In the morning, the quiet Sahara Desert welcomed a group of unfamiliar guests.
The three Humvees sped across the vast sea of sand, leaving three straight trails of dust in their wake.
"How much longer?" Jiang Chen, who was sitting in the back, crossed his arms and asked in boredom.
Ayesha, who sat next to him, was expressionless, but from the deep bags under her eyes, it was obvious that she didn't have enough sleep.
"It's in front! But before that, we have to visit the chief of the nearby tribe, "Robert shouted excitedly as he drove.
"Why do I feel like you're excited as soon as we reach the desert?" Jiang Chen glanced at him.
"You won't understand this feeling of freedom!"
[This guy is crazy.]
Jiang Chen mocked him in his mind as he looked out the window.
The other two Hummers were occupied by the ten veterans who had been hired as instructors. Compared with the noise here, it was much quieter.
Soon, the car drove onto a small sand dune with hard soil.
Jiang Chen's vision suddenly brightened as he saw a series of short mud houses.
Primitive, ignorant, and poor.
These three words were probably Jiang Chen's first impression of the place.
The yellow and gray houses and courtyards were made of sand and stone. The wooden fence made of dried branches acted as the gate, and the windows were covered with dyed cloth. It was like a twelfth century Arab town. Every family had a camel. It was said that a person's social status was measured by how many camels they owned.
"I don't understand. Maybe you can explain to me why we are here?" Jiang Chen said helplessly.
"Of course. Ahem, from the perspective of modern people like us, it may be difficult to understand. Since we paid the money to buy the land from the Niger government, we also took out a portion of the money as compensation for occupying their ranch. From the content of the contract, 20 hectares of land not far from here already belongs to us, but based on the local tradition, we are still 'guests.' According to their tradition, if we want to 'settle down' here, we must get their approval, "Robert explained.
"There's such a troublesome explanation?" Jiang Chen's mouth twitched.
"It's just a formality. They have more or less become secular recently." Robert shrugged and slowed down the car. "It's good to respect the traditions of the locals. At least we can live in harmony with them and not worry about them looking for trouble. If necessary, they might even stand on our side. "
"Now that you mention it, I'm a little confused. Who exactly is the master of this land? Niger? Tuareg tribe? "Jiang Chen smiled.
"Well, you can think of it as Niger being the king of the Middle Ages, and the Tuareg tribe being the lord of this land." Robert rolled his eyes and gave a rather inappropriate analogy.
"If we had a conflict with them, whose side would the Niger government stand on?" After listening to Robert's explanation, Jiang Chen asked a dangerous question.
He didn't know when it started, but his perspective of thinking had become extreme.
After Robert heard Jiang Chen's question, a bitter smile appeared on his face.
"The government of Niger will be happy to see us destroy them, but it's impossible. The Tuareg people's footprints were all over the desert, and it was rumored that they had an unusual relationship with extremist forces such as Al-Qaeda. During the Mali riots, the Tuareg guerrillas fought alongside Al-Qaeda. "
He paused, and seeing that Jiang Chen didn't say anything. Robert was afraid that Jiang Chen would do something dangerous, so he immediately added.
"Uh, I recommend that we don't have a conflict with them. The people here are tough. Although they are poor, every family has an AK lying down. "
"Don't be nervous, I'm just asking." Jiang Chen smiled.
The cars drove into the tribe, and the natives all cast curious looks at the cars. Due to the road conditions, Robert rolled down the window and signaled the two cars behind him to wait outside the tribe.
It wasn't a big deal, and it wouldn't take long to go through the local customs.
"That's the food market, but I don't recommend you try what they sell there."
"What a coincidence, I'm not interested either." Jiang Chen looked out the window, and a child on a camel looked at him curiously. His father, with a veil covering his face, led the camel out of the tribe.
Ayesha's eyes glanced out the window, and she muttered "heresy" before she didn't say another word.
After they stopped the car, Jiang Chen and Robert, led by a woman with a dark face, walked to the building in the center of the tribe.
