1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 860 The "Evil" of African Trading Companies

February 1671, 2, Isle of Dogs.

Chen Yongkuan stood in the middle of the long queue and walked slowly towards the beach.There are four large ships moored there, bobbing up and down with the surging waves.On the side of the ship, there were many sailors lying on their stomachs, pointing at them, commenting, and bursting into laughter from time to time.

"These bare-headed men are probably from the Qinglu region in the north? Hehe... why does it feel like we are monks pulling a boat together!"

"These bald dippers are not ordinary immigrants." A sailor who knew a little bit about the inside story said: "They were the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners captured by the Qing Dynasty before. Some of them surrendered voluntarily, and some were captured by the Ming army. Then they threw it to us Qi State. It is said that there are about [-] to [-] people!"

"No wonder, the government will send so many immigrants to our African trading company. This co-author is to send these sinful Eight Banners officers and soldiers overseas to undergo some physical and psychological reform!"

"That's not true! These Han Eight Banners officers and soldiers, as dignified Han people, committed themselves to clearing up the captives, and followed them to ruin the Han people in the mainland. According to my opinion, it would be better to kill them all! At least they can be killed. There is a lot of food left."

"If you kill them all, that would be a bit tyrannical. ... It's okay to take them overseas, it can be regarded as waste utilization. There are all dark natives there. After they pass, they are still half of our own people, how many It can also help us expand our territory."

"You said, if these Han and Eight Banners officers and soldiers are brought over, will they cause us to rebel locally and secretly make trouble for our African trading company. Or, will they run directly inland and escape the control of our trading company?"

"Hehe..., your worry is a bit unnecessary. You haven't seen so many women and children in the immigration team, most of them are their family members. If you want to rebel, don't you think about your own family? In the border of Africa, except for us Qi people, Who else can they rely on? They won’t be taking their families to the inland to become savages, right? Maybe they’re just giving rations to those aborigines!... Some aboriginal tribes want to eat people!”

Chen Yongkuan and his group of prisoners of the Qing army, together with their family members, totaled more than [-] people and were transferred to Gouer Island more than a month ago.Here they have been shaved again, leaving them bald all over.Afterwards, under the supervision of local armed soldiers, they excavated phosphate mines, built roads and houses, and waited for the arrival of ships to transport them again.

On March 3, the fleet continued to set off.

Revolt?

After several years of exploration, African trading companies have now formed two relatively mature maritime trade routes.One is to start from Jianye, pass through Gouji Island, take advantage of the warm current of the Indian Ocean, and drive directly to the Mauritius colony of the Dutch, then bypass Madagascar Island and sail to Fort Changning (now Durban, South Africa).Subsequently, the ship will stay in South Africa for several months to collect local goods, and then sail back to the southwest of Hanzhou along the edge of the westerly belt in the southern hemisphere.

"Boss, although our business company has more than 4000 people here, there are less than 3000 farmers who colonize and farm the land. The grain harvested every year is barely enough for us to eat. There are more than 1000 mouths in the sky. Where can I get them? So much food?" Chen Hongan complained.

Don't be ridiculous, on the battlefield, I dare not fight with the people of Qi. Now that I have no armor and no weapons, how dare I face the whips and bayonets of those supervisors!

"Slave trading is against the peace of heaven." Sitting in the carriage, Li Xiangcai glanced at the hundreds of indigenous black slaves at the pier, driven by guards, to soak in waist-deep sea water to build a breakwater, and said expressionlessly: " For this kind of thing, we need to warn all the crew members and guards of the trading company in the future, when returning to the homeland, don’t make a big publicity, let alone sell black slaves to the homeland and overseas territories.”

On April 4, the fleet arrived at Fort Zhenning (now the port of Richard's Bay, South Africa), where it stayed for five days and resettled more than 16 people.

Before it was too late, the capital was broken, and while the Ming army was gathering heavy troops to attack Xuanfu, they also sent a partial division to drive straight to Zhengding, forming a pincer attack with the Ming army attacking from Henan.

However, at the beginning of January this year, the Immigration Department suddenly proposed that as many as [-] Qing army prisoners and their families should be handed over to them and resettled in several colonial strongholds in South Africa.

Chen Yongkuan was an assistant leader of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty and the Red Banner. He was stationed in Zhengding together with more than ten thousand Eight Banners of Manchuria and the Green Battalion.After the Ming army broke through Bazhou last year, it went all the way to the capital.The officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners of Manchuria then ordered them, the Eight Banners of Han and the Green Battalion soldiers, to hold back the Ming army, but they rushed to King Qin of the capital on light horses.

"Where does I know how big Qi is?" Chen Yongkuan glared at Zhuo Lianghong angrily, "Damn it, if I had known about this kind of tossing around at sea, it would be better to fight to the death with the Ming army in Zhengding!"

