Sending Chinese immigrants to the new colonies of Eritrea will not consider the North American mainland of the Tang Empire, which is really too far away. It almost circles most of the world, and the cost is extremely staggering.

This transoceanic expedition to Egypt was carried out in a number of cost-saving ways. The entire expedition still cost 130 million Tang Yuan, almost eating up the financial surplus of the imperial government for several years, and owed tens of millions.

Among them, huge transportation costs account for the lion's share.

The more cost-effective immigration method is to recruit immigrants from Paradise Province, Lan Fang Country or overseas Chinese living in Indochina Peninsula, and the voyage can be shortened to 8,000~11,000 kilometers (Note; different ports of departure), thus saving a lot of immigration costs and compressing the price of the ferry ticket to an acceptable level.

Another way is to operate Eurasian flights on cargo ships, which need to be converted into special cabins to carry migrants. Compared with the special large-scale migrant ships, the environment is cramped, the riding experience is poor, and the food security is not in place, resulting in a high mortality rate of migrants.

The only good thing is that the ticket price is low, and many Chinese with empty pockets are willing to take the risk.

The Tang Empire, which has risen in North America in the current era, has greatly improved the situation of overseas Chinese and established a strong and difficult image to mess with.

In the colonies of old powers such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands, they can enjoy the same higher treatment as whites, which is not easy, reflecting the real international status of the Tang Empire.

Three months later

April 17, 1872

Dressed in red and green, the port of Massawa ushered in a grand opening ceremony of the pier and the new naming of the city, and the builders beat gongs and drums to celebrate this grand day with traditional Chinese festival ceremonies.

There is a tall steam loading and unloading machine standing on the wide and flat wharf, which adopts steam-powered winch steel cable, which can lift large goods to the wharf, which greatly enhances the port's ability to handle goods.

The freighters that followed the expeditionary force to the Gulf had already unloaded all kinds of large equipment, and some rice mills, oil mills, sawmills, flour mills, and food factories were put into production or were in the process of commissioning their equipment, and the progress was quite gratifying.

The cement plant, which is the most technically difficult, is also in the equipment installation stage and is expected to be put into trial production at the end of the year to solve the current shortage of building materials.

The 5,500-ton French freighter Tritlan, carrying thousands of tons of cement and steel, arrived in the bay at the wharf, which is the most striking example of the economic development driven by the construction of the city and port of Massawa.

Mediterranean trade can easily reach the Red Sea port of Massava by crossing the Suez Canal, and it only takes 10 days to sail from the French port of Toulouse.

A straight trestle bridge is about 162 meters long and 20.5 meters wide and extends into the bay, which can berth 10,000-ton ships with a draft of up to 13 meters nearby, making Massawa Port a modern port with international advanced level.

In the heart of the port, in addition to rows of tall warehouses under construction, large areas of flat land are paved with gravel, which is an open-air cargo yard.

From the pier to the city more than ten kilometers away, there is a straight gravel boulevard, with street trees transplanted on both sides of the road, and bridges built across the stream, revealing the smell of heavy investment inside and out.

In the distance of sight, hundreds of houses have risen from the ground, forming a large-scale city, creating a city almost out of thin air.

All that remains is to continue to build, expand the size and population of the city, and a bright star city on the Red Sea will be born.

The road from Massawa to the city in the clouds on the plateau is much more shabby, a 6-metre-wide dirt road with no shady street trees, no gutters and no milestones on either side of the road.

It's just that every once in a while or when you encounter a fork in the road, you will have one or several signboards nailed to the big trees on the side of the road to indicate the way to a certain township.

The scale of the city began to take shape, and agricultural advance teams were dispatched one after another, dividing the acres and starting to collectively reclaim the land. It is mainly in the eastern part of Massawa and the surrounding areas of Cloudsdale City, and the number of Chinese immigrants has accounted for more than one-third.

More than 30 villages and towns have been built one after another, cattle and sheep wheat seeds have also been distributed, and the fast action has planted wheat seedlings, and the first crop of grain, melons and fruits can be harvested before the rainy season at the end of the year, and considerable reclamation achievements have been seen.

In order to divert water from the river for irrigation, various agricultural advance teams are concentrating on the construction of windmills.

Tall windmills have been erected one after another, which can not only divert water for irrigation, but also press oil and grind flour, and can also thresh rice, which is a very important agricultural production facility in the village, and has become a unique and beautiful landscape in this area.

On the wharf, a lantern booth was set up to worship the three animals of heaven and earth and the incense and candle gods, and the surrounding gongs and drummers and dragon and lion dancers were already ready, and they were isolated from the circle by heavily armed soldiers.

Inside the circle were the Imperial Expeditionary Force and high-ranking government officials, who had come to greet His Royal Highness Don Leesin, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, who had just arrived aboard the armored cruiser "Vicious Wind".

The armored cruiser "Evil Wind" slowly approached the dock, and the mighty sailors stood along the sides of the hull, and when His Royal Highness Don Leesin, the commander-in-chief, appeared on the cruiser's deck, the pier instantly burst into firecrackers and cheers.

