July 23, 1875.
A fleet of seven East African warships arrived at the Lan Fang Republic, landing at San Yangkou. Grand Duke Ferdinand remarked, "Among the many islands in the Nanyang, this place is indeed developing quite well!"
All around were fertile lands, somewhat reminiscent of the agricultural scenes in coastal East Africa. This shattered Grand Duke Ferdinand's stereotype about the newly established regions in Nanyang as they traveled from the Strait of Malacca.
The Strait of Malacca is indeed narrow, but its shores include the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, two large islands, thus offering vast land. However, development on both sides of the Strait of Malacca, except for a few cities (which to Ferdinand looked like countryside), was mostly deserted and covered with rainforests.
