Chapter 519: Millions of Black Slaves
In the next few days, the students of the Second Middle School continued to participate in labor. According to the date, the practical courses in East Africa were divided into three categories: labor, equipment, and industry, which lasted one day, two days, and half a day respectively.
Manual labor is the work done by East African black slaves, who use relatively primitive tools and carry out a series of agricultural activities that mainly rely on manpower.
Equipment is mainly used to do the work of cattle and horses, or hand tools, which can greatly save manpower, but it is still mainly manpower.
The last is industry, which is agriculture in the mechanized era. Currently, no country in the world has achieved agricultural mechanization, so we can only rely on our imagination in this regard.
That is to say, the last half day course is still a theoretical class, and students have to go home for vacation in the afternoon, so it is arranged like this.
In the afternoon, the students returned to school first, and then the teachers summarized the activity.
“The practical courses actually correspond to the order of development of productivity levels, reflecting the significant improvement of agricultural production efficiency brought about by scientific and technological development…”
Let East African students experience the benefits of scientific and technological development firsthand and cultivate their interest in science and technology. Of course, Ernst expects that East African society as a whole will respect science.
Now, East Africans are actually not enthusiastic about science, especially the older generation and new immigrants. Many of them come from backward areas or religious countries, so compared to science, they may be more convinced of gods, ghosts and the like.
…
While the students of the Secondary School No. 2 were enjoying practical lessons on the farm, water conservancy construction projects in East Africa were also underway across the country, and the city of Mbeya was no exception.
The city of Mbeya is located on the northern shore of Lake Malawi, so the city of Mbeya cannot be avoided in this national coordinated water conservancy construction project.
In the agricultural area south of Mbeya, tens of thousands of black people are building three main canals that extend to the outskirts of Mbeya.
German water conservancy expert Stephen looked at the tens of thousands of black people digging canals and sighed: "East Africa, the homeland of black people, has now been conquered by Germany, and the astonishing amount of engineering work in East Africa is all placed on these huge numbers of black people. I think the East African Central Railway was built in the same way!"
His colleague Richard said: "It doesn't take many workers to build a railway. Of course, if you include related industries, the number will definitely be much higher. But as far as I know, East Africa's steel in the past few years was mainly imported from us and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including a large number of rails. Originally, those were orders from major railway companies before the economic crisis. As a result, they were all cheaper to East Africa after the economic crisis broke out."
Stephen: "You are right. In fact, the number of railway workers cannot be compared with the national water conservancy construction project in East Africa. I heard that they plan to use millions of black people to complete this plan. This is indeed a bit crazy, but aren't they afraid of black riots?"
Richard: "You have been in East Africa for too short a time. In fact, your understanding of East Africa is limited to the surface. In fact, the immigrant population in East Africa is definitely not as small as the outside world speculates. I have worked in many places in East Africa. In fact, the population in many areas is quite considerable, such as several well-known cities in East Africa. However, more people in East Africa live in rural areas. I suspect that the population of East Africa is at least over 8 million, and may even exceed 10 million. This number is not small even in Europe."
Stephen: “You mean black people are not included?”
Richard: "Of course, so there are enough white people in East Africa to suppress the blacks. If these blacks revolt, there will be no chance of overturning the result of slavery."
Stephen: "So the whole society in East Africa oppresses black people? Everyone is evil?"
Richard: “Just like the black people in America back then.”
Stephen: “No, it’s very different from the United States. Black people in the United States are now liberated.”
Richard: "That's not right. The liberation of black people in the United States was a charity from white people. Without Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, those black slaves would never have been able to fight against the southern plantation owners, let alone gain freedom. The attitude of East Africa towards slaves is completely different from that of the United States. All of them take it for granted that they enjoy the value created by black people."
Stephen: "This is related to the social atmosphere of East Africa. Most of the immigrants introduced to East Africa are people who have not gotten rid of the feudal era. This leads to them having no interest in so-called freedom, democracy, and fraternity. They only obey the orders of the monarch, that is, the current rulers of East Africa, the Hexingen royal family. I dare to conclude that East Africa is the most autocratic and feudal country in the world."
Richard joked, “You want to be the Voltaire of East Africa?”
Stephen: "Haha, I'm not that great. I just want to take the salary paid by East Africa and live a carefree life in Europe in the future. If I were asked to live under this system in East Africa, I would not be willing to do so."
Richard: "You are right. Unless they are from East Africa, I am afraid that most intellectuals would prefer to develop in Europe if they see the prosperity of European countries."
For this water conservancy construction project, the number of black slaves mobilized nationwide has directly exceeded 700,000, and the city of Mbeya is also updating irrigation facilities along the Malawi coast.
Although the three major lakes in East Africa are large in area and have abundant fresh water resources, it is not easy to utilize the abundant water resources.
These lakes are originally located in low-lying areas. It is relatively easy to divert water along the coast because of the short distance, but this is not the case in remote areas. This is also a problem caused by the concentration of resources in one place.
Abundant water resources are certainly a good thing, but we cannot just look at the average. The three major lakes account for most of East Africa's freshwater resources, and there are no pumps and plastic water hoses in this era, which means that the great resources are not easy to develop.
Therefore, in order to make full use of the water resources of the lake, it is necessary to set up water-lifting facilities and irrigation canals. There are three main types of water-lifting facilities, namely manual power, steam engine, and windmill. Irrigation canals are not so easy to build. This type of canal is from low to high, so it must be widened and deepened in the opposite direction.
East Africa does not consider manual labor because the efficiency is too low. As for steam engines, or steam pumps, East Africa cannot equip all of them due to price and fuel reasons. Moreover, this kind of thing is more suitable for extracting groundwater in arid areas, so East Africa still chooses to build large windmills.
The three major lakes have their own river basins, so the river systems that flow into the three major lakes can also be utilized.
In fact, there are conflicts between these rivers and East Africa's irrigation projects. Rivers flow from high to low, and the three major lakes irrigation system in East Africa is mainly intended to use the water from the three major lakes as a backup water source during the dry season. The three major lakes are originally depressions, so building an irrigation system in East Africa is equivalent to bringing lake water from low-lying areas into high-lying farmland.
Most of the reservoirs Ernst had seen in his previous life were built at high places. When water was needed, they would simply open the gates to release water, taking advantage of the difference in terrain.
The three major lakes are originally low-lying areas in the region, and it is impossible to use the terrain difference for irrigation. Therefore, German water conservancy experts proposed to build irrigation channels extending from the lakes to the inland. As the terrain rises, the depth of the channel construction will also increase, so that the lake water can be transported inland.
To put it simply, it is to dig an artificial canal network along the coasts of the three major lakes, so you can imagine how huge the project is. Millions of black laborers in East Africa have been invested in the water conservancy construction project without even a ripple.
After Ernst completed this plan, he could be said to be the living Emperor Yang of Sui, and his achievements could even surpass those of Emperor Yang of Sui. However, Ernst did not have to worry that his fate would be the same as that of Emperor Yang of Sui.
After all, the main reason why Emperor Yang of Sui eventually lost the throne was because of his feud with the aristocratic families and his inability to suppress the peasant uprising. East Africa had the support of immigrants, so the black people in East Africa could only suffer first, as resistance would be fruitless anyway.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
