King of German Mercenaries

Central America, the Caribbean Sea, it was September 1500. After 4 months of voyage, the fleet led by Amerigo finally arrived in Grenada.

The fleet first arrived at Martinique in the Windward Islands, but after Amerigo took out the map given by Marin and compared it, he found that it was not Grenada, so he continued to explore south.

Along the way, Amerigo used the sextant and related formulas made by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as high-precision pocket watches, to continuously calculate longitude and latitude. With these longitudes and latitudes, the next time you sail, if you arrive at the nearby sea area, you only need to calculate the longitude and latitude again, and then you can easily correct the route by comparing it with the original record.

However, although Marin knew the specific distribution of the Windward Islands, he did not remember the specific latitude and longitude. After all, Grenada is a small country after all. If the Americans had not invaded Grenada, Marin would not have been interested in the island.

Therefore, he gave an approximate distribution map of the Windward Islands, let Amerigo find and compare it himself, and then wrote down the relevant latitude and longitude.

The guidance given by Marin is - after reaching the Windward Islands, go all the way south until you reach the South American continent. The island closest to the South American mainland is Trinidad, and the small island to the northeast of Trinidad is Tobago. Then, to the northwest of Tobago Island, the double-sized island of Texel Island is Grenada...

Amerigo did the same thing. After arriving in Martinique, he did not stop, but went all the way south, and soon arrived in Trinidad. Through the "artifact" of the telescope, he confirmed that Trinidad is a large island next to the mainland, and there is indeed a small island to the northeast.

Then, without saying a word, he turned and sailed northwest, and it didn't take long to discover Grenada. At the same time, he recorded the latitude and longitude of each island along the way.

After arriving on Grenada Island, Amerigo immediately commanded the fleet to start surveying and mapping hydrology around Grenada Island, looking for a suitable location for landing.

However, when the fleet arrived in the waters near St. George's in the southwest of Grenada, Amerigo looked through the telescope and was surprised to find that a battle was taking place on the island...

About a dozen small boats of 20 to 30 tons were docked near the harbor. A large group of indigenous people who looked very vicious, armed with various weapons, fiercely killed the villages on the shore...

Moreover, according to observation, Amerigo found that there were three or four hundred strong men who came to attack, all of them strong and fierce. In this village on the island, there are less than 200 men, and not all of them are strong. Seeing, the village on the shore is about to be breached by the group of invaders...

When the two ships 2503 and 2504 approached the coast of St. George, the two sides who were fighting on the shore involuntarily stopped...

Seeing the two large ships approaching from the sea, both sides were surprised. Both sides were stunned for a while. The leader of the resisters, wearing bird feathers, seemed to react first. In an unknown language, he jumped and shouted at Amerigo's fleet. His voice was bleak, as if he was calling for help. . In fact, this middle-aged man who looks like a chief is already desperate. Therefore, he didn't care who came from the sea, he was not like an accomplice of the enemy anyway, so he started to cry out for help regardless, and even knelt down and prayed to the sea.

The intruders were stunned for a moment, and then looked at the two large ships at sea with great vigilance. I don't know which rib was wrong, but the leader actually took a fancy to the two big ships of Amerigo...

In fact, it was the more belligerent Caribs in the Caribbean who invaded Grenada. The ones who were attacked were the more peaceful Arawaks who first lived on the island.

The Caribs originally lived on the South American continent, but in the past one or two hundred years, the Caribs drove larger canoes and armed spears, and began to march to the islands of the Caribbean to capture the territory of the local Arawaks.

According to the records of the Spanish, the Caribbeans were more ruthless. Every time they attacked the next village, they would kill all the men in the village (even eat them), and rob the women as wives and concubines.

Whether the Caribs ate the Arawak men in later generations does not agree, but it is an indisputable fact that they killed all the Arawak men.

Originally, Amerigo also planned to use the telescope to observe the way of war of the indigenous people. Unexpectedly, as soon as they approached, the two sides would not be big.

What shocked Amerigo the most was that the indigenous warriors on the attacking side actually began to withdraw to the big canoes, and then—rowed toward his two big boats...

Soon, Amerigo reacted—the other party was trying to seize his two ships...

Amerigo is angry - Nima, just relying on a dozen large canoes, you dare to fight my gunboats, I really don't know how to write the word "dead"...

So, Amerigo ordered the sailors to raise the flexible jibs and start to challenge the indigenous fleet...

