Chapter 10 The Wind of Kilimanjaro

In 1910, the border of the German East African colonies was finally determined. The boundary line separating German East Africa and British East Africa turned a corner near Mount Kilimanjaro, leaving the highest mountain in Africa in German East Africa. It is said that this is the wish of Kaiser Wilhelm II: he hopes to be in his own territory. There is a peak of snow all year round on the earth.

Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain at an altitude of 5,892 meters. It is the highest mountain in Africa and also the highest volcano in the world. The Western Peak is called "Oaqi-Oayi" of the Masai people.

Mount Kilimanjaro is known as the "roof of Africa", and many geographers like to call it the "King of Africa". The vegetation of Mount Kilimanjaro changes significantly vertically due to different heights and slopes. There is less precipitation in the foothills of the mountain, with a vast distribution of tropical savannas, and zebras and long necks walking leisurely. The south is a tropical rainforest belt at an altitude of about 1,000 meters. As the height rises, the temperature gradually decreases, 1,000 to 2,000 meters, which is the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest belt; 2000 to 3,000 meters is the temperate forest belt; more than 3,000 meters gradually transitions to alpine grassland belts, desert belts and snow ice. On the north slope of the twivel, the climate is dry, and the tropical rainforest almost no longer exists; the grassland above 2,700 meters above sea level is grassland, and the grassland rises to 4,200 to 5,100 meters in different terrain parts, and then to the top is the high mountain desert or alpine ice.

In the southern slope of the foothills below 1,800 meters above sea level, thanks to the rich precipitation, the dense mountain forests here can be said to be the most pleasant place in German East Africa. After Germany established the rule of Tanganyika, it followed the example of Britain's establishment of a plantation system in German East Africa. The indigenous people reclaimed land and built a large number of plantations.

Since 1905, a large number of peanuts, cotton, sisal and other cash crops have been continuously exported from German East Africa to Germany and Germany. It was also from that year that the "Central Railway" was built to build the strategic transportation network of the German overseas empire. Because the indigenous uprising was being suppressed at that time, the central government The railway company followed the precedent of the American Pacific Railway and introduced a large number of Chinese workers, and the Chinese began to enter East Africa in large numbers.

Although the central railway is 1,250 kilometers long, the terrain is complex, coupled with the obstruction of local indigenous people, this railway is called the "crazy road". Indeed, in the process of road construction, the Chinese people who build the road encountered cannibal lions, the special terrain of the East African Rift Valley, tropical infectious diseases, the inconvenience of material supply, etc. A series of difficulties.

The Central Railway has changed German East Africa. A large number of cash crops were transported to the port of Dar es Salaam through the Central Railway, bringing continuous wealth to German East Africa. It also changed the ethnic composition of German East Africa. According to the contract signed between China and Germany, each worker has a working period of three years and a monthly salary mark. After the end of the three-year contract, it is necessary to provide no less than 50 hectares of reclaimable land.

The hard-working Chinese workers accelerated the construction of the railway, which also changed the impression of many Germans on the Chinese, especially the German East Africa. In order to speed up the development of the German East Africa, five years ago, they even signed the Chinese Empire and the German Empire with the Chinese Political Axe outside the Labor Contract. The East African Immigration Agreement, this agreement is undoubtedly rich. Each household must be given 10 hectares of land, and the first three years will be exempted from land tax. The German East African political axe provides Sichuan capital, resettlement housing, and crop seeds. The family members are also provided with Sichuan capital, and the German East African political axe special school for their children to study.

The rich immigration agreement is even far better than the immigration agreement signed between China and Brazil. Because of this, Chinese immigrants have been pouring into German East Africa. In just nine years, the Chinese population has increased from 0 to 153864, with a plantation area of 3.45 million. The remaining hectares are three times that of European immigrants.

"It took the Chinese people nine years to complete the work that Europe could only complete in half a century!"

In this kind of praise, in the face of the yellow in Africa, there has also been some debate in Germany. Is it Germany's East Africa or China's East Africa? Between questioning and real interests, German East Africa chose the latter, but in the past few years, it has quietly changed the location of the allocated land, giving the convenient and fertile land to the white people, and the remote and barren land to Chinese immigrants.

New Qilu is an inconspicuous town. Anyone who comes here and sees the hanging signs of those Chinese buildings and shops, and listens to the authentic Shandong accent in the mouths of merchants and farmers will think that he has come to Shandong and China, but this is on the south slope of Mount Kilimanjaro. New Qilu is the "Royal" three years ago. It was established by 1,864 Shandong immigrants from Qingdao. In the past three years, they reclaimed 10,000 hectares of land in Nanpo and built this market town with more than 300 people, bringing everything in China that they were familiar with.

