Chapter 2267 - 1614: Chief Divine! Apu Has Contracted the Plague!
The night at San Juan Port was not peaceful. The noise and clamor of sailors, indulgence, and quarrels were like sailing on the choppy sea, venting some underlying fear. However, the two hundred Holy War veterans, like ballast in the ship’s hold, kept the entire port outpost within a range of order. As long as they were there, the sky of this port could not change!
"Merciful Almighty! Please guide these brave souls who died at the hands of the Devil Barbarians... Even if their heads are not present, let their deeds of spreading the glory of the Almighty lead them to Heaven!~~"
When the long night passed and dawn arrived, there were six more cross tombs in front of the wooden church. Priest Ramon knelt before the wooden shrine of the church and prayed devoutly for a long time. It was not until several expedition leaders gathered at the church that he stopped praying to participate in the meeting with the officers and leaders.
"Witnessed by the Almighty! We must advance inland to eliminate those detestable barbarians! We cannot allow them to harass us! Otherwise, the morale of the sailors and soldiers will become increasingly difficult to maintain!"
"No way! The inland of San Juan Island is full of mountains and forests! Even when we had horses previously, we still couldn’t penetrate deep to hunt them down. Now, almost all our horses have been killed or crippled by the natives... Even if we encounter natives in the mountain forests, how can we catch up with these fast-running barbarian children?"
"Damn it! We can’t just sit here and wait for the natives to sneak attack us, can we?"
"Holy Mother bless us! I have an idea! Dispatch the fleet to patrol around the entire Great Island! Blast and slaughter all the native villages you find! Cut off the supply of the Cipangu natives on the island... That way, they can only die trapped in the mountains!"
"Fool! This island is so big that even if you kill off the native tribes along the coast, the vast mountains and valleys stretching hundreds of miles in the center and east-west can sustain tens of thousands... How could you possibly trap the Cipangu natives in the mountains? It seems to me you just want to plunder all around the coastal native tribes on this island to get as rich as possible!"
"Ahem! Yes, you’re right... But let me ask you, don’t you want to get rich? Don’t you want to plunder the native tribes? If I can’t stay on this island, then I might as well kill and loot all the natives I can see! Anyway, once I’m done looting, I’ll leave—only what’s in hand counts as wealth..."
"Uh... looking at it this way, what you’re saying does make some sense."
"..."
Seeing the meeting sliding toward the topic of looting and getting rich, rob and leave, Deputy Commander Antonio frowned. He heavily stamped his sword on the ground and said in a deep voice.
"Witnessed by the Almighty! Before this expedition departed, the Queen gave us orders! We must build a Queen’s Castle to expand new territory for the Kingdom of Castile! No matter what, we must hold onto this bridgehead of East India, Isabella Castle!... If we cannot accomplish even this simplest goal, then when we return to the Kingdom without achievements, we will surely be held accountable and punished by the Royal Family! And our families will become the laughingstock of the nobility!"
"Do not forget, the cost of this expedition was covered with all the might of the Royal Family and the Church! We have already lost six Caravels, counting the cannons and materials loaded on board, that’s at least a loss of 30,000 to 40,000 Ducats! Not to mention the lost equipment and personnel! Of the 1,300 who set out, only over 700 remain..."
"And the spoils of war we plundered from East India, excluding the portion already distributed, can at most bring back 4,000 to 5,000 Ducats to submit to the Royal Family! If we cannot make up for these losses, and even fail to establish the Queen’s Castle and new territory... how can we face the Royal Family then? Should the Royal Family demand our families repay the losses, can you afford to pay up?! Can you each contribute several thousand Ducats?!"
Hearing Deputy Commander Antonio’s demand for "payment," the officers and captains turned pale, unable to say anything. If this overseas exploration and colonization ends in such a huge loss without securing territory... indeed, there’s no way to explain it to the Queen! They are not like those lower-ranking sailors, they are all nobles of the Kingdom, names recorded in the Queen’s ear, and they can’t escape.
"Damn it! The Queen is always generous and forgiving! As long as we return and report truthfully, we can deliver explanations to the Royal Family of Castile. But King Fernando is always devious. If he sets his sights on us..."
Far on the coastline of East India, the officers internally cursed King Fernando without any psychological burden. Priest Ramon frowned throughout, not commenting on the discussion. Bartholomew Columbus exchanged a glance with De La Cosa and stepped forward with a suggestion.
"Ahem! Witnessed by the Almighty! My brother, the wise and courageous Commander Columbus, has a proposal to resolve our current situation... and that is to explore southeastward, away from the Cipangu Kingdom, to find a new small island! We need not establish a bridgehead on an island as big as the Great Island of San Juan, with 200 km east-west, 80 km north-south. In my view, an island with a diameter of 20 to 30 km will be entirely sufficient for us to establish a foothold!"
"Once the island size is reduced to this extent, and is but a one or two-day journey for soldiers, with the coast all within the fleet’s cannon range, and no troublesome central mountain forests... the natives will have nowhere to hide and nowhere to escape!"