Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1403 Right of First Refusal and South Africa ([-])

A gust of cold wind blew by, and on the distant horizon came a team of carriages winding hundreds of meters.

"The trade horse team has arrived." An officer reported loudly, Yang Liangliang nodded, handed the binoculars to the orderly behind him, and then asked the adjutant to go to the British garrison not far away to inform them that they were ready to receive the goods.

This is Xiqing Township, a settlement that has been established for less than a year. It is temporarily managed by Tianxiong County, and its population is only about 400. More than half of them are from the Huai'an Mansion of the Ming Dynasty. There are also [-] regular Polish prisoners of war. Labor workers, more than [-] exiled Tupi Indians.Because the nearby water sources are relatively abundant, the economy is dominated by grain planting. In addition, there is a small amount of animal husbandry, mainly goats, sheep and cattle. It seems so-so, with no outstanding advantages.

However, the administrative office of the Hezhong District took a fancy to Xiqing Township not because of the agricultural conditions here, but because of its relatively important geographical location.From Xiqing Township to the south, there is a relatively low and gentle mountain channel, which can allow people and animals to cross the South Hengshan Mountains that stretch for thousands of miles, and enter the humid southern coastal plain, which is currently colonized by the British East India Company. place.

In fact, to be honest, before Xiqing Township was occupied by people from the east coast, this place was also one of the places where the British traded with the Kama Kingdom.It's just that the Karma Kingdom, which is working hard to reform, can't match the east coast cavalry who come riding fast on horses and whizzing away with sabers. They have great strategic disadvantages, and they have to experience many painful lessons. Later, he moved away from his hometown and moved his family eastward, abandoning his semi-independent vassal state in the past, and became the new cannon fodder under the Kama Kingdom.

Once the Xhosa were gone, the trading site was virtually deserted, as the British apparently did not want to make the long trek on the Little Karoo, which was too dangerous for them.And after the immigrants from the east bank settled in Xiqing Township, the British completely gave up using this traffic channel, and then built two small forts on the left and right at the exit of the channel on the opposite side of the mountain. Hundreds of white soldiers and a small number of black servants were stationed. While farming and grazing, they also monitored the people on the east bank on the other side of the mountain.

This state of confrontation has been going on for almost a year now, and there is no communication or trade between the two sides—in fact, there are no commodities for exchange in Xiqing Township—it seems that each is living in its own closed world. , until today, July 1665, 7.

Due to the fact that several Dutch armed merchant ships were wandering off the coast of British South Africa, in order not to affect the relationship between the East and the Netherlands, the River Central District Administration decided to stop sending merchant ships to British South Africa (except for the ship loaded with food that had already departed). From now on, all ships that ship goods to British South Africa will be unloaded at the port in the river, and then transported by small boats to the Gaoda Township area through the Berg River, and then transported to the territory of the British via mules, horses, and carts.It sounds very troublesome, and the cost must not be low, but there is no way, for the sake of safety, it can only be like this-although some people say that the Dutch armed merchant ships may not stay there for a long time, nor may they meet the merchant ships on the east coast, But why take the risk?The delay in delivery to Cape Town (military funds) had already annoyed the Dutch. Now if they are caught in the right shape again, it will be a lot of fun, so it is better to be on the safe side.

The dispatch of the Dutch armed merchant ships also excited the high-level officials in the river, including Jiao Tang, Xie Hansan and others. They felt that perhaps the Cape Town colony had learned of the news of the declaration of war between the mainland and England, so they planned to attack the English. Take measures.However, it may be because the East India Company headquarters in Amsterdam has not yet issued a formal order, or Governor Van Riebeck has not yet made up his mind, so only a few armed merchant ships that happened to be stationed in the port were mobilized to go to the offshore blockade and demonstration of British South Africa However, the land attack that the people on the east coast have been looking forward to has never seen any signs.

