Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1485 Strategic Encirclement ([-])

Captain Yang Liang stood on the pier of New Montpellier Port, looking at everything around him with satisfaction.

Here is Port Elizabeth of South Africa, one of the main port cities on the southern coast of the country, with a huge throughput.It was built during the British colonial period, when they migrated 5000 Englishmen from the mainland at one time to settle here, and it has developed rapidly since then.To be honest, New Montpellier is actually not a good port. Although it has a large scale in later generations, although it is located in a bay, due to the large opening of the coast, it is impossible to effectively resist and weaken the big waves coming from the open sea. Affects the anchorage of ships.

Therefore, compared with good overseas ports such as Dayuan Port, Jinshan Port, Yicheng Port, Gushan Port, and Xinhua Port, the natural conditions of New Montpellier are still relatively poor.The French also had no place to choose. In the end, they had no choice but to set up New Montpellier here as a temporary place to stay, but it turned out that they were not lucky. Their king went to war with Spain in order to fight for inheritance, and the east coast was passively involved. In the end, he won such a place with ease.

The attack on the colony of New Brittany (New Montpellier is its capital, in fact, the entire colony is just this one town at present) was lackluster. In fact, when Captain Yang got the news and quickly ordered hundreds of When South Africa entered the sphere of influence of the French, more than 800 French colonists here had already surrendered to the warships on the east coast. The people on the east coast only fired one shell from the beginning to the end, and the French surrendered immediately. Now, this is beyond people's expectations, but it is also reasonable, because the French here are so poor!

How poor are they?When the East Coast Army landed in the port of New Montpellier, the French even asked the new conquerors to give them a little food, so that they would not starve to death in the next difficult winter and spring. This may also be the main reason why the French surrendered quickly.

Captain Yang Liang was probably speechless about this.Because before that, he had briefly fantasized in his mind how the French in New Brittany were unyielding and stubborn to the end, and how he fought bravely with all kinds of tricks, and finally took the entire colony completely.As a result, the navy actually made hundreds of bitter Frenchmen surrender with only one shell, which made him so embarrassed!

But in any case, to solve the French South African colony without bloodshed and bring it into the rule of the people on the east coast-it is conceivable that even if the east coast and France start peace negotiations in the future, it is probably impossible for New Brittany to return Going back is a good thing anyway, because it means another expansion of the East Bank in South Africa, and it is one step closer to taking all of South Africa.

And what are the benefits of taking all of South Africa?Oh, that's too much!Not to mention South Africa's rich mineral resources (including coal, gold, manganese ore, chrome ore, etc.) It is not an exaggeration to call Cape Town in the hands of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, because at this time, the Suez Canal has been gradually silted up and closed in the long river of history, and it will no longer return to the important position of connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in ancient times. —Of course, even after the reopening of the Suez Canal in later generations, due to various factors such as its width and depth, many large ships still have to sail around the Cape of Good Hope (just like many super large ships cannot go through the shallow and silted Strait of Malacca. It is the same around the strait), and stopped in South Africa for supplies and repairs (during South Africa was sanctioned, it stopped at Antsiranana for supplies), which shows its importance.

However, the risk of taking all of South Africa is not small, because this is a very hateful thing.European countries such as England, the United Provinces, and France will naturally be very dissatisfied. Even the monarchs or businessmen of the Italian states who have always cooperated closely and have good relations with the East Coast probably do not want to see such a situation of dominance. .Therefore, the competition for South Africa in the future should be more intense, and the situation will also be repeated to a certain extent, which is predictable.

However, no matter how many difficulties there are, the determination of the East Coast Republic of China to take all of South Africa is still extremely firm!They don't know what the future of South Africa will be like, but the guns in the hands of the 200 million people on the east coast are not firesticks. If people from the old continent want to grab them, then let them try it out. It's a big deal. Let's see. Let's see who can't hold it first.