2503 and 2504 ships, but equipped with 40 12-pounder guns. Because it is a research ship, it does not need to carry cargo, only food and weapons and ammunition. Therefore, the ammunition on board is abundant.

When the native canoes approached, Amerigo gave the order to fire. At a distance of a few hundred meters, the accuracy is not high, but a dozen indigenous canoes are close together. Also, these canoes are large, made from trees that are about a thousand years old, and the goals are not small.

Therefore, in the first round of shelling, a canoe was smashed on the spot...

The natives panicked immediately, not because a ship was sunk. But because they had never heard such a loud cannon, they thought it was Thor who was angry...

As a result, the indigenous fleet began to flee. However, Amerigo was already provoked by them and was unwilling to let them go. Therefore, he ordered a pursuit.

Where is the canoe against the sailboat? Maybe a canoe can be temporarily faster than a sailboat by rowing faster at first. However, canoes are paddled by people, and people's physical strength is limited. So, after a while, the native sailor got tired of paddling and was caught up by Amerigo...

Then, the artillery exploded, and the group of native invaders were all sent down to the sea...

When Amerigo's fleet returned to the seaside of the village on the other side of St. George, it was warmly welcomed by the local indigenous people. Of course, no wonder. If it weren't for the sudden appearance of the Amerigo fleet, the two hundred men of this village would have been killed by the invaders.

Despite the language barrier, Amerigo still communicated with the locals by hand gestures. From the pronunciation of the locals, Amerigo learned that they called themselves the Arawak, a farming tribe.

There were originally three Arawak tribes on the island, but the other two tribes had long been destroyed by the previous invaders, killing all the men and robbing all the women.

Therefore, this small tribe of Arawaks called Bucas is now very afraid of the enemy's re-invasion. The Bukas are a farming tribe. People with farming civilization have always been more peaceful and dislike war. Therefore, their combat effectiveness is not strong.

In order to save his life, the chief of the Bucas, Labury, begged Amerigo's fleet to stay to help them and protect them. To this end, they are willing to give 30% of the harvest to Amerigo...

Of course Amerigo was happy, because Marin meant to colonize the island. Wouldn't it be good to have the help of indigenous people who are familiar with the area?

However, he was about to go north to find the legendary Nantucket Island, and there was no way he could stay. So, after thinking about it, he decided to stay for a while and help the locals build a simple fortress, and left a few spears with metal pointed tips for the Bucas tribe to protect themselves first.

At the same time, Amerigo promised that in a few months, he would send people to protect them, and teach them more advanced agricultural techniques, and a lot of metal agricultural tools...

The Bukas were disappointed, but not entirely. They were still in the Stone Age, and they were very fond of the metal-pointed spears that Amerigo gave. Moreover, Amerigo also gave them 10 bows and ten pots of arrows to strengthen them.

Although native Indians also make bows and arrows, the craftsmanship is very poor. In the bows of the indigenous people of the Caribbean, the bow strings are vines, and there is no special treatment for the bow body. The arrows are also not very good. The arrows are polished with stones, the body of the arrow is the reed rod, the kinetic energy is very poor, and there is almost no armor-piercing ability.

Such bows and arrows can kill at most at a distance of thirty or forty meters. Of course, this is speaking of the indigenous people of the Caribbean. After all, the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean are not very civilized enough to produce powerful weapons. Switch to the Aztecs and Incas, and you can produce better weapons.

The bows and arrows that Amerigo gave to the Bukas were carefully crafted by European craftsmen and were originally used by sailors themselves for hunting. After all, in this era, the amount of gunpowder was limited, and when hunting, sailors still used recyclable bows and arrows.

These European bows and arrows have a killing distance of at least 100 meters, far exceeding the soil bows and arrows of the Caribs, and the arrows are all metal. In the eyes of the Bukas, they are naturally good things. Used to resist the attack of the Caribs, it will definitely bring heavy casualties to the other side.

Then, before leaving, Amerigo arranged for sailors who knew the craftsmanship of masons to command the Bucas, and built a simple fortified camp. Unlike the previous Bukas stockades, the walls are in tatters. Around the newly built camp, the sailors directed the Bukas to dig trenches and plant pickets to guard against the onslaught of the enemy. Then, a few simple arrow towers were erected in the stockade. As long as the enemy dares to come, the Bukas can use the arrow tower to shoot the enemy out of the stockade.

After the stockade was repaired, Amerigo took his men to board the ship, bid farewell to the reluctant Bucas people, brought some local specialties, left Grenada, and headed north, looking for the legendary Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard...