Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2406 Morocco ([-])

As a tourist destination in North Africa for later generations, Morocco's climate is still very good.Especially in summer, the climate is not too hot, and it has been known as "a cool land under the scorching sun" since ancient times.

The northern part of Morocco has a typical Mediterranean climate, with a lot of rainfall, luxuriant trees and colorful flowers, so it has won the nickname of "North African Garden".It is precisely because of this that later generations of Morocco have become a famous tourist country, attracting waves of Europeans to come for vacation, and tourism income has also become an extremely important source of income for the government of the country.

"Pearl of the South" Marrakech, "Lost Ancient Roman City" Salé, "City of Victory" Rabat... "Capital" Meknes is the largest and most prosperous city in the country today.Among these five cities, Marrakech is located in the south (but it is the most prosperous city in the country), while the other four cities are located in the north, only more than 100 kilometers away from the actual control area of ​​the east bank and the Italian coalition forces.

To be honest, the journey of more than 100 kilometers is just a few days of marching under the condition of sufficient preparation.Judging from Chefchaouen, where the headquarters of the Sixth Mixed Regiment of the East Coast Army is located, it took them only five days to march to the holy city of Fes, and only six days to reach the capital Meknes, which can be said to have arrived in an instant .

Therefore, we can now also imagine how desperate the Moroccans were when the people on the east bank made a request to the Moroccans to cede the land north of 34 degrees north latitude.According to normal circumstances, they would not be willing to make such a concession, so that their capital and holy city were in danger.Therefore, even though the people on the east bank hired a middleman from Algiers, and later... the nominal leader of the world, the Ottoman Empire, sent a heavyweight official to mediate, but the Moroccans still refused to let go Shore conditions.Even, they have hinted through the intermediary that they can pay compensation at their discretion, but they are only willing to cede land less than 100 square kilometers around Tangier City. In addition, Ceuta can also cede part of the land, about more than [-] square kilometers Kilometers look like.

The Moroccans were so stubborn, Lieutenant Colonel Bai Chuanping, the commander of the East Coast Army, was naturally extremely dissatisfied, and threatened to teach the Moroccans another "unforgettable lesson."Ever since, he began to order the arrest of Moroccans in the controlled area, forcing them to repair the roads leading from Tangier and Ceuta to the front line, and solve the bottleneck of logistics material transportation.

In October 1699, after more than three months of back-and-forth negotiations without a satisfactory result, Cai Zhenguo, the special envoy of the East Coast Republic to Europe, also lost his patience. He no longer prevented the army from carrying out any military operations, and signaled that Bai Chuanping could move freely. And 10 yuan was collected from the trade profits of various business stations as additional war funds.

Then came reinforcements promised by the King of Portugal.They first tried to land near the port of Sare, but failed. More than 1000 people who landed in the vanguard were slaughtered by the Moroccans on the beach.The Portuguese, who had suffered a great loss, were honest, ran to the rear in an orderly manner, and landed in the port of Tangier controlled by the Italian army.The morale of the remaining less than [-] Portuguese troops was also low at this time, so Bai Chuanping arranged for them to transfer supplies and food in the rear, search for the small group of Moroccan soldiers who had infiltrated, and suppress the local resistance caused by the imams.

The people on the east coast who were successfully liberated were also unambiguous. They mobilized more than 4000 people from the Sixth Mixed Regiment. At the same time, they brought together one Italian "Split Division" and one "Zakynthos Division", totaling 8000 troops. The remaining troops marched southward all the way, and defeated a Moroccan army of thousands of people after a fierce battle.

The ensuing battle was uneventful. Although the Moroccans took advantage of the complex terrain to carry out delaying attacks and at the same time dispatched cavalry to continuously raid the rear, overall they did not cause much casualties to the people on the east coast, except for the Italians who fought together in the night attack. Out of more than 200 people who were defeated, the East Bank Army only suffered more than [-] casualties.

The only thing to worry about is that because of the complex terrain, the Moroccans have more cavalry, their mobility is stronger than that of the east coast, and they are also good at night attacks, the firepower advantage of the east coast people has been greatly weakened.Moreover, the farther forward, the more tenacious the enemy's will to resist.

On October 10, the army on the east bank arrived only one day away from the holy city of Fes.The Moroccans used the mountainous terrain to assemble a large group of troops and deployed defenses layer by layer. When Lieutenant Colonel Bai Chuanping began to mobilize before the battle and stormed these fortifications of the Moroccans—he was even ready to bear the price of about 25 casualties— A special envoy arrived from Meknes with a white flag, asking the two sides to return to the negotiating table.

Cai Zhenguo's secretary, who was with the army, was overjoyed and immediately started negotiations.However, Lieutenant Colonel Bai Chuanping glanced at him and directly ordered an attack.Three days later, the East Coast Army, which had gone through many tests such as assaults, night raids, and hand-to-hand combat, gnawed down the Moroccan positions one by one, arrived at the city of Fes, and set up cannons.

