Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2281 The March of Suffering

On June 1695, 6, it rained moderately, and ships gathered near the mouth of the Zambezi River.

The ships gathered here, except for a few sailing warships escorting them, are mostly cargo ships full of various commodities, including fishing boats selling seafood of course.In fact, the state-run South China Sea Fisheries Company has invested in a seafood processing factory here, specializing in the production of various types of canned food that lasts for a long time. They basically produce and sell their own fish, that is, they fish on the east and west coasts of South Africa and then transport them here. for unified processing.Considering the cost of refrigerating and processing the catch, the cost of these canned foods is not low, and the sales volume is not very good. Most of them are consumed by wealthy people in the Zambezi River Basin and the immigrant army passing through this area.

In addition to large state-owned factories, there are more densely packed small-scale seafood processing workshops here.Countless fishing boat owners and even small and medium-sized fishing company fleets unload their cargo here, and then quickly process the cargo at a dumping price, and sell it to these small workshops to process it into salted fish, dried fish, fish sauce and other foods for ordinary people to consume.Ximen Fishery Company and Chengxin Fishery Company are the outstanding ones, and today the bosses of the two companies, Ximen Xiao and Zhu Chengdong, also came here.

Ximen Xiao and Zhu Chengdong are old friends for many years. They have been fishing and hunting sea animals on the west coast of South Africa and the Namib Desert.The scale of the two companies is not large, but they are not small either. So far, the former has seven fishing boats and the latter has eight. They are relatively well-known figures in the coastal waters of the Namib Desert.

After the South China Sea Fisheries Company also developed fishing business in the coastal waters of South Africa, the two companies once merged to better integrate resources.But later, after some disputes over business ideas broke out between the actual controllers of the two companies, the merged company quickly separated and resumed separate operations.Fortunately, the split of the two companies did not affect their personal relationship. They are still very good friends. This meeting to develop in the Indian Ocean area is also the final decision made by the two after discussing it.

The plan of Ximen Xiao and Zhu Chengdong is to invest 10 yuan each to purchase equipment and hire personnel locally, and then choose a location near the mouth of the Zambezi River to open a seafood processing factory and move downstream.After all, relying on fishing alone has too many limitations, and from the perspective of business operation, the risk is also high. It is better to take advantage of the accumulated funds and start to develop downstream products.

The two of them had been here twice before and inspected the situation of Xinhua Island. After a comprehensive comparison, they decided that it would be better to set up a factory on the Portuguese territory.Because Xinhua Island is no longer allowed to use black slave labor, but Portugal has no restrictions in this regard, and investors on the east coast hardly pay any taxes here, so the choice is clear at a glance.

The place they initially selected was near Xindai in Mozambique in later generations. People on the east coast called it Yuejin Port, which means to leap forward to the inland area through this port.Originally, there was almost nothing on the Yuejin Port side, only a small-scale Portuguese colonial manor standing there alone.And when the east coast government selected this place as an immigration port leading to the inland area, the Portuguese manor was in short supply. They first made a small fortune by selling a large amount of stored grain, fruits and palm oil. And then keep recruiting - well, actually capturing black people - to open up wasteland and try to produce more food to sell to people on the east coast, because now everyone knows that the prosperity of this port is not a one-off, but will be long-term of.

More wasteland in Yuejin Port was developed later, mainly due to the influx of merchants from the east coast.They bought various industries by buying land, such as grocery stores, repair shops, food factories, etc., and the number of shops increased almost every day, aiming at those Indians, mestizos, Malays and even The Arabs had travel expenses funded by the East Coasters.Of course, their existence also objectively facilitates the immigrant teams divided into shares, saves the cost of transporting various goods by the east coast government, and speeds up the efficiency of immigration.

The ideas of Ximen Xiao and Zhu Chengdong are the same as these people, except that their capital is bigger and their plans are bigger.They are not uninformed people. After a little inquiry with people in the local area, they know that there are a huge number of immigrants waiting to be transported.And this is only the number of immigrants needed at this stage. Will there be no more in the future?How can it be!Paraguay, Chalkas, Peru, etc., which are not densely populated places, God knows how many years it will take to emigrate to clear those lands, and it is more likely that those lands may never be cleared.

"I heard that the Portuguese plan to turn Yuejin Port into a free port. These guys came here a few months ago to collect a tax. Why did they suddenly change their sex?" on the factory site, asked strangely.

"Transformation? Hmph, it's not because of our government's pressure. The higher-ups want this place to become a free port, and the Portuguese don't want to interfere in particular. The rapid development of various industries here will benefit the immigration business that may last for decades in the future, so This happened. Otherwise, do you think the Portuguese would do such a thing with their miserly virtue?" Zhu Chengdong patted Ximen Xiao on the shoulder and said with a laugh.

