"Sir, you're about to arrive at Lu'an Port." A sailor skillfully put away a rope fixed to the side of the ship and said to Nanjiro, who was standing on the deck with great concern, smoking while thinking about things.

The rope pulled by sailors is made of sisal fiber produced in New China Island. It is strong, wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant, and has always been one of the important export commodities of this tropical island. There is an iron hook at the end of the rope. A piece of braised meat is placed in advance on the hook, and then it is thrown into the sea to catch some special things, such as prey that has been hooked.

"It's a dog shark, I just don't know which one it is. I'm not very clear about the classification of this kind." Another sailor who came to help grabbed the rope and pulled it up while saying to the previous sailor.

Dog sharks are a very valuable animal, and the East Coast has a certain market demand for it, so they have always been one of the main targets for sailors to catch fish when they are idle. As long as they put meat on the hook, this greedy animal will definitely bite it and be caught by the unbearable sailors and become their trophy.

The vitality of the dog shark is very tenacious, because even if the head or tail is cut off and the wound is bloody like a spring, it can still spin around; not only that, when its intestines are taken out of its belly, it can often live for more than an hour, which is extremely magical.

"Cut off the fins and send them to the shore. I'll eat them at noon." The captain with a beautiful mustache walked out of the bridge, handed over a few coins to the sailor who caught the dog shark, and ordered slowly: "It must be cleaner. The slices should not be very thick. The grease should be removed, and then the butter in my private kitchen should be sent ashore. Lu'an Port is in a mess, and it is estimated that there is a lack of basic daily necessities."

The sailors excitedly put away the coins and started work quickly. The fins are the captain's delicious meal, and he may have to entertain the guard commander named Minamijiro; as for the part other than the fins, except for the meat close to the tail, other parts of the meat are liked to eat, well, they would rather eat pickled corned beef and throw this part of the dog shark meat into the sea. Of course, the dog shark skin is also valuable, and the leather used to make is good in the East Coast. In addition, a very thick white substance in the two holes above the dog shark's eyes must also be taken out. This substance can be used as a menstrual adjustment medicine after being dried and ground into powder, which is also an income.

Several 650-ton flute-type transport ships affiliated to the East African Transportation Company quickly got anchored off the sea off Lu'an Township, and then began to use small boats to continuously transport personnel and materials on the shore. This was also impossible. Although Lu'an Township has been established for some time, the port lacks funds, technology and manpower, and the infrastructure is just a mess. It is even impossible to clean up the spikes near the entrance of the Lu'an River (i.e. the Mananpatrana River entering the sea here). So much so that the large ship can only anchor in deep water offshore, and then transport it with small boats, which is less efficient.

Of course, Minamijiro noticed the poor infrastructure in Lu'an Township at the first time, but he was mentally prepared for this. It is not surprising that the infrastructure is poor in overseas colonies. Although the New China Island is known as wealthy, the messy and sloppy shore buildings, extremely bad wharf facilities, and the silted and shallow harbors will need to be repaired and renovated in the future. Otherwise, how can the methods of someone in my south be shown?

As for the labor, funds and construction materials needed to rectify these projects, this may require donations from investors across the region (sending donations has always been the most hated thing for merchants, but they can never get rid of it...), and secondly, they also need support from superiors. Of course, they need their own efforts to put it bluntly, which is to search for native people in the inland areas, include them as non-national labor workers, and contribute their own strength to the construction of Zelu area.

This idea is indeed a normal brain circuit for officials like Minjiro who are from the Qiuya. They are direct in their work and do not like to go around the corners. They often shout and beat and kill natives, which makes the civilian government a headache. However, in many cases, they really need their "stuttering stick" spirit to stir up hard, especially when some newly opened areas have not yet opened up, military control may not be a good thing for a period of time.

"Commander Nan, your personnel and supplies have begun to be transferred." The captain of the transport ship who came to the shore on a small boat with Nanjiro said in a slightly flattering tone: "Guns, ammunition, medicines, equipment, machine parts, rainbow mosquito nets, food and wine, as long as it is on the list, it is not wrong. It is enough for the precious department to maintain it nearby for a long time. Oh, by the way, those small boats will also be left in Lu'an Port to be used as transportation for your troops when they set out. Well, I heard that some native shipbuilders have also been arrested in the Lu'an Port area, built a lot of canoes, and can also be used as just..."

After hearing what the transport captain said, Minamijiro nodded slightly to express his understanding. Under the combined action of ocean currents and sea breezes on the east coast of New China Island, many rivers that originate from side slopes or plateaus flow eastward are difficult to enter the sea. The river channel is blown by the sea breeze and almost parallel to the coastline, resulting in the accumulation of silt near the coast, spargeing spikes, and forming a series of oxbow lakes, saltwater and half-baked water lagoons. The navigation and transportation conditions are poor. In addition to small boats and canoes that can be used for navigation and draft, large ships are difficult to get close to, and can only anchor in the outer sea. This is probably the reason why there are only a few high-quality seaports on the east coast of Madagascar in later generations. Natural conditions are not good, and the government has no money to dredge, so it can only be put into pieces.

Therefore, on the east coast of New China, if you want to "go out and do business", you still have to rely on those small boats and canoes, and the others are not good. Of course, some people also mentioned whether the series of north-south rivers, lagoons, oxbow lakes and swamps on the east coast can be connected together to facilitate the exchange of materials and personnel between the north and the south. To be fair, this proposal is reasonable and reasonable, because the length of the Niubow Lake, lagoons and rivers parallel to the coast is too long. If you really want to dig a canal to connect it, the project volume may not be much larger.

