Chen Jingyun looked at everyone's expressions and felt much more at ease.
To build a country, you can't do it alone. You have to pull a group of people to do it together. With a group of core backbones, and a group of people who are not determined and are just for immediate benefits, then there are more than a hundred people. The team has stabilized.
Among the more than a hundred people, only the dozen or so people in front of him will officially renounce their nationality with him. The others will not do this for the time being, but will stay here as mercenaries, military advisors, etc.
But this is not important. What is important is that with such a group of mercenaries, he can form a crushing balance of power against the surrounding indigenous tribes militarily, and then obtain more land and labor, and then develop ports and plantations.
In the future, he also plans to recruit some immigrants from Chu State.
Of course, don't expect ordinary immigrants to change their nationality, they are just recruited to open plantations and so on.
But Chen Jingyun doesn't care much about these things anymore. As long as people come here, these Chu immigrants will be the source of confidence for him to fight against the natives.
After he has a basic scale, he can even recruit some Europeans to immigrate here. Europe is in chaos now, so it will be easier to recruit immigrants there. In addition, although the Europeans are also indigenous, they can be considered civilized after all. The group is still different from the indigenous people in Africa who are still in a primitive state.
In addition, most of Europe is now a vassal state of the Chu people. Europeans can also be regarded as subjects of the vassal state of the Great Chu Empire. If Europeans are recruited, it will only be an internal migration of the people of the vassal state. This is different from directly moving the people of the vassal state. The inclusion of local primitive people and indigenous people is different in nature.
As for the local primitive people, they can only provide the most basic labor force, and it is free.
On July 29, the 43rd year of Chengshun, Chen Jingyun formally established the West African Kingdom, with its capital in Kara City.
Then the official system and the military system were formulated.
Of course, the official citizens of this so-called West African kingdom are actually only Chen Jingyun and a dozen or so of his confidants. The more than a hundred mercenaries did not join this West African kingdom and just continued to work as mercenaries.
Because it had a small population and only a small village and its surrounding areas, this new West African kingdom had a very simple system, with only three ministries of internal affairs, military affairs, and commerce.
The Army of the Kingdom of West Africa was established in the army, which consisted of four platoons: the Guards Platoon and the First, Second, and Third Platoons, with each confidant serving as the platoon leader. As for the so-called soldiers... they were all mercenaries.
In terms of domestic affairs, Chen Jingyun requested that food plantations be opened near Kara as soon as possible to initially meet the demand. As for the source of labor, it was naturally a large number of indigenous people captured in a series of previous battles.
Nowadays, the food of this poor West African kingdom is mainly the food brought on the ship when they came. It is enough for a short period of time, but it will not be enough after a long time.
As for the rations of the indigenous people, they also include some cassava and the like that were seized before, which is enough for the time being. As for the future, we will talk about it later...
At the same time, Chen Jingyun asked the Ministry of Commerce and Trade to drive their wooden steamship, which had changed owners countless times and was estimated to be twenty years old, to Calabar to purchase supplies, especially grain, cloth, etc. Necessary living supplies and equally important weapons and ammunition.
Although Chen Jingyun and the others had considered the situation before, they had already purchased hundreds of civilian rifled weapons and bullets in advance, and they could not use them up now. However, they still had to stockpile another batch as a precaution, and at the same time, they could also test the Governor's Mansion's attitude towards them. Sparrow country's attitude towards weapons procurement.
The Governor's Mansion allows the purchase of rifled weapons and does not allow the purchase of rifled weapons, which are completely different concepts.
Chen Jingyun personally told his subordinates who were going to purchase, not to be afraid of spending money, to open up connections as much as possible, and to purchase a batch of breech-loading rifled guns and bullets, it didn't matter if the quantity was small.
And there is no hope of military use. That is absolutely impossible. As long as civilian rifled weapons can be obtained, I will be satisfied.
For example, the civilian version of the Tian-5 revolver is the He-13 series pistol; the short-barreled civilian version of the Type 18 rifle is the He-18 series rifle; the civilian version of the Type 21 shotgun is the Qiming shotgun.
These three types of guns are also the guns currently used by them. Among them, the short-barreled civilian version of the Type 18 - the Heba Rifle is also the rifle model used by most security company personnel. It is simple and easy to use, and the recoil is smaller than the military version. Some have worse range and accuracy.
