January 15, 1640, the town harbor naval base. Several days have passed since the espionage incident, and a total of 11 French and Dutch spies have been taken into custody and will be tried in secret by a special court. At the same time, a diplomatic letter of protest addressed to the government of the Kingdom of France was accompanied by merchant ships on the east coast bound for Bordeaux. In their hearts, the people of the East Coast strongly condemned the dangerous behavior of the French government that undermined the foundation of diplomatic relations and mutual trust between the two sides, and demanded that France officially give a positive explanation for this.

In the case of the Dutch East India Company, the Government of the East Bank Republic forwarded the correspondence on behalf of the Dutch West India Company in Brazil. The government of the East Coast Republic unilaterally announced trade sanctions against the Dutch East India Company and its allies, prohibiting major domestic companies from selling East Coast goods to the Dutch East India Company. At the same time, the Government of the Republic of the East Coast reserves the right to hold accountable any country or organization that resells East Coast goods to the Dutch East India Company in violation of the ban.

In just five days from January 10 to now, a number of government officials have been dismissed, including the main person in charge of Cotton Farmer Castle, who has even been arrested, and he will be charged with dereliction of duty.

In the past few days, the Government Council has already come up with a plan for the initial development of the Antsilana region at the northern tip of the island of Madagascar, and the various ministries and commissions have also begun to cooperate closely, allocate personnel and store supplies, and are very busy.

At this time, on the wharf of Zhenhai Harbor, Admiral Wang Tiezhu, who had been promoted to commander of the Second Fleet, was looking at several ships moored here with triumph -- the battleship "Common Market," the high-speed cruiser "Chaoyong," and the armed transport ship "Exocet Galicia," all of which were owned by the newly established Second Fleet of the Navy. Although it is not as luxurious as the First Fleet's two battleships, two cruisers, three frigates and one armed transport ship, the Second Fleet has the final say on its own. In the future, the home port will be transferred to the South African River Harbour. Stay away from home. This is much better than being a deputy commander in the First Fleet like Guo Zili.

According to the plan, the Second Fleet will move to the port of River, South Africa, and they will set off with them, in addition to the families of some naval officers and men, as well as 500 immigrants who have gone to the riverbank. Of the 500, 300 were hard-nosed native Indians, and the remaining 200 were European immigrants – mainly French, who were screened to be less nationally identified.

Over the years, the goods of the Eastern Republic have continued to gain ground in the French market. There is also a growing number of French immigrants from France to the East Coast. By the end of 1639, among the total population of more than 34,300 in the Eastern Republic, French immigrants had surpassed the Ming people (20.5%) with more than 7,400 people, accounting for more than 21%, and became the largest ethnic group in the country (the third largest was the Charuya 10.5%, and the rest did not exceed 5%). Even if there is no outbreak of French espionage this time, the Executive Committee will introduce measures to suspend the introduction of French immigrants in the next two years, so as not to cause a big tail. As for the introduction of immigrants in the future, there are two main ones: one is to increase the import of people from East Asia (mainly Ming, sometimes Koreans and Japanese), and the other is to import Persians, Central Asia, Caucasus, and Balkans from the Ottoman Empire. to balance the national structure of the country and make it easier for the Executive Committee to rule the country as a whole.

In accordance with the consistent policy of the Executive Committee. Those who did not obey were all sent to the River Fort in South Africa, where they were re-educated in patriotism in a pack of wolves. For example, the Charuas who were sent to Fort River, now they are submissive, and to some extent they listen to the government more than the Europeans. Of course, the native Charuas are different, they tend to be more stubborn and difficult to rule than the Europeans, and often require more effort from the government to assimilate them and educate them.

The Second Fleet was accompanied by two transport ships of the Nanhai Transport Company, the Kunlun and Yaochi, two new flute-type transports commissioned in 1639. The two ships were responsible for transporting local necessities such as immigrants, building materials, daily necessities, and munitions from the mainland to Hezhong Port, and then brought local wool, agricultural products, dairy products, animal fat, liquor, leather, dog's head gold, ivory and other commodities from Hezhong Fort back to China for sale.

However, now they had the task of transporting large quantities of textiles, dyed leather goods, and munitions from the mainland to the River Fort for storage in order to meet the annual trade with the Ottomans and Muscat merchants. To this end, the Fort of the River area is currently working on the construction of a larger warehouse in the city to accommodate these newly stocked supplies. After the warehouse is built, when you go to East Africa or the Middle East along the African route to trade in the future, you only need to carry goods from the river fort, which will be much more convenient and safer.

