Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1540 West Indian Ocean ([-])

As the capital city of Daze County, Duofan Town has incorporated many French elements from the very beginning, not only because a certain proportion of its residents are French, but also because of the strong urban architectural style French elements, which can be seen from the huge golden lily stone carving on the outside of the port dock warehouse.

This warehouse, which was built by the French and thousands of natives over the years, was originally used to store food, ammunition and European industrial products.When the city was broken that day, the warehouse was looted by Chief Mananzano's troops, and almost all the supplies were looted by Bara soldiers (and this is one of the reasons why the Bara parted ways with the Mountain Tribal Alliance), but Fortunately, the facilities were basically intact. Later, they were bought from the Bala people with a little negligible supplies by the people on the east coast.

Today's Duofan Town is not only the seat of the Daze County Government, but also an important port of the Second Fleet of the Navy. They invested a lot of money to build a ship repair station, a modern wharf, a coal storage station, and a lighthouse in the local area. At the same time, it has won the right to establish a small-scale shipbuilding industry system for the port. At present, the personnel and equipment are being prepared one after another, and it will be in normal operation soon.

At this moment, the warehouse at the port of Duofan is once again filled with a large amount of supplies, which are basically weapons and ammunition, canned food, medicine and other military supplies brought in from the mainland.In addition, a large number of workers are also building a larger warehouse next to the warehouse, which is the granary of the national grain reserve depot, which is used to store the county's strategic grain reserves in case of emergency.

Military supplies and food are sold, and the food is sold to the Bala people. Although the nomads and nomads living on the Mahafari Plateau are brave and hard to control, the lack of food has always been a big problem. Although they are now They obtained the relatively good "Vara" in the former French colonies of New Caen and Saint-Louis, but with backward agricultural production technology, it will probably take a long time for them to restore agricultural production there.Perhaps, it may never be able to recover, so food is a very good weapon to check and balance this force.

And if the food is sold to the Bara people on the arid plateau, then the use of military resources is quite clever.Although the firearms used by these domestic militiamen are old enough, they are completely controlled by the East Coast people in foreign trade. The East Coast people have directly declared in front of all civilized countries to monopolize the fourth largest island in the world. So far No one raised any objection—it is too difficult for the natives to obtain firearms in New China Island.Except for some indigenous tribes living on the coast who may have obtained firearms secretly smuggled by the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, and even the Portuguese, it is difficult to obtain any large-scale firearms and equipment, which makes every item that flows into the island The muskets inside are all very precious, even if it is just an old gun that has been used for some years.

The muskets were originally sold to various surrounding forces in a differentiated manner according to the assessed situation, in exchange for various benefits including slaves and land from them.However, after the friction between the mountain tribes such as Antemoro, Antefazi, and Anteinoka and the people on the east coast became more and more serious—the friction between the people on the east coast and them was more concentrated on the land. In terms of contention, because the mountain people believed that the coffee plantations of the people on the east bank seriously threatened the existence of their homeland-more weapons began to flow into the hands of the Bala people who were also indifferent to them, so as to make the Bala people who were at a disadvantage in numbers People can fight those mountain people more effectively, so that they have no time to trouble the people on the east coast.

Of course, there are many wise men among the Bala people. Chief Mananzano has a clear understanding of the intentions of the people on the east coast, but the contradictions between them and the mountain people are real, and there is a little bit of conquest With the ambition to expand the territory in the mountains, the Bara armed group headed by Chief Mananzano began to drive their vassal tribes, the Mahafari and Antondruwa, to frequently provoke the mountain tribes, and then developed into small-scale armed groups. The conflict made the people on the east bank smile and crooked their mouths—this is the correct way to start colonization. It instigates the natives to fight each other, provides wealth and slaves for the foreign colonists, and after both losers, the colonists clean them up. It's benevolent!

Moreover, this kingly way of colonization has been tried and tested on these natives. In the past, the Sakarawa people were entangled in the Daqing Basin and the east coast for many years and were finally forced to be kings. Later, there were mountain people and plateaus in the southeast of Xinhua Island. In the battle between people, the natives fell into the same pit repeatedly and couldn't get up, which is also amazing.

