Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 784 For the King's Precursor ([-])

This year's northeasterly wind rose very early. It was only mid-October, and the whistling northerly wind started blowing.At the port of Suez at this time, a group of ships on the east coast (four flute-shaped transport ships, two fast cruisers, and two expedition ships) were also ready, fully loaded with a large number of metal ores (lead, tin, copper), Livestock (Turkmen horses and camels), as well as slaves (Polish and German mercenary prisoners of war), left the port of Suez like an arrow off the string along the cold north, headed south, and finally died on November 11. Arrived at Xinhua Port, which has just entered the rainy season.

After arriving at Xinhua Port, Captain Ji Wen and other members of the expedition team went to meet Shi Qinjie, captain of the New China Pioneering Team, and Major Guo Zili, the new commander of the Navy's Second Fleet.They will discuss with the military and political leaders of New Huaxia Island to see if they can give strong support—such as sending the main battleship to accompany them—to go to Persia Abbas Bandar again in order to strive for greater benefits for the East Coast Republic of China— - Those ignorant Persians are too snobbish, and they won't give enough benefits if they don't let them see the powerful warships on my Great East Coast.

Leaving aside the matter of Captain Ji Wen and others, let's just talk about the large quantities of goods imported from the Ottoman Empire this time.Among these commodities, metals such as lead, tin, copper, etc. have to be transported back to the mainland; part of the bought Turkmen horses are shipped to South Africa and local military stud farms, and some are shipped to Australian military stud farms; the same is done for camels, some are shipped to Australia and South Africa, and some Shipped to Southern Patagonia, of course, Xinhua Island will keep a considerable part of the camels for its own use. After all, the western tropical dry grassland area still needs this kind of leathery livestock.

In addition to these, the most special of the "commodities" brought back from Ottoman were more than 500 prisoners of war.Among them, there were about [-] Polish prisoners of war, and more than [-] German Hessian mercenary prisoners of war.According to the plan, all German mercenaries will be sent to the Far East to join the East Coast Standing Team system and fight against the Qing army.Everyone who has served for five years or has killed at least one real Tartar will be immediately allocated a brick and tile house, [-] acres of cultivated land, [-] acres of slope pond forest land, several head of livestock and a daughter-in-law , and at the same time automatically naturalized in the local area, becoming a colonial resident of the East Coast Republic of China.

After automatically obtaining citizenship, they can also choose to stay in the army and receive full salary-five yuan per month. Before that, they could only get three yuan per month.In fact, the monthly salary of three yuan is not bad for these miserable Hessian mercenaries, because even the German mercenaries hired by the Dutch East India Company to serve in the East Indies, their monthly salary is only 9- 12 shields (about 3-4 yuan).What's more, they are still "slaves" bought by people from the east coast, and it is God's blessing to receive this kind of treatment.

Therefore, under this understanding, the emotions of these German mercenaries are basically stable. Although they are reluctant to fight in the unfamiliar Far East, their resistance is not particularly strong.I believe that after arriving in Shandong, the government of the Blackwater Pioneering Team will do some ideological work on them. With both hard and soft tactics, they will soon be able to correct their mentality and become qualified soldiers of the standing team. to fight.They are all soldiers who have fought old battles. Many of them went out to live with their fellow countrymen when they were in their teens. But, familiar with the latest firearms techniques and tactics, is there any more perfect cannon fodder than this?

Now the transportation season between Xinhua Island and Australia has just ended (from May to September every year, a total of five months), and the immigrant ship is currently moored in the port for overhaul.If you want to send more than 500 German mercenaries to Gushan Port in Western Australia, you really have to rely on these few ships from the East African Transportation Company.Otherwise, they will have to wait until February next year, when three newly built 1100-ton immigrant ships will head to the Far East. At that time, they can take them to Australia, and then go to Blackwater.

However, considering that Xinhua Island has entered the rainy season, it is the season of high temperature, high humidity, and mosquito diseases, and this is often the most unbearable time for outsiders (not adapted to the local climate), and if they are not careful, they will be infected by malaria, Cholera, dysentery and other terrible diseases knocked down.There are still almost three months between now and February. Kyle, who is in charge of transporting these prisoners of war, suspects that by February, only half of the more than 500 Germans who can remain healthy are left—— This is unacceptable to Kyle.Therefore, they must be sent away as soon as possible!

But it is easier said than done!This involves complex ship allocation issues, which are far beyond what Kyle, a small department-level cadre, can decide. He must consult the local supreme officer, Shi Qingjie.

