October 5, 1664, Da'an Fort (now North Durban District, Durban, South Africa)

On an empty meadow by the Changning River (now the Usukla River in Durban, South Africa), a primitive barter trade was taking place. On one side were the local indigenous people, the East Bantu people, composed of more than ten people, driving dozens of people.

A cow and a sheep, carrying bundles of ivory on their backs; on the other side were people from Qi who had just arrived here a year ago, and the trading items they provided were only two barrels of sorghum liquor, more than 20 iron farm tools and a dozen horses

cotton.

Ran Fuwen inspected the cattle and sheep that everyone from East Bantu had brought one by one. Although he was extremely satisfied with these animals, he still had a look of disgust on his face. When he looked at the teeth and hooves of the cattle and sheep, he shook his head and sighed from time to time.

Two dark-skinned Dongbantu people followed him, muttering in their mouths, as if they were boasting about how healthy and fat the animals they brought were, and how they were worth every penny when trading with you Qi people.

"What is this?" After roughly inspecting all the animals, Ran Fuwen began to rummage through a pile of ivory. At this time, he picked up a short white sharp object, "This is a fucking tusk of a wild boar! You guys?

These savages dare to cheat and use these things to trick us."

As he said that, Ran Fuwen picked out several tusks that seemed to be from other animals from the pile of ivory and threw them aside like garbage. What a fool. He used to look like an honest and honest silly savage, but now he has been trading with us for a long time.

Everyone actually knows that they are just trying to make up for the trouble.

Although we also know that this kind of unequal trade activities definitely takes advantage of you Bantu people, we cannot bully us outsiders so blatantly with "fake and shoddy products".

We can still tell clearly which one is precious ivory and which one is the tusks of worthless animals!

Seeing this, the Bantu people suddenly showed anxious expressions on their faces. You must know that it took them more than two months to collect these goods that could be traded. They thought that those wild boar and porcupine tusks

Tusk, even though it is not as valuable as ivory, can be exchanged for something.

However, the Qi people looked like they didn't want those animal tusks at all. Seeing that the goods they could exchange were reduced, wouldn't it mean that the things they could exchange for from the Qi people would also be reduced accordingly.

So, do you want the spicy soju that can make people feel tipsy, the iron farm tools that can easily dig up the soil, or the soft and comfortable cotton cloth that can be worn on the body?

"What are you doing!" Suddenly, they heard a Qi man shouting loudly. Everyone looked for his voice and saw two Dongbantu people who couldn't help but feel drunk. They were holding a gourd and ladle and were about to reach into the wine barrel to scoop out the wine.

Drinking wine. This immediately caused several nearby Qi people to shout loudly and hit him with their scabbards.

Perhaps the attack was a bit harsh, as one of the Bantu people was beaten with blood on his face and looked miserable. This move obviously angered all the Bantu people present. They surrounded him in twos and threes.

The people living in Qi were shouting loudly, seeming to express their dissatisfaction and anger at the brutal behavior of the people in Qi.

"Bump!" The sound of a musket made the noisy scene immediately quiet down.

A Bantu man covered his abdomen with his hands, knelt on the ground, and screamed loudly in pain. After a while, he curled up on the ground and rolled around, and the sharp screams gradually turned into weak moans.

"Everyone, step back!...Everyone is on alert!" the guard squad leader who came to preside over the transaction shouted loudly, and then quickly took off the musket from his back, reloading ammunition while retreating, not forgetting to observe from the corner of his eye.

The movement of those Bantu people.

"Ho ho ho..." Finally a Bantu man woke up, roared and grabbed the wooden spear on his side from the ground, rolled himself up and rushed towards the Qi man on the opposite side.

"Bang! Bump!..." Five or six muskets were fired, killing several Bantu people holding wooden spears on the spot.

Then, more than a dozen Qi people, with their bayonets drawn and long knives waving, quickly counterattacked.

Damn it, since people have already been killed, let's just kill all these stupid savages, swallow up their goods, and then gather people to massacre their tribes to avoid future troubles.

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October 13, Fort Changning (now Durban, South Africa).

Chen Hongan, the general manager of the African Trading Company in Changning Fort, received the news on the third day after the conflict between Da'an Fort and the nearby East Bantu tribe. He did not waste any time and immediately mobilized 20 armed men from Changning Fort.

The bodyguard and the escort of thirty Cochin servants took a galley and quickly rushed to the rescue of Da'an Fort.

