The Lascanpoli trading market is mainly used to broaden the sales channels of East African goods, such as grain, although it is a hard currency, but it is time-sensitive, and if it cannot be sold in time, there is a risk of expiration and deterioration.

There is also sisal cloth, which was produced in the East African colonies at the beginning, but the sales in the European market were extremely limited, and European merchants mainly bought more hemp rope directly, or directly purchased sisal fiber to process it themselves.

The Lascanpoli market was also an attempt at overland trade in East Africa, and in the future a caravan might be formed from East Africa all the way to Egypt.

Egypt is on the Mediterranean coast, European ships can go directly to Alexandria, Egypt is a land link between Africa and Asia, and Asian goods can also go directly to Egypt by land.

There are two main land trade routes from East Africa to Egypt, one is the eastern route, which goes north from Somalia or eastern Ethiopia to Egypt through Sudan; One is the Western Front, which travels north from South Sudan in the previous life and passes through Sudan to Egypt.

Land trade routes, although inefficient and much more expensive than land and sea, can provide an additional option for East Africa.

The coast of East Africa is still relatively easy to blockade, so there is a potential danger that other countries will cut off their maritime communication with the outside world.

……

On the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), several small boats are speeding across the lake, the stern propellers are rapidly fluctuating at the bottom of the water, powering the boats, and the engines rumbling with black smoke that spreads across the water.

The first engines had just arrived, and they were rushed to install on their toys by the newly formed Neihu troops in East Africa.

After a few days of training, the sailors set out on their first expedition in speedboats to the west of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) to inquire about the situation, and with weapons, dry rations and fuel tanks, the troops set off on the inner lake.

In the early days, there were 153 people and five boats in the inner lake, and in order to prevent accidents, all the boats were dispatched the first time.

They were speedboats with engines and propellers, and the commander of the Inland Lake Force was named Werner Yori, a native of Trieste, Austria-Hungary, who had lived in the harbor since he was a child, and his father had been a sailor.

Therefore, Werner Yori is more familiar with ship operation and has some basic knowledge, while most of the sailors of the East African Inner Lake Army are relatively good at water, and most of them have lived along the coast.

For example, the immigrant sailors from the Austro-Hungarian Empire basically came from Trieste, and Trieste was the first stop for Austro-Hungarian immigrants to East Africa, so the number of Trieste immigrants in East Africa was very large.

Like the immigrants from Trieste, there are also immigrants from the Jiaozhou Bay area of the Far East, who are also the port of departure for immigrants from the Far East, so there are quite a few of them in East Africa.

Most of the sailors in East Africa also come from these two coastal port cities, of course, living by the sea does not necessarily mean that they will be able to water, so there are also some immigrants with better inland water characteristics who are selected as sailors, but the number is not large.

"Land ahead!" A sailor shouted.

Werner Yori looked ahead, and sure enough, the outline of the land was becoming clear, and he said, "Bring the boat over." ”

Under the manipulation of the sailors, the boat slowly approached the shore, which is the western shore of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

"Leave thirty people to watch the boat, and the others will go ashore with me to see what is going on."

Soon Werner Yori picked six of each boat to stay, and he said to them: "You are not allowed to leave until we have returned, and if you do not see us before dark, go back and report to the government!" ”

Excluding those who stayed at Mwanza's headquarters and those who stayed to watch the ship, Werner Yori had only about seventy people available.

Leaving thirty men to watch the ship was actually quite a lot, but in order to prevent accidents, Werner Yori did it anyway, thirty soldiers with thermal weapons were enough to fight a small tribe.

After arranging the personnel mission, Werner Yori landed with a large force and headed inland.

The place where Werner Yori and his party landed was the territory of the Kingdom of Buganda, and the local natives called Balai, of course, Werna Yori and others did not know.

As soon as you landed, it was a mudflat along the lake, and a primeval jungle was a few dozen meters away, and the tall trees extended along the shore of the lake in the north and south directions, and you couldn't see the end at a glance.

Werner Yori said to the players: "When you enter the primeval jungle, don't run blindly, follow the team, and make more marks along the way, otherwise you will be finished if you can't find the way back, do you hear clearly?" ”

"It's the captain!"

Werner Yori took his compass from his bosom, aimed it at the western position, and led the group towards the jungle.

In the primeval jungle, the tall and thick trees, the dense foliage that shades the sun, show the silence of this place everywhere, and Werner Yori is used to it.

