1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 398 Calling the Colony

The midsummer in the northern hemisphere is about to pass, but the weather in the tropical rainforest is still very unbearable. The scorching sun shines on the treetops, turning the entire rainforest into a hot and humid oven. The poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts in the depths of the jungle keep people away, and only the rushing river can bring a hint of coolness to pedestrians.

On a rocky high ground beside the river, a simple camp was clearly visible. The camp was small, with no fences or trenches. There were dozens of tents in a distinct European style. In the open space in the middle of the tents, a dozen terrified black captives were kneeling.

In front of the captives, a middle-aged man dressed as an explorer, holding a bloody scimitar, was interrogating the black chief in the front. The chief was very young, and although he looked no different from other black people, he was wearing blood-stained luxurious Eastern Roman clothing and a silver Orthodox cross on his chest.

The other captives were also different from ordinary black people. At least they could afford to wear clothes, and they all wore luxurious clothes in the Eastern Roman style, rather than the leaf crowns and animal skin aprons of their own nation.

"What is this place, nigger?"

The expedition leader swung his scimitar, and the handle of the knife hit the chief's nose hard, and blood immediately gushed out of the chief's face.

"You don't understand Italian, do you, idiot?"

The expedition leader looked at the shining silver cross, frowned, and tore it off.

"Ah, a Greek heretic!"

Looking at the Orthodox cross, the expedition leader became angrier and slapped the chief in the face.

"Damn you beasts! The great Venice was defeated by people like you!"

"Oh, so it's a remnant of Venice, haha."

The chief spoke up, laughing.

"Your country has been destroyed. Who are you working for this time? King Louis of France? King Edward of England? Or the Dutch?"

The chief's Greek was full of sarcasm. The expedition leader could not understand it, but he could still read disdain on the chief's face.

"He speaks Greek, bring the translator who knows Greek!"

The expedition leader ignored the distressed looks of his team members, threw the Orthodox cross into the river, and turned around and shouted.

The Greek-speaking team member stepped forward to act as an interpreter.

"Ask him how far are we from the coast now?"

The expedition leader yelled gruffly.

“Also, how far is it from the prosperous Benin City?”

The translator did as instructed, and the chief's expression became even more amused.

"French, huh?"

The chief recognized the translator's origin from the accent.

"Africa is the back garden of the Roman emperor. King Louis of France wants to get involved? Does he have the strength to do so?"

"Asshole, I told you to answer!"

The expedition leader did not get the answer he wanted, so he kicked the chief in the neck again, knocking him to the ground.

"From now on, every minute, I will kill one person until you answer the question."

The expedition leader slowly stood up and asked the interpreter to convey his words to all the black people.

After waiting for a while, no one answered.
"Damn it, that Neapolitan guy who could speak the native language has gone to hell. If I could find him..."

The expedition leader cursed and gnashed his teeth, walked up to a black man and chopped him down with a knife.

The round head rolled to the ground and the black people huddled together in fear.

"Sir, I know a little Greek. Baron Paton taught us a little..."

A little black boy raised his hand tremblingly.

The translator's eyes lit up and he quickly reported to the expedition leader.

"Baron? You mean your chieftain? Very interesting..."

Seeing this, the expedition leader put the knife to the little black man's neck.

"Tell me, how many days is it from here to the coast? Where is Benin City?"

The little black man turned his head to Patton, and Patton's cold eyes made him swallow.

"Just say it when I tell you to!"

The expedition leader's knife was pressed tightly against the little black man's neck, and red blood was oozing out of his black skin.

"Sir, the river next to us is a tributary of the Niger River. This is also considered the land of the Kingdom of Benin... The woods in the south are already quite sparse, but there are swamps in the south. We must first cross the river and head east... Continue walking for two days and you will see the sea."

The expedition leader got the information from the translator, immediately took out a simple map to check it, picked up a piece of charcoal, and made a mark on the map.

"Why should I trust you?"

The expedition leader frowned.

"You niggers are more vicious than each other, especially those niggers who believe in the Greek heresy, who are extremely treacherous."

"Sir! You can actually go directly to Benin City in the north. There are a lot of people there! There are canoes that go directly to the sea, and there are skilled guides who can meet all your needs!"

"Your ship should be parked on the coast, they can take you there!"

The little black man said quickly.

“I’ve been to Benin City and can show you the way!”

"Jupan!"

Patton roared, glaring at Jupan fiercely.

"you--"

The expedition leader kicked Chief Patton again, and this time, Chief Patton could no longer speak. He knelt on the ground and coughed up blood.

