In the port of Maputo on the east coast of Africa, Nasim, a sturdy black man, followed a tribal caravan of dozens of people waiting in front of the huge fortress of the port, they are a small tribe near the Manchi region, the Nada tribe, the so-called caravan, in fact, is only two Central African camels, and Nassim is a special escort sent by the tribe to ensure the success of this transaction, you know, the land of East Africa, has always been full of various conflicts.

At this moment, Nassim clenched the wooden bow in his right hand and a short knife with an old style on his waist in his left hand, and they had only disembarked from a steamship that had shocked them an hour earlier, and a few yellow-skinned crew members had ...... They claim to be Chinese...... Piloting this astonishing water beast can easily carry goods that dozens of camels can't transport, including a lot of masonry for construction.

And the reason why they appeared here is also to have a lot to do with these yellow-skinned Chinese, two months earlier, at this moment, the leader of the tribal elder Nadila accidentally met some Chinese soldiers in the pasture on the west side of Manchi, the friendliness of the other party was recognized by Nadila, and finally, the old elder exchanged a few beast skins and some placer gold from the other party for enough fine flour for a family to eat for a year.

Later, the Chinese who established a post on the banks of the Piena River built a cargo dock next to the post to trade goods with the tribe, and yellow-skinned merchants then appeared there, bringing even more dazzling goods, and more importantly, the original shortage of food in the tribe, as well as magic pills, so that the tribal elders finally decided to accept the invitation from the Chinese.

After waiting outside the fortress for a while, Zhao Kele, the Chinese officer who was familiar with the elders at the Pierna outpost, appeared, and he led the poorly dressed Nada people towards the huge fortress. After showing a piece of paper to a few stern-looking soldiers at the door. Nassim and his fellow tribesmen were placed in a large room inside the fortress. Although there are only simple floor beds, there is a round table and a table that Nassim has never seen before, and a table that you can't imagine a sumptuous meal.

After Huang Ke, who had the rank of captain, arranged this group of Nada blacks, he specially told Elder Nadila that he must wait here, and after a while, he would discuss the remuneration negotiated between the two sides, and then he hurried to the fortress headquarters......

In the headquarters, Chen Sheng, the commander of the African regiment with a weathered face, was standing in front of the current map of the Maputo Autonomous Region, beside him. A middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a traditional Chinese merchant coat, showed a completely different composure, and their eyes were wandering the map at the moment......

To the north, along the border with the Portuguese colony, along the Magu hills, there have been several skirmishes between the two sides over the past two years, but the Portuguese, threatened by sea lanes, have ended the conflict with negotiations, with little pressure on the now-weakened Portuguese.

To the east, there are large areas of mountainous area, and there are quite a few black tribes in the area. However, due to the obstruction of the Dekenras Mountains, the productivity of the local tribes is extremely backward. The tribes were also less powerful, and there was little resistance in the process of sending trade points to the local areas, and the East Asian grain from the sea, which was extremely precious in the region, almost completely overturned the local system of rule of the small tribes, and easily attracted large numbers of labor to the cities along the Maputo River.

The northern foothills of the D'Likeras Mountains, bordering the Transvaal Republic to the west, were the big ones to consider, and the arrogant Dutch whites in the Transvaal, who had no military strength near the D'Likeras Mountains, had only recently stationed a civilian force of several hundred men for fear of being attacked by the black tribes on the border, and the order from Beijing was to send the garrison to the Transvaal theater of operations.

"Sun Gang, this arms deal with the Boers needs to be carried out secretly, Beijing has declared its neutrality in the Anglo-Boer War, so it can only be carried out in the form of civilian trade, and when you get there, the commander of the Bourbota in the Bethel defense area has agreed to assist you in entering the front line as a humanitarian observer, however, there is still a lot of risk involved, you must be prepared!" Chen Sheng pointed to the Transvaal's territory and slowly gave the order.

Sun Gang is naturally not a businessman, but the deputy commander of the East African Regiment Special Service Battalion, and before joining the army, he was from a serious business family, so he was determined to be the commander of this heavy mission, he pondered for a while, this time to go deep into the front line to investigate, obviously not a simple task, the most important thing is that the news he brought back will provide a great reference for the improvement of the country's military strength, so he has no worries in his heart, but has a little more expectation.

"Regiment commander, I think that to carry out this kind of mission, we only need our special service battalion, why do you want to recruit these blacks...... They just have a bit of brute strength, and they have no ability to fight! He immediately put forward his idea, and it was clear that he had been thinking about it for a long time.

Chen Sheng patted his right-hand man on the shoulder, smiled and did not answer the question directly, in fact, he did not know the intention of this order from Beijing at all, but the instructions of the Ministry of Military Affairs had explained that the Boers made a great mistake in the war against the British, that is, they completely regarded the local blacks as enemies of the Transvaal and the unstable factor of potential enemies, and finally turned this Boer War into a battle between white Africans.

These white ghosts have no basis for thinking too highly of themselves, obviously violating the taboo of the Chinese art of war, no wonder the secret telegram from the Ministry of Military Affairs judged that although the Boers have won many victories so far, it is difficult to defeat the British, "These recruited blacks, I ask you to treat them as mercenaries, our roots in Africa are not yet solid, since the Europeans want to reap a lot of benefits here...... I think we can definitely take advantage of the contradictions between them and the black people to fight for the greater good of the country! ”

"Report, the Nada people have arrived!" At this time, Captain Zhao Ke's voice came from outside.

Two hours later, the Nada people, who had just enjoyed the Chinese-style army meal, finally waited for the big man they expected, Sun Gang brought a cooperation plan, which would recruit 20 black mercenaries and enjoy a monthly payment of 2 silver dollars or 120 catties of fine flour, and at the same time recruit a tribal liaison to be responsible for negotiating between the team and the passing tribes, and the black team leader would enjoy double pay.

120 catties of fine flour, which is a huge wealth that cannot be seen directly for the tribe that depends on the sky for food, and everyone has a share, at the moment, all 20 blacks, including the leader of the team Elder Nadila took the task without hesitation, their only request is to pay the general remuneration first, let them be sent back to the tribe first, and then wait for the return of the team by the Piena River.

Sun Gang smashed his mouth, and couldn't help but feel satisfied, these black laborers, except for the old man who led the team, are almost all strong laborers, as long as they are paid, and they seem to be quite obedient, they are really good laborers...... The construction of the port of Maputo is now continuing, and it seems that the recruitment of labourers from inland tribes could be considered...... The only problem is that these blacks are so simple that they all seem a little stupid, and they have to think about it themselves in order to play their part!

Seven days later, at noon, Sun Gang led the caravan across the northern foot of the Dkenras into the Transvaal border, and was immediately followed by several Transvaal Burber cavalry, who apparently often saw Chinese caravans from the Maputo Autonomous Region, so they only followed from a distance, and did not make any further threatening actions.

Although this was completely expected, he immediately ordered the caravan to assemble and build a defensive line in place...... And the 20 black servants obviously saw such an amazing army movement for the first time, with brute force, but they were also trembling with fright, just when the Boer cavalry slowly crowded in front of the caravan, one by one with their rifles in their eyes, Sun Gang walked out of the caravan unhurriedly.

"I want to see Major Botha!" (To be continued......)