Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1440 The Monarchs of South Africa ([-])

In late April 1666, just as Captain Yang Liang and others were racking their brains to seek a breakthrough in the western half of South Africa, in the Yicheng area on the east coast, the people from the east coast were also trying to find a way to enter the rich inland hinterland.This is not for anything else, but for the anthracite coal that the navy and immigration ships are very concerned about (the east coast currently imports a lot of British white coal every year), and of course there is also a large amount of coking coal suitable for coking, not to mention the inland Swazi-speaking coal. The area occupied by the natives is also much better than the coastal Yicheng area in terms of agriculture, climate and precipitation conditions. This is extremely important for increasing food production and reducing the death rate of pioneer residents. The westward movement promoted by Commissioner Qiu Haiyang and Qiu.

Some people may say that it is too hasty to vigorously develop inland coal production areas at this stage?However, from the point of view of the Yicheng area, advancing inland through a series of settlements can not only avoid the tough Zulu people in the south, but also penetrate deep into Caosi, where the rainfall and soil conditions are good. Whispering tribal territories, what's unreasonable about that?Quite perfect!You know, in the coastal area, the soil is not as fertile as here. After relocating some immigrants to fill in the gaps here, this land will officially be named the East Coast in the future!What, you said there are natives there?Well, yes, but how long do you think they can resist the soldiers and civilians in the Yicheng area?The weak do not have much say in this cruel world, and the people on the east coast are willing to collect them and send them to the Black Banners (of course, before that, they have to work on the east coast construction site for several years) to replenish their manpower. That's pretty good, what else do you want?

Today is a fine autumn day, with no clouds in the blue sky. Mao Jun and Tang Moyu rode two Laschek horses that are good at walking mountain roads, and surrounded by a large group of soldiers, they came to Chenggao Township .These soldiers are mainly exiled officers and soldiers of the Ottoman Empire and regular Slavic prisoners of war. One or two years ago, when the first and second divisions of the Shandong New Army led by Zhai Cong'e and Qin Shangxing, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers and their families passed by Xinhua Island one after another, the two places After all, the chief officer still didn't have the guts to reach out to these people. In the end, he just recruited about [-] bachelors with combat experience, most of whom were taken away by Xinhua Island, and the rest were left in Lingchang Township. Training, and training the militia, and continuous fighting with the local Zulu-speaking tribes - this has nothing to do with justice, everything is to fight for the land on which to live.

Therefore, this is Lieutenant Mao Jun, who is already the actual highest person in charge of the military in Yicheng area, and the two hundred soldiers who brought Chenggao Township are basically this kind of cannon fodder.On the contrary, the entire company (210 people) brought by Lieutenant Tang Moyutang from Xinhua Island was actually a well-organized colonial regular army, that is, the fourth company of the Xinhua Infantry Company.

Hundreds of people from these two departments led a large team of mules and horses (responsible by Sakarawa prisoners of war recruited on Xinhua Island), and they climbed hundreds of meters high mountains to this fertile valley. Of course, they are not here for tourism, but mainly to The area around Chenggao Township was set up to deter those Swazi-speaking black tribes who were getting more and more ready to move, because there have been repeated conflicts here in the past year, and many people have been killed and injured on both sides.Annoyed, Qiu Haiyang, the Commissioner of Yicheng District, decided to transfer the regular army from the New Huaxia region, and then marched inland with the only mobile force in the region, intending to attack the blind native tribes around.

Huang Yi, the new captain of the New China Pioneering Team, has continued the consistent policy of the Ma Wanpeng era—at the same time, the members of the executive committee also asked the New China Island to take advantage of the "counterpart assistance"—and was very helpful to the Yicheng area. Yes, they not only sent ships to send a batch of grain, building materials, gunpowder, daily necessities, seeds, livestock and other materials every quarter, but also sent a batch of Sakarava slaves here to help volunteers when their own labor was in short supply. It can be said that the construction of roads leading to the hinterland in the Yicheng area is dedicated, and the more than 1 people in the Yicheng area naturally remember this in their hearts.

