Chapter 352 Sea Coachman in the East Indian Ocean

Although the enemy is only aboriginal, Samuel still takes the attitude of taking it seriously, knows his enemy and himself, and can survive a hundred battles. Samuel knows his troops well, but he does not know the whole picture of the enemy, so it is important to understand the opponent from the intelligence first.

But before preparing to inquire about the intelligence of the Abyssinian Empire, Samuel now has two things to do.

One is to solve the problem of housing the troops. This is not difficult. Although the city of Assab is small, it can still accommodate one of its divisions if squeezed. The first batch of the first division of the Kingdom of Italy Expeditionary Force was only three in total. Thousands of people, small scale.

Using the existing infrastructure of Assab Port and building some houses can still solve the housing problem, but where can we find the building materials?

Samuel looked at the barren desert outside the city. Forget about wood, there were not even a few grass roots to be seen. Most of the buildings in Assab City were mud houses. In the tropical desert climate, there was no need to worry about rain.

If we exclude the strategic value next to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Port of Assab has only a little commercial value. It is one of the commercial strongholds of the Arabs. However, the Arab merchants only use this place as a resting place. When there are more people, Draft is a big problem.

Fortunately, this place is close to the Ethiopian Plateau. Although the rainwater from the Ethiopian Plateau cannot flow here, it can replenish the groundwater here along the terrain, so the groundwater resources are quite abundant, but more wells need to be drilled.

"Mr. Sarpeto, how do you and your company employees usually solve the supply problem?" Samuel asked. This is the second problem Samuel has to face.

Eritrea's population is mainly concentrated in the mountains and hilly areas in the north, where some rainwater can be blocked due to terrain reasons. Even some areas have the same rainfall as the Ethiopian plateau, but the coastal plain is drier than Somalia.

The eastern lowlands of southern Eritrea, where Assab Port is located, are even more severely affected. Opposite is the arid Arabian Peninsula. The dry monsoons of the Arabian Desert are blown by the northeast trade winds, and the southwest monsoons (the southeast trade wind belt) blowing from the Indian Ocean. After crossing the equator, most of the sailors were intercepted by the uplifted Ethiopian Plateau.

Coupled with the terrain of the lowlands in the east of Assab, even the remaining water vapor cannot be retained, making the surrounding Assab a truly barren land.

Barren land is an exaggerated adjective, but it is an objective description of Assab and its surroundings. There is still savannah in the Somali region, the driest part of the East African Kingdom, and two large rivers pass through it, but there is nothing in Assab.

Zapeto: "The most important thing about Assab Port is its strategic position. It is one of the excellent ports near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but it is far behind compared with the Somali region in the south. The climate in the south is not much better than here. Especially the British protectorate in Somaliland can still produce some food, while Assab can only obtain food through external trade."

Samuel: "Then you usually buy food?"

Sarpeto: "Yes, especially when we first arrived, our company always purchased food from the Yemeni Arab caravans. The Suez Canal was opened not long ago. Although there were European ships passing through, most of them would not stop here. Instead, it goes directly towards the Far East.”

Samuel: "If you rely on buying food, the burden will be heavy. The kingdom asked me to think of ways to raise food locally to reduce the pressure on local supply. I haven't even touched the edge of the Abyssinian Empire yet. ,how to solve this problem."

Sarpeto: "General Samuel, I do have a solution, but treating the symptoms rather than the root cause can greatly alleviate the army's food supply problem in the early stage."

Samuel quickly asked: "What is the solution?"

Zapeto: "You can order food from the Sultanate of Zanzibar."

Samuel: "The Sultanate of Zanzibar?"

Sarpeto: "Yes, you may not have heard of this country in Europe, but it is relatively well-known in the Indian Ocean. It was originally located on the Zanzibar Island east of Tanganyika in East Africa after the split of the Oman Empire, the former overlord of the Indian Ocean. The formed independent country radiated the entire western Indian Ocean region when its national power was at its strongest, and later its continental territory was occupied by the Kingdom of Germany."