Of course, it may just be because the Dutch are not ready. Recently, Koukou Township has exported a lot of food, livestock, conventional herbs, bandages and other commodities to Cape Town, and then contacted the Dutch for the large-scale recruitment of troops for training. According to rumors, the possibility of this speculation is much greater.You must know that the Cape Colony of the Netherlands has never been short of food. Generally, they only need to import a large amount of food when a large number of labor forces (such as slaves) are transferred for military training. Therefore, everyone now has reason to judge. The Dutch in Cape Town are preparing for war with the English, which is likely to be fought in the next few months.And it is precisely based on this judgment that more than a thousand members of the Baoguo Army, which has been assigned to the South African Garrison's combat order, were urgently transferred to Xiqing Township to garrison, ready to intervene in the situation in British South Africa at any time, provided that they support If you can't live.

"Captain Yang, has the cargo arrived yet?" An Englishman named Kane came over and asked as he watched the team of mules and horses approaching in the distance.

"You will see you soon, Mr. Kane." Yang Liang looked at the middle-aged English man and said calmly: "Along with these goods, there is also a letter sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country to Sir Montagu. , I hope he can see it."

"Sir will read this letter, because I will hand it over to Sir." Kane said, "Thank you this time, East Coast people, although I don't know why you responded to our letter." Purchase requests, but your medicines and armaments have really helped us a lot."

Speaking of which, the diplomatic letter sent by Yang Liang to the Governor of British South Africa, Sir Montagu, was actually very simple in content. The letter expressly hopes that the English East India Company can carefully assess the huge risks faced by its South African colonies. If there is any disharmony, it is hoped that they will immediately notify the neighboring East Coast Army, let them enter the territory to help calm the situation, and then sign the colony Transfer agreement, for this reason, the East Coast people are willing to pay them a considerable amount of transfer money - of course, the letter also pointed out that if the English are willing to sell the South African colony now, the East Coast Fever is also willing to fully acquire it, but That's unlikely.

People on the east coast predict that the British in South Africa are not at the end of their ropes, and probably will not compromise with the people on the east coast.And only when the Dutch push them too hard, will these people obediently consider selling the South African colony, right?However, there are accidents in everything, and if South Africa’s situation is not guaranteed, there will be some moths. For example, the British are confident that they will win the naval battle with the United Provinces, and then force the three levels of the United Provinces to sign with them. A treaty favorable to England.At that time, the British proposed that the Netherlands should return the occupied British South Africa, which was nothing more than a sentence.

Therefore, things are impermanent. Even if the people on the east coast are very eager to obtain British South Africa, even if they have proposed and made a lot of preparations, they may not be able to guarantee that things will go in the direction they planned. .

The people on the east bank quickly completed the delivery of the goods with the British side. The British only paid a small part of coins. Yang Liang glanced casually and found that there were currencies from various countries, including British shillings and ancient coins from the Dutch East India Company. Alden, even the currencies of the Middle East and India are also wonderful.In addition to coins, they paid more in goods that people on the east coast needed, such as leather and wool.

And when it comes to these goods, we have to mention the light industrial workshops that have just been established in Hezhong County (thanks to the fact that the Hezhong area has become a local country in the legal sense, and it no longer has many constraints on industrial development like colonies). It is said that there are two seafood processing workshops, a leather tanning workshop, a soap making workshop and a small textile factory.Needless to say, the seafood workshop mainly processes cod caught off the coast of South Africa, seal meat from the coast of the Namib Desert, etc.; the leather tanning workshop imports various chemicals from the local area, and processes tanned leather, such as cow and sheep skin and seal skin, semi-manually and semi-mechanically. Wait, the profit margin is still acceptable; the soap workshop is similar to the leather tanning workshop, importing chemicals from the local area, and the tallow is made from local materials. The soap produced is not only supplied to itself and the surrounding areas, but also exported to Neue-Court in the north Lan, sales are also quite good.

Compared with the previous workshops, the enterprise named Hezhong Textile Factory (a local state-owned enterprise, the regional administrative office and the county government each hold half of the shares) is quite large in scale.They ordered textile equipment from the local area, hired experienced workers, and opened this small textile factory in the suburbs of Hezhong County in a stately manner. They used a lot of cheap wool produced locally to produce woolen fabrics. Except for some of their own use, they have now started Trying to sell to other places - Xie Hansan, commissioner of the Hezhong District Administrative Office, optimistically predicts that woolen cloth will be the fourth largest export commodity in Hezhong Region after liquor, wine, and grains, and may even rise to the No. [-] export commodity in the long run. After all, South Africa is still very suitable for the development of sheep farming.It is not so surprising, then, that the English exported hundreds of sacks of wool to the East Coast.

