Chapter 58 Plot
The Sultanate of Zanzibar.
Since the establishment of the East African Colony, the East African Colony and the Sultanate of Zanzibar have been getting along fairly well.
The expansion of East African colonies into the western interior of East Africa affected the traditional commercial routes of Arab merchants, but the East African colonies were not interested in indigenous slaves and ivory.
Every time the newly occupied land was cleared, the East African colonies would bring indigenous people, ivory, and other products to the port of Dar es Salaam for trade with merchants from various countries.
Unlike the previous Arab caravans that had to deal with the Bantu tribes in the interior, the East African colonies were a direct flip of the table. With each expansion, a large number of natives fell into the hands of the colonies.
Of course, the East African colonies would not keep these people, and directly lowered the price of slaves. The Arab merchants only had to wait at the port for the East African colonies to deliver goods to their doorsteps.
The East African colonies only required Arab merchants to exchange grain and other products.
However, the actions of the East African colonies still caused dissatisfaction among some people. They were Zanzibar represented by Bagash bin Said, the younger brother of Majid bin Said, the Sultan of Zanzibar. Progressive forces of the Sultanate.
This matter also starts with the contemporary Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Said.
Majid bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar, was the sixth son of Said bin Sultan, the former King of Oman.
Sayyid bin Sultan was a very powerful figure who once brought the Oman Empire to prosperity. It was he who captured Zanzibar.
After his death, Majid bin Said and his third brother Suweni bin Said competed for the throne, but Suweni bin Said was superior and won the throne of Oman throne.
He proclaimed himself the Sultan of Zanzibar, and Zanzibar split from the Oman Empire and became an independent country.
During his reign, Majid bin Said used the controversial Indian Ocean slave trade to consolidate power and amass the country's wealth.
During his reign, Bagash bin Sayyid (who was also Sayyid bin Sultan's son) unsuccessfully attempted to usurp the throne and was exiled to Bombay for two years.
The thing is that Bagash bin Said opposed the slave trade. He advocated abolitionism and was interested in Western science and technology. He wanted to promote the development of the Zanzibar Sultanate through infrastructure construction. Development (this is how it has been done historically).
The East African colonies were eager to pack away the natives, so large-scale shipments, in the opinion of Bagash bin Said, were simply aiding the evil.
……
Dar es Salaam Port, the house of Bagash bin Said.
"Everyone, you can't sit still and wait for death, otherwise Zanzibar will have no future!"
Bagash bin Said roared with red eyes.
“Majid bin Said is now old and confused, and the Germanic East African colonies are helping him. Originally, Majid bin Said’s slave trade was setting back the clock on history. Now all the great powers in the world are Slavery has been abolished. If we cannot abolish the slave trade, how can Zanzibar integrate into the civilized world in the future? It will remain unchanged and will inevitably be eliminated by the times.”
The people sitting below are all Bagash Ben. Said's cronies have all seen the powerful power of Western civilization after industrialization, and they are also relatively enlightened people in the Arab world (maybe related to the British behind the Oman Empire).
"You are right, Your Highness, but it may be difficult to deal with the Germanic armed forces in the East African colonies with our strength," said an officer of the Zanzibar Sultanate.
"If we don't do it, who else can raise the banner of Zanzibar's future! So no matter how difficult the road is, we must face it bravely. It is impossible to count on Majid. He only knows pleasure and indulges in excitement now. You can’t get rid of it,” said Bagash bin Said.
"But, Your Highness, if we cannot convince His Majesty the Sultan to side with us, then the power we can use will be too limited!" said another young officer.
“What’s the point! You must know that we represent a civilized party. His Majesty the Sultan relies on the slave trade to make money. This is an outrage in itself. As long as we raise our arms, we will definitely wake up the vast majority of Zanzibar. Fellow citizens, join us in overthrowing the slave trade,” said the young man in a suit. "Are you brainless? You have such a naive idea and want to change Zanzibar. Political struggle is not a game." An officer angrily yelled.
“I think some people are too timid to dedicate themselves to the great cause of Zanzibar, so they are greedy for life and afraid of death!”
"Kid, do you know what you are talking about? I am an old man who has opposed the Sultan with His Highness in the early years. I am not a frivolous young man like you who pees his pants when something really happens."
"What! You can't stop talking and start attacking people personally?"
......
The two sides started to quarrel like this.
Bagash bin Said watched his men quarreling with each other with a livid face. He raised his hand and slapped it on the table. There was a loud "snap", which instantly silenced everyone.
Bagash bin Saeed said sternly: "That's enough. How can we be polite and noisy all day long? Do you think you can still talk like this?"
"The solution to the problem is not to talk, but to talk. Relying on ability and method, instead of pouring bitterness and criticizing each other here, it is better to think of ways , everyone brainstormed together to find a solution to the problem."
Everyone was silent...
Looking at the speechless people, Bagash bin Said said earnestly: "I don't know how dangerous this is, but we have no way out Retreat, failure is not terrible, even if it fails, it is temporary, just like when we were forced to go into exile in India, aren’t we making a comeback now? ”
Bhagash Ben Sai? Yi De continued: "If we want to abolish the slave trade, we must be prepared with both hands. , the first is to cut off Majid’s supply of goods, which is the route and supply of slaves provided by the East African colonies to Majid, and the second is to overthrow Majid’s rule. Only in this way can Zanzibar be fundamentally brought into modern society. This time we cannot be the same as last time. Escaped in the same embarrassment.”
"Now we have a sizable army in our own hands. This is our capital. As long as Majid and his entourage can be eliminated quickly, we will be able to take control of the power of the Zanzibar Sultanate."
"I have learned about that East African colony. According to information provided by Portuguese and British businessmen, except for two thousand retired Prussian soldiers (actually only more than a thousand), the rest are farmers recruited from East Asia."
"As long as we gain the right to speak in Zanzibar, we can gather a professional army of more than 4,000 people. At the same time, we can also temporarily recruit some nationals to deal with the farmers in the East African colonies. Four thousand versus two thousand, the advantage is Our side."
After listening to Bagash bin Said's plan, an officer said: "Your Highness, what will His Majesty the Sultan do? If we succeed, will we..." He said it with His hand made the shape of a pistol, and he pushed it to his forehead, "pop", a shooting motion.
Baghash bin Said shook his head: "That is what the barbarians do. The monarchs of European countries often attack each other because of political struggles, but no one has ever persecuted the loser, not even Napoleon. For such ambitious people, the monarchs of various European countries simply chose to go into exile!”
The officer named Abdullah said: "Your Highness, you can't be soft! In case Majid Sultan comes back..."
Bagash bin Said: "Okay, I have made up my mind. This There is no room for discussion. We will just exile him to other countries when the time comes. I heard that he has a good relationship with the Osa Sultanate, so we will exile him wherever he goes. Anyway, he is too old to come back and cause trouble. After all, he doesn’t have the British backing like us.”
……
In this way, a conspiracy against the East African colonies and the Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Said, took shape. .
If the officials of the East African colonies knew about their plan, they would definitely complain. What kind of brain circuit is this? We did not initiate the slave trade, so we can still be targeted just to make some extra money!
This is really an unreasonable disaster. It is your own family matter, and you have to involve outsiders. How can you have the nerve to say that the East African colonies are bad people? Also helping the evildoers!
It doesn’t make sense logically! Until the future, officials in the East African colonies could not understand the brain circuits of these Arabs.
(End of this chapter)