Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 245 Falklands Development Plan ([-])

On January 1640, 1, Town Harbor Naval Base.Several days have passed since the espionage incident. At present, a total of eleven French and Dutch spies have been detained, and what awaits them is a secret trial by a special court.At the same time, a letter of diplomatic protest to the government of the Kingdom of France was also sent along with the east coast merchant ship bound for Bordeaux.People on the East Coast severely condemned the dangerous behavior of the French government that undermined the foundation of diplomatic relations and mutual trust between the two sides, and demanded that France formally give a positive explanation for this.

As for the Dutch East India Company, the government of the East Coast Republic forwarded the letters through the Dutch West India Company in Brazil.In the letter, the government of the East Coast Republic unilaterally announced trade sanctions against the Dutch East India Company and its allies, prohibiting major domestic companies from selling East Coast goods to the Dutch East India Company.At the same time, the government of the East Coast Republic will reserve the right to pursue responsibility for any country or organization that violates the ban on reselling East Coast goods to the Dutch East India Company.

The impact of the spy time lock is still in deep fermentation. In just five days from January 1 to the present, many government officials have been dismissed. will be charged with negligence of duty.

And since the internal meeting of the executive committee has already set the tone, the Government Affairs Council has come up with a preliminary development plan for the Antsiranana area at the northern end of Madagascar in the past few days, and various ministries and commissions have also begun to cooperate closely, allocating personnel and storing materials , very busy.

At this time, on the Zhenhai Port Wharf, Lieutenant Wang Tiehammer, who had been promoted to the commander of the Second Fleet, was looking at several ships moored here with satisfaction - the battleship "Common Market", the high-speed cruiser "Super Brave" and the The "Galicia Flying Fish" armed transport ship, the above three ships are all owned by the newly established Second Fleet of the Navy.Although it is not as luxurious as the First Fleet's lineup of two battleships, two cruisers, three frigates, and an armed transport ship, the Second Fleet has the final say after all, and its home port will be transferred to South Africa's river port in the future, far away from the Homeland, this is much better than being a deputy commander in the local First Fleet like Guo Zili.

According to the plan, the Second Fleet will be stationed at the River Fort in South Africa today. Apart from the families of some naval officers and soldiers, there will be 500 immigrants heading to the River Fort with them.Among the 300 people, 200 were stubborn native Indians, and the remaining [-] were European immigrants who were not considered to have a high degree of national identity after screening—mainly French.

Over the years, as the goods of the East Coast Republic continued to occupy the French market, more and more French people immigrated from France to the East Coast.By the end of 1639, among the total population of more than 34300 in the East Coast Republic, French immigrants had surpassed the Ming people (7400%) with more than 21 people, accounting for more than 20.5%, and became the largest ethnic group in the country (the third largest) is 10.5% of the Charuya, and none of the rest exceeds 5%).Even if there is no French espionage incident this time, the executive committee will have to introduce measures to suspend the introduction of French immigrants in the next two years, so as not to cause a big trend.As for the introduction of immigrants in the future, there are mainly two: one is to increase the intensity of the introduction of population from East Asia (mainly Ming people, occasionally Koreans, Japanese), and the other is to introduce Persia, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, to balance the ethnic structure within the country and make it easier for the Executive to rule the country.

According to the consistent policy of the executive committee, all disobedient ones will be sent to the Fort in the River, South Africa, where they will receive patriotic re-education in a pack of wolves.For example, the group of Charuyas who were sent to the Fort in the River at the beginning have been rectified to be submissive now. To some extent, they listen to the government even more than those Europeans.Of course, the native Charuyas are completely different. They are often more stubborn and difficult to rule than Europeans, and often require the government to spend more effort to assimilate and educate them.

Following the Second Fleet to Hezhong Port, there were also two transport ships of the South China Sea Transportation Company—the two flute-shaped transport ships "Kunlun" and "Yaochi" newly commissioned in 1639.These two ships are responsible for transporting immigrants, building materials, living supplies, arms and other local necessities from the mainland to Hezhong Port. On the return journey, they will bring local wool, agricultural products, dairy products, tallow, white wine, leather, dog head gold, Commodities such as ivory are shipped back to the country for sale.

It’s just that now they have another transportation task, which is to transport a large amount of textiles, dyed leather goods, and munitions from the mainland to the Fort in the River for storage to meet the needs of the annual trade with the Ottomans and Muscat merchants .For this reason, the Hezhongbao area has begun to build a larger warehouse in the city to accommodate these newly stored materials.After the warehouse is built, when you go to East Africa or the Middle East along the African route to trade, you only need to load the goods from Hezhongbao, which will be much more convenient and safer.

