On January 25, 1686, after resting for a while on the island of Diu, the "Sprint Champion" class transport, laden with immigrants, made its way to the famous Gulf of Aden.

In the second half of last year, the Executive Committee passed a resolution to establish the Djibouti Management Committee, which has only one county under its jurisdiction, namely Djibouti County, with a total population of more than 3,000 people.

Of the more than 3,000 people, military personnel account for about one-sixth (500 people), and they belong to the Djibouti garrison, and the Djibouti garrison commander is responsible for training and command. In addition, there are a large number of ship repair yard mechanics, dock management and transport personnel, salt lake mining personnel, government officials, businessmen and religious figures, all of whom are essential professionals to keep a port city running.

These people make up about 30 percent of the population, while the remaining 70 percent are all farmers and herders. A small number of these farmers and herders were immigrants from the East who had been resettled by the government, and most of them were Indians, Malays, and criminal offenders who had been exiled from the mainland or from the island of New China. Of course, there are also a small number of retired Navy and Army personnel, because they have lived here for a long time, out of various considerations, finally decided to settle here with their families, they generally have a higher social status, but the number is smaller.

The climate in Djibouti County is undoubtedly hot, and there are hardly any cool times of the year. But there is also an advantage to the hot weather, which is that there are very few mosquitoes and they are all killed by the heat, especially in the summer. That is, there will be some mosquitoes after October every year, but at very least, there is no threat, so malaria in Africa is not a problem here at all.

But the hot weather is generally very unfriendly to agricultural life, especially when the rainfall here is also pitiful. Djibouti has one town and three townships, and the main agricultural activity is to breed goats and dromedary camels, and the number is not very large, which is very pitiful. The main reason is that it is too arid here, and the water that people drink must be carefully controlled, and the scale of livestock naturally cannot be expanded indefinitely.

The main economy of Djibouti County is actually the export of salt, including table salt and potash. In terms of salt, because of the extremely arid and hot climate and scarce precipitation, beach tobacco has become a very convenient and low-cost commercial activity in Djibouti, and a large amount of salt produced in the county has reached the hot and humid New China Island, the increasingly populous Yicheng area, and even the primitive salt industry of the princely kingdom on the Swahili coast of East Africa has been destroyed by Djibouti salt, and the market has been completely occupied.

Needless to say, potash is in great demand in the booming chemical industry on the East Coast, and the volume of shipments has gradually increased from one ship a year to three to four ships. Not only is there a demand in industry, but even in the agricultural field, there is a demand for research and utilization methods, so the sales of potash are promising in the future.

It is worth mentioning that salt is produced near the port of Djibouti, while potash is mined in the inland Salt Lake Township. There is a salt lake called Lake Assal, which is rich in a variety of mineral salts, including potash, and has been mined since it was discovered by the East Coast Expedition.

The people who produce and transport the potash are the blacks in the neighborhood. These people have no social status in Djibouti County, and they are not accepted by Taoist priests inside and outside the city. The main reason why these people have not been driven out is that they are the labor needed for the salt lake and other construction sites in Djibouti County, so they have remained until now. However, it is only a matter of time before they leave, and once there are enough East Coast immigrants here in the future (which is doubtful), they will no longer be needed and will not be able to find work, so they will have to pack their bags and leave.

"Djibouti's main economic income is the export of salt, followed by the collection of tolls from passing ships. However, except for a small number of vegetables, melons and fruits, the grain here is not completely self-sufficient, and the use of fresh water must be restricted, and the conditions are still very difficult. Liu Jin, director of the Djibouti Management Committee and commander of the garrison and lieutenant of the navy, said to Shao Shuguang.

Although Shao has stepped down from his position as general manager of the famous Bank of Taiwan, he has accumulated a huge network of contacts and connections during his tenure over the years, and his potential influence should not be underestimated. Besides, they are only forty or fifty years old, in the prime of life, and it is impossible to retire now! It is said that after returning to China, he may become the CEO of a large state-owned enterprise, which is still an important task within the system. What's more, his brother Shao Yaoguang is now the captain of the New China Pioneer Team, and Djibouti County was still managed by him before, so it is very necessary to be respectful.

Of course, Shao Shuguang knew the calculations in the hearts of the juniors, but he didn't show much arrogance. Director Liu Zhen is the grandson of Liu Dafa, a veteran of the Navy, who graduated from the command major of the Corps Fort Ships, and is not even 30 years old this year. With this kind of cutting-edge back, Shao Shuguang doesn't mind releasing some kindness so that he can meet each other in the future.

