Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1664 Dutch South Africa ([-])

"It's a laborious expedition, waste of food and wages, and it may affect business. What is this executive committee doing?" As a veteran former member of the executive committee, Jiao Tang, the commissioner of the Hezhong District Administrative Office, who has confirmed to retire next year, said very dissatisfied: "The current executive committee, under the banner of everyone being equal, has allowed a bunch of people with poor abilities to get in. They will control the country's major policies, so it's no wonder that there are no problems!"

Jiao Tang criticized the current members of the executive committee so fiercely. Xie Hansan, who had retired from the army and turned to the government, felt a little embarrassed. After thinking for a while, he said: "Maybe they want to express their anger. Now The voice of revenge in the domestic business circles is very high. The Dutch have only cut off part of the trade at present. South Africa has always been one of our basic national policies, and it is rare to have such a good opportunity."

"But their methods are too rough and too hasty. To be honest, I am very disappointed with the current executive committee team. What are the material committee members, judicial committee members, education committee members, etc.? No one elected them back then. There is no one available for the upper ranks now, so they have made a living. But look at their governance, hehe, I think it is better to let the second generation take over early, some of the younger generations are still very good, at least better than these cadavers. There are too many." Jiao Tangyue spoke more vigorously, completely ignoring the helpless faces of Xie Hansan and the others, and just listened to him continue: "Look at the revenge against the Dutch this time, if you want me to say that revenge is appropriate, but it can't be like this. This is a nonsensical act of resorting to force. Seizing the weapons and other military resources ordered by the Dutch is not enough to make up for our losses, but we can completely wait and see what the Dutch do next, so there is still room for change. It's not like now, all the escape routes are blocked at once. Of course, the Prince of Orange has passed, but the behemoth East India Company has also been offended, and some republican members may also have doubts and concerns about our behavior. Disgusted. Attacking Dutch South Africa is too reckless!"

"Perhaps they think that the Dutch navy is currently dealing with the British and French allied forces, and they have no means to separate them, so they won't have much impact on us." Xie Hansan was far away from the center, and he could only guess the answer.

"That's right, but why didn't they consider the Baltic Sea trade. Brandenburg-Prussia, Sweden, Poland and parts of North Germany, our products were able to be sold in the past, it was entirely due to the Dutch agent, but now What? Once this battle is fought, will our agents dare to continue to distribute our products under great pressure? Isn’t this nonsense, taking a Dutch South Africa, but losing a Baltic market—no, the West The Mediterranean market may also be affected—is it worth it?” Among Jiao Tang’s descendants, he was engaged in trade in the Baltic Sea, and he probably complained to him for a long time, so he was also very angry.

On this issue, Xie Hansan is not good at arguing with him. He is a soldier, and it is much easier to think about the problem. He still feels that no matter how tense the fight is now, as long as the United Provinces are not stupid in the future, they will always ease relations with the East Bank. That is to say, these markets can come back slowly, at most losing some share than before.But compared with the market, the land of Dutch South Africa is too critical. Holding it in your hands is a good thing that will benefit forever. Future generations may benefit from it for hundreds of years. This is incomparable to any commercial interests. matter.Anyway, Xie Hansan felt that he was a "land farmer" who wanted land without money. Of course, even if he had a different opinion, he would not argue with Jiao Tang now.

"What can comfort us now is actually a gimmick that takes all of South Africa, but is South Africa really that important? Among other things, the Portuguese have colonies in Angola and Mozambique, so European ships can be in these two places. Rest, resupply, and then bypass the African continent and enter the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean. The importance of South Africa is far less than imagined. Taking a step back, even if South Africa is really important, will European countries sit back and watch our family take it all? In the future, it is inevitable that Cape Town will become an undefended government, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble." Jiao Tang was also a little tired when he said this, he grabbed the teapot on the table and took a sip of water before sighing He said angrily: "It's useless to say anything now. The executive committee is very determined. Guo Handong, who led the troops, has already captured six towns. The matter is irreversible. What we can do now is probably to mobilize all The resources that can be mobilized have made things develop for the better."

