Chapter 58 Conspiracy

Sultanate of Zanzibar.

Since the establishment of the East African Colony, the East African Colony and the Sultanate of Zanzibar have gotten along fairly well.

The expansion of East African colonies into the western interior of East Africa affected the traditional commercial routes of Arab merchants, but the East African colonies were not interested in indigenous slaves and ivory.

After each clearing of newly occupied land, the East African colonies would bring natives, ivory, and other products to the port of Dar es Salaam and trade with merchants from various countries.

Unlike the previous Arab caravans that had to deal with the Bantu tribes in the interior, the East African colonies were a direct flip of the table. With each expansion, a large number of natives fell into the hands of the colonies.

Naturally, the East African colonies would not keep this group of people, and directly lowered the price of slaves. The Arab merchants only had to wait at the port for the East African colonies to deliver goods to their doorsteps.

The East African colonies only required Arab merchants to exchange grain and other products.

However, the actions of the East African colonies still caused dissatisfaction among some people. They were the progressive forces of the Zanzibar Sultanate represented by Bagash bin Said, the younger brother of the Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Said.

This matter also starts with the contemporary Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Said.

Majid bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar, was the sixth son of Said bin Sultan, the former King of Oman.

Said bin Sultan was a very powerful figure who once brought the Oman Empire to prosperity. It was he who captured Zanzibar.

After his death, Majid bin Said and his third brother Suweni bin Said competed for the throne, but Suweni bin Said was superior and won the throne of Oman.

He proclaimed himself the Sultan of Zanzibar, and Zanzibar split from the Oman Empire and became an independent country.

During his reign, Majid bin Said used the controversial Indian Ocean slave trade to consolidate power and amass the country's wealth.

During his reign, Bagash bin Sayyid (who was also Sayyid bin Sultan's son) unsuccessfully attempted to usurp the throne and was exiled to Bombay for two years.

The thing is that Bagash bin Said opposed the slave trade. He advocated abolitionism and was interested in Western science and technology. He wanted to promote the development of the Zanzibar Sultanate through infrastructure construction (this was also the case in history). made).

The East African colonies were eager to pack away the natives, so large-scale shipments, in the view of Bagash bin Said, were simply aiding the evil.

…

Bagash bin Said's house in Dar es Salaam port.

“Everyone, we can’t sit still and wait for death, otherwise Zanzibar will have no future!”

Bagash bin Said roared with red eyes.

"Majid bin Said is now old and confused, and the Germanic East African colonies are helping him. Originally, Majid bin Said was setting back history by engaging in the slave trade. Now all the major powers in the world have abolished the slavery system. If we cannot abolish the slave trade, how Zanzibar can integrate into the civilized world in the future will remain unchanged and it will inevitably be eliminated by the times."

The people sitting below are all close associates of Bagash bin Said. They have all seen the powerful power of Western civilization after industrialization, and they are also relatively enlightened people in the Arab world (maybe related to the British behind the Oman Empire) .

"You are right, Your Highness, but I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with the Germanic armed forces in the East African colonies with our strength," said an officer of the Zanzibar Sultanate.

"If we don't do it, who else can raise the banner of Zanzibar's future! So no matter how difficult the road is, we must face it bravely. It is impossible to count on Majid. He only knows pleasure and indulges in excitement now. You can’t get rid of the drug,” said Bagash bin Said.

"But, Your Highness, if we cannot convince His Majesty the Sultan to side with us, then the power we can use will be too limited!" said another young officer.

"What's this! You must know that we represent a civilized party. His Majesty the Sultan relies on the slave trade to make money. This is in itself a matter of outrage and resentment. As long as we raise our arms, we will definitely wake up the vast number of compatriots in Zanzibar and overthrow it with us. Slave trade." said the young man in suits and ties.

"Are you brainless? You still want to reform Zanzibar with such a naive idea. Political struggle is not a game." an officer angrily yelled.

"I think some people are too timid to devote themselves to the great cause of Zanzibar. They are greedy for life and afraid of death!"

"Kid, do you know what you are talking about? I am an old man who has opposed the Sultan with His Highness in the early years. I am not a frivolous young man like you who wets his pants when something happens."

"What! You can't say anything and start attacking people personally?"

…

The two sides started to quarrel.

Bagash bin Said watched his men quarreling with each other with a livid face. He raised his hand and slapped it on the table. There was a loud "snap", which instantly silenced everyone.

Bagash bin Saeed said sternly: "That's enough. How can we be so polite as to make noises all day long? Do you think you can still behave like this?"

"Solving problems does not rely on words, but on abilities and methods. Instead of pouring bitterness and criticizing each other here, it is better to think of ways and let everyone brainstorm to find a solution to the problem."

Everyone was silent...

Looking at the speechless people, Bagash bin Said said earnestly: "I don't know how dangerous it is, but we have no way to retreat. Failure is not terrible. Even if we fail, then It’s also temporary, just like back then, we were forced to flee to India, and now aren’t we making a comeback?”

Bagash bin Said continued: "If we want to abolish the slave trade, we must be prepared in two ways. One is to cut off Majid's supply of goods, which is the route and supply of slaves provided by the East African colonies to Majid. The second is to overthrow Majid. Only in this way can we fundamentally bring Zanzibar into modern society. This time we cannot escape in embarrassment like last time."

"Now we have a sizable army in our own hands. This is our capital. As long as Majid and his entourage can be quickly eliminated, we will be able to take control of the power of the Zanzibar Sultanate."

"I have learned about that East African colony. According to information provided by Portuguese and British businessmen, except for two thousand retired Prussian soldiers (actually only more than a thousand), the rest were farmers recruited from East Asia."

"As long as we gain the right to speak in Zanzibar, we can assemble a professional army of more than 4,000 people. At the same time, we can also temporarily recruit some nationals to deal with the farmers in the East African colonies. Four thousand versus two thousand, the advantage lies with us. This side.”

After listening to Bagash bin Said's plan, an officer said: "Your Highness, what will His Majesty the Sultan do? If we succeed, will we..." He made a pistol shape with his hand and hit his head. Top, "pop", the action of shooting.

Bagash bin Said shook his head: "That is the way of barbarians. The monarchs of European countries often attack each other because of political struggles, but no one will persecute losers, even ambitious people like Napoleon. Europe In the end, the monarchs of various countries simply chose to go into exile!”

The officer named Abdullah said: "Your Highness, you must not be soft! If Sultan Majid comes back..."

Bagash bin Said: "Okay, I have made up my mind. This cannot be discussed. When the time comes, we will just exile him to other countries. I heard that he has a good relationship with the Sultanate of Osa. We’ll exile him wherever we go. Anyway, he’s too old to come back and cause trouble. After all, he doesn’t have the British backing like us.”

…

Thus a conspiracy took shape against the East African colonies and the Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Said.

If the officials of the East African colonies knew about their plan, they would definitely complain. What kind of thinking is this? We did not initiate the slave trade, so we can still be targeted just to make some extra money!

This is really an unreasonable disaster. It is your own family matter, and you have to involve outsiders. How can you have the nerve to say that the East African colonies are bad people? And you are helping the evildoers!

It doesn’t make sense logically! Until the future, officials in the East African colonies could not understand the brain circuits of these Arabs.