Dar es Salaam, 1 February 1865.

Dar es Salaam means "safe port" in Swahili. In later generations, Tanzania was the largest city and port, the national economic and cultural center, an important port in East Africa, and the capital of Dar es Salaam. It is a city along the "Maritime Silk Road". Zheng He, an ancient East Asian kingdom in the Ming Dynasty, once went to the coastal areas here when he went to the West.

At present, the Suez Canal is not open, and Dar es Salaam is a necessary transit point for European ships on their way to Asia, where many merchant ships dock to recuperate and replenish fresh water and supplies.

There were also some Portuguese and Dutch traders who traded here, and the Sultanate of Zanzibar encouraged Arabs to go to the interior of Tanzania to hunt slaves and collect ivory, and also cultivated special products such as cloves, which European traders would bring back to Europe when they returned from Asia to make more profits.

Today the temperature is about 30 degrees, the salty and wet sea breeze blows from the Indian Ocean, the coconut trees sway in the wind, the tide gently laps the white coastal sand, standing on the shore and looking out, a large fleet of ships gradually comes from the sea level.

Flying the Dutch flag, the ship slowly entered the port of Dar es Salaam under the command of the pilot.

A team of more than 2,000 armed men disembarked from the ship and boarded the docks of the harbor, which was the German colonial team hired by the Hashingen Bank.

The team was led by a veteran Prussian officer who had just retired from the Prussian army, many of whom had just participated in the Second Schleswig War.

The lieutenant in the team is a veteran mercenary who has been in the Asian seas for many years, and has been active in the Dutch Far East colonies.

Of course, most of them were unemployed people from all over Germany, who were equipped with second-hand weapons from the Prussian Army, and then sent to Africa for colonization activities.

This colonial group, which was not small and carried "advanced" weapons and equipment, caused panic in the local Sultanate of Zanzibar, and this size of the colonial team was enough to fight a war of annihilation in this era.

The Sultanate of Zanzibar is an authentic Arab country, which is the African part of the Oman Empire, which occupied the East African land with Zanzibar Island as the core during its strong period, and at the same time controlled part of the coastal zone of East Africa, opposite Zanzibar Island is the port of Dar es Salaam, which is also the core ruling area of the Kingdom of Zanzibar.

As the former hegemon of the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar did not deal with Western colonizers, these people were ruthless, Zanzibar had fought with the Portuguese, so after seeing the colonial delegation sent by Heixingen landing at the dock, the Sultan of Zanzibar did not dare to act rashly and sent people to negotiate.

The Europeans of this era naturally looked down on a small country like Zanzibar, and except for Europe, the rest of the world was barbaric and uncivilized in the eyes of Europeans. But when you think of the task assigned by the boss, it's better not to cause trouble.

The representatives of the colonial team accompanied the representatives of Zanzibar to the palace of the Sultan of Zanzibar, and the Sultan set up a banquet to meet the representatives of the colonial team.

"I don't know what to call Your Excellency?" The Sultan of Zanzibar asked.

The leader of the colony team replied: "Your Excellency the Sultan can call me Yarman." ”

"Your Excellency Yarman, are you Dutch? You look a little different from the Dutch. The Sultan of Zanzibar said curiously: "But you came here on a Dutch ship, so I don't know where you came from for a while." ”

"Your Excellency Sultan, we are the Kingdom of Prussia from the great German region, and we have come to your land on a ship from the Netherlands."

Prussia! The Sultan of Zanzibar frowned, the Sultan of German Zanzibar had heard of it, but Prussia did not know much about it, and turned to look at his foreign minister.

When the Foreign Secretary saw the Sultan's instructions, he leaned into the Sultan's ear and whispered: "Your Majesty the Sultan, Prussia is one of the great powers in Europe, and I have heard that they have a strong army in Europe, but I have not heard that Prussia has a navy like Portugal and England, and only a very small number of Prussian merchants can be seen here in normal times. ”

Well, the Sultan understood, the people who came were not ordinary people, and they couldn't be easily offended, after all, the Portuguese were already very strong, and this so-called Prussia was still a European power, and its strength should not be much worse than the Portuguese.

