African Nationhood

On October 1907, 10, Shi Hao, the eldest son of the chairman of the Nanhua National Stone Committee, married the youngest daughter of the commander of the military police. The whole country celebrated and there was a festive atmosphere everywhere.

The merchant ship "Flamingo" of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of South China left Beira Port and headed for the Indian state of Travancore (now Kerala, India).

The ship carried cans, bicycles, small industrial products and some arms that were special products of South China.

The princely state of Travancore is one of the larger princely states in the South Asian subcontinent.

This princely state is located at the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent.

They were very wealthy due to maritime trade.

The state of Travantel is an agricultural state. The soil and water conditions here are good, the agricultural endowment is excellent, and the population there is also very dense.

This land has not belonged to India since ancient times, and the entire country has an extremely obvious tendency towards independence.

In the original time and space, dozens of days before India's independence, the interior minister of a princely state was assassinated by an unidentified person.

Finally, under coercion and inducement, the princes of the princely states were forced to join India.

……

The South China Kingdom will control the Indian Ocean in the future, so the Indian Federation, known as the "Indian Ocean Overlord", will no longer appear.

At the moment, South China needs to establish good relations with these independent states, and wait until the British withdraw in the future before they can take over control of the situation on the subcontinent.

Nanhua's commercial relationship with the princely states was only one aspect, and the other was to spy on the whereabouts of the gold in Indian temples.

Chairman Shi only remembers that the temple with the gold was located in the later state of Kerala.

In the original time and space of 1947, the Kingdom of Travancore and the Kingdom of Cochin merged to form the later state of Kerala.

That batch of gold was hidden in the underground palace of the temple. I don’t remember the specific situation.

So he instructed Yang Kuan's military intelligence office to send spies to investigate.

Determine the location of the temple as soon as possible and find out information about the leaders of these princely states.

……

There were spies from the military intelligence office on the "Flamingo", and the team was led by Lucas Lao Ai, who had served Queen Victoria in London for a long time.

The Queen's former leader was kicked out of London by the new British King Edward VII after the Queen's death.

He has accumulated a lot of wealth over the years, and he can become a comfortable rich man when he goes there.

But he was very passionate about the secret front, so he returned to Nanhua to seek an audience with Chairman Shi.

After a conversation, Chairman Shi felt that Lao Ai's ambition was still there, so he awarded him a first-class meritorious service medal and asked him to report to Yang Kuan.

In the past few years, he has been helping Yang Kuan train secret agents in the interior, mainly training in psychology, cooking and bed skills.

Over the past few years, many secret spies have been trained by him. His code name has also changed from Lao Ai to "Ling Ling Ding", and Yang Kuan's code name is "Ling Ling Jia."

There are three secret spies traveling with Ling Lingbing this time, namely Yiyi Xin (118), Si Eryi (422) and Ba Bajia (881).

Among them, 11Xin and 42Yi were the representatives of the trade group. After trading with the Travancore State, they would also go to Cochin to investigate.

Ba Bajia needs to pretend to be a couple with him, serve as Nanhua's commercial consul in the princely state of Travancore, and investigate the situation of this princely state.

Because the distance between the two sides was relatively short, the "Flamingo" arrived at the Port of Kollon in the state of Travancore (now Kollam County, Kerala, India), which was famous for its cashew nut processing and palm weaving.

After landing here, you can walk another 70 kilometers to Trivandrum, the royal capital of Travancore.

……

"Woo~~" When the steam ship docked, it was discovered that the port here was very small, and the main body of the port was still made of wood.

The port is densely populated by fishing boats and many small and medium-sized merchant ships. These merchant ships mainly go to trade in the Persian Gulf, trafficking pearls, rice and even fish.

When the "Flamingo" docked, Alyssa Green took her handsome middle-aged gentleman, Mr. Lucas, off the merchant ship.

Ignoring the strange looks around them, they slowly looked at the tropical harbor, and then calmly walked to the local officials waiting on the pier to shake hands and talk.

Since the princely states openly followed the leadership of the British monarch, Lucas, the lover of the former Queen of England, was very noble in the eyes of these princely officials.

So they all paid homage to Lucas, and Lucas was already used to it.

He waited very arrogantly for the local officials to stand up, and then asked arrogantly in English, "Is your king here?"

The princely official who greeted him immediately responded humbly: "Dear Sir, our Lord Varma has not arrived. You need to go to Trivandrum to meet him."

Lucas hummed, and then he was led by the princely officials to the port room to rest.

By the time all the cargo was unloaded, it was already three hours later. There was a lot of cargo and the port here was too small.

The other two consuls accompanying him were worried about the low efficiency here.

Lucas couldn't help but confess to the officials of the princely state: "You need to expand the port, otherwise we will have to consider whether to continue trading with you."

The local official nodded immediately and said: "Dear Sir, we will report your suggestion to the prince."

Seeing that it was impossible to go to the capital of Tubang today, the group of them rested for the night at Kuilong Port.

Early the next morning, they set off in a sedan with a pergola.

The caste system still exists here. Although this country has long abolished slavery, there is still a clear hierarchy here.

The 70-kilometer road is not easy to walk. In addition to being unsustainable by manpower, we have to pass through large and small rivers along the way.

Although Lucas and the others were sitting on the sedan without moving, such an inefficient way of traveling also made them feel incredible.

His nominal wife couldn't help complaining to him: "I feel like the South China country where we are and this place are two different worlds."

Lucas smiled and didn't have much to say, so he could only comfort him: "You will get used to it soon."

After spending a few days, they finally arrived at Trivandrum, the royal capital of Travantel.

King Varma of Travantel came out of the city to greet him personally, and Lucas finally met the king.

The king is not very old, at most in his early thirties.

At first glance, the king seemed to be seeing an African native, but his nose was particularly eye-catching, as tall as a Frenchman.

If he hadn't been dark-skinned, Lucas would have really doubted his ancestry.

He wore a blue and gold robe studded with gems and pearls. He wore several gemstone rings on his hands, and a crown studded with gemstones with a white mane.

Lucas leaned forward and saluted the king, "Hello, Your Excellency Miyoum Tirunal Roma Varma."

The king smiled at Lucas and said: "Welcome to you, noble Lord Lucas. I was deeply saddened to hear about the death of Her Majesty the Queen. I didn't expect that you would come to my country. I would like to extend a warm welcome to your arrival."

Lucas introduced the king to his "wife" and the other two consuls accompanying him.

After some pleasantries, they finally arrived at the palace in the royal capital.

Ps: The snow was so heavy that I almost couldn’t get back from get off work. (End of chapter)