"Very well, Jupan, how does the Benin chief treat us?"

The expedition leader asked, waving his hand, signaling the translator beside him to untie Zhu Pan.

"You are certainly welcome, your Excellency."

Zhu Pan escaped and immediately crawled towards the expedition leader in a flattering manner.

"The Kingdom of Benin is the most powerful country in this area and the only country with a coast. They have long been dissatisfied with the Romans - no, the Greeks, because the Greeks have always forced the King of Benin to convert to Christianity, and for some reason they suddenly lowered the price of slaves."

"The King of Benin would certainly be very happy if someone could break the Greek business monopoly."

After listening to the translation, the expedition leader fell into deep thought. Zhu Pan became a little anxious and quickly hugged his thighs.

"My lord, I swear, this is all that Baron Patton told us. Baron Patton also said that the two foreign legions of the Greek Empire are preparing to teach King Benin a lesson, and perhaps they will support a more obedient puppet!"

"If you are going to do business with the King of Benin, you have to do it as soon as possible..."

The translator told the expedition leader the situation truthfully with a serious look, and the latter cursed and kicked Zhu Pan away.

"No, we have to leave as soon as possible. If we run into the Greek army, we'll be finished!"

The expedition leader spoke to his team members.

"Just do as the nigger said, and hurry to the coast and find our boat!"

"Captain, we advised you not to leave the boat in such a remote place. Now you are lost!"

One team member complained.

"We haven't found Benin yet, how are we going to explain to King Louis?"

"Our North American colonies need slaves. We must find a stable supplier on this slave coast instead of letting the Greeks keep making the difference!"

"Yes, the Atlantic Ocean is so vast that the Greek fleet cannot be watching it all the time. Aren't the Dutch secretly doing slave trade here?"

"Shut up, everyone!"

The expedition leader growled in annoyance, then slowed down his tone.

"Everyone, I know that you are all loyal to His Majesty the King, and I also know that you are eager to complete the King's mission and open up a trade route."

"But we got lost and wasted too much time. Now the situation has changed. The Greeks are likely to attack Benin City. We cannot take this risk."

"We are running out of the Asclepiadine pills we smuggled. By then, malaria will destroy every one of us!"

The expedition leader spread his hands.

"I think what this little black guy named Jupan said is probably true. Let's go south to the coast as he said. We have to find the Gallic Lance Mercenary Ship as soon as possible and leave here before the Greek ships swarm in to minimize the risk..."

"This Paton may be a native baron canonized by the Greek Empire. We should take him with us and give him to King Louis. This will at least prove that we have done our best."

The expedition leader continued to explain.

"It's not like we didn't gain nothing... We found Chief Patton's small gold mine while we were lost and got a lot of gold..."

The expedition leader took out a nugget of gold from his pocket.

"How about this, I'll give you a smaller share and use this piece of gold to buy you some wine, how about that?"

"Enemy - attack -"

Just when the team members were about to be convinced, a sharp roar came from the woods, followed by the sentry's miserable scream.

Whoosh—whoosh—

Dozens of crossbow arrows flew in from the woods below, and the expedition team located on high ground was completely exposed to the attack of long-range weapons. Before anyone was seen, a small half of the expedition team members fell down.

Then, one hundred black soldiers in dark green uniforms rushed out of the dense forest. They were wearing soft armor, holding sharp weapons, and were strong and experienced, which was obviously different from ordinary black natives.

On their chests, the emblem of the Eastern Roman Empire's Foreign Legion flickered in the sun.

The battle ended quickly. The expedition team, which was inferior in numbers, equipment and military quality, was no match for the foreign legion. Except for a few prisoners, everyone else was killed by swords and crossbows.

The white centurion of the Foreign Legion emerged from the woods holding a sentry's head, smoking a cigarette and directing his subordinates to clean up the battlefield.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he looked at Patton, whose face was covered in blood.

"Hey, isn't this the Baron?"

The Centurion laughed, walked forward, and kicked Patton lightly.

"Are you still alive?"

"Alive, thank God!"

Patton spits out a few teeth.

"Please help me untie me..."

Anayeh drew out a dagger, cut the ropes on Paton's hands and feet, untied the wine bag and handed it to Paton.

Patton took the wine bag without hesitation, drank it down in gulps, and regained some strength.

"Hey, drink less, this is the best Royal Camp vodka..."

Patton ignored Anaya's complaints, snatched the dagger from his hand, rushed towards the stunned Zhupan, and ended his life with one knife in his panic-stricken eyes.

