As the largest customer for East African slaves, the Ottoman Empire had a very strong demand. This was not a matter of liking or not liking, but rather that the price of East African slaves was simply too low. No one could resist the temptation of such low prices, and even a portion of ordinary Ottoman citizens could afford them. Therefore, in the eyes of the Ottomans, slaves were cheaper than livestock, and the amount of food required was also smaller than that of livestock, making them very suitable for large-scale popularization.
However, the number of Black people in the Ottoman Empire was somewhat excessive, to the extent that they could be used to fight the Tsarist Russia as consumable cannon fodder. This point also gave the Russians a huge headache, though fortunately, the combat effectiveness level of the Black people was not high.
The advantage of East African Black slaves was that they were very suitable for being organized and utilized on a large scale, which was the norm for slave life in East Africa. Therefore, after taking them over, the Ottomans could also easily organize the Black slaves, and even as a rabble, gathering them together could greatly alleviate the pressure on the regular Ottoman army.
Mozambique colony.
"Your Excellency Governor Leiford! Is this what you call an army?" the French instructor said, looking at Mozambique's armed forces with some disbelief.
The total number of the Mozambique army before them was a mere 1,400-odd men, and they looked like they could not be much more advanced than medieval armies. According to the French instructor Dreyse, some islands in the Indian Ocean probably had stronger regular forces than Mozambique.
However, if Dreyse had witnessed the state of the domestic Portuguese army, he would probably have understood why Mozambique's