After being fooled into the African expedition by Lieutenant Colonel Li Xiaopeng (in 1884), Lieutenant Li Yong broke into a new situation in Somalia, a barren land in Africa, by punching and kicking.

In the vast Arabian Peninsula and the fertile valley of the Two Rivers, Li Yong's name may not be known to most locals, but when it comes to the famous "African Lion King" who spread fear and war, almost everyone knows it, and it is a household name.

He is a legendary king of smugglers in the Gulf of Aden, the king of mercenaries, and the largest human trafficker in West Asia.

He sold more than 33,000 Arab women, most of whom were sold to the farther South Pacific and Australia in their lives, except for a small number of them to the Suez Canal Zone.

years

By co-opting influential local families in the Kingdom of Iran and the Ottoman Empire, Li Yong weaved a vast network of smuggling trade that stretched across the entire Persian River basin and even as far as Lebanon, thus earning a huge fortune.

The smuggling business is the money-making tool of the "African Lion King", and the murderous mercenary team that intervenes in the tribal wars in West Asia is the sharp blade in his hand, which has won him a huge reputation that can stop children crying at night, and the limelight is extremely prosperous.

In fact, the number of mercenaries under Li Yong is not large, and there are no 700 people in total, more than 70% of them are armed in the smuggling fleet, and there are only more than 200 elite mercenaries who can be used at any time.

Private mercenary groups do not raise idlers, a turnip and a pit.

The great reputation of the "African Lion King" is more due to the mercenary team in Xi'an Town, because the name of the "African Lion King" is loud enough and the prestige is high enough, and the price can always be two or three percent higher when negotiating with local Arab tribal employers under his banner.

Over time, everyone has formed a habit.

Li Yong also didn't mind that the mercenary team in Xi'an Town would fight under his banner, because he could enjoy a 10% war dividend, which was a customary rule.

Late at night

Ed Town

The town's captive dog suddenly barked, instantly reviving the sleeping African town, and a squad of cavalry in the town quickly rushed into the night and searched ahead.

From this, it can be seen that the combat readiness of the town is quite high and the response is very fast.

It didn't take long

The cavalry squad in Ed Town had returned quickly, and the team members shouted; "Yong Ye is here, Yong Ye is here...... Yong Ye brought his brothers to reinforcements, and everyone got up to make a fire to cook, and went out to welcome Yong Ye to arrive. ”

The sleepy town was lit up one by one, and soon it became a galaxy, and the people of the town came out of their homes, and laughter and laughter followed.

A bonfire was lit by the small bridge at the entrance of Ed Town, and the bright flames illuminated the surrounding area of more than 100 meters, and a large number of horse teams appeared in the dark, which was a team of thousands of people who set off in Xi'an Town in the morning, and traveled more than 280 kilometers to arrive here.

When the weary cavalry entered the town, they unsaddled the Arab horses that were seated, covered them with thin blankets by the light of torches, and waited for the horses to drink some water and feed them soybean meal, a concentrate with eggs.

The cavalrymen had to take time to eat a few mouthfuls of the dry rations they had brought with them, and after serving the horses, one by one they lay down in the haystack on the edge of the stable, and fell asleep, and they were too tired after a long journey of more than ten hours.

Li Yong rode to the gate of a large mansion in the town, where Major Mo Zhenxiong (militia reserve) had already been waiting for him, and when he saw this, he stepped forward and said; "Master Yong, I'm looking forward to you!"

"How's it going...... Did the Italians make any moves? Li Yong climbed down from the horse with some bared teeth, and his body couldn't help shaking because his legs were numb, and several strong men next to him hurriedly supported him.

"Not yet, but there is a regiment of Italian soldiers stationed in a river valley more than 10 kilometers away, and it seems that they have bad intentions and want to attack us."

"Ignore him first, I'm so tired, I'll talk about big things after I sleep, since I brought people over, these Italians can't turn the sky." Li Yong waved his hand to the people around him, stood up straight, and then explained; "First of all, the people I brought are settled, arrange for people to prepare enough concentrate for the horses to feed, and get some hot food to deal with, the irrelevant personnel are scattered, how can Lao Tzu be in the mood to deal with them now?"

"If you know Yongye, I'll do it right away."

Major Mo Zhenxiong was very bold and shouted to his subordinates to act separately, and first took care of these tired cavalrymen, especially the long-distance war horses were sweating a lot, and they must prevent them from catching a cold at night, and they must immediately feed concentrate to prevent fat loss.

You must know that Ed Town is located in the plateau mountainous area, the average annual temperature is less than 16 degrees, and now the night is only about ten degrees, the mountain wind blows that is very cool, and the pores of the Arabian horse that have run for more than ten hours are open, and it is easy to get sick under the cold wind at night.

Today's Xi'an City is different from the past, a huge horse team of more than 10,000 people can be assembled at the first order, and all of them are excellent Arab war horses.

Because the bulk of smuggled goods are women and Arabian horses (including Persian horses), as the smuggling center of the entire Arabian Peninsula and the two river basins, Xi'an will certainly not lack these things.