"I heard that they sent us to a place called Africa." Chen Yongkuan showed a painful expression on his face, "I'm afraid there are thousands of miles of sea to go."

It's not that there are no people who are passive, sabotage, stealing, raping and playing tricks, but without exception, they were all dragged out by the people of Qi, and they were severely whipped dozens of times. Do not apply medicine to the doctor, let him suffer.If he didn't make it through, he would dig a hole in the forest and bury him.

"My lord, where do the people of Qi want to send us?" Zhuo Lianghong glanced at the soldiers from Qi who were holding bayonets and muskets at the side of the team, and then asked in a low voice, "Could they be transporting us to their Hanzhou?" Homeland? Grandma, this trip by boat has vomited out all my gall....Why is there no end! "

Grandma's hands, who are used to holding knives and guns, do the work of those enveloping slaves, which makes all the officers and soldiers of the Han and Eight Banners complain.

If there is no food, the worst thing is to send out armed guards to go deep into the inland, just "borrow" more from those Bantu tribes, and by the way, catch more slaves.

On March 3, the fleet arrived at Wangxiang Island (now Rodrigues Island, Mauritius), where they stayed for three days to rest and resettled more than 23 extremely weak immigrants on the island.

However, out of compensation, the Cabinet Office returned [-]% of the income tax paid by South African business companies over the years. Although it cannot cover all resettlement costs, it has gained somewhat and can slightly appease many dissatisfied shareholders and investors.

"You said that our business company has brought so many immigrants from the mainland to resettle them. This is not considering our economic interests at all!" Chen Hong'an, the general manager of the Africa Business Co. Showing a bit of embarrassment, "These Qing soldiers are here. In addition to spending a lot of supplies to feed them for a period of time, we have to keep an eye on them from time to time to prevent them from causing trouble!"

For more than five years, South African trading companies successively captured nearly [-] aborigines, and almost all of them were sold to the Dutch.Of course, after gradually understanding the market conditions, the Qi people were no longer tricked by the cunning Dutch and made the profits they should have made.

Moreover, the daily meals are only six percent full, and the heavy labor has already squeezed out the last trace of energy in your body. How can you be the opponent of those wolf-like soldiers of Qi State.What's more, most of the prisoners of the Qing army still have their family members by their side, so we have to think about them.

In the business structure of South African trading companies, slave trading has become an important means of profit.If the sale of the first batch of Bantu slaves captured in the war six years ago was an accidental business activity.So now, several strongholds in South Africa have begun to frequently organize armed personnel to sweep the coastal areas, aggressively attack and capture the local tribes and indigenous people, and then sell them to the Dutch. This seems to have formed a formal business model.

However, the officials of the immigration department who came to negotiate with several big shopkeepers of the South African trading company said softly that increasing the number of South African immigrants and consolidating and strengthening the defense strength of several strongholds were orders issued by His Majesty the Emperor himself.

"Don't talk too much of such useless nonsense!" Li Xiangcai, the big shopkeeper of the trading company who came with the boat, glared at him, "Our trading company has more than ten large and small strongholds in South Africa, and there are more than 500 armed guards and settlers. , No matter what, these more than 1000 people can be settled. Besides, women and children accounted for [-]% of this group of prisoners of the Qing army, how could there be any trouble?"

"...Africa?" Zhuo Lianghong was stunned for a moment, "Where is Africa? By the way, how big is Qi? From Annan, to Nanyang, to this small island, and what else...Africa, no matter what. Do you have territory in Qi State?"

Chen Yongkuan and other Qing army captives had just arrived in Annan and were still resting. All the men were forcibly cut off their rattails by the Qi people. The old army uniforms and uniforms were also discarded and burned.Everyone was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and then received a set of simple cotton long trousers.

Another trade route of the South African Trading Company is to start from South Africa. During the summer season when the southwest wind prevails, they will be fully loaded with ivory, furs and slaves. They will go all the way north and sell the goods in their hands to Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula and Persia.Then, the ships will stay in the area for several months, and exchange the gold and silver they get for Persian carpets and silks, Egyptian cattle and sheep, Arabian horses and pearls, and return to South Africa when the northeast wind prevails in winter.

In this regard, the big shopkeepers of several trading companies instinctively refused.Just kidding, more than 500 people have to be resettled to several strongholds in South Africa, which will cost a lot of money.Originally, the trading company has been established for more than ten years and has not seen any profit and dividends, which has already provoked criticism from many shareholders and investors.Now that he has managed to make a little money, he has to increase investment, add more merchant ships, and strive to increase the profit by several levels.

Several big shopkeepers who were in charge of the house immediately kept silent, so they had no choice but to make their promises and obey them.

