Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1306 Tianxiong Three Towns ([-])

On November 1661, 11, just as the cavalry of Reined's department returning from the detour from the south had just arrived in Tianxiong Town, in the river port in the west, Jan van Riebeck, governor of the Cape Town colony of the Dutch East India Company, led A large group of entourages arrived and visited Jiao Tang, Commissioner of the Hezhong District Administrative Office of the Eastern Bank of China.

Van Riebeck was 43 years old this year, and was sent to Cape Town by the 17-member committee of the East India Company to replace the aging colony founder, the first governor, and the historically unknown Governor Haimer de Young. The second supreme governor here.And the first thing he did after taking office was undoubtedly to visit the East Bank and discuss with Jiao Tang, commissioner of the Hezhong District Administrative Office, some matters related to the future of South Africa.

To be honest, the Dutch of this era are undoubtedly proud and confident.The East India Company headquarters building in Amsterdam is luxurious and magnificent, and is usually guarded by hundreds of heavily armed elite musketeers. Seventeen nobles in black tight satin jackets and white silk scarves control the colony and trade network all over Africa, Large colonial companies in America and Asia - In 1653 alone, the company's trade volume exceeded the budget of Louis XIV's entire France.

His predecessor, Governor Haimer de Young, did a good job in Cape Town. He planted vegetables and cultivated fruit trees here, because the Dutch learned from sailors on the east coast that eating more vegetables and fruits can prevent scurvy.Governor De Young, who had discovered the news, reported it to the headquarters of the East India Company as an "extremely important discovery". The world's number one fleet will not be paralyzed.

The frequent development of trade with the Karma Kingdom and the mid-river region on the east bank further aggravated the importance of Cape Town on the nautical chart of the East India Company headquarters.The current Cape Town Colony, after experiencing the great plague, still has more than 1.2 white residents (most of them are farmers in Holland Boer and the neighboring German region), which can be seen from this, after all The total number of all white employees in the company in India and Southeast Asia does not exceed [-].

The scale has developed to the present level, and the Cape Colony with fertile soil, mild climate and excellent geographical location is no longer an object that the Dutch East India Company can abandon at any time.After all, there are abundant fresh water, fish, livestock, wheat, vegetables, fruits, tallow, leather and even wool, and there are even groups of seals and whales in the coastal waters at certain times of the year. Not to mention that some East Coast goods can be resold here to the country, and the trade income is quite high, so the East India Company has no reason to give up here, because this is not a "bad asset" that loses money every year, but has already A "premium asset" that has established a self-sufficient system.

Governor De Young laid the agricultural foundation for the Cape Town colony, engineer Reklov van Goens built a large number of brick, stone and cement fortresses here, and the Hagel brothers trained for this piece of land at the southern tip of Africa. A large number of military personnel, the above together formed the basis of the existence of the Dutch Cape Colony - a basis that did not lose the wind when it competed with the East Coasters and the English for this land.

Van Riebeck has always been grateful for this. Having worked in Batavia for a long time, he has a full stomach of tricks on how to run the colony. Now his predecessor has provided him with a very good foundation. So is there anything more wonderful than this?Perhaps the only serious incident of Governor Haimer de Young's presidency--and perhaps this is not his fault--was the failure to control the plague that ravaged most of the Cape Colony.

The plague started with two pigeons that inexplicably fell on the roof of the Governor's Mansion. ), Bredasdorp, Proteum and other places broke out to varying degrees, and then spread to neighboring areas, further amplifying the damage.According to incomplete statistics, before the outbreak of the plague, more than 2 Dutch, Germans, and French Huguenots settled here in the entire Cape Town colony, farming, growing vegetables, brewing wine, grazing, and doing trade for the East India Company.As a result, when the plague finally subsided, there were only about [-] white settlements left here. Counting the slaves of colored races, they were only in the early [-]s, which was pitifully small.

Of course, there are fewer people than them are the British colonists. After five or six years of operation, they are now in a vast area from the mouth of the Brie River in the west, to the Mossel Bay in the east, to the Hengshan Mountain in the north, and to the sea in the south. There are several colonies with a total population of about [-], mostly from England and a few from Scotland.Currently living on agricultural planting and trade with the Karma Kingdom, life is far less prosperous than that of the Dutch and East Coasters, but they have managed to survive stumbles, and have officially become a force that cannot be ignored on the stage of South Africa. political and military power.

well, let's get back to business.After taking over the position of Governor de Young, Van Riebeck's biggest task is probably to maintain the carrot fields, cabbage fields, lettuce fields, onion fields and orchards left by his predecessor, while vigorously expanding the grape planting industry and the subsidiary winemaking. business—this is favored by the gentlemen at the headquarters of the company where trade is the most important thing, because the wine produced here can be shipped to the Dutch East Indies for sale, and can also be shipped back to the United Provinces for sale. It may not make much money, but Once the scale is up, it is also a steady business.After all, the environment here is too suitable for the growth of grapes, and the wine produced also has a unique flavor, and there are not a few people who like it.

Originally, Mr. van Riebeck was not at all worried about whether he could complete this task.The United Provinces is the country with the largest ocean-going fleet in the world, and also the country with the most powerful navy (perhaps the British, who had nearly [-] professional warships at the peak, would disagree), their business network spreads all over the world, The Cape Town colony is also one of the important properties of the powerful Dutch East India Company. Security here should not be a problem. Even when the British colonists were found at the mouth of the Brie River, they never wavered from this view.

