Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1309 Swallowing ([-])

On December 1661, 12, Lobster Harbor, Isle of Be, heavy rain.

Driven by the foreman, a group of mixed yellow, white and black laborers, wearing oilskin raincoats and carrying agricultural tools, stumbled forward in the pouring rain.The laborers include Europeans, Sakaravas, Bezimisarakas, Swahili and Comorians. The early Polish laborers have successfully escaped from the sea of ​​suffering, and they have obtained official identities through bloodshed on the battlefield. Nowadays, either he has changed his job to become a self-cultivator, or he has become a supervisor in a major plantation or on a construction site.

At this time, the dozen or so overseers who drove the laborers to work were the early Polish prisoners of war and the current overseas residents of the East Coast Republic of China. They are now the overseers of some nearby spice plantations (Ylang Yilan, Hua Nila) , overseeing the work of hundreds of laborers everywhere.In the past few days, it has been raining heavily near Isle of Bei. The higher-ups were worried about the poor drainage in the plantation, so they went out to work in the rain, checked the water supply and drainage system, and cleaned the silted gutters by the way.

The supervisors were all wearing raincoats, with sabers on their waists, looking lazy.They follow the laborers far away, and they are not afraid of them running away. Because everyone is not stupid, there is nothing in this wilderness, and it is still the rainy season. There is no second possibility for running out except starvation, illness, and death. Therefore, The management is very lax, as long as the laborers finish their work on time.

Next door to the vanilla plantation is the famous Beidao Sugar Factory. This large-scale sugar refining enterprise with hundreds of workers has various types of steam engines with a total horsepower of more than 100 horsepower, driving various newly designed sugar extraction equipment; The horse-drawn wagon light rail leads to the deep-water wharf, and the infrastructure is excellent. These are undoubtedly the guarantee of its strong production capacity-according to rough statistics, last year (1660) the total sugar production of Isle of Bei was more than 1620 tons of sucrose, although its production capacity is not as good as that of Brazil (Brazil’s production capacity exceeded 70 tons in 80, and the profit per ton alone reached [-]-[-] East Coast silver dollars), the African continent, Caribbean islands and even Far Eastern Taiwan, but the rapidly developing The Island Sugar Factory has become a rising star to be reckoned with in the sugar market, especially for the East Coast Republic.

Such a huge production capacity naturally benefits from the strong market demand.The popularity of new beverages such as coffee and cocoa powder has undoubtedly greatly stimulated the consumption of sucrose. People on the east coast who like the above two beverages are the largest consumers of sucrose; in addition, compared with the relatively poor food culture in the West , the food on the east coast that originated from China is also rich and colorful. Many sweets that are only popular in a narrow circle in the Ming Dynasty have entered the homes of ordinary people on the east coast, and this undoubtedly requires a lot of sucrose and spices. , which is another big market.

Adding the two together, the one million people on the east coast consumed no less than 100 tons of sucrose last year, an average of 180 kilograms per person, which is extremely astonishing.The import price of these sucrose is about 200-40 yuan/ton (twice as expensive as Taiwan’s sucrose), both from Peru and from Xinhua Island, and even a very small part from New Spain and Southeast Asia. The total import volume has reached nearly [-] yuan, which is already a big business.

Sugar demand is increasing on the East Coast, and much the same in Europe.If you go to major cities, you will know that London, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris, Bordeaux, Madrid, Lisbon, Cadiz, Florence and other places are full of newly opened cafes, and more and more people like coffee. The demand for sucrose is also increasing day by day. You know, this is a super big market dozens of times larger than the east coast. One can imagine how much it has stimulated the sugarcane plantations in various places, and how many longing investors have brought Capital came to the Caribbean to open up plantations.