Like any Chinese immigrant village, there is autonomy here. Even the police are Chinese police, and there is only one German family in the whole town.

As a tax official in New Qilu Town, Toli has been very depressed since he came here with his wife and daughter, because he can't speak German, and in this town where Chinese is the language of communication, only a few people can speak German, which is because he has received language training in Dar es Salaam. .

"This month's tax is 3 marks and 6 Finney..."

While Tory standing in the pub and waiting for the translator to paraphrase his words, Tory saw that there seemed to be many guests in the pub today. Several of them he knew that they were decent people in the town. Like any Chinese town, most of the autonomy here followed the old rule. Before leaving China, their political axe In order to facilitate management, it was divided into teams such as classes, platoons, companies, battalions, etc., and most of the autonomous associations were "officers" at the beginning, and they were often very prestigious people in immigration.

"Tax Officer Tori, would you like to come over for a drink? ......"

Ma Dashan, who came to Toli, made a gesture to Lao Hu in the pub, and Lao Hu Lian poured a bowl of wine for him.

"Zi..."

Looking at the bowl of transparent spirits, Tory's face suddenly turned pale without a trace of blood. On the first day he took office with his wife and daughter, he had experienced the Chinese-style "wind". At the reception banquet, he drank three bowls of wine, and then, um, drunk for three days, painful three days like a nightmare. After that, as long as you look When it came to this wine, what he subconsciously thought of was to escape.

"Ha ha, Mr. Ma, I'm working. Let's do it another day..."

With this in his mouth, Tory's feet retreated, and the smile on his face looked stiff. As soon as he left the pub, he almost fled in a panic.

"Haha..."

In an instant, there was a burst of laughter in the whole pub, "Well, it's not easy for Tory!"

With the wine on the wine cabinet in his hand, Ma Dashan smiled at Lao Hu.

"Lao Hu, this wine..."

"I invited Tori. He didn't drink it. You can drink it! It's cost-saving!"

Lao Hu said quite well, and his face was full of indifference.

"Hey, Lao Hu, then I can accept your kindness!"

After drinking the wine in the bowl, Ma Dashan returned to the table with a smile. He looked at the people at the table and opened his eyes.

"Let's agree that one box at a time, no one can..."

"Look at what Brother Ma said. Isn't it just to buy a box of bullets? What's the big deal? There are a lot of wild objects in this place. There are thousands of hundreds of bullets at home. What's the big deal? Now, there are still more than a thousand bullets in my cellar!"

The speaker is Song Kang. He is a retired veteran and a soldier in the countryside. Even if he is now in German East Africa, he is still the vice president of the township association and the vice president of the autonomous association. For these immigrants who received half a month of training before coming to East Africa, they are used to maintaining their domestic life. The more they are abroad, the more they are in other. The more they like to maintain their past habits, which seems to be a kind of sustenance to connect them with Tangshan.

For the Chinese people in this era, maybe they are abroad, but in their hearts, the only thing they identify with is Tangshan, China, not the country where they live, just like the national flag hung on the porch on the National Day, which is their belonging.

"It's just, will it be possible to buy so many bullets like this..."

Li Zhu looked a little hesitant with a cigarette bag in his cigarette.

"There are a total of 583 households in the new Qilu Town. One house has a box of bullets, which is 583 boxes. This is hundreds of thousands of bullets. Will it..."

"Are you worried about the Germans?"

Ma Dashan frowned.

"There are guns in my grocery store. We can't sell a box of bullets in two months. We sell 600 boxes of bullets at once. Even fools know that something is wrong."

Li Zhu's words made Ma Dashan hesitate. What he said was the truth, but the consulate over there sent a telegram asking them to make some preparations and what to prepare. He didn't say in detail. He just told them just in case and what to prevent. He also didn't say anything. But as a soldier in the countryside, Ma Dashan still heard the consulate. It means to prepare weapons.

Weapons do not need to be prepared. When building the central railway, road workers not only encountered man-eating lions, but also encountered attacks from indigenous people. Finally, at the strong request of the consulate, the Germans agreed that road workers should bring their own guns. The first thing new immigrants came to German East Africa was to go to the grocery store to buy guns and bullets. In order to prevent indigenous people and beasts, they have also received shooting training in China. Over the years, it can be said that guns have long been the basis of their survival, and it is common to have more guns than people in immigrant homes.

