Chapter 128 Inquiry

The Ras Campoli trading market is mainly used to expand the sales of East African commodities. For example, food, although it is hard currency, is time-sensitive. If it cannot be sold in time, there is a risk of expiration and spoilage.

There is also sisal fabric, which was produced in large quantities by the East African colonies. As a result, its sales in the European market were extremely limited. Most European businessmen mainly purchased hemp rope directly, or directly purchased sisal fiber and processed it themselves.

The Ras Campoli Trading Market is also an attempt at overland trade in East Africa. In the future, a caravan may be formed to try it all the way from East Africa to Egypt.

Egypt is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. European ships can reach Alexandria in Egypt directly. At the same time, Egypt is the land connection channel between Africa and Asia. Asian goods can also reach Egypt directly by land.

There are two main land trade routes from East Africa to Egypt that you can refer to. One is the eastern route, which goes north from Somalia or eastern Ethiopia and passes through Sudan to reach Egypt; the other is the western route, which goes north from South Sudan in the previous life and passes through Sudan to reach Egypt.

Although the land trade route is not very efficient and the cost is much higher than that of sea and land, it can provide an additional option for East Africa.

The coast of East Africa is currently relatively easy to blockade, so there is a potential danger of being cut off from maritime communications with other countries.

…

On the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), several small boats were speeding on the lake. The stern propellers fluctuated rapidly under the water to provide power to the boats. The engines emitted black smoke and made a rumbling sound that spread on the water.

The first batch of engines had just arrived, and they were rushed to install them on their own toys by the newly established Neihu troops in East Africa.

After a few days of training, the sailors drove speedboats and embarked on their first voyage mission - to the west of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) to investigate the situation. With weapons, dry food and fuel tanks, the Neihu troops set off. .

The initial Neihu force had a total of 153 people and five boats. In order to prevent accidents, all boats were dispatched for the first time.

They are all speedboats equipped with engines and propellers. The commander of the Neihu Force is named Werner Jori. He is a native of Trieste, Austria-Hungary. He has lived in the harbor since he was a child. His father once worked as a sailor.

Therefore, Werner Yori is familiar with ship operation and has some basic knowledge. Most of the sailors in the East African Lakes Force are good at water, and most of them have lived on the coast.

For example, the immigrant sailors from the Austro-Hungarian Empire basically came from Trieste. Trieste was the first stop for immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to East Africa, so the number of immigrants from Trieste was very large in East Africa.

Like the immigrants from Trieste, there are also immigrants from the Jiaozhou Bay area in the Far East. They are also the departure port for immigrants from the Far East, so there are a lot of them in East Africa.

Most of the sailors in East Africa come from these two coastal port cities. Of course, living by the sea does not necessarily mean you have access to water, so there are also some inland immigrants with better water skills who are selected as sailors, but the number is not large.

"There's land ahead!" a sailor shouted, pointing.

Werner Jori looked forward, and sure enough, the outline of the land gradually became clearer, and he said: "Pull the ship over."

Under the operation of the sailor, the boat slowly approached the shore, which is the west coast of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

"Leave thirty people to watch the ship, and the others will go ashore with me to see what's going on."

Soon Werner Jori picked six from each boat to stay. He said to them: "You are not allowed to leave until we come back. If you don't see us before dark, you can go back." Report it to the government!”

Excluding those who stayed at the Mwanza headquarters and those who stayed to watch the ship, Werner Yori only had more than seventy people available.

Leaving thirty people to watch the ship was actually quite a lot, but in order to prevent accidents, Werner Jori did it anyway. Thirty soldiers with thermal weapons were enough to fight a small tribe.

After arranging the personnel tasks, Werner Jori led the large troops to land and head inland.

The place where Werner Yoli and his party landed was the territory of the Kingdom of Buganda, and the local indigenous people called it Bale. Of course, Werner Yoli and others did not know this.

Just after landing, there is a mudflat along the lake, and a few dozen meters away is a primitive jungle. Tall trees extend along the lakeshore in both north and south directions, and it is endless as far as the eye can see.

Werner Jori said to the team members: "We will enter the primitive jungle soon. Don't run around blindly, follow the team closely, and make more marks along the way. Otherwise, you will be dead if you can't find the way back. Do you hear me clearly? ?”

"It's the captain!"

Werner Jori took out the compass from his arms, pointed it at the west, and led the team towards the jungle.

In the primitive jungle, the trees were tall and thick, and their dense branches and leaves blocked the sunlight, showing the silence of this place everywhere. Werner Jori was used to it.

