Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1672 West Indian Ocean ([-])

Lieutenant Commander Morie Eel, who had been promoted to the commander of the Second Fleet, got off the deck of the flagship "Fubo Wanli", and then set his feet on the solid ground of Comoros Island.

As a large island once inhabited by many indigenous peoples, Comoros (including Mayotte and other three islands) is now basically no trace of the Swahili people who believe in religion.When the sisal, cocoa, and cotton planting industries in Xinhuaxia Island developed rapidly in the early days, the lack of labor sources used to be a very important obstacle, which also gave birth to the rapid development of the private slavery industry. Among them, Como, which is very close The slave hunting on Luo Island became a very natural thing.Therefore, we saw that one after another Swahili village was surrounded by heavily armed slave catchers on the east coast, and then trafficked to work on the island's plantations. Years) to regain freedom and get a boat ticket to the Free State of North America. At this time, there are often not many left, even if their health is also very worrying.

It can be said that the tens of thousands of residents of the four islands of Comoros were basically "exhausted" on the tropical plantations of Xinhuaxia Island. Their blood and sweat were replaced by the famous cotton, cocoa, and swords of Xinhuaxia Island. Various specialty commodities such as hemp and vanilla are available for consumption by the more "noble" local people on the east coast.

Major Morie Eel has served in the Indian Ocean for many years, and he knows the formation and development of this industry in detail. Even up to now, his navy is still covertly sheltering civilian slave ships—for example, the Ma Wanpeng family has as many as eight ships The tuna fishing boats that catch bigeye tuna also catch slaves along the way—so that the state-run cotton plantations in Xinhuaxia Island have enough labor to squander. Note, it is squandering, not use!

"It's really a sinful industry!" Mo Lieel didn't know how he did it, and he still had a little bit of moral cleanliness, although what he often did was bombard a certain East African coast port with naval guns and destroy local Power or order creates opportunities for locust-like slave hunting teams—even in many cases, there will be official slave hunting teams, the so-called landing on the coast of East Africa, and crusade against troops that do not follow. They often capture people and property together— - work, but still not very recognized of their behavior.But there is no way, the general situation is like this, the citizens of the east coast are now enjoying the favor of the non-national laborers with peace of mind, and he can't change anything, he can only continue to do things he doesn't like so much.

Comoros Island has almost become the training base of the Navy's Second Fleet.On this humid and sweltering island, apart from two to three thousand farmers on the east coast who mainly grow vanilla, cocoa, coffee, sisal and other cash crops, there are only families of naval officers and soldiers, ship repair yard workers and their families.In addition, the training school of the Second Fleet (mainly for the training of non-commissioned officers, and the officers are mainly from the navigation school and the Corps Fort in the capital) is also opened here, with about [-] teachers and students, and the scale is quite large.

The reason why the Navy took a fancy to the Comoros archipelago, which is an archipelago that doesn't shit, is probably because the island is located in a key point.Here guards the northern gate of the Mozambique Strait, and any ship that wants to go south along the offshore warm current will probably pass through here, so it is more meaningful for the navy to set up a deterrent here.Moreover, I heard that the customs is also planning to set up a sub-base here. They have two fast cruisers eliminated from the Second Fleet. It should be very convenient to check and detain smuggling here.

Another point is that the Comoros Islands are just on the dividing line between the Portuguese sphere of influence and the Omani sphere of influence on the coast of East Africa, namely the famous Cape Delgado.In the previous agreement between the Portuguese and the Omanis, the north of Cape Delgado was under the control of the Omans, and the south was completely a Portuguese colony.It can be said that this is not very satisfactory to the Portuguese, but who made their main naval force suffer heavy losses from the people on the east coast many years ago, so they can only swallow this bitter fruit.

Of course, the Portuguese still retained some strongholds north of Cape Delgado, such as Mombasa Island, and some nearby Swahili states that were still under their influence and control. It is already an indisputable fact that the Portuguese are now trying their best to avoid conflict with anyone.

