Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1304 Tianxiong Three Towns ([-])

Ximen Xiao finally agreed to go fishing along the coast of the Namib Desert with Chengxin Fishery Company, but they still have to wait for a while before they can start.Gein's naval escort fleet arrived in South Africa a few days ago, and almost wiped out the material reserves in Dayuan Harbor (think about it, sixty or seventy ships, and more than five thousand sea and land personnel's water needs for several months), currently Other villages and towns are organizing people to deliver supplies such as flour, sorghum, dried fish, cured meat, cattle and sheep, vegetables, melons, fruits, wine, etc. Zhu Chengdong and his ship need to replenish supplies for two or three months at a time before they can go to sea. The Namib Desert is just off the coast, so you'll have to wait.

On September 1661, 9, seven or eight fishing boats and processing ships of Ximen Fishery Company and Chengxin Fishery Company followed one of the world’s four major upwelling currents—meaning that there are many nutrients in the offshore and rich fishery resources—in Benguela After the cold current went north, the No. 10 Mixed Battalion commanded by Major Xie Hansan also returned to Hezhong Port from Angola.

This battle going north may be due to the absence of a decent opponent. This elite army unit performed well in combat. While killing and injuring hundreds of enemy troops, it suffered only a few dozens of casualties. This shows the importance of the battle. The degree of ease and child's play.However, the No. [-] Mixed Battalion did not suffer much loss during the battle, but the hot and humid climate in Angola, the undeveloped wild environment, and the ubiquitous mosquitoes caused them hundreds of casualties due to illness. The loss can be described as Not small.

Therefore, after negotiating with New Courland, Xie Hansan decisively handed over the defense of Benguela and Luanda to them and the Black Banners, and then led his troops back to South Africa resolutely—they could have come back earlier. But because of the unfavorable wind direction, we had to wait for the sailing boat to pick us up, which wasted a lot of time.

After returning to South Africa, Xie Hansan, as the commander of the No. [-] Mixed Battalion, wrote to the military headquarters, asking them to send a batch of supplementary soldiers from Dongfang County, the source of the battalion's troops, to make up for the vacancy of the battalion.Before that, they could only fight with incomplete organization. As for the goal of the battle, it is actually very simple, that is, the Karma Kingdom, which has become more and more restless recently.

Ever since the elite army on the east bank went north to attack the Portuguese, this country has become more and more jumpy. It even sent people to continue to invade the west, and harassed the farmers on the east bank who went out to farm and graze through surprise attacks and guerrilla warfare, causing a lot of trouble. casualties.After contacting the Hezhong District Administrative Office and the South African Garrison Command, they believed that the Karma Kingdom might have achieved a major victory in the east, and controlled a large piece of fertile land with abundant rainfall, and incorporated a large number of black tribes. With the increase in strength, self-confidence swelled , and pointed the finger at the East Coast people who had been entangled with grievances for 30 years.

Xie Hansan initially agreed with this view, but as the commander of the South African garrison, he naturally has his own rules, that is, to mobilize heavy troops to wipe out these birdmen!And in his view, this is not only a competition between countries, but also a competition between races, that is, the competition between the yellow-skinned Chinese people and the black-skinned Bantu race.The control area on the east bank has been divided into Chinese and black, so there is no reason to be patient with the black people in the Kama Kingdom. Now that their main force is free, they will gather artillery, cavalry, and river security groups to fight against the Kama Kingdom. The Kingdom's Westward Forces wage a major war—if their hideouts are found first.

In addition, Commissioner Jiao Tangjiao of the Hezhong District Administrative Office also proposed another plan, that is, to add three more settlements east of the Dongshan Mountains, namely Tianxiong Fort (near the later Robertson City), Tianping Fort (later near the ancient city of Montague) Fort Taining, Taining Fort (near McGregor City in later generations), and Yongguan, Deshengbao, Zhennan Township and other places were separated from the jurisdiction of Hezhong County, and then a separate county was established (the name of the county is tentatively designated as Tianxiong County).

The population of the new Tianxiong County is all transferred from Hezhong County. Anyway, the county has a population of 5.2. Even in the mainland, it is still a first-class large county. The migration part is not a problem at all. On the contrary, it can reduce the local population density. It's not necessarily a bad thing for people.Of course, the most important thing is that once Tianxiong County is established with the approval of the executive committee, it will get the designation of a county security regiment, which means that the Hezhong area can train another militia force of up to 2000 people, which is very important for It is very important to improve the strategic situation in the Hezhong area, and this is obviously Jiao Tang's main purpose.