There are similar primitive jungles around Mwanza, distributed on both sides of Mwanza. According to Werner Yori's speculation, the situation here should be similar to that on the east coast. If so, the width of this jungle should not be very long.

It was almost as predicted by Werner Jori. After walking for about two or three kilometers, there was no jungle ahead and the vision suddenly became clearer.

At this time, it was easier to disperse the team to explore the information here, but for the sake of safety, Werner Yori chose to play it safe.

The group of people continued to move west, and soon the attentive Werner Jori suddenly squatted on the ground and studied it carefully.

"Look, does this look like a dirt road?" Werner Jori said.

"Although there is grass growing on it, it is obviously shorter and sparser than the surrounding areas." As he spoke, Werner Jori pressed his hands on the ground.

Then he changed several places and repeated this action. Werner Jori was more sure of what he was thinking and said to the team members: "The soil on this suspected road is indeed harder than the surroundings. It seems to be a road without a doubt! "

"Captain, is it possible that it was stepped on by an animal?" someone questioned.

"I have been in East Africa for a long time, and I have seen the roads made by animals, but they are far from as regular as this road." Werner Jori denied.

"If you look carefully, you will see that the width of this road is about one meter. It is more like a sidewalk used by the indigenous people. I don't know why there is so much grass growing. It was probably abandoned by the locals, so we followed this road. There is a high probability that you will encounter villages or traces of indigenous life as you move forward," Werner Jori analyzed.

"Isn't it? It's not convincing even if I say it. We'd better go and find out in person to know if what I said is right. Let's follow this road and take a look."

So Werner Yori led the team and continued forward. This road ran east-west, and the east side was the direction from which Werner Yori came, so Werner Yori and others continued to go west.

"Look, that's an indigenous village!" Werner Yori said excitedly not long after leaving.

Sure enough, a village appeared in the distance. The conical top, gray-black branches, and mud walls all highlighted that this was a primitive village.

"Get your weapons ready, let's go take a look at the situation." Werner Jori ordered.

The group prepared for battle and nervously approached the indigenous village.

"Captain, there seems to be no one here! No natives are seen."

"Well, it's really different from the indigenous villages we saw before. Logically speaking, it shouldn't be so quiet. At least there should be someone to guard it." Werner Yori said standing at the entrance of the village.

"It seems like this is an abandoned village. Let's go in and have a look."

Werner Jori walked into an indigenous village and saw that moss had begun to grow on the wooden buildings that no one had taken care of.

Most of the doors of the small shacks more than one meter high were open. Werner Jori walked towards the largest building in the village, which is usually where the chief lives.

Werner Yori bent down and entered the chief's house. He saw that the living facilities inside were in a mess and many clay pots were knocked over randomly. It seemed that this was not a normal evacuation.

There is a totem on the wall. I can't tell what material it was painted on, but there are obviously several man-made holes on it, as if they were poked out with a sharp instrument.

This should have been done by the enemy. You must know that totems are sacrosanct to some tribes.

"Captain, we've discovered something!" shouted a team member outside.

"What's going on!" asked Werner Jori, coming out of the chief's house.

"Captain, come here and see for yourself!"

The team member took Werner Jori to a house. In between was the ashes left by a bonfire. Beside the bonfire, there were some gloomy bones, which were randomly discarded everywhere.

"Exit first!" Werner Jori ordered.

Outside the house, Werner Jori called everyone together and said: "It is obvious that this village has been silenced, the totems were destroyed by the enemy, and the bottles and jars were not taken away. I have not seen that indigenous tribe. This is a shame. The group of natives we drove out before were eager to take all their houses with them. This place has obviously been destroyed by humans, and the enemy is still here..."

Cannibal tribes are not uncommon in Africa. There was a joke in a previous life. A European said to the indigenous chief that we lost millions of people in the first world war. The indigenous chief asked, "Kill so many people." Have you finished eating?

Different worldviews lead to different conclusions. Therefore, in many very primitive African tribes, cannibalism may be as unworthy of mention in their worldview as the slaughter of cattle and sheep.

Werner Jori had only heard of it, but that didn't stop him from inferring the tragedy that happened in the village based on the situation in front of him.

"Okay, don't think about this anymore, go find some hay and dead wood." Werner Jori ordered.

Soon everyone found a lot of igniting materials from outside the village, and Werner Jori asked the team members to spread these things around all the houses.

"Light the fire!" Werner Jori gave the order, and the village disappeared forever in the blazing fire.

After Werner Yori and others set the fire, they turned around and left, heading towards where they came from. The fire behind them was extinguished at some point...