Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 193 The Predicament of the Fort in the River ([-])

The battle was soon over.

The army soldiers rushed into the village in one go, and then firmly controlled the village with the cooperation of the local militia and some Khoisan slave rowers.Then, some Khoisan people who had dealt with these black people took the initiative to stand up, and they led the army soldiers in platoons to search for personnel and count materials.

Anda Fifteen sat on the ground slumped.Two military medical officers came to rescue him, but Liu Dayou still failed to survive.This young man who had just given birth was stabbed with a transparent hole in his abdomen, and his intestines were broken into several pieces.By the time the military medical officer came, he was basically in a dying state, and all the military medical officer could do was to clean his wound and bandage it up a bit.As for surgery, I'm sorry, they didn't learn it in the local medical school, and they don't have the corresponding equipment.Liu Dayou's abdomen was pierced by a rusty iron spear. Even if no organs were injured, the wound infection would probably kill him.

A strong man like Mo Ming was poked by the Khoisan's iron spear, and he had to lie on the bed for several days before he survived the wound infection period by luck, otherwise he would have become another time traveler who died in the line of duty.

From Anda Shiwu's point of view, strictly speaking, he was also responsible for Liu Dayou's death.First of all, he killed an enemy who was sneaking up on him, otherwise he would probably be injured or die, which is hard to say.Therefore, in Anda Shiwu's heart, he owed Liu Dayou a lot.Before the war, he promised Liu Dayou to take care of his relatives, so he could only make up for it from this aspect.

Liu Dayou was only one of the 21 soldiers who died in battle today. In addition, 22 others were injured in varying severity, and the casualty rate reached a quarter.Almost all the casualties occurred in the head-on hand-to-hand combat with these Bantu blacks, and the relatively "tragic" casualties are speechless.

For such a result, Lieutenant Xie Hansan, the company commander, said that the success of this battle was mainly due to his support.He launched an attack before the artillery was ready, and underestimated the enemy and caused more than 40 casualties. This is a command error, and he will ask the higher authorities for punishment.

The wounded have been placed in a temporary camp by the militia, and two military medical officers are sweating profusely to take care of them.As for the remaining soldiers, they took up their rifles and rushed into the Bantu black village in full armor, assisted by a hundred Khoisan slaves (composed of oarsmen and cannon pullers) , All the remaining blacks were driven out of the house and put under centralized surveillance.

Most of the more than 300 strong black men who participated in the attack were killed, and a small number of them were captured. There were about 70 people.These Bantu blacks basically didn't run around after the defeat. They seemed to have a sense of territory and property. Most of them fled back to their houses, and were caught by the army soldiers who were chasing them.

There are about 700 black people, old and weak, women and children left in the village. All these people were driven to an open space by the soldiers and tied together firmly with ropes.

According to the reports of several Khoisan slaves who are proficient in the language of Bantu blacks, these blacks are all Xhosa people who migrated from the east.It is said that a brave chief came out of the east, and the tribe is also very powerful. This ambitious chief is forcibly annexing some of the surrounding tribes.The tribes that did not want to be annexed were either wiped out or forced to migrate, from where this small Xhosa tribe in front of me migrated.

The basic tribal unit of the Xhosa or Bantu blacks throughout South Africa is called "Klar".Each kraal contains from a few to dozens of huts, and the people who live in the huts generally come from a patrilineal family.At the center of the Kral is a large livestock pen that houses the family's cattle and sheep.Huts surrounding livestock fences constituted a basic unit of the Xhosa tribe.It can also be seen from this that animal husbandry occupies an important position in the lives of the Xhosa people.

The soldiers cleaned every hut carefully, and sorted the collected things into the open space.Xie Hansan casually walked over to a pile of items and looked at them. There were some agricultural tools and sundries here.Surprisingly, the Xhosa had already used iron farm implements.In addition to farm tools, there are also some wooden bowls, cups, plates, mats, baskets, baskets, bags and other items, which shows that their handicraft industry is also very developed, at least the level of iron smelting, carpentry, and weaving is not low.

Xie Hansan went to another pile of items to look again, and here were some animal skins, tools and pottery.The hides have been preliminarily processed and tanned, which shows that they have the ability to handle hides.The level of pottery production is not bad, at least the water pots, cups and other items are still decent in Xie Hansan's eyes.The tools are basically made of iron, and a small part is made of copper. According to the purpose, there are hoes, axes, knives, awls, drills, pliers, hammers and other tools.

In general, the level of civilization of this Xhosa tribe is not low, at least much stronger than those Guarani or Chaluya people encountered by people on the east coast in South America.The Xhosa tribe already had an obvious division of labor in production, which is an important symbol of the transition from primitive society to slave society.

