Chapter 1445 Heart of Darkness, Overwhelmed Africa

"Angel, did the Kingdom's navy that recently went south bring any news from the Kingdom?..."

"News? What do you mean?"

"Hey! For example, the situation in the Kingdom, the changes in the various governors... For example, did the Governor of Azores report anything..."

"The situation in the Kingdom? The Governor of Azores?... No, I haven't heard of any changes! Bruno, I heard that you have relied on Nuno, the steward, do you know any inside stories of the nobles and the court?"

"Ah... not really. It's just... it's about trade routes. It seems that the Azores Islands have also started To produce sugarcane, perhaps... um... yes, perhaps a group of plantation slaves are needed! In addition, Nuno also told me that the ivory products produced in Sierra Leone are simply perfect works of art! Especially the ivory horns that can be blown! …”

“Haha! So that's it! Bruno, don't worry! Since it is Nuno's request, I will definitely send a set of exquisite ivory utensils! The best ivory horns, ivory salt shakers, ivory spoons and combs... um, there will be one for you too! …”

The noble mayor Miguel laughed and looked very generous. However, the slightly twitching corners of his mouth still revealed his inner pain.

In this Sierra Leone port connected to the inland of the river, the most valuable commodity output is undoubtedly the ivory traded from the black-skinned tribe. There may have been a small amount of gold in the early days, but after nearly 20 years of trading and looting, the black-skinned tribes within hundreds of miles around can no longer squeeze out gold. And the ivory output of Sierra Leone is actually a fixed number every year. The trading post will take one-third of the profits, and the local garrison knights will also take one-third, leaving the Sintra family with not that much.

At this moment, he promised a set of exquisite ivory utensils for Nuno, the general manager, plus a set of ordinary ivory utensils for Bruno. If they can be shipped to the port of Lisbon and sold to merchants in the Italian city-state, they can earn at least a dozen gold coins! This simple promise means that a dozen gold coins are gone!

However, although Miguel and the Sintra family behind him firmly control the position of the noble mayor of the port and have actual hereditary management rights over this colonial port on the southern continent... But this is a colony of the kingdom after all, not a noble fief of the Sintra family. Therefore, they do not have the legal basis of hereditary control of this port like the fiefdom of the Catholic world.

This means that he must take care of the king's court inside and outside to keep the status quo of inheritance unchanged. At least, he cannot let the king be dissatisfied, and even prefer to pay the price of colonial turmoil to replace him...

On the other hand, the number and force of the colony itself are very limited. To survive and rule among the numerous and hostile black tribes, it is necessary to establish close ties with the navy of the Kingdom of Portugal. In this way, when encountering large-scale native riots or attacks, naval support can be obtained as quickly as possible!

"God bless you! Bruno, my brother! You must pass on my respect and gifts to the respected Nuno! The Cintra family is one of the most loyal seafaring families to the king. If the kingdom has plans to open up new continents, we are also happy to provide experienced personnel to participate in it!..."

"In addition, brother Bruno, you have made great contributions to the kingdom by exploring the new Atlantic route this time. With the support of nobles, you will surely bloom like an iris! If you can lead a kingdom naval fleet in the future... Then I have another proposal and goal, which I have been observing for a long time!..."

"Just upstream of this Roquier River, about 800 miles away, there is a wealthy town in the Kingdom of Mali! It is said that there are several Hundreds of kilograms of gold, and bags of spices, ivory and gems! That's really an amazing fortune! …”

“If all the colonies in Sierra Leone are mobilized, we can pull out a thousand troops! But we don't have enough ships, and there are relatively few reliable white regiments in the army... As long as we add ten caravels with guns and two or three hundred naval soldiers, we can definitely break the Mali town in one fell swoop and make a fortune! At that time, we will split it in half, six for me and four for you! …”

“! …There are hundreds of kilograms of gold, and bags of spices, ivory and gems in the Mali town eight hundred miles away? …”

Hearing such rich wealth, Bruno's eyes flashed, and his heart was filled with uncontrollable greed, and even a hungry murderous intent emerged.

