Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1255 Southwest Africa ([-])

South Africa in July is already relatively cold, but this can't stop the fiery enthusiasm of the River Central District Administration.

The orders from the central government have arrived, both from the State Council and from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No matter which order is signed by the Communist Party of China, it seems to mean that the local government is determined to fight—the Portuguese must be taken away. Get down!As for the target, it is naturally the Portuguese stronghold located in Angola, more precisely, the two port cities of Luanda and Benguela!Because only these two relatively large-scale cities have the ability to supply water and repair ships, and there may be certain weapons and ammunition in their ports, they must be captured to reduce the possible scope of activities of the Portuguese fleet.

The only question now is how to get there!You know, there may be Portuguese warships stationed there. Although there are some fishing boats in the river area, they obviously cannot fight the Portuguese, so this is very embarrassing.Fortunately, the liaison ship that arrived the day before yesterday told Commissioner Jiao and Commander Xie of the Hezhong area that three 1200-ton motor sailboats belonging to the Immigration Department had been called up urgently, and they were currently traveling day and night to Hezhong Port under the escort of two main battleships.These ships are powered by steam, and they are not comparable to the Portuguese ships in terms of maneuverability or speed. If they encounter a large Portuguese fleet, they will not be surrounded and wiped out at sea even if they lose. Therefore, they carried South Africa’s east coast troops It is still very appropriate to go to Angola for landing operations.

The sea battle will be under the command of Major Xie Hansan, the commander of the South African Garrison Army and the commander of the First Mixed Battalion. The participating troops include all 1450 people from the First Mixed Battalion, 1530 people from the two infantry battalions of the Black Eight Banners New Army, and an artillery company of nearly 8 people ( 2000 field artillery pieces), and there are already more than 550 people.In view of the fact that the war with the Kama Kingdom has not yet ended, the Hezhong Security Regiment ([-] people), the South African Cavalry Battalion (more than [-] cavalry) and a field artillery company still need to stay at home, so as not to be taken advantage of by the enemy when the army comes out in full force.

On July 1660, 7, the fleet escorted by the battleships "Fubo Wanli" and "Controlling the East" safely arrived at Dayuan Harbor in South Africa, and then began to unload people and goods at the pier—more than 10 melons from the mainland. The Lani people, these people have spent five years of hard labor on the east bank, and it is pure luck to survive. The people on the east bank also kept their promises and sent them to settle in South Africa. The quantity is varied. Weapons and ammunition, cloth, salt, medicine, food, metal utensils, agricultural machinery, etc. are all available. Most of them are imported goods from the river area all the year round. After all, the three ships came to South Africa, and they can't make a trip in vain. .

It is worth mentioning that due to the superior harbor conditions near Dayuan Township (that is, Saldanha), the main external window of the mid-river region of South Africa has been transferred here.Hezhong Port has also transferred a large number of business backbones in wharf, port affairs, ship repair, etc. to Dayuan Port to establish a new team. High, it is indeed a modern port.

The army soldiers and horses who will board the ship to fight in the northern Angola region arrived three days earlier than the navy. At this time, they were training on the school grounds on the outskirts of the port. On July 7, two fishing boats (more than 8 tons) belonging to South Africa were attacked by unknown sea forces off the coast of Hezhong Harbor and unfortunately sank.At that time, everyone on the lookout post of the fort in Hezhong Harbor saw it. Although the attacker did not display the national flag, everyone knew that it was the Portuguese. This unreasonably increased the tension in South Africa, as well as the hatred of the enemy.

Commanding this fast fleet this time—let’s call it that—is the captain of the battleship “Fubo Wanli” and Captain Mollie, a man under 30 years old, who sailed to the Netherlands as the captain of the escort gunboat (Escort for merchant ships), and also joined the Second Fleet to fight against French ships. With rich experience, he can be regarded as one of the representatives of the new generation of the navy.This time his fleet will be fully loaded with supplies and army officers and soldiers in the middle of the river, and then quietly head north to the port of Benguela, attacking the port city established by the Portuguese, provided that the enemy's main fleet is not here.

"Captain Mo, let's set off as soon as possible. The Portuguese ships attacked our fishing boats just two days ago, which shows that they have indeed come to Southwest Africa, and at least some of the ships have come here." Xie Hansan rode a black horse The Andalusian horse came to the pier and said to Captain Moreel with a worried face.During these days in South Africa, Xie Hansan had already fallen in love with this wild land, so he was particularly angry when he learned that the fishing boat was destroyed by the enemy and more than ten fishermen were buried in the sea. Send troops to the north as soon as possible, and take over the Portuguese colonial strongholds in one pot, so that they can no longer come to South Africa to do evil.

