The speed of action is very fast, and in just half a day's effort, an armed team of hundreds of people has been assembled, in addition to his own 64 brothers, he also brought in two small mercenary teams, all of whom have been retired veterans who have recently entered the industry.

One is Cao Ruhai, a retired sergeant of the Dragoon Division, nicknamed "Brother Hai", who is 35 years old, has participated in dozens of battles, large and small, and is an adventurous master with a mercenary team of 22 people.

One is Zheng Dongfu, a retired veteran of the Second Division in Kalimantan, known as "Hot Hand Dong", 27 years old, who is also a ruthless man who came to Africa to take risks, with 17 brothers under his command.

The whole team of 101 people, Guoshan Feng took out two Mark heavy machine guns hidden at the bottom of the box, and "Brother Hai" also took out a heavy machine gun to form a fire strike team, which was their killer weapon at the bottom of the box.

A group of more than 100 heavily armed mercenaries, a total of more than 230 mules and horses, carrying a large amount of ammunition, grain, grass and supplies, passed through the Humen Pass early in the morning of the second day, and headed towards the African chieftain's territory.

Out of Humen Pass to the northwest, about 400 kilometers forward to reach the border, a group of horses carrying heavy loads to march, almost 4 days of travel, mainly considering the long-distance march and combat, must take care of horsepower.

Nothing to say all the way

Day 4, Seven Mile Camp

Around 3 p.m

The cavalry and horses who had rushed over all the way saw the spire buildings in the town from a distance, and they couldn't help but burst into cheers.

The mercenaries were understandably happy, and when they got to town, they could eat hot and tasty food, have a drink in the tavern, sleep on a soft bed, and call two girls to accompany them, and relax from the fatigue of the day's journey.

It is not easy to ride a horse for a long time, and the tired body is sore, and the war horse must also be fed some concentrate to facilitate the next battle.

The mercenaries were experienced veterans who would adjust themselves before the war without mobilization, wearing traditional Aussie hats with a wide brim, many wearing cavalry uniforms made of dark gray denim, with shiny revolver bullets stuck in the belt around their waists, and a revolver stuck in a leather belt.

The main weapon is the Mauser Modified Repeating Rifle inserted in the front pocket of the right knee, which has a straight and accurate trajectory, high burst fire, and a longer range than other types of repeating guns, making it a popular weapon for mercenaries.

On the pack horses by their side, the mercenaries also used to carry a secondary weapon to ensure continuous firepower in battle.

Zheng Dongfu looked around the road and could see some black slave laborers working on the plantations, and some locals on horseback watching them from a distance, and did not take the initiative to come forward to greet them, showing full of vigilance.

In the land outside these passes, there are often no people for dozens of miles.

Only close to towns or military forts will large plantations and pastures appear, which is completely different from Kannai.

In this boundless land, people feel very insecure.

He gently glanced at the horse's belly with his foot, and the horse that sat down galloped lightly, came to the position in front of him and pulled the reins of the horse, and said; "Brother Hai, we're almost at the ground, do you have any plans for the next step of this job we take?"

Brother Hai glanced at him, the corners of his mouth twitched as if he wanted to vomit something, and then swallowed it back, but asked dryly; "Rashoudong, what are your statutes?"

"I just want to see if it is possible to open up a trade route this time, the so-called horse has no night grass and no fertilizer, Brother Hai, you have rich experience, and you have been in Humen for more than three years, if it is possible, let's join forces to make a vote."

"Think about it too much, Spicy Dong, can this kind of good thing still come to us?"

"An indigenous kingdom as big as Ethiopia always has some chances."

"Then don't dream, the poor rats here are sad to see, the indigenous chieftain can command the tribe with a piece of animal skin, the soldiers can't even afford Mozambican cotton robes, except for some ivory, nothing else of value, if you want to make a lot of money, you have to go to the Arabian Peninsula."

"Brother Hai, what you said is too mysterious, right?"

"Hey, hey, hey......" Brother Hai laughed twice, without words.