However, when the people on the east bank sent troops to defeat the Karma Kingdom and planned to occupy the land with rich water and grass (namely Tianxiong County) sandwiched between the ridges for a long time, Governor Van Riebeck suddenly became a little worried.He ordered people to find a map, and after studying it carefully for a while, he suddenly found that the Cape Town colony was surrounded by the East Coasters in the north and east. How could this be possible!Although the people on the east bank have no bad intentions for the time being, who knows what will happen to the situation between the two countries after the security is not complete, so Mr. Van Riebeck immediately became restless and felt that the unscrupulous expansion behavior of the people on the east bank in South Africa must be curbed.

And if the Tianxiong County built by the people on the east coast threatened the Dutch Cape Colony from the flank, then the cut off of the trade route with the Karma Kingdom would probably make Mr. Van Riebeck more worried, because this is not What a trifle!From a small point of view, the Cape Town Colony and even the East India Company lost a trade market-especially this market helped the Dutch gain a firm foothold in the early days; The African countries that were deeply influenced by themselves—their royal family once went to the Netherlands to study, and the country now mandates that Dutch is the official language, and the upper class people also use Dutch names—say goodbye, which has an impact on the East India Company’s African strategy It was so big that it had to be corrected.Therefore, the mixing of various factors contributed to Governor Van Riebeck's visit to Hezhong Port this time. He really wanted to have a good negotiation with the people on the east coast.

"Mr. Van Riebeck, I'm already very clear about your purpose. The establishment of Tianxiong County is an established policy of our country, which is related to the overall strategy and will not be changed because of anything. If you want to persuade our country to withdraw from this area, then , I'm sorry, we can't do it; of course, if you come to discuss trade issues with us, I think we will be very happy to take it seriously, because the trade complementarity between Cape Town and Hezhong is still very strong, we The seafood, steel rods, daily necessities, your country’s spices, Indian specialties, etc. have great trade potential, and we should further expand it.” In his office, Jiao Tang, commissioner of the Hezhong District Administrative Office, received the Van Riebeck delegation A group of people, and stated their attitude straight to the point, that is, Tianxiong County is absolutely impossible to give up, and the East India Company should not waste their efforts in vain.

After hearing the translator's report, Van Riebeck's face became slightly unwell.He now regrets the request that he ignored before. If he had paid attention to it at that time, perhaps the current situation would be completely different.The request came from 456 white settlers in the Cape Town colony. Most of these white settlers from Friesland, Groningen, Utrecht and other places have lived in Cape Town for several years. Governor Mer Dejan applied to bring his property—usually muskets, caravans, cattle, sheep, and dogs—and his family members, and then to open up and settle on more unoccupied land to the east and north. .The reason is that they are fed up with the terrible feeling of being controlled by the Dutch East India Company. They don't want the wheat, vegetables, fruits and wine they grow to be bought by the company at a ridiculously low price, and they don't want to work hard The livestock raised are taken by the East India Company at a price close to robbery at any time. They do not need the East India Company to provide them with shelter. They can take care of their own lives and trade equally between the two parties.

At that time, Governor De Young resolutely suppressed this shocking application!Because he really can't imagine that there are such deviant things in the world, the company transported them from the old continent, and then allocated a lot of land for them to cultivate. Livestock were brought in for the transaction, but after their wings hardened, these people didn't want to serve the company anymore, and asked to bring their own property to live their own small lives. How could this be possible!Doesn't the ten-year work period promised at the beginning not count?Therefore, Governor Haimer De Young resolutely rejected the applications of these people and strongly asked them to stay in place and work for the company.

After Governor De Young resigned and the new Governor Van Riebeck took office, these people brought up the old story again and submitted their own applications to Van Riebeck, even stating that they were "Afrikaans" and not "Dutch". However, the East India Company had no right to continue to control them, and in the end was still suppressed by Governor Van Riebeck on the grounds that the contract had not yet expired.However, he also said that the purchase price was set by the company, and he has no right to modify it, but he is willing to strive for better treatment for these people, and has already handed over a letter to a passing East India Company merchant ship to bring back to Amsterdam. I believe Seventeen Gentlemen After understanding the actual situation here, we will make some minor adjustments to the previous policy. I hope everyone will continue to wait, especially to fulfill the signed contracts.

But now, Governor Van Riebeck feels that he may have done a wrong thing, because if he had agreed to the request of the Boers and allowed them to expand their territory to the periphery, then it is very likely that the land now occupied by the East Coast people Xiong County will be placed under the jurisdiction of the great Dutch East India Company, although that is likely to cause conflict with the Karma Kingdom.

But it's too late to say anything now, the "Boer" on the east bank has already occupied that fertile land - although not as fertile as the current land of the East India Company - and has already begun to emigrate and build cities, spending a lot of money and energy Well, now that the curtain has opened and the East India Company wants to brutally end the drama that the East Coast people are about to perform, how is it possible?The so-called Tianxiong County is getting farther and farther away from the East India Company after all, and there is also an enemy they cannot defeat between the Karma Kingdom and the East India Company. Their situation in the future is really worrying Woolen cloth.

"Mr. Jiao, the existence of Tianxiong County has seriously hindered the trade between our country and the Karma Kingdom. I hope that even if your country has already occupied this land, please open up a trade road so that we can cooperate with the Karma Kingdom." The communication between them is smooth. At present, a trade group (actually a missionary group and an officer group) of our country is still stranded in the Karma Kingdom, and your country suddenly sent troops to occupy and control this land, and their return route has been cut off." Fan Li Governor Baker probably also understood that it was probably impossible for the people on the east bank to spit out the fat that they ate in their mouths, so he changed his statement, that is, asked the people on the east coast to still allow the East India Company to trade with the Karma Kingdom.

However, he is doomed to be disappointed!After hearing the words relayed by the translator, Jiao Tang turned his head to look at Van Riebeck, and then said in a calm tone: "I'm sorry, I refuse."

(End of this chapter)