The military officers and civil affairs officials who followed Xie Hansan to the pier also had the same opinion, especially some grassroots officials in Dayuan Township, who looked down on the "sneaky" Portuguese who only dared to bully the fishing boats, and threatened one after another that if their superiors needed them, they would You can bring your own horses, food and bullets, go north along the Namib Desert, and hang the despicable Portuguese on the flagpole one by one. Two thousand kilometers, and densely covered with deserts and forests, an expedition on land is no different from courting death, but it also illustrates the determination of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the South African river area from the side.

"Commander Xie, I agree with you. Today the fleet will be replenishing, and the sailors will also have a brief rest. Tomorrow morning at [-] o'clock, all ministries will start boarding the ship in order, and then set off for the north." Mo wearing a sky-blue navy lieutenant uniform Lie Eel said, "From Dayuan Port to the north, you can go along the ocean current. The entire fleet can maintain a high speed of more than six knots for a long time, and you can reach the sea off Benguela Port in about eight or nine days. The premise is that we do not encounter strong winds. We can also pray to the gods to bless me. I didn’t encounter the main Portuguese fleet. Of course, it’s no big deal if I did. It’s just their old Galen sailing ships, which are as slow as turtles. Yes, we will not be able to catch up with us, so we can be safe and sound, at most we can find a way to change the landing place, it’s not a big problem.”

"Okay, you are experts in sea navigation, so I won't say much. I'm going to convene a meeting with the officers of the various ministries, and the whole army will start boarding the ship at [-]:[-] tomorrow morning. I hope that this attack on Angola will go well. Once Portugal is unplugged With these human nails, we will have more room for development in Southwest Africa in the future." After speaking, Xie Hansan gave a military salute, and then turned back surrounded by his subordinates.

……

And when Xie Hansan and others were planning to attack the port of Benguela in South Africa, on July 1660, 7, Li Renjun, who had a good relationship with Governor Hubert de Beveren of New Courland, was also at the time. After a long time, I took a boat again to Jakobshaven, the capital city of New Courland.

Since Li Renjun retired from the army with the rank of lieutenant, he has been conducting four-corner trade between his home country-South Africa-New Courland-Dutch Brazil. The business has flourished and he soon became rich.Therefore, in the past two years, this gentleman has been somewhat reclusive in Dongfang Port, and all kinds of business are mostly taken care of by his children or his captains.However, this time the matter is really important. Li Renjun, who was already unwilling to go to sea, refused the request of the Executive Committee, so he could only take a boat to Port Jacobs again, and discuss with Governor Beveren about jointly sending troops to attack Portugal. People's stronghold in Luanda.

To be honest, attacking the Portuguese stronghold in Southwest Africa—especially the slave and trading port with a high status—is simply unthinkable for the Principality of Courland.You know, Portugal has a population of 160 million and is a pioneer of sailing. It has a huge fleet and colonies all over the world. How can the effect of Courland, a Baltic Sea with a population of only 20, be comparable?

But what can I do?Now the people from the east coast are asking you to send troops!Not to mention how much commercial benefits the Courlandians have brought to the Courlands as a large agent of goods on the east coast in the Baltic Sea, the New Courland Colony, which is now isolated overseas (the country has perished...), is also completely Developed by trade with the east coast - they export tobacco, tropical giant trees, cabinda bark and Congo slaves (this is the largest export "goods") to the east coast, and then import sorghum, wheat, Livestock, all necessities for production and life, including salt, wine, cloth, medicine, ironware, construction materials, weapons and ammunition, machinery and equipment, were imported from the east coast. It can be said that the east coast supported the trade of New Courland. A word from the people of the shore can make them a lot of money, and the same word can make New Courland fall into hell, life is worse than death.

Therefore, you can now understand how uncomfortable Governor Beveren felt when Li Renjun came to Port Jacob with the wishes of the members of the executive committee.However, no matter how uncomfortable it is, the order must be carried out. As the favorite of Grand Duke Jacob, Governor Beveren knew that the people on the east bank could not refuse no matter what, so after a little thought, he "frankly" agreed to Li Renjun's proposal. The request stated that the knights of New Courland would be summoned as quickly as possible, and at least [-] musketeers would be assembled to follow in the footsteps of the people on the east coast to attack the ports and trading posts of Portuguese Southwest Africa.

