Chapter 251: African Spheres of Influence (2)
Zhu Youxiao always paid attention to the war in Africa, in order to weaken the power of the English as much as possible, and at the same time increase the influence of the Ming Dynasty in Africa, Zhu Youxiao planned to expand the scope of the war to the entire African region. Zhu Youxiao began to supply the production line of the firing rifle to the Fucheng Kingdom and Xinyingtian, and established two large factories in these two places to provide the scope of weapons supply, whether it is a small mortar or a firing gun, the production volume has greatly increased. From Ming Island in southern Africa to Egypt in North Africa, arms dealers of the Ming Dynasty began to appear. A large number of indigenous tribes and kingdoms, in order to reproduce and survive for their own race, began to buy new weapons from the Ming Dynasty.
During this period, there were still many relatively large indigenous kingdoms in Africa, such as Abyssinia to the west of Xiangfu City, and the Congo Kingdom to the west of the Daimyo Kingdom, which had not yet completely declined, and still had a certain ruling foundation. Abyssinia, for example, did not have a history of being completely colonized in their history, neither the Portuguese nor the Italians, they did not completely occupy this ancient country. The Kingdom of Kongo is now only the lost region of Angola, where European colonists plundered slaves, and Germany and Spain wanted to mine there, and most of these battles took place near the coastline, because the current transportation was a natural barrier.
In the royal city of Gangdar in Abyssinia, a caravan of the Ming Dynasty is walking towards the palace, led by the son of Zhu Yousong's housekeeper of the Fucheng Kingdom, named Zhu San, this is the name Zhu Yousong gave him, saying that it is easier to feed in this way, don't look at this name, this guy has a very good ability, he has been Zhu Yousong's playmate since he was a child, or a small follower, Zhu Yousong has learned something, Zhu San has not fallen behind at all, and even his martial arts are much better than Zhu Yousong, and his thinking is quick, and his thinking is clear. Zhu San now undertook Zhu Yousong's mission and came to Gangdar as a merchant with the aim of establishing good diplomatic relations with the Emperor of Abyssinia, Susniyos. The current kingdom of Fucheng is larger than later Somalia, and already occupies the middle and upper reaches of the Shabelle River, almost in a straight line south from Djibouti. Zhu Yousong's intention was to unite with Abyssinia to resist the subversion of Abynesia by Christianity and the Ottoman Empire.
Abyssinia is a wonderful place, from the fourth and fifth centuries AD, Christianity began to prevail, and later there were * religions imported here, coupled with various primitive beliefs of the local indigenous people, the situation is very complicated, and the original meaning of "Abyssinia" itself is the meaning of "mixed race". King Susniyos was now in a big headache because of the serious conflict between the various factions of different faiths.
* After the rise of Christianity, Abyssinia became an "enclave" of Christianity in East Africa, and in the 15th century, European missionaries even proposed a marriage between the Spanish royal family of Castile and Emperor Zara Jacob of Abyssinia. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Abyssinia's relations with Portugal were evidently much closer than with other countries, and the Lisbon court established diplomatic relations with the Abyssinian court in the city of Gundal and sent ambassadors. When Abyssinia was invaded in 1535 by a large army of "jihad" from the Somali region, Portugal also provided a fleet of arquebuses, as well as an expedition led by Christopher Gama. In 1542, 400 Portuguese arquebusiers defeated the * army near Lake Ashandi in northern Abyssinia, but were soon defeated by Turkish, Albanian, and Arab mercenaries, and Gamma was killed. However, when the Jesuits, supported by Portugal and Spain, tried to establish absolute Catholic authority in Abyssinia, which belonged to the Coptic Church, leading to a civil war in Abyssinia, the frightened Emperor Susniyos issued a proclamation in 1623 expelling the Portuguese and restoring traditional religion.
But as a result, the empire gradually showed a picture of decline and decline, the power of the emperor was relatively reduced, and the status of dukes, governors, and tribal chiefs of large provinces rose. In order to control this decaying empire, the Abyssinian Emperor Susniyos was very troubled, so when Zhu San came here, Susniyos was very interested in Zhu San. This is not the kind of bullshit that is interested in the face of a person, but is interested in the powerful military power of the Fukujo Kingdom. Since Zhu Yousong snatched the middle and upper reaches of the Shabelle River by force, Susniyos has been trying to recapture it, but the military strength of the Fucheng Kingdom is too strong, in front of the army of the Fucheng Kingdom, Abyssinia's army is vulnerable, and it has ended in failure several times, in view of the large gap in strength, Susniyos gave up this plan, and due to the current chaotic situation in the country, Susniyos has no energy to think about this matter anymore. Zhu San's arrival made Susneyos feel an unusual taste, so he decided to talk to Zhu San about this matter, and even ask for some help.
"Your Majesty the Emperor of Abyssinia, here is Zhu San, the envoy sent by the king of the Fucheng Kingdom, although some unpleasant things happened between us some time ago, but these have passed. His Majesty the King has sent him to Gandar for the purpose of establishing good relations between us from now on, so that we may live in friendship for the benefit of the people of both countries, in the hope that Your Majesty will understand. Zhu San succinctly explained to Susneyos the purpose of his visit.
Listening to Zhu San's words, Susneyos felt a little disgusted, but his strength was not as good as others, so he had no choice but to swallow this evil breath and said to Zhu San: "Your Fucheng Kingdom has innocently seized many places in our country, I don't know what else you want to do here?" Without returning our land, what is there to talk about friendship? ”
Zhu San smiled and said: "Your Majesty Susniyos, the issue of those lands is something that cannot be explained clearly for hundreds of years, you say that it is your land, but the local people say that it is their land, these are all confused accounts." Think about it, even if the land is returned to you, I don't know if you will still be able to control the people there and manage that land well after this year. Let's just say that the inhabitants who want to be there have already approved of the management of the Fucheng Kingdom, if you don't believe it, you can send someone to investigate carefully, the living conditions there are much better than the situation here, especially now that the situation here is starting to get out of control, and you are not able to manage those places at all. ”
Seeing that Zhu San had exposed Abyssinia's shortcomings, Susniyos was a little angry, and his face turned red and shouted: "Even if we don't have the ability to manage it now, but after all, it is still our land, and I will never allow it to be snatched away by you, and I will definitely take it back!" ”
Zhu San said with a smile: "Your Majesty Respected Susniyos, please don't be in a hurry, and don't be impulsive, according to our words, in an impulsive mood, the most irrational decisions are often made. Now I will give you an analysis of what I know to see if I am right. Since your decision to expel the Portuguese, you have returned to your original religion, but how many people understand your move? With dukes, governors, and tribal chiefs controlling the situation everywhere, how much prestige does your power have there? How many people are still following your orders? I don't know how you're going to deal with these issues, and it's not too late to talk about reclaiming the land when you can deal with it yourself, but can you do that? I'm afraid it won't be too much. ”
Zhu San's words deeply hit Susneyos's feelings, and for a while, the embarrassed emperor had some red circles in his eyes, he looked at the envoy of the Fucheng Kingdom in front of him, and seemed to have some vague expectations in his heart, so he asked Zhu San: "Mr. Zhu, we were originally two countries without injustice and no hatred, and your country came to seize our land for no reason, even if the strength of our country is not good, I have to give you an explanation, I think that we are not good, send some robbers over, I'm always going to get you in trouble, right? I really don't want to do that, do you have any clever ways to resolve this contradiction? ”