Friday, July 11, 1642.

In the eastern part of the Viceroyalty of South Africa, a dozen nautical miles south of the port of Suran, a small formation of 1 frigate and 1 transport ship was sailing north.

On the transport ship Horned Whale, a wave of gorgeous Foreign Legion officers and men who rotated on the upper deck to breathe were leaning boredly on the side of the ship, each with a grinning wolf's head on their military uniform armbands. The officers and men were smoking, chatting, or looking at the empty sea around them. Some of those who have knowledge of the sea point to the seabirds hovering in the northwest sky and explain to their companions that the direction is land.

"Lieutenant, sir...... How long will it be before we get ashore? It's not far from Luzon, right? ”

Ren Xingzhong was writing a letter alone in a corner, and he didn't notice that a small Chinese soldier leaned over timidly.

"Private private, you have no sense of distance and direction, we have only been away from Jinsha Port for a day and a half, and now we are at least 10,000 kilometers away from Luzon Island, and we are going to Sulan Port this time." Ren Xingzhong continued to write a private message to his wife in his hand, while showing a kind smile to the Luzon Chinese soldiers in the company.

"Oh, when I went to sea, I thought it was ......" The Chinese soldier looked at the east in disappointment, and squatted a little lonely with his arms crossed and squatted not far from Ren Xingzhong's side, keeping a cautious distance.

"What's your name? Where are the people? How old are you? How many years have you been in the company? Ren Xingzhong looked up at the Chinese soldiers who had just arrived in Ren Company, and found that the age and size of the other party were completely incomparable to the soldiers around him, and even more immature than when he first joined the army, and his accent was also very peculiar, so he covered the letter and said hello.

"Report to the chief, my surname is Shi, and everyone in the village calls me the third son. It's a native of Lingayan, Luzon, and he is 16 years old this year. The sea that went out during the winter solstice festival last year arrived at Jinsha Harbor in South Africa last spring...... "The little soldier saw that the commander was asking himself, and quickly stood up.

"Shi Xiaosan, born in Luzon, he concealed his age at the beginning...... Lingayan, I haven't heard of it. Seeing that the other party was so shy that he was compared to himself, Ren Xingzhong smiled and patted the position next to him, "It's okay, sit next to me and talk." ”

"I was born there. There are also an older brother, a sister and a younger sister in the family. When I was a child, I heard my father and mother say that my family's ancestral home is in Daming Chaozhou in the west, and my grandparents are buried there, but unfortunately I have never been there......" Shi Xiaosan saw that the new commander of his company was so easy to speak, and quickly sat closer with a childlike smile.

"I enlisted in the army the winter before last, you should have been 14 years old at that time, right? Since you have an older brother, why did you come to be a soldier? Ren Xingzhong knew that what the other party just said was a virtual age, and the real age was actually only 15 years old, but he had been a soldier for almost two years.

"My brother is lame. I don't have the strength to ......" Shi Xiaosan's eyes darkened, and there was even a trace of water in his eyes, "I was only 7 years old at that time, and my mother was bullied by the natives when she went out. My brother went to pull it, but someone fell. Later, I was so angry that I left, leaving my father with the family...... The year before last, a big family in the city said that they chose people to go to sea to work, saying that they were learning skills. My father went to the big house to listen secretly all night, and the next day he let me come, only to find out that there were more than Luzon townspeople here. There are a lot of Westerners......"

Let's go? Probably because he died, he was sent to the Foreign Legion by his father in the hope of avenging his wife, and he didn't know what he was going to do before he left...... Ren Xingzhong's heart felt a throbbing of resonance, and this feeling was indifferent many years ago.

"Do you regret being a soldier now?" After being silent for a while, Ren Xingzhong suddenly spoke.

"I don't know...... I miss my father, my eldest brother, my second sister and my younger sister...... But after being a soldier, I ate well every day, and there was meat, rice, noodles, and sugar! When my mother was still there, the family only ate meat once a month, and the second sister and sister still didn't have to eat it......" The childish private didn't know where to find a can of beef, muttering in his mouth.