But bullets are troublesome. No one will have five or six hundred bullets at home. It's good to have one or two hundred bullets.

"This..."

Hesitating, Ma Dashan had no move.

"Actually, according to me, what this consulate means is that we must be psychologically prepared, just in case, it may be a defense..."

With his hand pointing to the north, Li Zhu lowered his voice.

"It refers to the British in the north. You didn't read the newspaper and said, Oh, Osh..."

"The Austro-Hungarian Empire issued an ultimatum to Serbia, which means to go to war."

Ma Dashan, who graduated from high school before retiring, said.

"If the British come, what shall we prepare? Help the Germans beat the British.

"It depends on what your majesty will do!"

When mentioning His Majesty, Song Kang bowed gently in the direction of China.

"If Tangshan declares war on Britain, we are the people of the imperial dynasty and soldiers in the countryside. Although we are overseas, we should also be loyal to the king and serve the country. In this way, we can live up to your majesty's kindness and the name of the people of the imperial dynasty!"

Song Kang, who retired from the Lao Guangfu Army, spoke with a righteous look when he only said that others nodded one after another. For the vast majority of immigrants, their idea was very simple. Before going abroad, except for a very small number of people, most of whom were "landless poor people", they would often return to East Africa with sufficient food and clothing. Thanks to the "Your Majesty's Gift", it can be said that the loyalty of Chinese immigrants from East Africa, Brazil, Borneo and Lanfang to the royal family is even far better than that of their compatriots in China. For them, the biggest celebration every year is the birthday of the emperor.

"But what if we declare war on Germany?"

"Declaring war on Germany?"

Li Zicheng frowned in the consulate of Dar es Salaam with a strong European style. He really didn't expect such a possibility, at least before that, he had never considered such a thing at all.

"Mr. Consul, now we have to consider this possibility,"

Wu Zihao said seriously.

"Now we must fully consider all possibilities. First, the empire declares war on Britain, and second, the empire declares war on Germany. Because the European alliance and the Allied camp are divided, we must fully consider all possibilities. It is appropriate to prepare in advance, but this is only a secret message from the Ministry of the Navy, although we have not received Instructions from the country, but the Ministry of the Navy made this decision. Obviously, there is something they think they need. Now the Navy's Third Ocean Training Fleet will visit Dar essala in the near future, perhaps for some consideration..."

When the words came to his mouth, Wu Zihao saw that the expression of the consul, which seemed to be in meditation, had changed in an instant. At this time, his face was full of surprise. Without saying a word, he turned his eyes out of the window, and his whole body was obviously in extreme shock.

The naval department, the training fleet, the preparation of the expatriates... A series of clues outlined a line in Li Zicheng's mind. Close to the truth, he only felt that the hair on his back stood firm, and then his whole person was silent in an instant.

"I..."

When the words came to his mouth, Li Zicheng swallowed it back. Then he went to the window, pushed open the shutters, looked out of the window at the blue Indian Ocean, and fell into thinking again.

Dar es Salaam, located on the east coast of Africa, is a rare natural port in East Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean. The whole city is fresh and elegant, and the vegetation is out of tune all year round. When walking on the streets full of coconut trees, anyone can feel the comfort of the sea breeze.

"Chinatown is Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam is Chinatown!"

After leaving the port and looking at the Chinese buildings on both sides of the street, Shao Qingling finally knew the meaning of this sentence. Whether in terms of architecture or population, Dar es Salaam, the capital of German East Africa, is more like a Chinese city than a city built by Europeans. The vast majority of residents here are Chinese, and the vast majority of buildings are Chinese-style buildings, while European and European buildings have become the embellishment.

"Da es Salaam..."

As he walked towards the consulate, Shao Qingling began to think about another name of the city in the future, a Chinese name.

"It means "safe harbor" in Swahili."

Thinking of the information he saw on the ship, Shao Qingling named the city "Ping'an Port" in his heart. Perhaps the name is more oriental.

"Walk thousands of miles and enter the safe harbor!"

Thinking that in the future, the German signboard of this city will become a Chinese signboard, Shao Qingling raised the corners of his lips slightly. It seemed that he saw a street here was renamed "Qing Ling Street" or "Qing Ling Road". This was the colonel's promise. For a naval attaché of the embassy in Egypt, he never thought that he would There is such a day.

"Fortunately, this Ping'an Port Consulate is not stationed in the navy!"