No, the regular army of the New China Infantry Battalion is also one of the contents of counterpart assistance. Second Lieutenant Tang Moyu, who had made his mark in the battle against Mahajanga Port, rushed over with his troops, together with Lieutenant Mao Jun, whom he had known since childhood , once again joined hands with partners to stabilize the situation in Chenggao Township, a place destined to become the core city of the region in the future.

"Like much of Africa, the greatest event in the economic history of the Swazi tribe is what we are now experiencing, the intrusion of a modern commodity economy into an economic society that has maintained traditional, local self-sufficiency. It is a pity that they are now personally You closed this door, put yourself in a closed state, and even launched hostile actions against us, what a pity, what a pity." The acting mayor of Chenggao Township, the second generation Wang Wei, greeted Mao and Tang Er When the man arrived, he introduced and said: "[-] officers and soldiers came all at once, and the logistical pressure has increased greatly. The road across the Lubangbo Mountains is not easy, is it?"

The Lubangbo Mountain in Wang Wei’s mouth is located in the easternmost part of the later Swaziland, at the junction with Mozambique. Strictly speaking, the mountain is not very high, it looks hundreds of meters, but the valleys between the mountains are winding and the roads are uneven. It's too good to go.The Yicheng Highway (Yicheng Port-Chenggao Township) currently being planned by the Yicheng District Administrative Office will pass through this mountainous area to connect the coastal and inland areas. The hundreds of Swazis who came were sent to level the roadbed, but they unexpectedly attracted stronger resistance from the blacks, detonating the already unstable situation, so there were [-] troops—almost the entire Nyi Seng area. All the mobile forces are here - a move to stabilize the situation.

The terrain of Swaziland in later generations is actually very simple. Generally speaking, it can be divided into four parts from west to east, namely, High Peled (Dutch Veld, which means grassland), Middle Peled, and Low Peled. and four parts of the Lubombo Mountains.This remarkable basic physical geography division actually also deeply and comprehensively considers the problem of resource development in Swaziland, that is, the resource potential of each natural area is not only different, but also the different geological and topographical conditions strongly affect its location and future development.

For example, the main iron mines, asbestos mines, diaspore mines, gold mines, kaolin mines, and barite mines in Swaziland in later generations are all located in the High Peled area, while most of the coal mines are located in the Low Peled area. As for the Middle Peled is the most important pastoral area, and the Low Peled is the main dry or irrigated agricultural area, the division is basically very clear.

In fact, we can also see from it that the self-sustaining ability of the entire area where the Swazis live is still good. The conditions of agriculture and animal husbandry are so-so. Although there is a bit of water shortage, it is definitely not too dry. Many rivers are perennial Even if a few rivers stop flowing, it usually only lasts for a few weeks); in addition, coal and iron resources are very rich, and the mining of gold and asbestos is also very large-scale in later generations. There are many large mines in later generations, but some small iron mines and medium coal mines (there are too many coal mines, from Mlume to the banks of the Inwauma River, there are coal deposits in almost the entire Lower Peled) have discovered a lot Therefore, this gave Qiu Haiyang, the commissioner of Yicheng District, the expectation of developing the coal and iron industry in the local area. Unfortunately, the central government has not been able to agree and has not invested, which makes Qiu very annoyed.

At present, the land occupied by the people on the east coast is mainly a small part of the Lubangbo Mountains and the northern part of the Lower Pelede. High, except that the two diseases are hardly seen in the High Peleud area.

The area of ​​Low Peled is about 6200 square kilometers. The vegetation in the western half is the common broad-leaved savannah community on the west coast of Xinhuaxia Island, which grows on sandy topsoil.The eastern half is mostly acacia, thorny savannah, or dense scrub.It is worth mentioning that, compared with the more "sour and bitter" herbs in the high-Peled area, the low-Peled herb is quite "sweet", which is very suitable for people on the east bank to get from the Hezhong area and Xinhua Island The appetite of hump cattle and yellow cattle is good, so the conditions for farming and animal husbandry are good.

