"These are all the golden sands you hunted?" Xie Yuan's eyes lit up.

Deng Youzhang said: "Thirty natives were arranged to squat in the river day and night to pan for gold, and they could dig more than 80 catties of gold sand every year. There are also people who have picked up dog's head gold in the river, and most of the mountains upstream have gold mines. But we don't know how to find mines, and we have to send a mining master from China. ”

In fact, there are two large gold mines in Deng Youzhang's territory, and the other one has not been discovered.

And the place where they hunted for golden sands was near the original settlement, just a few kilometers away from the village. And the place where they are about to attack, there is also a large gold mine, which is also the earliest gold mine discovered in history, and only the golden sand can be mined for more than 1,000 catties every year.

More gold mines on the island, mainly in the east, are not Deng Youzhang's territory.

Let's put it this way, after Madagascar's independence, five tonnes of gold were produced annually using the most primitive methods of gold mining – and this was what was left over from the French colonizers.

Xie Yuan said: "You make a list of the Chinese who floated to the island, and write the address of your hometown." Your family members have received pensions, and this money will not be recovered. And after the gold is given to me, each of your families shall receive fifty taels, and the rest shall be confiscated. I will not take in vain some of your gold, muskets, and horses. ”

"This dare is good, there is a shortage of war horses on the island!" Deng Youzhang was overjoyed.

Xie Yuan reminded: "The stallions in the army have already been gelding, and on the way back, I will help you contact the King of Oman and ask him to send ships to do trade regularly." You can exchange gold with him, and you can buy some stallions to breed. Cavalry officers and veterinarians of the legation, I'll leave you a few. You learn to ride and raise horses as soon as possible, and you will have to rely on yourselves in the future. ”

To be honest, the Chinese imperial court was not very enthusiastic about overseas gold and silver mines.

There were gold and silver discoveries in Luzon and Borneo, and Zhao Han sent mining experts to take a turn. Since it was not a rich mine, the imperial court did not bother to interfere, and only sent officials to manage and collect taxes, and the gold and silver in the mine were open to immigrants, purely as a thing to attract immigrants.

Of course, the prospecting team did not withdraw, and still took high salaries and searched for rich mines in overseas territories.

All kinds of poor mines in China have also been closed down one after another and restored to cultivated land or mountain forests. Unlike when the country was just founded, everything was lacking, as long as there was a mine, it would be mined, and no matter how small the mosquito legs were, it was meat.

Seeing that the rainy season was approaching, Xie Yuan didn't linger any longer, and when Deng Youzhang took out the list, he threw down some supplies and got out.

Three hundred muskets were left, some ammunition, and two hundred horses.

There is a bad thing about the island, every time there is a New Year, it must be the rainy season. There is no way to celebrate together, Chinese can only eat heartily at home, and the real festival will have to wait until summer.

The 24 solar terms have also become symbols, existing as an idea that is completely incapable of guiding agricultural production.

Half of the territory currently controlled by Deng Youzhang is a tropical plateau climate and half a savannah climate, which is not as uncomfortable as tropical rainforests. Tropical sickness is occasional, but only a few old brothers die, especially from May to October, when it is very cool and dry.

Cool and dry, it's a good time to fight!

Rice is usually harvested by mid-May, and it is delayed until late May at the latest.

After obtaining the supplies, after the long rainy season, after harvesting the rice, they were ready to send troops.

The targets they want to attack are one in the south and one in the north.

To the north is called Maevatanana, which is in the mountains, and there is a big gold mine, and of course everyone does not know that there is gold, because even the natives themselves do not know. The attack there was purely for the sake of expansion, and it was a good march along the river valley.

To the south, it is called Marulinta and is located in the alluvial plain of the river, and the area along the river is very suitable for farming, and a little further from the river is all grassland.

The Northern Route Army was led by Li Luosheng, who was the county lord of the north, and Deng Youzhang sent 100 cavalry with 100 muskets. Although everyone has just learned to ride horses, it is enough to deal with the natives, after all, the aborigines of the island have never seen cavalry.

The Southern Route Army was led by Deng Youzhang himself, with 100 cavalry and more than 200 musketeers, and was invincible on the island.

Passing through the plateau and hilly terrain, the front is full of grasslands.

There were also two Chinese city lords in the steppe area, who built their cities on the river, farming and raising a large number of livestock. The hump cattle are the main ones, which are the zebu cattle in India. He also raised some goats, and there are no sheep here, so Deng Youzhang plans to introduce some.

Supplies were hauled in ox carts, and indigenous troops were constantly joining along the way.

The number of troops is certainly sufficient, and ordering the indigenous tribes to follow the army is to make the indigenous people remember their obligations and constantly demonstrate the force of the Chinese. It doesn't take much, each tribe can send 10 to 30 troops, and a small amount of loot will be distributed to them after the battle.

After a full month of marching, they finally reached the target area.

Deng Youzhang also asked some shipbuilders in China to build more large ships, so that they could go to Africa for trade and facilitate the dispatch of troops. For example, the current goal is on the seashore, which can be reached by boat for two or three days, where is the need to march for a month.

The weather is very cool, but it is relatively dry.