Among them, the civilian version of the Tianwu pistol and the Qiming shotgun are the most common in the overseas territories of the Chu Empire. Chu people in this overseas territory can basically buy them after a simple review and a gun license... even if they are a person. The old, weak, women and children.
These two kinds of guns are also necessary weapons for overseas Chu people to travel and live and work in peace and contentment.
Because these two kinds of firearms are very large in the overseas private market, they even appear in the hands of some indigenous people through the black market and other channels. However, they are too small to form a large scale, and they are self-defense firearms with a very short range, which is a threat to the colonial rule of the empire. It poses no real threat.
However, the short-barreled civilian model of the Type 18 rifle, the Heba Rifle, is not easy to purchase. This thing cannot be purchased privately. It can only be purchased by a security company that has been officially registered, is active in overseas high-risk areas, and has received special approval. purchase.
Chen Jingyun and the others had previously used the name of a West African security company, and had obtained special approval. They had the authority to legally purchase a series of high-power, long-range civilian rifles such as the Heba Type.
But to be honest, Chen Jingyun doesn't know whether they can still purchase these firearms after the founding of their own country.
Because according to the empire's import and export laws, all rifled firearms and even flash cap firing weapons cannot be exported to the indigenous people... but this does not include vassal states established by the Chu people like them.
According to several previous examples of overseas nation-building, some were allowed to purchase flash cap percussion guns, some were allowed to purchase front-loading rifled rifles, and some were even allowed to purchase Type 18 rifles. There is no unified standard for this matter.
However, although advanced weapons such as repeating rifles cannot be purchased, backward versions of weapons can also be purchased.
After all, most of the time, these vassal states established by Chu people overseas served as thugs for the imperial government and were at the vanguard of expansion. Even if their weapons were poor, the empire had to arm them at least one or two. After all, they could not be allowed to carry flintlock guns to the empire. Acting as a vanguard for expansion is not.
It's just that... the Da Chu Empire has not officially recognized and canonized their West African kingdom!
Therefore, when things are unclear, Chen Jingyun is prepared to take a roundabout way.
Although he and a dozen of his confidants had left Jianguo, the more than a hundred mercenaries were still serious Chu people, and they were still under the name of the original West African Security Company. This West African Security Company had not been It was canceled and one of his confidants retained his nationality and continued to be in charge.
Legally speaking, this West African security company can continue to purchase civilian rifled firearms and distribute them to mercenaries, and then these mercenaries can be hired by the West African Kingdom to perform tasks.
Otherwise, there are a lot of Chu civilian armed forces active in Africa, even India and Europe, such as armed caravans, agricultural company armed forces, mining company mine protection teams, etc. Where do their many civilian rifled firearms come from? That's how it came about
It's just that the West African Security Company is a company under Chen Jingyun. It's not a secret. The Governor-General knows it well. Therefore, whether civilian rifled firearms can be purchased depends on the attitude of the Governor-General and the local garrison.
For this reason, Chen Jingyun specially ordered not to be afraid of spending money, to open up relationships and smooth channels, because once the start is made, subsequent purchases will be logical after there is a precedent.
Anyway, it will take a while, and Chen Jingyun is not in short supply of money, so he can afford it.
Chen Jingyun has been planning for the founding of the country for many years. Last year, he made a special effort to rob the local indigenous kingdom of a gold distribution center city in the hinterland of the northern part of the Huangjian Coast. He looted the entire city, including his family members. The gold on the teeth was all pried off...
During the one or two years of activities in the Gold Coast, coupled with the accumulation of previous activities in Central Africa, Chen Jingyun and his gang accumulated almost two to three hundred thousand yuan.
With this money, Chen Jingyun and a group of his confidants had the confidence to dare to play the game of founding a country, and they could afford to hire more than a hundred mercenaries.
With Chen Jingyun's expectations, his confidant Zhu Youyuan, the current supervisor of the West African Security Company, returned to Ghana City on their company's wooden steamship West Africa.
After Zhu Youyuan arrived in Ghana City, he first met with Captain Zhao Bingxun, the captain of the Hill, and then presented him with a golden Buddha statue weighing several kilograms. After his introduction, he met with an official in charge of vassal affairs in the Governor's Mansion, and finally Went to meet with the head of the West African branch of the Da Chu Empire African Arms Trading Company.
However, although Zhu Youyuan opened the way, he still failed to meet the real emperor of West Africa, Xu Duolin, the governor of the Golden State.
