The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 231 Sellers Become Commodities

Zheng Haikang's eldest son Zheng Ruian was to stay on Jeju Island to guard the passages to and from the Whale Sea and the Yellow Sea for the court.

Zheng Haikang himself had to stay in Quanzhou, waiting to hand over local government affairs to the imperial court.

He could only let his younger brother Zheng Haiping and his second son Zheng Ruining lead the Zheng family fleet to sail to Africa in early October.

There is no winter in most parts of Africa except the north and south ends.

The Zheng family has a steam sailing ship and now also has the Suez Canal, so they can immigrate to Africa at any time.

There were no civilians among the Zheng family’s first batch of immigrants, just an entire division returning from the Northern Expedition, with their bolt-action rifles and equipment.

Then there are tools for building houses, farm implements for cultivating the land, and seeds.

First, send pure soldiers to seize the land, drive out or capture the local indigenous people, build basic housing in the local area, and reclaim a certain amount of land.

Then the soldiers' families were sent there to form stable military settlements, build more houses, and reclaim more land.

Finally, send more ordinary immigrants there to expand the scale of the settlements and form cities and villages where the majority of the population is from the Ming Dynasty.

This is basically the standard procedure for the Ming Dynasty's overseas expansion.

Zheng Haiping led 10,000 new troops and drifted on the sea for more than a month, crossing the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar and entering the Atlantic coast.

As planned, the fleet sailed south along the coast of Africa to its final destination, a place that had been named Min Kingdom.

The Zheng family's fleet encountered several Spanish fleets along the way.

After replenishing coal at the southernmost point of Morocco, the Zheng family fleet continued southward and arrived at the westernmost tip of Africa.

The fleet slowly approached a peninsula protruding from the coastline.

That is the Dakar Peninsula.

Zheng Haiping came to the bow of the ship and looked at the peninsula in the distance with a telescope. He found that there were several European armed merchant ships docked around.

Two French ships, four British ships, and three Spanish ships.

As the fleet continued to approach the peninsula, Zheng Haiping continued to observe the situation of the peninsula and surrounding ships, confirming that these merchant ships were purchasing black slaves from the shore.

Then he put down the telescope and said to his nephew Zheng Ruining:

"According to the map, this should be the Dakar Peninsula, the westernmost point of the African continent.

"This is the territory that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has allocated to our Zheng family. We can open up wasteland and build a city here.

"Moreover, the further south you go, the hotter it will get. Building a city directly in the rainforest area will result in great risks and losses.

"We should first build a forward base and supply point in a place with a relatively dry climate."

Zheng Ruining asked back with some doubt:

"That's true, but this place belongs to the Europeans, right? Are we going to go to war with the Europeans directly?"

Zheng Haiping smiled and said:
“I looked carefully and saw that there were no European flags on the peninsula. Their flags were all on their ships and on a small island.

“That is to say, this peninsula still belongs to the local indigenous people, and we went directly to the shore to fight against the indigenous people who occupied the land.

"We now have 10,000 Australian rifles, and it is easy to defeat these natives.

"It's too troublesome to explore on your own, it's better to take advantage of a ready-made place..."

Zheng Ruining was just in his early twenties, at an age full of enthusiasm, and felt that what his uncle said made sense:
"Then I'll listen to Second Uncle. You can arrange the work..."

Zheng Haiping immediately summoned the main officers and arranged a very simple, crude and familiar order.

He then ordered the fleet to approach the port of Dakar.

The Portuguese have been dealing with the indigenous people of Dakar since they explored Africa and the Indian Ocean more than two hundred years ago.

Get supplies, repair ships, and purchase slaves from here.

Later, the Portuguese, Dutch, British and French often came here to obtain supplies and purchase slaves.

This is the outermost area of ​​the Sahara Desert. Islamic religion is prevalent among the local people, and the area is relatively familiar to Europeans.

In addition, for more than two hundred years, Europeans have not been able to directly occupy land on the continent.

