“The honorable New Asia Cooperation General Jiang Chen, I am an envoy from the United African Tribes, Chief Zaria. On behalf of War Chief Duaman, please allow me to send you the highest respect and a gift that symbolizes friendship.”
His tone was neither humble nor arrogant. Then, Zaria slightly bowed down. Jiang Chen could read the hint of arrogance in his eyes, although he carefully hid it behind his humble speech.
Strictly speaking, the situation that faced the African continent was much better than that of the Pan-Asia region. Almost all survivors in Europe, eastern North and South America, and parts of Central Asia and South Asia fled to that continent.
The survivors not only brought technology, but also labor, and equipment left over from the battlefield. If it weren’t for the inertia that hindered the Africans, and the tradition of living in the moment, perhaps Africa was already the most prosperous place after the war.
But what did they do?
The North African Union, which became the present-day United African Tribes, started a war with the South African Union. After they pushed the South African Union to Madagascar, there were civil wars between the tribes. The South African Union behaved even more strangely. After they witnessed their old enemies in a state of turmoil, their first reaction was not to capitalize on the situation but to breathe a sigh of relief, and they themselves began to fight over trivial issues in their parliament.
Chu Nan was right. They were like a bloated and weak giant who guarded a gold mine that the whole world coveted. If it weren’t for the low population of NAC that could not digest such a massive piece of land, Jiang Chen didn’t even want to see this envoy. Instead, he could just send a force for “exploration”.
During the meeting, Zaria repeated his request again.
Including the demand for slaves and the offer for each slave.
“If you are unwilling to cooperate, we can only choose to deal with the dictators in the south. Their prices are slightly lower than yours, but we are very worried about their strength. What we need is a strong partner that can continuously provide us with slaves…” Zaria said passionately as if he was certain he would sell his compatriots without hesitation.
It was the assumption everyone made. People always believed that other people could easily step into their role.
In Zaria’s eyes, no chief would refuse such a good deal. However, what he didn’t understand was that Jiang Chen, who came from a civilized society, was very disgusted with the inefficient and inhumane slave business. The idea of selling his “compatriots” to Africa as goods already breached his bottom line.
But Jiang Chen didn’t flip the table immediately.
Just now, as he listened to Chief Zaria’s passionate speech that described the wealth of their tribe, an idea suddenly appeared in Jiang Chen’s head as he rolled his eyes and smiled.
“What is the approximate area of the land you want to develop?”
“Twenty million mus, located on the shores of Lake Victoria.” Chief Zaria said in an ostentatious tone. “This area was abandoned 50 years ago. Now we have decided to reclaim it and turn it into farmland.”
A fitting style for a chief.
But it was a pity that it was not a tribal leader who sat in front of you, but a businessman.
“What is your average yield per mu (1)?” Jiang Chen smiled and continued to ask.
Zaria hesitated, looked at Jiang Chen with slight confusion, then exchanged eye contact with the wizard beside him. Finally looked at Jiang Chen again, and responded.
“About seven hundred catties (2), is there any problem?”
Seven hundred catties…
When Jiang Chen heard this number, he couldn’t stop shaking his head in his mind.
Sure enough, it was not the wisest decision for them to farm. And it was even more foolish to use serfdom to farm. He seemed to understand why they only made so little progress in the years after the war.
Seven hundred catties per mu!
It was the twenty-second century!
The fact that the land was not used for farming for many years meant that it was extremely fertile. It was likely that one could sow a handful of seeds and grain would grow. Not to mention the rapid maturity of crops in tropical regions, it was very common for rice and sugarcane to have three harvests in a year.
“Well, you want to buy slaves for those twenty million mus of land, right?” Jiang Chen smiled.
“That’s right.” Chief Zaria was overjoyed. As he sensed that they could potentially reach a deal, he hurriedly continued, “We need two hundred thousand slaves.”
“Two hundred thousand slaves…it’s a bit difficult,” Jiang Chen said and rubbed his chin as he pretended to be serious about the issue, “The total population of NAC is only one million. The two hundred thousand slaves are equivalent to one-fifth of our total population.”
“There is no need to pay in one lump sum. We can establish a long-term relationship. I want all the slaves you got. The price will be the same as the previous price… No, we are willing to pay an extra one hundred kilograms of food for each slave, as long as you can provide us with twenty thousand slaves per year,” Chief Zaria said sincerely.
“How about this,” Jiang Chen sighed, “I thought of a better way to cooperate.”
Chief Zaria was taken aback for a moment, slightly alerted.
“What kind of cooperation?”
“Eight hundred catties.”
“What do you mean?” Zaria frowned.
“You can contract out the twenty million mus of land to us, and we will help you to farm,” Jiang Chen smiled. “For every mu of farmland, we will pay your War Chief Duaman 900 catties of grain. We will send engineers to help you build water projects for free, and at the same time study the methods of maximizing the use of arable land, to ensure that every mu of land is developed with the highest efficiency.”
Zaria was stunned. He didn’t expect Jiang Chen to make such a request.
Instinctively he wanted to refuse.
But he changed his mind after he realized that it was the same as letting the entire NAC work for himself.
After he thought about it, Zaria could no longer refuse the offer.
“Not only that, if you are interested, we can also pay with weapons. Rifles, bullets, and even power armors. I believe your War Chief should be interested in these things, right?”
Zaria looked like he was slightly astonished.
“You plan to sell power armors?”
The production of power armor requires a complete set of military production lines. It was feasible to use manual methods with the combination of 3D printers, but the quality of the manually manufactured power armor was inconsistent. For example, the tribe of War Chief Duaman also produced power armors, but the productivity was comparable to the Sixth Street prior to industrialization, with only one to two produced every month.
The number of power armors directed dictated the combat power of a tribe, and ultimately, the status of a tribal chief.
“Mhmm, although the production of power armor is not an easy task for us,” Jiang Chen looked at him seriously, and then made a reluctant expression, “but for our long-term friendship, I think we have to make a little concession.”
“I can’t guarantee anything, but I will convey your proposal to the War Chief.” Zaria hid the arrogance and contempt that was in his eyes initially with eagerness. He looked at Jiang Chen in excitement, then said,” I hope we can talk about this issue next month at this time.”
“Well, I hope you can come back here with a friendly proposal at that time,” Jiang Chen tried his best to stop himself from laughing out loud and nodded slightly. “As a gift to the box of corn, I have a titanium alloy T-3 power armor that I hope you can accept as a gesture of our friendship.”
(1) mu – or known as Chinese acre. One mu is equal to 614.4 m2
(2) catties – a catty is a measurement of mass in China, equivalent to 500 grams
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