Dominate the Country

On the Dragon Boat Festival in the 32nd year of Chengtian, which was June 10th, 1806 in the Western calendar, the sky was clear in Port Sudan, the capital of the Sudan Protectorate, Chen Han's overseas territory.

After three years of full construction, a large amount of wood, cement, steel bars, bricks and stones were transported to Port Sudan from the Sudanese mainland or the farms on the other side, or from the mainland without external forces. Thousands of construction workers worked continuously, making this ordinary port on the south coast of the Red Sea undergo tremendous changes every day in the past three years.

This change is very different from Luo Fangbai's original plan. While Port Sudan was undergoing a major change, Luo Fangbai's road construction plan was also going well, and the investment increased from the initial one million yuan to two million yuan. All this is because Luo Fangbai found a big investor. That is the Eelam family of Egypt.

It sounds a bit absurd that the Eelam family invested in Port Sudan, but if you taste it carefully, it is not incomprehensible.

Port Sudan and the Sudanese Protectorate behind it are trying to dig into the Ilam family, but Sudan is under the control of the Ilam family, and they can't get much benefit at all. After the establishment of Port Sudan, it can promote the income of the Ilam family. Then, after the expansion of Port Sudan, it is very likely that the Ilam family will get more benefits in Sudan.

And the most important thing is that the Ilam family hopes that the prosperity of the Sudanese Protectorate will allow the Chinese to invest more energy in Sudan instead of transferring it to Egypt. This is very helpful in maintaining the fundamental interests of their family.

Commercial areas, residential areas, storage areas, port areas, schools, hospitals, military defense, fresh water storage systems, large steam pumping stations, sewers, etc., urban buildings with different functions appeared in Port Sudan at a speed that was astonishing in this era.

Compared with the little bit of formation process of other port cities, today's Port Sudan is completely worthy of the four words "rising from the ground".

Material supply, labor, military protection, transportation scheduling, a series of expenses added up. The total investment in this port city over the past three years has reached more than 13 million yuan, of which the local capital investment is only less than 2 million yuan, the Iram family invested a full 10 million yuan, and the rest of the amount is the money that Luo Fangbai brought to the Trade Bank with the Iram family's letter of intent.

The current Port Sudan is definitely a beautiful and sound city. Although the town area is not large, it is small but complete.

After all, the total investment is as high as more than 13 million yuan. This number is already an astronomical figure in the Red Sea Basin. Even the Port of Suez, the eastern starting point of the Suez Canal project, is far less beautiful than Port Sudan now, except for the docks and warehouses.

In order to enrich the permanent population to maintain the basic functions of the town, as early as the beginning of last spring, a considerable number of farm workers on the other side of the Red Sea were transferred to Port Sudan as immigrants. Now the total population of the city has exceeded 3,000, and the permanent population has exceeded 5,000. The extra 2,000 people, in addition to the indigenous workers on the construction site, are Egyptians, people from the Arabian Peninsula, and even Ottomans who immigrated here. Because from the perspective of town functions alone, the basic supporting facilities of Port Sudan are not inferior to those of Cairo.

There are many schools for spreading knowledge here, and not only primary schools, but also middle schools, and they can apply for higher education institutions in China in the future; there are places for living, residence and trading, and hospitals with excellent medical conditions. Compared with Cairo, there is nothing missing here except the Tianfang Temple.

Due to the tropical desert climate, drought and little rain in northern Sudan, the local agricultural development in Port Sudan cannot continue to expand after reaching a certain level, and agricultural production has been placed in a secondary position here early. Commercial transactions, salt making and fishing industries have expanded a lot in the three years since Luo Fangbai arrived.

According to the trade agreement signed between China and the Ottoman Empire, Port Sudan will open up trade rights to the Ottoman Empire in all aspects. The two countries implement a free trade policy, and the cargo tax is much lower than that of European merchants. But after all these years, the Ottomans still do not do much in this regard.

In the future, once the trade influence of Port Sudan is stabilized and expanded, it will have a great impact on the entire Tianfang region. Although the geographical advantages here are not as good as those of Port Aden, the natural environment of Port Aden is much worse than that of Port Sudan, isn't it?

There are still some agricultural arable lands around Port Sudan, and the annual rainfall here can reach 400mm. Although these rainfalls are very concentrated, there is really no shortage of water here. Even agricultural water is the same. After the water storage system and large steam pumping station were built, Port Sudan really had enough water.

And what about Port Aden?

Although it controls the entrance and exit of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, it is a transportation hub between Europe, the Red Sea, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean. Its geographical location is important, but the rainfall is scarce, with an average annual rainfall of only 100 mm, and the temperature in summer can often reach more than 40°.