Looking at the other party's young and sad appearance, Ren Xingzhong seemed to remember his childhood. Although the memory is very vague, I still vaguely remember the smile of my mother when she fed herself and her sister.

"Sir, listen to the accent, you're gorgeous...... The commander of the Western soldiers in the company is usually fierce, and often corporal punishment of us...... "Child soldiers are more "unruly" than adults, plus Ren Xingzhong does not put on an official show, so it is hot in a short time, and he also makes a small report.

"I was born in Daming, and my father and mother left very early. Later, I was adopted, grew up in Huamei, and my wife is a Westerner. Of course, the sergeant in your platoon will be tough on you, and you will know that it is good for you later. Ren Xingzhong smiled, took out a small wallet from his pocket, and took out a stack of black and white photos.

The young lieutenant officer in the photo is heroic, and the beautiful European girl in a wedding dress next to him is even more birdy. These are wedding photos from more than two years ago, and each one costs $10, which is not at all a luxury that ordinary families can enjoy.

"Then will your stepmother beat you?" Shi Xiaosan blinked his eyes, watching with relish, and even divergent thinking, "The painting is as if it is real...... Sir, in our place, it costs a lot of money to hire a painter, your family should be very rich, right? ”

Shi Xiaosan's question made Ren Xingzhong smile dumbly, in his impression, although his adoptive mother Yang Wenwen has been very strict with herself and her sister since she was a child, she is very careful in life. Now her sister Ren Xingai is married to the second grandson of the Supreme Justice Zhong's family, and her adoptive mother often runs to visit her sister and newborn grandson.

Ren Xingzhong was noncommittal to the child-like question, just smiled, put the photo away, and then looked at the sky overhead, fantasizing about what the child he was about to be born would look like. At the end of the last vacation, his wife Anne was already pregnant, and in a month, she would add a grandchild to the family.

"Attention! There is still an hour to arrive at the destination port, and the companies check their carry-on equipment! An indifferent command came from the microphone, and the officers and men of the Foreign Legion on the deck ran towards the hatch, and the few sailors leaning against the stern guns let out a laugh, as if to mock the mud legs of the army.

At the moment before entering the cabin, Ren Xingzhong found several small black spots on the west side of the fleet. It was a common Xhosa fishing boat on the east coast of the Viceroyalty of South Africa, a small canoe that was well crafted and could move several nautical miles from the shore.

……

“…… After arriving at the port of Sulan, the whole battalion had only one day to rest, and then went directly to the garrison fortress 10 kilometers west of the city, where the main force of the brigade had already assembled 20 kilometers west of the fortress. ”

in the cabin. The officers' meeting of the 4th Infantry Battalion of the Gray Wolf Brigade of the Foreign Legion was underway, and Ren Xingzhong sat in the corner as the new company commander.

Since its formation, the Gray Wolf Brigade of the Foreign Legion has undertaken the military defense of the entire Viceroyalty of South Africa, so its establishment is also one more battalion than the other two Foreign Legion brigades, and it is also the brigade with the largest number of soldiers in the Foreign Legion, with a total of more than 2,200 officers and soldiers. After graduating from West Point two years ago, Ren served as an acting officer in the Brown Bear Brigade at Butterfly Island in the Caribbean before being sent to the Gray Wolf Brigade and became a full company commander.

“…… The Nguni have refused to withdraw from the land, and have even destroyed our local observation camp. According to Brigadier General Xu Hongyun's combat plan. The main forces will advance from the south to the north, and our battalion will make a great detour from the east, directly into their rear. On the south bank of this river, set up an ambush position, and cooperate with the main force of the brigade advancing from the south to surround all the Nguni tribes who tried to resist in this area! Next, it's time to sweep the area on both sides of the river. ”

The battalion staff officer pointed out a number of details on the map, and the officers present exchanged glances with each other, as if they were a little worried about the plan of a few hundred infantry marching alone into the primeval mountain forest. Of the four infantry battalions of the Gray Wolf Brigade, one battalion has already been transferred to the Far East. Today, the remaining three battalions add up to more than 1,600 people, and there are at least tens of thousands of Nguni to deal with, and all of them are warlike black tribes who are familiar with the local terrain.