Today, Daze County is going to send another batch of goods to the Bala people. Although Chief Mananzano is not young, his ambition has not diminished. There have been two large-scale conflicts between the Moro people and the Antai Faji people, and the casualties on both sides are quite large, which made Daze County Magistrate Cai Shengguo laugh crookedly—what a stupid native, wait After weakening each other to a certain extent, they are waiting to be cleaned up by the people from the east coast.At that time, the Bara and Mahafali people who have always lived on the plateau may still have a way to survive, but the mountain tribes occupying high-quality land resources (low hills that can grow coffee, tea and other cash crops) are expected to survive. Can't die anymore.

The weapons that will be sold to the Bara people include 32 41-C type flintlock rifles, 150 [-]-year-style steel bayonets, [-] leather ammunition bags, and a large number of leather armor, spearheads, and sabers. All these things add up to a lot.Apart from the less pure alluvial gold that the Bala people used to pay for the goods, there were only real objects such as cattle, sheep, and prisoners of war. You can accept whatever you want, it’s easy to talk!

However, in a batch of payments paid by the Bala people recently, the people on the east bank discovered an interesting thing, that is, among the captives sold by the Bala people, there were quite a few Melinas who had always lived on the plateau.The emergence of this new situation made the people on the east coast feel a little surprised. They couldn't judge whether this meant that the feudal kingdom of Melina on the plateau also participated in this fun game?But no matter what, this is news worth paying attention to. Daze County immediately sent the news back to Xinhua Port, and at the same time decided to temporarily strengthen the assistance to the Bala people, so as not to let them suffer from the long-term border conflicts. Loss, after all, its population is relatively small.

On March 1669, 3, the newly appointed commander of the Zelu District Police, Nanjiro, arrived at Dovan Port, the most prosperous town under his rule, on March 18, [-], on the battleship "Fubo Wanli", the flagship of the Second Fleet. Open a breakthrough and seize a large area of ​​land suitable for growing coffee from the Antemoro, Antefazi, and Anteinoka people.After all, when demarcating the border with the people on the east coast, these natives were rather stingy and only allocated a small piece of land for the people on the east coast to grow Arabica coffee beans. Not enough, so it is natural to compete with the natives for more land.If there were hundreds of experienced soldiers on hand, Captain Nanjiro thought he could take advantage of those mountain people.

However, Commander Nan intends to show his prestige, but Daze County strongly opposes it. They are afraid that the unfamiliar guard will suffer a big loss in the mountains (this is not impossible), and ruin all the mobile forces at hand. The situation in this area is extremely passive.It's better to maintain the status quo. The people on the east bank stand aloof and maintain the balance between the two forces through food and arms trade. By the way, they intensify their efforts to instigate them to "harm each other" in order to obtain the greatest benefits.

Nanjiro, who was eager to make contributions, was naturally dissatisfied with this, but Daze County even moved out the "strategic deployment" of Huang Yi, the highest official of the island and the captain of the New China Development Team, which finally made Nanjiro depressed and temporarily gave up directly. The plan to attack the natives and mountain people also remembered the disobedient bastards in Daze County.

Speaking of Captain Huang Yihuang's so-called "strategic deployment", it is actually very simple to put it bluntly, that is, since the end of the East-Portuguese War and the Portuguese colonial forces suffered heavy losses, in the western Indian Ocean, the people on the east coast have done their part. The regional hegemony has dominated the inter-regional situation in a decent manner.

It's just that the East Coast people's "natural" domination of the East African coast has been challenged by the rising Muscat Sultanate.Especially after the people on the east coast expelled the Omanis on Zanzibar Island, and then grandly established a colonial governing body on this resting place where fishermen on the east coast hunted tuna, the antagonism between the two sides quickly heated up .

