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Although he was dressed in light casual clothes, the fierce aura exuded by the middle-aged man standing in front of the window still made people clearly perceive that this person was more like a soldier, with bronzed skin and snow-white teeth, two slightly upturned mustaches, and a sun-shading knight's curly-brimmed straw hat, no matter how you look at it, it looks more like those wandering knights from the southern region of the Western Continent, but Huo Congrong is a real imperial naval officer, but the work he is engaged in now has little to do with authentic naval military affairs to a large extent, as an officer of the Marine Corps, he undertook the task of the supreme commander of the Navy stationed in SabanaIn fact, the policy adopted by the Imperial Political Axe Department in this area was more to support the exploration of civilian forces without much involvement, and he was the highest military and political commander representing the Empire in the so-called "protectorate" within a radius of thirty miles from the entire Sabana Port. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The man sitting opposite Huo Congrong looked even more wild with a bohemian atmosphere, a well-fitting jungle adventure suit wrapped around his body, Erlang's legs were crossed on the coffee table in front of him, a pair of high-level breathable leather boots with half-loose laces, a thick and thick belt tied around his waist, a lengthened dagger from Burmese County hung diagonally on his waist, and tied to the belt was a bulging belly-shaped waist bag, bulging I don't know what to contain, the same curled straw hat was placed on the side of the seat, and a sharp mountain chopping knife was reclining on the side.

Next to this wild man was a middle-aged man with a pipe in his mouth, his brown-yellow eyes in his sunken eye sockets seemed to be of Caucasian blood, some old sailor jackets were washed white, and his lower body was tightened with waterproof pants, which looked more like a down-and-out boatswain.

"Lord Huo, my expedition has entered one hundred and sixty kilometers to the west, and finally found the legendary Lake Tanganyika, which is said to be the largest freshwater lake found in this area so far, we have seen it, the lake is endless, the waterfall is something I have never seen before, but the dry season is coming to an end, our team does not dare to go any further, we can live a relaxed life again. The map has been drawn, Lord Huo, this has taken my subordinates more than three months of energy, hehe, what's the matter, what do you think you can offer?" asked the man with a grin, turning the bead string made of crocodile teeth in his hand.

"Hmph, Zhou Lao Er, what energy have you spent? You are not specifically responsible for reconnaissance and mapping for the Empire, do you think I don't know what kind of work you have taken on this time? Your map is not of great use to our navy, is it Lake Tankanika? Do you want to come to Meng? Is Lake Tankanika only one hundred and sixty kilometers away from Sabana? Can you find Lake Tankanika within two hundred kilometers? Joke!" Huo Congrong sat down and said lukewarmly.

"Hehe, Master Huo, you can't say that, you don't care what work I take, but this road is always explored by my people, I don't know if it's Lake Tanganyika, but after all, we have entered one hundred and sixty kilometers to the west, and no one can have this ability this year, right? As for our map, although it is a little rougher, I dare not compare it with your professional surveyors, but with our map, your professional surveyors don't need to grope like blind people at all, just follow the path we have explored, how can we also help you a lot, right?" replied with a hippie smile on the face of the man surnamed Zhou.

"Hmph, one hundred and sixty kilometers, I'm afraid it's only one hundred and thirty kilometers, do you still need to draw a map of the terrain within these thirty kilometers?" Huo Congrong retorted unceremoniously: "Zhou Lao Er, I have to remind you, don't do those things that are too out of line, although the legal effect of the empire here cannot reach here for the time being, you can't sleep with too many debts on your back." ”

"Hehe, Master Huo, you are a soldier, I am a mercenary, we have different paths and naturally different views, there are hundreds of life debts in my hands, I am not alive and well? The man surnamed Zhou grinned and said: "But you really misunderstood me this time, I didn't use the same method as before, didn't I accept your teachings last time? Let's try to get closer to the identity of civilized people now, right? This time the more than 100 slaves were not captured by me, they were prisoners I exchanged things for, and the tribes in the west were not fighting hard during this time? I was just a little bolder and bought some on the spot." ”

According to the prevailing laws of various countries, slave hunting within a radius of 10 kilometers declared a colony is considered illegal, and Sabana is no exception, but beyond 10 kilometers, whether it is slave hunting or buying prisoners of war from indigenous tribes, there are no longer restrictions, so both slave traders and mercenaries use colonization sites as strongholds, but most of the actual slave hunting and slave trading activities are carried out in the territories of indigenous tribes.

