Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 661 Across the Ocean ([-])

On February 1648, 2, after a high-speed voyage, the two ships finally arrived at the harbor in the lower reaches of the Berg River.

The development of South Africa has actually lagged behind in recent years.As the earliest foothold of the east bank in Africa, the city wall of Hezhonggang stayed at its current scale after undergoing an expansion.There are no industrial facilities outside the city. Except for a brick kiln and a lime factory, there is no trace of industrial civilization here.

However, the population here has been growing steadily over the years. As of mid-February this year, the population of the two towns in the Hezhong area has exceeded the 2 mark.Among them, Hezhong Township has a population of 2000, and Gaoda Township has a population of 400. The sum of the two is close to [-] people. In the next one or two months, there will be another [-] people in the Hezhong District. Interceptors - usually handicraftsmen or doctors.

Among the 1 population, Ming people accounted for about 50%, mostly young and middle-aged men; Indians (including Chaluyas and Guaranis) accounted for about 10%, and the proportion of these people was close to 30% at the beginning. %, but due to not adapting to the environment of the Old World and various other reasons, only about one-tenth of them have died after a large number of deaths, and most of these people are women; in addition, about 20% of the remaining population are Persian and Baluchi female slaves, and the rest are newly born mixed-race children and a small number of European immigrants.

It can be seen that the proportion of Ming people in the mid-river region of South Africa is 10% higher than that of the local people. Coupled with the origin of the local residents, the physical characteristics of the newborn children are more inclined to the Orientals, which is already somewhat different from the local people. .Moreover, whether it is Hezhong Town or Gaoda Township, the culture of its residents is more oriental, or the culture of this colony that is currently neglected by the local people is more like a mixture of Eastern and Western cultures: the local area is full of thick long braids Although the clothes worn by the Central Asian girls and daughter-in-law have been banned by their superiors several times, they still retain many of the bright features of the Central Asian nations.

The accent of the language is even more strange, like a Shandong accent and a Xinjiang accent. The investigators of the local Ministry of Civil Affairs corrected it several times, but the effect was not great, and finally gave up.If the voice problem is only one aspect, then the atmosphere of the local residents is even more painful.

Among other things, the Ming people in South Africa are mostly young and middle-aged men. There are horse bandits and bandits in Shandong, orphans who broke into the army, and captured Qing army prisoners. These people are not good men and women.Let’s just say that those immigrants who were born as horse bandits were originally lawless masters. Back then in Shandong, even more lawless people like Marshal Mo could hold them down. Feel relaxed.

In view of the harsh natural environment and security situation in South Africa, the South African pioneers often organize these strong militiamen to carry weapons to "suppress bandits" in the Dongshan River Valley.The two townships often dispatch more than 2000 militiamen at a time. Local troops such as the River Security Regiment, the South African Cavalry Company, and the South African Artillery Company will lead the formation to wipe out the black herdsmen in the river valley—there are no black farming settlers in the area. , only some herdsmen covet the rich aquatic plants here and come to graze them.

For these herdsmen from the Kama tribe, the policy of the people on the east bank has always been to arrest them without saying a word.The captured people were sent to the Eight Banners tribe attached to the east bank, and the cattle and sheep were taken by themselves.In addition to these official clean-up operations (there is often a lot of thunder and little rain, and the blacks who heard the news and got the news actually fled away long ago), there are also some privately organized operations.These operations are often carried out in groups of three or five people, and during the slack season, they bring equipment to find extra money. So far, the South African pioneer team has not canceled the bounty on the heads of the Xhosa blacks of the Kama tribe.

In addition to the head bounty, if you can snatch some cattle and sheep, then you can get rid of poverty and become rich immediately, and live a moderately prosperous life.Of course, there are also some bold guys with high skills who borrow horses from the pastures in the countryside, mount their swords and guns, and ride alone to find trouble with the Xhosa. , and scramble to emulate their behavior.

The government of the South African Pioneering Team does not ban guns on civilians. The bullets used by the militiamen in training can be taken home for safekeeping, and the director of the village militia and the minister of the township's armed forces regularly inspect them.The reason why guns are not allowed is mainly because the security situation here is far from optimistic. Although the blacks of the Kama tribe have reached an agreement to end the war with the people on the east coast, small-scale conflicts have continued in recent years. And it's becoming more and more frequent.Maybe in a few years, another grand war will break out between the two sides - for the land under the sun.

Zhang Jinhua felt such a strong folk atmosphere in South Africa when he got off the boat. He saw some militiamen in messy clothes everywhere on the pier, but with rifles on their backs, and their faces were undiminished. Here are the guardians of order.

Major Chang Kaisheng, who was the new captain of the South African Pioneering Team for less than a month, decided to come to see Zhang Jinhua and others after he had just returned from leading the army out to "suppress bandits" after hearing about the arrival of Zhang Jinhua and others.It happened that the two ships also carried some daily necessities to the river area, which happened to allow the soldiers to unload these things on the spot.