The rainy season two months ago made the grasslands full of greenery, and some small tribes were already visible on the periphery. They are nomadic and regularly change their pastures, but they also have their own so-called "royal courts", which are actually the stations of the chieftains.

"Governor, let me kill him!" Deng Anshun took the initiative to ask.

This is a twenty-one-year-old indigenous guy who was adopted at a few years old, and Chinese is equivalent to his native language.

Deng Youzhang nodded: "Take twenty rides." ”

Twenty indigenous teenagers, the youngest of whom was only 16 years old, rushed forward on warhorses. Before they set off, they had only trained for more than ten days to ride. After marching all the way, I had to ride a horse every day to get used to it, but I was afraid that the war horse would be tired, so I only rode for two or three hours a day.

When the indigenous herdsmen saw that there were cavalry coming, they didn't know what kind of monster it was, so they turned around and ran away in fright, and they didn't even want their own cattle and sheep.

Deng Anshun rushed over and grabbed a few herdsmen, forced them out of the tent of the tribal leader, and then rode his horse and continued to rush forward. He likes to ride horses, it's so cool, he thinks he's a natural cavalryman.

When the leader of the small tribe encountered the cavalry, he could not escape, so he could only kneel and beg for mercy.

Deng Anshun raised his sword and scolded: "We are the soldiers and horses under the command of the Chinese governor, either we will submit to the governor or be killed by me." The choice is yours! ”

"Surrender, I will take the tribe to surrender......" The tribal leader agreed again and again, and then took ten young men to go out with the army.

Deng Anshun rode on horseback with his head held high, and in the face of natives who could not speak Chinese, he felt superior.

Since he was a child, he has heard from his adoptive father and teachers that there is a Celestial Empire in the far east, where everything is available, there are 10,000 times more people than here, and the food is 10,000 times better than here. The natives on the island all belong to the remnants of the Celestial Empire, and they have forgotten to speak Chinese for too long, and only by learning to speak Chinese can they restore their identity as the people of the Celestial Empire.

Deng Anshun was already a citizen of the Celestial Empire, because he could speak Chinese and write Chinese characters. His education level is roughly equivalent to not graduating from primary school, and due to the lack of textbooks, teachers teach whatever they want.

Bringing the leader of this tribe back, Deng Anshun rode to Deng Youzhang's side: "Governor, will the emperor send someone over?" When will I be able to go back to China? ”

"You want to go to China?" Deng Youzhang asked with a smile.

Deng Anshun nodded and said, "The teacher said that China is our motherland, and our ancestors came from there a long time ago. I just wanted to see if I couldn't eat enough food there. ”

Deng Youzhang said: "Next time you come to the envoy, you can follow the envoy back to China to meet the emperor." ”

"Great!" Deng Anshun was excited.

A few days later, the expeditionary force arrived at the headquarters of the Horde Alliance.

It was a large gathering place, and there was an earthen city, thousands of people living inside and outside the city, and a large amount of farmland in the alluvial plains of the rivers.

Deng Youzhang was not in a hurry to attack the city, he had already had experience in dealing with such a large tribe.

Sure enough, seeing that they only had a few hundred troops, the alliance chieftain urgently summoned his troops out of the city to fight. There was no time for the surrounding tribes to gather troops, and civilians and slaves all took up arms, and about 2,000 people were killed.

can finally be opened up, Deng Youzhang misses the days when there was plenty of ammunition.

"Bang bang bang!"

More than a hundred musketeers, many of them indigenous adopted sons, used random marksmanship and fired indiscriminately from a distance.

A volley of guns fired, and only a few enemy soldiers fell.

But it was enough to cause panic, and the natives had no idea what was going on. Near the man who had been shot and fell to the ground, the indigenous soldiers retreated, believing that the deceased had been under witchcraft.

Immediately afterwards, the cavalry officers left behind by Xie Yuan, with a hundred novice cavalry, went around to the flanks in a disorderly manner.

"Charge!"

A hundred cavalry suddenly came from the flank, and the indigenous army, which had no formation to speak of, began to crumble in panic in an instant, and they did not dare to resist the monsters that rushed in.

The fight to bully the natives is really lackluster, and it is extremely boring.

However, in the central plateau of the island of Madagascar, indigenous states have been established. Its capital, Antananarivo, has a population of nearly 50,000, including those living outside the city. The capital with a population of 50,000 is enough to prove that the country is strong and the handicraft industry is relatively developed.

When the time comes, it will be a little interesting to fight with the indigenous countries.

It's a pity that there is a mountain barrier between the two forces. Deng Youzhang wanted to fight over, either from the north or from the south, counting the rugged mountain roads, the actual distance is equivalent to walking from Nanjing to Beijing.

Take this city and conquer another piece of territory.

An old brother from China was appointed as the prefect of the city and was responsible for managing the surrounding tribes.

It's really a sub-feudal system, like Li Luosheng in the north, who already has the strength to expand on his own, and he doesn't need Deng Youzhang's help at all.

Even if the imperial court takes over the island in the future, these people will always be local clans, holding countless arable land and pastures. And through marriage, there are inextricable relationships with indigenous tribes.