Southern Ryukyu Islands.
The first batch of ships departed from the Zhuhai Trade Zone and reached the Southern Ryukyu Islands within a few days. The Zhuhai Trade Zone was rather small, after all; the real bulk of the support would have to come from the Huaihai Economic Zone.
Even so, East Africa dispatched five of its own armed merchant ships from the Zhuhai Trade Zone to the Southern Ryukyu Islands, with more than three hundred armed personnel accompanying them, ready to be stationed there permanently.
The Southern Ryukyu Islands were not actually far from the Zhuhai Trade Zone, because they lay just east of Dawan Island.
Thus, East Africa prepared vast quantities of supplies, weapons, and ammunition. Since they were going to engage in colonization, they might as well do it in one stroke and get the troops in place first.
The Southern Ryukyu Islands had a total population of only a little over ten thousand, so three hundred East African soldiers were enough to deal with most threats. Within the Far East Empire, these armed personnel had been Hohenzollern Conglomerate security guards, but once outside the Far East Empire proper, they resumed their true identities. East Africa would continue sending reinforcements afterward. Ernst planned to deploy at least three thousand troops to the Southern Ryukyu Islands in the initial phase, with Miyako Island and Ishigaki Island as the key defensive areas.
"This is already the best residence on the island, and we have requisitioned it. But it is nowhere near enough for us, so we need to put up sheds quickly and make do for now. Apart from the islanders, there are also some pirates and Japanese on the island worth watching."
Pirates in the nineteenth century were truly as numerous as hairs on an ox, especially in the