The biggest difficulty now is probably that many places that need to be broadened, silted and excavated are rarely visited, and are basically in a wild state. Just transporting personnel, food and tools is a huge expense and the cost is a bit high. In addition, the East Coast has just been partially incorporated into the rule of the East Coast people, and the population and economy are still relatively small. Excavating a transportation communication between the north and the south is neither economic nor necessary. Therefore, this proposal has never received much attention from people and is left to the shelves. But everyone knows that this East Coast canal itself is still valuable, but the timing is just wrong.

Nanjiro's subordinates had already disembarked and negotiated with officials in Lu'an Township. Those people had received a notice from their superiors on establishing the Zelu area and implementing military control. Therefore, after a brief "cut" and carefully checking the documents and certificates, the two sides completed the handover quickly. Our Nanda Captain has officially become the nominal highest officer of the nine townships in the entire Zelu area. Of course, the management of Daze County may be a little difficult. The only county-level administrative unit under the Zelu area has its own team, and most of the officials are the confidants of the Army Captain Peng Yuanzhi who has been transferred to the acting guard commander of Daqing area. How Nanjiro manages in the future depends on his means and wisdom.

Some cadres in Lu'an Township soon came to meet the new chief under the guidance of the officers. The meeting was under a thatched pergola, and the captain of the flute-shaped transport ship contributed his dog shark fins. Everyone was chatting relaxed and happy while touching the butter on the golden fins of the roasted fins.

The officials in Lu'an Township were very different from what Nanjiro imagined. These people were wearing various costumes and were somewhat dirty. Perhaps because of the constant conflicts with the natives in the inland areas recently because of the land, each of these guys had a dagger on the right side of the cowhide belt, which looked like a kitchen knife hanging on the belt. Many people had the poison of cycads on the blade (typical native style!). Nanjiro noticed that these people did not mind cutting the coconut with their daggers, and then advised everyone to share this delicious food, which made the corners of his mouth twitch slightly.

However, although these people looked sloppy and their clothes were tattered, almost everyone had a gem ring on their fingers. He guessed that most of these gems were robbed from native people. He had long heard that the gem resources in Xinhua Island were very famous (large in quantity, although the texture was very average). Minamijiro didn't feel anything before, but now he looked at it and it seemed that his term of office in the next few years would be very good.

"There are many coconuts, turtles, birds and fish. There are not many trees, there are many swamps, mosquitoes everywhere, and the natives are also fierce. It is not a very ideal colony." Nanjiro knew for the first time that the head of Lu'an Township, who was as sloppy as bandits, was actually a top student who graduated from the Corps Fort. He only heard him introduce: "Although I don't know why Shangfeng attaches great importance to this place, now that we are here, we must do our job well. The first step is to survive and lay a solid foundation for the businessmen who come to invest, at least to ensure the safety of their lives and property. This is the most important thing."

The Eight Banners of the Island served as waiters, and most of them were made of coconuts. In the era when the coconut trees had not yet spread from the Western Pacific to the world (Madagascar was the only place with coconuts except Southeast Asia), many people rarely saw this fruit in the east coast, not to mention the food made of the off-white coconut juice for everyone to drink. There are also some special foods from New China Island, such as coconut meat mixed with cinnamon, which made an almond-flavored lotion, and then added vinegar, salt and oil, which can be used as salad; the other is more expensive, that is, pastries made of coconut meat and glutinous rice (which was replaced by expensive sago in Tahiti). It is said that residents of Lu'an Township often eat this pastry with salted fish.

As expected by the transport captain, the Eight Banners of the Island also brought some "butter". This oil was also made from coconut, that is, soaking the coconut shells in water to form a lotion, and then cooking herbs, cabbage, rice and fish, the lotion will become sour overnight. When some water is mixed and put into the pot and cooked, the whiteness of the lotion gradually fades away until all the water is dried up, and a pure oil will be left at the bottom of the pot. The oil is as pure and sweet as olive oil, and can be used as butter, which is very nutritious.

It is said that the Portuguese also used this coconut oil to mix some plant juices to treat cough and asthma, requiring gout patients to use this oil to wipe the pain, and also use roots to treat fever and dysentery. Even in their captains and sailors, there is a legend that coconuts beaten by dew can be used to treat malaria.

People on the East Coast do not deny the importance and economic value of the coconut crop, but it would be nonsense if you say that it can be used to treat so many diseases. The Portuguese are ignorant, but people on the East Coast are not stupid! To treat dysentery, you still have to rely on herbal medicine preparations or simply use thirst powder for thirst. To treat malaria, cinchona cream and coconut cure all diseases. That is a bluff. Didn’t you see the Portuguese who believe in these unquestionable Portuguese and Dutch died from various tropical diseases such as malaria and dysentery?

"Since there are so many wild coconut trees, it is good to accumulate them in the early stage as a capital." Nanjiro took a bite of coconut meat and glutinous rice and found that the taste was pretty good, but the sugar was put in a little bit (with the new Huaxia Island sugar is cheap...). At this time, he put down the coconut shell in his hand and said with a smile: "If you have this kind of resource, you must make full use of it. Although there are many competitors, you may not be able to sell too high fake money (even on the east coast, fifty coconuts are only sold for more than two yuan), but it is a little bit more to be subsidized. Zelu area needs to develop, and you are short of money everywhere, everyone! The Executive Committee!

The layout of New Huaxia Island has basically been clarified. The west coast is mainly cotton, dry farming agriculture, and animal husbandry. The northern region is mainly wood, sugar, flavor industries, fishery and shipbuilding industries. The east coast is divided into two parts, and the old district (northeast part) is mainly coffee, cocoa, sisal planting, coal mining and grain planting. The new district (northeast part) is mainly pepper and coffee planting. To achieve this goal, we cannot wait in addition to relying on the funds, technology and talents brought by foreign investors, we must have the spirit of taking the initiative."
Chapter completed!