On December 24, 1673, just as Christians on the east coast were conducting religious rituals carefully and low-key, at the estuary of the Nanci Ludang River, which is not connected to the rest of the local core parts, more than a dozen 72-ton small steamer was flowing downstream from the upstream, sending a large number of soldiers near Xuanwu Port Wharf, and then turning back, preparing to go to the upstream Dingnan Town area, and pulling the remaining people and equipment over.

Xuanwu Port is an inland river port. When Ludang River reaches this point, both the width of the river surface and the depth of the river water are already quite impressive. Not only is the 72-ton inland river steamer unobstructed, but even large merchant ships can cross the underwater shoals near the estuary at night and enter the river channel when the tide is high at night. I believe that after people on the east coast find ways to dredge the shallows near the estuary in the future, the large ship can easily drive into the Ludang River during the day and dock at the second ports of Xuanwu and Daliang. In this way, the efficiency of foreign material exchanges between Xuanwu and Daliang will be greatly increased.

"Xuanwu and Daliang counties have been deeply rooted for many years, and now the grain output has increased significantly." Lieutenant Colonel Guo Handong, who was riding on the back of a horse, pointed to the endless wheat fields in the distance and said with emotion: "Although you can only grow crops such as wheat, soybeans, corn and sorghum, and cannot grow rice, the production capacity is still huge. The Yazihu ​​Basin, which has always been a heavy grain production area in the country, has grown slowly over the years. If it is hard to say in the future, it will be surpassed by these places."

Xuanwu County, the area of ​​Dema City, the "capital" of Argentina, has always been an important grain-producing area. There are even railways and roads built here to transport the huge amount of wheat produced to the Blanca Bay and shipped to other countries. The reason is probably because the soil here is relatively fertile, moderate precipitation, and suitable for wheat growth. Of course, from other perspectives, we will also see that the soil texture of this area is relatively hard, suitable for large agricultural machinery to enter and exit the steam agricultural machinery that later generations are short-lived, one of the major reasons is that it is too bulky and easy to destroy the land. Therefore, it has only achieved success in some areas with hard soil in central North America. The large-scale farm-model planting industry can become popular. The per capita grain output is naturally high, and a certain amount of surplus grain is exported.

For many years, people from the East Coast have been continuously improving their agricultural machinery, and changing the power from horses to steam engines has always been the top priority. Unfortunately, due to the influence of materials, processing accuracy, design, etc., the weight of the steam engine has never been reduced to an acceptable level, that is, the volume and weight of the steam engine cannot be significantly reduced when the power remains unchanged, which brings a series of problems, such as the delay in the emergence of steam harvesters, etc.

Two years ago, Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory launched a steam tractor and conducted experiments on the farmlands in Xuanwu, Daliang and Yancheng counties, but the result ended in failure. The main reason was that its weight was too large, it was very destructive to arable land, and it also caused great damage to the road surface when walking on dirt roads. Although the degree of damage was not as good as that of other local areas with softer soil, it was still unacceptable, so in the end, it went back in shame to redesign and processed.

"Now the area of ​​Yazi Lake is densely populated and has a developed economy. There are many people who plant fruit trees, alfalfa, carrots, rice, soybeans, vegetables and other crops, and not many people are seriously planting wheat. Therefore, my country's wheat production areas are basically concentrated in the East Coast Prairie and Northern Patagonia, and the proportion of wheat produced in the North Patagonia area is getting higher and higher. This land has basically been defined as an agricultural area, and the country has also made strategic deployments in this way. I think this is quite correct, because the conditions here are really good." Captain Li Zhixin, the commander of the 11th Mixed Battalion of the Army, said with a smile: "Look, when we go to the Hezhong area this time, a lot of supplies have to be raised in these three counties."

Speaking of this time, the Army Department was instructed by the Executive Committee to concentrate the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh mixed battalions of the Army to the estuary of the Ludang River, and planned to ship them to the river center area of ​​South Africa. The goal and mission were basically obvious, which was targeted at the Dutch.

The incident in Gwangenport Prison Square has been spreading to the local area for a while. The attitudes of the Executive Committee have basically reached a consensus on this matter, that is, since the incident has happened, we have to think about the consequences.

The Executive Committee held several enlarged meetings for this and invited middle-level cadres in Beijing from the intelligence, trade, diplomacy and other systems to attend the meeting. Finally, they came to the conclusion that the Dutch had a great possibility of revenge. What are the methods of the Dutch revenge on the East Coast? Everyone agreed that it was unlikely to be war, so it could only be economic sanctions, such as raising the import and export tariffs of East Coast goods, restricting the import of some goods, and even tearing up all or part of the commercial contracts that have been signed. These are all very likely to happen.

As the Dutch imposed economic sanctions on the East Coast, the East Coast Republic of China, which has become increasingly angry over the years, naturally cannot submit. It is natural to use some means to safeguard its normal interests and recover some economic losses. Therefore, the Executive Committee approved the proposal of the Ministry of the Army to control the Dutch South African colony in its hands and "temporarily freeze" it to wait for discussion with the Dutch government on its status in the future.

According to the plan formulated by the Army Department, four mixed battalions will be mobilized this time to go to the Hezhong area. With the cooperation of local guides, they will march into the towns of the Dutch South African colonies and control them in their own hands with lightning speed. For this reason, the Navy may also send some ships to the coast of Cape Town to carry out a maritime blockade of the Dutch East India Company's colony to cooperate with land military operations.

