Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1383 The new owner of Xinhua Island ([-])

On October 1664, 10, after inspecting the northwest of Xinhuaxia Island, Huang Yi spent half a month taking a quick look at the Daqing Basin, which has the largest population, the most settlements, and the most outstanding agricultural development. On the 15th, he arrived at Mianhe Port and had a meeting with Major Xiaobaitu, who was in charge of the island's security affairs.

Xiao Baitu has been in Xinhua Island for many years. He is ruthless and has no scruples. He is almost the nightmare of all the natives in the western half of the island. Even because of sending troops to Mozambique several times, Major Xiao’s reputation has spread across the strait. On the mainland, the local blacks and Portuguese colonists were deeply afraid.

Huang Yi still had to pay enough attention to such an old senior and old military leader.Therefore, at the dinner party for the establishment of the Mianhe County (which was just established before Ma Wanpeng left, under the jurisdiction of Mianhe Township, Chaoyang Township, Pingman Township and Dasheng Township), Huang Yi also took the initiative to present Xiao Baitu He toasted and said some very modest words. At only 49 years old, he put himself in a rather low position, which made Xiao Baitu quite satisfied.

After the dinner, the two had another private meeting, focusing on the current situation in the southern part of Xinhua Island, how the people on the east coast should deal with it, and what the next step is to focus on.

"Deputy Commander Xiao (Xiao Baitu is also the Deputy Commander of Xinhua Security), I'm new here, and I don't know many things, so I came to ask an old man like you for advice." Huang Yi poured Xiao Baitu a glass Tea, said with a smile on his face: "I heard that the war between the French and the natives has resumed in the past two years, and the battle is very fierce. Because you have been planning this matter by remote control, I want to hear your opinion. Hehe , Captain Ma and I were in a hurry when we handed over, so I didn't have time to elaborate, but just handed over some archives. But the things on the paper always read differently, I still want to ask Deputy Commander Xiao for your own advice, France How is the situation in Doufanburg, Saint-Louis, do we have a chance?"

Xiao Baitu took the teacup and took a sip, without taking Joe, and said seriously: "Commander Huang, the situation in the southern part of Xinhua Island is not complicated. To put it bluntly, it is just a fight between the natives and the French with our support. , and now this fight is actually coming to an end. In April of the first half of the year, before the end of the rainy season, the Antemoro people launched an unexpected attack. Their losses in the battle were not light, and they could no longer effectively protect the flanks of the town of St. Louis. After learning of the actions of the Antemorro and Antefazi, the great chief of the Bara, Mananzano, also organized A large-scale offensive was launched manually, annihilating more than [-] French colonial troops, and they have already begun to advance towards the town of Saint-Louis, and this happened last month."

"Lieutenant Peng Yuanzhi of our army is currently in Chief Mananzano's army. He is in charge of the liaison between the two parties. Please wait patiently, Commander Huang. There are still a few days for this month's news to come. We The ships going to the Bala people’s territory only once a month.” Xiao Baitu continued with a teacup: “Oh, by the way, the Second Fleet of the Navy also intercepted a French merchant ship at sea three months ago, which contained A large number of weapons and ammunition and [-] Huguenot soldiers have been detained by our army. The ships are going to be refurbished and put under the jurisdiction of the East African Transportation Company, while the sailors and soldiers are going to be dispatched to the Blackwater area of ​​the Far East. This is Ma Wanpeng The decision made when Ma Ling was there. It is inconvenient to keep these Frenchmen on the side of Xinhua Island, so as not to cause boring diplomatic disputes in the future..."

In fact, although Xiao Baitu is not willing to admit it, in fact, the navy's risky interception behavior in the southeast coast of Xinhua Island is also one of the reasons for the accelerated failure of the French. After all, the supply is not smooth and intermittent. It was a bit fatal when Fang Fang was besieged by the natives.Although the people on the east coast failed to stop all the French ships, they stopped three ships in three years, which had caused serious difficulties for the French, so that when they faced the natives, they were unable to continue their reinforcements and retreated steadily. New Caen, and now even the town of Saint-Louis is about to lose its hold. Compared with the previous triumphant progress, it is nothing like it-this is what the East Coast people are happy to see.