Although he failed to meet Xu Duolin, with the large amount of gold clearing the way, several people Zhu Youyuan met stated that they would strictly abide by the relevant laws and regulations of the empire and would not sell rifled weapons or flash cap weapons to any natives.
Well, after their careful review, the West African Security Company is a legal and law-abiding security company that pays taxes on time in the Chu Empire. The company also owns civilian rifled weapons purchased in Africa and used in administrative territories and indigenous-controlled areas. Permissions!
After verification, the West African Security Company officially reached an arms purchase agreement with the West African Branch of the African Arms Trading Company, purchasing two hundred short-barreled civilian versions of Heshiba rifles, fifty Qiming shotguns, and fifty Heshisan revolver and 30,000 rounds of bullets of various calibers, and even purchased a Guangzhou-type 40mm short-barreled breech-loading rifled cannon produced by the Guangdong and Guangxi Arms Company and a matching 200 rounds of shells.
According to the relevant laws and regulations of the Dachu Empire, these civilian breech-loading rifled weapons are allowed to be sold to Dachu Empire overseas security companies that have been officially registered and obtained special permission.
As for why the 40mm artillery is also a civilian weapon... Many overseas agricultural companies, mining companies, and shipping companies in the Chu Empire have hundreds of people armed at every turn. It is very difficult to buy an artillery to protect plantations and mines. normal.
At the same time, the merchant ships in the shipping company go to overseas aboriginal places to do business. If you don’t bring some firearms and naval guns, the natives will do business with you. But if you bring a naval gun, the natives will be happy to do business with you. You're in business.
Therefore, there is also such a term for civilian artillery in the Dachu Empire, but the purchase and use require very strict qualification requirements and approval.
The Chu Empire has been producing civilian artillery for more than 40 years. In the age of sails, if the Chu merchant ships went to sea without a few smoothbore cannons, they would become armed merchant ships of other countries and pirates in a matter of minutes. Their lunch.
The Age of Discovery, that’s it!
Nowadays, many merchant ships operating overseas in the Dachu Empire are still equipped with naval guns, but the number is generally relatively small, and they cannot be equipped with large-caliber naval guns. They are usually 40mm or 55-caliber. Naval gun.
As for the caliber of 35 mm, because the caliber is too small, the ammunition is difficult to make, the explosive power is insufficient, and dumb bombs often occur. The Navy itself has not been able to use it smoothly before, and private shipping companies are not fools, even better than the Navy. Still picky, the civilian armed merchant ships didn't want this thing in the first place.
To be precise, the reason why the Navy used the 40mm caliber rapid-fire naval gun was influenced by the armed merchant ships of private shipping companies.
The civilian weapons market in the Da Chu Empire is still relatively large, and the types of weapons are also very rich.
Once the West African security company has the relevant authority, the purchase of weapons and equipment will naturally be smooth.
The procurement of other materials is even smoother. Whether it is grain, cloth, agricultural tools and other materials, if Chen Jingyun does not send people to purchase, the businessmen will directly come to sell them... because these items are not contraband, they are You can buy whatever you want.
When the steamer West Africa returned to Kara Port, Chen Jingyun's heart was finally relieved.
Since the Governor's Palace and the local garrison have acquiesced in the West African Security Company's purchase of these civilian weapons, it means that the Governor's Palace's turning a blind eye or even tacit support is not empty talk, but real.
In this case, he can free his hands and feet to do something big.
In early August, Chen Jingyun led more than a hundred West African Army troops, well, most of them were mercenaries, to attack an indigenous tribe gathering place more than ten kilometers away. Just three days later, he led his army to attack twenty kilometers upstream of Kara Port. of an indigenous tribal town.
Subsequently, they continued to fight, continuously sweeping the area near the entrance of the Buri River, and sweeping away all the surrounding indigenous gathering places.
The purpose of this sweep operation is not to expand the territory... With their small number of people, it will be difficult to even develop Kara City and the surrounding areas.
Chen Jingyun and the others led their troops to raid the surrounding areas, with the main purpose of obtaining labor force... The lack of labor force is Chen Jingyun and the others' biggest problem at present.
Whether it is building a town or developing wilderness land outside the city, a large amount of labor is required.
