During the Dragon Boat Festival in the 32nd year of Chengtian, that is, on June 10, 1806 in the Western calendar, the overseas territory of Chen Han and the capital of the Sultanate, Port Sudan, had a clear sky.

After three years of full construction, a large amount of timber, cement, steel bar, masonry and stone, from the mainland of Sudan or farms on the other side, or the local territory outside the external force, have been successively transported to Port Sudan, thousands of construction workers through non-stop labor, so that this ordinary port on the south bank of the Red Sea has undergone great changes every day in the past three years.

This change is very different from Luo Fangbai's original plan, and while Port Sudan has changed greatly, Luo Fangbai's road construction plan has also been carried out well, and the investment has increased from the initial million Chinese dollars to 2 million Chinese dollars. All this is because Luo Fangbai has found a big investor. That is the Eelam family of Egypt.

The Elam family's investment in Port Sudan sounds a bit absurd, but if you taste it carefully, it is not incomprehensible.

Port Sudan and the Sultan Protectorate behind it are digging into the corner of the Elam family, but the Sultan is under the control of the Elam family, and they can't reap much profit at all. The establishment of Port Sudan will promote the benefits of the Elam family. It is quite possible, then, that after the expansion of Port Sudan, the income of the Elam family in Sudan will become even greater.

Most importantly, the Ilam family hopes that the prosperity of the Sultan Protectorate will allow the Chinese to devote more energy to Sudan rather than to Egypt. This is very effective in safeguarding the fundamental interests of their families.

Commercial districts, residential areas, storage areas, port areas, schools, hospitals, military defenses, freshwater storage systems, large steam pumping stations, sewers, and so on, urban buildings with different functions have appeared in Port Sudan at an astonishing rate of this era.

Compared to the little bit of formation of other port cities, Port Sudan today is fully worthy of the words 'rising from the ground'.

Material supply, manual labor, military protection, transportation scheduling, a series of costs add up. The total investment in this port city in the past three years has reached more than 1,300 million Chinese dollars, of which the local capital investment is only a small 2 million Chinese dollars, the Elam family has invested a full 10 million Chinese dollars, and the rest of the amount is the money that Luo Fangbai brought to the trade bank with the letter of intent of the Elam family's investment.

The city of Port Sudan is definitely a beautiful and sound city, although the town is not large, but the sparrows are small and have all the organs.

After all, the total investment is as high as more than 13 million Chinese dollars, which is already an astronomical figure in the Red Sea basin, even if the Suez Port at the eastern starting point of the Suez Canal project, in addition to the wharf and warehouse, is far less beautiful than Port Sudan today.

In order to enrich the permanent population and maintain the basic functions of the town, as early as the beginning of the spring of last year, a considerable number of farm workers on the other side of the Red Sea were transferred to Port Sudan as immigrants, and now the total population of the city has exceeded 3,000, and the permanent population has exceeded 5,000, and the extra 2,000 people are Egyptians, Tianfang Peninsula people, and even Ottomans who have immigrated here, in addition to the indigenous laborers on the construction site. Because in terms of urban functions alone, the infrastructure of Port Sudan City is not inferior to that of Cairo.

There are many schools here that disseminate knowledge, and not only primary schools, but also middle schools, and in the future, they can also apply for local institutions of higher learning in China; There are places to live, live and trade, there are hospitals with excellent medical conditions, and there is nothing lacking here in Cairo except for the Tianfang Temple.

Due to the tropical desert climate and the lack of rain in northern Sudan, the local agricultural development in Port Sudan could not continue to expand after reaching a certain level, and agricultural production was relegated to a secondary position here early on. Commercial transactions, salt and fishing have expanded considerably in the three years since Luo Fangbai's arrival.

According to the trade agreement signed between China and the Ottomans, the city of Port Sudan will be open to all aspects of trade rights of the Ottoman Empire. There is a free trade policy between the two countries, and the tax on ships and goods is much lower than that of European merchants. But all these years have passed, and the Ottomans are still not active much in this regard.

In the future, once the trade influence of Port Sudan City stabilizes and expands, it will have a great impact on the entire Tianfang region. Although the geographical advantages here are not as superior as those of the Port of Aden, the natural environment of the Port of Aden is much worse than that of Port Sudan, isn't it?

There is also some farmland around Port Sudan, where 400mm of rain can fall every year. Although the rainfall is concentrated, there is not much water shortage here. Even for agriculture, after the water storage system and the large steam pumping station were built, Port Sudan was really well watered.

And what about the port of Aden?

Although it is the gateway between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and is a key point of transportation between Europe and the Red Sea to Asia and the Pacific Ocean, it is geographically important, but the rainfall is scarce, with an average annual rainfall of only 100 mm, and the temperature in summer can often reach more than 40 degrees Celsius.