Therefore, he quickly said: "A considerable part of the various materials that Djibouti County needs now still rely on the supply of New Huaxia, right? In this case, when I pass through Xinhua Port on my return journey, I will inform my brother and ask him to supply you as many goods as possible within the scope of his authority. Especially cloth, grain, canned food, wine, medicine, tools, wood and building materials and other commodities, for them is not a big thing, such a large volume, a little coordination of various regions, some materials will be even, simple! ”

Liu Zhen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and he was also very happy. Being an official in Djibouti is actually not much different from the leader of a beggar gang. How much does it cost to and from the boat? Please, the ships of the East African transport company are more fixed, and the migrant ships sometimes go here, and sometimes they go straight south. Those grandsons went to Mogadishu every now and then to resupply, and they were reluctant to come to Djibouti because they deviated from the route and the water was more expensive.

Although the sale of salt did make a lot of money, it greatly improved the finances of Djibouti County. However, on the one hand, they had to raise an army (500 people), and at the same time they had to import a large amount of daily necessities. Especially the latter, which is a big headache for the whole county! In fact, everyone is well aware of the situation in Djibouti County, which can only open up some fields on a small scale in some places where there are seasonal rivers or springs in the mountains in the interior, and grow fruits, vegetables, and a small amount of drought-tolerant sorghum.

But such land is too scarce, water is too scarce, food can not be self-sufficient at all, can only be sold cattle and sheep, melons, fruits and vegetables in exchange for grain - melons, fruits and vegetables are the key goods to supply the ships that go back and forth, belong to the crops that must be produced, and are also the important things they rely on in exchange for money, the locals can not actually consume often - when the high price of selling fruits, vegetables, cattle and sheep to passing ships still cannot meet the daily needs of thousands of soldiers and civilians, part of the income from the salt industry is used to buy food, It became inevitable.

And if food is still relatively cheap and can be solved slowly, then the purchase of a large number of labor tools and daily necessities will cost more money. You must know that Djibouti County cannot even produce basic daily necessities such as cloth, and all the building materials and timber needed to build houses have to be purchased, almost nothing, and more than 95% of daily necessities need to be imported from the outside world, which requires a lot of money. Therefore, in order to supply the needs of the military and civilians in the county, the government had to take a large part of the profits from the sale of salt to pay for this part of the expenses.

Only after removing the above two parts of the cost can the Djibouti Management Committee invest the remaining funds in local construction and a small amount of resettlement, as for education and medical funds, it cannot be said that there is none, but in short, it is very little. So you now know how difficult life is for the Djibouti Governing Council and how hard it is for the people. And because of this, Shao Shuguang just mentioned that he let his brother transfer some tools and daily necessities to Djibouti within the scope of the policy, and Liu Zhen was overjoyed, which really helped them a lot!

"Djibouti is located in a strategic and dangerous location, and it has always been a strategic node that the Admiralty attaches great importance to. Nowadays, the Netherlands, England and other countries do not recognize the importance of the Red Sea, so no one competes with us. Even the Ottoman Empire, the original titular owner of the land, considered it a worthless barren land, so we were able to buy it with goods worth tens of thousands of dollars. Shao Shuguang breathed in the air with a faint smell of wind, sand and earth, pointed to the gentle bay in front of him, and said, "So you must maintain this colony, no matter how difficult it is, you can't give up." Our country's interests in the Red Sea are becoming more and more advantageous, not to mention the fact that it is very convenient to travel from here to the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and India, and it is very troublesome if it is occupied by the enemy. While few people are noticing it now, we will put down roots here first, and then take the opportunity to grow bigger until no one else can shake us. ”

Liu Zhen listened and nodded again and again. He was a navy, and of course he knew how important Djibouti was, in fact, the Red Sea was now a very lucrative commercial market, and the trade volume of the Arabian Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire, not to mention the Persian market, which was even more important than the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, Djibouti will not be abandoned in any way, as can be seen from the continuous construction of large docks here for the ships of the East and Portugal fleet. Liu Zhen even received instructions to send an advance detachment to land on Socotra Island in the sea to the east when the time was right, looking for an opportunity to establish a stable base, but he refused on the grounds that the conditions were not met.

From these things, it can be seen that the navy still attaches great importance to Djibouti. Therefore, even if Shao Shuguang does not mention it this time, the Second Fleet may request New Huaxia Island to allocate some additional supplies to them in the future. Xinhuaxia Island, which has a very developed foreign trade, has always had a close relationship with the navy, so it should not be refused, but there is no need to say it.

Shao Shuguang even thinks that in the future, once Djibouti has spare capacity, or if they increase local investment, they may expand into the inland Abyssinian region. After all, Djibouti has no future due to drought and water shortage, and can only really play its role if it acquires the inland plateau as its hinterland, but it is just that it does not know when this plan will be implemented in the end.

Shao Shuguang and the others did not delay long in the hot place of Djibouti. After rehousing seventy or eighty immigrants who were in poor health due to the long voyage, the rest waited for the ship five days later and continued their voyage southward, arriving at their stage destination of Xinhua Port on February 12, 1686.