Skirmish at Sapphire River

This skirmish happened the very first hour of Cortés' landing on the continent of Ocrea, after a misunderstanding of a passing unit of the Shajin clan who mistook the conquistadors for more pirates from the northern realms, leading to an ambush upon the Spanish directly on a river to Sapphire Sea.

The Conflict

Prelude

In 1518, Velázquez put Cortés in command of an expedition to explore and secure the unexplored land to the east for Spanish colonization. At the last minute, due to the old argument between the two, Velázquez changed his mind and revoked Cortés' charter. He ignored the orders and, in an act of open mutiny, went anyway in February 1519. Accompanied by about 11 ships, over 600 men, including seasoned slaves, 13 horses, and a small number of cannon, Cortés landed on the beach of Sapphire Sea, shocked at the sight of cherry blossom trees and colourful landscape.

Deployment

Upon encountering a blue-haired native and her hut, Cortés decided to split up his force to search inland for any more natives, so he sent Gonzalo de Sandoval, one of his officers, inland with over 50 swordsman and crossbowmen to search for life, while Cortés stayed behind with the rest of his expedition as they unloaded all their supplies. The Shajin, on the other hand, had previously received word from the girl from the beach about "pirates" approaching, where they laid in wait in the trees until they came across the river stream, where they will ambush them.

Battlefield

The battlefield of the skirmish was at a shallow river out in the open, surrounded by a forest that held the Shajin ambushers.

Conditions

The battle was fought entirely on a river, giving a decrease to movement in the water.

The Engagement

Without warning, Gonzalo was shot in the head by a bow and promptly killed, heralding an entire unit of Shajin warriors charging into the rest of the Spanish line, who started to lose ground very quickly as they were barely a match against the katana-wielding veterans.
Luckily, one of the Spaniards managed to get out of the carnage and warn the rest of the expedition of the battle that was going on and Cortés personally led a couple dozen musketeers to shoot the ambushers while they are in battle. They arrive and see the Spanish sent inland suddenly surrendering to the ambushers, who were in amidst being lined up to be executed on the spot by the female commander of the Shajin.
But suddenly, the execution was stopped when Cortés' musketeers started to fire from the trees, shocking the ambushers of the sound of the muskets being fired, wounding the commander in the process. The mysterious warriors then suddenly fled into the trees upon seeing the men with "wooden staffs" firing at them, believing them to be magicians of some sort, and leaving the Spanish to tend to their wounded.

Outcome

The Spanish conquistadors were victorious in repelling the strangers but created a mistrust between the two sides as the surviving Shajin got away to warn the nearby capital.

Aftermath

This was marked down as the first battle the Spanish fought on the continent of Ocrea but was infamous for the fact they fought against the Shajin lordship, creating a serious mistrust between the two countries. This is where Cortés realized that the continent did not house a primitive civilization as expected and was urged by his fellow conquistadors to go back to the Carribean, to which Cortés instead burnt all his ships to stop anyone from retreating, save for one that was ordered to bring a message to Charles V the news of finding new land. Cortés then took it upon himself to lead aggravated raids against Shajin villages in an act of revenge for his fallen soldiers.
Despite the aggression, Takeda Shajin, the heir apparent of the Shajin clan, became concerned when she heard the news of "mages" who have taken out almost an entire unit and was even more concerned as it was her soldiers who attacked them first. Takeda then decided to send emissaries to Cortés to allow the Spanish to march to the capital to get a good view of the strangers who come to her shores.

Musketeer reinforcements

Conflict Type

Skirmish

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

March 20th 1519 9:15AM

Ending Date

March 20th 1519 9:25AM

Conflict Result

Victory for the Spanish, Retreat of the Shajin party

Belligerents

Spanish Empire

• Cortés' Expedition

Led by

• Hernán Cortés

Shajin Ambushers

• Shajin Army

Strength

54 conquistadors and slaves
25 musketeer reinforcements

60 Shajin warriors

Casualties

37 conquistadors killed, including Gonzalo de Sandoval

49 Shajin warriors

Objectives

Fight off the ambushing strangers

Kill the "Northern Pirates"