Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1593 First Mixed Battalion ([-])

"This second-generation leader of the Mo family doesn't look like a lord. He has no aura and talks like an old farmer! Leader Tian, ​​why did you choose such a cowardly person as the emperor?" Dong Dong from the suburbs of Xinjing In the shore embassy, ​​Lan Fei, the battalion commander of the first mixed battalion, finished eating the sauced duck legs on hand, wiped his hands, and asked slowly.

At this time, it was already February 1671, 2, the third day since he met the second-generation leader of the Free State named Mohan.Three days ago, Lan Fei and a few staff members boarded the red riverboat with a fairly luxurious decoration (but at best, the grade of a rich businessman in Ningbo), and had a pleasant discussion with Mohan.

Mohan is in his thirties and is the second generation leader of the Free State. He did not serve in the Black Eight Banners Heavy Infantry Battalion in the Far East, but he fought against the Karma Kingdom in South Africa and gained some credit.Otherwise, in the Black Eight Banners, where the culture is more primitive and the folk customs are more sturdy and simple, he is not qualified to be the heir and lead the ministries.

However, in the conversation with this person, Lan Fei keenly felt that this person's knowledge is a little short, and he doesn't know if he can lead the country well in the future.In addition, although this man is also a warrior who has fought in battle, his character is not as tough as his father's generation, and he seems a bit "too kind".Most of the time, Lan Fei felt that it would be better if this person's style was simple and rough, because those killers in the Black Banners would eat this, and it would not be a good thing for you to be too civilized to them.

Of course, these problems are big if you say they are big, but they are also small if you say they are small.Lan Fei believes that under the strong supervision of the East Coast people, there will be no conflicts in the Free State.Now that the Eight Banners have brought the people from the Three Banners here, and the Five Banners are waiting to be transported in the middle of the river in South Africa, these people should not be so unwise. It would be dumbfounding to use the people from the Five Banners to clean them up.Besides, there are not many Ming Dynasty scholars around any high-ranking official in the Free State to act as aides, masters, or praise paintings. Everyone knows that, so there is no need to say more.

"Counseling also has the benefits of being cowardly. Be obedient and don't cause trouble. This is the greatest support for our work." Tian Xing put down the wine in his hand and said with a smile: "Besides, although this Mohan is a bit indecisive in character , but he is not a weak person. If he is really forced to a certain extent, this person can also be hardened. Ambition, with our help, he can also control the domestic situation, so he is the most ideal candidate. After all, the Free State is now in the stage where it needs to recuperate. Just put pressure on the deceased old lord to let this Mohan take over. Although this gives people a feeling of imperial appointment, but the national interests and well-being come first, so I don’t care about anything.”

"That's true." Lan Fei picked up the wine glass at hand, drank two sips of the South African Xianghe wine that was transported from a long distance, and then said with a smile: "Speaking of which, Mohan's being the lord of the country doesn't mean much. With you emperors around, I'm afraid there are a lot of constraints, and nothing can be done. I heard that even the deputy officials of the five major departments of the Free State's defense, foreign affairs, finance, education, and trade are all from Bingtuanbao Lah, this is really thorough, haha. Of course, this is also good for the Free State, after all, where can they find these talents who are proficient in government affairs, and it will be cheaper for them.”

"By the way, what do you think of the Free State's invitation to station in Hexi?" Tian Xing asked again.

"It's not a big problem. Hexi is Hexi. It's just that there may be some battles with those Indians. It doesn't matter. Besides, the First Mixed Battalion has discharged a lot of veterans in the past two years. Now the proportion of recruits is not small, my sons and daughters." It also needs actual combat drills, otherwise you will be ridiculed by the other battalion leaders. I plan to conduct several raids in the Hexi area after the rest of the troops return from Tortuga Island, um, the gang from the Free State We have to take action to see if we can find some bad luck for those Indians. Of course, those Indian tribes that are still friendly to us (mostly the tribes that sent people to the east coast to study, but unfortunately because of disease) There are many deaths, few people can finish their studies and return normally), it is better to avoid conflicts as much as possible, keeping them can also put a little pressure on the Black Banners, otherwise they will not go to heaven."

Lan Fei's words set the tone for the next period of action.In the eyes of people on the East Coast, both the Free State and the Indians are just pawns in the grand strategy of the East Coast. Although the pawn of the Free State seems to weigh more, a pawn is a pawn, and this cannot be changed. .

On February 1671, 2, when Major Lan Fei's troops had just crossed the river westward and settled down in a temporary camp on the west bank of the Mo River, the remaining troops of the First Mixed Battalion also returned to Xinjing Port full of spoils. .At the same time as they arrived at the port, there were two Courland ships sailing from the Baltic Sea. Their cabins contained a lot of lead and sulfur imported from Poland. Free State.

The rest of the No. [-] Mixed Battalion who returned have shipped all non-cash trophies to Xinjing Port. They intend to see if there is anything they need to buy from the Black Eight Banners. Not small, if they are not fed by private foreign trade—if not, then these materials will be eaten up by Air Canada, and then sold by it.

There is no doubt that Air Canada has this sales ability, because with their very rich contacts in New Spain and Peru, as long as the price is slightly discounted, it will not be a problem to sell out.Not to mention, their own Mobile City and Huaiyuan Island also need a lot of supplies.

In addition to these material loot, cash and prisoners are also an important part of the loot.Among them, the total value of gold and silver coins and gold and silver bars from various countries (obviously obtained by robbing a single silver ship) is roughly estimated to be no less than 30 yuan.In addition, there are many jewelry, oil paintings and other materials that are not easy to cash in. It is conservatively estimated that they are not less than 5 yuan, so they can only be shipped back to the mainland and sold off slowly.

