Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1821 Colonies and Conquest
A strange machine sound sounded, but it was drowned in the sound of muskets, artillery and shouts, and the native coalition forces who were attacking the camp did not notice the strange machine sound.

"Gasoline generators are working fine and can be used to power searchlights."

"Use searchlights, scare them off."

Thousands of indigenous soldiers were still attacking the camp of the expedition team in the dark, when suddenly a beam of strong light was projected from the camp!
The strong light in the dark night made the indigenous soldiers who were shot unable to open their eyes!

None of them thought that the artificial method could produce strong light in the dark night. Many people lost their combat effectiveness directly under the strong light, and even more people felt frightened!

This beam of strong light seemed to be a supernatural phenomenon in the dark. The natives who worshiped the gods thought it was ghosts and gods, and were so frightened that they almost ran away with hands and feet!
The use of searchlights made the indigenous coalition forces attacking the camp nowhere to hide. Basically, wherever the strong light was projected, bullets and shells would follow!

Strong light and death are linked together, exacerbating the fear of the natives!
"The portable generators and searchlights we brought may be more effective than machine guns at night." Members of the expedition found that after using the searchlights, the noisy voices of the natives gradually moved away.

In the early morning of the next day, the members of the expedition team became a little tired from the night's fighting. They saw many fallen enemies outside. The tribe that attacked them not only did not get much benefit, but lost thousands of people.

"A patrol team deployed on the outskirts suffered heavy losses in the attack last night, and several Indian soldiers were killed. In addition, there were more than a dozen casualties in the fierce fighting in the camp."

"Should we continue to look for large gold mines in the northwest? We were attacked by coalition forces composed of many tribes only 60 kilometers deep into the hinterland. The enemy army that attacked us seemed to be composed of dozens of chiefs, large and small. from various villages here."

"Finding a large gold mine is a task entrusted to us by the superiors. It is naturally best to complete it smoothly. Although the superiors have also given us the right to retreat when we encounter great difficulties, I still want to try to complete this difficult task. The mission. It is not only for us to make contributions, but also for gold."

"Looking at the situation, we can continue to move forward cautiously, if we continue to encounter attacks, we may have to retreat to the coast."

The expedition defeated the tribal coalition forces in the Zulu area twice in a row, but at the same time their own numbers were too small, and casualties were inevitable.

If these tribes were a powerful feudal kingdom, they might be able to cause greater losses to the expedition team, and an expedition team of 1000 people might not dare to go deep into the hinterland.

The tribal coalition army is even worse organized than the feudal kingdom's army. Their improvised soldiers come from various villages and cannot cause huge losses to the coalition army.

After a brief discussion, the expedition team did not give up their search for a large gold mine because of the casualties of more than a dozen people.

The attack of the indigenous coalition forces is far from over. To be precise, the expedition team that continued to the northwest of South Africa passed through the territories or hunting grounds of other tribes, and became enemies with the new tribes. A tireless sneak attack.

In the face of powerful firearms, these sneak attacks were all defeated, and the loss ratio of both sides was unimaginable, reaching an astonishing 1:100.

However, when the expedition team went 180 kilometers deep into the hinterland of South Africa, they found that they could no longer move forward.

The continuous sneak attacks of the indigenous tribes was one aspect, and what was more serious was the outbreak of the last thing they wanted to see in the expedition—yellow fever.

At the same time, supplies were in short supply due to the continuous attacks and sneak attacks of the natives.

"We have used more than half of the ammunition. If we continue to go deep into the hinterland, I am afraid that we will have no ammunition to resist the attacks of the natives when we come back. Without ammunition, we can only use swords and bayonets to fight with the native warriors. Then we will be drowned in the native army."

"I have no choice but to retreat temporarily."

The expedition team originally planned to complete the 500-kilometer expedition, but encountered indigenous and disease attacks one after another, and they turned back to the coastal plain where they first landed in the middle.

Since the gold mines were not on the coast but in the interior of South Africa, this expedition was probably the most futile.

The expedition team counted the number of people lost. It was only a 180-kilometer journey, and more than 100 people were lost due to war and disease.

"The resistance here is a bit fierce. After all, it is a civilization that has developed for a while. Even if we barely go deep into the interior to find a large gold mine, it will be difficult to mine the gold mine and then transport it out when all the tribes are against us. "

"We have to change the way we conquer here. The natives here don't even know that there is a big gold mine in the northwest. Maybe if the higher-ups are not in a hurry to spend money, we can use a more secure method to conquer this place."

"The first is to build a fortress, use the fortress to divide the tribes here, and then gradually push the fortress to areas where there may be large gold mines, and then we can get supplies along the way. The second is that we need someone to learn the language here, use gold, silver, jewelry, rare Treasure attracts some chiefs to fight against other chiefs, let them submit to us, pay taxes, and provide labor for mining gold mines. The cost of transporting labor from the local area is very high, and it may not be able to adapt to the water and soil here. It is better to turn this place into a plantation gardens and mines."

The expedition team summed up the lessons of this expedition, and the number of people dropped sharply to more than 800. It was difficult for them to organize another expedition before they received assistance from the mainland.

So this group of people gave up their plan to go directly to find the Rand gold mine, and turned to develop a colony in the coastal Zululand area, gradually conquering the surrounding tribes mainly by force.In addition to force, they also used intimidation, alienation, and win-win methods to continuously divide the local tribes, or turn some weak tribes into their own vassals.

They have used these methods with great proficiency.Because in the conquest of India, the west coast of North America, and Oceania, they have tried these means of establishing colonies countless times.

The plantation economy began to be built in the plains of the east coast of South Africa. The expedition team that was originally ordered to search for large gold mines established several forts, forming the earliest local colonies.Moreover, they had no intention of planting willows and willows, and this place has become an important sugar production area in Africa, with many large sugarcane plantations and sugar factories.There are also agricultural products such as corn and sorghum, and the cattle breeding industry has also developed locally.

After the expedition team sent their plan all the way to the Strait of Hormuz, and then sent it back to the capital by telegram, the capital ordered the formation of two Indian native cavalry regiments to come to South Africa to help conquer the tribes here.

(End of this chapter)