The two pirate ships headed straight north, as if they had not seen the ships of the East Coast. They were fast enough to disappear into the distance of the sea in a few moments.

"They went to the north to rob the Arabs of the Mahajanga region, or they went to rob the Arabs of the Comoros, who are close relatives of the Arabs." Xu Gang pushed a pair of glasses that slid to the bridge of his nose and said slowly: "Of course, sometimes if those Portuguese don't pay attention to it, they don't mind going ashore to capture those Portuguese." As far as I know, they landed near Mombasa once last year and robbed them for several days, but the Portuguese garrison there never reacted and made them retreat. ”

"The Portuguese are getting worse and worse on the East African coast north of Cape Delgado, and I remember they haven't even been able to wipe out the Arab-entrenched rebels, right?" Zhang Xiao smiled and said, "Their naval strength is also insufficient, and the Arabs have only a few ships, but they have not been able to completely wipe them out. ”

"Or is their territory too big?" Xu Gang stroked his hairstyle that was somewhat disturbed by the sea breeze, and said: "Actually, the overall strength of their navy is still very strong, but there is too much territory to occupy, and these ships will not show any advantage once they are scattered." If you think about the fact that the Kingdom of Portugal has a population of only about 2 million, it occupies the colonies of the New World such as the coast of Brazil, parts of Guinea, Congo, Angola, Mozambique, the Zambezi River Basin, Mombasa, and Somalia, and other Asian territories such as Oman, Goa, Ceylon, Malacca, Timor, and Macau, and at the same time is engaged in hostile activities with Spain, the Netherlands, and the Ottoman Empire on a vast territory from Europe to Africa to Asia. Now that I've been playing for so long, I haven't crashed. It's already considered that they have the ability. ”

"Old Xu, you can also joke." Zhang Xiaoha smiled. said: "They're going to crash." The Elmina Fort, near the Gulf of Guinea, was pulled out by the Dutch West India Company. Brazil has also been encroached upon; The Congo was also repeatedly attacked, and many outposts were uprooted by the Dutch; Angola was also in jeopardy, and even the island of Mozambique in East Africa was surrounded several times by the Dutch fleet; Now that Mombasa, Zanzibar, Mogadishu and other places are in rebellion, and Ceylon and Malacca in the east are under the oppression of the Dutch, I think the collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire is imminent. ”

The two chatted while the cool sea breeze blew while the "Breaking Wave" continued to sail south at a speed of 5 knots. On October 10, the multi-purpose ship "Breaking Waves" anchored in the coast near Tamatave, and Xu Gang commanded the officers and men of the army to row to the shore in a small boat.

The shore is a desolate and dilapidated landscape. A considerable number of wooden stilt houses have fallen to the ground, and apparently months have passed and the place has not been restored. The farmland is still barren and overgrown with weeds, and no one has claimed ownership of the land since its original owner was broken and plundered.

"That's for the best." Xu Gang also boarded the shore from a small boat, standing on the flat shore, and said, "I was worried that the people of Melina in the west would expand here, but fortunately they didn't. Otherwise, we might get into a little trouble. ”

"The people of Melina? What is that? The natives over here? "Zhang Xiao came to Madagascar for the first time, so he didn't know much about the situation here. So he asked.

"It was an indigenous kingdom that occupied the cool central plateau of the Falklands, and it was one of the few indigenous feudal kingdoms on the island. Legend has it that they built water conservancy and cultivated rice on the Central Plateau. A series of walls made of a mixture of clay and stone were also built, and there were some extremely prosperous cities in the area. They worship their ancestors and have family ancestral halls; They valued farming and used iron farming tools; They live in stilt houses, just like the Malays and Indonesians. Xu Gang introduced one by one that these situations were actually rumors from those European pirates, Arabs, or captured Bezimisaraka slaves, and had not been verified on the ground.

"By the way, this island is actually very similar to the island of Taiwan. The central terrain is high, and the coastal zone is surrounded by plains, of which the plains on the west coast are more extensive, while the flat areas on the east coast are only a narrow strip. Of course, unlike Taiwan, the central plateau is the core of the island, and it is also the traditional farming area of the island, which is now controlled by the Melina people. Xu Gang continued.

