Chapter 1618: Occupation or control
In fact, Zvongombe not only has a lot of gold, but also a lot of copper ore, piled up like a mountain. After all, Zimbabwe is not only rich in gold, but also copper.
It's just that the Kalanga don't know how to smelt copper. The reason why there is gold is because the gold mines are mostly single gold with few compounds. Otherwise, the Kingdom of Mutapa will not receive so much gold.
The copper mines, although the Kalanga people do not know how to smelt, but their former trade target Arab merchants understand. They brought the copper ore back to professional craftsmen to smelt it into copper, and the profit was very high.
However, the insufficient number of mules brought by the Cortez Expeditionary Force this time will be able to carry away the gold that is mainly sands, and can no longer take away the mountainous copper ore. Therefore, you can only wait for the next time.
Once the news of the rich gold and copper mines in the Kingdom of Mutapa passed home, Cortez believed that he could not run away as a noble knight. Good luck, maybe it can be mixed with the baron. After all, he opened the colonial route and seized so much gold ...
When he returned to the new Spanish fort at the mouth of the Save River, Gonzalez had already returned. I heard that Cortez sent troops without authorization, and Gonzalez was so angry that he planned to order the arrest of Cortez.
But when Cortes returned, he not only brought back the exact news and specific route of the Zimbabwe, but also brought so much gold back. In this way, Gonzalez is not good at blaming the other party.
Then, Gonzalez sent the Clippers to the country to report the specific results of Cortez's operation to the Spanish court. At the same time, it also objectively reported the fact that Cortez sent troops without authorization. As for the final decision of the Spanish court, it has nothing to do with him ...
In the new Spanish Fort, Cortez began to report the information obtained this time-most of this was provided by the captured prophet elder.
At this time in the Kingdom of Mutapa, the northern border is the Zambezi River. The northeast border is probably in Tete, Mozambique. Tete, to the east, is the Swahili-controlled area of mixed Arabs and blacks.
Many of these Swahilis understand Arabic and are the best middlemen between Arab merchants and Mutapa Kingdom. In many cases, Swahili also served Arab merchants and earned commissions.
As for the southern border of Mutapa Kingdom, it can even reach the Lin River. However, the border on the south is unstable. Sometimes there are tribes there who are willing to surrender to the Kingdom of Mutapa, and sometimes they will take the initiative to leave. However, the Mutapa Kingdom does not care, they only care about the tribes that own gold mines. Extortion and extortion of sands by small tribes that own gold mines is the most important source of finance for the Mutapa Kingdom and the most important means of trade between the Mutapa Kingdom and Arab merchants. It is more important than ivory and copper ore.
However, according to Cortes, the information provided by Marin was incorrect. Because at this time, the main business way of the Kingdom of Mutapa is not along the Save River, but along the Zambezi River ...
Uphill along the Save River, we can only find the Great Zimbabwe Stone City that has been abandoned for decades. Only by going up the Zambezi River can we find the capital of the current Kingdom of Mutapa Zvongombe.
Moreover, most of the Arab merchants and Swahilis moved along the Zambezi River to connect with the Kingdom of Mutapa.
If they want to drive away Arab businessmen and monopolize the benefits of the gold and copper mines in the Kingdom of Mutapa, Spain must send troops to occupy the Zambezi estuary and cut off Arab trade routes.
It is a pity that the Zambezi River is a stepped river. There are two places with large falls in the river, which divides the Zambezi River into three sections. Otherwise, the Spanish merchant ships can go upstream and arrive in Zvongombe to do business.
Thinking about it, Governor Gonzalez decided that the Spaniards entered the interior and still took the old route. However, it will request a domestic fleet to block the Zambezi estuary and prevent Arab merchants from robbing business.
The reason for this is that if Spain should go back up the Zambezi River to find the Muta afraid of the kingdom, it has to start from the beginning. God knows how long it will take, so it is better to use the routes that have been opened now.
Of course, on the Zambezi River, another group of people can be sent to go up the river, and also use the elephant group transportation method to make a passage. When the road on the Zambezi River is cleared, the commercial road on the Save River can be considered abandoned. But before that, the Spaniards can rely on this road to invade Zimbabwe.
...
"Then Governor, what shall we do next?" Cortez asked. Although it is the Clippers that pass the message, it can still take more than a year to go back and forth to the local area. So, next, Cortez has to listen to Governor Gonzalez.
Gonzalez thought for a while:
"According to the elder, most of the gold in the Mutapa Kingdom has to be exchanged with Arab merchants for goods such as cloth, glass and iron. In this case, we might as well replace Arab merchants to assume the identity of traders ..."
Cortez immediately complained:
"Why should we trade with them? Isn't it good to directly send troops to occupy? In this way, you can get all the gold without spending costs!" This is a typical aggressor's thinking and the current mainstream colonial thinking.
However, Governor Gonzalez did not think so:
"Stupid! You know it all day and night! You think about it, the situation of the Mutapa Kingdom is scattered all over the country ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ Such a large territory is bigger than Spain. If we wipe out the Kingdom of Mutapa Then, you have to personally manage those gold mines. Think about it, how much army do we need for such a large site? "
"If it was the large gold mine that was previously concentrated in Stone Town, we would just **** it. However, the gold mines in the Kingdom of Mutapa are too fragmented and inconvenient to manage, and the management costs are too high."
"Instead of this, we might as well keep the Kingdom of Mutapa and let them manage those black tribes to continue to mine gold mines. Then, we exchange gold with cheap cloth, glass and iron. In this way, we can save a lot of money Management costs ... "
It can be said that the idea of Governor Gonzalez is close to the colonial management philosophy of the 19th century. This is also the lesson learned by European colonists in the past two or three hundred years. Because, if you go into battle in person, you need a large number of troops and you need to invest in mining gold mines yourself. The cost is huge. It is better to support the puppet regime to help you mine gold ...
However, this is also Gonzalez's vision. What will happen in the end depends on how the Spanish court decides.
However, the letter sent by Gonzalez ’s second ship to the country pointed out that if the law of complete occupation is adopted, Spain may need to send more than 10,000 troops to maintain the rule of the large territory of the Kingdom of Mutapa , Protect so many recent conditions. At the same time, it also costs money to invest in gold mines. By controlling the Mutapa Kingdom, it is enough to maintain the current army of two or three thousand people ...