"By the way, what is the progress of Guo Handong's provisional first regiment?" Jiao Tang asked the secretary behind him.

"After the first attack was frustrated, they launched a second attack against the enemy's firepower arrangement and some dark bunkers. According to reports from the officers and soldiers of the Hezhong County Security Regiment who participated in the battle (the county security regiment generally accepts dual support from the local government and the military system) leadership), the offensive was organized by the Tenth Mixed Battalion and the Hezhong County Security Regiment. After two days of fierce fighting, dozens of fortresses, large and small, have been cleared and the entire fortress area has been occupied. In the past two days, I heard that Guo The head of the regiment accepted the suggestion of Captain Li Zhixin, the commander of the No.11 mixed battalion, to enlist the Dutch people and black slaves in the occupied areas, go to the fort for construction, clean up the ruins there, and rebuild the height of some artillery positions. Trying to use the Dutch's long-range coastal defense heavy artillery on the spot, turn around and bombard Cape Town, which is close at hand. In particular, focus on destroying the large number of artillery deployed by the Dutch on the top of the city, creating conditions for the infantry to attack, because It is said that this can greatly reduce the time for the siege of Cape Town, and of course it can also reduce casualties." The secretary seemed to be paying attention to the situation on the front battlefield all the time, and he spoke logically, only to hear him say: "The Dutch East India Company focuses on the management of Cape Town. For decades, even the artillery was purchased from China, and many people scolded that it was a crime to sell them the same level of artillery as the army's active equipment."

"It's this kind of trick again, and you don't want to be killed or injured, and you want to play the game of exchanging life with time?" Jiao Tang heard some new dissatisfaction: "How long will it take to capture this fortified city with this method? One month Two months or three months? [-] non-productive soldiers are besieging the front lines. The daily food, drink, and salvage have to be borne by our regional administrative office. In addition, there are also some supplies of ammunition and equipment. The finances have been emptied. I finally saved a sum of money by exporting diamonds. This is the first railway in our Hezhong area. Will it be used in this war? They don’t use it It is too much to share the captured spoils with me!"

Everyone looked at each other when they heard the words, and finally the veteran Xie Hansan came out and said: "Commander Guo is a promising upstart in the army, maybe he cares more about soldiers. The Dutch have operated the fort for many years and have sufficient supplies and equipment. If you want to take it down quickly, Many people must be killed or injured. The dozens of artillery pieces deployed by the Dutch alone are enough to cause major damage to us. I guess that 1000 people will not be able to take it down. Captain Guo should also see that time is very fast. Ample, so I plan to take down the fort first, and then use cannons to bombard the city, lowering the morale of the Dutch, increasing their casualties, and finally forcing them to surrender. Commissioner Jiao, I think this is the right way for Captain Guo to fight, so we will How about waiting slowly? I still want to wait until our country wins Cape Town, and then move there. I guess I won’t be bothered to go back to the mainland.”

After Xie Hansan finished speaking, Jiao Tang also nodded, and said helplessly to his secretary: "You can contact the Hezhong and Tianxiong counties later, and ask them to fully cooperate with the logistics staff of Captain Guo. , There must be no shortage of military resources. In addition, counties such as Bailang, Jingyuan, and Lishan also sent a batch of cattle, sheep, and ostriches. They don’t need food. They should have these livestock. Try to protect the nearly 9000 troops on the front line. Food and water supplies."

After discussing with a few people here, the matter is almost settled.Therefore, starting from the end of April, several counties under the Hezhong District Administrative Office began to increase the transportation of materials to the front line, and fully supported the siege of Cape Town by the temporary first regiment.

On April 4th, the first stage of the coastal defense fort was completed, and the two 30-pound long-barreled heavy guns took great pains. A round of shelling.Heavy iron bullets flew into Cape Town with a howling sound of piercing through the air, knocking down the steeple of the church and successfully creating a certain degree of chaos.