Having said that, I have to mention that the Courlandians now have quite a large territory in the Congo River Basin. The first two colonial towns established by them, Jacobshaven and the Knights Fortress, had 1.5 years ago. Thousands of white settlers (more than half of them are Polish and Lithuanian who immigrated with their families to escape the war), the scale is really amazing. In the history of white colonization overseas, it is estimated that it is also comparable to the madness of the later Irish immigrants to North America-of course The Irish can get so many people because Poland, with its large population, has been caught in years of war, and has invaded the local Sweden, and the Russian army has poor military discipline (even the Prussians, Transylvanians, Tatars The Tartars also went to Poland to make a fortune), burned, killed and looted all kinds of crimes, which objectively contributed to the immigration of the Kurlanders.

However, this country was unfortunately destroyed by Sweden in 1658. The well-prepared Archduke Jacob took [-] standing troops and their families to exile in Germany.Later, these standing troops and their families came to New Courland to settle in batches by boat, which once caused financial and material tension in New Courland.At this time, the people on the east coast extended a helping hand. The New World Friendship and Mutual Bank provided them with a long-term low-interest loan in the form of food, medicine, building materials, weapons and tools, and helped them establish Baojianwan Town and These two new settlements in Duke Town are used to accommodate new immigrants—most of these people are soldiers from the standing army of the Principality of Courland. As long as they pass through the difficult initial period, they will naturally be able to gain benefits by launching a war with blacks later. , thereby consolidating the colonial rule of the Courlandians in the Congo River Basin.

More than two years have passed, and the population of the entire New Courland colony has exceeded [-]. The export of tobacco, tropical giant trees, and slaves has increased year after year, and the economy has shown a clear upward trend.After listening to the report from his subordinates, the Grand Duke Jacob, who lives in Hamburg, has officially ordered the fief of his heir Frederick to be set in the duke town of New Courland. The sword that conquered the local blacks.

Well, now these knights may not have time to play with the black sorghum for the time being. Next, under the order of Governor Beveren, they will bring their own soldiers and join the guard directly under the governor to gather in Port Jacob , ready to respond to the call of the people on the east bank to go to Luanda to fight against the Portuguese.However, this seems to have to wait until the warships from the east coast arrive. At this time, there are only two or three merchant ships in Jacob's Harbor, and they are about to set sail for Europe (full of goods from the east coast). Courland musketeers were transported to Angola.Besides, they didn't dare. When there was no battleship escort, a fool would bump into Luanda head-on. What if they were caught and sunk by a Portuguese battleship?

On July 1660, 7, just as the Latvians had assembled, four east coast ships (two battleships + two motor sailboats) commanded by Navy Captain Moreel also quietly arrived in Port Jacob.

They have just come over from Benguela.

On July 7, five ships from the east coast sailed to the sea off the port of Benguela, and then took advantage of the opportunistic opportunity of the thick fog at sea to forcibly break into the port of Benguela, which had only a few coastal defense guns.At that time, the two Portuguese armed merchant ships anchored in the port were caught off guard by the two main warships on the east coast, and they both sank into the Atlantic Ocean.Then the 18-odd East Coast Army under the command of Major Xie Hansan landed at the dock area without any interference. After a short and intense melee, more than [-] Portuguese soldiers and their black servants were killed, wounded, and captured. Then the remaining hundreds of Portuguese (including businessmen, missionaries, slave catchers, colonial officials and their families) were surrounded in a small fortress, and it was only a matter of time before it was conquered.

And seeing this situation, after leaving a 1200-ton motor sailing ship between South Africa and Benguela, Captain Moreel commanded the remaining four ships and went north to Port Jacobs as planned, intending to take over the Lead the Courlandian army to attack another important stronghold of the Portuguese in Southwest Africa—and also the largest stronghold—the port of Luanda, so as to completely cut off the Portuguese foothold in Southwest Africa.After all, although there are some other small strongholds or commercial stations set up by the Portuguese on the entire coast of Angola, they are not capable of supplying large fleets due to population size and economic development, so they can be ignored unless The Portuguese dispersed the Grand Fleet to resupply in pieces.

The fleet of Moller Eel and others stayed in Jacob's Harbor for two days. On July 7, 26 Courland musketeers led by ten knights boarded the ships of the East Coasters one by one, ready to ride the wind and waves Go straight to the port of Luanda.It's just that when they just sailed out of the port, something bloody happened. The battleship "Fubo Wanli" walking in the forefront discovered that a huge naval fleet (about twenty ships) was going along Sailing north along the coastline, it seemed to be one of the Portuguese main fleet they had been looking for for a long time.

(End of this chapter)