For more than 1,000 soldiers of Xie Han's Third Detachment, the night on March 10, 1640 was strangely quiet in their impression - if you ignore the roars of the military dogs one after another, there was no expected night attack, and there was not even harassment, only a strange peace of mind.

When the mist dissipated in the rising sun and the soldiers could see clearly the things in the wild, they found that there were many messy footprints on the ground hundreds of meters outside the barbed wire, which seemed to have been stepped on by many people.

"Someone came last night, and there were quite a few, but I don't know why we didn't attack us." Xiao Baitu said after careful observation, "No wonder the military dogs barked all night last night. These Xhosa must have thought that we had discovered it, and their number was not very sufficient because they did not dare to launch an attack."

"That is our luck and their luck." Xie Hansanba said. From the bottom of his heart, he was unwilling to break out with these Xhosa people in a confused war, not to mention that this war has most of the benefits.

"Prepare to start dinner. After breakfast, gather the troops, and then... withdraw!" After taking a few breaths of fresh morning air, Xie Hansan said firmly.

Xiao Baitu gave a gift and then went down to arrange it.

The journey of withdrawal was calm, and the Xhosa people did not seem to want to provoke a powerful enemy at the critical moment when their main force headed to the south to fight. The two sides tacitly broke off from each other.

On March 16, Xie Hansan's third detachment returned to Hezhong Fort. As soon as he came back, he heard a slightly shocking news.

"The Good Hope Castle in the south has changed hands. To be more precise, the entire Cape Town colony has changed hands. The British sold it!" Sitting in Mo Ming's office, Xie Hansan heard such news before he could speak.

"What?" Xie Hansan was stunned, but he was not too surprised, because the matter had been hyped up for nearly a year before. "Who took over? The Dutch? It is probably only the Dutch! They now have a good relationship with the British, and there is not much direct interest in both sides. Only those with rich and powerful can be confident that they can take over the hot potato of the Cape Town Colonial.

"Yes, it was the Dutch East India Company that took over the entire Cape Town Colony. The British East India Company transferred all the castle, farmland, supplies and 300 indentured slaves to the Dutch East India Company. However, they retained the power to be freely parked and replenished in Cape Town, and the Dutch also confirmed the British's power." Mo Ming continued to introduce the details of the transaction to him.

Xie Hansan nodded: "So that's it."

Then he asked in confusion: "How come you know the details so clearly? No matter the British or the Dutch, it is necessary for you to tell you the details of this transaction, right?"

"Haha." Mo Ming smiled, picked up the kettle and poured a cup of tea for himself and Xie Hansan, and then said, "I know so well that it is because two days before you come back, several Dutch people came to our Hezhong Fort."

"Oh?" Xie Hansan raised his eyebrows and asked, "What are they here to do? We can't ask if we are going to sell Hezhong Fort, haha!"

"This joke is not funny at all." Mo Ming sat behind the wide pine desk, sniffing the fragrance of tea, and then said: "They are here to discuss the demarcation issue between the two colonies, and... by the way to do some business."

"Do business? What business do?" Xie Hansan was a little surprised. "Do they want to buy something from us?"

"They want to buy some food from us." Mo Ming looked into Xie Hansan's eyes and said.

"Hahaha!" Xie Hansan and Mo Ming and the others burst into laughter. They all remembered the dilemma of the British guys after they were snatched from wheat last year.

Since last year, the British in Hezhong Fort mobilized the Eight Banners soldiers to seize the wheat that the British had grown outside the city, the British in the Fort Good Hope have learned their lessons. They began to plant a small amount of barren, drought-resistant corn and sorghum in the area close to the city walls to meet the city's short food consumption. After the Dutch took over, they would have to transport some farmers from the local area. After all, the hundreds of British residents in the Cape Town area are not considered "people". When the transporters come, they will definitely have to transport some necessities such as food and cloth. If they transport them from the local area thousands of miles away, it is obviously not as cost-effective as buying them from nearby East Coast people.

"Of course I didn't sell them food." Mo Ming said after laughing, "Not only food, but also any goods such as cattle, sheep, cloth, and experiments are prohibited from being sold to the Dutch. Don't forget that the current government is sanctioning these Dutch people because of the espionage incident a few days ago."

