News of the fall of Santo Domingo quickly reached Mexico City.
As the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Mexico City is the largest Spanish stronghold in the Americas and the largest city in the Americas.
At the height of the Spanish Empire, New Spain ruled from today's border between the United States and Canada in the north to the southernmost tip of South America, including today's Midwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, most of South America except Brazil, and the Philippines in Asia.
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Later, with the expansion of Spanish colonial power, New Spain, which once ruled almost all of North and South America, was redivided into four viceroyalties.
However, Mexico City is still the largest Spanish city in the Americas and the center of power of the Spanish Viceroyalty after the redivision.
However, with the news of the British actions in the Caribbean and the fall of Santo Domingo, the atmosphere in the city suddenly became tense. Even the originally lively Day of the Dead was greatly affected.
The scheduled parade was cancelled, and people could only stay at home to celebrate the festival. The usually bustling square became empty and deserted.
Although people in this era were not as afraid of war as later generations, the fall of Saint-Domingue still made everyone not optimistic about the shape of this war.
You must know that Spain is no longer the powerful empire it used to be. Although Felipe V worked hard to restore the strength and territory of the Spanish Empire, several Spanish foreign wars launched during his reign ended in Spain's defeat.
In particular, many of the wars against the British ended in failure, which resulted in the Spanish having little confidence in defeating the British.
This also aggravated the tension in Mexico City, and not only the people, but also the governor who ruled the entire viceroyalty of New Spain was also worried and nervous about this.
The atmosphere in the Governor's Mansion was gloomy, with a depressing feeling of an impending storm, which made the servants in the Governor's Mansion involuntarily breathe softly.
"Let's talk about it, what should we do? The British are robbing us of our territory in the Caribbean. If we can't fight back, Spain will lose control of the Caribbean. This is absolutely unacceptable!" The governor knocked angrily.
He looked at the table and looked at the people he called in the office.
"We must assemble the fleet to stop the British actions!" An officer expressed his opinion and stated his interests: "The West Indies is an important coffee, sugar and tobacco producing area, and it is also an important foreign trade port.
, if we lose control of the Caribbean, it will not only have a serious impact on the economy, but also cause us to lose control of the entire Americas! We must stop the British plot!"
"That's what we say, but how can we stop the British?" An official obviously did not have hope in this. He said very pessimistically: "The British have assembled more than a hundred warships this time. They
But they are not only attacking our ports, they are also constantly hunting our merchant ships at sea!
These damn British pirates! In this month alone, more than 30 of our merchant ships have been sunk, and more than 40 have been captured! The scale of maritime trade has been reduced by at least 30%! And our fleet is not British at all.
Human rival!"
Faced with the officials' pessimistic remarks, the officers were unable to refute them, and the atmosphere in the office suddenly became dull again.
"How many fleets can we assemble?" The dull atmosphere made the governor feel extremely depressed and even had difficulty breathing, but he still pulled his collar and asked the others.
"We can dispatch three fourth-level battleships, seven heavy cruisers, and 23 cruisers, and gather some armed merchant ships and privateer captains. In terms of strength, we may not even be half of the British fleet."
The fleet commander on the side felt very aggrieved.
Once upon a time, the Spanish Empire's Invincible Fleet was the best proof of the empire's strength and the strongest guarantee of its interests.
However, with the destruction of the Armada, the national power of the Spanish Empire also declined, and a war of succession brought the national power of the entire Spain to its lowest point.
Now that the sun never sets on the Spanish Empire, it doesn't even have a fleet to protect its colonies.
After hearing what the fleet commander said, the governor did not get angry or reprimand the fleet commander.
In fact, the size of the fleet reported by the fleet commander at this time was already considerable. In normal times, such a fleet would be enough to defend the security of the Spanish colonies.
But now facing a large fleet of hundreds of warships that the British seem to have pulled out of their crotch, this little military strength seems to be insufficient.
The defenses used to defend major port cities were barely enough to prevent the British from landing operations, but it was beyond the capabilities of this fleet to defeat the British fleet and break the naval blockade.
"Can we ask for help from the mainland?" Although he was very reluctant, the governor asked others about the possibility of asking for help from the mainland.
For a colonial governor like him, although his power relies more on local support, on the other hand, he cannot rely too much on local power. After all, he has tried the joy of being a local emperor.
Who wants to have another Supreme Emperor on their head?
There is nothing we can do if the local country is strong. We can only be loyal ministers and conscientiously exploit the indigenous people to contribute to the mother country.
But if the mother country is in decline, who is willing to work so hard just to earn a hard-earned money?
Especially now, life in Spain is not easy. If the governor's term expires and there are no good arrangements for his return, he will have to rest on his laurels!
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the governor is not willing to seek help from the mainland.
But at this time, asking for help from the mainland is the most appropriate way. As long as the mainland can assemble a fleet to join the colonial fleet, even if the two fleets combined cannot defeat the British fleet, they can still confront it and change the situation.
Not so passive.
"Although the British have blocked the shipping lanes in the Caribbean, the shipping routes to Africa are still open. We can send clippers back to China for help." The fleet commander had obviously made preparations and plans for this situation.
Hearing what the fleet commander said, the governor nodded and said: "In this case, I will ask the country..."
However, before the governor finished speaking, a blood-red dagger suddenly appeared next to his head, and without hesitation, it plunged into his neck, and then cut off the governor's head with a stir.