…
The Tuareg people were a nomadic people mainly distributed around the Sahara Desert in Africa. They were a branch of the Berber tribes scattered across the vast northern region of Africa. They were famous for their unique nomadic lifestyle and writing that differed from the surrounding ethnic groups. They were a matriarchal society, not a matriarchal society. Although they believed in Islam, there was no tradition for women to cover their faces. On the contrary, in the Tuareg society, only men over the age of 25 were required to wear a veil.
What shocked the outside world even more was their unrestrained marriage values. Women could have multiple partners outside of marriage, and all property would belong to them in the event of a divorce.
Apart from these strange customs, they were all natural warriors. There was a famous local saying – "To the Tuareg, there are no secrets in the desert." In this desert, they knew how to fight better than anyone else. In the civil war in Mali, the Tuareg guerrillas almost forced the government forces to retreat.
Because of their powerful combat power, a lot of dictators and warlords in the Mediterranean Sea favored the Tuareg's combat power. The most famous one was Qaddafi, who liked to recruit Tuareg mercenaries. After the civil war in Libya, Qaddafi even offered the Tuareg a tempting reward of 1000 USD a day to help him suppress the anti-government forces.
Of course, no one knew if the money was paid.
To be honest, Robert suggested Jiang Chen that since Niger was the location of the mercenary base, it might be a good choice to directly recruit Tuareg people. But after some consideration, Jiang Chen rejected his proposal.
The main reason was due to his distrust of their culture and beliefs. It was a decision made to avoid future chaos. At least the refugees who fled their homeland wouldn't suddenly want to go home. No matter how he thought about it, the refugees who fled their homeland were more reliable.
In the spacious mud house, Jiang Chen met the legendary chief.
"Guest from afar, may your wealth be as endless as the fine sand of the Sahara." The dark-skinned chief nodded slightly and put her hands together.
Perhaps it was because she often interacted with French people that she spoke French fluently. But no matter how fluent she was, Jiang Chen, who only learned English, couldn't understand. So he stood there without saying a word and watched Robert do what he did.
"Thank you for your generosity to the land. May your tribe prosper, and may your camels flourish." Robert also used perfect French to return the greeting. Jiang Chen still didn't know how many languages this guy knew.
Hearing this, the slightly old female chief grinned, her wrinkles squeezing together.
The following ceremony was simple. A man wrapped in a terrifyingly thick headscarf placed two bowls of camel milk in front of the two. Based on the local custom, the thicker the headscarf and veil, the more respectful it was to the guest.
It was said that when male guests visited, they also needed to wear a headscarf to at least cover their mouth. But from the looks of it now, in the process of secularization, they still made some concessions to the foreign culture.
The chief didn't know if she was chanting a spell or a prayer, but she mumbled for a long time before she smiled and invited the two to drink.
Looking at the cloudy camel milk in front of him, Jiang Chen couldn't help but wonder if it was just squeezed out. He then looked at Robert, the guy's eyebrows also twitched.
"Is this really drinkable?" Jiang Chen mocked in English in a quiet voice.
"It is drinkable, but trust me, after the first time, you won't want to drink it a second time." Although his expression was bitter, Robert still performed a heroic act this time. He held the bowl of camel milk and gulped it down with his eyes closed.
Mhmm, it was obvious that it was his second time drinking this.
Jiang Chen was speechless.
Looking at Robert's expression, the chief's smile was even brighter. The more the guest drank, the more it reflected the guest's respect for the host.
But when she saw Jiang Chen, her eyes lit up.
Before Robert's bowl was put down, Jiang Chen already put the empty bowl on the table.
After a while, Robert finally finished drinking and slammed the bowl on the table. But when he saw Jiang Chen, his eyeballs almost popped out.
When they came out of the chief's house, the two were warmly sent off.
When they returned to the car, Robert wiped his mouth while groaning.
"Dammit, I feel like there's a layer of oil in my stomach." Then, Robert looked at Jiang Chen strangely. "Speaking of which, you can stand the weird smell?"
"Weird taste? It's okay. "Jiang Chen laughed as he pretended to be pretentious and leaned against the back of the seat.
Other than the oily taste on his mouth, he didn't drink a single drop as it was all sent to the storage dimension.
He was getting more and more skilled at this skill.
After interacting with the neighbors, the three Hummers once again went on the road.
Finally, Jiang Chen saw the "castle" in the desert – Future Security Company's base.
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