"Captain Yang, thank you for your assistance, but British South Africa is more important, you should hurry back to help. The order from King Charles has just been sent here, and the representatives of the East India Company are still on the way and have not arrived in time. What kind of moths will come out, it's better to be careful. I remember that the governor of the other side, Sir Montague, never treats us very much. I'm worried that he will play tricks inside, which must be guarded against." Army Captain Peng Yuanzhi Said.

"It doesn't matter, the local British soldiers are mainly republican soldiers. They don't have much affection for the East India Company or Sir Montagu. They worked for them before, but they did it as a last resort. Now that British South Africa has officially It was placed under the rule of the East Coast Republic of China, and many local people chose to stay and become citizens of the East Coast, so these soldiers pushed away poor Sir Montague, and it is their due to be used by the East Coast people from now on. I would like to." Yang Liang said confidently, but Xu was unwilling to stay here to cause misunderstandings, making Peng Yuanzhi feel that he was here to fight for merit, so he quickly changed the subject and said: "But what you said That's right, staying outside for a long time is not a problem. Now that there is an army led by you to maintain order here, then I will not delay, and I will return to Brie city today and tomorrow to clean up the local order."

After the two exchanged military salutes, they separated. Next, Peng Yuanzhi will lead a company of the New China Infantry Battalion and several island Eight Banners native soldiers to rebuild order in New Brittany and establish a depth outward to monitor the natives. Because their biggest enemy is no longer the French, but the black forces that may break out with them.

Captain Yang Liang dispatched Lai Weichang, an officer of the South African Cavalry Battalion, to lead 300 people to the vicinity of the later city of Mossel Bay when he was taking care of the head and tail of the British South Africa this time. Brittany, destroy the local French.As a result, when the order in British South Africa was rectified and he arrived at the temporary supply base, the news of the Navy’s Second Fleet attacking French South Africa also came. Going in, I felt the city of New Montpellier after traveling day and night, but at that time the only town in New Brittany had changed hands, and the flag of the East Coast Republic of China was flying high, which made Captain Yang feel a little bit emotional for a while. complex.

But it doesn't matter, it's okay if you didn't take the credit for taking the French South African colony. You have already stabilized the situation in British South Africa with a thunderbolt, leaving some dissatisfied people with no place to jump up and down. Great work, the superior will not miss it.That's all, let's go back to British South Africa first—oh, yes, it's all East South Africa now—and go back to Fort Charles first to prevent the Dutch in Cape Town from doing anything else.

Yang Liang's troops began to return after the supplies were over. They still followed the old path, with one man and two horses, and their movement speed was still very fast.At this time, South Africa is still bitterly cold in winter, and the howling cold wind mixed with fine snowflakes hits people's faces, which makes people feel a little painful intuitively.However, everyone is a veteran who has lived in South Africa for many years. They have never seen any scenes, and since there are no combat missions, they are more relaxed, so everyone's morale is quite high.

"The Port of New Montpellier is probably the easternmost point of the southern coastal plain in South Africa. The end of the North Hengshan Mountains extends here. According to previous information, extending northeast from here is the Kama Kingdom and some Zulus. It is a place where the power of the tribes in the language is intertwined. Those Zulus have been defeated by the Kama Kingdom for many years. It is said that many tribes and lands have been annexed, but it should almost stop here. Without the British, With the trade support of the Dutch, the Kama Kingdom will not be around for long. The reason why they don’t move him now is that there is no such demand. Let them fight with the Zulu first. This is the so-called driving tiger and wolf It is also the most cost-effective way of colonization.” Yang Liang, who was riding on a horse, looked at the North Hengshan Mountains in his field of vision, and said with a smile: “Barbarians are barbarians. How could this kind of thing be so easy? Without the sacrifice of blood and life, and without the change of the power of the ruling class, they are at best just scratching the surface. Haha, now it seems that’s all there is to it.”