Xie Hansan fully agreed with this, and said that he would lead his troops eastward to the planned towns of Tianxiong, Tianping, and Taining to cover the resettlement and construction of the immigrants in Hezhong County, and at the same time look for opportunities to attack the harassing Kama Kingdom army.Even if the opponent is too desperate, they can find an opportunity to severely injure their westward troops, making them afraid to stay here, and then allowing the residents of Tianxiong County to gain a firm foothold in this area.And once Tianxiong County has a firm foothold, and then spends several years to compile a decent county security corps, then the strategic situation in this area will undergo fundamental changes, whether it is the British, the Dutch or the Ka The Ma people will feel uneasy about the powerful threat from the people on the east coast.

On October 1661, 10, the first mixed battalion, which had been rested, arrived near the planned Tianxiong Fort, and began to survey the terrain, set up camps, store food, ammunition and military supplies, and wait for the arrival of the South African cavalry battalion. The main force of the Ministry is still stationed in Baibo County, and it will take some time to arrive.

Tianxiong Town is located at the southern foot of Nanheng Mountain (Lange Mountain). This mountain valley is usually a good place with mild climate, fertile soil and good water source.The Brie River and its tributaries are the mother rivers of all life on this land. Under her selfless nurturing, the land here can grow wheat, sorghum, vegetables, grapes, citrus, tobacco and other crops. If managed well , is also an important agricultural and animal husbandry base, which can feed tens of thousands of immigrants without any effort.

In the valley between South Hengshan and North Hengshan (i.e. Mount Swart), according to the name of the local natives, people on the east coast call it the Little Karoo Plateau.This is a narrow plateau with a height of 400-500 meters. It is the transition area from the humid southern coastal plain to the dry Great Karoo Plateau.The soil on the alluvial terraces in the river valley is very fertile. Generally speaking, a considerable high yield can be obtained under the condition of artificial irrigation. The valley near the city of Oudtshoorn in later generations is particularly fertile, and it is famous for its vineyards and orchards.

At present, there is no doubt that this is the land of the Karma Kingdom, and it is probably the old nest of its western troops. Most of the soldiers of the Karma Kingdom who harassed the people on the east bank probably drove their cattle and sheep westward from here, so as to communicate with the east bank. People create friction.But now I heard that the Netherlands and the UK are trading with them. Not only have a large number of arms and weapons been imported into the kingdom (this may be one of the important reasons for its soaring combat power), but even many years ago, the king of the country, Karma, decided to introduce a lot of weapons. The Dutch horses tried to train the cavalry, but it is not known how effective it is.

From the North Hengshan Mountains to the north, until between the big cliffs, there is a vast Great Karoo Plateau, with a height of 600-1000 meters, almost 400 kilometers long and 130 kilometers wide. The tragedy is that the annual precipitation is average. Not exceeding 125mm.The driest part of the region is probably the western part of the plateau, which is full of desert landscapes, and the plateau's surface is only covered with thorny shrubs and low acacia plants-those familiar with Patagonia know that such The terrain is suitable only for sheep - farming is only possible in small plots with alluvial soil along the riverbed.Here, it is also controlled by the Karma Kingdom at present, but after their economic and military center of gravity shifted to the eastern region, this place probably gradually fell into disrepair. The population should not be large, and the military strength is also average.If the officers and soldiers of the South African Cavalry Battalion brought enough water and headed eastward, they would probably not encounter many enemy troops after galloping for hundreds of kilometers.

It can also be seen from this that after being driven eastward from Gaoda Township to the remote and impoverished Karoo Plateau by the people on the east coast, this is simply a heart-wrenching pain for the Xhosa people. They all want to gradually retake these lands.It's just that after a few battles where the people on the east coast were bloody, they could only turn all the way east, trying to integrate more Xhosa black power through cruel annexation wars, and then turned their heads and fought with Yellow-skinned people from the east coast of the sea compete for the land of South Africa. Anyway, none of us are natives of this fertile land in South Africa. Whoever has the biggest fist will eventually own this land.

