Chapter 1211 Concentration Camp
Deep water port can be said to be one of the most lacking strategic resources in East Africa, so it is no wonder that after East Africa obtained the Lome Port, it hurriedly wanted to build it into one of the most important naval bases in East Africa. .
As a major country in the world, although East Africa has a long coastline and has territory in four oceans, it still lacks natural harbors.
This makes the construction and transformation of local ports in East Africa more costly than in other countries. Currently, many new ports in East Africa have been obtained through large-scale artificial transformation by the East African government, such as the Port of Falta, La. Port Mu, Port Ella, etc.
Port construction is also an important infrastructure that tests a country's capabilities. For example, in the past, the Far East Empire helped build or transform ports in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
This is the case for the more typical Gwadar Port or Karachi Port. Behind these ports, there is also a whole set of transportation construction involved. If you want to be rich, you must build roads first. If you want to activate the distribution function of these ports, you must have roads, railways, etc. Transportation links the inland economic hinterland.
This is the case with the Port of Falta in East Africa. Without supporting roads, railways and even water and electricity supply, it is impossible for the Port of Falta to be developed and utilized.
Of course, East Africa’s positioning of Lome Port is obviously not like this. East Africa does not need Lome Port to connect Togoland’s inland economy, but pays more attention to its military and strategic value. This military port is more important. Connectivity with mainland East Africa. As for what Lome Port lacks, East Africa itself can provide it.
......
After the ship finally docked, Brand began to command the sailors to drive all the imprisoned black slaves off the ship in an orderly manner, and handed them over to Togoland in East Africa. in the hands of the colonial garrison.
"Colonel Brand, the mental state of these black people does not look very good!" Ander, the Togolan garrison officer in charge of the reception, said with some disgust.
Of course, Andel's disgust is directed at these half-dead and mentally depressed black slaves.
Brand said: "These black people are taking a boat for the first time, so seasickness is inevitable. It's good to be able to survive it."
Deputy Tara also said : "We are the worst off. Many black slaves couldn't stand the bumps on the sea and vomited and had diarrhea in the cabin. Coupled with the humid environment and hot temperature, after fermentation, The smell is simply unacceptable, and our sailors have to hold their noses to clean and disinfect the ship.”
When someone is worse than you, you will feel much better. Listen. After the two complained, Andel was less resistant to escorting these black people. After all, compared to the situation encountered by the navy, their situation on land would be much better.
Of course, in fact, what Brand and Tara said was half true and half false. It is true that black people are seasick and unhygienic, but how the specific cleaning work is completed needs to be studied.
If you follow the tone of the two men, it seems that the sailors really completed the cleaning work themselves, but in fact there are so many "black slaves", how could it be the turn of the East African sailors to do it themselves.
The job of the East African sailors is to hold up guns and force these black slaves to complete the cleaning work themselves. As for those who are really disobedient, they have long been thrown into the sea to feed the sharks.
Andel, who was in a relatively better mood, began to change the topic and said: "I don't know why the government wants to do this extra thing. There are as many as 800,000 black people in the country. Even if we deal with it, it is still a big workload. After all, Togoland itself does not have enough manpower.”
Although the black slaves in East Africa are old and frail, there are still many of them! In fact, more than 800,000 black slaves were all thrown into Togoland. This kind of workload could not be completed in a short time.
Of course, the East African government has no intention of completing it in a short time. The situation in Europe is now very good for East Africa. East Africa has plenty of time to deal with the black slaves in its hands, and there is no need to worry about accusations from the international community.
Brand said: "There is no way around this. You have also seen that many of these black slaves have reached old age and can no longer provide value to the empire. Even if they are young and strong now, It will be the same in a few years. "And the empire has always been." We don’t support inhumane mass extermination, so we might as well exile them to West Africa.”
“And if you find it troublesome, we won’t feel comfortable either. There are more than 800,000 black people. Slave, exiled to West Africa, we didn’t even know we were going to run away No matter how many times, how many ships and manpower have been dispatched, the environment at sea is not much better than yours. To be honest, I am a little envious of you army troops!"
Andel said with a twitching corner of his mouth: "Colonel Brand. , you are a bit unkind, The navy's treatment is much better than ours. Your equipment and food alone are much better than our army's. If you want to envy us, it should be that we envy you. What's more, we are now sent to Togoland by the empire. A place where birds don’t poop”
The navy's funds are much richer than those of the army, which is reflected in all aspects. As a colonial army, the colonial army is not as good as the local army, so Andel thinks that Brand's words are biased.
And Brand also explained helplessly: "Well, I will tell you the details in the middle, so you will know that I am not deceiving you. Think about it, there is nothing wrong with me on the sea. It may be more comfortable than on land. After all, there are climate, wind and waves, hygiene and other issues to consider at sea. Every moment on the boat can be said to be very painful.”
“The most important thing is sleeping. In terms of basic issues, it is impossible to have a peaceful sleep. I think you must have experienced it when you went from the mainland to Togoland.”
You must take the sea route from the mainland of East Africa to Togoland. So Andel nodded and said: "That's true. I remember that on the ship we were on, we slept in hammocks and couldn't move our bodies. The space was very small, it was very hot and uncomfortable, and it was very uncomfortable."
Brand nodded in agreement and said: "That's it. It can be imagined that if you sleep on the boat every day, you won't be able to eat or sleep well at all. There is still a lot of work to do, so even if our food is more than the army's funding , but you also need to have an appetite to eat it.”
"As for the second point, what kind of ship did we come over this time? It's hard for you to believe that the youngest ones on these warships are two years older than me. Driving a sailboat like this requires more responsibility than There are more modern warships, and the operations are more complicated.”
“Just adjusting the sails. It is enough to make us miserable, and the cleaning work of the wooden deck is not easy to do, every day..."
Brand talked a lot, but it also proved that this era The comfort level on the ships is terrible, except for passengers on cruise ships and passenger ships who would probably be better off.
And Ander was also successfully persuaded by Brand. The navy was really not something that ordinary people could do. Although the salary in the navy was relatively higher, it was also very limited. If Ander was given the choice, he would definitely choose the army. After all, it is not worthwhile to enjoy the benefits of the Navy just for a little extra salary.
“Okay, except for a few of these people who were fed to sharks due to illness and other reasons, we will leave them all to you. We have to rush to the next trip, and we don’t know what will happen. When will the farming days end?" Brand complained.
To this, Andel could only say: "I wish you good luck!"
After counting the number of people, there were only 1,789 black people left among the 1,800, which was 11 less. People, but these are not what Andel has to consider.
"Pull them to the concentration camp first, and then drag them collectively to the border after the next batch arrives."
The East African government built a concentration camp in the Port of Lome to temporarily detain these black slaves. , and when enough people are gathered, the colonial army will transport them collectively to the northern border and release them.
The final destination is the French colony of Upper Volta, namely Burkina Faso, which means that these black people still have more than 500 kilometers to travel.
There are no roads or railways in Togoland to bring so many black people to the border, so this journey is destined to be unfriendly to black people.
(End of this chapter)