Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1098 Camp ([-])

After seeing off Baron Raul Bravo, Qiang Quansheng also returned to his office, and then met with Major Guo Zili, the Commander of the Second Fleet, who rushed over from South Africa River Zhonggang.

"Xiao Guo, the Dutch told us that the British have landed in South Africa." Qiang Quansheng said straight to the point: "Now we have written to South Africa and asked them to step up their investigation of the British. We expect that the British will soon There may be more than one settlement, and they have not been here for a short time. The encounter between the Dutch and them was nothing more than an accidental border after the expansion of the two sides. But don’t worry, our strength in South Africa is still that of the natives The number one out there, what needs to be figured out now is how many British people are in South Africa, how powerful they are, and whether they are hostile to us. These are very important-of course this is not your job. Your task is still at sea, This time, the Executive Committee decided to allocate several warships from the First Fleet to join the Second Fleet, just to strengthen the strength there. The two ports of Hezhong and Xinhua are the bases for us to control the two sides of southern Africa. But what you need to remember is You must not attack British ships arbitrarily until you prove that the British have serious hostility towards our country, so as not to cause diplomatic disputes, this must be remembered."

The fact that the British landed in South Africa had a big impact on the Executive Committee this time, especially Van Boyningen pointed out that before the Dutch found the British in the Brie River, they may have been operating in South Africa It has been a while, and this has aggravated the sense of crisis of the members of the executive committee.

What does South Africa mean for the East Coast?Let’s not talk about gold, the local massive high-quality coal is what the east coast urgently needs when industrialization is in-depth in the future!The amount of local coal on the east coast is huge, especially in Ping'an County, Tieling County and the Uruguay-Brazil border area in later generations, which are famous coal storage belts, but the problem is that the quality is too poor!Low combustion calorific value, high sulfur, and high ash are its typical characteristics. Housewives who cook in the east coast know that the briquettes made of these coals are really ecstasy when burned. It is better to use southern (Tierra del Fuego and The briquettes made of peat brought back from the Maldives Islands are at least very clean.

In addition, the coal mines with large domestic reserves and high quality on the east coast are probably the Montenegrin coal mines and the coal mines on Lesko Island (which have not been developed due to cost issues), and there is no other place.At present, the industrial scale on the east coast is still small, so the industrial coal produced by the Heishan Coal Mine (which has gradually replaced Tacheng’s clean coal in the past two years) and the cheap coal produced by the Ping’an Coal Mine (for domestic fuel) are still sufficient for use.But in the foreseeable future, as the industrial scale on the east coast grows, the demand for coal—especially high-quality coal—will rise exponentially, and a large amount of foreign coal will need to be imported at this time.After much deliberation, isn't South Africa the best source of high-quality coal?

Originally, the east coast’s industrial demand for coal has not reached a certain level, and there are no foreign forces in South Africa (except the Netherlands). The members of the East Coast Executive Committee must maintain their energy to build their own country, so they have no policy for the development of South Africa. , and no financial support, on the contrary, they continue to draw blood—the black eight banners send a certain amount of labor to the mainland every year for infrastructure construction, and export a certain amount of cheap wheat, peanuts, sorghum, sesame, wool, salted fish, and wine to the mainland every year Agricultural and sideline products such as vegetables—this makes South Africa's development more or less sluggish.

Fortunately, the South African River Colony can intercept a small number of people from the immigrant transport fleet every year. In addition, it can also distribute some Persian and Baluchi female slaves sold by Muscat merchants. Occasionally, some exiles from the mainland will send them, so The population growth of Hezhong County in South Africa is still not satisfied. So far it has reached 3.6 people. The four townships between the trade ports) are not considered small counties even in the mainland. Compared with the Dutch, their strength is still considerable.

But now that the British have returned to South Africa after many years, this has made the members of the executive committee who have been buried in the local construction before feel a sense of crisis, so there are many policy adjustments to strengthen the strength of the second fleet Yes, political and economic adjustments are even more subversive.

