Hans Barker spat out the last puff of smoke and threw the handle into the sand beside him, and a dry breeze blew through it, and it quickly burned out.

Feeling a little dry in his throat, Hans Barker opened the kettle and took another sip of water to moisten his throat.

After about four or five minutes, everyone began to get up and pack their equipment, re-mount the saddle on the camel's back, and continue the boring patrol road.

Camel dromedaries in the East African colonies, mainly found in the Middle East and North Africa, dromedaries are the most adapted to desert environments, especially tropical deserts, and can go months without drinking water (mainly from plants), even if they do not eat or drink, they can last for a week.

Bactrian camels, on the other hand, are mainly found in the Far East and Central Asia, where they are suitable for deserts, Gobi and steppees, and are more cold-tolerant than dromedary camels.

The Bactrian camel is suitable for heavy loads and has good endurance, while the dromedary camel is suitable for riding and running faster.

……

"Captain, look ahead, is that someone moving!" Heinz said to Hans Barker.

Not long after walking, Heinz saw a moving black line appear in the sea of sand.

Hans Barker followed the squint of Heinz and looked closely, only to see a black western front in the desert in the distance in front of him slowly moving towards Kenya.

Hans Barker picked up the telescope under him, put it in front of him, and the distant scene was immediately oversized, and when he looked closely, it was indeed a group of people dressed in Arabs who were crossing the line.

"Brothers, get ready for battle and take out all your guns." Hans Barker ordered.

The atmosphere of the whole team became tense in an instant, and everyone took off the guns behind them, untied the wrapped gauze, and held them in front of them.

Hans Buck drove the camels and trotted with his troops in the direction of the Arabs, and chased them.

"Stop! What do you do? Hans Buck stopped in front of the Arabs and asked the Arabs?

There are Arabs and blacks in Somalia, and if it were a black Hans Buck, he would not be so polite, and he usually fired a warning shot to deter him first.

But the Arabs are different, the Arabs are mainly engaged in business activities in Africa, and East Africa itself does business with the Arabs, so the attitude towards the Arabs is quite friendly.

Even if it was the Sultanate of Zanzibar, there was a little "small friction" between the two sides, and Ernst did not say that it would be wiped out, but only left Zanzibar Island to be inhabited by the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which is the core of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which is interesting enough.

Hearing Hans Barker's inquiry, the Arabs were confused, after all, the language barrier was not understood.

Heinz stepped forward and repeated Hans Barker's words in Arabic.

These Arabs understood that Heinz had previously worked in Dar es Salaam, so he knew some Arabic and Swahili.

"Friend, we are an Arab caravan, we want to go to the south to trade, I don't know what your power is?" The leader of the Arab caravan said to Hans Barker.

Unlike the natives of the interior of Africa, the Arabs have seen the world, especially these Arab merchants who are traveling around, and naturally know the real guys in the hands of Hans Buck and his party, so they are more respectful.

"We are a patrol of the East African royal territory in Heixingen, and we are ordered to patrol the territory here to prevent anyone from crossing the border." Hans Buck said.

"Heixingen East African royal territory? I don't know if you are the country that borders the Sultanate of Zanzibar to the south. The Arab merchant asked.

"That's right, now tell me where you're going? Let's do something! Hans Buck asked.

After determining the identity of the other party, the Arab merchants became more respectful, the Arab countries have been weakened so much in recent years, even the Ottoman Empire itself is difficult to protect, and the Indian Ocean is about to become a bathtub for European countries.

The Arab merchant replied: "My name is Aikalam, and I am the head of this caravan, and we have traveled from the city of Hama (Mogadishu) to the south to trade with the tribes, mainly to buy some medicinal herbs and other special products. ”

"I see!" Hans Barker was relieved, and he said to Eklam, "You don't have to go any further south! ”

"The south is already the land of the East African royal territory of Heixingen, and the tribes there still exist, and now it is unknown, you still say that you should go back early, maybe you can recover some losses."

"Your Excellency, why do you say that?" Akalam inquired about Hans Buck.

"Now, the whole of the south is under our rule, and all outside forces, including natives, merchants and tribes, are not allowed to enter, this is an order issued by the colonial government of East Africa, and you can also bring news to others when you go back, so that they don't have to come here." Hans Buck said.

Hearing this, Aikamu was a little anxious, he couldn't do a business today, he could still bear it, after all, he didn't go for a few days, if he didn't have a business to do in the future, wouldn't he lose his job!

Ai Kalam was impatient in his heart, but he still said with a pleasant face: "Your Excellency, sir, we are all doing some small business, and we all rely on this trade route to support our families!" How can we survive if you cut off the trade routes! ”

Who cares if you live or die, just as Hans Buck was about to forcibly drive the group away, Heinz came to Hans Buck and whispered a few words in his ear.

"How did I forget about this in my brain!" Hans Barker exclaimed.

"Okay, don't worry, don't cry here. Who's that? Aikalam is it! Do you know this place in Ras Campoli (the southernmost town in Somalia)? Hans Barker said.

"Your Excellency, are you talking about a village on the eastern coast?" Akalam said uncertainly.