At this time, due to conflicts of interest or ideology (the Muscat Sultanate also had a strong demand to export Christianity teachings to East Africa), some frictions began to arise between the two countries that had a decent relationship. with the dispute.Especially when Ma Wanpeng, the former captain of the New China Pioneering Team, was in power, he adopted a tougher policy towards the country and expelled many businessmen from the Muscat Sultanate who competed with the East Coast people on the East African coast. Rejecting the country's request for the exchange of Zanzibar Island three times in a row, the relationship between the two countries has fallen to a freezing point-so far the trade has basically been cut off, and the once prosperous Persian Ocean horse trade has ended in the regret of everyone. The trade in livestock, dates, blankets, etc. has also been reduced to a level of insignificance, which is quite regrettable.

However, the trade volume of the Muscat Sultanate has not yet been taken into account by people on the east coast.Is it so hard to give up a business worth 30 to 1000 yuan?Compared with the maritime hegemony in the western Indian Ocean, this amount of money is really not enough to fit between the teeth!And to maintain hegemony in the western Indian Ocean, including Yicheng, Xinhua, Zanzibar, Djibouti, etc. - if necessary, the island of Socotra in the Gulf of Aden and the island of Mombasa that is still controlled by the Portuguese are the best. It’s best to take it down—many key nodes in it, none of which can be given up.Now that more than [-] fishermen, construction workers, and mercenaries from the east coast have settled and lived on Zanzibar Island, and the government has also set up customs there (for alluvial gold, ivory, and rhinoceros imported from the nearby East African continent). Horns, precious furs, medicinal materials, slaves and other commodities), then there is absolutely no reason to give up, even if it turns against the Muscat Sultanate.

The Muscat Sultanate is also quite depressed about the current situation.When the East-Portuguese War broke out and Portugal’s sea power suffered heavy losses, Muscat was secretly delighted because the Portuguese, who competed with them in all directions on the coast of East Africa, had declined. Are they free to preach and fill the void in governance?In fact, they did get their wish in the first few years. The fully contracted Portuguese gave up many small outposts or strongholds, and gave up the competition for some local native princes, making the Omanis on the coast of Swahili Extremely active, the sphere of influence has been greatly expanded, and the situation was once in full swing, extremely arrogant.

But the good times didn't last long. After the people on the east coast also turned their attention to the Swahili coast, this country that had defeated the former overlord of the Western Indian Ocean made the Muscat Sultanate feel great pressure.Their powerful warships were cruising around the coast of Swahili, and the accompanying army landed on the coast of East Africa unscrupulously, plundering all kinds of goods and slaves ("hunting" on the coast of East Africa is one of the important means for the navy to raise military expenditures), a Time caused the local princes and princes to cry and howl, asking for help from the Omanis one after another.But what happened?In the end, the Omani’s negotiation not only ended in failure, but also allowed Zanzibar Island to be taken away by the people on the east coast. People from the east coast, Omanis, and blacks once lived together on the island. However, as the naval activities on the east coast became more frequent, and the trade in the East African continent continued to develop, the number of immigrants from the east coast of the island began to increase. , Finally, at the end of Ma Wanpeng's administration, the Port Authority and Customs were established, officially exercising sovereignty, which is a blatant slap in the face of the Omanis.

When Ma Wanpeng resigned and Huang Yi took over, the new owner of New Huaxia Island didn't care much about slapping the Omanis in the face. On the contrary, he further strengthened the policies of Ma Wanpeng's period and proposed the strategy of establishing "hegemony in the Western Indian Ocean."To put it bluntly, this strategy is to continue to complete the "unfinished business" of the Portuguese at that time, that is, to compete with the Omanis on the Swahili coast, and to constantly lobby, win over and even control the local princes and tribal chiefs by force to separate them from the Omanis. It has become a cash machine for people on the east coast.

Such a strategy naturally consumes a lot of resources, so Huang Yi made the so-called strategic deployment, that is, to suspend the offensive on the main island of New China, and instead disperse part of the war resources to the coast of Swahili, and fight with the Omanis. On behalf of the Communist forces to compete.Nanjiro wanted to launch a large-scale offensive against the natives in the Zelu area-to be honest, the offensive of a few hundred people is already quite large-naturally contradicts this deployment, so there are people from all over Daze County That rhetoric.

(End of this chapter)