"Major, our mission is to purge it. Or is it an exorcism? After Ren Xingzhong finished recording the order, he raised his hand in the corner.

"Annihilation!" The battalion staff officer glanced at the young company commander and spat out an indifferent word, "We will get help from the Xhosa tribes in the south." The National Guard of Suran Harbor will also send a platoon of cavalry to support us. The number of prisoners is not pursued in this operation, but all the rebel villages in the war zone must be cleared! ”

"......" Ren Xingzhong slowly put down his hand and stuffed the notebook into his pocket.

The whistle of the transport ship sounded. The officers and men of the Foreign Legion lined up on the deck could already see the outline of Suran Harbor.

……

Suran Port, formally established in early 1637, is located in the location of Durban, the largest coastal port city on the east coast of South Africa, and has the best natural harbor and fertile inland land on the east coast of the Viceroyalty of South Africa.

In recent years, with the exception of local towns, the competition for annual immigration quotas has become more intense, and even if the board of directors of the Guoxing Group headed by Dong Jiunan spends a lot of money, the immigration department is really unable to take into account the colonial needs of the Viceroyalty of South Africa.

Guoxing Group had to adopt the same method as the Oriental Union Group, constantly arranging manpower and funds to go to Europe and the Far East to recruit displaced people on its own. In the past few years, together with the families of Guoxing Group's local employees, the highly anticipated population of Suran Port was only 6,000 at this time, in addition to the hundreds of Caribbean or North American Iroquois Indian men and women who were sent in.

Guoxing Group, which has just entered the profitable period, has obviously focused most of its energy on the investment and operation of Jinsha Port, the capital of the Governorate of South Africa, in recent years. Here, apart from the vast farm reclamation area and the defensive wall around the bay peninsula, there is not much investment in the livelihood construction of the town blocks, and a considerable number of urban buildings are brick and concrete structures, and there are even rammed earth houses in the outermost area, which looks more humble than any gorgeous overseas colonization town.

It's just that in terms of economic development, based on the idea of early development and early return to cost, the development pace of Guoxing Group in Sulan Port is extremely fast, but the local development focus is still focused on agriculture.

The city is much smaller than Sands Harbour, the capital of South Africa's Governorate, but its agricultural development is not as weak as the former. The first phase of agricultural land has been developed and completed, and the area of the second phase of agricultural land under planning has reached 150,000 mu.

Sulan Port is located in a subtropical climate area, even in winter, the local temperature is maintained above 10 degrees, coupled with the abundant water and soil, the agricultural development advantage is obvious. Corn, wheat, olive and livestock farming are all in their infancy, making up the main mixed agricultural economy in Sulan Port.

About 100 local migrant households have signed land lease contracts with the agricultural reclamation company under Guoxing Group, with an average contracted area of more than 500 mu per household. To this end, the agricultural reclamation company under the Guoxing Group has also purchased a large number of agricultural machinery from the local area, and hired many agricultural technicians from the state-owned agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry group. Instruct local farmers to carry out intensive large-scale agricultural reclamation.

There is no need to pay any fees to contract these farms, but according to the contract, all the output must be purchased exclusively by Guoxing Group, and as long as the agricultural contract is completed for 10 years, the land will be privately owned free of charge. This kind of good thing, which seems to have no cost, naturally made the farmers who moved to Sulan Port full of energy. But like Jinsha Port, the purchase price of agricultural products in Sulan Port is only about half the level of the local area.