Freeport, everyone understands what it means.Minimal operating taxes, zero tariffs, no red tape, almost everything makes investors gleeful.However, it is really hard to say whether Yuejin Port can develop like Cape Town. After all, this is not the east coast, and there is competition from Beira Port under the rule of the British.

"The construction of the factory building will be accelerated, and the equipment will be installed and debugged as soon as it arrives. The workers recruited from the local area must do everything possible to stay. They are not particularly high-level people in China. When they come here, life is not convenient. , and other conditions are top-notch, I don’t believe they won’t be tempted.” Zhu Chengdong habitually took out a cigarette, lit it, and continued: “Simen, since you’ve shifted your focus to the Indian Ocean, you’re going to Take care here. I still have some finishing touches in the Namib Desert, and I will come to accompany you at the beginning of next year at the latest."

"Well, it's good to lose it over there. The Nanhai Fishery Company is getting more and more aggressive, who the hell can continue to do business. It's better to be comfortable here, come here as soon as possible." Ximen Xiao shook his head and said: "No I know, what happened to those immigrants in the inland area?"

When Ximen Xiao was talking about the immigrants who were advancing along the Zambezi River Basin, the first group of islands to arrive, the Eight Banners, had already established their first stable base on the shores of Lake Malawi.

They traveled up the Shire River, a tributary of the Zambezi River.It's a relatively deserted path -- if you don't think of those black people as human beings -- so it's not easy to move forward.At the beginning of 1694, after defeating a black tribe, they established their first colonial stronghold, Weihe City, near the city of Nsanje in Malawi.

Weihe City was established by the Eight Banners of the island from Xinhua Island, and the leader was a Malay named Sloppy.There are probably more than 6000 people under his control, and nearly half of them are soldiers and their families from the Eight Banners of the island, which can be regarded as a relatively capable force.The Weihe City they built was not large, probably just a piece of land within a dozen kilometers of the river, and it would be uncontrollable any farther away.

After the establishment of Weihe City, Xinhua Island quickly sent some agricultural officials over to help them plan agricultural production so that they can settle down as soon as possible—these are fee-based items, and the fees will be paid from the local agricultural output in the future— Because the people on the east bank promised to help them coordinate their relationship with the Portuguese and regard Weihe City as their fiefdom, they sloppily left about 2000 people here, and then he took away the rest and continued to go north. , to Lake Malawi.There was the end point set for him by the people on the east coast. How big his feudal land would be in the future would depend on how much land he could occupy.

It may be because they have been continuously captured by the Portuguese slave hunting team for many years, the 4000 horsemen who went north from Weihe City have not encountered any major obstacles.At this time, he was able to pull out thousands of soldiers who used hot and cold weapons, many of whom had years of war experience. With the small number of blacks and the fact that they were divided among themselves, it only took about half a year to fight. Go forward, cross the Shire Highlands, and arrive at the shore of Lake Malawi.

On the way, he also set up a second settlement at the suggestion of the accompanying East Coast intelligence officer, which is also the second city of his small feudal kingdom, which is located in the Great Dragon City near the later Chikwa City—— It got its name because a huge boa constrictor was killed here.Here in the Great Dragon City, he only left about a few hundred old and weak women and children, and at the same time sent two hundred soldiers to guard them. The rest of the main force continued to move forward after waiting for supplies. It took about a year. Finally arrived at Mangochi, located between Lake Malawi and Lake Malombe.

In Mangochi, Sloppy and others were exhausted, and had reached the limit of logistical supplies, and the number of personnel had also been reduced to more than 2000.Therefore, after discussing with the core generals, he decided not to leave for the time being, and built a city here, named Meilin City, to commemorate a beautiful forest nearby.If there is no accident, Meilin City will be the capital of the closed country established by Sloppy for a long time to come.

The accompanying officials on the east bank also agreed to Sloppy's request for "rest and recuperation", because they felt that if they continued to move forward with the current deep distance, they were afraid that both personnel and supplies would be exhausted soon.Instead of this, it is better to fight steadily, first to enrich the population and stabilize the supply line.After initially gaining a firm foothold, it will not be too late to send people to attack the Quartet and expel the blacks, and the efficiency will be higher.

Anyway, their progress along the way is already very fast.In two years, Hurricane has advanced more than 700 kilometers. Although there is a long section in the safe zone, and there are Portuguese settlements along the way, the overall performance is already good. What more bicycles are needed!

(End of this chapter)