In today's era, human beings are not as resistant to the harsh natural environment as later generations, and methods such as drip irrigation and seawater purification are nonsense, and the safest and most reliable way to choose a foothold is to stay away from dangerous places. This is also the biggest advantage of Port Sudan over the Port of Aden.

Once Sudan's influence spreads, Nanjing, even if it is optimistic about Aden before, will choose Port Sudan again from all aspects.

Because commerce and trade in this era could not support two commercial and political centers in one area, after the establishment of Port Sudan, the port of Aden could only be defined as a different city.

Moreover, the port of Aden corresponds to the tribes on the Tianfang Peninsula, and the Wahhabis are strong on the peninsula, and if they want to really penetrate Chen Han's influence into the entire peninsula, it must be a little bit of hard work, and it will take a long time.

Although Sudan is also full of tribes, the tribes here are all small tribes, and there is no such influence as the Saud family, and there is no die-hard influence like the Wahhabis faction. It is far easier to expand Chen Han's influence here than on the Tianfang Peninsula.

Besides, although the Ottomans intended to let Chen Han get rid of the Wahhabis faction, if Chen Han really swallowed half of the Tianfang Peninsula in one bite, Istanbul would definitely have an opinion. And the Sultan is far away from the emperor.

As the city of Port Sudan expanded, so did the number of defenders.

From the initial two squadrons to a single integrated battalion.

Port Sudan now has two fortified fort positions with six 75 mm hex guns and four 105 mm hex guns as a military defense. Even if the opponent is a fleet, the defenders will be able to prevent the opponent from entering the port or landing.

……

Early in the morning, a group of construction workers from across the Red Sea boarded the Haiping 5 transport ship, and they were transferred from the farm, and now that the farm was in the harvest season, they were bound to return to the farm.

And the one who organized these farm workers to make extra money was First Overseas Construction, which was the contractor for the entire Port Sudan project.

At the berth of the same pier, two valuable sailboats were also moored in the harbor, and the bored crew was sitting on the deck playing cards.

Not far from the pier, there is a temporary settlement, which was built specifically for immigrants. Ten neat four-storey five-unit buildings, rectangular simple dormitories are neatly arranged, each with 40 households, and 10 buildings is 400 households. Some of them are two-bedroom and one-living rooms, and some are three-bedroom and one-living rooms, accommodating a family is a piece of cake, if it is crowded, 400 households can live in 3000 or 4,000 people.

But the entire Port Sudan population is only 3,000 people. The 10 buildings have never been fully occupied.

The new Port Sudan City Hospital has been officially put into use at the beginning of the year, in order to ensure the level of medical care, after the application of the Metropolitan Nursing Office, a medical team of more than 10 people has been specially transferred from the mainland, it can be said that the medical standard here is not inferior to Cairo.

Although there are only three attending physicians here, most of them are fresh graduates from medical school, and most of the medical staff at the hospital are young people recruited from the local area.

According to national regulations, medical staff working in Port Sudan City Hospital can receive an additional allowance of 100 yuan per month, and after three years, they can report back to their home countries, and the state will arrange for them to enter a state-level hospital. And if you can survive until five years later and then return to China, you will be arranged to a provincial B hospital.

Therefore, even if this place is far away from the mainland, the special work allowance is relatively general, but there is a rotation system to ensure it, so many medical school graduates who have no way to do it are rushing to sign up, and there is no wheel to sigh.

And just when everyone in Port Sudan thought they were going to spend another ordinary day, the familiar sound of a salute came from the direction of the port.

And then the alarm bell sounded in the hospital, all assembled!

"All assembled, all assembled!"

"The migrant boat has arrived at the port, everyone has prepared stretchers and medical kits, except for the remaining personnel, the rest will immediately rush to the dock to standby." The head of the hospital shouted loudly.

Just like the sudden tense preparations in the hospital, in the direction of the port, five migrant boats coming from the east have entered the harbor and are slowly approaching the port dock under the guidance of the guide boats.

The black-pressed migrants filled the deck, and everyone looked in amazement at Port Sudan and at where they were going to live.

Five migrant ships transported a full 1,556 migrants to Port Sudan at one time, and yes, in addition to those who died on the way, the total number of migrants who arrived alive in Port Sudan was 1,556.

And just behind the five migrant ships, a Chinese-flagged flying shear bow warship also followed the fleet, slowly sailing into the harbor.

But on the deck of the warship was a crowd of Europeans, who poured on the deck, looking curiously at Port Sudan ahead. The unusually neat and beautiful port in the distance surprised Louis Napoleon and all the French people on board.

"It's unbelievable that this port has been around for less than a decade! It's a miracle! ”

Louis Bonaparte, who had just stepped down from the throne of the Netherlands, said in an admiring tone to Chen Zhan, the king of Jieyang beside him.