In late November 1663, Cape Verde Islands, sunny.

The Cape Verde Islands in autumn and winter are the driest season of the year. Even the Fugu Island, which has always been known for its heavy rainfall (the people on the east coast measured 495 mm of precipitation last year. Correspondingly, Boa Vista Island has only 60 mm of precipitation, making it the driest island). At this time, there are few raindrops falling from the sky. The whole earth is as dark, bleak, and lifeless as its surface.

Under the influence of this climate with the characteristics of the Sahara Desert, the Cape Verde Islands have experienced severe droughts many times in history. In the more than 200 years recorded in data from the 18th century to the 1970s, 58 years were drought years, causing about 250,000 deaths. The cause of death was mostly famine. During drought, the lack of rivers and water reservoirs on the island not only caused water difficulties for people and animals, but also caused large-scale harvests of food in the fields. This is undoubtedly the main factor causing famine. After all, it is too drought here!

However, even if the 15 large and small islands of the Cape Verde Islands have many shortcomings, they cannot eliminate the covetedness of the East Coast Navy. No wonder the Cape Verde Islands are very good. They are located in the key area of ​​Europe, Asia and the United States. There is no open-pit coal available for mining on Saint Vicente Island. This is very attractive to the East Coast people. No wonder the Navy sent a group of warships to form a temporary task force to station here.

At present, the East Coast people have immigrated to the Cape Verde Islands through various channels, including 500 Ming immigrants from Huai'an Prefecture, and the remaining more than 100 were Tupi Indians who were forced to migrate from the Brazilian occupied area. In addition, there are about 400 Transylvanian prisoners of war on the island. They built a dock on San Vicente Island under the care of dozens of East Coast mercenaries (employed in Italy), leveled the roads and tried to mine coal. The work was quite hard. The daily necessities and water needed for them were transported to the island by two shifts of sailing boats every morning and evening. Therefore, the East Coast people did not care whether these foreign workers had any trouble. Once the water was cut off, it would be a word of death!

The agricultural production in the entire Cape Verde Islands has basically returned to its former level, in addition to animal husbandry. As we all know, due to the sparse rivers on Cape Verde islands, extremely scarce water sources, and lack of large-scale water storage facilities, more than 70% of the rainfall is evaporated by the sun every year. Therefore, agriculture is extremely difficult to develop. Only on the flat grounds of a few seasonal rivers and in the volcanic cracks where ponds exist, can a limited scale be developed. Most of them are mainly dry farming agriculture such as wheat, corn, peanuts, sorghum. Occasionally, some farmers plant bananas around their residences, which is already a rare product on the island.

According to the survey conducted by several technicians sent by the local Ministry of Agriculture for a year, the area suitable for agricultural planting on the 15 islands of the Cape Verde Islands is less than 10% of the total area, and the arable land that can be transformed into irrigated land is even less than 1% of the entire island area, about 3,000 hectares (mostly located in Santiago and Sant'Anton Island), and the rest are dry land (and a considerable part of them are destined to be unavailable), which is pitiful.

But as mentioned above, the Navy, Ministry of Transport, South China Sea Transportation Company and other ministries and enterprises all liked this place, which made the Executive Committee finally decide to take over the Cape Verde Islands. If it is not good, it will take over part of it as a place for future ocean ships and warships to dock, shelter and repair. At the same time, it can also be replenished with coal. This is obviously the reason why the local people have selected a considerable number of immigrants and cadres to settle down. After all, without these local people, the remaining less than a thousand Portuguese on the Cape Verde Islands is really not reassuring.

On this day in late November 1663, the second deputy of the third-deck battleship of the "Executive Committee" and the Navy Lieutenant Li Zemin was bored in the Port of Playa. There was not even a beautiful girl in this barren and arid place. This really made the eldest son of Minister Li of the Navy very worried. Two merchant ships flying Dutch flags came from the sea in the distance. Li didn't care because there were too many merchant ships from various European countries going to the Caribbean during this season. The people on the east coast who actually controlled the Cape Verde Islands also allowed these foreign merchant ships to dock and replenish supplies. As long as you pay a certain amount of entry fees, the small squadron of the East Coast people is now anchored on Santiago Island. Foreign merchant ships do not have to worry about any serious threats when they dock in Playa Harbor.

"These two Dutch merchant ships are very good at treating. They should be loaded with daily necessities to go to Curacao." Lieutenant Lie Zemin threw down his broken boots and handed them to a soldier to wipe them. He patted his butt and stood up, lit a pipe to smoke, and looked at the Dutch ship that was slowly descending his sails to the port, thinking.

On the dock, several Port Authority officials transferred from the local area came forward to negotiate. Behind them were more than a dozen Portuguese surrendered troops from the Port of Playa. These people were carrying a melee gun, laughing and looking like they were about to ask for benefits from the ships entering the port. Lieutenant Li Ze*min stopped looking here after smoking. He turned around and looked at the continuous volcano behind him, wondering if he would go to the mountains in the afternoon. There were some Portuguese villages there, and maybe some fun to find. Anyway, he was on vacation now. He was idle and was useless to play.

Unexpectedly, just as he was thinking about where to go, the bell tower on the pier not far away was suddenly ringed. Li Ze*min was a little stunned. Who the hell dared to ring the bell randomly? Do you want to live? The commander of the squadron, Major Huang Yang, is still living in the port. Could it be that Commander Huang personally ordered the bell to ring?

Lieutenant Lie was right. In fact, Bomb Yang personally ordered the bell to ring. According to the regulations, officers at all levels in Hong Kong who heard the bell must immediately arrange the affairs at hand and then concentrate in the dock headquarters for a meeting. Army officers need to prepare for precautions and the fort is on guard as soon as possible.

