It was the fifteenth day of the middle month of the third year of Ankang in the Ming Dynasty, November 3, 1808 in the Western calendar.
The rainy season in the Great Plains of Central Mexico has finally ended, and the probability of rain every day has dropped to less than 50%.
The minor nobleman of Lucia, Mikhail Ivanov, took two craftsmen who surveyed the terrain, several Lucian subordinates, and dozens of Ink slaves to change the direction of advance and exploration.
From the northern wilderness, which is closer to the desert, to the relatively humid area in the southeast.
This place is almost at the junction of Sudan, Chad, and Central Africa.
Invanov knew that wet places were good places, but the rainy season in the savannah was not a good time to travel.
But the Emperor of Lucia, as well as the explorers and pioneers of Lucia, including Ivanov, did not want to waste a rainy season waiting.
The interior border of the Mexican colony assigned to Lucia by the League of Nations had not been drawn, and the eastern border had not been drawn.
In other words, you can have as much as you can explore inland and control as much as you can.
The premise is that it cannot exceed the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence, which is the straight line drawn by Zhu Jingyuan that runs through the north and south of Mozhou.
That line is the meridian of ninety-one degrees west longitude.
The prime meridian of this world, which is the zero longitude, is on the center line of Fengtian Hall in the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty.
The current longitude of 91 degrees west is about 24 degrees and 40 seconds east longitude in Jingyuan's previous life.
The border between Egypt and Libya is slightly 70 to 80 kilometers to the west.
The Lucians' natural idea was to quickly occupy all the land west of this line.
The meeting did not clarify the eastern borders of the colonies of Lucia and other countries, and it did not prohibit the Ming Dynasty from pioneering in these areas.
However, the Ming Dynasty allocates too much land east of the 91st parallel, and there is probably no chance to open up land here.
But Lucia still instinctively wanted to finish all these before she could feel at ease.
What's more, the League of Nations also stipulates that the governance capabilities of each country should be inspected every five years.
It's not just about putting up a sign, it's about colonizing, garrisoning, and controlling the local natives.
We are now halfway through the first five-year cycle.
This year we must completely control the west of the 91st parallel, and then carry out two years of reclamation in order to pass the inspection in two and a half years.
Yinwanov and two craftsmen, all wearing loose sweatshirts and huge wide-brimmed straw hats, rode horses on the prairie.
The climate on the tropical plateau is not particularly hot, with a maximum temperature of 289 degrees, but the sun is particularly strong during the dry season.
Lucia itself is a place with relatively little sunlight, which makes Lucian people's skin extremely pale.
After running around on the grassland for two years, the faces of the three Yinwanovs have become as tanned as the Yin people in the tropics...
The surrounding Lucian servants were also dressed in the same way, clustering around the three of Invanov.
Dozens of Ink slaves were walking around, responsible for exploring the situation ahead and alerting the surroundings.
The mission of the three Yinwanovs was to explore and map, not to develop somewhere, so they did not bring home papers.
After walking on the grassland for a long time, I feel a little depressed and bored.
Yinwanov even began to doze off on the horse, imagining that the yellow-faced woman in his family was gone and he would marry a sweet girl and go home.
After falling asleep, the Mo people in front suddenly became confused.
Several Mo people who were responsible for exploring the path ran back to the middle of the team with a roar.
After Yinwanov was awakened, he asked loudly in anger:
"What are you doing? Why are you so panicked!"
The ink man who was exploring the road waved his hands in an extravagant manner and explained the situation to Andre, the ink man translator who had learned Lucian.
The Mohist translator Andrei conveyed the situation to Yinvanov and two surveying and mapping craftsmen:
"He said that he met a tribe in front, a tribe with a very large number of people, at least more than a hundred people."
Yinwanov suddenly became energetic:
"More than a hundred people? How many more specifically? Do we have a chance to defeat them directly?"
Andre immediately continued to explore the path of the ink man, who yelled even more exaggeratedly.
After listening to Andrei, he came back again and said to Ivanov:
"He said he couldn't beat him, and he definitely couldn't beat him. There were more than a hundred people on the opponent's side, which was a lot.
"Maybe...he said, maybe even more than two hundred people. He couldn't count such a large number."
The ink slave who explored the path was obviously very poor at mathematics and could only count up to a hundred.
He couldn't express clearly the range of people he saw.
