"By the way, Your Majesty, since you have decided to lend, what about the plan you mentioned earlier to send people to establish the Sultanate of Mauritania north of the Senegal River?" Kohler asked.

Marin thought for a moment and said:

"All together! We only need the Senegal River Basin for about 10 years, but I also hope to plant a seed in the local area, a seed of independence, to awaken the local sense of independence in the future and dig a hole for the Portuguese. ”

Marin means that after the completion of the tropical cattle trade on my side, the desert cavalry that originally surrounded the trade route will be used as the core force to resist the rule of the Portuguese. Then, build a country to confront the Portuguese, and not let the Portuguese take advantage of it easily.

Obviously, after the lease ended, there was a good chance that the Portuguese would come and take over the best overland trade route to Timbuktu. Marin didn't want to cheapen them, so he planned to train military leaders, especially cavalry leaders, among the natives. Then, after he had withdrawn, he encouraged the river to support the indigenous chiefs who had used cavalry as their capital to openly turn against the Portuguese, lest the Portuguese take advantage of this trade route.

In other words, even if Marin returns the Senegal River valley to the Portuguese in 10 years, because of the emergence of this indigenous force, the indigenous cavalry will make the Portuguese disgraced. Because, the Portuguese army is already scum. In addition, this group of native cavalry must have been trained by the officers of the Beihai State, and it will become extremely difficult.

"Pick the right person and be the leader of this emerging power. Remember, be obedient and don't lose control. Marin waved his hand and told Kohler to send a spy to pick the right man. This candidate will be selected from among local blacks or Egyptian slaves bought by Egypt.

While Kohler was investigating and selecting suitable candidates, Sauer rushed to Lisbon with the mission. As for the first envoy to Lisbon, he was stopped by Marin's men with carrier pigeons. Pigeons were faster than people could travel, and the first envoys, receiving orders, went straight back and asked Sauer to go to Lisbon as a new envoy.

"What? His Majesty Marin wants to lease the Senegal River basin with me? Why? He is not a vast savage continent...... No, is it America? Why lease the Senegal River Basin? When Manuel I heard what Sauer meant, his face was full of disbelief.

Sauer pretended to be very helpless and said:

"Your Majesty doesn't know, our North Sea State can import tens of thousands of cattle from Eastern Europe (Crimea) every year. However, those are hardy cattle from the Eastern European steppes, but not heat-tolerant. Eastern European cattle that can tolerate the cold have difficulty adapting to the local climate and are prone to heat death in the hot and humid tropical jungles. ”

"Before, we also asked Portuguese businessmen to help us purchase a batch of African cattle that are not afraid of heat. However, the quantity is too small, and the price is still very expensive. Our Majesty thinks it's not worth it, and instead of that, it is better to rent the grasslands of the Senegal River basin and graze the heat-tolerant African cattle directly! ”

"Raising cattle in the Senegal River Basin? Is it good for cattle? Manuel I asked curiously.

Sauer nodded and said:

"Certainly suitable, especially for African cattle adapted to tropical climates. Because it is relatively dry, the grassland is the main body. The grassland is not as safe as there are so many terrible poisonous insects and mosquitoes in the tropical jungle. Therefore, the grasslands of the Senegal River basin, where there are few trees, are suitable for grazing heat-tolerant African cattle! Once these cattle are raised, they can be transported to the rainforests of the Americas to serve as cattle ......"

Manuel I asked with interest:

"Can't you raise your own in the native jungles of the Americas? Do you have to go to Africa to raise it? ”

Sauer pretended to be helpless and replied:

"On the American side, it's mostly hot and humid rainforests. The most important thing is that there are many forest poisoning insects and poisonous mosquitoes, and if you don't cut down the trees and live in them, you can easily be tortured and die. Raising cattle locally is not a problem, the point is that people are dangerous. In the Senegal River basin on the west coast of Africa, our boat docked and found that it has a savannah climate, close to the Sahara Desert. There are few trees in the area, and most of them are dry grasslands. Raising cattle there is not only convenient, but also safer than in the rainforest. After all, mosquitoes live mainly in damp and dark jungles......"