"Now that a large-scale war has broken out in Brazil, the international market has almost lost 7000-10000 tons of cane sugar production per year, although there are also many investors expanding the scale of sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean islands—such as the British in Jamaica and Barbados— — But after all, the long-distance water can't quench the near-thirst, and the soaring sugar price in recent years is a high probability event." The county magistrate of Xinhua County, Kyle, who came to see off the soldiers on behalf of Ma Wanpeng, said with a smile: "Last year we went to Persia transported more than 350 tons of sucrose, defeating the Dutch East India Company (they only exported about 150 tons of Taiwanese sucrose to Persia), and Ottoman, Oman and other places also jointly digested about 600 tons (Osman’s demand fluctuated greatly Depends on how hard they crack down on cafes...), the Italians also transported about 300 tons, and counting the local consumption in South Africa, Australia and Xinhua Island, everyone is joking, if the local government does not increase the purchase price of sugar, we will They are not sold to the local market, but are all sold to the international market.”

"If you really dare to do this, I bet the executive committee will definitely adjust most of the cadres of the New China Pioneering Team. Those white shirts have always been this kind of virtue." Xiao Bai was wiping a saber with a silk cloth Tu Wenyan made a "cut" and said disdainfully: "But those people are indeed too greedy. The major companies that take over most of the sugar export trade in Xinhua Island are probably not registered here. Well, I remember it was either the capital or Qingdao County, but there is no Xinhua County anyway. In this way, most of the profits and tariffs are kept in the mainland, and you guys, hehe, earn some hard money.”

What Xiao Baitu said is also true. Apart from the sugarcane plantations in Xinhua Island, which cannot escape from the local area, Beidao Sugar Factory, which monopolizes cane sugar refining, and East Africa Transport, which monopolizes the transportation of various specialty commodities including sugar, The companies were all forcibly invested in by the local Ministry of Finance, and a large amount of profits flowed from the fourth largest island in the world to the east coast, nourishing millions of people on the east coast and enabling them to live a relatively affluent life—of course, the residents of Xinhua Island It’s not bad. Gein has only 7 to [-] people here. Relying on the local rich natural resources and the advantages of the Indian Ocean entrepot trade, their average living standard is actually not lower than that of the local people, and may even be slightly higher.

Perhaps Xiao Baitu's words were too explicit, and the county magistrate Kyle, who has been in the bureaucratic system on the east coast for many years, did not dare to delve into this topic, so he could only interrupt: "Commander Xiao (Xiao Baitu is the Daqing Basin Security Commander), 2000 members of the Xinhua County Security Corps have gathered here. A batch of combat supplies will also arrive in the next period of time. When will you act? I am referring to the action of striking Ma Renjia. "

"Wait for now." Xiao Baitu put the sharp and shiny saber on the table next to him, stood up and said, "I also saw the Xinhua County Security Corps that just arrived. It was full of 2000 people, including military personnel. There are definitely a small number of people with experience, and the large groups are raw melon eggs. They usually do some pretentious militia training, and there is still a long way to go to battle. Therefore, I decided to train these people well, just This is the Lobster Harbor on the Isle of Be. Besides, it is the time when the rainy season is at its peak. Although it does not rain every day, it also greatly affects military operations. To fight in this season, unless the Sakaravas are all idiots, etc. Let us behead you, otherwise I don’t want to take any risks, so let’s wait a little longer, first practice our own kung fu solidly, and everything else will be easy.”

Kyle felt a little relieved when he heard it. To be honest, he was really afraid that Xiao Baitu, a more radical soldier, would mess around. It's easy to say something, so as not to be accused of overreaching.Fortunately, Xiao Baitu is a veteran after all, and his head is still relatively clear. He was not arrogant enough to go to Ma Renjia in the rainy season, and it might cause big troubles.

After the county magistrate Kyle left, Xiao Baitu immediately dispatched experienced non-commissioned officers from various ministries to take over the training power of the Xinhua County Security Corps. The rhythm of the old troops of the New China Infantry Battalion who have been fighting all the year round.In addition, he also took the "Shangfang Sword" given by Ma Wanpeng, went deep into various vanilla and pepper plantations, read the simple information of all laborers, and selected cannon fodder suitable for the battlefield-this is also the tradition of Xinhua Island. From the beginning of the Second World War, people on the east bank would select personnel with military experience from the migrant labor group, and then organize them into the servant army to fight, just like Xiao Baitu led the army to attack the Sakarawa Kingdom.