Zhang Xiao nodded as he listened: "We can't fight with such a feudal kingdom with a large population and a certain organizational ability now, we don't have such strength." So let's keep our heads down and do our own thing, we are only responsible for digging coal in Tamatave, and it is not suitable for any degree of expansion for the time being. If necessary, we can also make friends with the people of Melina in the west for the time being, and stabilize them first. ”

While the two were talking, the soldiers had searched the entire area, and it was confirmed that it had not been visited for months. Seven or eight Bezimisaraka, who were being held by the soldiers, began to take people to see where they had once picked up the black "stones", and when the soldiers found one, they pointed it out on a hand-drawn map and then moved on to the next one.

After a few hours of hard work, looking at the spots drawn on a large hand-drawn map, Zhang Xiao was basically sure that there was indeed a coal field with not too small reserves. However, in the end, the work of site surveying, digging wells, and mining has to be done by professionals, and he is only responsible for the front station. The soldiers who had already landed on the shore were divided into two groups, one of which began to dig coal in several shallow places where the coal was buried with tools, and prepared to get some samples back for comparison; The others began to collect some timber from the houses abandoned by the Bezimisalaka and began to build a wooden military post on the promontory, which was to be convenient for people to live in the next visit.

The land here is very similar to the New China region, which is barren brick red soil, and is surrounded by dense tropical rainforests. The forest extends to a small hill about ten kilometers to the west, which is already on the edge of the central plateau and is a low, hilly area. The hills were still covered with large expanses of primeval forest, covering the sky and the sun. The forest is full of flora and fauna, and there may be a few trails leading to the Central Plateau, but it's hard to find by the average person.

"It would be nice to have this forest, at least it would isolate us from the kingdom of the Merinians, so that the two sides would not be immediately at odds. They concentrate on being their soil emperor in the Central Plateau, and we concentrate on digging our coal in the seaside plains, and the two sides have nothing to do with each other, so it is best. Zhang Xiao stood on a small dirt slope, looked at the dense primeval forest in the west, and said: "The timber resources here are also very rich, not worse than those in Xinhuaxia." Alas, this is a treasure trove, and if it is well developed, it will surely create great wealth for the local area. ”

By this time, the soldiers had set up a simple wooden outpost, and raised the flag of the Republic of China on the east coast of China. At the same time, they also buried seven or eight stone monuments of various sizes in the vicinity to declare their sovereignty. The stele is engraved with a text in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and French, to the effect that this place was discovered by the naval fleet of the Republic of East China on October 10, 1641, and was officially named "Tacheng", and this place will be the overseas territory of the Republic of China East Bank in the future, and no country or organization shall occupy it, otherwise the Republic of East Bank of China will retain the right to act freely.

The soldiers worked until late in the evening before returning to the ship, bringing back thousands of pounds of coal samples they had dug up. After all this was done, the multi-purpose ship "Breaking Waves" started the steam engine that night, hung up the sails, and then set off on the return journey at a speed of 5-6 knots under the southeast wind.

On October 13, the "Breaking Waves" returned safely and docked at the Xinhuabao wharf. After Zhang Xiao and Xu Gang had a detailed conversation with Shi Qinjie, they agreed that this coalfield has great mining value. Therefore, in the evening of the same day, Shi Qinjie wrote a report to the Executive Committee in the name of the Madagascar Pioneer Team, asking the Executive Committee to approve the mining of the Tacheng Coal Mine, and attached a detailed mining plan. Zhang Xiao, Xu Gang, and Liao Meng, the newly arrived commander of the Army's 3rd Company, also signed the report to make it more convincing.

On October 14, after a delay of several days, four ships, including the "Breaking Waves" and the "Yangwu", were about to leave Xinhua Port and return to South Africa. Their mission has been accomplished, and now it's time to return. If nothing else, a second batch of silver ships will come over a few months later to bring the balance of the Ming immigration fees.

Several ships were loaded with lumber, coconuts, hump cattle, and dried seafood, after all, the cabin on the return trip must not be left empty. The 101st Company of the Army, which had been stationed here for nearly two years, also returned home with the ship, and their mission was to be replaced by the newly arrived 3rd Army Company.

Just as everyone was saying goodbye on the dock and preparing to sail away, suddenly two disgraced ships sailed in from outside the bay, and their masts were hanging the naval flag of the Republic of China on the east coast of China!

"Isn't that the 'Common Market' and the 'Chaoyong'?" Suddenly, a sharp-eyed man shouted: "That's someone from the Second Fleet!" (To be continued......)