readx;

"Lord Huo, do you want these mercenaries to work for our navy? It seems that it is still a little too early to explore the west, we are a little weak in the south, if you really have the energy, you might as well let these people go to Assab and help over there. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info "The old sailor, who was dressed in old clothes, kept spewing thick smoke from his nostrils, and he obviously didn't understand Huo Congrong's decision in this regard.

"Mr. Dress, these guys aren't going to Assab, he's not familiar with the situation over there, this is his sphere of activity. What's more, Assab is still unable to provide them with sufficient supplies, even if it is a little difficult to supply the official supplies of our empire, it has been almost a month since the supply ship came from Mangadishu, and I don't know what is wrong, Assab has already sent the last batch of supplies over, it seems that it can support them for a month, you probably don't know how many people this guy Zhou Lao Er has, right? He has nearly 300 men under him in Sabana, and it is said that nearly 200 of his old subordinates who have come to serve him have already sailed from the Empire to Mangadishu, and when these 200 people arrive in Sabana, this guy's men and horses will be more than my troops in Sabana!" Huo Congrong smiled slightly, " Although he was a mercenary leader, he was quite cunning, and as far as I know, he had secret dealings with the chiefs of the two larger tribes in the western interior, and it was rumored that he had even married the daughter of a clan chief, but no one dared to ask him this question. ”

Perhaps because of customs and habits, it is very common for Tang men to marry Indians and other Caucasian people as wives and concubines, but it is extremely rare to marry black people as wives and concubines, one reason is because although black people exist in the empire, they are quite rare, most of them appear as slaves, and the other reason is that Tang men's aesthetics are beautiful with snow white complexion, and black skin color is not very accepted by the people.

"Oh, this guy seems to have some skills, and he can get along with those natives. "The old sailor's disguise was also a member of the Imperial Navy, but he only officially became a member of the Imperial Navy when the East Samoa Navy was incorporated into the Imperial Navy, and the establishment of the Naval Intelligence Agency also recruited him and became a member of the Navy to break new ground in the New World. Dresser is the captain of the Navy's expeditionary mapping vessel "Blue Castle", a medium-sized survey and mapping vessel that has been patrolling back and forth between Sabana and Assab several times, and is one of the Navy's main reconnaissance forces now expanding south with Assab.

"Well, that's the main reason why I want this guy to be our front station, this guy has some mobility in the west, and his methods are not as elaborate and flexible as our regular expedition mapping team. Huo Congrong nodded and said, "What's more, he doesn't need much funding from us, at most it's just some material supplies, the south is certainly the focus of the empire, but sooner or later the west will enter the empire, rather than letting these guys engage in slave trading, it is better to let them work for the empire, as long as it is effective, I believe the empire will not care who does it." ”

"Well, too, the current power of the empire here is too weak, if this situation continues, I am afraid that it will really be like what that guy said, those guys in the Western Continent will take the lead, then we will be too passive. Being able to make the most of these guys is considered to be a good use, and it can be regarded as doing a meritorious thing for them, at least it is much brighter than them doing those things. The old sailor thought for a moment and nodded in agreement with Huo Congrong's opinion.

"Mr. Dress, how is the situation on your side?" finally got to the point, although Huo Congrong is only the deputy division commander of a Marine Division, but he is responsible for the entire expansion and detection work of the entire Imperial Navy, including Sabana, in the area south of Angel Bay, although Dresser is under the direct leadership of the Naval Intelligence Bureau and the Surveying and Mapping Bureau, but due to the special situation of the colony, Huo Congrong also presides over the overall work of the entire southern region of the New World, so Dressy also needs to report to Huo Congrong on the recent progress.

"The situation in the early stage was not very good, and you also know that the weather was too bad in the early stage, and the Blue Castle had to stay in the small harbor of Assab to avoid the wind, and it was only really carried out in the later stage, but this trip we had some breakthroughs, we sailed from Assab along the coastline to the south for nearly four hundred kilometers, and found an island one hundred and twenty miles away from the mainland coastline, the island area is not large, about two hundred square kilometers or less, but we have a surprising discovery on this island. As he said this, Dress's eyes began to shine and a red tide appeared on his face.

