July 25, 1640, Angsiranana Bay. This season of Anziranana is one of the most comfortable seasons of the year, with sunny weather, temperatures of around 28 degrees Celsius, and a warm sea breeze.

After more than a month of intense construction, the vicinity of the landing site has changed a lot compared to the beginning. The first is a wooden trestle that plunges straight into the sea, a rudimentary trestle made of pine cut from the mountains and a few dozen meters deep into the sea, which can be used by two large transport ships to dock and unload cargo at the same time. Of course, this trestle bridge is also temporary, and when the materials and personnel here are more abundant in the future, Shou Daoshi will also organize people to build a more modern cement permanent wharf.

At the end of the pier is a pavement made of broken bricks and stones. Due to the heavy precipitation here, the dirt road is easy to soften in wet and rainy weather, which affects the efficiency of the outward transportation of goods in the terminal. Therefore, at Pei Soning's suggestion, Shou Daoist organized people to mix the broken bricks, broken tiles, and some gravel and sand left over from the burning of bricks to pave such a relatively simple highway to clear the port. Similarly, in the future, after the problem of sea capacity shortage is alleviated, Shou Daoshi will consider applying to transport a batch of asphalt from the mainland, and renovate some roads and roofs here. In the rainy area of Antsiranana, asphalt, a material with excellent water-repellent properties, is indispensable.

Shugang Highway splits a primeval coconut grove to the south, and after extending for more than 100 meters, it is the main urban area in the planning. A little more than a month ago, there were only three brick houses, a dozen or so pine plank houses, and a large number of living tents in the main city. Now, a month has passed. The tents that used to be everywhere in the main city were torn down and put away. Instead, there are more than a dozen brick houses in the spire-style style that are common in the water towns of southern China. The red brick walls, the blue eaves, the corners of the walls, and the fast-growing wildflowers and vines of the tropics, everything looks so natural and beautiful. The exterior walls of each house were painted with lime water with the words "warehouse", "health center", "canteen", "kitchen", "dormitory 1", "dormitory 2", etc., and it is clear that after this period of struggle, the living environment of the first landers was greatly improved.

In the southeast corner of the main city, there is a mess of simple wooden houses. The houses were for slaves, the roofs were covered with artemisia grass and tarpaulins, and there were no windows on the walls. A large curtain hangs at the door to keep mosquitoes and flies out. At this time, it was just dawn, and at the door of these wooden houses began to come out in twos and threes, all dressed in thick denim clothes, with turbans wrapped around their heads, and almost only two eyes were exposed. The slaves who came out first found their place in the open space outside the door and began to line up, and several Xhosa people who looked like overseers of the Eight Banners walked up and down in front of the procession with their hands behind their backs, and kept talking about something, as if they were admonishing.

About a kilometer behind the messy shacks. A tall chimney can be seen standing in the distance, and black smoke is still rising from the mouth of the chimney. Judging by the size and height of the chimney. There seems to be a small kiln underneath. As for what kind of kiln it is, it is nothing more than a brick kiln and a dry distillation kiln. In such a natural and primitive tropical bay full of wild atmosphere, it is necessary to see such a big chimney full of civilization spitting black smoke, which has to be said to really make people feel a sense of disobedience and unreality.

These are all the things that the commander of the Second Fleet, Admiral Wang Tiezhu, observed from the third deck of the stern of the battleship "Common Market".

Since returning to the port of Suez in February this year with some officers of the Ottoman Egyptian fleet, Wang Tiehammer has been away from the mainland for more than six months. Now the goods carried have been sold in Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire has officially approved the plan jointly proposed by the Egyptian Pasha, the Navy Pasha and the Syrian Pasha to order six warships to the East Coast Republic of China in the New World.

When the fleet sailed to the waters of the Comoros Islands near the Mozambique Channel some time ago, Wang Tiezhu suddenly recalled that before setting sail, he had talked with Mo Ming, Liu Ang and others about the construction of a new port by the Executive Committee in the Antsiranana area at the northern tip of the Falklands. Therefore, Wang Tiezhu ordered the captain of the high-speed cruiser "Chaoyong", Lieutenant Han Dezhi, to escort two merchant ships of the South China Sea Transportation Company loaded with people and supplies to Mozambique Island to dock for supplies and rest, and at the same time to deliver a batch of Persian slave girls and children they had brought with the Muscat merchants there. As for himself, on the battleship "Common Market", together with Lieutenant Julien's armed transport ship "Galician Exocet", he turned due east and headed for the Gulf of Antsiranana. Anyway, there is still a lot of time, and now he really wants to know how the development of the road is going, and whether he needs his own help.