At this stage, the Viceroyalty of South Africa has only this relatively single agricultural economy, and even Jinsha Port, the capital of Guoxing Group, which has more investment and a population of more than 12,000 people, cannot compete with Nanshan Overseas Consulate, which has developed transit trade, has primary industry, has a population of more than 30,000, and has become a formal territory of the country.

Guoxing Group after the excitement of the first year or two. I began to wonder if I had chosen the wrong direction, but later geography textbooks unmistakably indicated that the Viceroyalty of South Africa would be the richest part of Africa. Therefore, even if the cost return on investment is expected to be much longer than that of OUCC, the board of directors of Guoxing Group can only grit its teeth and persevere.

In order to promote the development of Sulan Port and strengthen the confidence of Guoxing Group, Zhou Yi, the Governor of South Africa, even moved his office to Sulan Port since last year to personally organize local economic development and town construction.

Since last week, Zhou Yi has been in the residence of the temporary governor. ushered in an old local friend, Dong Jiunan, chairman of the board of directors of Guoxing Group, which should be the first time in 22 years that Dong Jiunan left his homeland and appeared overseas.

Outside the window, in the distant port, the transport ship carrying the second batch of troops of the Gray Wolf Brigade of the Foreign Legion is entering the port. The officers and men of the National Guard Force, which had only two squadrons in Sulangang City, also increased their vigilance, and the garrison fortress located 10 kilometers west of the city directly entered a state of first-class combat readiness.

"Brother Zhou, the purpose of my visit this time. The first is to come and see you, and the second is ...... We hope to see the south bank of the Umsunduji River in our hands as soon as possible. ”

Dong Jiunan poured wine for Zhou Yi with a smile, and glanced at the stack of texts placed in front of the two of them. After entering middle age, the dock worker leader has lost the strong and tight muscles of the year. I became rich and fat.

Guoxing Group lobbied China to launch this inland expansion war, and Dong Jiunan personally went to Sulan Port, all because Guoxing Group discovered exciting mineral resources west of Sulan Port.

Although compared to the interior of South Africa, there are only a small number of coal and iron ore deposits in the vicinity of Sulan Port, and the mining value is not high. However, in the northwest inland, on the south bank of the Umsunduzi River, about 50 kilometers away from Sulan Port, in the mountains near Pietermaritzburg, the geological and mineral exploration team hired by Guoxing Group with high remuneration still received a good news that made the headquarters of Guoxing Group ecstatic.

South Africa's gold mines became world-famous, and the mega-mines were coveted, but most of them were concentrated in the northern interior. The discovery of a small rock gold mine in the mountains near Pietermaritzburg was almost nothing in South Africa in later generations, but in this era, it was the first super treasure that could be "realized" in the eyes of Guoxing Group.

"Whether the specific geological exploration figures are true or not, naturally it will take time to verify. But I had to be cautious this time, as it was the traditional territory of the largest Nguni tribe in the region, and it was too far from our current frontier of expansion. Taking the wine glass handed over, Zhou Yi glanced at the large map on the wall, looking a little unconfident, "This is not the main gold mining area in South Africa, the reserves of that small gold mine are very limited, and it will be a few tons of gold that can be extracted after a few years of mining." ”

"Even if you only get 5 tons of gold, that's worth 3 million! Moreover, the area around Pietermaritzburg is fertile and has abundant water resources, so it is possible to establish a permanent colonial town there, laying the foundation for the future to go north into the gold and coal fields! Dong Jiunan's eyes flashed, and he was determined to win the small rock gold mine that Guoxing Group had taken a fancy to this time, "It is said that there are still some magnetite ores around, and the reserves and grades are better than those in West Point Town, right?" If we build a small coal mine in Sulan Harbor, we can build an iron-smelting plant here in the future. ”

"Local tribal leaders have repeatedly prevented our survey teams from going deeper into the mining area, and so far, peaceful means are not working. A few smaller tribes of the Xhosa to the south are willing to help us, but want to do more. The Army Command has already agreed to my proposed military strike plan, and Xu Hongyun intends to launch a purge campaign in a few days. ”

