set up an ambush in Las Vegas, preparing to take the bait with 20 million worth of gold and silver cakes, but the other party did not approach Las Vegas, but continued to loot in the vicinity.

Tiquelas's army never came into direct contact with the Chinese Empire's jaguars and leopards, and the Spaniards who did come into contact with the tigers and leopards were largely wiped out.

The jaguars and leopards rode like a pack of ghosts, coming and going without a trace, and where the Spanish defense was weakest, they were there.

Upon learning of the presence of the military fortress of the Chinese Empire on the western coast of California in the north, Tiqueiras immediately communicated all the joints in it, and that the mysterious army must be the army of the Chinese Empire.

"We sold them so many war horses, including war horses used by heavy cavalry, I don't think they will all ship all the war horses they have bought over the years back to China, because the transportation volume is too huge."

Reynosa nodded and said, "I also thought of these just now, if I'm not mistaken, the Chinese Empire has formed cavalry in the Fog City area."

"It must be cavalry"

Tiqueiras affirmed: "The other side is looting very fast, from California to Florida, all the northern border has been looted, such a mobility that only cavalry can do."

Reynoldsa nodded and said, "How to destroy the army of the Chinese Empire, how to uproot the fortress of Fog City is your responsibility, now I want to remind you that now during our management, there are such big loopholes and losses, we must do our best to make up for it, if we can't make up for it, then someone will have to take responsibility."

Tiqueiras asked displeasedly, "What do you mean by that?" ”

Reynosa replied: "The Imperial Government will definitely hold you accountable, and you, as the defender of the Mexican colonization, must be mentally prepared"

Tiqueiras sneered, "Are you trying to shirk the blame and put all the blame on me?" ”

Reynosa replied in the affirmative: "Either you can settle them, or you will wait to be court-martialed."

Tiqueiras got up angrily, pointed at Reynoldsa and said, "Don't regret it"

"I've put up with you for a long time"

Reynosa went toe-to-toe, and Casdila on the side hurried out to play the round, but it didn't have much effect, and finally Tiqueiras left angrily. R