In late May, Xinhuaxia Island was already a thorough dry season. The turbid cotton river, which used to be turbid, also seemed particularly docile at this time. Because the cotton plantation cut off water, large sections of riverbed were exposed. The crocodiles (the Madagascar subspecies of Nile crocodiles) that were originally flooded on both sides of the river were immediately affected by disaster. The idle East Coast planters used all kinds of methods to hunt and kill them. The number of Nile crocodiles dropped sharply for a while, which forced Ma Wanpeng from Xinhua Port to order the issuance of licenses to restrict hunting, so as not to extinction of this species with high economic value in the hands of these East Coast colonists.

However, the Nile crocodiles are limitedly protected by the East Coast colonial government, but some other "animals" on the nearby East African coast are not protected by the East Coast at all, such as the Swasili people.

"Don't waste time. Remove these natives from speed. We don't have time to waste time with them." Major Lan Guo, who was recently transferred to the commander of the Third Battalion of the Army, shouted loudly. Because he was afraid of mosquito bites, Lan Guo and others were still wearing Army Spring and Autumn long-sleeved clothes, and the cuffs, trousers and other places were tied with thin ropes. This is safer, but it is undoubtedly extremely uncomfortable because the weather is too wet and hot.

The main force of the Second Fleet (three battleships and a few logistics auxiliary ships) has gone to Xinhua Port. I heard that the fleet commander Major Guo Zili will also be looking for food with the New China Development Team Captain Ma Wanpeng, who is not looking for food in the Indian Ocean. Logistics supply is entirely supplied by Xinhua Port. Moreover, Ma is in charge of the local area for many years and is familiar with the situation in the western half of the Indian Ocean. It is absolutely right to talk to him. Moreover, Captain Ma seems to be anxious to find people from the Second Fleet, because he heard that the Muscats have become increasingly powerful in recent years. Their sultanate (the Muscat Sultanate) swept the tribes within and drove out Portuguese colonists. He has unified a lot of land on the peninsula and even extended his power to the coast of East Africa. For example, Zanzibar Island where fishing boats from the East Coast often docked, he heard that it was captured by the Muscat fleet, and a small number of Portuguese colonists were executed.

Of course, although the Muscats defeated the Portuguese who had extended their power to Northeast Africa (the native chiefs of Mogadishu, Mombasa and other places, and the kings were mostly puppets of the Portuguese), their population, military strength and fleet size were just that, and they were not very strong, so they could only leave a few army and colonial officials in the local area. Learn from the Portuguese wisdom and use the native chiefs for indirect management. However, even indirect management, the Muscats undoubtedly extended their sphere of influence here, and their influence on the East African coast has greatly increased. It can be said that the East African coast is now basically divided into the three countries of Portugal, Ma and O (Smann), and most of the land has already been owned, and this is obviously the reason why Ma Wanpeng was rushing to find Guo Zili.

Nothing else, Muscat merchants who have been engaged in slave trading with East Coast have recently been asking Ma Wanpeng to meet with Sultan Saif, and then expressed his request to trade between the two countries, which surprised Ma Wanpeng. This is a large market of more than two million people (including the East African colonial population of the Muscat Sultanate). Although it is not very unified within the country, operating well can also bring considerable benefits to the New China Island and even the local area.

Ma Wanpeng agreed to the Muscats' request at that time, and at the same time wrote a more formal letter to the old acquaintance Rashid who often does business, bring it back to Muscat, and handed it to Sultan Saif for review. The general idea was that the two countries would start a comprehensive trade connection as soon as possible. Of course, Ma Wanpeng did not forget to write a letter to the local government and submit it to the Executive Committee for review. At present, it seems that the letter may still be floating on the sea and has not arrived at Dongfang Port. This seems not a problem in normal times, but in the Second Fleet

I was already ready to go to the East African coast to make a fortune. It was a headache. Isn't it? The Muscats just said they wanted to trade with the East Coast. Your fleet carried the army and landed in other people's colonies and then grabbed the special forces. Is this akin to it? Therefore, when Ma Wanpeng heard that the Second Fleet had arrived at Mianhe Port, he immediately sent a fast ship to ask Guo Zili to meet in Xinhua Port. What he was afraid of was that the Second Fleet rushed directly to Zanzibar, Mombasa and other places to work.

When Guo Zili led the main battleship north to Xinhua Port, the many guard gunboats left in the Mianhe Port area were not idle. They picked up good weather with the two original armed transport ships of the Second Fleet, and took the southeast wind to raid nearby Comoros Island, and then captured a large number of slaves. At this time, they were tied up and transported to the ashore.

These Comoros, like those Swahili on the coast of East Africa, are basically mixed races. In the early days, Arabs and blacks were mixed races, and later many Persians joined, and of course some Indians were also very small. Most of these mixed races believe in Islam. Some people, such as the natives in the southeast of New China Island, even use Arabic characters. The business atmosphere in the country is quite good, and the level of civilization is more than that of those pure-blooded Bantu people.

