Chapter 10 The Situation in Africa

"By the way, speaking of slave traders, Arab slave traders in the Congo River Basin, are they harassed frequently?" Constantine said to Stanley.

　　"Why infrequently, Europeans go to Africa for nothing more than asking for money. These Arabs are really vicious. They set off from the east coast of Africa, especially Zanzibar, which is the base camp of their Arab slave traders. They often explore with us. The mercenaries of the team clashed and exchanged fire. These bastards arrived in the villages of the indigenous Africans. As long as they dared to resist, they killed them all, and then looted the young children and the meek women as slaves, even the Catholic missionaries. I can't stand it anymore." At this point, Stanley seemed to think of something interesting and paused.

　　"If one day you go to Southern Africa and see many Christians, don't be surprised. Since the great voyage, European missionaries have successively gone to Southern Africa to preach. You must not have guessed that their original missions Technique, haha", Stanley laughed.

　　"Preaching methods?" Nina asked puzzledly, "What other methods can be used in preaching? The priest preach the Bible to those who admire God."

　　"No, right?" Stanley was very proud of Nina's failure to guess right, and deliberately made fun of this little girl. "Their first method of preaching was to kidnap local nobles or powerful figures, and then preach to them about God, and wait until they convert. God, let them go, don't you think it's funny?" Stanley said.

　　"There is such a preaching?" Nina's eyes widened, she couldn't believe it.

　　"By the way, just last year, an expedition led by the Frenchman Brazzaville was planted with the French flag in the northern part of the Congo River, now called Brazzaville, and we did not show any weakness. Kinshasa, plant the flag of the Congolese Council," Stanley said carefully, looking at Constantine.

　　According to the original plan, in the north of the Congo River, Constantine personally notified Stanley, but this guy didn't care and let the French take the lead.

　　"Hey", Constantine sighed in his heart. Historically, the Congo (cloth) was a colony of the French. As a result, this situation has not been changed yet.

　　Of course, it may be that Stanley tried to judge the situation and did not dare to offend the French. Although the French were defeated by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War, they were still powers that Greece could not provoke.

　　"How many strongholds did your expedition build and treaty agreements?" Constantine asked.

　　Each country in Europe determines the colony ownership based on actual occupation or an agreement signed with the chief. The actual occupation is the business contact point established by the merchants. The agreement is the protection agreement signed by each colonial country or coercion or inducement, or the protection agreement signed by the indigenous chief. It is a mandate treaty.

This is the basis for determining the ownership of the colony. For a small country like Greece, it may not be able to get a colony with this thing, but if it does not, it will definitely not be obtained.

　　"As planned, we went upstream along the Congo River, set up more than a dozen strongholds along the way, and signed more than a hundred rights transfer treaties," Stanley replied.

　　"You need to speed up the progress. All countries are rapidly expanding to Africa. By the way, judging from your experience in Africa for so many years, what do you think of the development prospects of the Congo River Basin?" Stanley asked.

　　When Stanley heard about Constantine's problem, he frowned and thought.

　　"If you are talking about the development prospects of making money, I am probably not willing to listen to my words, Your Excellency," Stanley said, touching his chin with his right hand.

　　"What does this mean?" Stanley's heart tightened. He thought he could hear some exciting words, but Stanley's words were more like a pot of cold water.

　　"The Congo River Basin is densely covered and criss-crossed. It is not only the Congo River, but also many tributaries of the Congo River. The rain is abundant and the water flow is stable. This is because the equator passes through the Congo River Basin. As the season changes, when the equator is south During the dry season, the north of the equator is the rainy season, and vice versa, and the tributaries of the Congo River are distributed in the north and south of the equator. They take turns to inject abundant water into the lower Congo River. From my experience, there is a very high water transport. Value," Stanley said.

　　No matter in any era, water transportation is the cheapest mode of transportation, and there is no one.

　　The navigation channels formed by the many tributaries of the Congo River are golden commercial roads.

　　"According to you, this should be good news?" Constantine asked puzzledly.

　　"You are right, but there is a prerequisite. You need a huge upfront investment. The railway from Matadi to Kinshasa is a hurdle that cannot be crossed," Stanley replied.

　　From Matadi to Kinshasa, the railway is about 400 kilometers long. It is conceivable how difficult it would be to build such a railway in Africa, which is far from the civilized world.

　　How difficult it is to build, the cost will be too high.

　　As for why Matadi went to Kinshasa, this is because after the ships that caused the waterfall area on the lower Congo River arrived in Africa, UU reading www.uukanshu.com sailed inland along the Congo River as far as Matadi. .

　　The section from Matadi to Kinshasha is not navigable.

　　"Building a railway that connects the vast channel network of the Congo River with the mouth of navigable ships is an indispensable condition for the development of Congo," Stanley continued.

　　"As for what resources the Congo has in the end, I am not a professional scholar, and I don't know, but judging from the level of civilization of the locals, no matter what kind of treasure God has buried in the Congo, they are still buried in the ground intact", Stein Lidao.

　　"In other words, so far, I know that you and your father, Your Majesty, have invested a lot of money, but with all due respect, that's not enough. You have to look for supporters. A banker with a large amount of capital, or some other powerful person, this is my personal sincere suggestion," Stanley said, watching Constantine.

　　Stanley hoped that Constantine would succeed because he hadn't paid the balance of his remuneration.

　　"In other words, the initial investment cost is very high, but there is still a very profitable prospect?" Constantine wanted to know the idea of ​​this old African oil, and continued to ask.

　　"That's right, Oo, by the way, recently I heard that an expedition came from Tanzania," Stanley said.

　　"There are so many expeditions in Africa, sir," Constantine said dismissively.

　　"This one is different. His team leader is Cameron. He is an Englishman. As for his patron, I heard it in private," Stanley said, staring at Constantine, "It's the King of Belgium. Leopold II".

　　Hearing this name, Constantine's pupils shrank, and secretly said, he is still here.