In view of the massive amount of goods traded with the Ottoman Empire, the warehouse and logistics center of Hezhongbao will also benefit a lot.Moreover, recently, Mo Ming had a whim, and planned to send people to the Portuguese Angola colony in the north of South Africa by boat to see if there was a potential consumer market for goods from the East Coast.

On February 1640, 2, after more than a month of long-distance sailing, the east coast fleet arrived at the port in the South African river.The Hezhong Township government is already familiar with accepting new immigrants, and quickly made arrangements.With the addition of these 22 new arrivals, the number of free residents in the Fort in the River has officially exceeded 500. If the former British fugitives from Fort Good Hope are included, the number will exceed 500.Such a large population can rank among the top five even in the mainland.Although it is lonely overseas, its strength cannot be underestimated.The Hezhongbao area can easily mobilize more than 3000 militiamen, plus the local South African garrison and two to three thousand African Eight Banners indigenous soldiers in their hands. If the enemy doesn't come with six to seven thousand people, it won't work at all.

Naturally, Mo Ming was in favor of moving the home port of the Second Fleet to Hezhong Port.To this end, he not only used a large number of residents and slaves to widen the river and clean up the silt in winter and spring, but also began to build permanent cement piers in the bend on the north bank of the Beg River to gradually replace the original wooden piers.At the same time, the construction of the fort at the mouth of the Berg River has also been stepped up. At present, it has six gun positions, installed four 12-pound cannons and two 18-pound cannons, and trained a certain number of skilled gunners.

Therefore, when the officers and soldiers of the Second Fleet docked the ship in front of a brand new cement pier, they were all a little shocked by the refreshing sight before them.Many of them had been here only a few months ago, before these things existed.

"Captain Mo, thank the Hezhongbao government for everything they have done for the Second Fleet." Wang Tiehammer grabbed Mo Ming's hand as soon as he got off the boat, and said happily: "Although the Second Fleet is a start-up, it will also carry forward the bravery and tenacity of the Navy. The spirit, take Hezhong Port as our home, and strive to carry it forward. This time, many officers and soldiers of the fleet even brought their family members here, and this will be the home of our Second Fleet from now on.”

"Haha, the development of Hezhong Fort is inseparable from the help of the navy." Mo Ming also said with a laugh, "From now on, you can stay here with peace of mind. Although Hezhong Fort is not as prosperous as the local area, it is also short of food and beverages. If you are not in the navy, please rest assured."

Mo Ming had reason to be happy. Since the military department chose Hezhong Port as the home port of the Second Fleet, it meant that in the eyes of the military department and even the executive committee, the status of Hezhong Fort was not low.After all, it has many advantages: such as excellent geographical location, radiating many places, and controlling sea lines of communication; such as abundant products, and even surplus agricultural and animal husbandry products to feed back the country; such as sufficient labor force, so far there are five or six thousand South African indigenous people It is delivered to mines and farmland in various parts of the country through labor dispatch.

Moreover, it is said that the Executive Committee and the Government Council have always been troubled by the low-quality coal mined in the local Pingan coal mines.Especially in the stage where steam engines have been gradually popularized in the past two years, the demand for high-quality coal has become even more urgent.As a result, South Africa's coal resources have recently begun to be frequently mentioned by heads of local industry.However, South Africa's coal resources are basically distributed in the east and north regions, which are far away from Hezhong Port.Some local people have reported that there are coal resources in Table Mountain near Cape Town before, but after more than a year of continuous investigation and unannounced visits to the area, Mo Ming has never received any news of coal resources in the area. Give up.

However, high-quality steam coal still depends on South Africa.After the executive committee has established a solid foundation in the country, it will sooner or later have to make great efforts to develop South Africa, otherwise it will be killed by the lack of thermal coal after steaming is popularized in China.Of course, it is not without noise in China. For example, some people say that there are coal mines in Tulia, Tamatave, Sakua and other areas in Madagascar, all of which are high-quality coal with large reserves.Among them, Tulia and Tamatave are coastal areas, and mining and transportation are extremely convenient.

Mo Ming has always been wary of such arguments.Because this will obviously cause the Executive Committee to shift its focus of investment to the Falkland Islands in East Africa. After all, the Falkland Islands are also rich in resources: iron ore, coal mines, gold mines, graphite, and timber. It is definitely a competition with South Africa for the Executive Committee It will be a strong opponent of limited overseas investment.

(End of this chapter)