But what if the level of civilization is higher than that of the Bantu people? In the eyes of the East Coast people, these Comorians and Bantu people are like birds, and they can only be used as slaves and do heavy work in the plantation for at least five years. Then those who are lucky enough to survive were sent to South Africa to join the Black Eight Banners, and from then on they became free people of the Black Eight Banners, living a stable life with land and cattle and sheep.

This time they attacked Comoros Island. It took half a month to attack many locations, captured about 3,000 Comoros. They temporarily placed them in Mianhe Port and were guarded by the local Eight Banners local soldiers. After they returned from the coast of East Africa, they would be dealt with and sold. Some of them were sent back to the local land to build roads, and some were "digested" by the New Huaxia Plantation. It said that since Shi Qinjie left his post, the policy of banning the use of black or Swahili slave labor in New Huaxia Island has been in name only. Ma Wanpeng is not aware of the use of black people and does not mind using black people to pioneer the wild. He even threatened that "if these slaves are afraid that they will be black in the future, then they might as well castrate them." This was a bit eye-catching.

"Sir Lan, the cotton market has been generally optimistic in recent years. Many such plantations have emerged in the Daqing Basin, and the labor demand is extremely high. There are many state-owned farms invested by the government, and there are also plantations invested by local counties, such as Chuangji Investment Company, Genoa Bank Group and other foreign capital investments. In short, there are a bunch of them." Liu Wanquan, the mayor and guard commander of Mianhe Port, who was born in Secretary Ma Wanpeng, said with a smile on his face, "In the past, the mayor and guard commander of Mianhe Port, Liu Wanquan, said with a smile on his face, "

There have been people who have been doing the capture of the Comoros, but it is all the small-scale acts of Zhai Xiaoshan's group of killing talents, and they have been sold back to the local area. It is rare to see Chief Lan's big move to capture thousands of people at a time. I hope to leave some for us, not many, only eight hundred to one thousand people. I plan to build some reservoirs and irrigation canals recently, and the construction of urban buildings and coastal defense forts will continue. There is really no way, there is a shortage of people. Please, Chief Lan."

Lan Guo took off the black-brimmed cap and clamped it between her armpits. She looked up at the scorching sun hanging in the sky. She cursed in a low voice, then looked at Secretary Liu and said, "This is not difficult. I will give you more than 800 people, and try to focus on your family as much as possible. Before this matter started, all the above said hello, and it is not a big problem. However, the Comorians have been looted for so many years, and the population is getting smaller and smaller. If you continue, the island will be caught and killed. Where can I get people in the future? Secretary Liu has any suggestions? If so, why not talk about it? "

"Okay." Liu Wanquan nodded, and then said, "Originally, this is the best way to plunder the Swasili people near the coast of East Africa. Now the southwest wind is prevalent, and our fleet is extremely fast to go north. The natives are also weak and vulnerable. They can plunder thousands of people along the coast without any effort. Then, these slaves are transported to the island to digest or transported to the local area for sale. It is an excellent business. But now many of these native emirates, such as the Muscats, have been conquered by the Muscats and respect the order of the Sultan of Saif. It is a coincidence that Commander Ma intends to trade with the Sultan, so this matter cannot be so hasty, otherwise it may cause the Sultan of the country to be furious and ruin Commander Ma's plan."

Liu Wanquan served as Ma Wanpeng's secretary for many years and could not understand his ideas. Ma Wanpeng has continued many economic policies in the past two years. One of the important components is the vigorous development of trade with Persia, Oman (i.e. Muscat Sultanate) and part of the Ottoman Empire along the Indian Ocean coast. According to last year's data, the trade volume with the Persian Kingdom was the largest, reaching an astonishing value of 670,000 yuan; followed by trade with some of the Ottoman Empire's Asian and African territory, which was as much as 260,000 yuan (after the construction of the Suez port in the Red Sea that has been delayed for a long time, the trade volume is expected to continue to expand); finally

It is trade with the Muscat Sultanate, with a trade volume of about 210,000 yuan and a great growth potential; even Portuguese East Africa, which has always had a cold relationship, has an annual trade volume of 190,000 yuan. The total trade volume of the four countries or regions is an unignorable figure, which is enough to match half of the trade volume of the Ottoman Empire (excluding the Ottoman Empire Asia and Northeast Africa part). The route is not affected by the Europeans and is completely under the control of the East Coast people themselves. It is definitely worthy of the Executive Committee's efforts to maintain it. Therefore, it is quite unwise to offend the Muscat Sultanate at this time.

"We can try our best to land on the coast that has not been controlled by the Muscats, or use them to go deep into the inland areas to plunder. Although this is a bit difficult; of course, we can also go south to plunder the east coast of South Africa or simply grab a Portuguese. It depends on how the two commanders Guo and the two talked." Liu Wanquan said.

"Let's talk about it." Lan Guo sighed when she heard this, thinking that there are masters on the East African coast, what a fuck! (.)
Chapter completed!