Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 276 The Dutch Prepare for a Rainy Day ([-])

On December 1640, 12, it was the sunny season in Cape Town.In the wide and beautiful Table Bay, three three-masted galleons flying the flag of the United Provinces were moored at the edge of the simple wooden trestle.A few sailors were lazily basking in the sun on the pier, and there were some English peddlers selling fruits beside them—these were all British immigrants who originally lived here.

Sailing here from Batavia, the sailors who had escaped death finally had a temporary habitat.Although Cape Town is just an inconspicuous small city, it can still provide sufficient fresh water, livestock, food and fruits for the passing Dutch ships, making the voyage from the East India to the mainland less obvious. difficult.

Since the Dutch East India Company conditionally purchased the British Fort of Good Hope nine months ago, in view of the importance of this port to the Dutch Eastern Trade Line, the Dutch East India Company quickly invested a large amount of money in its construction.They first brought [-] Boers (Dutch: peasants) from the mainland at the end of June, and about [-] German mercenaries.Two months ago, Dutch ships returning from the East Indies put down about a hundred Malays and Chinese who were exiled here by the Batavia High Court.A few days ago, the three ships in front of me from the mainland to the east brought a hundred Boers and a hundred French Huguenots to Cape Town.

By this time, the official population of the Dutch Cape Colony had reached 700 (100 Boers, [-] English and [-] French Protestants).In addition, there were more than [-] German mercenaries, more than [-] exiled prisoners from the East, and about [-] or [-] newly captured Xhosa slaves.

Since taking over the local area, Haimer Dejan, the chief executive of the Dutch East India Company stationed in the local area, has paid great attention to the development of nearby land.Needless to say, there is a wealth of timber resources on Table Mountain. Some logging camps abandoned by the British due to repeated attacks by the Eight Banners have also been restored in the hands of the Dutch. Without the harassment and attacks of the East Coast people, these logging camps have been restored. The camp is just a matter of morning.

In addition, about [-] acres of wheat fields opened by the British outside the city were also planted with winter wheat at the end of May.Next to the wheat fields, the Dutch also opened up a large number of vegetable fields and transplanted a large number of fruit trees.The newly captured hundreds of Xhosa slaves, together with the Malays and Chinese exiles, began to grow alfalfa and raise livestock in the east of the castle under the watchful eye of the Dutch overseers.

It can be seen that the Cape Town area has taken on a new look after nine months of vigorous rectification and management by the Dutch, and it is no longer the bleak look that was dying in the hands of the British.Of course, then again, the main reason why the British made such a miserable situation was because of the continuous, overt or covert harassment and attacks by the people on the east bank of the Fort in the North.

Now the Dutch East India Company has naturally learned a lesson. As soon as they bought Fort Good Hope, they went directly to the people on the east coast and asked them to restrain the behavior of the Eight Banners tribes under their control, so as to avoid some unpleasant incidents with Fort Good Hope.And if such a regrettable incident had occurred, the Dutch could not guarantee the safety of Portuguese ships carrying Ming immigrants to the east coast.Faced with such a blatant threat, the people on the east coast, who were beyond the reach of the Far East route, had to temporarily swallow this breath, and sat and watched the Dutch gradually gain a foothold and develop under their noses.

During these nine months, groups of Dutch immigrants from Europe or from Batavia came, and they built a wooden pier in Table Bay, and also built several coastal defense forts; The Fort of Good Hope built by the British at a high cost was used by De Young as his governor's residence, and most of the [-] German mercenaries were stationed here.And along the Fort of Good Hope to the north to the seaside pier, this area has become the commercial city of the Dutch Cape Colony and the residential area of ​​​​ordinary immigrants.

On this land of about tens of acres, the Dutch successively used clay, wood and stone to build business halls, warehouses, residences, trading markets and a Protestant church.At the edge of this area, the Dutch built a fence-like separation wall with a large number of transplanted fruit tree saplings.Inside the wall, only Europeans are allowed to live; outside the wall, a small number of German mercenaries and European overseers guard the Xhosa, Malay, and Chinese slaves or exiled prisoners farming land, cutting wood, or taking responsibility. Heavy physical labor on docks and construction sites.

While the commercial facilities in the city were being built, the Dutch did not forget to build their city defense facilities.The Dutch have seen for themselves how badly the British were run over by the East Coasters, so their vigilance against the East Coasters has never been relaxed.