And speaking of the Portuguese carefully avoiding conflicts with the Omanis, we have to focus on this wonderful country.As a Muscat Sultanate that had been in contact with people on the east coast for many years and had been trading livestock and slaves (Persian and Balochistan female slaves) for many years, its relationship with the east coast was originally quite good. It can be seen that they ordered a number of flute-shaped transport ships at the Xinhua Shipyard and purchased a large amount of ordnance.

However, when the ambitions of the people on the east coast are growing day by day, and there is a strong urge to expand in the western Indian Ocean, the conflict between them and the Omanis will inevitably arise and be magnified.The Ma Renjia Mosque incident that occurred during the tenure of Ma Wanpeng, the former captain of the New China Pioneering Team (the people on the east coast insisted on confiscating this mosque with a relatively long history and turning it into a Taoist religious place, and even held a big banquet here to reward The meritorious people, drinking and eating pork can do everything, which aroused the great disgust of the Omanis) is just an introduction. What they really aroused the anger of the Omanis was their frequent visits to the East African coast north of Cape Delgado. trade and plunder, which greatly affected the interests of the Omanis, thus causing them a great counterattack.

There is no need to doubt the interests of the Omanis on the East African coast. In fact, they are not fools. They have been angry at the Portuguese in Mogadishu and Mombasa for many years. In addition to their religious beliefs, the impact of economic interests cannot be underestimated.In particular, the placer gold, ivory, fur and other commodities that are abundant in the local area are sold at very high prices everywhere, which is a great wealth. Otherwise, you would think that the Muscat Sultanate with a population of only 20 would be full. Do you want to continue to expand on the coast of East Africa for so many years?Is it just for preaching?

Therefore, when the people from the east coast brazenly occupied the island-they also evacuated the Swahili people on the island in batches, and then got a lot of immigrants from Guangdong to settle there. When they drove away the foreign businessmen who came to do business nearby, the relationship between the two parties finally broke down completely.

Now, although the Muscat Sultanate has not officially sent troops to attack the strongholds of the people on the east bank, it is not once or twice that the local princes, warlords, and bandits hide from the back to rob and kill businessmen from the east bank. something happened.People on the east coast naturally want to take revenge on these vicious incidents one by one. Therefore, the Second Fleet of the Navy has often landed on the coast of East Africa over the years, attacked and killed some Swahili towns, villages, and markets, and sometimes intercepted and investigated them. Detaining and even attacking some ships of the Muscat Sultanate who came to trade, the degree of deterioration of the relationship between the two countries is quite deep.

This time, the battleship "Fubo Wanli" of Morley Eel took two "Star" class light cruisers, an ammunition supply ship and a fresh water supply ship, and went northward to Swaa following the southwest wind in the middle of the year On the coast of West Li, more than a dozen merchant ships from India, Persia and Oman were bombarded outside the two famous commercial ports of Lamu and Mogadishu, and then anchored at the port of Djibouti, which is now well-established.

Due to the increasingly strong domestic demand for potassium salt—not only for matches, explosives and other commodities, but also for agriculture, especially those plantations that mainly plant cash crops—now Djibouti, which is mainly The overseas enclave bought from the Ottomans for tens of thousands of yuan seems to be in good shape.

There are hundreds of immigrants from Shandong here, growing vegetables and grazing at the same time, to provide supplies for the merchant ships and warships on the east coast.Of course, we can't forget the military function here. The construction of a small fortress and a coastal defense fort (with 12 guns) cost countless costs. It cost more than [-] yuan, mainly to buy from Ottoman. materials and employment.

There are 200 troops stationed in the small fortress, and the militia organized by Xinhua Island take turns to guard, and the militia of the coastal defense fort also do the same.Together they guard a wharf that can berth four large ships at the same time and a small ship repair shop.All in all, although the port of Djibouti is small in size, it basically has everything it should have (and it is not impossible to expand it if there is a chance in the future), and its role is still quite large.

