Battle of Narváez's Colony
Where Spanish killed Spanish
The Battle of Narváez's Colony, also known as the Battle of Nihon, was a battle that took place at a Shajin jungle town that was being converted into a colony by the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, who has been tasked by Diego Velázquez to capture and kill Hernán Cortés for his desertion. This transgression led Cortés to lead a band of 300 of his conquistadors and a band of 500 Shajin soldiers from a nearby fort, who have received a call of distress from the town's inhabitants, to lead a preemptive strike against the colony. Knowing he is seriously outnumbered, Cortés sent emissaries from the Shajin with promises of wealth and glory to a large portion of Narváez's expedition to join his side when the battle ensued.
The Conflict
Prelude
After liberating Ashus castle, Cortés had been communicating with the crown that he had "captured" an entire castle and put it under the Spanish crown and has forged an alliance with the Shajin clan, being sent by trade ships from Cuba. Unintentionally, Diego Velázquez intercepted one of these messages and was ultimately angered by Cortés' arrogance and removed the letter as a desperate plea for favor from Charles V himself.
A month later, Cortés received word that a second expedition of over 1,400 conquistadors, led by Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Velázquez has landed off coast of Sapphire Sea with orders to find and execute him for his insubordination near the end of 1519. In an act of desperation to preserve his status, Cortés burnt the letter sent to him and quickly organized his men to defeat the expedition when they were on the march.
Weeks after organizing his men, Cortés received word from a nearby company of Shajin soldiers that Narvaez has taken the town of Nihon with intentions of turning it into a colony for Spain, meaning that Cortés would have to accept help from the Shajin and do battle in close quarters in the town. In an act of desperation, Cortés sent several emissaries from the Shajin to bribe a large portion of Narváez's expedition to defect when they arrive with promises of wealth and glory should they succeed.
The conquistadors of Narváez were deployed entirely within the town, completely unprepared for an unexpected attack, due to planned meals to be brought out from within by the Shajin. Cortés' conquistadors and his Shajin allies deployed themselves at the south of the town, lying in wait in the nearby forest to charge into the least defended position of the town. The conquistadors that intended to defect from Narváez deployed themselves far north of the town to lead a charge to surround Narváez's men as they did battle with Cortés, causing suspicion in the loyal conquistadors who recognized the behaviour.
The battle takes place entirely in the town of Nihon, a town in a jungle terrain for close quarters with multiple buildings to take cover in. It has many fortifications and dirt roads, having had its wooden tiles stripped for fortifications, that connect to each other.
As the battle took place in a town, meaning that the battle would be in close quarters.
At 6:52 in the morning, one of Narváez's men spotted the burning match of one of Cortés' musketeers and alerted the rest of the expedition, starting a charge of Spanish and Shajin warriors from the south side. As the battle ensued, Narváez tried to organize his men in a massive line across the town square but were stopped when a large group of defectors from his expedition attacked from the north, surrounding the expedition completely into holding the square at all costs, which was hard as the constant barrage of Shajin archers broke any line they tried to muster.
The Shajin warriors proved to be the key to defeating the larger Spanish expedition, as their skills with a katana were completely foreign to Narváez's men - who have never fought an Ocrean before - and were only able to counter them with their muskets, but it wasn't enough to stop Cortés' men from firing back at them with their muskets. Despite this, Narváez's men managed to hold the town for over five hours until they started to get tired.
The final phase of the battle was directly in the centre of the town square, where the last of Narváez's men surrendered as Narváez himself was captured and brought before Cortés, who decided to keep him prisoner and recruit the last of his men to bolster the garrison back at Castle Cortés. Before leaving, Cortés ordered all his men to pick up a musket from their fallen conquistadors and all the gunpowder and cartridges they can hold, preventing any Shajin to get a hold of it.
Narváez imprisoned, Cortés' expedition now numbering at over 1,000 men, Shajin now aware that the Spaniards are not as nomadic as they believed.
After the battle, Matsu Shajin heard of the battle that took place between the two Spanish armies and was now aware that the Spanish are indeed from another country and requested Cortés to give him a full explanation of where his people come from, otherwise he would get his naga assistant to read his mind.
In Leylas, Cortés gave Matsu a full detailed explanation of how they are explorers who originally come to find more gold deposits and start a colony on the continent. Matsu then demanded that he takes a ship back to Spain and bring his ruler to forge an official alliance between his country and his, but Cortés argues back that Emperor Charles is never going to be willing to abandon his position in Spain and leave it open to the prepared French, thus Matsu assigns his own daughter to a massive flagship filled with riches and other objects to bring Cortés back to Spain to meet with Charles herself. Cortés agrees to help navigate back to Spain, bringing Ayame with him and leaving Alvarado to look after Castle Cortés as he is away.
Cortés' musketeers waiting with Shajin archers before the battle
Start Date
December 21st 1519 6:52 AM
Ending Date
December 21st 1519 1:20 PM
Conflict Result
Victory for Cortés' conquistadors and Shajin garrison
Conquistadors of Cortés
Led by
Conquistadors of Narváez
Led by
800 Spanish conquistadors
~ 300 of Cortés' conquistadors
~ 500 of Narváez' conquistadors
500 Shajin soldiers
900 Spanish conquistadors
156 Spanish
285 Shajin
652 Spanish, survivors defected
Defeat the expedition of Narváez
Capture and kill Cortés for his desertion
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