August 24, 1701, sunny.

The weather is relatively cool today, maybe it is at the end of the cold dry season. From April to August every year, Zambia is a cold dry season, with the lowest climate at this time, especially in July. Later, in the southern part of the western provinces of Zambia, there was an extremely low temperature record of minus seven degrees at night, and generally it was 7-10 degrees. In the eastern and northern regions, except for the Muqingga Mountains and the area along the border of Malawi, the lowest temperature is roughly between 10-13 degrees. The weather is clear at night, and the heat dissipates very quickly, and the temperature will change drastically, and frost will even occur in some areas, although it only lasts a few days to ten days. There is a real frost-free year-round, perhaps only some areas of the Northern Province and Loipura Province.

During the camping yesterday, people from the East Coast experienced the severe day-night temperature difference of the Zambian Plateau. The sharp drop in temperature caused most people to take out military blankets to keep warm. If there is no medical treatment or medicine here, it would be a big problem if they catch a cold. However, according to an indigenous person who served as a guide, the temperature will rise rapidly in seven or eight days at the latest, because the climate of the Zambian Plateau is about to enter the hot dry season. In the three-month hot dry season (September-November), the temperature will quickly rise to more than 30 degrees, and in October, the hottest Luanggua Valley area can even reach 38 degrees. However, at night, the temperature in the place will drop to around 20 degrees, and the air humidity is not very large, so people are not very uncomfortable, especially for foreign colonists like the East Coast.

After November, the Zambian Plateau entered the warm rainy season. Pay attention to the word "warm". The reason why "heat" is not used is because the temperature in Zambia is 5-6 degrees lower than the hot dry season during this period (from the end of November to the beginning of April of the following year). Although the direct sunlight point will move southward, the hot sunlight is greatly obscured and weakened by the warm and humid air currents from the sea, making the overall temperature of the warm rainy season lower than the hot dry season. However, the temperature difference between day and night in this season is relatively small, because night heat dissipation is also affected by thick clouds.

The Zambian Plateau is not as hot as people on the East Coast imagine!

To be honest, Tang Chengzhi regrets it now. He even wants to suggest that his superiors reconsider, take down the Zambian Plateau, control it directly, and push the yellow-and-black dividing line northward to about 10 degrees south latitude. He feels that if people on the east coast come, they can definitely manage Zambia well and become an economic hotbed for people to live and work in peace and contentment.

However, he also knew that this was just thinking. Changing the Yellow-and-Black Dividing Line, a plan that was directly from the Supreme Power, with many departments involved and had done a lot of work, was not very difficult. This firstly requires the Executive Committee to decide to change the position of the line, and then re-promote the Mestiso and Indians, and allocate more funds and materials. Yicheng, Hezhong, and New China will also complain. Experts from all walks of life in the East Coast who serve these future founding columns must also re-programm the plan. In short, it is a big struggle.

Forget it, for nothing! You have to give these five people some benefits. Without the mild climate and fertile soil, it would not be too much to throw it to them on the Zambian Plateau. It should be able to relieve their inner resentment a little. After all, they are not puppets who have feelings, they are living people, and remember everything too much!

They crossed the Zambezi River on August 20 and stayed in Leon for only one night. During this period, he handed Jose a check of 5,000 yuan and explained that it was given by a newly established charitable fund in the East Coast. The fund is called the African Hope Fund, and its purpose is to find new homes for the Indians stranded in the New World and the Mestiso people in Africa. They have raised hundreds of thousands of yuan in donations, basically donated by the East Coast citizens and enterprises.

Jose was a little happy about this. He thought he hadn't, but he got a few thousand yuan. Although money was far less useful than physical goods in the Zambezi River, money was money. As long as you send someone to cross the Zimbabwe Plateau and go to the Qinglin Township Railway Station in the south to purchase, you can still get a lot of supplies. Even if you don't think it's expensive, you can purchase from the East Bank pocket merchants who have traveled here for a long distance. They collect cash and bills of exchange, so you have to pay a little interest spread.

In a happy mood, Jose selected 50 agile cavalry in the army and asked them to escort the East Coast Expedition Team to explore north with full armed forces. Tang Chengzhi expressed his gratitude for this and did not refuse. After working in the Yellow-and-Black Dividing Line for so many years, he had already known how to deal with these people, and also knew how inseparable these people were from the East Coast assistance.

Today is August 24. They have crossed the southern mountains and entered the location of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, later. However, there is no famous "copper capital" here at this time, but there are only boundless weeds and lush forests. A large number of wild animals live in it, giving people the feeling of a wild world.