To be honest, the relationship between the people of the East Coast and the United Provinces of the Netherlands has been very cold over the years.When the East Coasters fought the Spaniards at first and won the battle, the Dutch were quite happy, thinking that the East Coasters seemed to be a target that could be wooed.But then their perception of the people on the east coast began to decline sharply. First of all, the people on the east coast suppressed either Catholicism or Protestantism.

If the outside rumors are correct, there are still only two Christian churches in the East Coast Republic of China, which are located in Dongfang Port and Ping'an Town.These two churches are said to be under the jurisdiction of an organization called the Religious Affairs Office of the East Coasters. All pastors or priests are appointed by this organization and have almost no relationship with the Holy See. This makes some devout people of the Lord very angry .What's more, according to some gossip, the funds allocated by the Office of Religious Affairs to these two churches over the years are not only extremely small, but also intermittent, making the churches want to use asphalt waterproofing materials to coat the roofs It also depends on the donations of believers.It is conceivable that those costly evangelistic activities are impossible to talk about without funds, and young priests and nuns cannot be recruited. This makes the influence of the Lord Jesus gradually weaken on the East Coast, and many newly naturalized No savage soul has been redeemed.

Correspondingly, the development of Taoism and Buddhism from the East on the east coast has been very smooth.The Office of Religious Affairs not only gives money to people, but also introduces various measures to help them preach.Although these loose-structured oriental polytheisms have many disadvantages compared with Christianity, they cannot stand the partiality of the East Coast government.No, people on the east coast will build religious buildings such as Taoist temples and Town God's Temples every time they build a new town. What's more alarming is that people on the east coast are now trying to forcibly combine these religious elements. Into the daily life and culture of local residents.

For example, storing the tablets of some soldiers who died heroically for the country in the Temple of the City God, giving them great honor, and at the same time bringing some local community residents or school students to visit from time to time to receive the so-called patriotic education, subtly let the original The Lord's people accepted the existence of other religious elements, and gradually captured their souls.Furthermore, whenever there are weddings and funerals in the residents’ homes, the local Taoist temples and Buddhist temples will send people to their homes to deliver some gifts with religious elements. Many of the Lord’s people who are not very wealthy also accept this gift At the same time, they gradually became accustomed to these pagan religions.

All of these have greatly dimmed the glory of the Lord in the East Coast area, and also made the upright and devout believers angry.

In addition to religious factors, the pro-Portuguese stance of the people on the east coast for many years on the situation in Brazil has also made the Dutch extremely angry.They sold muskets, cannons, sabers, armor and even carriages, gunpowder, cloth and other materials that could be used in war to the Brazilians, which strongly supported the Portuguese war and caused the Dutch West India Company to suffer a lot of unnecessary losses.

For the people on the east coast to stretch their hands so long, the Dutch West India Company naturally retaliated.Among the ships that followed the British East India Company warships to block the east coast, there were many ships from the Netherlands, but they basically didn't get any benefits.Fortunately, the situation in Brazil has gradually stabilized in the past two years, and the relationship between the West India Company and the East Coasters has gradually eased. However, once the situation in Brazil changes, it will be a matter of time before the two sides break out again.

The last point is the most critical economic factor.The textiles of the people from the east coast were sold in Brazil, La Plata, New Spain, France, Tuscany, Ottoman and other countries or regions of the old and new continents. On the verge of collapse.

Later, thanks to the war between the British and the people on the east coast that lasted for nearly two years, the Dutch took advantage of this market vacuum and began to seize a large number of markets that were originally captured by the people on the east coast, and greatly improved the original textile machinery and adopted new textile machinery. The factory production method greatly reduces the cost of Dutch textiles and enhances the competitiveness of its products.It’s just that after the people on the east coast reached a compromise with Britain and returned to the European market, they returned to the original state again. The cheap and high-quality east coast textiles drove the Dutch out of the French and Tuscany markets with an irresistible force. The Dutch textile industry, which has just rejuvenated for a second time, suffered another baptism from the cold snap.

With the above entanglements between ideology, or political factors, or economic interests, it would be hell to maintain a good relationship between the Dutch and the East Coasters.According to the judgment of the Governor of Cape Town, De Young, perhaps in the near future, the Federation of Provinces may have conflicts with the East Coasters in Brazil, South Africa, or the Far East—this is almost inevitable.

Therefore, at this time, he had to make preparations in advance, such as building a solid defense facility outside the Fort of Good Hope; such as supporting the barbarian Kama tribe who did not deal with the people on the east coast.

(End of this chapter)