The campaign lasted for several days, and dozens of clerks and hundreds of staff members were almost exhausted to the point that about 300 tons of sorghum were collected into the newly built grain depot. As the saying goes, if you have food in your hands, you don't panic in your heart, Mo Ming feels that this sentence is really right. With this batch of grain as a base, what else can defeat them in this wild land?

Today, with a population of more than 1,000 highly organized people, a large amount of food, advanced weapons, and an ambition that never lacks, they are confident that they will build the fort into a pearl city in Africa, as long as the local support is enough.

In the hearts of Mo Ming and Liu Ang, the Fort in the River is where their hard work lies. Therefore, how to make the Fort in the River further develop is a question that has been haunting the minds of the two. South Africa is a large wild land, surrounded by many indigenous tribes, unlike South America, where you may not meet a single Indian tribe for a few days. Faced with such a situation, according to Mo Ming's wishes, they should capture as many indigenous people as possible, and then force them to farm and graze for the people on the east bank, so that agriculture and animal husbandry in Hezhongbao should soon develop.

After these developments, Hezhongbao can vigorously develop leather processing, winemaking, oil extraction (with peanuts and sesame as raw materials) and other industries according to local conditions, and within a few years there will be a small success, and begin to export a large number of leather semi-finished products, sorghum liquor, oilseeds, wool, ivory and other products to the local area, so as to achieve economic self-sufficiency.

When formulating the plan, Mo Ming and Liu Ang often worked overtime until late at night, happily discussing and arguing repeatedly about the details of the development of the Hezhong Fort, and then formed a plan. Both of them have an infinite passion for doing business. This emotion even infected the people around him. It made everyone's morale rise a lot.

Fort in the River has been developed for almost two years. Everything is slowly getting back on track. The only thing to worry about now is how much local support for Fort Riverwater will be. If the Executive Committee had continued to use the Fort-in-River as a supply depot for exploring routes to the Ottomans and the East, it would have been conceivably less supportive, and even the current size of the Fort-in-River, which would have been tolerated. Going any further, there will be the suspicion of putting the cart before the horse, which the Executive Committee cannot tolerate at this stage.

If things are going to be good (unlikely), the Executive Committee will give a lot of support to the Fort River, including money, goods, and unconditional supply per capita. Then the Fort in the River will develop rapidly. In time, becoming a big town like Ping'an Town and Zhenhai Fort is just a matter of leisure.

But this kind of thing can only be thought about, with the urine of the people in the executive committee, maybe the supplies or something will continue to support Fort River, and even if the population is counted, they will not send people over again if they are killed. It would be interesting enough to set up a South African garrison headquarters for you, and then send a full company to give you a town scene, so don't think about it.

In their minds, the River Fort is a supply depot and a safe haven. Ships departing from Vostochny were to resupply the river fort, repair the ships, and house the sick and wounded. then continue southeast across the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean; Once in the Indian Ocean, the ship will anchor in the Antsiranana area at the northern tip of the island of Madagascar. and carry out resupply; After the replenishment, the ship continued north until it reached Djibouti on the Red Sea coast, and after a short rest and resupply, the ship continued north until it reached the Ottoman port of Suez on the Red Sea coast.

This African route plan was drafted by Mo Ming himself, and he knew every detail clearly. He knew that the Executive Committee had no plans to expand in South Africa in the short term, and that the focus of the next stage of the expansion of the Executive Committee should be on the Yi River basin and the rivers on the west bank of Yahu Lake. Therefore, the South African Fort in the River was just a small halfway supply port and nothing more.

But Mo Ming is the captain of the South African pioneer team at the moment, fully presiding over the work of Fort River, and there are more than 1,000 people under him. The so-called ass decides the head, and now that his ass is sitting on the side of Fort River, he naturally has to consider the interests of Fort Hezhong. Of course, this is also considering his own interests, and making a career in Fort River, which will definitely be of great help to his future career.

On July 10, 1638, the transport ship "Galician Exocet" and the transport ship "Yingzhou" and "Abbot" of the South China Sea Transport Company arrived at the dock of Hezhongbao under the escort of naval warships. The arrival of a large number of production and living materials, as well as the arrival of 180 officers and soldiers of the 4th Company of the South African Garrison, caused huge cheers in the Fort River.

The red bricks, cement, and lime that were transported meant that they could say goodbye to the wooden houses and thatched houses they had lived in for most of the year; The heavy long-barreled cannons that were shipped meant that their batteries would be more stable; The potatoes, corn, horses, and farming tools that came in meant that their farming and animal husbandry would be taken to the next level. Not to mention the 180 officers and soldiers of the Fourth Company, who will be stationed here for a long time, their arrival is definitely at the level of the Dinghai Divine Needle for the Hezhong Fort.