Lieutenant Lie Ze*min quickly rushed to the Cape Verde Temporary Task Force Command. At this time, except for those on duty, the officers of each ship were basically concentrated here. Major Boxer, who was slightly injured while fighting the Portuguese Navy a while ago, also sat in the main seat seriously and looked at the officers under his command.

"Everyone, the British have already taken action against the Netherlands when they just received the news." After saying this briefly, Major Boxer picked up the teacup and signaled his adjutant to tell in detail the news he just received.

The adjutant told the story very quickly, but the meaning was clear, that is, they had just received news from the Dutch ships that were docked in port. The British "Royal Adventurer Africa Trading Company" established in 1660 raided some slave-trafficking strongholds of the Dutch West India Company in West Africa last month. Although this was not a blatant confrontation between the two governments, it seemed to be just a common struggle for interests between colonial enterprises, but considering the deep background of the two companies, no one would take it casually, and this was why Major Boxer summoned everyone to a meeting.

Regarding this sudden emergence of the Royal Adventurer African Trading Company, according to the brief description of the official of the National Intelligence Administration here, the company has shares of Charles II's younger brother James, and is a franchise trading company approved by the British government. According to regulations, no less than 3,000 African black slaves must be transported to Barbados every year. In recent years, due to the rise of large plantations, the white residents on Barbados, which were at most nearly 20,000 white residents were squeezed out and moved to the North American continent in large quantities, resulting in a shortage of local labor. They could only use black slaves as a supplement. In early 1663, the company sent more than 40 slave ships to West Africa. It is surprising that its strength is so strong. It is indeed not a loss that it is a company invested by the Duke of York and the London business tycoons, which is amazing.

Of course, in addition to slave trading, the company's other major business is to collect gold from West Africa to make profits, and it seems that it has achieved some results. For example, they exchanged (sometimes robbed) from natives on the Gambia River and Guinea to transport a lot of gold to the UK. These gold was cast in London with machines and worth 20 shillings (i.e. one pound). Because the origin is Guinea, local people in the UK call it "Guini".

The profits of this kind of business are likely to be far more than those of slave traders, because according to news from the East Coast people, the British seem to be planning to mint gold coins of 2 guineas (i.e., two pounds) and 5 guineas. The upper class of British political and business circles love these gold coins very much and often inlaid them in their own dresses (a look like a rich nouveau riche...) to show off their wealth.

However, now it seems that the British plan to gradually expand the scale of their slave trade on the basis of continuing to maintain the gold trade. After all, this is also a money tree. Therefore, you can see that armed merchant ships from the Royal Adventurer African Trading Company attacked several slave shipments stations of the Dutch West India Company in West Africa, adding new variables to this uneasy world.

"The main things are these, I've finished talking about them all." Box Yang's adjutant said at last: "Because we do not have a perfect intelligence network in the UK, many things are based on the hearsay of merchant sailors. In addition, the intelligence purchased in The Hague, United Province is not very detailed, and may not be very accurate, but it is no problem to make a general reference. The British did attack the Dutch slave trader station. Although this is just a behavior between enterprises and may not cause too much fluctuation in the situation for the time being, no one should take it lightly."

After the adjutant finished speaking, all the officers were in thought. Apart from the sound of waves coming from time to time in the room, no one spoke, and the atmosphere was extremely solemn for a moment.

"I say, everyone." Seeing this, Wang Yang put down his teacup, cleared his throat, and said, "This is a broken matter between the Dutch and the British. Why are you all bowing your heads? It seems that the ships of our country were attacking the Dutch slave vendors. To be honest, this is not a bad thing for our country. Maybe it's a big opportunity. This time I'll call you all to come to the meeting. The main thing is to hear your opinions, rather than seeing your face as if you are facing a great enemy. What do you think?"

Box Yang's words warmed up the atmosphere in the room again. After digesting this surprising news, many officers began to express their opinions in a few words. Li Ze*min also expressed his opinions, that is, the diplomatic departments in Europe should be able to step up their activities to see what the United Provincial Parliament's views on this matter. In addition, they are looking for old friends from West India companies to listen to the opinions of their company's insiders. This should be of great reference value.

"What if this company-level conflict between Britain and the Netherlands eventually evolves into a full-scale war between the two countries? That will be the strategic opportunity period for our East Coast Republic of China." Lieutenant Li Ze*min said at last.

Major Juan, who has been promoted to the commander of the Naval Base in the Cape Verde Islands, also pointed out at the meeting that although this incident looks inconspicuous, it may not cause too much waves in the end, but if the East Coast people operate well, it may not be impossible to be used as a weapon in negotiations. The Portuguese are trying every means to count on their English relatives to help them fight against the East Coast people. Now the Royal Adventurer Africa Trading Company and the Dutch West India Company have worked together, so I would like to ask if you are afraid?

Major Juan's words made many people smile. Yes, the reason why the Portuguese have been firm and refused to submit and agree to the peace agreement proposed by the East Coast people is because they have illusions about the interference of Britain, France and other countries? But now it seems that France has made it clear that it only gives verbal support and will not end in person (to be honest, they do not have the strength to end in person). The United Kingdom was originally the most highly expected by the Portuguese, but now the colonial trading companies of Britain and the Netherlands have been openly torn apart in West Africa. Can the British and the Netherlands still personally help the Portuguese fight against the East Coast Navy while coping with the pressure of the Dutch? I'm afraid that any Portuguese with a little IQ now will not believe that the British will fight against the East Coast people as they expected. The Portuguese Kingdom is really up to itself!
Chapter completed!