March 1, 1651, Cotton River Port.

The planters on the east bank of the river, who had been operating in the port for two years, were overjoyed to open the sluice gates separating the artificial reservoir from the river, and then release the turbid water into the reservoir.

The river washed down from the upstream carried a lot of sediment, dead leaves and dead animals, and even in one reservoir, a slender Nile crocodile (a Malagasy subspecies) was caught red-handed by several Polish workers patrolling the reservoir. Don't underestimate the water, which is a precious thing in the eyes of the locals, just like the Southern Railway, the sediment and nutrients carried by the river are deposited at the bottom of the reservoir, and the plantation workers regularly dredge this relatively fertile silt to cover the cultivated land in the plantation to improve the nutrient content of the soil, which is quite effective.

It is said that since the second half of 1648, when 500 Polish prisoners of war were brought in to work as agricultural laborers (in fact, indentured slaves) on the state-owned cotton plantations in Cotton River Harbor, about a third of them had died from disease, barbarian raids (of the local Sakarava tribes), and heavy work, and now only about 300 are still alive.

And even these living Poles are demoralized and pessimistic about their future survival in this hostile place. In fact they did not resent the Easterners, who were captured by the Cossacks on the battlefield, who then gave it to the Crimean Tatars as part of the spoils; Naturally, the Tatars will not raise them in vain. So they were sold to the Ottoman Chamber of Azov. The Azov Chamber of Commerce eventually sold them to the East Coasters.

After this complex process of hand-turning. They were transported by ships from the port of Suez to the port of Cotton River by ships of the East African Transport Company, where they were engaged in construction sites and plantation labor. According to the policy propagated to them by the Ottomans, each of them had to serve the Ottomans for at least five years - to repay the expenses paid by the Ottomans - during which time they received a small allowance; After the expiration of their service, they can invoke the relevant provisions of the Homestead Law of the East Coast Republic of China to choose a share of their own land for cultivation, and after five years, they can occupy the land without compensation, and at the same time they can apply for the nationality of the East Coast Republic of China.

So, in a sense. These Polish prisoners of war had a future. It was also reasonable for the Poles to buy them from the vicious Tatars and to ask them to serve them for a few more years, so that the Poles did not have much disgust or hatred for the Tartars, and the cooperation between the two sides was acceptable. The only thing they are worried about is probably not sure if they will be able to survive such a harsh natural environment.

You know, it's not just the natural environment that threatens them now, but also many other things, such as the increasingly unfriendly attitude of the local indigenous barbarians.

In fact, Ma Wanpeng has recently been puzzled by the increasing frequency of watching and attacking the Sakarava people in the western savannah, which has not been like this before! Especially after the Dutch had already plundered a lot of the nearby Sakaravas. These natives have seen the strength of the enemy, and they have long since disappeared without a trace. How can this come back to find the bad luck of the foreign colonists? It shouldn't be! Something must have happened here!

In order to find out what was going on, Ma Wanpeng set out north with a slave hunting team of no more than a few dozen people (mainly hunting Comorians, and now the business has basically come to a standstill), raided a small village of Sakarava, captured them all, and immediately interrogated the tribal members.

After so many years on New Huaxia Island, there are also several talents among his subordinates, such as those who understand the local Sakarava native language. Therefore, the interrogation work went quite smoothly -- the local natives did not have any sense of anti-reconnaissance at all, and they basically recruited all the people before they could use the means. The interrogators corroborated and analyzed the confessions they had obtained, and then recorded the parts that they thought were more accurate and handed them over to Ma Wanpeng for review.

It didn't matter if Ma Wanpeng didn't look at it, but he was startled when he saw it, because the interrogation report revealed an important piece of news: the large tribe of Sakarava in the west of New Huaxia Island had started a war of annexation again, and many small tribes had suffered, and now the front of this large tribe - or the tribal alliance, the local Sakarava people even called it "kingdom" - had begun to advance southward. They are separated from the plantations on the east coast by a few small tribes, and if the current state of affairs continues, sooner or later they will unify the region.

The emergence of a powerful Turen kingdom near his important cash crop plantation area is absolutely not allowed by the people of the East Coast, and it is also unacceptable to Ma Wanpeng, who has invested nearby. To this end, he sent people to report the latest information to Xinhuagang to the north, and at the same time communicated with other plantation owners, especially the largest state farms and the Chuangji Investment Company, to discuss what to do.