The bombardment of Fes lasted for several days, but before the city walls collapsed, Cai Zhenguo's envoy came again, and Lieutenant Colonel Bai Chuanping resignedly gave up and ordered a truce.However, the "old tradition" of the army has not been lost. Thousands of troops are divided into two groups, one group guards the Moroccan army in Fes, and the other group goes to plunder surrounding towns.

Fez is the first city established by Arabs in Morocco. It has a long history and is very developed in humanities and economy.The surrounding areas are even more excellent agricultural areas, densely populated and rich in wealth.And when the East Coast Army rushed over with shining bayonets, it was difficult for these towns with empty troops to carry out effective resistance. Whether it was food, cattle and sheep, gold and silver or other things, accumulated for hundreds of years, everything changed in one day. As the spoils of the sixth mixed regiment, even the Italians followed suit to make up for the losses of the previous defeat.

Cai Zhenguo's people ignored the army's looting.Although Cai is nominally the commander-in-chief of the European troops dispatched to the east bank, that is only in name.As a civil servant, he has no experience in leading troops to fight, how can he convince those warriors?No way, everything still needs to be discussed with everyone. When you meet someone who is easy to talk to, they will listen to you.

Fortunately, someone Bai didn't help.In fact, the massive looting of the Sixth Mixed Regiment—and at the same time captured a lot of people and sent them to the rear, in preparation for the construction of cities and roads after the land was ceded—put a lot of pressure on the Moroccans.In particular, many of the captured people are religious people or relatives of religious people. These people are different from ordinary farmers and herdsmen. Once they are taken away, the Moroccan monarchs and ministers in Meknes can imagine how much pressure they will bear .

In early November, secret talks involving officials from Morocco, the East Coast, and the Ottoman countries were held outside Fes.At this time, the negotiation will be much smoother.Facing the request of the people on the east coast to cede land—at first, Bai Chuanping suggested to expand the scope of cede land, such as around 11 degrees north latitude, but Cai Zhenguo didn’t want to be troublesome, and wanted to end the war quickly so that he could free up his energy for other things— ——The Moroccans only resisted for two days before being defeated, and finally agreed to the request of 34 degrees north latitude as the boundary.

Of course, the 34 degrees north latitude is only a rough map. In fact, it needs to be carefully divided on the map based on the local mountains, rivers and rivers, but the overall situation is similar. The Moroccans also sent dozens of square kilometers out.In addition, according to the demands of the people on the east coast, the Moroccan government compensated the military expenses of the East Coast by an additional 150 million yuan, the Italians 60 yuan, and the Portuguese 30 yuan.

After land cession and indemnity, it is the main event that people on the east bank strongly demand, that is, to open the domestic market to goods from the east coast. Morocco is not allowed to unilaterally formulate import and export tariff rates (it must be negotiated with the east coast), and goods on the east coast are sold in Morocco Various exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes shall not be levied during domestic transportation.This alone, to be honest, is much more than those compensations, and this is a long-term benefit, not a one-off like those compensations, which is a major benefit to the domestic business circles on the east coast.

On November 11, representatives from Morocco, East Asia and Austria signed an agreement in a mosque outside Fes.The name of the agreement was "Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation between the Republic of the East Coast and the Sultanate of Morocco". Cai Zhenguo arrived at the scene to sign it in person, and then urged the Moroccans to fulfill the terms of the agreement as soon as possible.

The Moroccans said that the land cession could be carried out immediately, but due to financial difficulties, they could only pay more than 8 yuan to the people on the east coast first, and the rest needed to be borrowed for financing.Fortunately, the Italians are more active in this matter. They said that St. George Merchant Company, Venezia Circular Bank, San Paolo Bank, and Palermo Bank can form a syndicate of banks to make loans to Moroccans. The annual interest rate is [-]%, which is still reasonable. Moroccans No objection to this.

In early December, after receiving the first war reparations, the East Coasters began to withdraw their troops.The Italian army returned in batches via Ceuta, while the Portuguese stayed and trained with the people from the east coast.Their performance in this war was not very good, far inferior to the Italians, and they really need to rectify.

At the end of December, after discussions at a meeting, Cai Zhenguo formally decided to divide the land north of 12 degrees north latitude ceded by the Moroccans into two counties, Danji and Ceuta.The two counties are bounded by the remnants of the Atlas Mountains in the middle, with Danji County on the left and Ceuta County on the right. Each of the two counties covers an area of ​​more than 35 square kilometers.

Bai Chuanping set up the regiment headquarters of the Sixth Mixed Regiment in Chefchaouen, intending to stay for a while.The current situation in Europe is fairly calm, and he plans to wait until the middle of 1700 before withdrawing in batches.By that time, Chefchaouen's defense system has almost been established, and it can be handed over to the local troops-this force can only be filled by mercenaries for the time being-as for them, they will naturally return to the Eagle's Nest. It's more important there.

(End of this chapter)