In addition, the people on the east coast also captured more than 200 pirate prisoners on the island, and forcibly relocated hundreds of pirates and their families who had given up and settled down. It was the entire population of the island at that time.These people, except for the prisoners of war who will be escorted back to the mainland to serve hard labor, the rest are theoretically not prisoners of war and have certain rights.After a simple discussion between Lan Fei and Cai Anguo (and at the same time upholding the spirit of the superior), it was decided to send those who have special skills to settle in Huaiyuan Island.There is a shortage of such handicraftsmen there now. If they go, they will definitely improve the local development progress; those who have no special skills will be handed over to the Caribbean Shipping Company. Farmland also needs people, and these people just go to fill the labor gap. Of course, Air Canada needs to pay a little for this.

As for the two ships that came all the way from Courland, in addition to transporting a batch of important munitions raw materials, they also brought the latest news about the situation in Europe to these east coasters on the north coast of the Caribbean Sea.

The first article is of course old news, that is, the East Coast, France, and Spain, under the mediation of the United Provinces, formally signed the "Aachen Peace Treaty" last year, marking the end of this long-delayed war.However, things have changed since then. First, France has greatly improved its relations with the United Kingdom. Dissatisfied), intending to worsen the diplomatic environment of the Dutch first.

Meanwhile, the French were said to be making active preparations for war.Their merchants waved checks to purchase various war materials including food and gunpowder in various markets-it is worth mentioning that they can also produce these materials domestically, but they still purchase them in large quantities, which shows that the scale of the war may be Horrifying - and stockpiled in the many depots along the line from Saint-Germain to Armentières.Even, many of their war materials were purchased in the Amsterdam market. This shows that the Dutch are so deadly that the Dutch bankers are almost short of lending money to King Louis XIV of France to attack the United Provinces.

This kind of move by the French naturally made the United Provinces extremely vigilant, but they had no good solution, especially since there are still a large number of people in the country who fantasize about reconciliation with France and try their best to avoid war.They obviously underestimated Louis' determination, and felt that if they gave in, they might be able to eliminate this crisis with money.And Louis XIV seemed to be happy with them thinking so, and his envoys continued to paralyze the Dutch in The Hague. For example, he originally planned to raise tariffs on Dutch goods, which would be suspended under the persuasion of the Dutch. To develop in a good way.

This worried the Prince of Orange of the United Provinces, who firmly believed that Louis XIV's ultimate goal was to annex the entire Lowlands.This is not a problem that can be solved with money. Many people in the country still have a fluke mentality, or they are afraid of spending huge sums of money to start a war with France. ), this mentality can only benefit the French in the end.

The second piece of news is about the situation in the Baltic Sea. Due to its geographical location, the Principality of Courland is particularly concerned about the situation on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Their captain told the people on the east coast—according to the agreement between the east coast and Courland, the Courlands are obliged to help collect all kinds of intelligence from the Baltic countries—the relationship between Ottoman Turkey and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth deteriorated again Now, the two sides are gearing up for a big fight.However, as far as they know, the Poles are clearly not ready for war. The national parliament is in a mess and nothing has been reached (more than 500 MPs each have a veto, which means that anything needs to be passed by the parliament. Only if all members agree unanimously), the money has not been approved, and the people have not been mobilized. According to rumors, the German mercenaries stationed on the right bank of the Dnieper River are a little unstable due to arrears of payment. Facing the Crimean cavalry During the harassment, they fought feebly, which made West Ukraine panic for a while.

After Lan Fei and Tian Xing heard the news, they immediately realized that there might be another big news in Eastern Europe—to put it bluntly, the Ottoman Empire had finished taking care of its own internal affairs (the Ottoman court has been attacked by coups, conspiracy, etc. all these years) shrouded), ended the protracted Crete War with the Venetians (Venice recognized Crete as Ottoman territory, but it also received commercial compensation, which shows that it is not too thorough to lose, the Ottomans I also have lingering fears about their war with tens of thousands of casualties) After that, they began to turn their attention more to their neighboring countries.

Constrained by the peace treaty signed with the Austrians, they are temporarily unable to direct their troops to Hungary and Austria, so they can only choose between Russia and Poland.And in view of the poor performance of the Poles in the previous war (the capital was breached, and at the same time a large tract of land was cut to the Russians), and they happened to have some troubles with the Ottoman Empire recently, then the Ottomans will It's easy for them to understand when the target is selected. It's normal to pick the soft persimmons!

Considering that the scale of the Ottoman wars has always been very large, Lan Fei, Tian Xing and others estimate that they will dispatch about 20 people. If you count the tens of thousands of Crimean Tatar cavalry who are attacking the flanks as partial divisions, this scale is quite impressive No, it is definitely a business that is enough to "open for three years", not to mention that it may produce a large number of captives-the Crimeans have not had a decent "harvest" for several years. I don't believe them. I can't stand it again!Think about it, when the 20 Ottoman Turkish army fought the main battle with the Poles, and more than [-] Tatar cavalry rushed into the hinterland of Poland from a weak flank, what a tragic picture it would be, but people on the east coast like it !

"It's another big business that can support our military industry for three years. I don't know if the batch of artillery prepared for the Far East in the Dongfang Port Arsenal can be dispatched as scheduled. Maybe, the news that the Ottomans want to buy ordnance is already in the It's halfway, and it will soon reach the mainland, alas, this is really a happy trouble." Lan Fei and Tian Xing smiled at each other, very excited, this news must be sent back to the mainland as soon as possible

(End of this chapter)