Chapter 402: Competing for Africa (Middle)

In the imperial study of the Forbidden City, the information from the Emperor's ** Intelligence Bureau was piled up with the emperor's imperial book case. ()

In order to control the global situation, Emperor Deng Haonan of Shenwu had to consult a large amount of information every day. Since it took at least three months for the Chinese Empire's overseas intelligence station to transmit the news back to China, and more than a year at the longest, most of the information consulted by Deng Haonan belonged to the "past tense".

However, despite this, in comparison, the information obtained by Deng Haonan is timely information in front of the leaders of other countries.

Fortunately, Deng Haonan has a relatively accurate grasp of the overall trend and situation of the world, so he can analyze the world situation and future trend through comparative intelligence, which is quite advanced for the leaders of other countries.

The process of colonial warfare in Africa seems to have unfolded all at once, much faster than in history. Deng Haonan understood that this was all due to the strong rise of the Chinese Empire.

The original land of China should have been occupied by the backward Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the capitalist process should have been strangled in the cradle, let alone foreign colonial expansion. But the emergence of Deng Haonan changed history. The Chinese Empire not only completed its own industry and rapid economic development, but also launched colonial wars and became a formidable competitor to the European powers.

Since the seizure of the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Peru, the strong position of the Chinese Empire in colonial wars has stimulated European countries, and with the end of World War I, European countries have refocused on the plundering of their colonies. But the Chinese Empire had become a powerful presence on the American continent, and most of the European powers did not want to conflict with the Chinese Empire because of colonial expansion, so they avoided colonizing the Americas as much as possible, so they chose to invade Africa.

The black tribes in Africa are mainly Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Tswana, North Sotho, South Sotho, Tsunga, Venda, Ndebele, etc., which are basically descendants of the San people, Khoi and Bantu people.

The colonial armies of Europe were well-armed but few in number, relying mainly on the private armies of Europeans and expeditions as colonial vanguards. These vanguard units are mostly composed of dozens to hundreds of people, and although they are small, they are still very effective against black Africans.

Deng Haonan flipped through the intelligence transmitted from Africa, and carefully studied and analyzed the examples and cases of military and civilian operations of each European power in Africa, and then made plans that were in line with the imperial government.

"I plan to send troops to Mauritius and then use Mauritius as a springboard to occupy southern Africa"

Wang Zhaoyang, director of the "Emperor's" Military Intelligence Bureau, pointed to a piece of information and said to Deng Haonan: "At present, the only countries on the African continent that have been proven to have rich gold and silver mines are the Congo occupied by Portugal, and some mineral deposits in the surrounding areas, but they have been occupied by Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries, and the Mauritius and Southern Africa regions you mentioned have no news of gold and silver deposits, and these places are the poorest places in Africa."

Wang Zhaoyang's meaning Deng Haonan understands that it is nothing more than that Mauritius and southern Africa are poor and backward, there is no trade profit, and there have been no mineral deposits, so this region has always been regarded as a barren region by Europeans. In such a place where there is no oil and water, if the empire uses a lot of money to invest in it, it will inevitably lose more than it gains.

However, Wang Zhaoyang didn't know what Deng Haonan was planning to do, let alone that South Africa had amazing wealth underground.

Deng Haonan smiled and asked rhetorically: "I tell you that there are an incredible number of treasures under the land of South Africa, do you believe it?" ”

Wang Zhaoyang paused for a moment, and he couldn't believe the emperor's words, whether subjective or objective.

"The emperor Yao Shunyu soup, Weichen naturally believes it"

Deng Haonan smiled faintly, he knew in his heart that Wang Zhaoyang's belief in Sancheng was based on Deng Haonan's wise decision over the years. At first, many people, including Wang Zhaoyang, did not believe that Peru would produce more gold and silver than Mexico, but with the large-scale immigration of the empire to Peru, a large number of gold and silver mines were discovered one after another, and the scale of the scale caught up with Mexico, which made officials believe. However, this situation is really hard to believe, and most officials, including Wang Zhaoyang, are still skeptical, believing it to be a coincidence.

Now, Deng Haonan once again claims that there are amazing treasures under South Africa, even if Wang Zhaoyang believes it, it is out of respect for the supremacy of the emperor.

It's just that Deng Haonan won't open this topic, let alone explain, because he is a unique emperor.

"I will immediately convene a meeting of the military headquarters and send an expeditionary force to the region as soon as possible, but before that, I need a civilian expedition to explore the way there."

Wang Zhaoyang hurriedly stood up and said: "The emperor can rest assured, Weichen knows what to do?" ”

Deng Haonan nodded, and Wang Zhaoyang Shili withdrew from the imperial study.

In July of the thirteenth year of Shenmu, a Dutch expedition was floating in the Atlantic Ocean by boat, and suddenly they found an island and landed there. When I went ashore, I found that it was a beautiful place, so I settled down. The place where they docked was within the Cape of Good Hope, but the place where they lived was named Cape Town.

