Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 278 The Strange Situation

In the middle and late December, the Fort in the River is full of busy scenes.As an important transshipment center for the African route of the Republic of China on the East Coast, after nearly a year of hard work, a large storage base has been basically completed next to the west side of the city wall of Hezhong Fort.

This storage base is directly under the jurisdiction of the Material Department, with hundreds of large and small warehouses, and the storage capacity is extremely powerful.At present, there are [-] bolts of white cotton cloth, [-] bolts of dyed cloth, [-] bolts of woolen cloth, [-] flintlock rifles, [-] artillery pieces of various types, [-] armor collars, [-] sabers, and various grains and building materials. , salt, medicine, canned food, wood and other miscellaneous materials.

After the completion of this storage base, the east coast ships going to Mozambique Island and the Port of Suez to do business in the future can directly load and depart from the river port, which saves about a month's voyage compared with starting from the Oriental port.In the future, after the Xinhua Castle in the New China region takes shape, a large transshipment center will be built there to store a large amount of goods from the East Coast and South Africa, so as to facilitate trade with East Africa, the Middle East and India.

In order to protect the safety of this important storage base, the new commander of the South African Garrison, the commander of the second company of the army, and Lieutenant Zhu Liang also set up the army barracks inside the warehouse, and he also served as the director of the base.At the same time, hundreds of Bezimisaraka slaves who had just been sent from the New China area were also organized, and began to expand the city wall of Hezhong Castle to the west under the supervision of the Eight Banners, striving to make this storage base Surround it with walls.

About 900 of the Bezimisaraka slaves, who were called "island people" by the locals in the river castle, were still alive when they arrived in the local area. After listing the women and children separately, there were more than 400 adults left. man slave.These adult men had just been conquered not long ago, and now they were transported thousands of miles to a strange place. It is impossible to say that they did not have hatred for the East Coast people in their hearts.Therefore, even if there is a shortage of manpower in the mainland, these new islanders cannot be used immediately at this moment.

So as soon as these people were transported, Mo Ming signed a decree, degrading all these people, regardless of gender, old or young, into slaves, and then assigned them to the lower two banners.At the same time, they also took the opportunity to raise some slaves who were more loyal and performed well in the lower two banners, pardoned their slave status and their families, promoted them to the upper six banners, and became free bannermen ever since.

The islanders who are incorporated into the Lower Two Banners will undergo labor reform for a long period of time. During this period, some senior slaves under the Lower Two Banners will "bring the old with the new" and tell these newcomers some local rules And common sense, lest they lose their lives in confusion.After the reform-through-labor period is over, the superiors will send people down to select some loyal islanders to undergo sailor training, and then they will be incorporated into the merchant fleet of the Eastern Republic to serve as slave sailors on board.If they do a good job or show valor in battle, they will have the opportunity to lift themselves and their families out of slavery and rise to the upper six flags of freedom.

Of course, they were all slaves at the moment, except for some young single women.Since more than half of the 300 new immigrants ([-] French and [-] Guarani) who went to the fortress in the river from the mainland a while ago were single men, Mo Ming decided to choose from among the new islanders. More than [-] young single women were selected and given to the new French immigrants, which greatly won the hearts of the people.At the same time, these women can be regarded as freed from the sea of ​​suffering, from the slavery that is especially terrifying to women.

After the defeat of the people from the east coast to capture slaves in the mountainous area a few months ago, it has been very difficult to replenish the personnel of the Eight Banners tribe, not to mention that they have to continue to send slave labor to the mainland and New China for "blood transfusion" up.This group of more than 900 islanders can be regarded as a rare addition recently, and the chiefs of the Eight Banners are all beaming with joy.

Since the establishment of the Eight Banners of South Africa in July 1638, after more than two years of rectification and development, the total population of the Eight Banners of South Africa (not counting expatriate laborers) has remained at about 7.Among them, the number of warriors (spearmen) and above is more than 1000. Most of these warriors are full-time people. They train martial arts and military formations together all the year round. Cultural learning, at present, is relatively reassuring in terms of combat effectiveness and loyalty, and it is already an important armed force for defending the fort in the river.

