Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 195 The Predicament of the Fort in the River ([-])

Fort in the River is busy accepting new immigrants, while the army on the expedition is scratching their heads on how to transport the captured supplies and prisoners.The place where the Xhosa people live is still about six or seven kilometers away from the river. This distance is not close or far.It is naturally very easy for people who walk lightly, but if you are transporting a large amount of goods without means of transportation, then this distance is very fatal.

Today's Army soldiers on the expedition are facing such a dilemma.They seized more than 600 catties of grain and more than 700 livestock, but lacked sufficient means of transportation to transport them away, let alone more than [-] captives whose legs and feet were trembling with fright.The cruel [-]th slaughter performed by the people on the east coast broke their hearts and gallbladders. Many people were ready to escape at any time, but they couldn't find the opportunity.

Faced with such a situation, the army commander, Lieutenant Xie Hansan, could only pick out some black men who were reasonably fit and let them carry some supplies by themselves, and then moved them to the riverside under the supervision of soldiers on the east bank.After going back and forth like this several times, finally before the sun set, the people on the east bank successfully transported the seized food, fur, ivory, grease and other items to the riverside.

And those Khoisan slaves, driven by the local militia, transported these materials to small boats, and the small boats went down the river from here, and it only took more than a day to reach the fort in the river.As for the cattle and sheep, the remaining Xhosa could only be driven towards the Fort in the River. Of course, they were also under the supervision of the soldiers on the east bank.

Surprisingly, the Xhosa were generally cooperative.Perhaps they were frightened by the thunderous tactics of the people on the east coast, or maybe it was the years of tribal annexation wars that made them accustomed to submitting to the conquerors. In short, they were obedient and drove their cattle and sheep to the northwest under the escort of soldiers on the east coast. .

Before night fell, the soldiers always nailed wooden stakes in advance, and then picked up the barbed wire to surround the prisoners together, and then hung bells on the barbed wire meticulously.Some bright bonfires were lit around the barbed wire fence, and sentries with wolf dogs roamed around to ensure that these Xhosa people would not escape in the night.

In this way, after the whole team marched for four full days, they finally arrived at the Fort in the River on the evening of November 11st.At this time, the 1 new immigrants from the Far East had already spent three days in the new home of Fort in the River.These ragged and unkempt orientals who had just arrived had recovered a little bit of vitality after a few days of personal hygiene cleaning and nutritional supplementation.At this moment, they were scattered not far from the east wall of the Fort in the River, trying to clear up the weeds and bushes on the ground, preparing to open up some more farmland.

The existing several hundred acres of wheat fields are far from enough for Hezhongbao, which has a population of more than 1700, so Mo Ming decided to expand the scale of the existing farmland as soon as possible.But the current problem is the lack of grain. There is only less than 600 catties of wheat in Hezhong Fort. These are the rations for the long-term and temporary residents of Hezhong Fort, whose population has soared to [-], in the next few days. use.Fortunately, the messenger sent back by Xie Hansan Pegasus told Mo Ming and others that they had seized about [-] catties of sorghum and more than [-] heads of livestock in the Xhosa tribe.

With these seizures, the next thing will be much easier.

The sorghum had been sent back to Hezhongbao two days ago.Liu Ang, who is a civil affairs officer, organized a group of residents who had learned agricultural knowledge in the local area to select these sorghum grains. Now the new immigrants have cleared and reclaimed the new land before they can plant it.The land around the Fort in the River is not very fertile, but it is not barren either. The residents dug a lot of shallow silt from the river bend, and at the same time collected a lot of human and animal manure and plant ash to fertilize the field to ensure that the land reclaimed this year can be justified. harvest.

The newly arrived Xhosa slaves and hundreds of cattle and sheep livestock attracted the attention of the new immigrants.But soon they were driven by the batons of the militia and returned to their jobs to continue clearing the land, but many people's attention obviously still stayed on the Xhosa people and livestock not far away.

"It's Kunlun slaves!" This is someone with some knowledge talking, "In the former Song Dynasty, there was a big food merchant who trafficked many Kunlun slaves to Quanzhou for sale. It is said that there are not a few big families who buy these Kunlun slaves in Quanzhou city. .”

"There are so many cows. I have only seen two cows at Mr. Zhang's house at the head of the village in my life. There must be ten, twenty, thirty... Oh, I can't count them all. If so many cows can be given to me Alright. I will treat it like my own father, and it will save a lot of effort in farming in the future. Hey, Mr. Zhang, do you think these officials can distribute cattle to us? I think they are still in the city. There aren’t as many cows here, can they be used?”

"Zhang Daniu, you bastard!" Master Zhang looked at Zhang Daniu with some disdain, and said, "You have a good idea! Most of these cows are used for food, and it is estimated that only a dozen or twenty will be left. The ones with the strongest heads and the strongest strength are used to plow the land and save seeds. Besides, we are all refugees with nothing, and it is time to burn incense if the masters donate a little chaff to make a living. You still want to divide the cattle ?laugh!"

