Chapter 432 Three Channels

July 1873.

After more than half a year of hard work, the No. 1 section of the Central Canal was completed, which took nearly four months longer than the East African government had planned.

This is also a helpless move, because it is really difficult to fully tap the enthusiasm of the indigenous people. At the original historical level, the period when the labor efficiency of the sub-Saharan African people was the highest was when Westerners were engaged in slave plantations.

After African regions gain independence, black countries will generally fall into a trend of a sharp decline in productivity, because without anyone to restrain them, they will return to the unrestrained state of primitive society.

This is not unique to Africa. In fact, it is also the case in India and Southeast Asia. Although the actions of the colonists are unforgivable, the work efficiency in completely colonized areas may be the highest in history.

"Workers" in East Africa also face this problem. Even with the use of whips and corporal punishment, these "workers" can only barely reach the level of normal idlers.

Because they were beaten too much, these "laborers" developed resistance and triggered Stockholm syndrome. The "laborers" became well-behaved and docile, but they also learned to slack off as much as possible while "enjoying" the work.

Sometimes it is impossible to tell with the naked eye whether work is being done seriously, especially in jobs like digging. It is impossible for supervisors in East Africa to use a scale to measure whether each shovel of soil dug by the "workers" is up to standard.

In fact, this is really done in East Africa, but it is a random inspection method. The supervisor is responsible for inspecting the workload of the natives with the naked eye. If the supervisor feels that the workers are lazy, he will stop the work and measure the amount of soil dug by the natives' shovels.

The most effective means is still the reward and punishment mechanism, where "laborers" supervise "laborers" and working groups are set up to implement the last-in-first-out system.

If a work group ranks in the bottom three for three consecutive days, they will be given priority to be sold to the United States and other regions. On the contrary, if a work group ranks first for three consecutive days, they will receive the best "labor" meal until the next group ranks first.

This also creates a vicious cycle, where the already hardworking "workers" get a better standard of living, eat more, feel fuller, have more meat, and work harder, so the number one is likely to always be ranked first, while other groups have to avoid falling into the bottom three.

The reason was the fear of the unknown. They didn't know where their compatriots who were taken away by the Germans would be sent to, how the Germans would punish them, and whether they would be eaten by the Germans.

Although cannibalism is a bit ridiculous, this is how the natives made up the story behind the scenes. In addition to cannibalism, there are also theories of execution, drowning in a lake, and skinning...

The whole of East Africa is a "horrible" country, which is completely groundless. Ernst does not have the habit of wearing special leather shoes.

Although the rumors are outrageous, East Africa is happy to see it happen. It is obvious that the efficiency of the "workers" has been greatly improved. As for those "workers" who have been eliminated, they have already boarded ocean-going ships and left East Africa, this place of trouble.

Affected by the economic depression, the "slave" business in East Africa has also been affected to a certain extent, but good goods are hard to sell, just like the Ottoman Empire's purchasing power is still very strong.

Because of the drop in international agricultural product prices caused by the agricultural crisis, American plantation owners began to cut back on food and clothing, abandoned land and reduced production on a large scale, and laid off a large number of agricultural workers.

However, although many ordinary agricultural workers were laid off, the imported "East African native workers" were not among them. As a substitute for slaves, the cost of "East African native workers" was actually lower.

After all, buying and selling slaves costs money. In the past slave trade era, the unscrupulous slave traders would not pay for the capture of these slaves from Africa to America, as well as a series of expenses such as feeding, drinking, defecating, and shipping fees. These costs would ultimately fall on the heads of the plantation owners, so the price of slaves was not cheap.

The plantation owners' desire to buy slaves was that these slaves could create long-term profits for the plantations, and then earn back the cost of buying the slaves with interest.

The situation with "East African native workers" is different. Before the economic crisis, East Africa charged a symbolic fee. After the economic crisis broke out, in order to continue to stabilize the US market, East Africa began to subsidize the slave trade.