"If you don't have that much food, then go find a place to buy it! If you can't buy it, go to the inland to find the natives to borrow!" Li Xiangcai looked at Chen Hongan with a half-smile, "If you think you can't handle all this, you might as well go back to Han I will find someone else to solve this matter for you!"

On April 4, the fleet arrived at Fort Changning.

The generals of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty and the generals of the Green Battalion in Zhengding City went out of the city and surrendered to the Ming army after a fierce quarrel and after receiving the safety guarantee from the commander of the Ming army.

As the general manager of the trading company in Changning, all the big and small affairs here are decided by him. More than 4000 armed guards and settlers obey his orders alone. There are thousands of Hanzhou silver dollars in his pocket, how can he be willing to give up this position so easily.

"..."

It may be that they are worried that they will have strong resistance and even armed confrontation during the sea transfer process.From the hands of the Ming army, the Qi people begged all the family members of the Han Eight Banners and Green Battalion soldiers who surrendered.Then, it was shipped to the Ryukyu and Annan regions in batches.

Later, with the establishment of African trading companies and the continuous development of overseas business, the number of merchant ships passing through Gouji Island gradually increased, adding a bit of fireworks to this remote island in the Indian Ocean.

On March 3, the fleet arrived in Mauritius, the stronghold of the Dutch East India Company, and stayed for two days to replenish some fresh water.

In the early days, only those merchant ships going to Java and Sumatra would stop here briefly to replenish some fresh water, which brought some extra income to the local people.

As the core stronghold in South Africa, the development and construction of Fort Changning absolutely beat the Cape Town stronghold of the nearby Dutch and the Maputo stronghold of the Portuguese.

This coastal stronghold established 14 years ago (1657) already has more than 500 immigrants.Four years ago, Changning Fort also confiscated a large number of natives, and carried out a large-scale expansion of the entire fort, making the perimeter of the city wall more than [-] meters long, with masonry and cement structures, bastions, forts, and urns. It is enough to deal with more than ten thousand enemies.

In addition, in the vicinity of Changning Fort, in addition to the previously established Da'an Fort (now North Durban District, Durban City, South Africa), another Xianning Fort (now Pinetown District, South Africa) was built, and the three places became the horns of each other. .In addition, in order to capture more slaves and sell them to the Dutch, the South African Trading Company also built a Nanchuan Fort (now Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) [-] kilometers inland.

"Boss shopkeeper..." Chen Hongan smiled awkwardly when he heard the words, "Boss shopkeeper, see what you said. As long as your old man tells me, no matter how hard it is, I have to find some ways to get some food, and use these extra meals The mouth is properly settled. I am not worried that this year's trade profit growth will not be achieved because of this."

During their rest in Annan for more than two months, they engaged in all kinds of heavy work, logging, burning wasteland, leveling the land, digging ditches, and building houses... Every day from morning to night, they almost never stopped.

The voyage of more than 500 kilometers was destined to be a difficult and long journey for both the crew and all the Qing army prisoners and their families.During the period, except for a short stay in Wan'an Islands (now the Cocos Islands in Australia), the rest of the itinerary was sailing on the vast Indian Ocean, like four falling leaves, following the endless surging waves, endlessly help drifting.

The immigrant boarding operation lasted for most of the day. At about [-]:[-] in the afternoon, the four three-masted transport merchant ships that were ready to go left the pier of Dog Island for the first time. After sailing out of the harbor, they hoisted their mainsails and headed southwest. .

Through these two commercial routes, the South African trading company achieved its goal of making profits four years ago, and with the continuous deepening of trade, the profits it earned also showed a trend of substantial growth.Under such circumstances, several big shopkeepers of the South African trading company are gearing up to invest all the profits they have earned in the past few years into the increase of transportation capacity.

On this commercial route, the South African business community transported a large number of locally produced industrial products to South Africa. Some of the products would be sold to the nearby Dutch, French, and some European merchant ships passing through South Africa for entrepot trade; It will exchange ivory, fur and slaves with indigenous tribes such as the Bantu, Xhosa, and Khoisan in the interior.

After more than 20 years of development, in addition to being the most important phosphate producing area in Qi, Gouji Island has gradually become a very critical sea supply point.

It was originally thought that the Ming army might incorporate them into the Qing army who surrendered, join the Ming army's combat order, or disarm them and release them to the people.But who would have thought that these days, the murderous Daming officers and soldiers would pack them up and send them to the Qi State after controlling them for several months.

"Why?"

"... His Majesty doesn't like it."

"...It's a pity. In terms of farming and mining, these local indigenous slaves are much stronger than those wild monkeys in the Nanyang region."

"Perhaps, at some point in the future, some people will call our business activities the most shameless and despicable behavior, just like the Mongolian Yuan and the Qing Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)