Samuel: "What does this have to do with us! The purpose of the kingdom is to solve the army's food supply problem with less or even no money. If you still have to spend money to buy it, it is better to spend the money locally and let Multiple incomes for the kingdom’s farmers.”

Sarpeto: "Your Majesty General, this is a question of money. The kingdom is currently in economic difficulty. What it lacks most is money and food. Zanzibar merchants can provide the cheapest food in the entire Indian Ocean region, and they can also deliver it to your door. , which can save a lot of money.”

Samuel: "You just said that the Sultanate of Zanzibar is just an island country! An island country supplies the cheapest food along the entire Indian Ocean coast?"

It was not that Samuel doubted it. He had seen the map of Africa. He knew that the Sultanate of Zanzibar was not big. Now it had lost part of the continent. Unless Zanzibar mastered the technology of growing food in the sea and had its own food. Planting bases can reduce food prices to cheaper than in India, but this is obviously impossible.

The price of food in India is not cheap. Although India is the place with the best conditions for growing food along the Indian Ocean, there are too many Indians and the British masters cannot starve them to death directly. In addition, the level of productivity in this era is low, and India’s food output is at most After supplying the British mainland, they would then export a small amount. In order to make money, the British were more interested in growing cash crops in India, such as tea, jute, cotton, etc.

During the rule of the East India Company, tea plantations occupied a large amount of cultivated land. After the American Civil War, the British promoted cotton plantations on a large scale in India to replace the American southern plantations. Therefore, India's food output has further increased in the past two years. decline.

Sarpeto: "Your Majesty General, don't get me wrong. Although the Sultanate of Zanzibar is small in area and has small food production, the people behind the Sultanate of Zanzibar are Germans. German farmers are good farmers in the East African Kingdom. In the past two years, the Indian Ocean In the grain trade along the coast, the Sultanate of Zanzibar is the most active. They mainly rely on ships to sell grain from East Africa to various parts of the Indian Ocean coast, especially rice from North Africa and the Middle East. Most of it is carried by the commercial fleet of the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Supply, starting last year, our company also began to purchase food from merchants in the Sultanate of Zanzibar.”

Samuel: "Rice, but I'm afraid the soldiers won't adapt."

Sarpeto: "Cheap is the truth. Just like my company, in order to make a profit, it is natural to purchase cheap food. Maybe the initial employees are not used to it. Just eat more. Besides, General, you only need to solve the initial food supply problem." Yes, the Abyssinian Empire can produce wheat. Once the kingdom occupies the Abyssinian Empire, it can grow wheat on a large scale."

Samuel: "What's the price?"

Zapeto: "The price of food plus the freight price is always cheaper than transporting it from the mainland. Moreover, the kingdom is currently short of food in the country, and it also imports a lot of grain from the Hechingen Food Company. In fact, the large number of grains from the Hechingen Food Company is Part of the food is also imported from East Africa, not Germany and Hungary as they advertised. Only I know this trick. I went back to Italy the year before last and discovered that after a Hechingen Ocean Trading Company ship entered the Mediterranean from the Suez Canal, Unloaded directly in La Spezia, Italy, it is the kind of cheap flour that is very popular in Italy, but the place of origin on the packaging is written as Hungary.”

Samuel: "Then can we buy flour directly from the East African Kingdom? After all, pasta and pizza are more in line with our taste."

Sarpeto: "Your Excellency General, the price of rice in East Africa is 20% cheaper than flour."

Samuel was silent for a moment and said: "Then let's choose rice! The soldiers will get used to it, but why don't we buy it directly from the East African Kingdom? Instead, we have to pay an extra fee from the Zanzibar Sultanate?"

Zapeto: "The reason is very simple. There are not enough ships in East Africa. They can only focus on the European market. The Sultanate of Zanzibar has brought together a large number of Arab merchants. Now I estimate that the Arab ships registered in the Sultanate of Zanzibar occupy the entire They conduct trade in more than 50% of the Western Indian Ocean under the banner of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and Zanzibar merchants are now known as the sea coachmen of the Western Indian Ocean."