There is a similar primeval jungle around Mwanza, spread on both sides of Mwanza, and according to Vilna Yori's speculation, the situation here should be similar to that of the east coast, and if so, the width of this jungle should not be long.

It was about the same as Werner Yori had predicted, and after walking about two or three kilometers, there was no jungle in front of him, and his vision suddenly opened up.

At this time, it was easier to spread out the team to find out the information here, but for the sake of safety, Werner Yori chose to be safe.

The group continued to move west, and soon the attentive Werner Yori suddenly crouched on the ground and studied it carefully.

"Look, it doesn't look like a dirt road!" Werner Yori said.

"There is grass growing on it, but it's noticeably shorter and sparser than the surrounding area." As he spoke, Werner Yori pressed his hand around on the ground.

Then he changed a few more places and repeated this action, Werner Yori was more sure of what he was thinking, and said to the players: "The soil of this suspected road is indeed harder than the surroundings, it seems that it is a road!" ”

"Captain, is it possible that an animal stepped on it?" Someone questioned.

"I've been in East Africa for a long time, and I've seen the roads that animals have stepped on, and they are far from being regular." Werner Yori denied.

"If you look closely, the width of this road is about one meter, more like a sidewalk for the aborigines, I don't know why so much grass grows, it is very likely to be abandoned by the locals, so we are very likely to encounter villages or traces of indigenous life along this road." Werner Yori analyzed.

"Isn't it, it's not convincing, let's go and find out in person if what I said is right, let's follow this road to take a look."

So Werner Yori led the team to continue forward, this road is east-west, and the east is the direction from which Werner Yori came, so Werner Yori and the others continue to go west.

"Look, it's an indigenous village!" Not long after he left, Werner Yori said excitedly.

Sure enough, a village appeared in the distance, with a conical top, gray-black branches, and mud-covered walls, all highlighting that this was a primitive village.

"Get your weapons ready, let's take a look." Werner Yori ordered.

The group prepared for battle and nervously approached the indigenous village.

"Captain, there doesn't seem to be anyone here! No natives were seen. ”

"Well, it's really different from the indigenous villages we've seen before, it stands to reason that they shouldn't be so quiet, at least they should be guarded." Werner Yori said as she stood at the village gate.

"It looks like it's an abandoned village, let's go in and have a look."

Werner Yori walked into the indigenous village and saw that moss had begun to grow on the untended wooden buildings.

With small shacks more than a metre high, most of them with open doors, Werner Yori walked towards the largest building in the village, where the chiefs usually lived.

Werner Yori bent down and entered the chief's house, only to see that the living facilities inside were in disarray, and many clay jars had been knocked over to the ground, and it seemed that it was not a normal evacuation.

There is a totem on the wall, and it is not clear what material it was painted with, but there are clearly several artificial holes in it, as if poked out with a sharp object.

This should be done by the enemy, knowing that totems are sacred to some tribes.

"Captain, there's a discovery!" A member of the team outside shouted.

"What's going on!" Werner Yori asked, coming out of the chief's house.

"Captain, come and see for yourself!"

The team led Werner Yori to a house with ashes from a bonfire in between, and around the bonfire there were a few bones that had been discarded haphazardly.

"Get out of the way!" Werner Yori ordered.

Outside the house, Werner Yori gathered everyone together and said, "Obviously, this village has been destroyed, the totems have been destroyed by the enemy, and the bottles and cans have not been taken away, I have not seen the original tribe so proud, the group of natives we drove away before were eager to take all the houses with them, this place was obviously destroyed by man, and the enemy is still here......"

Cannibal tribes, which are not uncommon in Africa, there was a joke in the previous life, a European said to the indigenous chieftain, we died in a world war, and the indigenous chief asked, kill so many people, have you finished eating?

Different worldviews lead to different conclusions, so in many very primitive African tribes, cannibalism may be as worthless in their worldview as the slaughter of cattle and sheep.

Werner Yori had only heard of it, but that didn't prevent him from surprising the tragedy that had taken place in the village based on what was happening in front of him.

"Alright, if you don't want to do that, go find some hay and dead wood." Werner Yori commanded.

Soon a lot of ignition was found from outside the village, and Werner Yori had the team spread it around all the houses.

"Ignition!" At the command of Werner Yori, the village disappeared forever in flames.

After setting off the fire, Werner Yori and the others turned away and headed for the place they had come from, and the fire behind them was extinguished......

(End of chapter)