Of course he knew the declining and divided indigenous country Mali deep in the inland. In fact, the plundering and slave-hunting teams of the Kingdom of Portugal had fought with the Mali tribes many times in the upper reaches of the Gambia River in the north. But he didn't expect that he could find a wealthy town of Malian people in the southern colony of Sierra Leone, in the upper reaches of the Rockil River. It seems that this inland indigenous country was once very powerful from south to north...

"Angel, there are only more than a thousand people in the port of Sierra Leone, and a white regiment of a hundred people is stationed there... How can you pull out a thousand troops?"

"Haha! That's easy! Bruno, did you see those patrolling mixed-race soldiers? Over the years, we have bred many mixed-race tribes... They are also citizens of the kingdom who believe in God, and are loyal and reliable soldiers of the kingdom!"

Hearing this, Bruno turned around, looked through the colonial town hall, widened his eyes, and observed the situation on the street.

The colonial town hall is a two-story building with a red brick square roof. It is very solidly built, like a small fortress. Two Portuguese white guards are stationed at the entrance of the town hall, and four white musketeers are arranged on the top floor to shoot from a high position. Around the town hall, there is a patrol team of ten people. The leading officer is white, and the remaining nine soldiers are half-white people of mixed black and white blood.

"God is our witness! We have been developing the port of Sierra Leone for 20 to 30 years... There are more than a thousand black and white mixed-race tribes around, all of whom are descendants of the Kingdom of Portugal, and can provide a main force of two to three hundred people!"

"And with these mixed-race groups as the backbone, we can recruit twice as many black-skinned vassal troops... The three parts together are exactly a thousand people!..."    "Oh! So that's it! Tsk tsk, a garrison of one hundred people, plus one or two hundred men, has created a mixed-race tribe of one or two thousand people?... Angel, you are really... unrestrained on weekdays, and you are no less than the Castilians who fuck sheep!..."

"Haha! Bruno, in this land on the edge of the devil, In the world, death and curse are too common, no one knows how long they can live... Naturally, they should enjoy themselves in time like the Romans! Besides, you have tasted the benefits of these black women! Except for being a little dark, the touch is not much different from silk... and they are very docile, and you can try different tricks..."

"This Angel, this kind of dissolute style is not the traditional virtue of us Portuguese! If Captain Diogo were still alive, he would definitely be stern and scold us severely..."

".Uh! ...The dead Captain Diogo?"

Hearing the name of Captain Diogo, Angel touched his nose unnaturally, and his expression became solemn, and the previous indulgence disappeared. Bruno next to him was thoughtful and looked around at the guards. Those white people who were obviously born locally had a kind of expression difference that was unclear but did exist.

In just one generation, the white people and mixed-race white people in the colonies have become obviously different from the native white people in the Kingdom of Portugal. This is still the West African colony that has frequent exchanges with the kingdom. If it is in a more distant overseas, like the East African colony that is being prepared to be established, or the New World colony that may be established in the future... then to what extent will such differences increase?

Bruno has no answer, and he can't think of these too distant futures. He just squinted his eyes and carefully observed this port stronghold, from Lion Rock to the estuary, recording the locations of various buildings. This is not the first time he has come here, but this time is different from many times before!

He must learn how to establish a colonial stronghold in order to gain the king's reuse in the subsequent development and colonization of the New World and shoulder greater "responsibilities and powers"!

"Established at the junction of rivers and seas, with sufficient water sources and river protection... It is best to rely on mountains and set up fortifications... If there is a peninsula terrain, it will be even more perfect!..."

"God bless! The city hall and the trading station must also be built in the style of a fortress, and as compact as possible, so that they can support each other with shooting!..."

In the early days of this great era of exploration in colonial development, the colonies established by the Kingdom of Portugal in Africa were all fortresses that valued defense, and all large and small were wooden and stone fortresses. The army of each colony is composed of white soldiers as the core and officers, mixed-race soldiers as the main force, and different numbers of local tribal conscripts or cannon fodder.