After 15 or 6 years of development, the mercenaries in Somalia have formed a certain rule: big fish eat small fish, small fish eat dried shrimp, heroes are judged by strength, and the sea smuggling routes with rich oil and water are all occupied by big mercenary leaders, and it is not like in the beginning, when you can buy a boat and go to sea to do business, now others can't get involved at all.

Some brave latecomers got a boat and went to sea, but even the corpses were invisible, and they disappeared cleanly.

Small mercenary teams such as "Brother Hai" and "Hot Hand East", except for participating in some tribal clash business in the Arabian Peninsula, other maritime smuggling business is basically impossible.

There were no smuggling routes on land, and the only neighbor was the desperately poor kingdom of Ethiopia, which had nothing but the population and some livestock.

The black trade is now worthless, and now the Citi people don't want it, neither the Arabs, nor the Ocean Kingdom, and now that the French have occupied half of the Kingdom of Madagascar, they have abundant human resources and are not interested in the slave trade.

There are also two Italian-controlled towns along the coast of Eritrea, each with more than 1,000 soldiers and nearly 10,000 immigrants, and have been in operation for more than 20 years.

After the withdrawal, the Italians abandoned more than 10 new towns along the coast, and their power shrank dramatically, almost losing a large part of the Ethiopian land they had occupied.

However, the two traditional Italian towns on the Red Sea coast were not abandoned, and the defense was strengthened to a certain extent, and the Italian navy stationed a small fleet of light cruisers here, ready to provide artillery support from the sea.

generally speaking

The supplies needed by these two Italian towns can be purchased openly in Humen or Xi'an, and it is basically not the turn of a small mercenary team to intervene.

Last year, the Kingdom of Ethiopia once gathered an army of more than 30,000 people to besiege an Italian town, but because there was no siege artillery, it was not defeated for more than 40 days, but suffered seven or eight thousand casualties.

Since then, the two sides have formed a tacit understanding to take a step back.

With the current trade situation in Northeast Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt's Suez Canal Zone, Italians or ordinary people in European trade are not involved, and there is a deep water in this.

This is the reason why "Brother Hai" is not interested in the proposal of "Spicy Handdong".

Seeing that they were about to enter the town of Qiliying, five or six armed mounted policemen and some armed militiamen appeared at the entrance of the town.

In the Somali state, the face of the Chinese mercenary is the best pass, which no one else can pretend, but the white mercenary will be highly valued, and will often be repeatedly interrogated, as for the black one, it is impossible.

There is not a single black mercenary in the whole of Humen and Xi'an, let alone a black arm, so don't even think about it.

The RCMP shouted a few words at the mercenary procession, which was nothing more than a cliché reminder that illegal use of force is not allowed in the town, guns are not allowed, drunken spilling is strictly prohibited, and so on.

The RCMP said that there was a strange cry from the mercenary team, and they rode into the town with a giggling horse, making a lot of noise, attracting many onlookers from the local town.

Qiliying was originally a town built by Italians, except for a few stone buildings such as churches and town offices, most of the buildings in the town were civil buildings, and there were about 3,000 residents in the surrounding area, less than half of the town.

A mercenary team of more than 100 people arrived here, making the town suddenly lively.

The mayor of the town was a middle-aged man of nearly 40 years, named Yu Agen, who was originally a retired sergeant of the African expeditionary team, who owned a large pasture in the countryside, he was very fat and very rich, wearing a neat tweed suit, and the gold chain of the pocket watch hung diagonally on the upper pocket, and he was greeted by several squires of the town.

The two sides sat down in the town's teahouse and talked about the current situation.

According to Mayor Yu Agen's description;

It was indeed the Duke of Enfield's men who harassed the vicinity, and it was probably a scattered tribe of them, about fourteen or five hundred people, who moved to the valley more than 30 kilometers away, engaged in activities such as grazing and picking bananas and wild fruits.

It's hard to say whether they did the plantation tragedy, and there's no way to investigate it.

After the tragedy, the town was ordered to send personnel to the Duke of Enfield's residence to send a serious protest note, threatening to solve it by force, and the other party promised to investigate the matter thoroughly, but there was no movement.

The efficiency of Uncle Africa's black work cannot be counted on at all, they basically agree verbally and it is equivalent to doing it, maybe they forget it as soon as they turn their faces, and they can't see the following at all.