The previous eastward march failed and more than 60 soldiers were lost, but this does not mean that the people on the east bank gave up their attempt to go eastward to capture slaves.No, in June after the summer harvest this year, the bannermen and slaves of the red and green flags received an order from the South African Garrison Command, ordering them to take tents, cattle, sheep, and household items and march eastward to the Dongshan Mountains feet, and then graze and settle there.Although the chiefs and Kralls of the two banners were extremely reluctant, they still quickly chose to be obedient after seeing Mo Ming's cold gaze.Of course, Mo Ming did not treat them badly. Not only were most of the slaves newly raised from the lower two flags assigned to them, but they also supported them with a batch of breastplates, sabers and other equipment. People ride war horses to strengthen their fighting power.

As for the main locations of the two banners, the new South African garrison commander, Lieutenant Zhu Liang, even took people there to conduct on-the-spot investigations, and finally chose the location at the junction of the Beige River and the north-south Dongshan Mountains. , later generations near the lake in the south of the Gouda region of South Africa.There are abundant water and grass here, and there are many animals and plants. Some Xhosa people from the valley on the other side of the mountain to the east often come here to graze cattle and sheep.

This place is a very sensitive area for today's River Fort.That is to say, on the one hand, the large Xhosa tribe in the east often has a considerable number of herdsmen who come here to graze, and on the other hand, it is closer to the Dutch from Cape Town.The Dutch can ignore it for now. Although these people are powerful and have many ships, their stalls are also too large, which greatly reduces their strength. Therefore, in this area in the southwest corner of South Africa However, the people on the east coast can temporarily not worry about what the Dutch will take the initiative to choose.Of course, small movements in the dark may be unavoidable, but they can all be dealt with.

Of course, Mo Ming of Hezhong Fort knew the consequences of extending his tentacles to this sensitive area.Especially when the executive committee is now fully developing the new Chinese colony, and the South African region needs to be calm, he forcibly drives the aborigines of the two banners into the Dongshan mountain range, which is likely to provoke the newly rising large aboriginal tribe on the other side of the mountain. new round of conflict.

But so what?In Mo Ming's eyes, the current population of Hezhong Fort has reached an unprecedented 700 people, and a militia of more than 500 people can be mobilized casually, plus the elite second company of the army and thousands of Eight Banners. Warriors may not be able to touch the black tribe that is said to have tens of thousands of warriors.

The Eight Banners people under his command have not had new people for a long time. If they don't plunder these ready-made black natives, do they expect them to have children to increase the population?Moreover, the Executive Committee is now increasingly dependent on South African labor dispatch workers. It has dispatched more than 7000 people, but it is still difficult to satisfy the local appetite. The Executive Committee is still urging itself to increase the supply of labor to the local area. At the same time Xinhua has repeatedly begged itself to send more slaves over there.

"Damn it, who do I owe?" Many times, Mo Ming would think angrily, "These people only know to keep asking me for slaves, but they never take a look at themselves. Even refused to approve the request to build a shipyard, let alone any important industrial projects here in the future. Hmph, is it easy to bully me when I am an honest person? It seems that I am not here to make some noise No one will ignore me. That’s fine, then as you wish, it happens that Zhu Liang, the new commander of the second company of the army, is also a very happy person, so I will make some noise for you, so as not to save you all They thought my place was very peaceful, and refused to give me even a little bit of support."

After the red and green flags advanced to the foot of the mountain in June, some Xhosa herdsmen who crossed the valley of the Beg River to the west of the mountain because they could not obtain enough forage in winter suddenly discovered that this originally uninhabited land had been abandoned. people occupied.Moreover, this gang of newcomers was well-equipped and fierce-tempered, and they took their cattle and sheep away without saying a word, and even many herdsmen who couldn't run fast enough were captured and locked up by them.

The conflict between the two sides has since erupted and reached a climax at the end of August.In that month, several fierce skirmishes broke out between more than a dozen groups of Xhosa who sneaked in from the mountain and the Eight Banners warriors. As a result, the Eight Banners warriors who were obviously better equipped got the upper hand. They wore armor and held sharp weapons. Spears and sabers killed those naked Xhosa people with wooden spears, and fled in embarrassment.

After these fierce battles in August, the atmosphere between the two sides suddenly became tense.But at this moment, the commanders of both sides seemed to think of the same place and at the same time ordered the personnel under their command to exercise restraint and not to attack across the border.Mo Ming issued this order mainly because the militia training in Hezhong Fort was not sufficient, and the hoarding of war materials was not sufficient, that is to say, they were not ready for a large-scale war.As for the large tribe of barbarians on the other side of the mountain, Mo Ming reckoned that they might still be engaged in a brutal annexation war with other tribes, and they couldn't take action for a while, and the situation suddenly stabilized strangely like this.

(End of this chapter)