Chapter 276 Others use guns to colonize, but I use information gaps

Chapter 277 Others use guns to colonize, but I use information gaps

"They all lined up and threw them into the Bay of Gabes!"

On the pier, more than a dozen Tunisian legionnaires on horseback shouted loudly in Arabic.

In front of three gangplanks connected to the transport ships, doctors from the Twin Trading Company inspected these former Tunisian Guards, put the able-bodied ones on the ship, and drove the rest away without hesitation.

Those who got on the boat breathed a sigh of relief, at least they would not starve to death in the future. And according to the official commitment of Tunisia, as long as they perform well in New Zealand, they can take a family member there after one year.

A Tunisian guard with an unshaven beard and tattered clothes pulled his wife and two children. Under the leadership of the soldiers, he bypassed the crowd and went directly to the boat. He immediately attracted many envious eyes - that was a Blacksmiths are high-end talents, so they can take the whole family on board the ship immediately.

Not long after, the three transport ships were filled with people and slowly sailed out of the port. The other three empty ships immediately docked at the dock and continued to load coolies.

Yes, from this moment on, the so-called Tunisian Guards have become history. From now on, they will only have one identity, that is, New Zealand peons.

At noon the next day, the Gemini fleet, loaded with 5,000 peons, set sail and sailed around the Strait of Gibraltar to the distant island of New Zealand.

…

South Pacific.

Cook Strait.

On the bow deck of the Gemini Company's armed merchant ship "Melodious", Marion Dufresne looked at the wide and flat black beach in the distance, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Before, neither France nor Russia had much exploration of this huge island called New Zealand - which is a landmass about the same size as the United Kingdom - but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was very determined to let them search nearby. Port of call.

He was extremely worried at first, because according to information from Spain, British explorers seemed to have landed from the north side of the island.

He commanded the fleet to sail along the west coast of New Zealand's North Island for three days, and actually saw the good harbor that His Highness said.

Well, Joseph didn’t know the specific location of Kafia Port, but he remembered that it was mentioned in the documentary that it was the port closest to the New Zealand ranching area.

Under the command of Dufresne, the five ships of the Gemini Company slowly docked in a "concave" shaped harbor, then put down the small boat, passed between two towering boulders on the shore, and stepped on to this mysterious island.

As the leader of the twin colonization teams, only more than 600 people came this time.

At first, the company only recruited less than 300 volunteers. After all, these islands in the South Pacific are notoriously desolate, and adventurers are not willing to come here to find opportunities.

It was not until His Royal Highness the Crown Prince told the church that there were hundreds of thousands of people on the island and that he would definitely accept Catholicism that the situation changed.

The church soon organized a large number of priests to colonize the island with the fleet at their own expense. Even their expenses were provided by the church. These days, finding a missionary destination with hundreds of thousands of people is extremely valuable. resources. Maybe this credit will be his capital to compete for the Archbishop in the future, so all major dioceses are almost breaking their heads in order to compete for places.

Moreover, in order to win the support of the Gemini Company, the church even handed over the command of these priests to the company.

The sailors quickly set up a simple camp on the beach and began to move the things on the ship to the shore.

Dufresne, on the other hand, led an exploration team of less than a hundred people towards the hinterland of the island to the east - the construction of the New Zealand colony, which was crucial to France, began at their feet.

The group of people walked for a day and a half, and when they were approaching a rolling hill, they suddenly heard a high-pitched shout coming from a huge Pando tree in front of them.

Dufresne remembered His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's instructions and hurriedly ordered the exploration team to stop, and then motioned for the translator Tolman to step forward. Before they came here, they made a special trip to Tahiti and hired several locals who knew French there - it was colonized by Spain very early, and although there were few people who knew French, they could still find some.

Tolman stepped forward and waved kindly to the brown-skinned strong man in the tree. After chattering for a while, and the other person replied a few more words, the translator turned to the expedition commander and said: "Sir, they asked us to use our guns." Let it all go.”

Dufresne couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Sure enough, as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said, these natives were not rustic at all. Although almost all of them were naked, they knew that guns were dangerous items.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why the British colonial process in New Zealand was extremely tortuous in history - as early as more than 100 years ago, the Spanish came to New Zealand and came into contact with the Maori, which exposed the latter to many new things. He is far from being a country bumpkin who has never seen the world.

This makes them much more difficult to deal with than the Indians. They saw muskets and planted potatoes and sweet potatoes brought by the Spaniards. Sweet potatoes even became one of their staple foods.

Dufresne ordered his men to put their weapons on the ground, and then brought two assistants and a translator to contact the Maori.

He had just taken more than ten steps when dozens of strong Maori men with stone spears suddenly appeared from behind the surrounding weeds and low hills.

Dufresne motioned to the team members not to move and asked the translator to speak loudly: "We are friends and we are here to do business with you."

Seeing that the Maori leader showed no threatening behavior, he bravely stepped forward and put his nose towards the aborigine according to what was written in His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's "New Zealand Guide".

The latter was obviously stunned for a moment, but immediately he also leaned forward, touched his nose with his, and then let out a cheerful laugh.

The surrounding Maori warriors smiled, and some even took the initiative to touch noses with members of the exploration team.

Simple but effective traditional Maori etiquette immediately brought the relationship between the two parties closer.

In the evening, the exploration team, led by Maori warriors, met the leader of the "Hapu" - the Maori tribe - here.

After accepting Dufresne's gift of a soft wool blanket, the latter happily convened the tribe to hold a welcome celebration and entertained them with barbecue, seafood and sweet potatoes. The exploration team members strictly followed the requirements of the "Guide" to interact with the Maori people.

Then, under the leadership of the tribal leader, Dufresne trekked for five days to a Maori village that occupies an extremely large area, and successfully met with the leader and high priest of Tainuiyiwe.

The Maori "Iwe" is equivalent to a tribal alliance, and Tainui Iwe is the largest tribal alliance in the North Island of New Zealand.

Compared to the Dutch who were beaten up by the Maoris and driven out of New Zealand decades ago, and the British who invested a large number of soldiers and fleets decades later but failed to defeat the Maoris, Dufresne is better. The trip couldn't be described as smooth, it was like a divine help.

This is the terrifying power of poor information!