Throwing down the dagger, Patton panted, stood up, straightened his back, faced Anayye, and gave a standard Roman salute. "I am Patton Oboro, the 13th cadet of the Royal Knight Academy. Thank you for your rescue, respected senior."

Anayye's expression also became serious. He stood up and returned the greeting to Patton.

"Anaiye Mifos, the eleventh-term cadet of the Royal Knights Academy. Nice to meet you, my dear classmate."

"However, you may not know that the Royal Knights Academy no longer exists. It is now divided into the Army Officer Academy and the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy. We are all graduates of the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy."

Patton nodded, sat down on the ground, and it took him a while to catch his breath.

"How did you find us?"

"My team of 100 men was originally planning to go to your small mine, but we ran into your militia on the way. They told us the situation and decided to search separately. I followed the traces left by the French and found this place."

Anaiya smiled.

"Your militia seems to have good fighting power and high loyalty. How could they be beaten like this?"

"Don't mention it, it's all a mess."

Patton sighed.

"I actually have two gold mines. I just bought the second one, and it happened to be discovered by the lost French. At that time, I was organizing the mining there, and I didn't bring many soldiers with me."

"You are not well-trained. This is not the empire's homeland. You have to bring soldiers with you when you go out..."

Anaiya teased.

"Why did the French arrest you?"

“They wanted to go to Benin City and asked me to lead the way, but I refused.”

"Besides, that captain is not French, but Venetian, and he is the worst of all bastards."

Patton said simply, pouting at Jupan who was lying on the ground.

"And that kid, he's my godson, but he betrayed me and almost let the Western Europeans succeed."

"Just asking for directions?"

Anaye was a little confused.

"Why not just tell them?"

"Hmph, absolutely impossible. I only know one path from here to Benin City, but there is a large gem mine on the road. This is my next goal."

Patton shook his head firmly.

"Other natives don't know about the mineral veins, but the Europeans definitely do. I'm afraid they will leak the news."

"Tsk, tsk, you are greedier than the capitalists of Constantinople."

Anaye pouted.

"Are you really not afraid of death?"

"Haha, I won't die. I have a lot of dogs. My militia will find this place sooner or later if they follow the trail. We can just drag them away."

Patton said nonchalantly.

"In recent days, there have been significantly more Western Europeans coming to this coast. The largest number of them are from France, followed by the Netherlands."

"What's going on here?"

"It's no big deal, they are just greedy for money."

Anaya said.

"The French began to establish plantations in their colonies in North America. Some Dutch explorers were also opening up colonies in North America. They killed all the local indigenous people and needed a large number of slaves as labor."

"The Empire monopolized 80 percent of the slave trade, and the Portuguese were unwilling to export to the French at low prices because of disputes over their colonies, so they had to find other ways."

"The ocean is vast, and the Imperial Navy cannot control the entire coast. We cannot stop them. As far as I know, two Dutch merchants have entered the court of King Benin and are planning to bypass us and purchase their slaves directly."

"Then why are you here? Are you really going to teach the King of Benin a lesson?"

Patton asked.

"How is that possible? We are ready to completely eliminate the Kingdom of Benin."

Anaya put out the cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke.

"We can't stop the Western Europeans from the sea, but we can completely conquer the entire coast so that they can only import from us."

"The Colonial Secretary William passed away. The new Colonial Secretary is the former Governor of the Canary Islands, Lothair. He promoted this plan and decided to monopolize Queen's Harbor, Platinum Harbor and the surrounding coasts, integrate the scattered colonies in the Greater Bay Area, and form the Crown Territory of West Africa."

"The scale of the Ascle Pharmaceutical Factory has expanded several times in the past few years. We are not short of quinine now. The Colonial Department has also introduced other epidemic prevention measures. Although we still cannot go too deep inland, it is no problem to take over an entire coast."

Anaya said.

"In the future, the planting area of ​​cash crops such as cotton and tobacco will have to be expanded, and the gold and slave trade will have to be regulated. The King of Benin is not very willing to join the Eastern Empire's system, so we have no choice but to let him die."

"I see."

Patton asked for a cigarette and coughed as he smoked.

"Then why did the Guinea Company lower the purchase price of slaves? Was it also to stimulate the King of Benin?"

"No, this has nothing to do with the Guinea Company. It's what businessmen call a 'market problem'."

Anaye shook his head.

"The latest intelligence has come that the emperor has launched a massive attack on Anatolia. A large number of Saracen slaves have flooded into the market, causing the price of slaves to continue to drop."

