Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1610 - 1145: First Clash—Regrouping, Landing, and Confrontation
"Boom! Boom!..."
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!..."
"Quick! Fire the cannon again, fire the guns again! Shoot them dead!..."
"Haha! Holy Mother bless us! The natives fear the cannon, they're running back! The natives are going to collapse!"
As the sun slanted westward, it shone on the shimmering Lake Bay, casting reflections of swaying palm trees. Fat fish swam in the bay, while sea birds spread their wings and flew in the sky. Fish ponds, cassava fields, and wooden huts sprawled along the lakeshore, like the roots of Cassava God Yucahu left in the fertile land of Cuba, providing the Taino people with enduring peace and vitality!
Undoubtedly, this was a rich and beautiful lakeside. The Fishing Bay Tribe of the Taino people was located by the edge of the Great Lake, inheriting hundreds of peaceful springs and summers, nurturing thousands of tribes. In the past hundreds and thousands of years, the Taino people worked from sunrise to sunset, born with laughter, resting in peace, never changing.
They ate cassava and sea fish, chewed tobacco leaves and grass stems, prayed to their ancestors in wooden houses, married and had children in shelters. There was no cruel slaughter among tribes, no need to pay any tribute, not even any divine descendants or hierarchy in the tribe. They collectively raised children, collectively supported the elderly, living peacefully for decades, until the poison of cassava accumulated, tobacco overconsumed leading to death. They had never seen cruel blood and fire, nor did they know the harshness of autumn and winter. The utmost evil they could imagine was merely the thieving and dog-snatching Xiguayou Tribe!
However, at this moment, with the sudden arrival of Castilian sailboats, that ancient and unchanged peace and tranquility, like the reflection of palm trees in the water, torn by the prow of the large ship, would never be peaceful again!
The ancient peaceful old days ended at this moment, like the dying old Taino gods. And the future of blood and fire, disease, and slaughter would tangle cruelly and long, accompanied by the imprint of the Sun Hummingbird and the continuously arriving Cross banner, until...
"Boom! Boom!..."
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!..."
"Almighty bless us! The spearmen of the natives collapsed from the fence! They're fleeing into the village!..." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"Boss! The natives have collapsed! This big village must be brimming with wealth! Let's quickly lower the small boats, go ashore to grab gold and women!..."
Continuous cannon and matchlock gunfire echoed from the bow of the sailboats, shooting towards the large village on the shore. And under several rounds of cannon fire, the hundreds of Taino militia guarding the fence finally completely collapsed! The militia shouted in panic and turned to flee into the village. And dozens of elite spearmen in leather armor, along with two Samurai officers in copper armor, were also pushed by the fleeing hundreds of tribespeople, forced to abandon the outer fence and head to the center of the village.
Seeing this, the three sailboats of the Kingdom of Castile burst into unified cheers from the sailors, echoing with greedy and cruel wolf howls. The prosperous tribal village, the collapsing native militia, was like a woman stripped naked, stimulating the sailors' desires! Soon, the Pinta and Nina started lowering armed small boats, preparing to land the sailors and plunder well!
"Brother-in-law! The natives have already fled! Both Pinta and Nina raised the flags of plunder and lowered the landing boats!... Almighty bless us! Let's quickly send sailors ashore too! If we're late, the good stuff will be taken by others..."
"Vaffanculo! Call me Commander!... Damn! The Pinzon brothers, those two fools, fired unauthorized, not listening to my orders at all, now they want to command my fleet to land?!... Merda! Are they the Expedition Commander, or am I the Expedition Commander?... Damn! I will personally hang them on the mast sooner or later!..."
On the Holy Maria, Columbus cursed under his breath, continuing to gaze at the situation onshore. He stared intently at the two officers in copper armor, watching them retreat to the longhouse center of the village, then personally raised a large flag with a "round and bird" symbol on a crude stone altar.
Then, thirty or forty spearmen in leather armor gathered again around the altar and the prominent flag. They loudly and repeatedly chanted something, causing the fleeing tribal spearmen around to gradually pause, gather once more, and even raise their long spears again.
"Hmm? What have these natives been shouting repetitively?... Wezi-Lopo-Chitli? Could this be the name of their Lord, or perhaps a totem of some evil, tribal Evil God?..."
Columbus frowned, observing the state of the native village, hesitant to give the landing order. Soon, another round of deafening cannon fire sounded, two 3-pound cannons shot whistling iron bullets straight into the inner side of the village fence, knocking down a shelter, scattering a pile of grass leaves.
"Boom Boom!..."
"Merda! Something's wrong! Something's not right!... This distance... The cannons on the boats can no longer reach the natives in the center of the village?!..."
Columbus widened his eyes, looking at the cannon impact location, and his expression became solemn once again. The 3-pound short-barreled small cannons on the two light sailing ships, weighing around 300-400 pounds, had a maximum range of 700-800 meters, with an effective aiming range of about 200-300 meters. And now, the native spearmen abandoned the outer fence and retreated to the center of the village, the cannons on the boat can hardly hit them!
"Boom Boom!..."
"Brother-in-law... Commander! Seeing other two ships' landing boats, the sailors on the flagship are almost unable to hold themselves! Look, the two boatswains are already about to lead people off the ship..."