Of course, this is indeed a wild world, and the indigenous people living there are also barbarians, at least that's what the people on the East Coast think! The barbarians near Lusaka have been cleaned up by Jose's cavalry twice, and now there is basically no dare to continue living here. Moreover, Jose's cavalry will come and wander around from time to time, because Commander Jose has taken a fancy to this fertile plain with a large area. In the future, once the people on the East Coast order north, he will occupy the place as the core area of ​​his future kingdom.

Regardless of Jose's character and skills, at least in this view, Tang Chengzhi believes that it is still worthy. There are many sayings in the East Coast of the Zambian Plateau, but one thing is quite consistent, that is, most areas of this plateau are developed on ancient rocks. Its characteristics are relatively rich minerals, but the soil texture is relatively average. In this regard, it is very different from the fertile land of the Zimbabwe Plateau in the south. However, the plains near Lusaka seem to be an exception. The various nutrients in the soil here are relatively balanced, which is conducive to the growth of plants. Moreover, due to the high altitude, the climate can be improved, and a large number of temperate crops can be planted here, which is very similar to the Zimbabwe Plateau in the south.

Of course, before starting to plant crops such as wheat, Jose people still have to find ways to cut down trees and clear the woodland. According to people on the East Coast, the forest coverage rate is extremely high. Perhaps five-sixths of the area covers trees, and the rest are grasslands and water surfaces.

There are also two types of local forests. The first type is called "forest", which is characterized by the upper forest layer being slumped, the middle layer is dense undergrowth, and the lower layer is generally shrubs. The second type is called "forest land". The upper layer is not slumped, the middle layer is relatively open and not dense at all, and the lower layer is grassland. This kind of forest land generally extends into grasslands.

The vegetation near Lusaka is "woodland". But even so, it is still a huge project to develop it, and I don't know how many woodworking tools will be consumed during this period. At this point, the experience of European colonists in North America has already told everyone well what it feels like to cut down trees and cry. They really envy the people of the East Coast for too many trees in the hands of La Plata, which can become a burden. What rhythm is this?

The Ministry of Forestry in the East Coast once sent people to inspect the forest resources in Zambia and found that there is great potential. The large number of rosewood, Zambian teak, East African mahogany, bagel, etc. here have potential export value, and the demand for it is still very high on the east coast is still very high. Unfortunately, the deep inland here, the transportation is inconvenient, and many resources will only continue to sleep here for a while and cannot be exchanged for money. Just as the people of Mestiso in the city of Leon, the precious Zambian teak was used to build houses, make floors and furniture, and even burn charcoal. The people in Leon and Bigo really used charcoal to boil water and cook, so that a charcoal industry has been created, and hundreds of people make a living.

However, the biggest wealth near Lusaka is definitely not forest resources, but minerals. According to the report of the Ministry of Geology of the East Coast sent the fifth and sixth exploration teams, the East Coast government is now extremely confident that there is a large-scale lead, zinc, silver and manganese ore nearby (located in later Cabwe, originally named the New Broken Hill Mine Area), which has great mining value. After all, minerals such as lead and zinc are still relatively lacking in the East Coast, and the demand is also very large. If the output of this mining area can reach a certain scale, it is conceivable that the East Coast people will definitely control it. According to unconfirmed news, a senior executive of the state-owned Wolong Nonferrous Metals Company has bought a ticket to Yicheng Port next month. He will lead a team to personally inspect the mining area. If it is indeed valuable, he will buy the mining rights immediately.

"What restricts the future development of the Zambian Plateau is energy (Zambia mainly uses hydropower stations from neighboring countries in later generations), and transportation, which is particularly deadly. What's the use of minerals not being transported out? It's better to build a railway. But this railway cannot be considered separately. After all, there are three columns entering Zambia, and the fourth column is still resting in Zimbabwe. There is no accurate place to go in the future. This route is complicated." Standing under a huge red sandalwood tree, Tang Chengzhi said with emotion: "By the way, Sanchez, have your commander figured out the name of the city to be built here?"

"Think about it." The captain of the cavalry guarding the East Coast replied: "It's called Lusa Akas, because there is a tribe that we wiped out here, and it's the name."

"We need to change the bad habits caused by using pronunciation and alphabetical languages." Tang Chengzhi taught a lesson: "The name Lusa Acas is too long and too difficult to pronounce, and it is not in line with your future official language Chinese language habits. Change the name to Luca. Please tell me to Commander Jose, and he will consider it."

Speaking of the only official language of the country established by these five marching columns in the future is Chinese. For this reason, their upper class has now changed their names, including Ma Hu, Yang Zhongzhi, and Jose and Hao He who use transliterated Chinese names. In short, a de-Spanish movement has begun.
Chapter completed!