The gong and drum team played a cheerful gong and drum, and the lion and dragon dance team followed closely to start a lively performance......

"After a long time, Brother Daqing has already made a huge scene here, and he really deserves to be the mainstay!" His Royal Highness Don Leeshin took in everything in the bay, and his eyes could not hide his appreciation, and he waved frequently to the welcoming crowd and high-ranking officials on the shore.

All the feats made by Colonel Liu Daqing are the result of the strategy of the commander-in-chief.

Major General Fan Pengfei and Brigadier General Zheng Huaishan looked at each other and smiled, and then said playfully; "His Highness has a lot of talents in his hands, so that the expeditionary force is thriving today. Whether it is Suez City, Sana'a City, or Massawa, now the three cities of the Red Sea are under the control of our expeditionary force! It is true that it is inseparable from His Royal Highness's central scheduling, and he is always in charge of the overall situation! ”

"Hahahaha...... I just followed in the glorious footsteps of my father and did a little thing, which is not enough to worry about. ”

"Your Highness raised tens of thousands of troops to crusade against the unsubordinate, raise the country's prestige beyond the waves of a foreign land, and boost the ambition of the empire, isn't this a trivial matter?"

"That's also the help of my colleagues, how can I live alone?" His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin was full of red light at this moment, and he walked down the gangway in high spirits.

After the bloody slaughter of Sana'a and Suez by the imperial expeditionary army, it greatly shocked the Egyptian government and opposition, and Ismail Pasha, who had always been pro-European, had to bow his head, admit defeat, and beg the British to mediate peace.

Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Najd, Jordan, Lebanon and other regions of the Near East and North Africa have historically been invaded by powers, from the Carthaginian Empire to 11 Crusades in Europe, from the Arab Empire to the Ottoman Empire. Historically, they have been bullied by foreign races, and obedience has become a habitual action.

In the peace talks that followed, the Tang Empire directly threw out more than a dozen peace treaties with its usual strength, the most important of which was the "Tang Ey-Cairo Treaty" signed on March 28, 1872 after repeated negotiations.

The Don E Cairo Contract has several main provisions;

The first is that Egypt admits defeat in the war, opens up Suez City and the surrounding area as the garrison of the Tang Empire as compensation, and sets up a total of 11 military bases for the Royal Army and the Royal Sea, which enjoy exclusive garrison rights.

Article 2 is that the Egyptian government shall not interfere in the civil and economic affairs of Suez City and the surrounding areas, and the area shall be set up as an exclusive concession of the Tang Dynasty and enjoy the right of independent economy, trade and public security.

The third is that Ismail Pasha solemnly apologized to the Tang Empire for his previous insults, and compensated the seized ships for the loss of 1.1 million Tang Yuan.

The fourth is that Egypt will pay 21 million Tang Yuan in war compensation, which will be repaid over 20 years, with an average annual interest of 4.9%, and will be pledged by the customs revenue of Suez City.

Article 5 is Egypt's commitment that the subjects of the Tang Empire will enjoy fair property ownership, business, study tours and other civil rights, as well as consular jurisdiction and other preferential rights and interests.

Article 6, Datang and Egypt will sign a series of commercial, financial, cultural and military cooperation agreements to expand and deepen cooperation between the two......

In addition to this, a series of other contracts were signed, and the Tang Empire finally had one foot firmly in the Middle East and took root here.

In the negotiation process

The British and French once united to oppose the Tang Empire's garrison plan, shouting that "force will not be used if necessary", "the Suez Canal cannot be accepted", "keeping the canal open is the minimum demand", and so on, creating a lot of pressure for peace talks.

However, the Tang Empire adhered to its usual hard-line style, and at the same time made practical troop increases, threatening to attack Cairo and other important core cities, and finally achieved most of the goals that met expectations without danger.

The biggest regret is that there are few war reparations, but for a poor agricultural area like Egypt, there is really not much oil and water.

In fact, the Tang Empire did not lose either.

He received a huge war reparation of 21 million Tang Yuan for 20 years, with an annual interest rate of 4.9%, and the total amount of principal and interest payments at maturity was to be doubled.

After the bloody massacre of Sana'a and Suez II, the Imperial Expeditionary Force plundered 50,000 or 60,000 young Arab women, and collected 27,000 horses, more than 8,000 cattle and hundreds of thousands of sheep, as well as a large amount of grain, oil and wealth accumulated in the region for hundreds of years, which is a staggering amount of wealth.

The combination of these Arab female populations, as well as expeditionary force soldiers and Chinese immigrants, was able to reproduce rapidly and stabilize the overall social fabric of the Eritrean colony, which was of considerable significance.

Not to mention the vast land area of the colonial area and the concession area, which will become a new paradise for Chinese immigrants in the future. New cities, villages and towns have sprung up one after another, and huge war investments have been transformed into major strategic and geopolitical advantages.