Huo Congrong also knew that his words were not very binding on these mercenaries and merchants who only stared at gold coins, they would not come to violate the customary laws of the New World, ten kilometers was nothing to them, there were many mercenaries here who could help you complete the escort work, and these slaves could be transported to Sabana in a day or two, and as long as they entered Sabana, these slaves would be legalized and become the legitimate property of the merchants, although Huo Congrong was very disgusted by this, but even in the empire, the slave trade was still legal, and the power of the slave merchants was still very largeSeveral proposals in the Senate and the Civic House for the abolition of the slave trade came to nothing, let alone in the colony of the New World.

"Okay, I don't want to talk to you about that, tell me, how much does your map cost?" Huo Congrong frowned, although the lake found was not Lake Tanganyika, but according to the news from his subordinates in the bar, the area is indeed very large, and there is a narrow waterway extending to the southwest hinterland, according to the rumors of the natives here, Lake Tankanika does seem to be connected to many surrounding lakes with waterways, I don't know if the lake they found is the lake around Lake Tanganyika, if so, then this discovery is really valuable, the mapping team only needs to move along the waterway, maybe they can find the legendary Lake Tanganyika。

For this new continent, whether it is the countries of the Western Continent or the empire, there is no clear geographical concept, how big is this continent, what is the shape, how many people live on this continent, what is the terrain of each part, no country can figure it out, the vast majority of countries are still limited to the understanding within 30 kilometers around the colonies under their control, even in the case of the Tang Empire so important, it can also reach the understanding and mapping within 50 kilometers of the stronghold, more than 50 kilometers away, more rely on some non-standard hand-drawn maps and memories from various expeditions。

There were many reasons that limited the empire's westward and southward expansion, which led to the slow advance of the empire's power in the New World, especially the difficulty of going west deep into the interior, the complex and harsh natural environment was prohibitive, in addition to the hostility and threat of the indigenous population, mosquitoes, predators, and various epidemics were huge enemies. Although the empire has also established some small supply points along the southern coastline, it is still difficult to expand these small supply points into colonies, and it is difficult to maintain such colonies for a long time without the active support of the people, and only relying on the official and semi-official forces of the empire to maintain such colonies. Therefore, the empire has always hoped to develop by attracting immigrants and merchants to these colonies, and at the same time adopt some peaceful ways to attract local indigenous tribes to gradually naturalize into the imperial civilization system, and wait until the number of colonies reaches a certain level, and then gradually spread to those supply points, this infiltration method may be milder but more powerful.

This was a good idea, but there were some difficulties, as the slave traders and mercenaries wanted to use some drastic and illegal means to make more profits, which might make it difficult for the Empire to gain the trust of the natives on this issue, so the Empire was considering other means to restrain the behavior of these slave traders and mercenaries. However, ordinary legitimate merchants were reluctant to open trade routes in these places because of the limited population and long distances of those supply points, which also limited the slow population growth of these supply points to some extent.

"Well, Lord Huo, a fixed price, five thousand gold coins, let's make a deal, to be honest, this map can be regarded as one of our more successful ones, we have marked the situation of one kilometer around the line, of course, some important terrain and landforms, with this map, I believe you can easily find the lake." When the man surnamed Zhou heard that Huo Congrong finally opened his mouth, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly opened his mouth to ask for a price.

Although five thousand gold coins is not a sky-high asking price, it still feels a little too high for Huo Congrong, especially since this guy is just an accessory of their slave trade with the inland, but think about it, if this time gives the other party this sweetness, I am afraid that next time these guys will be more interested, for the current self, it is impossible to ask for some capable people to help him complete the work that should be done by himself.

(To be continued)