Humans in this era are not as resistant to harsh natural environments as in later generations. Methods such as drip irrigation and seawater purification are even more nonsense. When choosing a place to stand, staying away from dangerous places is the safest and most reliable way. This is also the biggest advantage of Port Sudan over Port Aden.

Once Sudan's influence spreads, Nanjing will choose Port Sudan again after considering various factors, no matter how optimistic it was about Aden before.

Because the trade of this era could not support two commercial and political centers in one area, after the establishment of Port Sudan, Port Aden could only change its city definition.

Moreover, Port Aden corresponds to the tribes on the Arabian Peninsula. The Wahhabis are strong on the peninsula. If you want to really infiltrate Chen Han's influence into the entire peninsula, you must grind and poke a little bit, which will take a long time.

Although Sudan also has many tribes, the tribes here are small tribes. There is no such a huge influence as the Saudi family, and there is no stubborn influence like the Wahhabis. It is much easier to expand Chen Han's influence here than in the Arabian Peninsula.

Besides, although Osman intended to let Chen Han get rid of the Wahhabis, if Chen Han really swallowed half of the Arabian Peninsula in one bite, Istanbul would definitely have an opinion. And the Sudan is far away.

With the expansion of the city of Port Sudan, the number of defenders here is also slowly increasing.

From the initial two teams to a reorganized battalion.

Port Sudan now has two fortress artillery positions, with six 75mm hexagonal guns and four 105mm hexagonal guns as the military defense force here. Even if the opponent is a fleet, the defenders can prevent the opponent from entering the port or landing.

…

Early in the morning of this day, a group of construction workers from the other side of the Red Sea boarded the Haiping No. 5 transport ship. They were workers transferred from the farm. Now that the farm has entered the harvest season, these people will definitely return to the farm.

And the First Overseas Construction Company organized these farm workers to earn extra money. They are the contractors of the entire Port Sudan project.

At the berth of the same dock, two precious motor sailing ships were also moored at the port, and the bored crew were sitting on the deck playing poker cards.

The temporary residential area not far from the dock was built specifically for immigrants. There are ten neatly arranged four-story five-unit buildings, and rectangular simple dormitory rooms are neatly arranged, with forty households in each building, and ten buildings are four hundred households. Some of them have two bedrooms and one living room, and some have three bedrooms and one living room. It is a piece of cake to accommodate a family. If they squeeze in, four hundred households can accommodate three to four thousand people.

But the entire Port Sudan has only 3,000 registered residents. These ten immigration buildings have never been fully occupied since they were built.

The brand-new Port Sudan City Hospital has been officially put into use at the beginning of the year. In order to ensure the level of medical care, after the application of the Protectorate, a medical team of more than ten people was specially transferred from the mainland. It can be said that the medical level here is not inferior to that of Cairo.

Although there are only three attending physicians here, most of them are fresh graduates from medical schools, and the medical staff of the hospital are mostly young people recruited from the local area.

According to national regulations, medical staff working in the Port Sudan City Hospital can receive an additional allowance of 100 yuan per month. After three years, they can report to return to China, and the state will arrange for them to enter the prefectural-level Class A hospital. And if they can hold on until five years later and return to China, they will be arranged to enter the provincial Class B hospital.

So even though this place is far from the mainland and the special work allowance is relatively ordinary, there is a rotation system to protect it, so many medical school graduates with little connections are scrambling to sign up, and those who don’t get a turn have to sigh.

Just when everyone in Port Sudan thought they were going to spend another ordinary day, the familiar salute sounded from the port.

Then the alarm bell sounded in the hospital, everyone assemble!

"Everyone assemble, everyone assemble!"

"The immigrant ship has arrived at the port, everyone prepares stretchers and medical boxes, except for the people who stay behind, the rest, rush to the dock and wait." The person in charge of the hospital shouted loudly.

Just like the sudden and intense preparations in the hospital, five immigrant ships from the east have entered the harbor in the direction of the port, and are slowly approaching the port dock under the guidance of the guide ship.

The black immigrants surrounded the deck, and everyone looked at Port Sudan in amazement, looking at the place where they will live in the future.

Five immigrant ships transported a total of 1,556 immigrants to Port Sudan at one time. Yes, except for those who died on the way, a total of 1,556 immigrants arrived at Port Sudan alive.

And just behind the five immigrant ships, a clipper warship with a Chinese flag also followed the fleet and slowly sailed into the harbor.

But a group of Europeans emerged on the deck of the warship. They crowded on the deck and looked at the Port Sudan in front of them curiously. The port in the distance, which looked unusually neat and beautiful, surprised Louis Napoleon and all the French on the ship.

"It's really unbelievable. This port was born less than ten years ago! This is a miracle!"

Louis Bonaparte, who had just stepped down from the throne of the Netherlands, said to Chen Zhan, the King of Jieyang beside him in an admiring tone.