"Oh, what discovery?" Huo Congrong realized that he was afraid that there was really a big discovery, and with Dress's calm surname, it was an outlier to have such a performance.

"The island is overgrown with wild lilacs, almost all over the mountains, and my crew and I couldn't believe it, but it's true, and I've brought back some plants to be sent back to the Empire for testing, and if it's all lilacs, the island would be called Lilac Island. Dressy took out two plants from the package beside him and handed them to Huo Congrong.

Huo Congrong was a little surprised, but an island covered with lilacs is undoubtedly a huge discovery for the empire, although it doesn't mean much to the navy itself, but this can be regarded as a credit to the navy, Huo Congrong took the plant and looked at it carefully, and put it on his nose and sniffed it hard, it should be cloves.

"Mr. Dress, I have to congratulate you, this should be cloves, if your discovery is true, I'm afraid that the empire will immediately occupy this island even at the risk of irritating the countries of the Western Continent, this is simply a natural cornucopia, you should know what spices mean to the empire and the western continent, now that the empire controls most of the Meili region, spice production is almost in the hands of the empire, the empire's demand for spices has been soaring, and it can't meet the needs at all, not to mention the need to supply the gap in the growth of the western continent, hehe, maybe you will get medals or even be awarded nobility for this." 。 Huo Congrong's tone was full of envy.

"Hehe, I've already had the nautical chart of that island drawn, and I hope it can bring us a surprise for the empire. Dresser is also very happy, being canonized as a nobleman is a dream that ordinary people can't achieve in a lifetime, Dresser has never had the luxury of expecting, but he has also heard that the person who found the Golden Crown Island has been canonized as a nobleman, if he can really have this kind of good luck, it will be glorious.

"Well, this is a big discovery, I have to report back to the empire as soon as possible, please show it from above, and some opinions from our side also need to be reported to the top, maybe the empire should really change its current strategy. Huo Congrong stood up and pondered, the discovery of Lilac Island might be able to prompt the empire to make this determination.

In fact, in the beginning, the empire has always encouraged both the official and the private to fully participate in the expansion of the colonies in the New World, but in view of the fact that the empire's expansion of the New World has lagged behind, the establishment of the Galyub colony has caused a high degree of vigilance among the countries of the Western Continent, especially after a marine division was stationed in Galyub, which made the countries of the Western Continent begin to pay attention to every move that the Tang Dynasty will make in this new continent。

The subtle change in the attitude of the countries of the Western Continent also made the Empire feel something, before the naval power could not be freely projected to the distant New World, the Empire could not help but take into account the attitude of the countries of the Western Continent, after all, it was much closer to their lair, and the Empire did not have to think about it if it wanted to compete with them there, and knew what the outcome would be.

Therefore, the empire superficially scaled back the official actions, which on the surface at least relieved the countries of the Western Continent. But in fact, the empire's support for civil power has not decreased at all, and even invested more, but the empire's exploration and expansion is not limited to the New World, from the Marvon Islands to the south to the southeast is an important route for the empire's exploration, and the New World is only one of the highlights of the empire's exploration and expansion.

Sorted out a large stack of information and maps in his hand, Wu Feng quite has a sense of satisfaction that the world is in his own hands, the discovery of Lilac Island is a shocking geographical discovery, which means that there may be a possibility of planting spices in the waters around Lilac Island or on the mainland, Meili's spice cultivation has made Meili a rich place in the empire second only to Jiangnan County, and now the growing demand for spices in various parts of the mainland has doubled Meili's value, especially the demand for the empire has almost quadrupled, and the harsh requirements of spice cultivation for hydrothermal climate have been the bottleneck that has plagued the expansion of spice productionThe only way to achieve this bottleneck is to find land that is also suitable for growth, but there are already people in all parts of the Raya continent, and I have not heard of where to grow qualified spice plants.

And now this naval officer of Dressy has found a bright path for the Empire, and the scholars of the Botanical Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Empire have confirmed that it is an authentic lilac plant, and it is exactly the same as the clove produced in Meili in terms of fragrance and color, and its effect, what does it mean, Wu Feng couldn't help but grin when he thought of this.

(To be continued)