Zhou Yi flipped through the text in his hand and pointed to the number on it: "However, brother, I want to make it clear to you, I don't have much strength at hand now, this time I want to support the Gray Wolf Brigade in the battle, and I also have to distribute benefits to the Xhosa people, basically emptying out most of my supplies here." Can't the local people have not lived a good life at the same time, so they have to expropriate them, right? You know, the Governorate is no more than the country's own son, and it is unlikely that it will receive direct budget support from the Cabinet these years, so it depends on you. ”

"No problem, when I passed by Jinsha Port, I greeted the person in charge of the group there, and within half a month at the latest, another batch of materials will be transported to Sulan Port, without you, the governor, paying a penny!" In addition, I communicated with you, if that magnetite is developed, it will be counted as 10% of your Brother Zhou's dry shares. ”

Dong Jiunan poured Zhou Yi's finished wine glass again indifferently, and the management experience of Guoxing Group over the years has washed away most of his old habits and become more sophisticated.

"Don't, let's keep it for the governor's government, we're at this point, are we still short of money?" Zhou Yi frowned slightly, but still tactfully rejected the other party's kindness.

……

At night, dozens of kilometers west of Suran Harbor, the main force of the Gray Wolf Brigade of the Foreign Legion, numbering more than 1,000 people, was stationed on the east side of a hilly valley.

The temporary headquarters of the Gray Wolf Brigade of the Chinese Foreign Legion was still lit by kerosene lamps and rows of candles, and a middle-aged officer wearing the rank of brigadier general of the Chinese Army was sitting behind his desk without saying a word, looking at the combat readiness report from his subordinates with a displeased face.

"General, at present, most of the companies are ready, but there are too few baggage horses accompanying us, and I am afraid that we will have to abandon the brigade artillery company to participate in the battle." The adjutant cautiously walked up to Xu Hongyun and handed over a report, "The troops of the third battalion have arrived at the port this afternoon, and they will be deployed to the sortie position the day after tomorrow."

"It seems that Ren Xingzhong's kid's company is in the third battalion, right?" Xu Hongyun stared at the information on the report, and muttered softly the words that the adjutant couldn't hear, "Maybe you shouldn't have started this operation in a hurry at all......

"Your Excellency, I wish you victory this time, and I believe that your battle plan is already being publicized in the country." A senior executive of the Guoxing Group, accompanied by a Sulan Port official, walked into Xu Hongyun's headquarters with a bottle of high-end wine and handed over the wine glass with a grin.

"The war has not yet begun, and there are still troops that are not in place." Xu Hongyun glanced at the European manager of Guoxing Group in Sulan Port opposite, and was not in a good mood.

"Isn't the victory obvious? The chiefs of several nearby Xhosa tribes have accepted our terms, and soon they will be sending men to help you wipe out those pesky Ngunis! The European manager poured wine for the military senior in front of him, and he was particularly flattering.

"Don't say anything polite, please go out, I still have to hold a military meeting......"

Xu Hongyun has not been able to adapt to the faces of these European businessmen until now, and he is even dissatisfied with the campaign launched by the Guoxing Group at the instigation of the cabinet and the Governor of South Africa, Zhou Yi, from the beginning, especially in the third battalion that served as a lone army in the deep combat mission, as well as the eldest son of his friend Ren Changle.

The manager of the branch of Guoxing Group, who had touched his nose, left with an embarrassed smile, and the adjutants and staff officers present all looked at each other.

"Send a telegram to the Governor General of South Africa, Mr. Zhou, asking him to replenish us with a batch of pack horses. The original battle time remains the same, and the battle will be resolved within a month! Xu Hongyun threw the pencil in his hand on the table, which was regarded as a final decision. (To be continued......)

PS: The recent update release needs to be reviewed at the starting point, which may delay some time.