Just like the port of Sierra Leone, after 20 to 30 years of colonial development, there are now more than 100 white soldiers and more than 200 mixed-race main battalions commanded by white officers. Once a war with the native tribes is encountered, the Portuguese will take out 300 headquarters and then draw about twice as many tribal servants, that is, 500 to 600 people, from the native tribes that have allied, conquered, and converted to Catholicism.

If the enemy is relatively weak, the Portuguese will use the headquarters to lead the servants to take the initiative to attack, and use the servants as the vanguard of consumption. If the enemy is strong, the headquarters will shrink behind the fortress defense line, and then fill the servants into the first-line camp to stalemate with the attacking tribe. At the same time, let the superior Portuguese navy attack, bombard, harass or plunder the enemy's retreat...

This is the European colonists' stronghold warfare method, building castles and trading posts along the way, arranging garrison troops respectively, and then connecting them with a powerful navy!

More than ten years ago, in the declining and divided Mali Empire, there was once a powerful Gambian "Fama" who had real power, and his crusade against the "Crusaders" who were increasingly rampant and plundering and capturing slaves everywhere. He sent a tribal army of two to three thousand people, including two hundred cavalry, to besiege the Portuguese coastal strongholds in Gambia.

But more than two thousand people besieged the trading post camp of three to four hundred people for two months, but they still couldn't bite it off. When more than a dozen large sailing ships of the Portuguese navy gathered and rushed over, the fierce volley of naval gunfire on the ship caused heavy casualties to this coastal siege tribal army, defeated, and was chased for dozens of miles along the river...

It can be said that once the colonists successfully established themselves in these coastal Portuguese colonial strongholds and built camps, it would become very difficult to attack them again! If the Portuguese navy is not destroyed, or at least the opponent's navy's attack and supply capabilities are limited, the time and manpower costs of besieging the camp will be unimaginably high, several times or even ten times the cost of the opponent's construction!

"Haha! Brother Bruno, what are you looking at? ... This port looks like this. More than ten years have passed, but only a few buildings have been added... But around the port, there are many more villages that have converted to the Lord! The black-skinned tribes in the inland fought fiercely, and tribes kept fleeing here, and they became our tribes and villages!..."

"Come! Bruno, my good brother! To celebrate your return from exploring the new route and making the contribution of discovering the New World! ... Brother, I will definitely treat you well! ... Come, bring five tribal girls here, the ones I chose before!..."

"Haha! Bruno, I haven't touched these five mixed-blood beauties yet, but they are all yours! How about it, with such looks and figures, they are no worse than those gypsy girls, right? ... Think about it, you have survived this time, what's the use of all those rules and regulations, doctrines and morals? For example, Knight Silveira, he didn't even get married, he died overseas, died in the sea..."

"Carpe diem! Aproveite o dia! Seize today and enjoy life while you can! ...Haha! Enjoy life while you can and leave more offspring! Brother Bruno, why can't you let go? Oh! Then I'm leaving, you enjoy yourself and remember my hospitality! ...Hahaha!"

Angel laughed and walked out of the reception room, asking the guards to close the door. The moment the door was closed, the unbridled laughter on Angel's face disappeared instantly, leaving only gloomy and cold thoughts.

"The blessing of God is really mysterious! Bruno, a captain of ordinary origin, can actually come back alive from the Atlantic exploration and bring back news of the New World? Tsk tsk, it seems that his future prospects will be more than just an ordinary captain, more than just a royal knight, worthy of my efforts to win over! ..."

"As for the future... the new world in the Atlantic, the yellow-skinned native tribes, and the development of new colonies? ...Hmm..."

Angel narrowed his eyes and looked at the setting sun in the west, and did not speak for a long time. Beside him were white-skinned guards and mixed-race soldiers, with strict bloodline hierarchy. Behind him, from behind the closed door, there were men's growls and girls' cries, just like Africa being knocked down by the European continent, engraved with the oppression and cruelty between civilizations!