After handing over these South American indigenous immigrants and some supplies to the Hezhong Fort government, Guo Zili can be regarded as completing his first task. His second task was to hand over a letter from the Executive Committee to Mo Ming, the captain of the South African Pioneer Team, which had already told him before he set off: there was only one thing, and that was to vigorously capture the local indigenous people in South Africa.

In the second half of last year, about 2,500 South African natives were divided into three batches by the Hezhong Fort, and in addition to 500 who were taken away by the Ministry of Agriculture, the remaining 2,000 were used in the Changshanbao iron ore mine area in the Yihe area. The original 400 miners (with a total population of 700) in the Changshanbao area have finally escaped from the sea of misery, and they are now either engaged in the transportation of the idle mining area, the wharf, or the maintenance of equipment, and the remaining 200 or so have all been transferred to overseers.

At present, South African miners in the Changshanbao area are able to mine about 200 tons of iron ore per day on average with the help of a large number of tools. The iron ore is crushed and screened before being transported to the dock via a transport track, where it is transported by a fleet of river transport vessels docked at the terminal. This amount of mining is enough for the iron-making furnace of Ping An Iron and Steel Plant to start, as soon as the iron-making furnace starts, the steel-making open hearth furnace will also start, and then the downstream machinery factory, arsenal and upstream coking plant can start normal production, and then the old-fashioned graphite crucible can finally withdraw from the historical stage.

However, it is not accurate to say that it has completely withdrawn from the stage of history, because this graphite crucible can artificially control the proportion of graphite and other materials in the crucible when it is manufactured, and it is suitable for smelting special steel with different carbon contents. At present, there is a shortage of high-hardness special steels and alloy steels (such as ferrochrome alloys) on the east coast, and there are no high-hardness alloy steels. It is difficult to rifle the current steel cannon or wrought iron barrel.

After tasting the sweetness of using these indigenous South African people. Other departments were also extremely angry. They have reported to the Executive Committee to apply for the use of South African labor dispatch workers, especially the brick kiln factories, cement factories, lime factories under several major construction materials factories, as well as labor-intensive enterprises such as Ping An Coal Mine and Coal Washing Plant, which are strongly demanding the introduction of labor dispatch workers.

In the face of the strong demands of the industrial and mining enterprises, the Executive Committee had no choice but to be good, so it was written about the matter of the South African River Fort this time.

"Cut, those old men from the Executive Committee and the Government Council finally remembered me now." After reading it, Mo Ming casually threw the letter on the table, and then patted the table. said: "When Lao Tzu went to the capital at the end of last year, what did those people think of me? As soon as I heard that I was here to ask for help, Nima made Lao Tzu feel like he was asking for food. From the end of last year to the present, more than 2,500 people have been exported to the mainland in Hezhong Fort, and the Executive Committee has sent me these three or four hundred people, who are still restless elements. In the end, I am equivalent to taking 7 South African natives and the Executive Committee from the mainland to exchange 1 person, this business is really a loss! ”

Guo Zili smiled faintly and was noncommittal to Mo Ming's words. The so-called ass determines the head, and Mo Ming's ass sits on the side of the river fort. Naturally, it is necessary to plan for Fort River, and the Executive Committee has to consider it holistically. The so-called national game of chess is also.

And he himself was opposed to the use of slaves, whether they were state slaves or private slaves, and he held a negative attitude. These South African natives who are sent to their homeland are said to be labor dispatches, but in fact they are not given a penny, and at most their living conditions are better than those of slaves, and they are really not much different from slaves in other aspects.

In particular, South Africans working in the Changshan iron ore mining area are overwhelmed by the heavy manual labor, and many are sick, injured and even killed. A few doctors and nurses in the iron ore mines are simply overwhelmed, and they serve the East Coasters first and foremost, with little treatment for South African dispatch workers. The poor working conditions and heavy manual labor have led to a high attrition rate among these South African dispatch workers, and many of them are destined to live less than the day they return to their homeland at the end of their three-year term.

In such a situation, these indigenous South Africans began sporadic escapes. But their escape was destined to be a tragedy, and within a few days of their escape from this deserted hill they would either die of starvation or the attack of the barbarians, with no chance of surviving. Moreover, the armed overseers were not vegetarians, and they were able to catch up with the fugitives in almost a few days, with hounds and vicuñas carrying equipment.