"Yes, that's it, that village, you walk a few miles south along the coastline and you'll see a trading market, if you want to get your goods, go there!" Hans Buck said.

Aikalam was still a little embarrassed: "But, sir, this requires a big detour, and I don't know if there are any goods we need in that place!" ”

"You don't have to worry about this, most of the products you can see in the south are there, of course, I don't guarantee this kind of medicinal materials, but at least let you pull some goods back, and it's good to return to the original." Hans Buck said.

Needless to say, this Las Campoli market is a trading place of the same nature as the Dar es Salaam slave market.

The slave market does not necessarily have slaves, but can also have advent goods such as ivory, sisal, and even black roots......

Of course, the Lascanpoli trading market is certainly not a slave market, the East African colonies are still more righteous, and the Zanzibar Sultanate was beaten violently, Ernst was a little embarrassed, in order to appease (to alleviate the resistance of the Zanzibar Sultanate to the cession of territory), the East African colonies packaged the slave business to the Zanzibar Sultanate.

In other words, the Sultanate of Zanzibar was the sole seller of slaves in the East African colonies, and it was a monopoly on the sale.

At present, the Sultanate of Zanzibar is very satisfied with this

"Besides, if you go south now, you may not be able to see those tribes and villages, so it's better to trade in Lascanpoli!" Hans Barker and Aikam hinted.

At this point, Aikalam finally understood the hidden message in Hans Barker's previous words, when they first met, Hans Buck said that the existence of the southern tribes is a problem, and now it can be emphasized again, isn't this a clear indication of what is being done?

As a businessman, Aikam has traveled from south to north, and has a very wide range of knowledge, the westernmost to Liberia in North Africa, the easternmost to Damascus, and the southernmost to some parts of Kenya, and has seen a lot of all kinds of things.

In this area, there are many disputes between Arabs and Westerners, Arabs and natives, indigenous tribes and indigenous tribes.

Now that there is a new player in East Africa, and the strength is good, it seems that this business will not be able to be done, so you can only go to Lascanpole, which is in the mouth of the Black Singen forces, to try your luck.

Lascampoli is a transliterated place name and an important stop on many trade routes, so for Aikalam, who has been trading in this area all year round, he knows where it is when he hears Lascanpori, although the accent they speak is very inaccurate.

"Thank you for the reminder, let's try our luck east in Lascanpoli." Akalam said to Hans Barker and the others.

"Also, you should try to walk as far north as possible to the desert, and don't run into our people, in case the officers of the next team are not as good as me, you know!" Hans Barker emphasized.

"Thank you, thank you!" This time, Aikalam thanked Hans Barker from the bottom of his heart, which was life-saving information.

Afterwards, the two teams separated, and the desperate Aikalam naturally retreated a long way to the north before continuing to turn east, heading towards Lascampoli.

Hans Barker and the others continued westward towards Divo (the name of the stronghold).

……

Four days later.

"This is the Lascanpoli market, and it looks pretty good!" Aikalam said.

The Las Campoli trading market, set up by the colonial government of East Africa, is not far south of the original village of Las Campoli.

Akkam observed that some Arab merchants had already started to do business in the area, and they were all Arab merchants who had been persuaded to come here like Akkam.

The market is managed by the same force called Hexingen, which is patrolled by armed men, and is dressed in the same way as Hans Barker and his party that they saw on the road that day.

The colonial government of East Africa specially prepared many characteristic products, such as ivory and cloves, sisal weaving, grains and European industrial products.

After tying up the camels, Aikalam led the people to the market.

"Well, the quality of this braid is good!" Aikamu held the sackcloth produced by Tanga in his hand and thought in his mind.

He dragged the sample with his hand, it was quite strong, and this kind of fabric of good quality and cheap was also very marketable to the ordinary people of Somalia.

Aikara wood is mainly interested in the quality of sisal cloth, and wants to use this cloth as a material to process some living utensils, such as carpets and utensils, which can be added as decoration, or save costs, anyway, the price is not expensive.

The main market in Lascanpoli is some raw materials, such as raw ivory, animal skins, hemp rope, linen, logs, grain, etc., except for most of the ivory that Somalia and North Africa need, of course, the ivory is also very profitable.

Unfortunately, the number of Arab traders currently trading in the market at Lascampoli is too small, and many of the products used to trade are not available, such as table salt, which is a necessity for many indigenous peoples.

East African salt is mainly divided into two parts, one is the salt field built after the coastal zone is obtained, and the other part is imported from Germany, Germany is an important salt exporter in Europe, especially from the port of Hamburg can pull a large number of East Africa to solve the problem of salt in East Africa, the quality is good.

Of course, the Arab currency is still acceptable, and as for some gadgets used to deceive the natives, the East African colonies naturally do not look down on it.

Many of the Arab merchants who arrived this time could only sigh and go back to raise money and other supplies that East Africa would accept.

Aikamu had gained something, and the price of linen was not high, so he bought a large batch to take back and sell.

The Ras Campori market had just been built, but it provided a commercial channel for the South Somali region, and many of the goods that had once had to be transshipped from North Africa (Egypt) were now available in Ras Campori at cheaper prices, making it much easier for Arab merchants to earn the difference.

(End of chapter)