"Zhang Defa, what are you talking about?" The person who spoke first was dissatisfied, "Didn't the person with the biggest official here say yesterday that the land will be allocated to us next time, and we must first allocate ten acres of land per person." The harvest of the divided land is [-]% or [-]% from the government in the first two years, and [-]% to [-]% in the next three years. After five years of continuous farming, the land will belong to us, and only [-]% of the rent will be charged in the future. Now that the land is divided, why is the cow Can't you tell?"

"Can you believe what the government says? I'm too lazy to talk to you!" Zhang Defa said sullenly, "If the village hadn't been deprived of food by thieves, my old Zhang would also have a hundred acres of land and a dozen livestock. Why bother to be abducted to this place where you don't shit. It's really bad luck!"

Master Zhang complained, and the other two were also touched. That Zhang Daniu even looked at the few people who were bending over to work in front of him with a slightly unfriendly look.When these people are on the road, they are self-contained, and they don't talk much with the people around them. They are taciturn and low-key all day long.

Zhang Daniu vaguely heard people say that these people used to be thieves from Zhang Xianzhong's department.Last year, the thieves fought several times with the officers and soldiers, winning and losing each other.It is said that these people in front of them were scattered by the officers and soldiers during a bad battle, and then wandered in the Hubei and Anhui areas. Unexpectedly, they were captured by the powerful Daming slave hunting team serving the Portuguese, and then crossed the ocean to South Africa. , It is an anecdote to say it.

"Bang!" Zhang Daniu, who was staring at the luck of the backs of the people in front, was suddenly hit by a baton on the back.

"Get to work!" A yellow-skinned "official servant" who didn't look like a commoner in Ming Dynasty hit him with a stick, and then looked at him fiercely.

Zhang Daniu hurriedly cheered up and used a hoe to pick up grass on the ground.Speaking of which, this hoe was snatched from those Xhosa people. Now the river castle is in disrepair, and there is a serious shortage of various materials, and many things can only be crude and simple.Although the Xhosa iron picks and even wooden picks are not very useful, they can only be used first.If they want more and better farm tools, it seems that they can only wait for the end of the war and the resumption of the route from Dongfang Port to Hezhongbao.

"Those who have finished their work have meat to eat, just like yesterday, high-quality butter and beef. Those who have not finished their work can only eat bran and steamed buns." This little Chaluya militiaman also knows a lot The trick of the big stick and the carrot, knowing that after a stick, use some sweetness to improve the labor enthusiasm of these new immigrants.

"Oh my God, what I ate yesterday was really beef." When the militiaman had gone far away, Zhang Daniu couldn't help but sighed and said, "What a crime, God damned even killed cows, alas."

"Why are you sighing, didn't you enjoy eating the butter noodles yesterday? You're talking nonsense now." Master Zhang Zhang Defa spoke again, "Don't worry, Zhang Daniu, you can't be shorted with meat oil or anything like that. You see, hundreds of livestock have been encircled today. In my opinion, they are all from the gang of Kunlun slaves who robbed them, even the grain. If there is no food left in the future, it will be very simple, just start robbing. I guess There are also quite a few Kunlun slaves around, enough for them to grab for a while."

Master Zhang didn't know that his unintentional words directly spoke about the current difficulties faced by Hezhong Fort, as well as the strategy for the next period of time.

"In order to get back the 40 catties of sorghum and hundreds of cattle and sheep, more than 700 soldiers were killed or injured. This business is really a big loss." Mo Ming looked at Xie Hansan sitting in his office dumbfounded, and said: " Excluding the food that needs to be planted, the total food we have on hand is only enough for more than a month. This is not counting the rations of the more than 20 Xhosa people you captured. If you give them some rations, That's less, and we may only have enough to last for more than [-] days."

"This is a big deal." Xie Hansan was also a little depressed, "There are too many potatoes in the domestic grain depots to pile up, but we have to suffer from hunger. This **** war! Damn the British! It seems that it is still I have to go back to my old job, so I can only continue to rob!"

"You made such a fuss in the east this time, and the remaining small Xhosa tribes probably moved overnight, so there is no point in robbing them now." Mo Ming analyzed, "I see, this Don’t go to the east next time, just cross the river down the river and snatch it from the south! There are some branches of the Khoisan people in the south—the Hottentots. The name Tundu was given to them by the Dutch in 1652. Although these Hottentots are not as rich as those Bantu blacks, they have the habit of grazing to some extent, and they are easier to deal with than blacks. Go and rob them, as long as there is more money in advance. Make some preparations, I don't think there will be any casualties."

Xie Hansan nodded slowly after hearing what Mo Ming said.

(End of this chapter)