"Well, that should be like this." Xie Hansan echoed, "If you want to say that these Dutch people are really blind. They didn't see the British in Good Hope Castle being squeezed into by us, they dared to take on such a hot potato. Are they too confident in their strength, or are their brains really broken? Hey, by the way, what did you say about demarcation?"

"They probably created a rough map from the British, and asked that the southernmost border of our River Fort Colony should be set at five miles south of the Berg River, and further south is the Cape Town Colony." Mo Ming said while spreading out an accurate hand-painted map of the large-scale Berg River basin to the Cape Town area. "I ignored their request. Then I pointed out to them that the Cape Town Colony should be limited to the peninsula where they were. Of course, these arrogant Dutch people also refused. Haha, there is probably still something to discuss in the future, and maybe some conflict will break out - if these Dutch people continue to be so aggressive, but who cares? They have to know who has the final say here!"

"Will it be inappropriate for us to have a rigging relationship with the Dutch?" Xie Hansan was a little doubtful at this time. "We have completely failed this mobilization operation, and the army lost more than 60 people. On the way back, we were lucky. We lost a Xhosa tribe that was migrating eastward and captured hundreds of people. However, we may never encounter such good things again. A strong chief emerged among the Xhosa people in the east. The organization of this country is highly militarized and is currently annexing the surrounding tribes to strengthen our strength. I expect that they will sooner or later become enemies of the Hezhong Fort. At that time, if the Xhosa tribe decided to cross the Dongshan Mountains, they would have to conflict with us; if the Dutch people interfere with it at this time, we will be in trouble."

"We miscalculated this." Mo Ming also had a headache when he said this, "Why did this Xhosa tribe suddenly appear? Why is there no record in history that a powerful Xhosa kingdom appeared here? When Britain colonized South Africa one after another, the Xhosa people were always not famous, and they were far inferior to their close relatives Zulu people. But when I think about it, I feel relieved. There are no so many good things waiting for you in this world. It will be difficult to catch slaves in the future."

"Will the development plan of Madagascar be affected?" Xie Hansan asked, "Last time Wang Tiehui meant that the first phase of Hezhong Fort would provide at least 2,000 people, and the number of people needed to provide in the long term may exceed 10,000. Such a large number has even exceeded the total number of Eight Banners in our hands now."

"It's already very difficult for the Eight Banners to provide more than 2,000 people." Mo Ming said slowly, "We can't squeeze them too hard, otherwise these people will rebound. In the past two years, more than 6,000 Eight Banners slaves have been allocated to work in the local area through labor dispatch. Now, there are two thousand people, which is almost the limit. After all, the total population of the Eight Banners is only more than 10,000, and it's already a big deal to take away two thousand slaves. As for the second and third phases of the Horse Island development, I think we have to find another way. We can't help here. I think the Executive Committee should understand that the human resources in South Africa are not endless."

"We can only do this first." Xie Hansan took a sip of tea and said, "Anyway, we will gather two thousand people to cope with the first phase of construction. As for the population required for subsequent construction, we will find a way slowly. What I mean is that either the Executive Committee will send more power here, it is best to send two reorganization companies here, and then we can go deeper further into some places that we have not explored before, and there should be some scattered indigenous tribes there to capture; or the Executive Committee simply buys some slaves from the Portuguese near the East Africa region to develop the Horse Island base. The Horse Island is separated from the Portuguese's ruling area, and the price of slaves should be very cheap."

"I'm afraid the Executive Committee won't be able to turn this corner." Mo Ming sighed, "Free slaves are so good. Suddenly, someone told him that there was no goods. In the future, I can only buy them, and I won't be happy if anyone changes. Oh, let's take one step at a time. The rise of the Xhosa blacks has always felt that it's a big deal for us and the Dutch. The situation on this land in the future will be much more complicated."

"The situation will definitely change." Xie Hansan said, "But you don't have to worry too much in a short period of time. What are you afraid of? Our solid city wall with a circumference of more than 2,000 meters, a complete fortress, and a musketeer who can be mobilized by one or two thousand, and a certain number of indigenous Eight Banners soldiers. It's not that I am arrogant. These Xhosa people may have a headache for us when fighting guerrillas in the mountains. However, when we go to the endless plains of Hezhong Fort to besiege a city, it's a rhythm of seeking death. Back then, Kang Mazi led tens of thousands of people to besiege the Yaksa Castle, which only had 800 musketeers defended, what was the result? Haha, don't worry."
Chapter completed!