This subsidy is distributed according to the number of "immigrants". The East African Kingdom exports natives, and the first destination country is Haiti. The more natives Haiti accepts, the more money it makes. As for how Haiti arranges these natives, East Africa has no control over it.

Excluding the ship capacity, manpower, and rations that East Africa spent to export the natives, East Africa still needs to pay Haiti an additional 200,000 East African Rhine guilders every year. This amount of money is not a small sum for Haiti.

In other words, it is not a small amount for the Haitian family forces. At the same time, after they get the "immigrants", they can also add them to the plantations, or sell them to the United States. If they must do a zero-cost business, they can be more extreme and sell these "immigrants"...

In the past, the population of Haiti was more than 10 million, but now it is less than one million. Even if all the indigenous people of East Africa were to immigrate here, it would be affordable for the rulers of the seabed. After all, there is a Dominican Republic next to Haiti, which can share part of the population.

Of course, the East African Kingdom would not resort to trafficking for natives with higher labor enthusiasm, but it was also impossible for East Africa to allow them to stay in East Africa for their entire lives.

East Africa's practice is to extend the working years of these more active indigenous peoples in East Africa, and then when the term is up, send them to the Msiri regime in West Africa and other indigenous forces expelled from East Africa.

After all, M'siri is an East African, and if he wants to gain a foothold in West Africa, he needs manpower, and the more the better. This is also one of the destinations for the natives of East Africa.

Generally speaking, after "workers" retire in East Africa, there are three main destinations: Central Asia, then the Caribbean coast, and finally West Africa.

Of these three destinations, Central Asia is not a good place for "workers" because the Arabs have special methods for dealing with "workers" that make them lose their ability to reproduce.

As for the Caribbean coast, it depends on luck. If you go to the United States, there will be some humanity. If you are left at the bottom of the sea, you may not be able to turn things around for generations.

If they are arranged to the territories of the benevolent East African kings who have fled to West Africa, it will be a mixed blessing. The good thing is that the "workers" sent from East Africa are considered high-quality labor in West Africa. Even if they just farm, they can create wealth for people like Msiri. Therefore, these "workers" have two ways to find employment in West Africa: one is to farm, and the other is to join the army.

Compared with West Africans, the indigenous monarchs of East Africa believed that the natives of the same race were more reliable. Moreover, as foreign invaders, they were not welcome in West Africa, and conflicts were commonplace. The indigenous people exported from East Africa could just support them in their confrontation with the local chiefs of West Africa.

Therefore, the export of slaves also intensified the conflict in West Africa, but the conflict had little impact on West Africa as a whole, at least there was not much change in the population.

Because in addition to exporting laborers, East Africa's main exports to West Africa are indigenous women and children. Without women, the indigenous population of East Africa cannot grow. This is one of East Africa's hidden national policies.

After all, East Africa's ability to export "laborers" is limited, with an average of only 200,000 to 300,000 people each year (not counting those who leave voluntarily or escape). What if one day East Africa is suddenly targeted, and the slave trade is abolished by the international community, the blacks will be stuck with no way to export, and the only ones left will be male blacks, who also have no ability to reproduce asexually, and will naturally die out in just one generation.

In fact, there was no "genocide" in East Africa, but the number of "laborers" lost locally every year was not a small number, so destroying the bodies and covering up the traces has always been Ernst's finishing work.

It is definitely not possible to just bury them anywhere like in North America. In East Africa, the bodies are usually cremated and buried nearby.

If it really turns to ashes, no future generations will be able to recognize it. After all, in East Africa, people are cremated when they die, mainly to prevent the outbreak of diseases. This is one of the current political correctness in East Africa.

However, this is within the acceptable range for East African immigrants. Those who can go to East Africa are not in bad health, are relatively young, and have several decades to live.

As for cremation, Ernst himself was not in favor of it logically. After all, he would not choose to cremate himself after his death. However, the current sanitary conditions in East Africa are too poor, especially the backward medical technology. It is understandable that some people are overly cautious.

Anyway, it won’t be too late to cancel it in 20 or 30 years, by which time the medical level in East Africa will have been raised to a higher level.

(End of this chapter)