The local indigenous rulers were already familiar with these outsiders and were not too vigilant against them. Slave traders from several European countries also became nervous when they saw dozens of Ming ships approaching.

Although there have been no rumors of robbery by the Ming fleet, the possibility of their sudden rise cannot be completely ruled out.

Whether on the ship or at the dock, all Europeans subconsciously concentrated and observed the movements of the Ming fleet and personnel.

The Europeans' speculation seemed to come true. After a Ming ship docked at the pier, the soldiers on their deck raised their rifles.

Immediately, a large number of bullets were fired at the dock without warning, and the natives around the dock fell to the ground one after another.

Heart-wrenching screams echoed throughout the dock.

Seeing this, the Europeans immediately looked for a place to hide, and soon discovered that the Ming people did not attack them.

More than 500 Ming soldiers disembarked from the docked Ming ship.

After rushing onto the dock, they chased and shot at the natives around them.

A large number of natives died on the spot, but many also knelt down and raised their hands in surrender, and were captured by the Ming soldiers.

This pier is not very big and there are not many people here.

The battle lasted less than an hour before the dock and its surroundings were controlled by Ming soldiers.

European merchants were also driven out of their hiding places.

Zheng Ruining came to the dock carrying a rifle, stood in front of the frightened merchants, and announced to them loudly:
"Listen, you European barbarians, this land now belongs to the Duke of Min of Ming.

"I am Zheng Haining, the second son of the Duke of Min, and I will be the governor here in the future."

After Zheng Haining made his announcement and revealed his identity, the businessmen around him were all shocked when they heard the translation by the person next to them.

In the early period of Chongzhen, the Zheng family occupied the South China Sea shipping routes for a long time, and after Chongzhen, they participated in the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade for a long time.

Quanzhou, Fujian, the capital of the Zheng family's fiefdom, has been one of the most important foreign trade ports in Shenzhou for hundreds of years.

Therefore, the Zheng family of the Duke of Min is very famous among the European nobles, maritime merchants, and pirates in this world.

The fiefdoms of the Ming Dynasty were considered semi-independent monarchs by Europeans.

The status of a Duke is equivalent to that of a Grand Duke.

As the second son of a Grand Duke of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Haining's status in Europe was very close to that of a prince.

It's something that businessmen like them don't normally see.

But more importantly, the Ming Dynasty directly occupied Dakar, and from then on the shipping routes and trade here were directly controlled and influenced by the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng Haining didn't wait for the merchants to answer, and ordered the prisoners captured in the battle to be brought over:
"You came here mainly to buy black slaves, right? Now I'll sell these to you too!"

The black slaves captured by the Zheng family were originally chiefs and their subordinates on and around the docks, or even members of the aristocratic families of the Kingdom of Kajol that ruled here.

Their main industry was originally the slave trade.

They sold criminals from their own tribe, political enemies who had failed in political struggles, heretics with questionable beliefs, and enemies captured and swept up in tribal wars to the Europeans on the other side.

At this time, the buyers and sellers looked at each other.

They were sellers just now, but now they have become commodities waiting to be sold.

Europeans did not have any special reaction to this change, as they had seen this kind of thing before.

Various fights within African tribes and kingdoms ended with the losers being sold to Europeans, and it was not uncommon for those who had been sold to be sold again.

European businessmen are worried about something else.

A British businessman took the lead in asking Zheng Ruining:
“Your Highness… we can… we are happy to buy the slaves you captured, but the question is what to do in the future?
"Will we be able to come here for supplies in the future? Will the Ming Dynasty continue to sell slaves here in the future?"

Zheng Ruining said without hesitation:
"You can continue to come here to trade and resupply in the future, but everyone here must abide by the rules of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise you will be punished according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty!
"Regarding slaves, it's the same as before. When there are slaves, they are sold. When there are none, you can just look elsewhere."

When the businessmen heard this arrangement, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as they can continue to do business in the future, they don’t care who this place will belong to in the future.

Although the people of the Ming Dynasty are overbearing, they will also maintain order, and safety can be guaranteed as long as you follow the rules.

(End of this chapter)