"Good news, bad news, which one to listen to first?" Lieutenant Xie Hansan, who led the team, stood on the dock and jokingly said to Liu Ang, who came to greet him.

Liu Ang and Xie Hansan are also very familiar with each other, so he directly stepped forward and smashed Xie Hansan in the chest, and said viciously: "Don't pretend to compare with me, if you have something to say, say it quickly, let it go if you have a fart, and you don't have a good heart." ”

"When did I become that kind of person in your eyes?" Xie Hansan said with a wry smile, "Okay, I won't tease you, let's just say it." The good news is that the Executive Committee has decided to increase its support for you, don't be too happy, the intensity is limited, at most a few hundred people, not more. ”

"Sure enough, that's good news!" Liu Ang slapped his thigh excitedly and said loudly, "What about the bad news? Say it, say it while I'm in a good mood, I don't blame you! ”

"Won't you ask why?" Xie Hansan said helplessly: "There is obviously a reason why the Executive Committee suddenly increased its support for you. Well, the reason is that the British will soon land near Cape Town. ”

"British? Cape Town? Landing? Liu Ang was a little puzzled, "The British don't have a port near Cape Town, in fact, Cape Town is still a terra nullius, if the are not people......"

"In fact, the British had already made the decision to colonize Cape Town long before they made peace with us." Xie Hansan looked at Liu Ang with pity, and then said slowly, "Don't you understand yet?" Our naval fleet attacked the British East India Company fleet northwest of the Cape of Good Hope, sinking four of their ships. In fact, not only that, but the navy sank a total of eight ships in the ocean near the Cape of Good Hope (including the slave ship off the coast of Luanda). The British, even if they were stupid, knew that the Cape of Good Hope was the only place for their fleets to and from the East, and that if they were allowed to control the sea, their trade routes would be completely exposed. ”

"So ......"

"So here they are." Navy Lieutenant Li Yi rushed up from behind and said succinctly: "A month ago, we sent back news from the trading station (and intelligence station) in San Vicente that a British fleet of twelve ships docked at the port of San Vicente for a short replenishment. Twelve English ships carried more than a thousand English and Irish immigrants, as well as livestock, grain, seeds, agricultural implements, weapons, building supplies, and everything else necessary to settle down, and according to the information obtained, they were colonies organized by the East India Company, whose final destination was Cape Town—yes, it was Cape Town, a hundred or two hundred kilometers southeast of the River Fort, that most of them had now arrived and begun to build. ”

"This news is really ......," Liu Ang didn't know how to describe it. In his and Mo Ming's plan, after gaining a firm foothold in the Fort River, they will gradually advance to the Cape Town area, and eventually occupy the southwest corner of South Africa. However, the plan could not keep up with the changes, and the British East India Company, which was hurt by the fleet of the East Coasters, realized that their Far East trade routes were no longer safe after the rise of the East Coasters in the New World. Therefore, they spent a lot of money and painstaking efforts to organize a group of immigrants to settle in the Cape Town area, in order to completely integrate it into the colony of the East India Company, and provide a place for the East India Company and even British ships to supply food, repair ships, and shelter from the wind and waves.

Of course, the port could also accommodate a considerable number of British fleets to escort passing British merchant ships in times of war, so that Britain's eastern trade routes would be much safer.

Liu Ang was a little depressed, could this be the butterfly effect they brought? Despite Cape Town's vital location, it was not until 1652 that the Dutch took a fancy to the land and sent some people to grow vegetables to supply passing Dutch East India Company ships. Since then, Cape Town has gradually developed.

But now it's only 1638, and the English have come to Cape Town to colonize, and it seems that their determination is not small, so what is the Dutch behind them? Is history finally going to change? Liu Ang was a little dizzy, and at the same time a little afraid, this is no longer a well-known history. Everyone has been tossing for so long, has this history finally begun to fork in the road?

The future of Fort Riverland looks like it's going to be full of twists and turns. Damn the British, they are really heroic everywhere! Liu Ang cursed fiercely, the domestic situation is tense like that, you still have the leisure to go to South Africa to colonize, it's really painful! Well, if you're new to the city and you're a competitor, then please accept our gift to you.

The blacks and reds had been attached to the tribe for so long, it was time for them to move. The British are new to the country, so it's good to try their reality or not, hum, the British, you are miserable, we East Coasters will let you know who is the boss in South Africa! (To be continued......)