There are already no less than 20 sizable horse farms here, bred in captivity and bred with excellent Arabian horses, which are also the favorite of mercenaries.

It is precisely because of the need for a vast and excellent horse farm that Xi'an will continue to expand to the Eritrean region, compared with the surrounding Somali region full of Gobi and yellow sand, the mountainous areas of the Eritrean plateau with abundant water and grass are very attractive, and it is the only direction for the expansion of Chinese immigrants in the Djibuti region.

It is not only the need to develop farming, but also the need to develop excellent pastures, and it is also the need to expand the living space.

In the town's mansion

Li Yong fell asleep this time, and did not wake up hungry until dusk the next day.

He was trapped in a soft and comfortable lionskin mattress, opened his eyes and stretched lazily and lazily, revealing his bare strong arms, and two naked Arab beautiful girls on the left and right beside him were clinging to the warm bed, and when he saw Li Yong wake up, he hurriedly called for someone.

Several Arab maids came in with brass-gilded utensils, including gold basins, gold bowls, gold pots, gold combs, and ivory toothbrushes, and sat along the side of the large bed.

"Okay, get up, Lao Tzu is hungry and has no time to train you." Li Yong stretched out his big hand and patted his smooth and white buttocks, then sat up from the lionskin mattress bed, and began to wash up naked.

In the large wooden barrel of the outer room, the Arab maid was pouring buckets of hot water into it, then sprinkled with flower petals and essences, and set the temperature of the bath water to the right for the lord's use.

Li Yong brushed his teeth, casually threw the ivory toothbrush on the tray, picked up the golden bowl with lemonade (the outer layer is gilded) and rinsed his mouth, turned his head and spit in the gold basin, then picked up the white towel and wiped it before saying; "Don't fix those useless things, hurry up and ask the kitchen to get me something to eat, roast mutton or something, or if the heat is steamed, Lao Tzu will faint in the bathtub."

The old man's words were orders, and the Arab maids who served and washed left one after another, and soon, the maids with all kinds of food and melons and fruits on the tray came in again, serving Li Yong while taking a comfortable bath, while feasting, filling his belly with delicacies.

So-called; Full of warmth**, hunger and cold steal hearts.

Soon the room resounded with the sound of splashing water, and the delicate panting and moaning of the Arabian beauties, like rain hitting plantains......

After a long time

That night, Li Yongcai walked out of the gate of the inner house refreshed, slipped around the courtyard outside, and saw that all the elite subordinates were alive and full of blood, and then came back satisfied.

Major Mo Zhenxiong had just returned from an inspection outside the town, and when he saw Li Yong coming forward and saluting, he said; "Master Yong, I see that your spirit is not an ordinary foot!"

"Hehehe...... Brother Zhenxiong, I can't stop me for hundreds of miles, it's a trivial matter! What do you think...... How has the situation changed outside the town? ”

"According to the report of the cavalry observation post, today another team of logistics supplies arrived at the Italian garrison in the valley, about 200 mules and horses, mainly food, weapons and ammunition, and the observation post also found field artillery, the specific caliber has not yet been figured out, but there are 6 artillery pieces in sight, these Italians do not stop!"

"Hmph, a bunch of underwhelmed goods, let's go, follow me to inspect outside the town." Li Yong snorted coldly, took the whip handed by his entourage, turned over and got on his horse, and rode out with more than a hundred elite mercenaries around him.

The sound of horses' hooves swept across the town's dirt roads, shaking the wooden houses and leaving a cloud of dust.

Standing on the hill, Li Yong took the copper telescope telescope and looked into the distance, carefully observing the layout of the Italian camp in the valley, looking solemn.

In this valley

There were neatly arranged gray-brown military tents, row after row, roughly counting, almost more than 400, according to the calculation of 10 to 12 people in each tent, almost 5,000 people.

Li Yong has an urge to scold, is this a special group?

"Master Yong, according to our observations in recent days, the camp accommodation of these Italians is relatively relaxed, there are 7 to 8 people in one tent, and some tents store ammunition and food, so the number of troops is about 3,000 people, if you add this supply horse team, it is about 3,300 to 3,400 people, about six artillery pieces, more than ten heavy machine guns, such a firepower attack ability is quite strong."

"Well, it looks like the equipment is good, the logistics supply is sufficient, and the morale of the soldiers is relatively high, so I don't know how it will really be fought?"

"Master Yong, I think they are very tricky enemies, if they are hard to touch, there may be heavy casualties, the British envoy is already on the way, I hope the Italians can keep their senses, if the situation deteriorates~ I think it is the best policy to avoid the edge for the time being."

"That's what the Italians think, and he wants us to back down." The corners of Li Yong's mouth showed a hint of mockery, and he continued with a cold expression; "I don't care how glamorous they look, it's not like we haven't fought the Dutch, and the Ottomans have been flattened by us I don't know how many times, as the old saying goes...... Just say that you don't practice fake tricks, it's a mule or a horse that comes out to slip around. ”

Mo Zhenxiong turned his head to look at Li Yong, and when he saw his confident appearance, he could only spread his hands helplessly and replied; "Okay, you're the boss, you have the final say."