Unexpectedly, less than five days after the reinforcements were sent out, they received a messenger from Da'an Fort, saying that the Bantu tribe in conflict with them had gathered several surrounding tribes and mobilized a total of more than a thousand people to begin the siege of Da'an.

The fort. If it had not been for the artillery bombardment on the fort wall and the musket fire of more than a hundred defenders in the city, the Bantu people would have almost been wiped out.

Considering that Da'an Fort was established just over a year ago, the entire defense facility was still made of civil structures and was besieged by more than a thousand indigenous people. Although there were artillery and muskets to defend the city, the number of people was too small after all. If someone was not careful, they could be breached.

Castle, the loss would be huge.

Immediately, Chen Hongan organized and mobilized more than 60 people at Changning Fort to take ships to support.

Perhaps because he felt unsafe and worried that the surrounding Bantu tribes would take advantage of the situation to plot against Fort Changning, he sent a flying fish boat to Fort Nanhua hundreds of kilometers away (today's Port of Yin Elizabeth, South Africa, also known as Mandela City).

The area was ordered to dispatch some armed guards to assist.

The African Trading Company, established seven years ago (1657), is more of a semi-official foreign colonial institution than a private trading company that collects capital and joint stock. This is because the main shareholders are the royal family, the Cabinet Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and several major domestic companies.

There are almost no ordinary merchants or people investing in trading companies, and there is no profit requirement in the short term.

You must know that among European countries during this period, only the Dutch East India Company established a supply point near the Cape of Good Hope to provide water and water for its many merchant ships traveling to Asia. As for colonizing and profiting from this vast area, that is

It was never within the expectations of the Dutch colonial powers.

In Africa, if you want to obtain high-value goods such as ivory, gold, and slaves, there is no more suitable place than West Africa. Moreover, it is very close to Europe. What is there in southern Africa? There is no gold, no spices, and no valuables.

The wealthy kingdoms that traded with it. As for ivory, although there was some, the output was too little compared to West Africa.

Apart from the fast running big bird (ostrich), the stilt deer with a long neck, or some agile and fast eland, what else is there?

Don’t forget that the most original driving force of European colonial forces (companies) was to constantly pursue various specialties that could make huge profits, such as gold, silver, spices, ivory, silk, porcelain, tea, and the worst of all.

It is fertile land that produces high added value such as tobacco leaves and cane sugar. However, in order to obtain suitable land resources, the Americas are more suitable for the many immigrants and colonization companies in Europe.

Therefore, only the wealthy Dutch East India Company would spend huge costs to establish a supply point in southern Africa.

Even so, in more than ten years since the Dutch settled in Cape Town in 1652, the planned Cape Town Fort has not been built. It is still just an ordinary fortress with a half-earth and half-masonry structure, which can only be used for defense.

Look at the ignorant and backward Keyin people around you.

Apart from its important geographical location, there seems to be nothing valuable here. Otherwise, the English, who were hostile to the Dutch, would not just attack a series of Dutch strongholds in West Africa.

However, operating the South Africa region and establishing a stable logistics supply base here are forward-looking tasks arranged and arranged by the King of Qi himself, and are a key link in Qi's future global maritime strategic planning.

In view of this, the expected profitability of this African trading company will naturally be greatly weakened. Even in a few years, it will need to continue to invest money in construction. In the short term, there is no expectation of dividends. Therefore,

When raising funds through IPOs, there was very little response from ordinary people.

Such a long distance, and the local area is still full of ignorant and backward primitive tribes. If they want to trade, they will only play in the mud and chase their prey around, but there will be no output at all!

At present, South African trading companies have established three strongholds with Changning Fort as the core. In addition to Da'an Fort, which is seven or eight kilometers away, there is also Nanhua Fort, which was established three years ago. The total number of garrisoned personnel and guards is 700.

There are more than fifty people, and there are less than four hundred Qi people who are the core personnel. The rest are farmers, craftsmen and servant armed personnel recruited from the Kingdom of Cochin.

Several strongholds under the South African trading company, except for providing necessary supplies of water to the passing merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company, are temporarily closed to other European countries and are closed to focus on infrastructure construction. Through various commodities shipped from the mainland

, the traders and guards at the stronghold exchanged a large amount of cattle, sheep and food from the nearby East Bantu tribe, which provided great convenience for them to settle here smoothly in the early stage.

