Chapter 277: Others Use Guns and Cannons for Colonization, I Use Information Gaps
"Get in line! Anyone who tries to push ahead will be thrown into the Gulf of Gabes!" shouted a dozen Tunisian soldiers from horseback in Arabic, overseeing the chaos on the dock.
At the three gangplanks leading to the transport ships, doctors from the Gemini Trading Company were inspecting the former Tunisian Janissaries, allowing the healthy ones to board while unceremoniously turning away the rest. Those who made it onto the ships breathed a sigh of relief—they knew they wouldn't starve to death, and according to the Tunisian government's promise, if they performed well in New Zealand, they could bring a family member over after a year.
One scruffy, ragged former Janissary pulled his wife and two children along as they followed a soldier past the crowd and directly onto the ship, drawing envious glances from those around them. He was a blacksmith, a valuable skill that allowed him to bring his entire family aboard immediately.
Soon, the three transport ships were fully loaded and slowly set sail, while three more empty ships docked and continued to load up the workers.
Yes, from this moment on, the so-called Tunisian Janissaries had become a thing of the past. Their new identity was that of laborers bound for New Zealand.
The next afternoon, a fleet of ships from the Gemini Trading Company set sail with 5,000 laborers on board. They would navigate past the Strait of Gibraltar, heading for the distant shores of New Zealand.
...
South Pacific.
Cook Strait.
On the bow deck of the armed merchant ship Serene from the Gemini Company, Marion Dufresne gazed at the wide, flat black sand beach in the distance, finally allowing himself to relax.
Previously, neither France nor Russia had explored the large island known as New Zealand much—an island almost the size of the UK. Yet the Prince had confidently directed them to find a suitable harbor in the area.
Initially, Dufresne was worried, as the intelligence gathered from Spain suggested that British explorers had landed on the island's northern side. Nevertheless, he had guided the fleet along the western coast of New Zealand's North Island for three days and, to his surprise, discovered the very harbor that the Prince had described.
Though Joseph didn't know the exact location of Port Kafia, he recalled from a documentary that it was the closest harbor to New Zealand's pasturelands.
Under Dufresne's command, the five ships of the Gemini Company slowly anchored in a bay shaped like a "U." After lowering the boats, they passed between two towering rocks on the shore and set foot on this mysterious island.
As the vanguard of the Gemini Company's colonial expedition, only 600 people had arrived on this journey. Initially, the company had recruited fewer than 300 volunteers—most adventurers were reluctant to seek their fortune on these infamously barren South Pacific islands. However, when the Prince assured the Church that the island had tens of thousands of inhabitants who were certain to embrace Catholicism, things began to change.
The Church quickly organized a large group of missionaries, who paid their own way to the island. Their enthusiasm was so high that the Church even covered all their expenses—after all, finding a mission field with tens of thousands of potential converts was a rare opportunity. Success here could be their ticket to becoming archbishops, so the competition for places on the mission was fierce, nearly leading to fights among the dioceses. Moreover, to gain the Gemini Company's support, the Church even ceded command of these missionaries to the company.
The sailors quickly set up a temporary camp on the beach and began unloading the ships. Meanwhile, Dufresne led a scouting team of fewer than a hundred men to explore the island's interior to the east. Thus began the French colony of New Zealand, a venture of great importance to France.
After a day and a half of walking, as they neared a series of winding hills, they suddenly heard a loud shout from the top of a giant pandanus tree ahead.
Dufresne remembered the Prince's advice and quickly ordered his scouting team to stop. He then signaled for the interpreter, Tolman, to step forward. Before this journey, they had made a special trip to Tahiti, where they hired a few locals who spoke French—thanks to early Spanish colonization, there were at least a few French speakers there.
Tolman approached the man with dark brown skin atop the tree and waved to him with a friendly gesture, speaking a few words. After a brief exchange, he turned back to the expedition leader and said, "Sir, they want us to put down our guns."
Dufresne felt a twinge of anxiety—just as the Prince had warned, these natives weren't naïve. Though they were almost naked, they understood the danger posed by firearms.
Indeed, this was one of the reasons why the British had such a hard time colonizing New Zealand. Over 100 years ago, the Spanish had made contact with the Maori, exposing them to many new concepts. They were far from being the unworldly natives Europeans might have expected.
Dufresne ordered his men to lay down their weapons and then approached the native leader with two assistants and the interpreter. As they walked, dozens of Maori warriors armed with stone spears suddenly emerged from the surrounding bushes and low hills.
Dufresne signaled his team not to move and had the interpreter shout, "We are friends, here to trade with you."
Seeing that the Maori leader showed no signs of hostility, he mustered his courage and approached him, following the "New Zealand Guidebook" provided by the Prince. He leaned forward, bringing his nose close to the native's.
The leader seemed momentarily surprised but quickly reciprocated the gesture, touching his nose to Dufresne's and then breaking into a cheerful laugh.
The nearby Maori warriors also smiled, with a few stepping forward to exchange nose touches with the members of the scouting team.
This simple yet effective Maori greeting immediately brought the two groups closer together.
By evening, the scouting team was led by the Maori warriors to meet the chief of the local "hapu"—the Maori term for a tribe. After accepting a soft wool blanket as a gift from Dufresne, the chief happily gathered his people for a welcoming feast, serving roasted meat, seafood, and sweet potatoes. The scouting team members carefully followed the interactions as instructed in the "Guidebook."
Later, with the hapu chief as their guide, Dufresne's team trekked for five days before arriving at a sprawling Maori village, where they met with the chief and high priest of the Tainui iwi, the largest tribe in New Zealand's North Island.
Compared to the Dutch, who had been driven out of New Zealand by the Maori decades ago, and the British, who would struggle for years and deploy significant military resources only to face fierce resistance, Dufresne's mission seemed almost miraculously smooth, as if guided by a higher power.
Such is the terrifying power of an information gap!
(End of Chapter)
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