It is impossible for Chen Jingyun to obtain a large number of Chu immigrants in a short period of time, nor can he obtain any European immigrants. Therefore, the labor force needed for infrastructure construction and agricultural development can naturally only be provided to these indigenous people.
With the addition of this group of labor force, the interior department of the West African Kingdom reported to Chen Jingyun that it is expected to open up a wasteland in the short term, plant potatoes (potatoes) and harvest a season within the year. Relying on the high yield of potatoes, it is expected to be initially established within the year. Solve the food ration problem for a large number of indigenous laborers.
With sufficient indigenous labor and food rations for the indigenous labor force, they can then carry out agricultural development in the true sense and begin to plant rice, corn and other grains on a large scale, not only for their own rations, but also for the future It is their only export in the short term.
The Da Chu Empire's demand for food is almost endless...the empire can take back and transport whatever food is produced overseas.
You won’t lose money by growing food, especially staple food like rice and important auxiliary food like corn.
At the same time, they will also arrange labor to grow cotton, an economic crop that can be profitable in a short period of time.
The empire's demand for cotton is also endless... The clothing needs of people all over the world depend on the cotton spinning industry of the Chu people, and the demand for cotton is extremely strong.
Finally, they will also grow cocoa, a promising commercial crop.
At present, the empire is promoting the cultivation of cocoa on a large scale in West Africa... The number of people drinking cocoa drinks and eating chocolate is increasing day by day in the country. At the same time, the demand for cocoa in Europe is also huge. At the same time, the merchants of the Dachu Empire also brought cocoa drinks and chocolate. This food was promoted to India, West Asia and other regions.
Therefore, the demand for cocoa is increasing globally, but the supply of cocoa is temporarily limited and the price is high.
Otherwise, West Africa would not promote the cultivation of cocoa because the supply of cocoa is limited.
People from the Golden State Governor's Mansion gave Chen Jingyun a few words of advice: The important mission of overseas territories is to supply various cash crops or other industrial raw materials to the local area.
If you really build a large cocoa plantation and become an important cocoa supplier to the empire, it will be difficult to obtain official recognition from the empire, let alone canonization, but you can get good evaluation from the empire's high-level officials, which will pave the way for official recognition in the future. laid the foundation for canonization.
At the same time, the Kara area and surrounding areas are also very suitable for growing cocoa, so Chen Jingyun is also determined to build a large cocoa plantation. He plans to continue to expand in the future and find a place suitable for growing coffee to grow coffee.
Coffee is also in great demand nowadays...
Well, in fact, the Da Chu Empire currently has a huge demand for almost all types of economic crops. Whatever you grow, the empire’s purchasers will want... well, except for some prohibited crops, mulberry leaves, and tea leaves!
Tea is subject to the very fucked-up Tea Protection Act. Tea planting technology cannot be spread outside the local area, let alone cultivated outside the local area, in order to protect the interests of millions of domestic tea farmers.
The same goes for silk. China also has a Silk Protection Act, so the mulberry trees necessary for sericulture cannot be promoted and planted in the country!
Many laws in the empire are actually very nonsense... But behind every nonsense law is the result of the game between countless interest groups and the final compromise.
Therefore, tea and mulberry trees cannot be touched in other areas except the local area.
However, other economic crops do not have so many restrictions.
Chen Jingyun plans to grow grain and cotton first, and then slowly grow cocoa and coffee. The follow-up will be seen...after all, it is difficult to say whether large-scale planting can be promoted.
Just when Chen Jingyun swept the surrounding areas, eliminated the surrounding threats, captured a large number of laborers, and then put down his guns and started to be the owner of the plantation.
The Governor-General of the Golden State in West Africa also launched a large-scale war deep into the hinterland of the Gold Coast against the local indigenous kingdoms.
The purpose of the war is simple, to seize more gold producing areas!
On a larger scale, controlling more gold producing areas is to provide a sufficient guarantee for the security of the empire's gold supply.
To put it mildly... there are so many gold mines there, and just a sip of soup can make many people involved in them rich.
Regardless of whether it is public or private, the expansion war launched by the Golden State Governor's Mansion has won widespread support in West Africa.
Among them, Captain Zhao Bingxun, Chen Jingyun’s old friend, also temporarily served as the commander of the inland fleet. He led the patrol ship Hill and several inland gunboats into the Volta River to cooperate with the army’s attack on the indigenous people and protect the more than 2,000 people heading north. Logistics supply for the army.
(End of chapter)