To be honest, the relationship between the Dutch East India Company and the East Coast is actually quite good. The trade between the two sides is relatively complementary and has relatively good compliance in the Far East. However, as the new member of the Executive Committee Liang Xiangjian said, the Dutch East India Company enjoys the privileges and a lot of benefits given to them by the government on weekdays, and basically wears a pair of pants with the Dutch government. Now that the Dutch government may provoke the East Coast people, the East Coast people naturally have the right to enter their colonies and recover their losses for themselves.

All logic seems to make sense, and there is no moral dilemma. Therefore, the four army mixed battalions that were suppressing bandits in the South Metro were quickly gathered from their respective garrisons, and then gathered in Dingnan Town. They took boats downstream in batches and arrived at the Ludang River mouth area, waiting for the arrival of supplies and military supplies.

In this operation, the Eighth Mixed Battalion of the Army was well-deserved. This mixed battalion, formed by the former Far East scattered companies, is also the head of the eight qualified battalions, and is one of the four full battalions. Therefore, there is no doubt as the main force. In comparison, the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Mixed Battalion were newly added troops in the east wind of the French-Dutch War. The number of officers and non-commissioned officers was not very large, and ordinary big-headed soldiers were even more inexperienced recruits. Therefore, it is foreseeable that the weak combat power was weak and could only be subordinate to the Eighth Mixed Battalion.

The battalion commander of the Eighth Mixed Battalion of the Army was Lieutenant Colonel Guo Handong. This lord was originally the commander of the temporary first regiment and had been suppressing bandits in the Nanzhi area. The original famous Tverche people, the Arakan people and some Quechuas and Crandi people who came over mountains and rivers, were as frightened when they heard Guo's name. It can be seen that the person was very famous in Nanzhi.

Because the situation of bandit suppression has undergone major changes that are beneficial to the people of the East Coast, the temporary first regiment was disbanded on the spot in February this year, and the various departments began to disperse and clear out the remaining bandits. Lieutenant Colonel Guo Handong had always used Yancheng County as the base camp and led his troops to sneak into the north into the Pampa Plain to clear out the local Quechua people, and some results have been achieved.

After the outbreak of the French-Dutch War, the First Mixed Battalion "came trouble" in The Hague, Lieutenant Colonel Guo Handong expressed sympathy for his competitor Major Lan Fei, and realized that the mobile unit of the tentative first regiment, which he had originally commanded, might have work to do! In fact, it was almost the same. After asking someone to inquire about the news, he learned that the military headquarters was formulating a combat plan to embezzle Dutch South Africa. Guo Handong, who was very interested in this command position, almost immediately started the action and finally got his wish and became the leader of the new tentative first regiment.

The four mixed battalions under the newly temporary first regiment were all fully equipped. In addition, the two independent field artillery companies temporarily strengthened by the Army Department, one independent engineering company, scout platoon, health team and command staff, with a total force of nearly 6,400. It was really a relatively powerful force. It was more than enough to wipe out the monsters and monsters of the Dutch South Africa at that time. Although most of the people in this army were recruits, the number and equipment were there. Can't they still defeat the German mercenaries and Dutch militias in Cape Town?

To be honest, transporting 6,400 people to South Africa, which is a sea-wide distance, is indeed a big task without using immigrant transport ships. For this reason, there is still some coordination between functional agencies such as the Ministry of Transport, Trade, and the Navy. If we count the long-term combat of 6,400 people and the massive amount of materials required for the garrison, it is conservatively estimated that more than 20,000 tons of transportation will be required for transportation at one time, and the subsequent capacity of 5,000 to 10,000 tons will still be maintained for a long-term operation of this route.

The burden is still quite heavy. Moreover, this is still the case where the food and livestock supply bases exist in the Hezhong area. Otherwise, there would be more materials to be transported. This also shows how terrible it was for the Labor Expedition in this era, especially the expedition across the ocean! The Atlantic Ocean has served as a natural barrier and protective layer for the East Coast Republic of China for many years, but now it is becoming one of the most important factors that restrict the country's outward expansion, and it is also helpless.

At present, the number of officers and soldiers of the temporary first regiment that had gathered in Xuanwu County has exceeded 3,500, of which the eighth and eleventh regiments have all arrived, and the ninth and 10th regiments have still some companies stranded in Dingnan Town and have not yet returned to the construction. However, after these small steamers return to the upper reaches of the Ludang River, they should be able to arrive within a week. In addition, some direct technical troops directly under the regiments that the Army Department temporarily strengthened were said to not arrive until mid-January next year (1674). Therefore, the departure date of Guo Handong's troops should be almost at the end of January and early February. At that time, more news will be heard from almost Europe, and their temporary first regiment will also receive clearer orders.

"Xuanwu, Daliang and other counties, I have a lot of feelings to say. How many times have we fought in this area over the years? I'm afraid we've measured every inch of land with our feet?" Guo Handong looked at the alluvial soil of the brown Ludang River under his feet and said with emotion: "Now I'm finally going to fight in South Africa, and I'm quite reluctant to say that. Although the industry in the river is not very developed, the population is quite large, and the animal husbandry and grain planting industries are all careless, and they produce high-quality wines. Yang Liang has been operating there for many years. I want to go and see what it looks like now!"

"Commander Yang (Yang Liang was the commander of the South African garrison army) had previously formulated the "South Africa Piercing Operations" plan, but I heard that the plan was not satisfactory after the Third Mixed Battalion was withdrawn. The progress was limited, and there were a lot of food and wages. The Hezhong area was quite complaining. But it was nothing to do with us. We were going to fight the Dutch South African colonies. I heard that there were thousands of white colonies there, which was really scary, but it should not stop the 6,000 army of my temporary assembly of the first regiment!" Guo Handong's iron-core Major Li Zhixin immediately responded when he heard this: "It's just some German mercenaries, and they should be able to defeat them in one battle!"
Chapter completed!