Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1937 West Indian Ocean (22)

On March 1686, 3, a long procession was walking alone on the Great Karoo Plateau.

They went north from Guangcheng County, passed through Wukeshu Township (located near the later Kirkwood Township), a settlement established by the people on the East Coast on the Little Karoo Plateau, and then turned northwest and entered the Great Karoo Plateau , the final destination is Tuobei Township (located near the later Yangsenweier Township) - by the way, here is an additional introduction, Guangcheng County is a county just established in January this year, under the jurisdiction of Guangcheng Township, Yincheng Township, and Xinxi Township , Beiwei Township, Wukeshu Township and Zhenhe Township (located near the later Patenxi Township), a total of six townships, with a total of more than 1 residents, is the 7000th county-level administrative unit in the country.

This army was well supplied when it set off from Guangcheng County to the north, so when it went through hardships and crossed mountains and arrived in the arid desert area, it still maintained a high morale.At this time, Tuobei Township, a small town with more than [-] land reclamation immigrants, is already far away. The two leaders who led the team looked at each other and quietly breathed a sigh of relief: the journey of suffering is finally over, and everyone in the future can finally I live leisurely in a house provided by the local government, with hot water to burn my feet, and delicious meals. I don’t know how much better than the current life of eating and sleeping in the open.

"Captain Meng, although the higher-ups didn't expressly ask me to lead the team to send you north and establish a new settlement, I can guess one or two. Let me ask, do you also think that the arid desert in the north Is there any gold here?" Cavalry Major Lai Weizhong spit out saliva containing fine grains of sand, squinted his eyes and asked: "You know, the dog's head gold in the hands of those natives may not really be produced there, or they may pass through Trade, robbery or other ways. You know, those people have a very low level of civilization, and they are always stupid. They can't explain the origin of these dog's head gold. Therefore, the superiors just rely on these clues to send people all the way to The establishment of settlements in the north is actually biased."

"Major Lai, it's actually easy to understand about this." Meng Xiaohu wiped his face with a towel, and then explained: "Perhaps the members of the executive committee are not sure whether there is gold in the desert to the north, but because they live in The natives there have a lot of dog's head gold in their hands, so it is worth sending an expedition team to investigate. This is what we are playing now. You also know that the international silver price is changing every day, and the value has been showing This is not very beneficial to any country that implements the silver standard system. Therefore, the Executive Committee now feels that it is necessary to control as much gold as possible, and then reform the current gold and silver bistandard system that has been implemented in my country for many years. Very important thing."

"Walking around, you can't do without a word of money in the end." Lai Weizhong shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Okay, now let's take a good rest in Tuobei Township, and then go north quickly with full energy. Conduct a thorough inspection of that desert to protect national interests to the greatest extent."

The two chatted and laughed like this, and arrived at the outside of Tuobei Township, and the main cadres of the local township government had already greeted them outside.They had reason to look forward to this team, because they carried a large number of labor tools, daily necessities, weapons and ammunition, all of which were to be handed over to the Tuobei Township government.

"Are those remnants of the Kama Kingdom still safe?" As soon as he met the head of Tuobei Township, Lai Weizhong asked about the local security situation, which was obviously one of his duties.

"It's pretty safe!" The mayor of Tuobei Township immediately replied: "They are not stupid, they know that we are not easy to mess with, so they rarely come to our side to make trouble, and they only care about bullying other black tribes to expand their territory and strength. Yes. The remaining nobles of the Karma Kingdom can now write in Dutch, and their civilization level is much higher than other black tribes, and the work of 'precursors for the king' has been done very well."

Hearing what the mayor said, Lai Weizhong burst out laughing.Being the pioneer of the king is the last point of the definition of the remaining strength of the Kama Kingdom by the people on the east coast, that is, relying on their defeated generals to fight conquest wars in other black ghettos, so that black people can be passively reduced in the mutual consumption, thus to achieve their own goals.

In fact, if the British and the Dutch knew about this kind of policy, they would definitely beat their chests and sigh!Because in their view, these black people are resources, money, and valuable labor. How could they be willing to consume each other?However, the colonization method of the people on the east coast is different from them. They are real immigrants, robbing the land under the sun. How could it be possible to allow too many blacks to stay here?Therefore, let them consume each other first, and then wait until about the same time, the main force on the east coast will come out and clean them up.

"It's a miracle that this group of undefeated slickers are still alive after decades." Lai Weizhong shook his head lightly, and said in a slightly sighing tone: "Thinking about how big it was back then." When Shuai led his troops to fight these guys for the first time, we were only confined to a few strongholds near Hezhong County, and we fought endlessly with them for a stronghold in Gaoda Township that entered the Dongshan Mountains. At that time, Kema of the Kingdom of Kama Never did the Sa people expect to have what it is today, and we didn’t expect to sweep the entire southern Africa in just a few decades, right?”