The mercenary leader is not the police, and he does not need to investigate, let alone evidence, but tells the other party directly by force;

In this land of Northeast Africa, it is a brutal fact that the weak provoke the strong at a terrible price.

Mayor Yu Agen exchanged his gaze with several gentry in the town, and then said to the mountain wind; "Brother Feng, we know that you are a guy sent by the lord, and you will go back after finishing your errands, more than a dozen plantation owners in our town have discussed, and are ready to come up with a sum of money to ask you to drive these African indigenous tribes away for me, and drive them as far away as possible."

"The farther away the better? The meaning is too vague, 30 km, 50 km or how much? ”

"At least fifty or sixty kilometers away."

"How much can you come up with?" Guo Shanfeng asked with interest, he didn't mind making another sum of money by the way.

Mercenaries.,That's what they do.。。

"Twenty thousand yuan, we made up twenty thousand oceans, what do you think?" Mayor Yu Agen replied.

20,000 oceans is 20,000 silver oceans, a piece of silver in the ocean kingdom is worth equivalent to a German mark, and 20,000 silver oceans are worth 1,000 pounds, which is not a lot of money.

Guoshan Feng frowned when he heard this, looked at Brother Hai and Spicy Dong quietly, and then replied; "Although it is said that no matter how few mosquito legs are meat, but you are too thin, my mercenary team of more than 100 people will have to work hard, so let's take 40,000 yuan out, and I will take this job."

Forty thousand?

Mayor Yu Agen looked at the squire beside him with a somewhat embarrassed expression, thought about it and said; "You see if this will work, we will try to make up 40,000 yuan for you, but you must bring us at least 200 sturdy black captives, and we will pay 60 yuan per person for the extra ......"

"100 bucks."

"70, no more, indigenous slave labor is not worth much."

"80, it's too little and not enough for the brothers' horse fodder's money, it's not worth the expense, let's make some money."

"Okay, then it's a deal."

The two negotiated this deal, and the atmosphere became harmonious, which was just a small episode in the wild area outside the Guanwai, and everyone was accustomed to it.

The repeated orders of the Ocean Kingdom not to allow the use of slaves were enforced very well in mainland Australia and Shangri-La and Borneo, and it cannot be said that it was completely eliminated, at least not on the surface.

But in Africa, the ban has been less than well enforced.

The use of indigenous slave labor in pastures is still relatively low, but the use of indigenous slave labor in plantations and various projects is still very common, but it is only covered up in the name of hired labor, and there is a lack of enforcement in various places.

It has been more than 10 years since the colonization of Africa, and the number of black people in Somalia has dropped sharply from more than 300,000 to less than 80,000, and the black indigenous population in Mozambique has increased from more than one million to 3560,000 today, showing a steep downward trend.

In addition to the export of foreign labor services and high-intensity forced labor, it is also due to the separation system of men and women of the local indigenous population, without a family, there will naturally be no offspring, there is a clear generational disconnection, the local indigenous youth is very few, and most of the local indigenous people are already in their thirties and forties.

In this day and age

The lifespan of the indigenous population in Africa is generally in the thirties and forties, and the population will decline significantly in the coming years after experiencing natural aging.

This has caused a shortage of local plantation labor, and a large number of Chinese immigrants must be introduced to supplement the Guannai area, and the import of indigenous black slave labor is never allowed, at least in Humen Pass.

The state government can turn a blind eye to the existing indigenous slave labor, but it will never allow the introduction of new indigenous slave labor, which will squeeze out the job opportunities of Chinese immigrants, so they will be found to be punished for bankruptcy.

In the case of foreign customs, the policy is much more relaxed, and the supervision is not in place, and the squires such as Yu Agen, the mayor of the town, are all making a lot of money, and they are playing the edge ball of the policy, using cheap indigenous slave labor to reclaim and cultivate the land and earn high profits.

Without such convenience, how could they be willing to stay in the dangerous area outside the Kansai?

But it wasn't a matter of passing the hills, he could get enough native slave labor for the plantation owner if he needed it.

For mercenaries, it's just a business.