Of course, the army's constant "tricking" is also an important reason why the French can't sustain it. For example, they send non-commissioned officers and veterans to the native tribes to teach them how to use firearms, such as sending officers to serve as tactical guidance consultants for the natives, such as sending intelligence officers Teaching the characteristics and weaknesses of the French colonial army to the natives, in a word, is to help the natives fight against the French colonists in an all-round way. Therefore, it is not surprising that these unlucky Frenchmen are mixed in the southeast of Xinhua Island.

But then again, the French are so "abandoned". In addition to the joint efforts of the people on the east coast and the natives, one of the reasons is that the French themselves have encountered a great financial crisis.The original colonial French Oriental Company was unsustainable and unable to continue to operate. Naturally, it could not give enough support to the colony of Xinhua Island, so it could only turn to the government for help. The huge profits earned by the Indian company every year are extremely enviable. With the support of King Louis XIV of France, various colonial enterprises have been integrated and new businessmen have been brought in. In the first half of this year, several businessman meetings were convened to discuss the establishment of the French East India Company.

According to the information obtained from the Dutch, on March 1664, 3, Louis XIV met with businessmen in Fontainebleau and confirmed the establishment of the French East India Company, stipulating that the headquarters should be located in Paris and the monopoly period be 29 years With the French government paying 50% ​​of the company's expenses for the first three years in the form of a subsidy, the colonial trading enterprise is officially on the right track.

After the establishment of the French East India Company (it will not be officially established until June), the New China Colony, which was originally in charge of the French Oriental Company, will naturally be transferred to the new "boss".It’s just that they were established a little later, and now the French New China colony, including St. This matter needs to be torn up a lot) and raise enough ships, sailors, soldiers and goods, and then travel across the ocean to Xinhua Island, I am afraid that the day lily will be cold-in fact, last year and this year, if not If King Louis of France gave generously, the town of Saint-Louis might have fallen if Doufan Castle didn't say anything, although the city would almost be doomed by now.

"Deputy Commander Xiao, I feel relieved when you say that." Huang Yi smiled slightly, sat up straight and said, "Once the French fail in these two places, do you have any plans for the later stage?"

"Of course there are, but there is no rush, we need to take it slowly. Anyway, as long as we drive away the foreign colonies, we will have plenty of time to take care of these natives. At this stage, the most important thing for us is to start The west coast advances to the inland area, constantly expelling and capturing the local aborigines, and at the same time setting up our own reclamation villages, while obtaining valuable slave labor, and expanding our depth every year." Xiao Baitu said, "As for the southeast For places, I suggest spending money to buy them from the natives. Bara, Antemoro, and Antefazi can all be traded. The first target of the transaction is naturally Fort Dofan. After getting this place, Then you can build ports and establish strongholds; at the same time, coffee can be grown in the nearby mountainous areas, and pepper can be grown in the coastal plains. In addition, the local climate is not too hot and humid (the latitude is no longer in the tropics), so it is a relatively livable place, so we will do our best first. Fort Doufan, and then plan other."

"Well, what else?" Huang Yi listened and signaled Xiao Baitu to continue talking. At the same time, he also told Xiao, a so-called war maniac, that he did not mention using military means to solve the problem of Fort Dofan. I was a little surprised to get it by trading with the natives. This damn is the way of thinking of civil servants.Perhaps, it may also be because Xiao Baitu thinks that the army's influence on the natives has reached a relatively deep level, right?

"Anything else? Hehe, it's natural to fight!" Xiao Baitu glanced at Huang Yi, and said as a matter of course: "There are two types of fighting, one is to let the natives fight by themselves, and we can reap the benefits. For example, nomads I don't believe that there is no conflict between the Bala people and the Antemoro people who settled in the mountains. Of course, if there is no conflict, we can also provoke and create conflicts. It is not difficult. If there is one, it will naturally erupt. Conflict, then there will be room for us to operate, what is the mere Dofan Fort, it is not difficult! Another way of fighting is naturally that we will end the battle in person, that is, we will dispatch a part of the Xinhua Infantry Battalion to supervise the battle, and the Island Eight Banners With [-] officers and soldiers from the newly established Mianhe County Security Regiment as the main attacking force, not to mention taking down Fort Doufan, it is not difficult to capture the town of Saint-Louis and New Caen. The difficulty is that this will cause tension between us and the natives. As a result, after the war, we will continue to send troops to suppress here, which will only disperse our strength. Therefore, it is better to stir up conflicts among the natives and let them kill each other to save effort and worry..."