The British left quickly after receiving the goods. Yang Liang understood their urgency and didn't say anything more, but then checked the training of more than a thousand officers and soldiers of the National Defense Army.In a few days, his immediate boss, Commander of the South African Garrison, Xie Hansan, will come to inspect, and he doesn't expect to make a fool of himself.

Their training venue is in the wild, next to a residential area.Yang Liang looked around and saw a lot of green farmland beside the crooked shacks.Local residents opened up farmland along rivers and ponds—it is said that in order to compete for these fields near water sources, these immigrants fought for a lot—planting wheat, alfalfa, vegetables and fruits, all of which are suitable for the local soil crops.

The land near Xiqing Township, like most of the land in the Great and Little Karoo Plateaus, is the common light brown calcareous soil in the desert grasslands of South Africa.The humus in this kind of soil is not thick, but it contains a lot of calcium, alkali and phosphorus. There is no doubt that this kind of soil can only get a good harvest with intensive cultivation and intensive irrigation. If anyone dares to engage in large-scale extensive farming like the local If so, then nature will teach him to be a man every minute, and the land will be exhausted and degraded significantly.

And near the northern foot of Nanheng Mountain, some immigrants who didn't grab the irrigated land also worked hard to open up some dry land.Most of these dry lands are chestnut soils, developed on top of shale, containing more nutrients, relatively fertile, and able to be successfully cultivated.But the biggest problem is still the lack of water, and because the rainfall is concentrated in some days in summer and autumn, the water is evaporated in a large amount. A lot of water has seeped into the soil—and the soil in many places has typical characteristics of alkaline soil, which is not easy to develop, which makes people very helpless.

As Captain Yang, who has seen a lot of fertile land in his native land, he was deeply shocked by the barren soil in South Africa. At the same time, he also felt sorry for the group of more than 800 Tupi Indians who were exiled. They can only be destined for generations Living in this barren and dry land, if they were not killed by disease or Xhosa blacks.But then again, are the other [-] compatriots who are about to be exiled in Yicheng, New China and Australia lucky?Not necessarily!New China is a hotspot, with a high death rate, and is known as a place of miasma and epidemics; Yicheng area is a newly occupied land, with a harsh environment, and there are many vendettas with the natives, and it is not a good place; in comparison Well, Australia is much better than the above two places in terms of disease and safety, but the barren soil and extremely arid environment will also make people feel desperate, otherwise how can it be called exile?Exile, to put it bluntly, is for you to suffer and to be a king, not for you to live a good life!

"South Africa, that's all. Whether it's Hezhong County and Tianxiong County, which are called fertile, or Bailang County and Jingyuan County, which have always been barren, the achievements are just like that. In the future, they will export some wool, woolen cloth, wine and liquor. And leather—well, maybe some shiny diamonds—other than that, it’s really lackluster, compared to the thriving homeland, it’s like the territory of an old continent country, it’s so backward.” Yang Liang put the black-brimmed cap under his armpit on his head, and thought boredly: "If it weren't for the extremely important geographical location here, who the hell would come to this land shrouded in drought even if they are full? Alas, I don’t know what will happen to the British and Dutch in the south, can I seize the opportunity and make another contribution?”

Undoubtedly, the young Yang is very eager to make contributions.Captain Yang Da, who served as the leader of the field tour group for young officers on the east coast, organized several military operations against Portuguese Brazil, and led the successful night attack on the port of Diu, is now favored by many bigwigs in the army system. Appreciation, if he can make some great achievements in the South African River this time, wouldn't he become the No. 1 among the younger generation of officers who was promoted to major, then the future development prospects will be quite great.

Therefore, Captain Yang Liang is particularly looking forward to something happening between the British and Dutch East India Companies as soon as possible.Otherwise, how could there be a place for a "hero" like him!

(End of this chapter)