The city of Dar es Salaam is not large. Soon he went to the Chinese consulate on Kaiser Wilhelm's Avenue. Looking at the European classical three-storey consulate, Shao Qingling smiled again. This is the only European-style building among all Chinese embassies and consulates abroad. For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, every An embassy or consulate abroad is equivalent to the home of the Chinese people stationed in the country. In order to give them the feeling of home, they often do not hesitate to build buildings with strong Chinese colors, while the Chinese Consulate in Dar es Salaam is completely different.

The reason is very simple - there are too many Chinese in Dar es Salaam! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to consider its owner, the idea of the Germans.

Check the seal, check the certificate, check the dispatch password, and keep checking the various identity certificates of the naval magistrate of the Embassy in Egypt in front of him. When verifying his identity, Shao Qingling drank tea while waiting slowly. He knew that it would take time to verify his identity, at least It takes an hour.

Wat!

After a sip of tea, Shao Qingling occasionally looked at the luggage he brought. There was a radio station in it. If there was a phone, it might be more convenient.

"How did you come to Dar es Salaam!"

"Non-official channels, as long as you think about it, there will always be a way!"

"Has the fortress of the port of Dar es Salaam been completed?"

"Recently, work has just started!"

During the continuous question-and-answer period, Shao Qingling got the answer he wanted, and the other party also got his answer. At this time, the consular secret officer received the final identity confirmation.

" Major Shao, the consul is waiting for you in the office!"

Looking at Shao Qingling sitting in front of him, Li Zicheng frowned slightly. He was sent by the navy again. Navy, what on earth does the navy want to do?

Although he doesn't know much about the army, he knows that the army is pro-German and the navy is pro-British. Now the navy's changes in Dar es Salaam and German East Africa make him cautious. Although he made some bold speculation a few hours ago, he had to go before he really reported it to China. He hesitated. He was afraid that he had guessed wrong, and he was even more afraid that when he sent a secret telegram to China through the telegraph bureau, the secret telegraph would be deciphered by the Germans. At that time, because of his wrong speculation, it would cause unpredictable consequences, but... "This is a secret message sent from China!"

Handing a sealed letter box to Li Zicheng. Looking at the thick letter box of the pen, Li Zicheng was shocked. The seal on the letter box showed the seal of the royal family,... imperial edict.

"The password is a diplomatic special password, 5012 area..."

After translating the password with the password book in the safe, Li Zicheng was extremely shocked. The content of the secret letter was very simple, just a few simple words. It was indeed an imperial edict with His Majesty's seal.

"The Empire will declare war on the German Empire in the near future. Please make emergency preparations for the enemy area!"

This is enough. After putting away the secret letter, Li Zicheng walked back and forth in the office. Now, the uneasy news in his heart is not a matter of the navy. It's just your majesty... Thinking about it, he went to the window, looked at Dar es Salaam outside the window, and looked at this. The port of peace, thinking of the training fleet that will visit Dar es Salaam in six days, the hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants here, and then thinking of the East African police force with only a few hundred people, Li Zicheng shook his head.

The peace here will soon end, but why did His Majesty declare war on Germany, such a friendly country?

"The duty of diplomacy..."

Li Zicheng shouted outside the door with a wry smile.

"Shao, please come in!"

After Shao Qingling walked into the office, Li Zicheng looked at the major in front of him and knew that the other party was on a special mission.

"What do you need me to cooperate with, Major Shao, please speak frankly!"

"The float, the telephone, the telephone line!"

Shao Qingling simply put forward his own requirements.

"Well, there is also a Chinese school, it's better to be close to the port, of course, it's closer to the governor's mansion!"

"Huh?"

When he was surprised, Li Zicheng asked hurriedly.

"Will anyone else come over?"

But Shao Qingling did not answer his question, but said to himself.

"200 rifles and two machine guns are also needed..."

There is no need to say anything about the rest. Li Zicheng has understood what the other party is going to do. He wants to use the opportunity of sailors to control the port when the naval warships enter the port. It is normal for sailors to enter the school. As long as they control the port, there will be thousands of sailors on the fleet from the warship. Hong Kong, at that time, they can easily control Dar es Salaam without even shelling. Once they conquer the Governor-General's Palace, then German East Africa will be occupied. He can imagine that when the news of the navy's occupation of Dar es Salaam comes out, those immigrants who have always been appointed as "promoting loyalty" will be the first. Time gathers a militia to control local political axe agencies and police stations, and even supervise their neighbors.

But what is the impact of the actions of sailors and expatriates in Africa after that? Has Your Majesty considered these things?

"The navy has seen Dar es Salaam!"

At this time, Li Zicheng can only shift all the responsibilities to the navy in his heart. I hope everything can be realized smoothly!

(to be continued)