In other words, the people on the east coast really have no burden to occupy the vast land of southern Africa.The original owners of this land, the Khoisan Reds, have all died out (the few who did not die were incorporated into the Eight Banners of South Africa and slowly consumed), and the East Coasters and blacks are all outsiders to this land. Can compete freely without any moral pressure.

Now under the pressure of decades of competition, Southern Africa, which was gradually blackening, has entered the yellowing stage.Settlements on the east bank were established one by one on the land, and then the Xhosa blacks were squeezed out step by step through guns and bayonets to expand their living space.In fact, to a certain extent, the people on the east coast have never organized many large-scale offensives against the Xhosa blacks. All of them are temporary offensive operations for the purpose of fighting for land. kind of a good thing.

But even with this kind of periodic and intermittent military operations, the low-civilized Xhosa blacks couldn’t bear it, so that they were squeezed from the southwest to the east, and the large plateau in the middle became the pastures and fields of the people on the east coast. .Now, after a period of silence, the people on the east bank finally "remembered" the remaining strength of the Kama Kingdom, and planned to expand their territory northward. The direct reason for this was the rumor that there was gold in the north.

This rumor is actually just a rumor, and it would not have any great influence.But who made the Hezhong District Administrative Office feel melancholy because of the high debts caused by the South African Railway?In addition, news of a large gold mine was also heard in Yiyang Bay next door. Therefore, the Hezhong District Administrative Office, which was in financial difficulties, changed its strategy and began to advance step by step from Guangcheng County to the north. While attacking the Xhosa black forces, while Find the legendary gold mine.

It can be said that the multi-shore colonial forces in the entire land of South Africa are basically fascinated by gold.Although the gold cannot be directly used for consumption, it must be transported to the mainland to be cast into gold coins as a gold reserve, but the government will also "settle foreign exchange" for them based on a certain percentage, and return them to these local governments in the form of materials and part of the money, so this There are still big profits to be made in it.

And here is an extra kick, the so-called South African Railway that traverses the entire river area is now very close to being fully connected after years of investment and construction.To be honest, this railway cost a lot of money to go up and down in South Africa. Everyone knows this, and no one can guarantee whether this railway can make a profit in the short term and improve the finances of the River Central District Administration.Therefore, ready-made gold is more attractive, although its specific location also seems somewhat illusory.

"I heard that Regiment Commander Yang Liang is in the area of ​​Yiyang Bay to reorganize the army, and he seems to be making moves. Is there any news from your army?" At this time, Meng Xiaohu, who had been keeping quiet before, spoke and asked.

"The First Regiment of the Army may continue to produce for a period of time before they can move westward. War needs money, but they don't have the budget, so they can only rely on the assistance of the local government. However, the determination to move westward should not change. Yes, the news about the gold mine over there is much more accurate than ours. Once the conditions are met, the main force of the first regiment will definitely move westward and completely control the gold mine and coal mining area." Lai Weizhong said.

It is said that more and more political situations now show that there is a huge amount of coal buried under the ground in South Africa, and the quality is very good, and there are all kinds of coal. It is simply a treasure house.Therefore, for the East Coast, which lacks industrial coal and steam coal, the importance of South Africa has risen to the core level. The future of shore development.

In addition to coal, more and more people are amazed by South Africa's diamond and gold reserves.This can be seen from the recent frequent adjustments and deployments of the east coast government, shifting the focus of colonization from the west coast to the east, and now their desire to control several large gold mines to complete gold reserves is very strong.

"It's right to lay a solid foundation first. After all, Europeans don't know that there are big gold mines in South Africa, and no one will compete with us here. And when they get the news, we have already taken root there. I can’t shake it anymore. I just hope that in this process, try to be as gentle as possible. The Eight Banners soldiers and civilians who migrated from Xinhua Island are also barbaric, and they have caused a lot of humanitarian disasters.” Meng Xiaohu sighed softly. tone, said.

Lai Weizhong curled his lips quietly and said nothing.How can there be no death in war!If this Meng Xiaohu knew about the "humanitarian crisis" that the mainland had recently created on the Chaco Plain, he would have cried out in the first place!

Been busy recently.I had a fever and a cold today. After running outside for a day, I was really exhausted.I have to get up at six o'clock tomorrow to go to work early, my mind is groggy, my eyes are inflamed, and my physical condition is about to explode.So much more first, sorry, I went to sleep.

(End of this chapter)