Yinvanov's expression became serious:
"If the population of this tribe exceeds two hundred people, it would be difficult for us to defeat them head-on...
“But our mission was originally to explore, not directly conquer.
"We can try to communicate with them, find out what they are and what they are, and then dispatch more troops."
In the colonies, land was an uncertain wealth, while population was a determined wealth.
Only with a population can land turn into wealth.
Therefore, an important goal in acquiring colonies is to control the local indigenous population as much as possible.
In particular, the League of Nations stipulates that if one cannot control the local population, it does not count as occupying the local land.
Yinwanov quickly made a plan and asked the translator Andrei to escort ten Mo slaves over there to try to contact the tribe.
This Andre was trained by the local Mo people. The Zhongmozhou area is a grassland, and it is very convenient for tribes to migrate.
If they are tribes that are relatively close together, they can barely understand each other's language.
Even if he doesn't understand it at all, Andre, as a translator, is better than ordinary people at understanding the words of different people.
This was not the first time that Andre had taken on this kind of job, and he didn't think too much about it. He went with ten people and guns.
Then after walking a few kilometers, Andre vaguely heard a sound ahead, like a large-scale animal migration.
Andre immediately found two slightly higher places to climb up and took out the telescope he carried with him to observe.
As a result, after just one glance, he burst into a series of swear words in Lucian mixed with indigenous people:
"That's more than a fucking hundred people! It's not just one hundred people! There might be a fucking hundred or one hundred people!"
What appeared in Andre's sight was a crowd of people with all the bells and whistles, a crowd of people all over the mountains and plains.
With groups of black spots as the center, they are slowly moving in a scattered but consistent direction.
Andre's math isn't very good either, but it's much better than the previous ordinary pathfinder slaves. The key is that he's much smarter.
Andre had not counted ten thousand, but he could already imagine the concept of one hundred and one hundred people.
Andre subconsciously wanted to run back and report, but he quickly lost this opportunity.
Suddenly, several gunshots were fired in succession, all hitting the high ground where Andre was, and a few wisps of green smoke slowly rose.
This was obviously a warning, indicating that the other party's spies had discovered Andre, and told Andre not to act rashly, otherwise he would beat him directly.
Andre decisively stood still and ordered the ink slaves around him not to move.
The opponent's number may be one hundred or one hundred people, including a large number of horses.
The ten people on my side can't run away even if they want to, let alone fight.
A few minutes later, more than thirty Mo people ran around the translator.
The leader was wearing a black military uniform, and the others were wearing colorful clothes.
This group of people saw ten young and middle-aged Mexicans headed by Andre. Without saying a word, they took out the ropes they carried and tied them up. Then they tied them with ropes and led them back to the main army.
Andre tried to talk to the Mo people, but whether he was using his own indigenous language or Lucian, the other people looked blank after hearing it, and they obviously didn't understand them at all.
Andre had no choice but to follow the other party obediently.
I sighed in my heart that fortunately these people did not kill anyone directly, but I was also worried that they would be killed after they were captured.
In fact, Andre thought too much, and the other party would not kill him at all.
Because this group of people is the Monuor Legion of the Ming Dynasty.
Their highest goal in fighting is to capture slaves. When they encounter young adults, they will naturally want to capture them.
Only the old, weak, sick and disabled will be executed at any time.
The person who led the thirty Mo people over was the Black Flag Commander who was responsible for path exploration and reconnaissance.
Black Flag always took Andre and ten ink people to find his master.
The master must confirm the number of the newly captured slave and decide who will be assigned to manage it.
The owner of this large-scale Mo tribe is a black nobleman with the status of a black duke.
Born in Yingtian Mansion, a native of the Ming Dynasty, he originally did not have his own name, only a number of 39.
After joining the Menu Legion, he was officially named "Loyal" when he was successfully promoted to the Black Nobility.
The default surname of the black nobles is Hei, so his official registration status in the Ming Dynasty and the Great Food Kingdom is Hei Zhongcheng.
Since Hei Zhongcheng was born in the Ming Dynasty, he was an emasculated black eunuch who had adopted a group of godsons in Dongmozhou.
One of his most favored sons was specially named Hei Jizhong by him, and he seemed to have the air of a prince.
Black Jizhong is smart and brave in battle, and he also has the identity of Black Baron.