"Another war?"

Patton said, a look of reminiscence in his eyes.

"Back then, I served as a junior officer in the Carthaginian Archer Corps for a period of time and participated in the First Great Turkish War. But I only fought for half a year before my father passed away. I rushed back to inherit the family business."

"Yes, the war has begun again."

Anaye nodded solemnly.

"This time, the Colonial Secretary gave us only two months. We had to unite the West African crown before December and we had to get the treasury of the King of Benin."

"I guess the emperor might be short of money."

"Two weeks ago, Colonial Minister Lothair held a meeting there. All colonies received new tasks. Gold, silver, commodities, immigrants, various materials... all must be prepared to supply the imperial war."

"The coast of Benin has a lot of natural asphalt, which is also a military material that the empire urgently needs. You can try to mine some."

"Well, I'll see what I can do."

Patton said, looking towards Anaya.

"Do you need help from our subordinate tribes to attack Benin City?"

"Yes, this is one of the reasons why we came to you."

Anaya patted Patton on the shoulder.

"Benin City has walls, and the Benin army is equipped with iron weapons and iron armor, so it's not easy to deal with them."

"The small river near Benin City is not navigable. We are trying to find a way to pull the artillery to the city."

"We were originally planning to use draft horses to tow the artillery, but the environment here is too bad, the horses are prone to disease, and there are no local alternatives."

Anaye said with some annoyance.

"We can only use manpower instead. All of your coastal tribes will be recruited."

“Don’t worry, after we capture Benin City, you will definitely have a place in the Governor’s Mansion in Benin City.”

"OK, no problem!"

Patton agreed immediately and patted his chest.

"You saved my life, if you need any help just ask!"

"Haha, it's just my duty. Your tribe has signed a protection agreement with the Empire, and protecting you is also one of the responsibilities of the Colonial Secretary."

As he spoke, Anayeh glanced at the tied-up Venetian expedition leader and deliberately switched to broken Italian.

"We are not Venetians. We have no credibility and no honor."

"Ha, Greek, you have no right to accuse Venice."

The expedition leader knew he was going to die, and spat at Anaya with contempt.

"What you did in West Africa today was no more noble than the Fourth Crusade!"

“You say Venice is a colonizer of the Eastern Mediterranean and that Venice’s prosperity was built on the exploitation of the Greeks.”

"But in fact, you are no different from us. The prosperity of the Eastern Empire is also based on the plunder of colonies."

The expedition leader laughed.

"I know what dark and evil deeds I am doing, but I am not ashamed of them, nor do I pretend to be noble. Only you Greeks are equally evil, but you always pretend to be civilized."

Anaye was not angry, and looked at the expedition leader with amusement.

"Whether it is a sin or not depends on how you interpret it."

"The emperor once mentioned casually that the Romans might all have originated in Africa."

"I think the emperor must be right, that is, Africa is the original homeland of the Romans, and the Romans, like the local indigenous people, are descendants of Africans."

Anaya said with a smile.

"Is there anything wrong with you returning to your hometown to claim the heritage of your ancestors?"

Anayye did not give the expedition leader a chance to retort, but walked right up to him and slit his throat.

"Have you rested, dear Patton?"

Anaya wiped the blood off his face and looked at Patton with a smile.

"Now that you have rested, go fight for glory, faith and wealth!"

……

In the summer of 1478, the Eastern Roman Empire, whose treasury was once again drained by the Anatolian War, issued an emergency order to all its colonies, requiring each colony to supply the empire with the maximum amount of money and materials to allow the large-scale, high-intensity inland war to continue.

In the autumn of 1478, major colonies received orders one after another, and colonial officials and compradors took action. Gold and diamonds from New Thrace flowed into the empire, silver and grain from Elysium flowed into the empire, timber and sugar from Brazil flowed into the empire, cotton and asphalt from West Africa flowed into the empire, ivory and rubber from Congo flowed into the empire, and a large number of workshops along the Aegean coast rumbled into operation, sending huge amounts of supplies into the battlefield.

In 1478, the Eastern Roman Empire called on all its colonies. For the first time, the British Empire's tremendous potential in war was fully tapped. The Eastern Roman Empire was using huge amounts of real gold and silver to recover its ancestral homeland inch by inch.

Everyone believed that the Eastern Roman Empire would succeed, despite the brutality and cunning of the Muslim tribes in Anatolia and their numbers as numerous as sand on the sea.

After all, the Eastern Roman Empire would never admit defeat until it had squeezed the last drop of blood from its colonies.

(End of this chapter)