"I see......" Manuel I thought. However, Portugal does not appear to have any plans to develop local land in Africa. Therefore, the knowledge introduced by Sauer is also a joke.

"The price is ......, though," the Portuguese lion snapped......

After some fierce bargaining, Sauer negotiated a 10-year lease of the Senegal River basin at a high price of 10,000 gold coins per year, with a total rent of 100,000 gold coins. For an unexplored "wild land" like the Senegal River Basin, this is a sky-high price.

However, when Sauer signed the contract, he wrote in the contract - "lease the Senegal River Basin, as well as the nearby large grasslands and deserts ......", which can be regarded as a foreshadowing, leaving a legal basis for Marin to send troops eastward in the future and open up the trade routes of the Songhai Empire. After all, judging from the map, the Songhai Empire is indeed a "nearby" area......

Moreover, Sauer stated in the contract that during the lease period, the North Sea Chamber of Commerce that leased the land would have the right to trade with Africans in the Senegal River basin and nearby...... The Portuguese did not know that the upper reaches of the Senegal River were not far from the borders of the Songhai Empire, otherwise they would not have agreed to the addition of this clause...... No way, they don't know about the interior of Africa......

Then, the two sides formally signed the agreement and asked the envoys of other countries to notarize it so that it was reasonable and legal.

……

While Sauer was negotiating with the Portuguese, Kohler was also busy in the dark, and sent someone to contact the African colony of Laayoune with carrier pigeons to see if there were any suitable talents available.

There were currently 500 Egyptian slave cavalry in the Laayoune colony, and Kohler asked the Laayoune side to select some obedient ones and transfer them to the steppes on the banks of the Senegal River to take charge of the new Egyptian slave cavalry. Because, Marin placed an order for 500 Egyptian slave cavalry to the Mamluk side of Egypt.

However, in the course of the investigation, good news suddenly came from Dakar, Senegal - it seems that the 60 Mao fathers who were good at riding and archery sent to Senegal that year had already created a world in the local area and formed a huge local force......

Before going to the Ming Dynasty, Marin had sent 60 castrated hairmen who were good at horse archery to the Dakar Peninsula in Senegal to instruct local blacks in horseback archery. Then, a strong nomadic black regime was created to counter the Portuguese colonizers who would intervene in the area.

In the past few years, the 60 Maozi who are good at riding and archery have died of illness and more than a dozen people who can't adapt to the local savannah climate, but the remaining 46 people are all mixed up......

And among these surviving Mao Gonggongs, the leader of Mao Gonggong named Puginsky has become a powerful local cavalry leader......

Puginski and his 45 companions took in thousands of black teenagers in Senegal as disciples and taught them to ride horses and shoot arrows. Over the years, thousands of black teenagers in their church had grown up. Moreover, they all obeyed the orders of Puginsky and others. In other words, under the command of Puginsky and other Mao Gonggongs, there were thousands of black archers......

These thousands of young black archers, not only good at riding and archery, but also using sabers in hand-to-hand combat, are already good Tatar light cavalry.

Perhaps, the thousands of black archers were not very powerful in Europe or Asia. However, in Africa, especially in West Africa. With the exception of a few powerful countries such as the Songhai Empire and the Mali Empire, those scattered black tribes were by no means their opponents.

It is said that Puginsky and his father-in-law Mao's companions, with thousands of black disciples, took the initiative to attack and easily conquered nearly 30 indigenous tribes in the Senegalese steppe, with a population of more than 12,000 people. Moreover, they are also planning to march inland and expand their territory.

For this reason, Puginsky, the chief, has already applied to Eschwein, the head of the Senegal region of the North Sea State, for more weapons and equipment. After all, in war, the consumption of bows and arrows is quite large. The locals did not have the capacity to produce weapons and armor, and had to rely on Eschwein for supplies.

After hearing the "surprise" brought by Father-in-law Mao reported by Kohler, Marin was overjoyed:

"Very good, the leader I'm looking for is him......"