Shi Qinjie also attached great importance to the question of Kyle's response. After careful consideration, he decided to help Shao Shude, Wei Boqiu and others—he planned to free up four flute-shaped transport ships from the East African Transport Company, and use Come to load more than two thousand and five hundred German mercenaries, and by the way, transport a batch of newly arrived horses and camels to Australia.

As for the transportation between the mainland of New China Island, it is definitely not enough to rely on the remaining three transport ships of the East African Shipping Company. After all, the export of goods from New China Island to the mainland has increased rapidly, such as timber, sisal, dried fruits, Exports of products, coconuts, honey, pepper, etc. have almost doubled compared to two years ago, which of course requires twice as much capacity.Therefore, at this time, in order not to affect the export of materials to the mainland, Shi Qinjie had to take the time to go to the island of Mozambique across the strait and ask the Portuguese there to help.They also have a few idle three-masted sailboats there, so it shouldn't be a problem to undertake some transportation tasks to the mainland, at worst, just pay a little more rent.

Now that a decision has been made, on November 11th, after waiting for a tropical storm to leave, the four transport ships of the overhauled East African Transport Company set sail, left Xinhua Port, and then went south along the Mozambique warm current towards the lonely mountain of Western Australia. away from Hong Kong.

Having said that, I have to mention the transportation line between Xinhua Island and Australia.In fact, in terms of weather and ocean currents, there is year-round navigation between New China and Australia.The reason why the East Coast government only limits the transportation season between the two places to between May and September every year is mainly because of the immigration issues involved.To put it bluntly, the boats from Australia to Xinhua Island are all full of immigrants (the return trip is full of cargo).

They headed north from the west coast of Australia, then entered the trade wind area, and returned to Xinhua Harbor along the southern Indian Ocean circulation.Most of the time this route is sailing in hot seas, and it must be passed as soon as possible, otherwise the immigrants will die in large numbers in the hot and humid environment.And every year from May to September, this sea area has both smooth wind and smooth water, which is convenient for immigrant boats to pass quickly to reduce the death rate.

However, if these few months pass, the immigrant ship will face the northwest wind that crosses the equator and suppresses the southeast trade wind, and the ocean current will be greatly slowed down by this unfavorable wind direction. It's extremely slow - even if it's not a motor sailing ship, pure sailing ships can't sail in this sea area at all this season.It is conceivable that if the immigrant boats from the east coast pass here at this time and head for Xinhua Port at a painfully slow speed, how many immigrant corpses will be thrown into the sea along the way.

Of course, if the ship was carrying cargo, then it would be fine.As long as you are careful, basically the southern Indian Ocean is theoretically navigable all year round, after all, the cargo will not get sick.

After these mercenaries arrive at Gushan Port in Western Australia, the ships of these East African transportation companies will carry out maintenance on the ships there, and then by the way, they will load some rare goods from the Far East and return to the mainland.These goods are of various types, generally medicinal materials, furs, animals and plants, books, antiques, jade, tea, porcelain, silk, and some captured Australian aborigines—according to the policy, the aborigines should be resettled as far as possible, so these Australian aborigines will try their best to "consume" in Xinhua Island.

The German Hessian mercenaries were collectively transported to the Far East as cannon fodder, and the situation of the Polish prisoners of war who came with them was much worse.From a legal point of view, they are now contracted slaves of the government of the East Coast Republic of China. Each of them has to work in the state-run plantations, coal mines, docks, logging camps and other places on New China Island for five years before they can obtain the status of free citizens.And this undoubtedly means that their death rate is extremely high.But so what?The East Coast Republic bought them back from the Crimean Tatars, not for the purpose of being a master, but for working!Whether it is digging coal, logging, farming or doing coolies, or going deep into the rainforest to open up territories and crusade against barbarians, they will not be left idle.

If you want to be free, you can!Let's work hard for five years first!After five years, you will be able to register in Xinhua Island, and then use the severance pay given to you by the boss to buy land, houses and livestock. If you have money left, you can also marry another wife.The future is bright, but first you have to survive five years of hell in a dangerous environment full of mosquitoes, diseases and savage attacks!To be honest, this step has actually wiped out many people. It is conceivable that few of the more than [-] Polish prisoners of war will be alive after five years-in fact, three to five hundred would be good up.

At the end of November 1649, more than 11 newly arrived Polish prisoners of war were sent to various places under the "escort" of the militia on the east coast. Among them, 500 went to the coal mines in Tacheng, and 500 went to the sisal and coffee plantations in Guihua Port. In the end, all the remaining people were sent to the cotton plantation in Mianhe Port.From now to the next five years, they will use their own hands to create benefits for the people on the east coast, so-called pioneers of the king, that's what they are.

(End of this chapter)