Captured fugitives are sentenced to two years' hard labour for the first time, i.e. two years after the three-year period of hard labour has expired; The second time he was hanged in public, and other laborers in his dormitory were punished with reduced food and flogging. This barbaric system was also dumbfounded by Shao Shude, who single-handedly created the Changshanbao Iron Ore Mine Area, and in his opinion, this cruel, barbaric, and inhumane system was almost the same as what the Europeans did in the colonies at that time. And the fact that the young people who have received a 21st century education are indifferent to this cruel system at this moment cannot but be said to be a kind of assimilation. That is, when the traversal crowd assimilated the 17th century natives, some of the 17th-century natives' life concepts were also quietly influencing the traversal congregation, and assimilation was always mutual.

"Your side...... Uh, is there still enough population in the Eight Banners to send it? Guo Zili looked at Mo Ming, who had a sad face, and suddenly asked.

"Of course not." Mo Ming sighed, put his hand on his forehead, and said, "The two thousand five hundred people sent over the past few times are either slaves from the Six Banners, or simply people from the Two Banners. There were less than 7,000 people in my eight banners, and now there are 2,500 people, and many chiefs and deputy chiefs have come to me to complain, saying that no one has made the crops in the field, no one has sheared the wool in the sheepfold, no one has peeled the cowhides, etc., in short, they just complained about the lack of manpower, and then they all let me blow out. However, although what they said is exaggerated, it is also the truth in general, and the Eight Banners cannot be weakened anymore, otherwise these people will no longer follow us with all their hearts. ”

"Think about it, too." Guo Zili nodded in agreement and said, "They originally took refuge in us to have shelter, and the other is to be able to get some benefits." If you persecute them too much now, you may indeed be persecuted against them. ”

"It's not the opposite." Mo Ming smiled confidently and said, "Don't look at the current number of these chiefs and deputy chiefs, all of them are five or six, but don't forget that I appointed them to the throne in the first place." If I can arrange for them to go up, I can also arrange for them to go down. If they are to keep to themselves, if they have some self-conscious thoughts, I think there are many of the following Clare lords (Klar: The basic living unit of the Bantu blacks, generally ranging from a few to dozens of households. Later, it was extended to all eight banners, and the standard Krar was rated at twenty households. will happily purge us of rebellion so that we can put ourselves in power. However, you are also right when you say that you can't be forced too much, and sometimes you have to give them some sweetness. ”

"So what are you going to do? Continue to organize people to capture the indigenous people of South Africa? Guo Zili asked.

"Yes!" Mo Ming nodded and said, "In the autumn and winter of last year, we organized the first sweeping operation, and successfully cleared the walls, making a great contribution to starving to death and trapping the British in the south. This year, I have decided to carry out the second major sweep in South Africa, this time mainly in the north, or more precisely in the northeast. There were a large number of nomadic Khoisan tribes, as well as the farming tribes of the Xhosa who had fled west from the Great Karoo Plateau over the rolling mountains, and this time I had targeted them, and I figured that if they had acted quickly, they would not have been a problem in capturing thousands at a time. With these thousands of people, we will be able to solve our big problems. ”

Guo Zili nodded silently, and at the same time sighed secretly for the fate of those Khoisan and Xhosa. They should not have suffered such a bad luck at this time, it was the arrival of the people of the East Coast that caused them to be plundered and enslaved by foreign invaders dozens of years in advance. The people of the East Coast are also struggling to survive now, and they have no obligation or strength to teach you to enter the realm of civilization, and perhaps when the Republic of the East Coast has enough strength and capital in more than a hundred years, it can give back to your children and grandchildren, if your children and grandchildren are still alive and well.

On February 28, 1639, Mo Ming, the leader of the South African Pioneer Brigade, the supreme governor of the South African region of the East Coast Republic of China, ordered the second sweep to begin. The sweep lasted two months and ended before the farm was busy; The swept area is from the north of the Berg River to the banks of Lake Antelope (formerly the lake along the Verlorenvlei), and the farthest is not to cross the area of the Great Salt Pond (Wadrif Salt Pond, fed by a seasonal river); To the east the area between the East Mountain Range (Cederberg Mountains) and the Elephant River.

The target of the raid was all the Khoisan and Xhosa tribes living in the area, and the main focus was to capture people, supplemented by looting property. The dispatched troops include all 180 personnel of the 4th Company of the South African Garrison, 55 personnel of the newly established South African Cavalry Company (reserve force), 1 artillery company of the militia and 40 escorts; 300 strong men of the Eight Banners and 100 strong men of the fugitives from England and Ireland were recruited, with a total strength of 675 soldiers.

The mission was spearheaded by cavalry units, followed by light infantry in quick pursuit, with the idea of catching the barbarians by surprise in order to capture as much of the local indigenous population and possessions as possible. As for the defense of the mainland, it was handed over to the nearly 300 East Coast militiamen who had been temporarily mobilized, as well as the remaining Eight Banners Strongmen. (To be continued......)