After gaining a foothold, Changning Fort used sorghum liquor, iron pots, iron farm tools, and some fresh gadgets to purchase hundreds of acres of roughly cultivated farmland from the East Bantu tribe, and organized

The immigrants from Qi and the people recruited from Cochin began to grow potatoes, sorghum, corn and other coarse grain crops, as well as a large number of vegetables, fruits and other non-staple foods.

By 1660, Changning Fort was basically self-sufficient in most agricultural products. Not only did it have a large supply of coarse grains, but it also successfully introduced dozens of acres of experimental wheat. Although the yield was not very high, it

But it proves that the climate environment and geological soil here can still grow grain crops. Everything is developing in a good direction.

On this basis, African trading companies established Nanhua Fort and Da'an Fort in 1661 and 1663 respectively, and began to expand their colonial power in the coastal areas of southern Africa.

Personnel from the General Staff, Navy, Cabinet Industry Department and other military and civilian governments also sent corresponding personnel to Changning Fort a few years ago and began to conduct detailed topographic surveys, sea conditions and hydrological surveys, and preliminary exploration of surrounding minerals in this vast area.

.

Although several investment shareholders did not require African Trading Company to obtain profits in the short term, as a colonial trading company with a business nature, after it has gained a foothold, it will naturally regard profits as its main goal and cannot blindly rely on shareholders.

Continuous blood transfusions.

The shopkeepers and clerks of the trading company stationed here relied on the purpose of relying on the mountains and the water, and used various industrial products shipped from the Hanzhou mainland to start an extremely unequal war with the local East Bantu people.

Barter trade.

Cattle and sheep, poultry, sorghum, barley, as well as ostriches, ivory, furs and other supplies, Qi Guo African Trading Co., Ltd. will accept all comers, and what they pay is only a small amount of shochu, sugar, iron

Making agricultural tools, cotton cloth and other commodities.

Compared with the Dutch in Cape Town, the relationship between the Qi people and the local indigenous tribes is still harmonious. In the past six or seven years, although there have been countless minor frictions and conflicts, there has never been a large-scale military battle. Except for the Chinese

The nation has a long-standing gentle and courteous character, and there is also some fear and apprehension of this strange continent.

The dark face, the white teeth and eyes, the primitive and wild religious rituals, the frightening custom of adult circumcision...

In addition, the people of Qi also learned a horrifying news from the Portuguese, that is, many indigenous tribes in Africa have the tradition of cooking living people. They said that more than seventy years ago (1589), the Portuguese initiated

During the Battle of Mombasa, they encountered a tribal alliance of more than 20,000 cannibals, who plundered more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians in the city and Ottoman vassal troops for food rations.

At that time, almost all the soldiers and civilians in the city, including the Ottoman soldiers, fled towards the beach where the Portuguese warships were. They prayed that the infidels who they had regarded as their sworn opponents would capture them immediately. Because even if they were captured

It is better to be captured a thousand times than to be caught and eaten by primitive tribes.

In the first few years, the Qi colonists in Changning Fort were on high alert when trading with the local Bantu tribes. They were equipped with swords, muskets, leather armor, half-body plate armor, and even dragged out several

The cannons were used to suppress the formation. The location of the transaction was also as close to the castle as possible, so that if there was a slight disturbance, you could hide back in the city and defend it in time.

However, with frequent contact and understanding, the people of Qi gradually put away their fear.

Damn it, these indigenous tribes are just a group of uncivilized savages, and their development (evolution) level is a little higher than that of the Hanzhou indigenous people. They are all so stupid that they can't even count how many cows and sheep they have, and they are trading

The leadership is also completely in the hands of the people of Qi.

In addition, the Dutch who passed by here mentioned that their Cape Town stronghold dealt with the surrounding Koyin people just like hunting in the wild, oppressing and killing them without any fierce resistance. In order to snatch more, the Dutch

Cultivated land, cattle and sheep, still at 165

From 9 to 1660, a large-scale war was launched against the Koyin people (i.e., the Hottentot War). The Koyin tribe near Cape Town suffered heavy losses. A large number of cattle and sheep were robbed, and the population also dropped significantly.

The lands and homes were also occupied by the Dutch.

As the person in charge of the African trading company in Changning Fort, Chen Hongan decided to launch a war against the local indigenous tribes. In addition to retaliating for the Bantu people's bold behavior of besieging Da'an Fort, he also wanted to use thunderous means to scare the surrounding indigenous tribes.

, to establish a kind of power for later power expansion.

If the tiger doesn't show off its power, you think I'm a sick cat!?
Chapter completed!