"The Executive Committee has made a final decision to abolish the full authority of the South African Pioneering Team and set up the Hezhong District Administrative Office. The former internal affairs committee member Jiao Tang will serve as the special commissioner to fully preside over the civil affairs of the Hezhong District; the expenditure of the Hezhong District will be included in the national budget for next year , fiscal and taxation systems, bureaucratic systems, education, medical care, culture and health and other systems are merged with the central government; all South African commodity import and export duties are cancelled, and the economy, market, and finance are integrated; the South African Security Command, the South African Garrison and other institutions are still retained. Army Major Xie Hansan served as the security commander and took full charge of various military affairs in South Africa; the first battalion of the local army was transferred to the battle sequence of the South African garrison army, and the fourth battalion of the army was newly established in Luocha County (shelf battalion, with only more than 300 people). The militia organization of the regiment has been enriched to [-] troops, and the previous training intensity will continue to be maintained." Having said this, Qiang Quansheng looked up at Guo Zili, and said: "Your Second Fleet will have more cooperation with Commissioner He Zhongjiao in the future. , Commander Xie, and closely monitor the British in the south—even the Dutch! Do you understand? South Africa is something we must not give up no matter what. In order to keep this place, the country will not hesitate to declare war with any enemy!"

"Of course, this is not to encourage you to take the initiative to provoke those enemies." Speaking of this, Qiang Quansheng's "surrender" nature, which has always been criticized by the army, broke out again. He only heard him say: "It is already a fait accompli for the British and Dutch to gain a foothold in South Africa." In fact, since we acquiesced to this point out of various considerations and were unable to make up our minds to drive them away, the conflicts cannot be intensified for the time being, unless they have in fact seriously violated our interests, otherwise the general peace must be maintained. In particular, your Second Fleet is likely to encounter British ships at sea in the future. While maintaining vigilance, you must also be very restrained, and try your best to avoid the occurrence of misfires. To put it bluntly, the Dutch told the news We don't have any good intentions. If we can't help but have a conflict with the British, they will probably laugh crookedly. The Netherlands has enmity with the British, but we don't. At least there is no major enmity on the surface, so it is completely unnecessary Take chestnuts out of the fire for the Dutch. Although it is a national policy to unite the Netherlands to control the British, how to grasp the speed is also a very particular thing. It is neither rational nor economical to rush to stand on the front line and fight against the British with the Netherlands. I hope your navy If you can understand this truth, don’t be as clingy as those horses in the army.”

"I understand, Chairman Qiang." Guo Zili nodded to be taught, although he is the army in the navy (meaning the more radical faction), but he is not confused about major issues, knows how to choose the right and wrong, and grasp the trade-offs. Immediately stated to Qiang Quansheng: "The maintenance of the ships is almost complete. The staff department will lead the fleet to leave the port in the past two days and go to the river area. In addition, we will also send some ships to cooperate with South African personnel to go to the mouth of the Brie River. Let’s see what the situation is like. By the way, I’m going to frighten the British. They’ve been too aggressive in the past few years. They just finished beating the Dutch, sent a fleet to Lisbon to demonstrate, beat up the Barbary pirates, and then went to war with Spain. There is no rest. Their East India Company should also be stepping up their activities in India and Persia now. It is time to let them know who is in charge of the South Atlantic—but don’t worry, Chairman Qiang, we will keep a good balance will not be reckless involved in direct armed conflict with the British."

"I hope so." Qiang Quansheng took a look at Guo Zili, and finally said: "We have worked so hard to build this country, just like parents worrying about their children. I hope you will grasp the propriety and understand the painstaking efforts of being a parent." , don’t let the construction of the country in the past 30 or [-] years be severely impacted, remember to remember!”

"By the way, how are the French on Xinhua Island now? Of course I have read the report written by Ma Wanpeng, but I want to know what your navy thinks. Are they—a threat?" Qiang Quansheng asked suddenly.

"If the French government doesn't invest more, I don't think there is any threat." Guo Zili said bluntly: "They only have less than ten ships a year to stop at Fort Doufan, and the goods they bring are limited. And I heard that recently They also had conflicts with the natives, fighting endlessly, and must have lost a lot. In addition, many diseases have been prevalent there, so the population has never increased, and there are still only about [-] Huguenot whites. From a long-term point of view, there is no threat to us. Once the two countries fight, I think that the strength of the new Chinese colony (regular army + island eight banners) and the assistance of our second fleet will definitely be able to eliminate this group of French colonists. I have never doubted that the entire New Huaxia Island will be completely brought under our rule."

"Very well, I understand, now you go back and prepare." Qiang Quansheng picked up the coffee cup and said.

After Guo Zili left from Qiang Quansheng, he went to Dayuhe Naval Shipyard to supervise the repair and maintenance of the ships. At the same time, the First Battalion of the Army also arrived at Dongfang Port by boat from the north, preparing to board the ships of the Second Fleet. Arrived in South Africa.This time the First Fleet transferred the battleships "National Will", "Control the East" and "Fubo Wanli", as well as nearly ten escort gunboats and logistics support ships to the battle order of the Second Fleet. The attitude of meeting, and on the Indian Ocean, will also usher in troubled times.

(End of this chapter)