Chapter 343: Farming
In preparation for war, the East African government decided to slow down the development of the Zambia region and give priority to the Zimbabwe region.
The first step is to build a telegraph line from South Salzburg Province to Zimbabwe. This dedicated line is different from the telegraph line from South Salzburg to Lusaka. It will run directly from South Salzburg Province to the north bank of the Limpopo River, and then extend to both sides along the north bank of the Limpopo River, ensuring that the central government can keep abreast of news from the front line at any time.
Secondly, the local Shona people were organized to build a simple north-south road to ensure the smooth flow of food, weapons, personnel, etc. to the front line.
At the same time, the East African Kingdom will build a series of fortifications in Zimbabwe. Although the possibility of the Boers counterattacking is extremely low, as long as it is possible, preparations must be made in advance.
Among them, Bulawayo, the former capital of the Matabele Kingdom, continued to function as a military fortress while also shouldering the responsibility of ensuring the security of food routes.
Finally, the work of farming in Zimbabwe was accelerated. This time, the East African government took over the land originally owned by the Ndebele people. The Shona people in the country were still the "proletariat". As landlords, East Africa naturally had the right to levy taxes on the Shona people who used their land.
But the situation in Africa is well known. If you want black people to engage in agricultural production honestly, you must take some special measures.
The Shona people, without the restraint of the Ndebele people, can make a living by relying on the wild animals everywhere, which is very inconsistent with "East African values".
If everyone goes to catch wild animals, who will develop the land? East Africa immediately announced that all animals in Zimbabwe belonged to the government and prohibited "illegal" hunting. The legal principle is that the land belongs to East Africa, so everything on the land, including the Shona people themselves, is the property of the Kingdom of East Africa.
As for what is illegal hunting, all hunting activities carried out by black people in Zimbabwe without the permission of the East African government are illegal, and they will be immediately turned into slaves if discovered.
As for the Shona people who have lived here for hundreds of years, who said that just because you came earlier, the land ownership is yours? Anyway, the East African Kingdom was snatched from the Ndebele people, so even if the land ownership is discussed, it should be the Ndebele people who should discuss it. Unfortunately, they have already embarked on the road to dig the Central Canal, and nine out of ten deaths are inevitable.
East Africa's farming in Zimbabwe was mainly to solve the problem of food supply on the front line. East Africa expected to have 50,000 troops to go to war against the Boers. In addition to the border troops to guard against the Portuguese and more than 10,000 troops to maintain local security, there would be at least 70,000 full-time soldiers in the whole of Zimbabwe.
If the food to feed 70,000 troops relied solely on transportation from the rear, it would definitely be a disaster, mainly because the transportation would be unbearable. Therefore, it was necessary to establish farmland in Zimbabwe to solve most of the food supply problems nearby.
Ernst could imagine the scene of the indigenous people farming. In his previous life, he was in Tanzania and saw some local people engaging in agricultural production. They were quite rough and basically just scattered the seeds on the ground and left them there.
In the end, the grain production was indeed appalling, but Africans were relatively open-minded and thought it was enough to feed themselves. Although they were a bit lazy, they were really not greedy at all. In the East, this is called a lack of ambition.
Of course, lack of scientific concepts is also an important reason. For example, the Tanzanian government has tried to go to the countryside to break down local feudal superstitions, but to little effect.
Most people reject science. Even if they don’t have enough to eat, they still won’t accept chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The promotion of high-yield crops such as hybrid rice is also fraught with difficulties.
Despite this, Tanzania can be considered a model country among African countries. Its government is relatively responsible and its regime is relatively stable, far surpassing its peers.
This also shows that the aid from the Far East still has some effect. In fact, in the past, people in the Far East always got a wrong concept, that is, they confused East African countries with West African countries and South African countries.
As we all know, West Africa is French territory. Even in the 21st century, France still has the final say in West Africa.
South Africa is British territory, especially the Cape Town area, which has been developed by Britain for a long time. Even after South Africa became independent, Britain still has an important influence on the country. South Africa, in turn, has an economic impact on Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and other countries.
East Africa is more special. Although it is all black Africa, East Africa has long been a colony of Germany and Portugal. During the First World War, Germany led the East African natives to see how powerful the so-called British Empire was. Portugal's performance in its colonies after World War II was also disgraceful. It was taught a lesson by India, Indonesia, and even Angola and had no dignity at all.
This resulted in East African countries performing relatively well compared to West African and South African countries after independence, while also being more opposed to the West.
One of the points that caused the controversy in the previous marketing account was that most of the countries that opposed the restoration of the Far East's seat in the United Nations were African countries. In fact, if you look closely at the list, you will find that the African countries that opposed the permanent membership are all West African and South African countries.
According to the hermaphrodite: "This is what is called the Black Brotherhood!"
In fact, the Far East and West Africa and South African countries have never established relatively friendly relations. Just like Japan and South Korea, the two dogs have no autonomy at all.
The countries that received early aid from the Far East were mainly East African, and the countries that supported Africa during the vote were mainly North Africa and East Africa.
After all, when West African countries and South African countries voted, West Africa had to see how France would decide. France was very cunning. Half of the West African countries voted against and half voted in favor. In this way, it would neither offend the United States nor the Far East.
As for the three South African countries (South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland), they all voted against, and Nyasaland (Malawi) also voted against. The remaining countries influenced by South Africa abstained. South Africa (white) is a loyal lackey of the United States, just like Australia and Canada.
From this we can see that Africa is not a whole, but when people from the Far East discuss Africa, they always treat them as a whole.
Ernst's experience of living in Africa gave him a different view of East Africa. At least he had come into contact with many East Africans with good personalities. Of course, there were also some people who specifically disliked Chinese people. There were both good and bad people. This was why Ernst generally did not choose to kill all the East Africans.
However, in order to avoid trouble, it is better to let them leave East Africa in the end. This will be friendly to everyone.
Back to Zimbabwe, even under the surveillance of the East African Kingdom, the Shona people's grain production is probably very small. However, the grain grown by two million people, no matter how low the yield is, can greatly alleviate the pressure on food supply.
In addition to military considerations, the main purpose of military farming in Zimbabwe is to open up fields. In the past, many Ndebele landlords were engaged in pastoralism, so there are not many farmlands in Zimbabwe.
Let the Shona people open up the land first, so that it will be convenient for subsequent immigrants to transform the land when they take over. Land reclamation is a technical job, and the slash-and-burn farming method used by the indigenous people can only be used in the initial stage. The later transformation of the fields still has to rely on immigrants.
(End of this chapter)
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