Now he is wearing a Ming-style brocade robe, but there is no middle coat or trousers underneath the coat, so the coat is worn directly on the body.
It may feel like a modern person wearing a trench coat without any clothing.
But except for the Dongmozhou Canyon area, no one cares about their image.
Hei Jizhong checked the disarmed guns on Andre and others, and then took Andre in to see his godfather:
"Dad, these slaves all carry guns, and they are not particularly worn out. The rifling is still there. They should not be wild tribesmen.
"The writing on their guns seems to belong to Lucia, so the child suspects that they are Lucia's spies."
Andre was beside him, listening to Hei Jizhong speak a long section of Ming Dynasty dialect with a heavy accent, and suddenly felt a little familiar.
Andrei couldn't understand the elegant language of the Ming Dynasty, but his master Yin Vanov and other Lucia nobles he met would occasionally come up with some words of the elegant language of the Ming Dynasty.
Andre also knew that it was Daming Yayan.
Andre himself also learned a few elegant sayings of Ming Dynasty.
Because everyone in Lucia like Yinwanov knows that if you go east from New Lucia, sooner or later you will encounter people from the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, his translators and subordinates must learn a few elegant sentences of Ming Dynasty, and the most important thing is to show their identity.
Now Andre finally understood the identity of these Mo people led by Hei Zhongcheng.
Andre then knelt down directly.
Without waiting for Hei Zhongcheng to ask, Andre shouted directly there, using the only few elegant words he could speak:
"I am...Lucia...slave..."
Hei Zhongcheng immediately understood what they said.
The Mo people who can become the Black Duke are the real elites among the Mo people.
Especially after losing the roots of descendants, Hei Zhongcheng's energy was supplied to his brain and body.
According to statistics from the Ming Dynasty, Mo people after castration are smarter and better able to work than ordinary Mo people.
Black Loyalty also knows more information.
I know that going west from here, to the other side of the continent, is the land of the Lucians and Prussians.
Black Loyalty knew that Lucia was particularly obsessed with the land.
Black Loyalty also knew that his mission was to occupy more land to the west of the Ming Dynasty's border before the Lucians arrived.
Hei Zhongcheng looked at Andre and tried to ask for some information:
"From what direction did you come? How many people did your Lucia master bring? How far is the distance?"
Andre couldn't understand it at all and could only shake his head:
"Don't understand, don't understand, I, slave Lucia."
Hei Zhongcheng shook his head and gave an order directly to his godson:
"After the order was given, a third of the cavalry was sent out to search in a fan direction to the west, looking for traces of the Lucians.
"After discovery, let three people come back to report, and the others will contain the opponent's actions until the main infantry force passes."
Hei Jizhong clenched his fist and hammered his chest:
"As you command!"
The cavalry under Black Loyalty were quickly summoned and led by more senior Black officers to explore the west.
Yinwanov's team is not far from here, and Black Loyalty's large army is also moving slowly.
The distance between the two sides was only a few kilometers, and the black loyal cavalry quickly discovered Yinwanov.
There are no hidden places on the prairie. The black loyal cavalry discovered Yinwanov, and Yinwanov also discovered the black cavalry.
When Andrei didn't come back, instead a black man on horseback appeared, and Yinvanov knew something was wrong.
"Oops, Andre might have been caught..."
Yinwanov subconsciously wanted to run, but soon realized that he couldn't run.
It is basically impossible for ordinary Mo tribes to have cavalry, let alone teams of cavalry with coordinated actions...
"They may be the Mo slaves of the Ming Dynasty!"
"The Ming people may have explored this area!"
"Lucia's era of freely exploring territory is coming to an end..."
Yinwanov felt quite heavy, and at the same time decided to stay here and wait for contact with the Ming Dynasty people.
These Mo cavalry should be just the subordinates of the Ming pioneers.
After they discover themselves, they should send someone to meet them, or invite themselves to meet them.
At the very least, confirm the exploration progress of both parties, and then agree on a temporary exploration boundary and rules...
This meeting should go down in history.
The Lucians, who traveled from west to east, and the Ming people, who traveled from east to west, met in the middle of Mozhou.
This shows that the Lucians and the Ming Dynasty jointly opened the passage to the central part of the Mozhou Continent!
When Yinwanov thought of this, his mood began to surge.
Until the ink people from all over the mountains and plains came in waves...