On 8 March, Ma Wanpeng personally arrived at Xinhua Port on one of his sailing fishing boats, carrying a joint petition from more than 40 local plantation owners, requesting that the New China Pioneer Brigade allocate more weapons and send the New China Infantry Company established last year to assist in the defense of the new China Harbor in order to deal with possible tensions. A large number of cotton seedlings began to be planted in the second half of last year, and there may be a lot of harvest this year, but the barbarians must not be allowed to destroy this hard-won situation at this time. You know, everyone spent countless efforts and sweat in the previous year to open up the land, improve the soil, and cultivate seedlings, just for this year's crop of cotton, if it is destroyed by the barbarians, then I am afraid that everyone will not be able to accept it.

"There is no regular garrison in Mianhe Port, and now there is only a shallow coastal defense fortress with only a few dozen gunners." Ma Wanpeng sat in Shi Qinjie's office and said earnestly: "I don't care, I only invested in two small plantations in Mianhe Port, but in order to alleviate domestic inflation, the central government 'fooled' a large number of people with surplus money to come here to invest in plantations." Now that time, money, and sweat have been spent, and some people have even paid the price of their lives, seeing that the plantation will have a good harvest this year, if the harvest is destroyed by the barbarians, I can't think of what those people will do! Therefore, the Executive Committee and the government of the New China Pioneer Team must not be irresponsible, and these threats from the barbarians must be eliminated. ”

Shi Qinjie listened and nodded, as if agreeing with Ma Wanpeng's opinion, while his secretary was nervously recording behind him, and from time to time he found some information and handed it to Shi Qinjie to watch.

After listening to it for a long time, Shi Qinjie smiled, then got up and poured a cup of herbal tea for Ma Wanpeng, patted him on the shoulder, and said: "Xiaoma, you haven't even figured out the local situation, so you ran to ask for weapons from our soldiers in a hurry, isn't this too hasty?" When will you change your character? In addition, you have attacked those Sakarava villages with your slave catcher team this time, which will also have a negative impact on the current situation. Those natives don't trust us in the first place, because the plantations we are developing now are still robbing their land after all, and this time you are slashing and killing again, what will they think? What will be done? I'm afraid that these small tribes who would not have surrendered to the native kingdom will now have to take refuge in the past, without him, in order to seek refuge! You're still a little bit frizzy about this. ”

Hearing Shi Qinjie say this, Ma Wanpeng was also speechless, but he was not without slander in his heart: Mianhe Port is a newly opened territory, and our foundation on the east coast of Dadong is very weak, and there are no native tribes attached to it, so they naturally have a dark eye for the internal situation of the local native society. In addition, in the past two years, everyone has indeed been negligent, only knowing how to work at a dull head, and there is a lack of systematic investigation of the surrounding terrain, environment, specialties, and tribes, so there is indeed very little information at hand. If he hadn't made a quick decision this time, leading the slave catchers who had been working together for many years and had been like a command, to attack an indigenous tribe at night like a divine soldier, it would have been impossible to know the inside story of the current Sakarava native tribe.

"That's it......" After pacing in the room for a while, Shi Qinjie's right hand gently grasped the handle of the chair carved from high-grade sandalwood, and said to Ma Wanpeng: "I will transfer a hundred Polish prisoners of war from Xinhua Port, Tacheng Port, and Naturalization Port to you. They are all young and have no family ties in the Old World, so they are willing to actively move closer to us. These people and a boatload of weapons will soon be transported to the port of the Cotton River, and you will use them as the basis for the official formation of the Cotton River garrison. ”

"The policy should be made clear to them, entering the garrison is a 'reserve citizen', and after a year, you can divide the land, the house, and the daughter-in-law, and live a good life from now on. In addition, the Eight Banners tribe of the three islands attached to us will also draw 500 people each, which is a total of 1,500 native soldiers, and I will also hand them over to you, but their equipment and will to fight are very poor, and they cannot be relied on, and can only be used as cannon fodder to consume the enemy. Pony, I'm now officially handing over the military and political affairs on the other side of the Cotton River to you, and you must guard me steadily. It's best if the enemy doesn't come, and if they do, they will call me back, and of course it's better to find out what is going on there before that. Don't be afraid, as soon as I can free up extra manpower, I will immediately give you reinforcements, do a good job! (To be continued......)