Before sailing into the bay, Wang Iron Hammer also imagined the current situation here, but the results were not optimistic. First of all, he knew the poor sea capacity in the country, not to mention the difficult sea area to sail through this section of Cape Eucharest, and it would be enough to transport a few hundred people and a small amount of supplies at a time. But what can these things do? You can build a few houses and build a few tents.

So, in his vision, the best thing to do here today was a few brick houses, some thatched huts, and a simple dock, where most of the hundreds of slaves had died of illness, and the few remaining slaves were pitifully nested in the mountains to build houses. At worst, the people of the East Coast have been wiped out – dying from epidemics, pirate attacks, native attacks, or slave revolts.

But what he saw now surprised him a little. Not only has a pier been built in the bay to accommodate large ships, but the buildings on the shore are impressive, at least not wooden or thatched huts, but comfortable and sturdy brick houses that are not afraid of the storms of the rainy season.

"These guys are kind of funny." Looking at a group of soldiers of the 101st Company of the Army armed with muskets pouring out from behind the coconut groves by the dock, Wang Tiehammer said in admiration, "Okay, children, go ashore and rest." It seems that the people sent by the local people to preside over the work here are very capable, and I am really impressed. ”

The two ships of the Second Fleet slowly docked at the pier, one on the left and one on the right, and the sailors on the deck laughed and threw down a cable amid the enthusiastic cheers that erupted from the shore. The army soldiers on the pier took it and tied it tightly to the stake.

Surrounded by the officers and men of the navy, Wang Tiehammer went down the rope ladder to the dock, and then looked at the person who greeted him and said, "You are a Shou Taoist, I know you!" When you used to grab the Spaniard transport ship in the Caribbean, you were a musketeer on my ship, remember you are very skilled! ”

"Thank you, Commander Wang, for remembering such a small person as Humble Duty, it's an honor." Shou Daoist also said with a smile.

"Say something polite to me!" Wang Tiezhu smiled and waved his hand, and then walked along the trestle bridge as he said, "Say, if there is anything you need my help with, tell me as soon as possible." I also came here on a temporary basis, and I am about to return to my homeland. I didn't expect you guys to do it here, it's much better than I expected. ”

"Commander Wang, then I'm not welcome." It was luck to be able to meet the two ships of the Second Fleet, so Shou Daoist was not hypocritical, and directly began to make demands: "We need people, a lot of people!" As of this morning, 25 of the 300 slaves had died of illness, 5 had died on the job, 4 were missing, and about 22 had contracted falciparum malaria; 30 Eight Banners supervisors died of illness, 3 died, and 2 contracted malaria; The 48 soldiers of the 101st Company of the Army are in slightly better condition, but three of them have been cured of malaria, and one has contracted other acute diseases and died violently. Overall, the first batch of 381 landers on May 5 has lost 62 people, or 16 percent, for a variety of reasons (mostly malaria). If this continues, it won't be long before the place will soon be left unavailable. Therefore, we are in urgent need of manpower at the moment, especially when the construction is getting better. ”

"Is malaria so bad here?" After listening to the introduction of Daoist Shou, Wang Tiezhu's footsteps couldn't help but slow. This disease is not a joke, since the disease on the shore is so rampant, then there is no need for me to go ashore.

As if seeing Wang Tiezhu's concern, Daoist Shou hurriedly explained: "Commander Wang rest assured, at present, there are no mosquito habitats in our residential area and the surrounding area of more than 300 meters, and all the puddles that may breed mosquitoes have been filled, so it can be said that there are almost no mosquitoes in the residential area today. In addition, it is daytime, and mosquitoes are basically not lurking, so there is no danger in general. ”

"Hmm." Wang Tiehammer nodded slightly, and then continued to walk towards the shore.

On the side of the road, a few Eight Banner overseers had already brought up a basket of freshly picked coconuts, and when the officers and men of the navy saw it, they smiled and stepped forward to pick up a split and eat it. Of course, they won't take advantage of this side in vain. No, there were already people on the deck of the ship over there who were hoisting two cows and ten sheep with a pulley boom. It was purchased when they were in Egypt and prepared for consumption on the road, and now it is given as a gift to the first intrepid pioneers of the Antsiranana colony to improve the lives of these bitter people. (To be continued......)