And the laborers in Xinhua Island are also looking forward to such a thing, because this is a shortcut for them to quickly get rid of the hard-pressed plantation "slave" status and gain freedom, provided that you obey orders in battle and succeed Survive—to be honest, this is actually not a difficult task in New China, because the natives on this island obviously cannot cause them much casualties, so most of the laborers are eager to get rid of the embarrassing laborers by joining the army In one fell swoop, he turned over and became an overseas citizen of the East Coast, and lived a good life ever since.

"Although our laws do not give planters and sugar millers the right to torture their slaves to death, as Europeans do - just think of the black slaves who are forced to spend hours bending over in the scorching sun and hacking Sugarcane; swarms of sugarcane must be continuously fed into the rolling machine; regardless of spring and winter, they have to work for a long time beside the red stove; the living environment is extremely harsh, and what they eat is cassava noodles boiled into paste , living in mud huts - but their situation is still not optimistic. The heavy labor and harsh environment have greatly damaged their health. A healthy man usually dies within seven years (this happens to be labor labor The longest service period) will lead to physical deterioration, loss of part of the labor force, and even death. Therefore, they are very eager to change their identities by joining the army.” Xiao Baitu’s words clearly illustrate this situation, and this desire It also often makes the laborers who join the army enthusiastic about fighting, at least they will not flee for no reason during the battle, which is better than the island soldiers of the Eight Banners.

Xiao Baitu and others finally selected nearly 1662 such laborers from the major plantations on Isle of Bey, and then joined forces with [-] laborers from Transylvania, Ukraine, and Poland selected from cotton plantations in the Daqing Basin. Together with the workers, they conducted intensive military training, hoping that after the arrival of the cool season (also the dry season) in [-], they could successfully knead these laborers who were prisoners of war together and have a certain combat effectiveness.

This kind of military training continued until early April 1662, when the last downpour of the rainy season ended and the last hurricane hit Xinhua Island.Four months of intensive military training has improved the combat effectiveness of each of Xiao Baitu's troops to a certain extent, and their coordinated combat capabilities have also been greatly enhanced than before.In particular, the 4 officers and soldiers of the Xinhua County Security Regiment, which has not been established for a long time, have significantly improved their combat effectiveness compared to four months. It is the purpose of Xiao Baitu.

On April 1662, 4, more than 13 troops from the east bank, mainly composed of the Xinhua Xia Infantry Battalion and the Xinhua County Security Regiment, supplemented by the Island Eight Banners soldiers and labor servants, were transported by the fleet of the East African Transportation Company. , sailed to the sea off the port of Mahajanga, and officially opened the final battle against the Boyla Kingdom.

In history, the monarch of the Boyla Kingdom had a large number of musketeers and forty coastal defense cannons in its heyday. In this time and space, the Boyla Kingdom was chased by people from the east coast, and life was a bit cramped. Therefore, its ruler Chimara Donna did not spend a lot of money to buy cannons like in history, so there are only a dozen or so old bronze cannons on the wharf fort in Mahajanga port at this time, and it is not known where they were bought.

To make matters worse, perhaps due to insufficient training (which is almost inevitable), the Sakarava artillery who operated the artillery was also extremely poor in shooting skills. As a result, the battleship "Free Trade" of the second fleet rushed into the port. With a sudden bang, four or five cannons were misfired on the spot, and the rest of the artillery also dispersed under the threat of the east bank landing force-the biggest obstacle to landing disappeared, and the process was as easy as a child's play. The army on the east bank was a little excited, and they all felt that this might be a good sign.

At noon that day, when the army on the east bank was still rushing to land, Chimara Dongna, the lord of the Boyla Kingdom, rushed over with the army, ready to drive the people from the east bank into the sea in one fell swoop.This guy brought a full 500 officers and soldiers, of which about [-] were elite arquebus soldiers, who had always been his trump card to defeat other tribes. Collect the best, if you don't succeed, you will become benevolent.

The people on the east coast were naturally very happy about the decisive battle posture of the Sakarava people, because it obviously saved a lot of energy.As a result, the four companies of the New China Infantry Battalion, which had landed in advance, immediately completed their formation. Together with some artillery, they formed a dense formation near the landing field, waiting for the enemy to fight.

(End of this chapter)