When Huang Yi heard Xiao Baitu's words, she felt that her thoughts coincided with her own. She immediately relaxed and said with a smile: "Then let's do it! Deputy Commander Xiao, this is the strategy formulated by Captain Ma when he was here. He has always trusted you, and you have indeed done a good job, so don’t bother the two masters with one thing, let’s leave it to this, and your army is responsible. Our pioneering team government should supervise the two counties of Xinhua and Mianhe The construction will contribute to the future of Xinhua Island."

Xiao Baitu chuckled when he heard the words, and nodded his head, which was regarded as his approval of the mission assignment plan.

On October 10, just as Huang Yi had just finished his inspection of the cotton-producing areas on both sides of the Mian River, and was planning to take a trip to the east coast of Xinhuaxia Island for inspection, a small merchant ship (captured from France The merchant ship refitted by the French) brought the latest news from the southeast: the town of Saint-Louis had been captured by the Barras, and the French suffered heavy losses. When they retreated, there was no time to move a lot of supplies, so they had to burn the town to the ground. It was destroyed by the Bara who rushed in.At present, there are less than 18 remaining French colonists, and most of them are concentrated in Fort Dofan and its surrounding territories. With a shortage of food and equipment, it may be difficult to resist the next attack of the enemy.

Lieutenant Peng Yuanzhi, who reported the news, also pointed out that the Bara people are currently recruiting the tribes controlled by the French while replenishing soldiers and ordnance. French power.And the many tribal alliances headed by the Antaimoro people (they are the only aboriginal tribe in Xinhuaxia Island who can write) in the northeast of Fort Dofan have also won several small-scale victories and engulfed the French in the foothills. Some of the manors and strongholds in the country have advanced to a place not far from Fort Dofan.

It can be said that after the vital reinforcements and supplies were intercepted by the East Coast Navy, the French were doomed to be unsustainable on Xinhua Island. As in history, it must have been killed and expelled by the local natives—New China, the fourth largest island in the world, is destined to be on the east coast, or China!

Huang Yi, who got the news, was naturally happy from ear to ear, saying that the pioneering team government would continue to support this operation planned by the army, and hoped that they would continue their efforts and make greater contributions to the country. All the [-] people in Xinhua Island also Everyone's contributions will always be remembered.Afterwards, Huang Yi didn't delay anymore, took a fast liaison ship of the navy, and headed for Daze Township, which was also located on the southeast coast of Xinhua Island.

And when he set off, Xinhua County also sent a number of fishing boats, carrying a large amount of supplies and personnel, down the warm current of Mozambique to the Mahajanga Bay at the mouth of the Bezibuka River—well, it has been renamed For Ningguo Bay, Marenjia City was also renamed Ningguo Port, and Huang personally gave it the name—Xiu Ning Township was established on the original site of Katsepi Township in later generations, and Wanling Township was established near Wuai City in Malu. The three settlements form an inverted triangle, basically locking all of Ningguo Bay. In the future, the rich Maruwuai Plain will also be exclusively enjoyed by the people on the east coast.

In addition, it is said that another group of exiled soldiers from the Ottoman Empire (approximately 300 people) had set off from Mienhe Port to the north, intending to establish a new settlement near Sualala Port in later generations, named Kanghua Port.This is also something that Ma Wanpeng decided during his time, because it is said that there are quite good-quality iron ores in the local area. If they are mined and smelted, they will definitely inject new impetus into the construction of Xinhua Island. There is no doubt that if the Kanghua Iron Mine is really If the mining is not carried out, it will violate the "strategic deployment" of the Executive Committee for Xinhua Island, so it is hard to say what the future will be, but at least for now, Huang Yi does not intend to interrupt the operation of colonizing Kanghua Port, because he feels that mining, Iron ore smelting might not be a thing in his first term. The local area should focus on agricultural planting first, and the rest will be discussed later.

(End of this chapter)