Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1665 Dutch South Africa ([-])

"Is this a brewery?" Guo Handong asked curiously as he stood in front of a row of wooden houses.

Behind him, in addition to the guards and staff officers, there are also representatives from the South African winery in Hezhong County. This state-owned enterprise has strong strength and owns two famous brands, Xianghe Wine and Hezhong Daqu, and its products are exported to the whole country. All over the place, the income is quite good.The reason why they came to Cape Town for the first time this time was mainly to see how the Dutch brewery was doing, and if possible, they wanted to acquire these assets from the Dutch to strengthen the company.

There is no doubt that the wines produced in Dutch South Africa are of high quality, and the customer base is also very broad. It is logically impossible for them to sell these so-called high-quality assets.But who made them lose the war? The defeated must have the consciousness of the defeated. The people on the east coast will not rob your workshop openly, but plan to buy it with money—although the purchase price is very low—it’s already It's very civilized, what more do you want?

Some vineyards and houses attached to the winery will naturally be bought together. Even the black slaves working in it, the South African winery will also have to buy them and sign a labor contract with them. After 5-7 years, they will be allocated to Black Eight Banners, giving free identity.Well, all the above-mentioned land and workshops were priced at 5000 yuan in total, which was outrageously low, but the Dutch couldn't refuse, after all, they were conquered now.

"Mr. Guo, this is just a winemaking workshop of the Dutch." The representative of the South African winery is a middle-aged fat man with a bald head. He was born as an immigrant from the early Ming Dynasty. This meeting only listened to his introduction: "Actually, there are four such winemaking workshops, all of which are about the same size and do not have a unified brand. The wines produced are all called 'Cape Town wines'."

"Five workshops, as well as a large number of vineyards and black slaves, you just paid 1000 yuan to buy them. This business is doing well." Guo Handong said casually: "But how did I hear that Stellenbosch's wine is the best? It is the best, why don’t you go there to enclose land and buy it?”

"Master Guo is really knowledgeable and talented. Of course, our factory will also go to the Stellenbosch area for inspection. And I heard that there are many winemaking workshops run by French Huguenots there. We also plan to invest in it. We also hope that Guo Head, please help me a lot. Ah, by the way, the taste and texture of the wines over there are better than those in Cape Town, but because the wines in Cape Town have a larger name, they also use the name of Cape Town to the outside world. No." The middle-aged fat man continued, "Those French Protestants don't know how to flatter, and I hope that Captain Guo will inform the company commander Wang who is stationed there and ask him to help 'persuade' those Frenchmen. We are willing to spend 2000 yuan to buy their vineyard and workshop. Of course, our factory manager also said before I went out that the temporary formation of the first regiment to quell the situation in South Africa has made great achievements. Our factory is willing to donate [-] barrels of high-quality Xianghe wine and Hezhong Daqu Twenty barrels will be given to your army to aid in military supplies."

"Hehe, success, it's not a big deal, I will arrange it." Guo Handong smiled and said casually: "But you are also bold, and you are not afraid that the Dutch will claim this land back through negotiations in the future, and you will be dumbfounded." ?"

In fact, there have been many businessmen who came to him recently and said that they want to acquire the assets of the Dutch in the occupied area. If they all became citizens of the east coast, then everything would have to be done according to the law, and there would be no way to steal and plunder as they do now, so everyone took action in advance.As for whether Dutch South Africa will return to the Dutch in the future, and whether their assets will be in vain, this possibility is too low. They do not believe that the government will give up the more critical land of Dutch South Africa.

For these people’s requests, Guo Handong basically agreed to them one by one, so the fishing fleet, brick kilns, farms, plantations, pastures, wool workshops, etc. operated by the Dutch were basically eaten by the merchants in the river area at a low price. Well, it was a feast to carve up the wealth of Dutch South Africa, and it almost made the Dutch who had already surrendered so violent that they rioted again.

"Head Guo is really joking, joking. Let me just say this. Although my grandson has not participated in the national military affairs, he also knows that once Cape Town falls into our hands, there is absolutely no possibility of it being handed over again. Yes. Of course, driving away the British and the French is all for the purpose of monopolizing South Africa. Now if you drive away the Dutch and invite them back, it’s not a slap in the face, it’s impossible.” The representative of the winery shook it vigorously. Shaking his head, he said in a very determined tone: "Cape Town, the Dutch are gone forever, and the central government will definitely set up a county here in the future."