On the front of the city, thousands of soldiers on the east bank are still conducting low-intensity offensive operations from time to time, but the scale is small, and the results are not good. It is easy to be attacked by artillery fire from the top of the city.Someone proposed the method of digging tunnels and digging attacks when Hauge attacked Yantai, but it also failed because of the enemy's cross-fire attack.

Of course, the above failures do not make the people on the east coast feel depressed, because they are stepping up to transform the coastal defense batteries every day, and at the same time turn more artillery to the muzzle and bombard the city of Cape Town.Undoubtedly, this kind of fort that fell from the sky caused chaos and casualties in the city every day, and the number of damaged buildings increased day by day. If Governor Van Riebeck had not possessed outstanding prestige and agility, the city would have fallen. .But if there is not enough foreign aid, it is conceivable that everything that Governor Van Riebeck has done can only make Cape Town last a little longer, and cannot completely prevent its fall.

On May 5, after being bombarded by artillery for ten days, there was a large-scale turmoil in the city for the first time, but it seemed that the German mercenaries acting as the main force were relatively stable, and helped Governor Van Riebeck suppress the riot.

On May 5, the number of artillery bombarding the city had increased to eight, destroying a large number of buildings at every moment, and the secondary damage caused by the collapse of the buildings caused more people to be crushed to death and injured.On the same day, the Dutch militiamen in the city rioted on the grounds of poor food, which caught Van Riebeck by surprise, because the hired Germans hadn’t said anything yet, and his own people, whom he had always relied on as his confidantes, rioted. Yes, this made him feel so embarrassed.

On the same day, Van Riebeck personally negotiated with the rioting militia leaders and successfully persuaded them to return to the barracks, and the situation calmed down a little.

However, on May 5, when the cannons of the East Coasters collapsed the already crumbling town hall, the Dutch, who had reached the brink of collapse, could no longer hold on. Riebeck, and "persuaded" him to accept the surrender proposal of the East Coast people with a rapier, while the German mercenaries looked at all this indifferently, without any intention of preventing things from happening.

That night, the Dutch mobilized a large number of manpower to remove a large number of obstacles behind the city gate overnight, and then left the city with a white flag early the next morning, found the people on the east bank and demanded their surrender.The siege has been going on for almost a month now, and the Dutch announced their surrender at this time. Naturally, there is no good treatment for them. They can only surrender unconditionally. Of course, they have no objection to this.

After receiving the report, Major Guo Handong, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy and temporary head of the first regiment, agreed to the surrender request of the Dutch, and then let more than 12 officers and men from the security regiment of Tianxiong County and the No. All key points were controlled for a while, all treasuries were sealed up, and Dutch military officers, priests, and officials were also temporarily detained, and they were screened and released one by one after the situation stabilized.Prior to this, the Dutch militia and German mercenaries in the city totaled nearly 2000 people, and they also lined up in an open space outside the city at the request of the people on the east coast, and handed over their weapons one by one. The officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion were in charge of custody.

On May 5, Lieutenant Colonel Guo Handong led the elite Eighth Mixed Battalion into Cape Town, which had been repaired for a day, and lived in the famous Fort of Good Hope. Flag of the Eastern Republic.So far, the largest city in Dutch South Africa has fallen into the hands of the people on the east coast. After the English and the French, the Dutch colonization efforts in South Africa have also been devastated by the people on the east coast—at least from the military level That's right. As for the final status of Cape Town and Dutch South Africa, it depends on how the governments of the two countries negotiate and how the final agreement is signed.

After occupying Cape Town, Guo Handong immediately signed and paid for the good news he had written long ago, and then sent it to the Hezhong District Administrative Office and the mainland as soon as possible.This time, he had a big face. He swept the entire Dutch South Africa in a month or two, and he could add a strong stroke to his resume.

(End of this chapter)