The warships of the people from the East Coast are stationed here, which is not a small threat to the forces in the surrounding areas, and it is also a great boost to the development of the commercial market.This time, the four ships of Major Morley Eel went north to Djibouti. It was almost June. At this time, the ocean current in the North Indian Ocean circulated clockwise, and the wind direction was mainly strong southwest wind, so they went eastward smoothly. On the way, they entered the area of ​​the Persian Gulf—they made a big show of power when they passed through Muscat Port—and finally stayed in Bandar Abbas for a week to support the people from the east coast who opened a commercial station here to do business.

Then they left the kingdom of Persia and went down the river to circle the west coast of India.Among them, it even revisited the port of Diu, where Major Yang Liang once shined brilliantly and stormed and conquered it with a sword on a rainy night. Not surprisingly, it caused panic and panic, which made people feel very emotional.

After gaining a sense of presence on the west coast of India, the fleet led by the battleship "Fubo Wanli" crossed the Indian Ocean and returned to Comoros Island.Major Morie Eel, who has experienced this trip, insists that this model can be established in the future, not to mention once a year, but once every two or three years. The cost of this kind of touring "trip" may not increase too much, but it will affect The strength has actually been strengthened.But in this era, influence can really be turned into real commercial profits in many cases, which has to attract people's attention.

After Major Morie's disembarkation, the "Fubo Wanli" will undergo an in-depth maintenance and comprehensive overhaul immediately, and he may spend the next few days on this island.And just as he disembarked, some personnel on the left-behind island immediately approached him to report on their work, and the matter about the Portuguese colony on the opposite side aroused his interest.

The intelligence pointed out that the British East India Company, which has officially set up camp in the port of Beira, has continued to increase investment in the port and its dependencies in recent years, and seems to have the intention of building an important stronghold, just as they plan to obtain such a stronghold in Angola .The British's behavior, the east coast also sent people to informally ask their principal, Sir Montague, and learned that they did not intend to colonize Mozambique, let alone attempt to intervene in the east coast of South Africa, and felt a little relieved.

But the above is just what the British say, and it is hard to say what will happen in the future.In particular, they are garrisons, fort builders, and tax collectors. They are completely formalized colonial steps. Once they change their minds in the future and colonize Mozambique on a large scale (the Portuguese may not dare to have such strong objections), then it will be impossible to keep things in order. You will have a long look at Shu, and you will covet the Yicheng area and even the east coast of South Africa, which is close at hand, which will be another trouble for the people on the east coast.

"Scaremongering!" Mo Lieel gave a direct evaluation after seeing the innocence.As the commander of the Second Fleet of the Navy, he does not believe that there is any force or existence in the western Indian Ocean that can challenge the people on the east coast, neither the English, the Portuguese, nor the Omanis!Because firstly, they don't have sufficient colonial population, secondly, they don't have strong economic strength, and thirdly, they are not colonized by the government, so why should they compare with New China Island, which already has more than [-] colonial population?

However, there is one thing in the intelligence that is not wrong, that is, England and the Netherlands do have some ambitions or ideas for the east coast of South Africa.After all, when the west coast and southern coastal areas have been firmly controlled by the people on the east coast, the southeast coast and the east coast are already the last chance for foreign colonists. The strategy of "South Africa" ​​can indeed be accomplished with certainty.

Of course, the people on the east coast are also aware of the twists and turns. Therefore, over the years, both the central government and the New China Pioneering Team have gradually increased subsidies and assistance to the Yicheng area to speed up the development of the local population and economy. The speed of development, and encourage them to go south from here, and then occupy some key coastal areas, resulting in a fait accompli, making it impossible for Europeans to start.

Morie Eel has met the two top leaders of the Yicheng area many times, that is, Qiu Haiyang, the regional administrative commissioner, and Captain Mao Jun, the police commander (it is said that he will be promoted to major because of his ability to conquer the Swazis). Still very recognized.And it just so happened that the Second Fleet was going to escort several merchant ships to transport supplies there next month, so he thought about going there himself, telling them about the situation, so that they could have a better idea.

Today I changed to a wristband with a heating function. It feels very good. It is recommended for anyone who often uses computers.And it can also be stuffed with wormwood, which surprised me, and the current merchants really know how to play.

(End of this chapter)