"Hehe, you businessmen are very cunning." Guo Handong pointed at them, smiled, and said nothing.In fact, he himself doesn't think highly of these businessmen who spend their days running around, and he doesn't like doing business, even though his wife Li Zexin is one of the shareholders of the Caribbean Shipping Company.

At this time, there are dozens of Huguenot technicians from Languedoc, France in the brewery, and they all look at the new conqueror with some anxiety, with a low eyebrow and a pleasing expression—even if Dong The shore army had previously advertised how benevolent and righteous they were, but after experiencing the cruel world of the Old World, they would not believe it easily, for fear that they would be devoured by these locust-like Qiuba to leave no dregs left.

"They are all talented people. The Dutch have worked hard to get them here, so please serve us well in the future." Guo Handong said with emotion in Chinese.For the people on the east coast who have always been based on the point of view of making the best use of their talents, the many Huguenot craftsmen in Dutch South Africa are also a huge wealth, which must be used well, especially in the riverside area. Craftsmen have always been in short supply.

Guo Handong's words were naturally translated into Dutch or French, which somewhat calmed the fear of these people.Of course, they hope that this guy who seems to be a high-ranking official can reopen the church in Cape Town, so that their hearts may be more peaceful, but now it is full of pagan soldiers (the temporary first regiment headquarters is located in There), sensitive figures such as pastors are also under house arrest, which is basically impossible.

After accompanying representatives of South African wineries to visit several wineries or vineyards, on the morning of June 6, Guo Handong participated in several auctions of spoils, mainly including some mansions, artworks, fishing boats, merchant ships, etc. Movable property, immovable property.The mansion and works of art belong to Governor Van Riebeck, who was unfortunately crushed by a collapsed building during the previous siege and died later. The property in Cape Town under his name naturally became ownerless —if his family in Amsterdam didn't complain about it.

There are a total of more than ten fishing boats and merchant ships, of which two large armed merchant ships belong to the East India Company. The coastal defense fort lingers on.However, the rapid attack by the East Coast Army on the fort shattered their last illusion. After they failed to sneak out of the port at night, they were under the attack of the East Coast Army and Navy. Ships in the port—officially announced their surrender, and "contributed" two ships full of pepper, cloves, nutmeg, fennel, benzoin, ginger, opium, alfalfa, and other East Indian commodities to the provisional first regiment , with a total value of more than 10 yuan, which made everyone in the temporary first group happy from ear to ear. Everyone can get a lot of money now.

Intense disposition of loot—shared with the government in proportion, mainly used to distribute allowances and bonuses to soldiers, and a lot of money for burning and burial of soldiers killed and wounded in war, soup and medicine, pensions, etc.—End After that, Guo Handong, who was sitting in Cape Town and waiting for the next step, suddenly welcomed an official from the Hezhong District Administrative Office: Xie Hansan, the former commander of the South African Garrison and now the advisor of the Hezhong District Administrative Office.

Guo Handong did not dare to neglect the visit of seniors like Xie Hansan. He personally went out of the city and welcomed him and a few entourages into the headquarters of the first provisional regiment (Fort Good Hope was severely damaged during the battle and is currently being repaired. ), then made a pot of good tea, and respectfully asked Xie Hansan about his visit.

After retiring, Xie Hansan served as the deputy commissioner of the Hejian District Administrative Office for a while, and also acted as the county magistrate of Hezhong County for two years, but now he seems to feel that he is old and it is meaningless to work on government affairs, so he resigned from all positions , and said that he "doesn't block the way of young people", but after his old partner Jiao Tang tried his best to persuade him to stay, he still retained a position as a consultant.This job is relatively leisurely, but the income is not low. At the same time, it can continue to maintain a certain influence in the political circle. Xie Hansan agreed to be a consultant out of consideration for the younger generation.