"Captain Chang, long time no see. The last time I saw you was before the expedition to La Plata. You have been promoted from captain to school officer in the blink of an eye. It's really gratifying." Zhang Jinhua's expedition ship was moored in the calm Beige River On the river, he himself took the opportunity to go ashore to take a rest. After a whole month of traveling through the waves, he is very tired now.

"There is nothing worthy of congratulations." Chang Kaisheng smiled bitterly, and said: "There is no place for me in the mainland, so I can only be sent to South Africa. It just so happens that Liu Ang, the former captain of the South African pioneer team, has also been operating here for many years. Recall it according to discipline, so let me guard this side and play with those black people."

"This is a good thing." Zhang Jinhua laughed and said, "Now I have heard many people say that people like you who have served as 'outside town festival envoys' are more likely to enter the central decision-making circle, even if they are members of the Standing Committee. It's a very common thing. The so-called generals and prime ministers are talking about people like you. Let's not talk about it, just look at what position that Mo Ming guy will take up this time. Grandma, I just couldn't find out. As for how the executive committee arranged for him, the news was kept secret."

"That's it." Chang Kaisheng said disapprovingly, "There are many people in the Government Affairs Council who don't like me. I know that it is too difficult to enter the central decision-making circle. Since there is no hope of making an official career, I should earn some money honestly." , be a rich man."

"It's good to be a rich man. Now the government has been dragging on because of the continuation of the war. Many people have already made troubles and rains in it. The water is very deep. It's better not to mess around at this time." Zhang Jinhua sighed. Sighing, he said, "Don't you see that I was sent out too? Grandma, let me go to sea to find overseas fairy mountains."

"Haha." Chang Kaisheng laughed twice, then put his arms around Zhang Jinhua's shoulders, and said, "Go, let's go to the city to have fun, and you won't miss out on good food and wine. Let the brothers also get off the boat and rest for a while." , have a good meal. I'm going to throw up after eating those cans all day. We have ostriches, lions, antelopes, and everything. Well, there is also cod, which is different from the native cod, and Abalone and good wine...”

The foods that Chang Kaisheng mentioned are all South African.Among them, the government of Hezhong Town set up an ostrich farm outside the city, specializing in breeding ostriches and ostrich eggs for meat and exporting them locally.These ostrich meat, ostrich eggs, and ostrich skins, together with South African agricultural products such as sorghum, peanuts, watermelons, wool, and cattle, are the largest commodities exported to the local area, and they earn a lot of money every year.

Of course, South Africa now exports a lot more local products.Except for a small amount of seal skins that were hunted, most of them are from the fishing industry that has gradually emerged in the past two years.As the Benguela cold current (rising compensating current) flows through the sea off the river, it brings rich nutrients to the local coastal waters. In addition, there are big rivers entering the sea nearby, so the nutrient bait is even more abundant, which also attracts The arrival of a large number of fish has formed the famous Southwest African fishing ground.

After obtaining the consent of the local government affairs council, the ship repair yard in Hezhong Port began to expand a few years ago, and was finally officially upgraded to a shipbuilding yard.It's just that the shipyard's strength is still very limited up to now, whether it is a lack of manpower, technology or materials, so it can only build a small number of offshore fishing boats on a regular basis.

These fishing boats are generally only tens of tons in size, and all use sail power. They usually catch some cod, herring, swordfish, abalone and even tuna in the offshore. The harvest is good, and their output is increasing year by year.For example: when the fishing industry in South Africa was just emerging in 44, the fish catch was only 80 tons that year, which rose rapidly to 150 tons in the second year, 240 tons in the third year, and an unprecedented 300 tons last year (the total amount of local fisheries) Production was 1800 tons last year).More than 90% of the fish catches in South Africa’s fishing grounds are exported to the mainland, and the price is low. In this era of scarcity of materials due to war, a large number of pickled fish and dried fish from South Africa greatly enriched the local commodity market, making people on the east coast The living consumption expenditure will not rise too fast.

The fishing industry developed rapidly, and the grape growing and winemaking industries in South Africa also achieved relatively rapid development with the help of many Gascogne and Provence immigrants.They planted the first vines in Hezhonggang in 1640, and started to make wine the year before last, and the quality is said to be good.

However, the climate here is not ideal after all, so before Liu Ang, the former captain of the South African Pioneering Team, left his post last year, he had sent a small number of people to explore the Cranwilliam area and built a settlement there to divert some of the population of Hezhong Town. Farm, grow grapes, make wine.After Chang Kaisheng took office, he inherited Liu Ang’s policy and named the new settlement Xiangbao—meaning a fort on the banks of the Xiang River. At the same time, he sent half of the cavalry from the South African Cavalry Company to Protect the small number of early pioneer residents there.

It is believed that after the development of the wine industry in South Africa, the situation where Xiangshan dry red from Zhenhai County dominates the market will be greatly impacted.

(End of this chapter)