Of course, with the intervention of the Dutch and English forces, the situation in the western half of South Africa is becoming increasingly chaotic. The four forces are stepping up to sort out internal affairs, strengthen trade, and be ready to deal with emergencies at any time.Among them, the three parties of the Netherlands, England, and the Karma Kingdom have a faint sense of mutual help. After all, the pressure from the people on the east coast is too great, so big that the three alliances feel a little breathless-this time the outbreak in Cape Town A large-scale epidemic, how do you think it came about?It's not because of the large-scale immigration of the Dutch here and the expansion of their territory!

On the one hand, their Batavia High Court keeps exiling Malays, Chinese, and Indians here; Between 200-220 million) and German farmers, causing the virus to converge here, which in turn detonated a large-scale epidemic, and then fucking killed the neighbors.However, diseases belong to diseases. The continuous immigration actions of the Dutch for so many years are still very effective. It has made the number of white people in the Dutch colony of Cape Town already several thousand, and the number of colored people is even more, probably between [-] and [-]. During the period, the number of towns reached seven or eight, and the scale was completely different from that in history. Cape Town has gradually become an indispensable and important node on the global map of the Dutch East India Company.

However, no matter how the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the Karma Kingdom blend together, the people on the east coast only need to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai, take their own development as the top priority, and continue to use fortress tactics to encroach on the enemy's land and expand the living space of their own people.For example, one of the triggers for the sudden expansion of the conflict with the Kama Kingdom this time was that the East Coasters established three new settlements east of the Dongshan Mountains (the western section of the Cape Fold Mountains) and immigrated in large numbers, occupying Kama As a result, small-scale but long-lasting guerrilla warfare and harassment warfare broke out in the kingdom's hometown, making people extremely annoying.

This kind of harassing war has lasted until recently. Jiao Tang and others judged, could it be that the Xhosa blacks in the Karma Kingdom were also tricked by the Dutch, and a large number of them fell ill?If you think about it carefully, there is actually a certain possibility of this matter, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why their attack momentum has been greatly reduced recently, or even gradually disappeared.But this doesn't seem to be a bad thing for the people on the east bank who plan to open up the three towns of Tianxiong, Tianping, and Taining, isn't it?

On October 1661, 10, the first batch of 15 immigrants from Hezhong County arrived near Tianxiong Town.They brought various materials such as wood, bricks, lime, cement, and shovels, and started building the fort under the command of the construction personnel.This time, the people on the east bank are no longer careless, and have learned the lessons of Zhennan Township, Deshengbao and other places. The fortresses in those places are too small and can only be stationed with hundreds of soldiers (also used as material banks), and farmers usually live in the fortresses. Surrounding the village to facilitate farming and grazing.Such a model is indeed conducive to farming (saving time on the journey to farmland or pastures), but it is a bit lacking in security, especially in this kind of area where the enemy and the enemy intersect - that is, the people on the east coast have lived a comfortable life for so many years , the vigilance has been reduced, and it is absolutely impossible to make such a mistake when I first came to South Africa.

Therefore, when the three towns of Tianxiong were being built, the administrative office of the Hezhong District had already made up their minds to set the scale of the fort so that it could accommodate thousands of people.Don’t bother the new immigrants, just live in the fortress at night, go out to work during the day, and send a few herdsmen around to guard on horseback. That’s enough. In this way, the efficiency of agricultural production will be low. Some, but it is better to be safe and secure.After all, in this new land that was just snatched from the enemy, you can't predict what will happen in the next moment. Survival and rooting are the first priority, and you are qualified to talk about what to do next.

On October 1661, 10, nearly 20 cavalrymen from the South African Cavalry Battalion and more than 1500 Black Eight Banners warriors were recruited to guard a horse convoy full of various supplies and arrived at Tianxiong Town, which had become a large construction site. on the town site.So far, various units have successively marched to the front lines of Yongguan, Deshengbao, and Tianxiong Town. There are more than 400 members of the Hezhong Security Regiment, 200 members of the South African Cavalry Battalion, about 500 members of the South African Artillery Company, and Black Eight Banners warriors. [-] people and thousands of people from the elite No. [-] Mixed Battalion.

So many troops are distributed on a "short" front of [-] to [-] kilometers wide, so it is naturally impossible to use them exclusively for defense. In fact, Captain Reynold, the deputy commander of the South African Cavalry Battalion, made a suggestion, which aroused the attention of the general manager. The attention of Major Xie Hansan of frontline defense.

(End of this chapter)