"You have occupied the Swazi land, do you still expect them to live in peace with you?" After calling his subordinates to lead the team to the barracks, Mao Jun threw the whip to the adjutant, and said to Wang Wei with a smile: "This flat land is probably the most concentrated area of ​​the entire Swazi-speaking tribe. There seem to be more than a dozen tribes or clans, right? We're so aggressive, and our attitude is not very friendly. Why don't they get mad? Just be content, old Wang, there are not more than ten clans going together, otherwise we will just come here to handle funeral affairs for you."

"Go away, you bastard! I wanted to invite you to eat delicious food tonight, but now it's gone." Wang Wei immediately laughed and scolded: "We can gather more than two hundred militiamen, although we can't do anything big , but self-protection is not difficult, as long as those natives don't go crazy and attack in one go."

"Come on, you have hairy and delicious food, but you also need to import food from the outside. No, this time the mule and horse team brought you some corn and bacon, so save some food. The road is not smooth now. , the Swazis and Tonga people along the way are not very friendly to us, and the number of looting of mules and horses is increasing day by day, so that we have to reduce the frequency of the transport team, increase the size, and send soldiers to escort the transport, which is really annoying It's clear." Mao Jun glanced at Wang Wei sideways, and said with disdain: "I also read the report on the Swazi region written by Wang Zhijie. This is not an agricultural utopia, and the conditions are only average. And the land The level of human agriculture is low, and the degree of development is limited. It hasn't been too long since you took over, what tricks can you come up with? Come on, if it works, then you don't need to eat relief food. Damn, actually thinking about it is depressing, precious troops It was wasted on this. What do you think about this? The Tonga people are still living around our settlements in a big way. They haven’t been cleaned up, but they rushed hundreds of kilometers in one pole and came to Swee Scholars’ sites are full of wind and rain, they really play the piano! Don’t you know how long this transportation line is? How high is the transportation cost?”

To a certain extent, what Captain Mao Jun said was not a big mistake.The agricultural level of the Swazi people is indeed very low, completely incomparable with the Kama Kingdom, and even inferior to those clans who speak the Zulu language. According to Wang Zhijie’s estimation, the land reclaimed in the entire Swazi region probably only accounts for One-tenth of them are mainly concentrated on the banks of the Mbruchi River, Usutu River, Yingwauma River, and Komati River, and the clans have been fighting for arable land, pastures, and water sources all year round, which further limits the The development of agricultural land, so the level of agricultural development in the whole area is very low. The people from the east bank have been here for a short time, and naturally they have not achieved much, which is why Mr. Mao said just now.

What is even more depressing is that the climate in the entire Low Peled region is too hot, so the evapotranspiration of water is much larger than elsewhere.Even if the precipitation in this generation is as much as 600-900 mm, it is still useless due to the large amount of evaporation. The years are not very high, unless you spend a lot of effort to repair reservoirs, dig ditches, and vigorously develop irrigation agriculture, you can drive the agricultural development of the entire region, and this is how it was developed in later generations.

"It's to make you underestimate our Chenggao Township, but don't worry, give us another two years, and Chenggao Township will become unrecognizable to you." Wang Wei said confidently at this moment: "We Aren’t people on the east coast best at construction and farming? The Swazis don’t know how to develop this land, so they should give up. We develop it ourselves, which is definitely better than them! I’ve already thought about it, the west Tea can be grown in the mountains, and there are large areas of dense primary forest (where most of the plantation forests in later Swaziland are located), and key building materials can be obtained; coffee can be grown in the central stepped highlands, and winter wheat can be planted in the lowlands. improved pastures and vegetables can be planted throughout the region. In addition, our people are also trying to find ways to open up areas for the cultivation of high-value crops such as sugar cane, citrus, and tobacco. Of course, this first requires complete irrigation facilities and Sufficient fertilizer, we don’t have both at present, the plan can only be postponed. But in any case, it is still feasible to develop a general level of agriculture and animal husbandry here at this stage.”

"Fuck, you have already planned the western mountainous area. The Swazi clans know about it, so you don't have to join forces to attack you." Mao Jun heard that Wang Weidu talked about the western mountainous area. Lin Lin immediately said helplessly: "I hope your teeth are as good as your appetite, and I also hope that Commissioner Qiu can support you, otherwise there is no chance."

(End of this chapter)