However, these are not the focus of East Coasters today.What they cared about was how much food they could seize during this trip. After all, the Hezhong Fort was almost overwhelmed, and they pointed at the troops to grab some food and go back for emergency.Fortunately, this Xhosa tribe still has some food in stock, which did not disappoint everyone too much.

When bags of food were taken out of the huts and piled on the ground, some local militiamen in the river castle couldn't help cheering.Even those army soldiers with strict military discipline couldn't help smiling.

Xie Hansan unwrapped a bag and took a look. It was full of plump red sorghum grains.Sorghum is a widely grown crop in Africa, with many varieties and relatively high yields. It is the main crop grown by these Bantu black people.They grind sorghum into flour and eat it as porridge, to which some wealthy Bantu people add dairy products.

Xie Han weighed it three times and found that each bag of sorghum weighed more than 20 catties.At present, there are no less than [-] neat sorghum bags stacked on the ground, and the soldiers are still carrying them out.In addition to sorghum, the Xhosa also planted some cash crops such as sesame and peanuts, but not in large quantities.Those who lack oil extraction skills do not understand the value of these two crops at all, and they just treat them as ordinary food.

In Bantu society, women are responsible for farming and handicrafts, while men are responsible for herding and fighting.Therefore, animal husbandry is also extremely important in the production and life of the Bantu people, and it is the main channel for them to obtain dairy products, meat, animal skins, and oil.Thus, the Bantu blacks, unlike those of the Khoisan, did not have hunting as a major activity in their lives.

The counting of cattle and sheep is a great harvest.The following Khoisan slaves pulled more than 100 cows and more than 500 sheep from dozens of Kral livestock fences. The number of these livestock far exceeded the expectations of the people on the east coast.If they rely on their own grazing, it will take at least a year or even several years to save so many cattle and sheep.

Seeing these materials, Xie Hansan couldn't help sighing, robbery is the fastest way to get rich at any time.More than 1 catties of sorghum, more than 600 heads of livestock, and a small amount of food such as peanuts and sesame seeds have been counted, which is almost the grain of these Xhosa people for more than a month.However, in the less populated Hezhongbao, it is enough for all the current population to eat for more than two months.

If the time comes, if you plan more carefully, that is, cut the grass to feed the livestock, with some dairy products produced by the livestock, you can last for three months.However, there is still about half a year until next year's summer harvest. This amount of food is definitely not enough, and then we have to think of a way.

"After the personnel and materials are counted, send someone back to inform Hezhong Fort immediately, so that they are ready to receive, we... have made a fortune!" Xie Hansan said, although he was not in a good mood at the moment, but when he said this His tone was still light.

The messenger quickly got on the horse, and then ordered a few local militiamen with horses as guards, and roared back to the original road together.

After handling the materials, the next step is how to deal with the captured Xhosa.Most of these Xhosa people are old and weak, women and children, plus a few able-bodied men, the number exceeds 70.At this time, these people were all sitting on the ground, their hands and feet were tightly bound together by hemp rope.Xie Hansan looked around, the faces of these people were full of fear, even the more than [-] strong and strong men who participated in the previous battles lost their previous arrogance at this moment, and each of them drooped their heads.

"There are so many people, you can take them back to the Fort in the River and put them under custody first. After they have tempered their temperament, they can be used as serfs or shepherds to farm and herd. There is a shortage of people over there." Deputy company commander Lan Guo Walked up, looked at those black people and said.

"The country doesn't have a clear statement on how to deal with black people." Xie Hansan said, "Let's do it for now. But I have to make it clear to Lao Mo that these black people can't be sold to private individuals as slaves, and the country doesn't allow private slaves, especially Still niggers."

"Well, that's the reason." Lan Guo nodded, "These black people can be treated as state slaves and used to cultivate the public land that will be opened up later."

"But before that, I need to improve the memory of these Xhosa people, so as to save them from having any wrong thoughts in the future." Xie Hansan's face suddenly became a little grim, "Now we have to give them a A profound lesson, let them realize that any attempt to resist us is a dead end."

"What are you going to do?" Lan Guo was a little surprised.Xie Hansan's usual temper is actually not bad, but today he said such cruel words, it seems that he was stimulated by the tragic casualties in the previous battle.Alas, honest people will get angry too, let him go, why not just kill a few black people.

Xie Hansan said coldly: "Whether men, women, old people or children, all of them form groups of ten, and each group kills one person!"

"The Eleven Smash Law!" Lan Guo stared at him dumbfounded, but finally did not express any objection.

(End of this chapter)