"Then I don't know what you came to Zanzibar for? Zanzibar is a small country with no outstanding resource development. The Sultan of Zanzibar asked.

"Your Excellency Sultan, we Prussians have come in good faith, mainly to carry out agricultural production in Tanganyga, and will not threaten your country's rule in Zanzibar." Head Yarman said.

The Sultan of Zanzibar did not believe the nonsense of the Europeans, and asked cautiously: "The land there in Tanganyiga is not as good as imagined, especially inland, lions and beasts are everywhere, there are more than people, even our country has no way to develop the inland, Your Excellency has come from afar, I am afraid it will be difficult to complete." ”

"Your Excellency Sultan don't worry, I won't tell you, in fact, we are going to develop farms in the interior to grow tobacco and some tropical plants, which are rare in Europe, so we will choose here," explained the head of the Sultan. ”

The Sultan of Zanzibar still asked uneasily: "Although I am not interested in whether your country will develop the interior, but my country also has many interests in the interior, such as the wild men and ivory there, which are impossible for our country to give up, how can you ensure that the interests of the Zanzibari people will not be harmed." ”

"Your Excellency Sultan, I can guarantee that we will not interfere with your country's interests in the interior, and at the same time we can also cooperate and sign an agreement, because we develop the land to drive away the wild beasts and wild people in the interior, although these things have a certain value, our team still can't look down on them, and they can be sold to your country, this time we are only the first batch, and there will be people coming over in the future, so confrontation is a dead end, and both sides of the cooperation have a harmonious future." Yarman's slightly threatening persuasion.

Thinking of the 2,000 "elites" in the port, the Sultan of Zanzibar was alarmed, and said without a trace: "Your Excellency Yarman, the peaceful development of both sides is also the pursuit of our Zanzibaris, but with an army under his nose, I think the king of any country will not be able to sleep!" ”

Seeing the Sultan of Zanzibar, who had already softened, Yarman smiled contemptuously in his heart, and opened his mouth to comfort: "Your Excellency Sultan, rest assured, in order to show sincerity, we can leave in two weeks, and we will not live in Dar es Salaam for a long time, of course, with the support of your country, it can be faster." ”

Such an obvious hint was understood by the Sultan of Zanzibar, and he said boldly: "Your Excellency is polite, we will do our best to help our 'friends'." "But my heart hurts.

Yarman explained: "Your Excellency Sultan doesn't need to be anxious, we just need to build some tools for camping in the wilderness, after all, you can't live in the open air in the wilderness, right? ”

When Zanzibar heard Yarman say this, his heart relaxed, and he hurriedly responded: "Your Excellency Yarman is polite, we can still provide some additional support." ”

Unexpectedly, Yarman received it without hesitation: "There are really other things that need your country's help." ”

"Gan...... If you have something to say, don't say it early! "The Sultan of Zanzibar thought to himself, ready to be blackmailed.

"Our follow-up materials and personnel also need your country's port to help transit, and I hope your country can provide us with convenience."

It turned out that this was the case, the Sultan of Zanzibar had expected that such a large group of people was not moving, and they must need a transportation channel to contact Europe, but for the sake of prudence, the Sultan of Zanzibar still mentioned: "It's okay to borrow a port, we can set aside a piece of land for your country's use through a single door, but your country cannot have troops stationed in the port and in Zanzibar, and the staff of your country in the port cannot carry weapons." ”

Hearing this, Yarman knew that the matter was almost done, but he still bargained: "There is no problem, but the safety of the staff stationed in Hong Kong still needs to be guaranteed, so we will leave an armed group of twenty people to protect the safety of the staff." ”

Hearing that there were only twenty people, the Sultan of Zanzibar agreed, although the Sultanate of Zanzibar is a small country, it still has strength, but it is afraid that it will lose both sides with this group of Prussians, and the Portuguese next to it will be ready to move.

And the conditions put forward by the Prussians are barely acceptable as long as they do not threaten the rule of Zanzibar, after all, the other party's guns are pointed at the door of the head, what else can be done, whether to fight or not, it is Zanzibar that suffers, fortunately, this group of Prussians knows it, otherwise the Sultan of Zanzibar will not let these Prussians enter the interior through Zanzibar.