Two months later, the Dutch had just established a settlement and built some village and town facilities. But before they had time to enjoy it, the ships of the Chinese Empire's civilian expeditions also came here.

Most of the civilian expeditions of the Chinese Empire were from military backgrounds, some were controlled by the Imperial Security Bureau, some were under the command of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, and some were colonists composed of retired soldiers, and of course, missionaries from the Empire. They volunteered to join overseas colonial expansion for various purposes, either for money, for the thrill of exploration, or for the spread of the culture of the Chinese Empire, or simply to reimburse the empire.

The first citizens of the Chinese Empire to arrive in Cape Town found that they had been occupied by the Dutch and immediately began to provoke them, and soon clashed with the Dutch, leading to a shootout.

The colonial pioneers of the Chinese Empire were strongly supported by the imperial government, and even had special fund guarantees, so the imperial expeditions were second only to the army, and the Dutch were inferior to the Chinese in terms of numbers and weapons, so after the fierce battle, Cape Town had to be left to the Chinese, who went north along the Indian Ocean to find a beautiful and rich place again.

In October, the Dutch decided to stay in a good place, no less beautiful than Cape Town, which is now one of South Africa's most famous ports, Durban. But the Chinese were not satisfied, and followed the Dutch north along the Indian Ocean and also to Durban. The Dutch, too, could not beat it again, and once again gave up on their own initiative. The Dutch decided to abandon the port and sail into the interior of South Africa. For safety, the leader of the Dutch sent an advance party of 117 men to probe the situation ahead.

The advance party went inland and chose to go north, where they encountered cannibals. The guns of the Dutch conquered the cannibals with swords and spears. After negotiating an agreement, the cannibals allowed the Dutch to live and cultivate the land, and the Dutch passed on their knowledge of guns to the cannibals, and the two families became friendly.

The advance party continued to go deeper, and this time they encountered an even more powerful character, the leader of the Zulu people at the time, Ding Gang. The Zulu were outnumbered and powerful in the land at that time. The two sides fought for a short time, but the Zulus were defeated, so the two sides began to negotiate. Ding Gang arranged the "Hongmen Banquet", and at the banquet, Ding Gang instructed his subordinates to do it, but the Dutch did not leave a single person alive.

This day is the 3rd day of November in the 13th year of Shenwu.

Soon, the large force of the Dutch got the news that the advance party had been killed. The Dutch leader decided that he must avenge the advance team, and finally found Ding Gang's traces in a place in the northwest, which is the place where the Pretoria Ancestors Memorial Hall was built, and the two sides fought here for three days and two nights. In the end, the Dutch, who numbered less than 1,000 people, defeated the Zulus, who numbered more than 10,000 people, with advanced weapons, and Ding Gang was killed on the spot.

However, just as the Dutch were about to celebrate, the Chinese expedition followed.

The Dutch were very angry, because the Chinese expedition seemed to treat the simple villages built by the Dutch as if they were their own home, and they did not see anything about it.

Finally, some Dutch people couldn't help it. They issued a warning to the leaders of the Chinese expeditions, advertising that this was their territory, because it was they who had paid their blood and sweat to defeat the aborigines. They do not want the blood of their compatriots to be shed in vain, so they refuse to make concessions to the Chinese and no longer cede territory.

However, the Chinese expedition had already been prepared, and the expedition of less than 300 men did not show weakness in the face of more than 800 Dutch pioneers. A massive shootout took place in the wilderness on the northern outskirts of Pretoria, with the same line-up of guns, but the Dutch's gentlemanly approach to warfare cost the Dutch heavy losses in the first encounter. The Chinese expedition, which opened fire first, took advantage and killed nearly 100 of its opponents with seventeen casualties.

However, the Dutch soon changed tactics and divided the formation into three groups and attacked from three directions. The Chinese expedition was outnumbered, and the Dutch in one direction could resist, but it was difficult to fight in three directions at the same time.

Soon, the Chinese expedition was defeated by the Dutch pioneers and was forced to withdraw from Pretoria.

The Dutch did not intend to let go of this group of Chinese expeditions, because they were angry, and the anger that had been suppressed by the Chinese suddenly exploded.

Three days later, the Chinese expedition retreated to the Mozambique Channel, and the Dutch pursued it all the way.

The two sides fought fiercely again, and the Chinese expedition was defeated and forced to retreat to the vicinity of the beach.

The Dutch persuaded the Chinese expedition to surrender, but after no avail, they decided to strike a final blow. Just as the Dutch were about to strike the final blow, warships flying the flag of the Imperial Chinese Navy suddenly appeared on the sea.

With the help of Imperial naval guns, the expedition was rescued, and the Dutch chose to retreat. U