All-round support for the barbarian Kama tribe on the other side of the mountain to the northeast was naturally the handiwork of Governor Dejan. The East India Company's top brass had a poor view of the people of the East Coast, especially the country's vigorous and enterprising spirit from the inside out, and their unbelievable military and industrial skills, all of which sent a message of danger to the newly capitalist country.

This country is already so aggressive with only a few tens of thousands of people now, and if it is allowed to develop for another 20 or 30 years, I am afraid that it will become a significant new regional power. At that time, Dutch interests would be at great threat, especially since the people of the East Coast were so close to the Far Eastern trade routes, which the East India Company regarded as their lifeline.

What must be done to curb the East Coasters was the unanimous opinion of the Dutch East India Company from top to bottom. Therefore, when the British East India Company was deeply entangled in domestic interests and unable to defend Cape Town, a colony that was being harassed by the East Coasters who were almost as blatant as blatant, the Dutch East India Company, which had taken a fancy to its excellent location, immediately bought the Fort of Good Hope and its nearby colonies from the British for 100,000 pounds, and became the new owner of the land.

The Dutch East India Company, well aware of the reasons for the untenable and disgraced departure of the British, would not repeat the mistakes of the past, and they explicitly proposed to the Easterners in the north to cease hostile harassment, otherwise they would retaliate against the Easterners. To be honest, although the East Coasters began to emerge at this time, and successively broke out small wars with the Spanish colonies of Peru and the British East India Company, their strength was still not enough in the eyes of the old European countries. In particular, they are resource-poor and extremely dependent on foreign trade. Although the military power is not to be underestimated. But the war potential is ultimately limited. All this made the traditional European powers such as Spain, France, the Netherlands, England, and Austria not take it too seriously. To put it bluntly, the Easterners are not qualified to sit at the table where they share the benefits of the cake, as long as they clearly express their anger to the Easterners, I believe that the Easterners will naturally make a wise choice after comparison.

Sure enough, after Governor de Young gave a tactful admonition to the East Coasters on behalf of the East India Company, the so-called "Eight Banners" tribes attached to the East Coasters did not appear on the surface of Cape Town for half a year. Things seemed to be turning for the better, but Governor DeYoung did not dare to take it lightly. As a veteran adventurer who has been in the East Indies and Africa for more than 20 years, he has a clear view of the malice that lurks beneath the seemingly respectful exterior of the East Coasters. He had no doubt that if the republic was in some kind of predicament, the people on the east coast would immediately find an opportunity to pounce on them and bite them hard, and then take away all the farms, orchards, and harbors they had worked so hard to run.

For this reason, Governor Dejan not only strengthened the coastal defense of the port, but also maintained sufficient attention to the land defense of Fort Good Hope. He planned a series of defensive facilities on the river northeast of Fort Good Hope, relying on the riverbank, including fortresses, forts and other buildings. He believes that when these facilities are completed, the threat to them from East Coasters on land will be greatly reduced. The Dutch can rest and recuperate in the Cape Town area. Wait until the accumulated force is sufficient, and then start to expand outward.

Of course. While strengthening their own defenses, it is normal to win over the enemies of the people on the east coast to give them some trouble, and the Kama tribe is the target of Governor Dejan's choice to win over and support. Even better, the tribe was relatively wealthy, and cooperating with them would bring enough benefits to the Dutch in Cape Town.

Since the East Coasters began a large-scale campaign of indigenous extermination in this coastal area of the southwest corner of South Africa a few years ago, the "Great Sweep", there have been few neutral indigenous tribes in this area of less than 20,000 square kilometres, who have either been exterminated or have taken refuge with the East Coasters. Moreover, the people of the East Coast imposed a centralized control measure on these natives that they called "village consolidation", effectively controlling these indigenous tribes in their hands.

In this way, the Dutch also suffered the same embarrassment that the British faced at the beginning, that is, they basically played single games in the Cape Town area, and there was no tribe around, and there was no object for trade. The lack of trade partners meant that they could not make a profit, and it meant that the East India Company needed to continue to invest large sums of money in the area. Although the East India Company was still relatively attached to Cape Town and provided a lot of goods and money, the sooner the company could make a profit reduce the burden on the company for a day, and thus make the company's top management more impressed. What's more, the more than 700 immigrants under his command all hoped that Governor Dejan would lead them to a fortune, and even the 300 German mercenaries who received salaries were not exempt from vulgarity, who would think that they had more money in their pockets?