Given the sheer volume of goods traded with the Ottoman Empire, the storage and logistics center of Fort Riverwater would also benefit greatly. Moreover, Mo Ming also had a whimsical idea to send people to the Portuguese Angolan colony in the north of South Africa to see if there was a potential consumer market for East coast goods there.

On February 22, 1640, after a long voyage of more than a month, the fleet arrived at the port of the river in South Africa. The Hezhong town government was familiar with the reception of new immigrants and quickly made proper arrangements. With the addition of these 500 newcomers, the number of settled freedmen in Fort Riverville has officially exceeded 2,500, and if you count the former British fugitives from Fort Good Hope, the number exceeds 3,000. With such a large population, it can be ranked among the top five even in the local area. Although it is isolated overseas, its strength cannot be underestimated. The Fort River area can easily mobilize more than 1,000 militiamen, plus the local South African garrison and the two or three thousand indigenous soldiers of the African Eight Banners in their hands, if they rely on the existing forts and strong walls for defense, it is not easy for the enemy to come without six or seven thousand men.

Regarding the mainland's move of the Second Fleet's home port to Hezhong Port, Mo Ming naturally raised his hands in favor. To this end, he not only used a large number of residents and slaves to widen the river and clear the silt in the winter and spring, but also began to build a cement permanent wharf in the bay on the north bank of the Berg River to gradually replace the original wooden wharf. At the same time, the fort at the mouth of the Berg River was intensified, and now it has six gun emplacements, four 12-pounder cannons and two 18-pounder cannons have been installed, and a certain number of skilled gunners have been trained.

So when the officers and men of the Second Fleet docked their ships in front of a brand-new concrete pier, they were somewhat shocked by the sight of the new sight. Many of them had only been here a few months ago, and they didn't even have any of these things in front of them.

"Captain Mo, thank you to the Fort Riverside government for everything you have done for the Second Fleet." As soon as Wang Tiehammer got off the boat, he grabbed Mo Ming's hand and said happily: "Although the Second Fleet is a grass creation, it will also carry forward the brave and tenacious spirit of the navy, take the port in the river as its home, and strive to carry it forward. This time, many officers and men of the fleet even brought their families here, and this will be the home of our Second Fleet from now on. ”

"Ha Luha, the development of Fort in the River is also inseparable from the help of the Navy." Mo Ming also said with a smile, "In the future, you can stay here with peace of mind, although the river fort is not as prosperous as the mainland, but it is not as short as the navy in terms of food, please rest assured." ”

Mo Ming has reason to be happy, since the military department has chosen Hezhong Port as the home port of the Second Fleet, it shows that in the eyes of the military department and even the executive committee, the status of Hezhong Fort is not low. After all, it has a number of advantages: such as excellent geographical location, radiation to many places, control of sea lines of communication; For example, there is an abundance of products, and there is even a surplus of agricultural and animal husbandry products to feed back the country; For example, there is an abundant labor force, and so far five or six thousand indigenous South Africans have been sent to various mines and farmlands in the country through labor dispatch.

Moreover, it is said that the Executive Committee and the Government Council have been troubled by the inferior coal mined in the local Ping'an Coal Mine. Especially in the past two years, when the steam engine began to be gradually popularized, the demand for high-quality coal became more urgent. As a result, South Africa's coal resources have recently begun to be mentioned by those in charge of the local industrial sector. However, South Africa's coal resources are basically distributed in the eastern and northern regions, and the distance from the river port is really far away. Previously, it was rumored that there were coal resources in Table Mountain near Cape Town, but after more than a year of continuous sending people to the area to investigate and covertly visit, Mo Ming never received the news that there were coal resources in the area, and then gradually died.

However, for high-quality thermal coal, you still have to rely on South Africa. After the Executive Committee has established a solid foundation in the country, sooner or later it will have to make great efforts to develop South Africa, otherwise it will be killed by the lack of thermal coal after the popularization of steaming in the country. Of course, there are not without noise in the country, for example, some people say that there are coal mines in Tulia, Tamatave, Sakua and other regions on the island of Madagascar, all of which are high-quality coal, and the reserves are not small. Among them, Tulia and Tamatave are coastal areas, which are extremely convenient for mining and transportation.

Mo Ming has always been very wary of this kind of argument. This would obviously lead the Executive Committee to shift its investment focus to the Falklands in East Africa, which is also rich in resources: iron ore, coal, gold, graphite, and timber, and is definitely a fierce rival to South Africa for the limited overseas investment of the Executive Committee. (To be continued......)