"Merda! Those brainless fools who deserve to be thrown down and fed to the fish! I, the commander, haven't ordered yet, and they want to forcefully disembark?!... Damn! Such fools deserve to be hanged!..."
"Brother-in-law! Even as the commander of the expeditionary force, you can't stop everyone from plundering for wealth! ... You better give the order now! If you don't, once the boatswain forcefully leads people ashore, won't the disgrace still be..."
"Vaffanculo! Alana, I'll stay on the ship, you take the fools onboard and disembark... Don't rush, let me finish! Look closely, these elite spearmen among the natives haven't truly scattered under cannon fire and have retreated to the village center to regroup... They're not afraid of cannons, definitely not ordinary natives!..."
Columbus gazed ruthlessly across his flagship but only saw the defiant expressions of the boatswains. He bit his lip and looked at the small boats lowered by the Pinta and the Nina. These two ships have only forty people, and presently, the sailors preparing to land are merely about twenty. He once again looked toward the village center, under the banner "Circle and Bird," apart from the forty elite leather armor spearmen, more and more native spearmen are recovering from their scatter...
"Brother-in-law, rest assured! We have over 20 matchlock guns, enough to suppress the natives!..."
"Alana, good that you understand! Don't rush into slaughter! The sailors' daggers can't break through a neatly arranged spear formation... May the Almighty witness! Hold the sailors back, shoot from afar with the matchlock guns! Unless the enemy's spear formation is completely broken, don't charge..."
"Uh! Brother-in-law, you were so brave in the Bahamas Islands before, killing without blinking! How come at this crucial moment, you're hesitating..."
"Bah, call me Commander! Alana, you fool! Unarmed natives who beg for mercy and natives who wield iron spears and aren't afraid of cannons, they're not the same, are they?... If you get stabbed to death by the natives, little Ferdinand won't have an uncle, and I won't have reliable manpower... Remember! Stay back, let Pinzon's foolish men charge first! There's such a big island, so many native villages, they can't all be tough nuts... Opportunities for plunder will come again!"
Upon hearing Columbus's order, Alana hesitated for a moment, then nodded seriously. Subsequently, twenty-something sailors from the flagship disembarked, boarded two armed small boats, and landed on the white sand beach. The crew from the three ships gathered by the lake, assembling fifty or so sailors capable of killing, and over 20 matchlock guns. This was nearly the maximum force the fleet could muster...
"Boom! Boom!..."
The ship's cannons were still firing, randomly landing shots into the village, kicking up chaotic dust. At this distance, the cannons were completely inaccurate, serving only psychological intimidation and deterrence. Fifty-something Castilian sailors shouting furiously approached the tribal village. During this two quarters landing time, dozens of able-bodied spearmen gathered again beside the flagpole in the village center.
"Praise the Chief Divine! Praise Huitzilopochtli!... The mighty Chief Divine bestows protection! Near the Chief Divine's altar, even the demons' thunderbolts will lose mana... They can't hit here, nor can they hit the altar!"
"Gather! Gather! You cowardly chickens, return to the ranks! Grip your long spears as during training... Point the spear tips outward! Towards the landing white-skinned demons!"
Under the reprimands and assurances of two copper-armored warriors, three hundred Taino militia regrouped a hundred. Perhaps the nearby Chief Divine's altar gave them the courage to revive, or maybe, as the kingdom's warriors said, the thunderbolts from the demon ships indeed couldn't reach the village center...
Before the landing sailors launched an attack, over a hundred Taino spearmen had already raised their long spears! They established another defensive line around the clan longhouses, guarding the Zemi God Card of the ancestors and the Chief Divine's altar protecting the entire tribe!
"Coño! Damn it! How did these scattered natives regroup?! Why didn't they keep running?"
"Almighty! Look at that altar with a flag sticking out, it should be some kind of native Evil God Totem!... They're bewitched by the Evil God, wanting to guard the wicked altar!"
"Ah! This is troublesome!... Who will lead the charge?"
The second of the Pinzon brothers, Francisco Pinzon personally led the charge with twenty-something sailors from two light sailing ships, reaching the outermost fence first. But when he saw the regrouped native spearmen a hundred paces away at the village center, his previously arrogant grin turned serious again.
"Coño! Thought I found a piece of fatty meat, who knew it hid a bone inside!"
"Boss, what do we do? Should we charge?!"
"Charge, charge my ass! So many long spears, are you going to lead the charge?... Saying such nonsense, to charge at a spear formation in such a narrow village? I thought you were a knight in plate armor, damn! How come these natives aren't fleeing?... Hey! That looks like... Joder! Copper spears and iron spears?!..."
"Uh... so... boss, what now?"
"Holy Mother's blessing, use the matchlock guns to shoot! Fire through the fence, scatter those gathered native spearmen first!... Get Barto and Chachu's men over quickly, they have more firearms!... Joder! Blame them for dawdling, letting the natives regroup! Next, make sure they send people to first... charge!..."
Soon, over fifty Castilian sailors equipped with daggers gathered at the village's outer fence. They cursed loudly with foul language towards the one or two hundred Taino spearmen not far away but never crossed the fence. After a brief standoff, over 20 matchlock guns ignited their fire cords, firing deadly lead bullets towards the spearmen at the village center!
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!..."