This time they were traveling in the south-west direction, and after traveling more than 100 kilometers, they would arrive at the coastal plain near St. Francis Bay in later generations, and the eastern end of the South Hengshan Mountains happened to be located there.At that time, the team will march west along the southern foot of the majestic mountains, pass through the small coastal plain, and arrive at the British South African colony.

However, although these coastal plains are small in size, they are the most important agricultural production areas in southern South Africa because of abundant rainfall, suitable climate, and relatively fertile soil: wheat, sorghum, corn, grapes, citrus, and tobacco are all available. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a granary. In addition, the geographical location is relatively important, and it is the land that people on the east coast must seize and quickly.

Don’t you see, since the Dutch East India Company occupied Cape Town and gradually expanded some land to the periphery, and migrated a large number of immigrants from the United Provinces, the neighboring German region, and the French Protestant area, the Dutch South African colony The development of the development is a bit of a taste of rapid progress.They have done a particularly good job in agriculture, which probably has something to do with the fact that the agricultural technology of the United Provinces is at the top of the world at this time.These Boers quickly accumulated a lot of wealth by planting grapes to make wine, selling wheat, vegetables, melons and fruits to ships from various countries, selling bacon or bacon to ships from other countries, etc.-of course they did a good job in business Excellent, the entrepot trade with the east coast, the trade of wool and leather livestock with the Karma Kingdom, etc., also brought them a lot of profits, but these were not as dazzling as their achievements in agriculture.

However, the happy days of the Dutch may not be able to last for too long, especially after the people on the east coast annexed the two colonies of British South Africa and French South Africa in lightning in 1667, thus forming a strategic encirclement of Dutch South Africa. Even more so.The Dutch are probably aware of this as well, which can be seen from the fact that they tried their best to take down the British South Africa before, so that they would not let the East Coasters surround them from the flank.It's a pity that their efforts failed due to the international situation and the precise operation of the East Coast government. In the end, the British South Africa still fell into the hands of the East Coast people, which made the Governor of Cape Town, Van Riebeck, very anxious - he didn't know where the future would be. After knowing all the details of the behind-the-scenes transactions between the East Coast and the United Kingdom, will they regret giving the people of the East Coast the right of first refusal on New Netherland? That is really a too casual promise.

There is no doubt that the current Dutch South Africa is occupying an increasingly important position on the huge business map of the East India Company, and the investment it can attract is also increasing.Therefore, the Dutch will not give up the Cape Town colony. Of course, they are very wary of the ambitions of the people on the east coast to expand in South Africa, especially in the East Indies, Ceylon, India, Taiwan, Japan, etc. The local East India Company, although they have made a lot of money relying on the people on the east coast over the years, this does not mean that they will sit back and watch their lifeline of making money be coveted by others.Therefore, it is probably a high probability event that the Dutch East India Company will take measures to curb the expansion ambitions of the East Bank in South Africa in the future, but they just don't know what they will do.

But it is conceivable that because South Africa has high-quality coal, chromium-manganese and other metal mines that are urgently needed by the east coast industry, as well as attractive diamonds, gold, and platinum group metals, the east coast is also abnormal for anyone who tries to prevent them from taking all of South Africa. Those who are vigilant can even resort to force for this purpose.I only hope that the Dutch can see the strong determination of the East Coast Republic of China to "defend South Africa", and then carefully weigh the risk of offending the East Coast. Otherwise, conflicts between these two countries that are currently very close in the future will be difficult to avoid, especially in the When other countries get involved, this kind of conflict is likely to escalate into a war, which is very detrimental to the East Coast Republic, which has always upheld peaceful development and free trade.

However, no matter how unfavorable it is, it will not be able to shake the grand strategy of taking all the people from the east coast to South Africa. Let's see what the future holds.But at the moment, the people on the east bank are still implementing their plans step by step, such as further in-depth implementation of military strikes against the Karma Kingdom.

(End of this chapter)