This time Xie Hansan came to Cape Town. In addition to sending a batch of ammunition and supplies on behalf of Hezhong County - the water supply basically only needs a small part of the Hezhong area, because the provisional first regiment has begun to spread in the occupied area. Large-scale grain requisition supplementary consumption - it is to go to Cape Town to receive the materials and documents left by the local colonial institutions, and to prepare for the establishment of official counties in these seven towns in the future.

This is not a whim of the Hezhong District Administrative Office, but it is indeed an order from the local people. According to the plan of the Executive Committee, the entire Dutch South African colony will be divided into two counties according to the geographical barriers of mountains and rivers. One is The county with Cape Town at its core, including Gowers and Stellenbosch, and the other with Bredasdorp at its core, including Heimer, Neuhorn, and Proteum The two counties take the branch of the Hengshan Mountains in the south as the dividing line, and divide the entire Dutch South African colony almost equally.

The executive committee issued such an order, which almost means that in the future negotiations between the East and the Netherlands, the entire Dutch South Africa will definitely not be returned. Know how the Dutch government will react.Whether to strongly protest, or pretend not to know so as not to escalate the war between the two countries (so far, the East Coast Republic has not officially declared war on the United Provinces), depends on the future development of the situation.

But no matter what, since the top has made the final decision, the Hezhong District Administrative Office will naturally implement it without hesitation.After all, it was always a pleasure to annex the vast lands of two counties, with a population of more than 3 (including Xhosa black slaves and Khoisan red slaves), and numerous farms, workshops, and ranches.Jiao Tang, commissioner of the Hezhong District Administrative Office, even predicted that under his governance, the area around Cape Town will develop rapidly in the future, surpassing Hezhong County is just around the corner. From this, we can also see the local joy and eagerness.

In addition, Xie Hansan also brought Guo Handong a piece of news that may not sound so good, that is, the provisional first regiment that has been formed for the second time may be disbanded again.The reason why he said this is because this point was vaguely mentioned in the document transferred from the mainland to the Hezhong District Administrative Office, that is, once the temporary first regiment completes the task of capturing the Dutch South Africa, it is likely to be disbanded on the spot. , and then use the mixed battalion as a unit to perform other tasks in the future.

Although Guo Handong was a little annoyed when he heard the news—his team leader hadn’t had enough of his addiction—but he wasn’t surprised at all.He even reckoned that among the four mixed battalions under the provisional first regiment, one or two of them might stay in South Africa and temporarily join the South African garrison sequence. The mission is easy to guess, that is, Yang Liang The plan of "Piercing Operations in South Africa" ​​has been conceived; in addition, there may be a mixed battalion transferred to the Far East San Francisco to participate in local military operations. After all, the inspection team has been back for a long time, and it is time for the Executive Committee to add more There is an established battalion head, and the first mixed battalion was previously designated, but the battalion went to the Netherlands (now it has retreated to the southern Netherlands), so we had to find another battalion to take the top.

But that's fine too!Guo Handong felt that although he would not be the head of the regiment in the future, it would be a great contribution to execute the plan of the South African penetration operation, attack the remnants of the Kama Kingdom, and expand the territory of the East Coast Republic.He had already read Yang Liang's battle plan before, it was perfect and detailed, basically there was no need for too much supplementation, as long as the personnel, ordnance, and supplies were in place, the fight could start immediately.

With the strength of the regular army on the east bank, it should not be a problem to deal with these chieftains, and the officers and soldiers of the 9th-11th mixed battalion, which is full of recruits, can also continue to be trained.I believe that after this battle is over—maybe it will last for more than two years—these boys will also mature quickly.

On July 1674, 7, an order from the Home War Department arrived in the port of Cape Town, South Africa, via a fast liaison ship.In this order signed by Marshal Mo himself, the provisional first regiment was announced to be disbanded, the troops directly under the regiment headquarters and the 31th mixed battalion boarded the ship and returned home immediately, and the 11th mixed battalion and No.[-] mixed battalion joined the South African garrison Army battle order, while the Tenth Mixed Battalion was transferred to the Far East, under the command of Denglai Security Commander, everything was as Guo Handong had expected.

The ganglion cyst on the left wrist is still there, and I plan to go to the hospital for puncture and drainage tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.As for someone saying that I crushed it cruelly, I dare not, I dare not in my life, it hurts too much...

(End of this chapter)