It just so happened that the Kama tribe, which had already conquered several tribes and tribes in the south, and had reached the valley on the eastern side of Cape Town, came into the eyes of the Dutch. Moreover, this tribe was the only one that the Dutch in the nearby area could contact and trade. After careful consideration, the Governor of DeYoung decided to take a friendly attitude towards the tribe for the time being, that is, to trade with them with goods from the Old World, to win them over, and to give Cape Town a small amount of money through the trade.

The chieftain of the Kama tribe seems to have been a savage with some knowledge, and he attached great importance to trading with the Dutch, especially the large number of muskets brought by the Dutch. They had bought some muskets from the British, which had played a great role in their wars against the surrounding tribes, but due to the lack of ammunition and necessary maintenance, most of these muskets were now unfiring, so they demanded that the Dutch sell them a large number of muskets and ammunition at once, and teach them how to maintain and repair them.

Governor Dejan readily agreed to the barbarians' request to purchase a large number of muskets, but at the same time refused their request to learn the art of maintaining and repairing muskets. He wasn't so stupid, he wanted to sell more muskets to these barbarians, wouldn't teaching them to repair muskets cut off his own money?

The muskets sold by the Dutch to the barbarians were sold for little less than the British, i.e. an old arquebus cost two goats, and a new flintlock rifle cost a bullock. Over the years, due to the strong combat power of the East Coasters and the British Royal Model Army in the battle with a large number of flintlock pistols, the value of arquebuses has been slowly depreciating in Europe, and the price has now dropped to 8 guilders (about 3.2 yuan) per shot, while the price of flintlock pistols has increased to a certain extent. The price offered to these barbarians this time can basically be more than 6 times the profit on average.

The barbarians purchased five hundred imitation Sol arquebuses, one hundred flintlock rifles, and a large quantity of buckshot, arquebuses, gunpowder, and tongs, and paid for a total of 1,200 goats and a hundred South African cattle, to the great satisfaction of Governor de Young. He knew that this business would not be a one-off operation, and that as long as the Kama tribe was still engaged in war with their muskets, they would continue to find the Dutch to demand weapons and ammunition to replenish the losses. This business is still growing!

In the process of trading with the barbarians, Governor Dejan also heard the news that interested him—the barbarians had already fought the easterners in the mountains, and had successfully repelled the easterners' attacks. Governor Dejan did not doubt the words of these barbarians, for he had seen a fellow who looked like a barbarian leader riding a tall Andalusian horse, wearing an earthy yellow cloth uniform common to the East Coast army, and a pair of cowhide boots on his feet, and on the horse's buttocks, Governor De Young even saw the East Coast people branding on it.

Upon hearing such news, Governor de Young could not hide his excitement. After a cursory understanding that this barbarian tribe was likely to be able to deploy an offensive force of several thousand men, he decisively decided to increase his support for these barbarians. Thus, in the winter months of August, the Dutch in the Cape Town region sent several priests to the Kama tribe, deep in the eastern valley. On the one hand, through these priests who have a lot of knowledge, they can gain the favor of the barbarians, strengthen the ties between the two sides, and at the same time "redeem" the souls of these barbarians by the way.

Kama, the chief of the barbarian tribe, strongly suppressed the opposition of the elders and priests within the tribe and accepted the arrival of the Dutch priest. Not only that, but in mid-September, full of courage and innovative spirit, he even entered the Dutch Good Hope Fort with a group of retinue. Shocked upon his return, he immediately decided to abandon some of his backward traditions and cultures and begin to learn from the neighboring Dutch, including their techniques, institutions, and language.

At the same time, he decided to select young and talented people from within the royal family, and to take advantage of the honeymoon period with the Dutch, so that they could return to the Netherlands on Dutch ships to learn everything they could, including language, theology, military affairs, agriculture, etc. For this, even if it was necessary to pay the Dutch hundreds of cattle.

Moreover, even if these royal children have not learned much since they were at the end of their careers in the Netherlands, at least they have greatly opened their eyes this time, and when they come back, they will be able to bring some changes to their tribes, reduce some ignorance, and provide some help for their upcoming reforms to the tribe. (To be continued......)