Chapter 832 Escort
“Woo…”
The roaring steel behemoth travels through the forests of the Congo Basin, its cast iron wheels making sharp noises as they roll over the rails.
On both sides of the railway, the lush primeval rainforest forms a sharp contrast with the gravel-paved railway. A wild beauty entangled with wildness and civilization overflows in the Congo Basin.
"The Hessen Railway was a great engineering achievement in East Africa in the 1980s. It took four years to build and is nearly 2,000 kilometers long. It connects the Katanga Plateau with the lower reaches of the Congo River and becomes a major transportation channel for minerals, timber, rubber and other materials in East Africa. It is the world's busiest tropical rainforest railway and the world's longest railway that passes through a tropical rainforest."
On the train, the soldiers escorting supplies and black people looked through the carriages at the endless green "ocean" and sighed sincerely.
Anyone would feel shocked in such an environment. After spending more than ten days looking at only this green primeval forest, they would feel lonely and depressed.
There are very few towns along the Black Railway, and the monotonous scenery along the way, coupled with the stuffy environment in the carriages, poses a severe challenge to the people on the train.
East Africa's development of the Congo Basin is concentrated in the marginal area, that is, the area where the basin meets the plateau.
This is basically consistent with the population and urban distribution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the previous life. The fact that the Democratic Republic of the Congo can become the fourth most populous country in Africa is closely related to these regions.
In the past, there were four countries in Africa with a population of over 100 million, namely Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fifth, Tanzania has a population of only over 65 million. However, according to Africa’s population growth trend, there will be more countries in Africa with a population of over 100 million in the future.
Of course, under East African rule, the name Tanzania did not exist, and it was divided into two geographical units: the East African Plateau and the Eastern Coastal Plains.
In the past, the East African Plateau included the former Uganda, Rwanda and other countries, with a population of over 100 million, while the Eastern Coastal Plain of East Africa was even wider. Initially, the Eastern Coastal Plain was only the coast of Tanzania. Up to now, from the Somali Plains in the north to the Tugela River Plains in the south, all belong to the Eastern Coastal Plain, with an area of more than one million square kilometers.
It’s just that the separately divided eastern coastal plains appear to be narrower and longer than Chile. Of course, the northern Somali plains are a large desert area, so many places have no agricultural value.
Plains in other areas are mostly formed by river alluvial plains, which constitute the main body of the eastern coastal plains.
In the past, East African countries were basically able to achieve food self-sufficiency, which is obviously something that Congo cannot do. This also shows the environmental carrying capacity of the two places.
However, the areas in the Congo Basin that are not suitable for living are mainly rainforest areas. However, the Congo rainforest does not overlap with the Congo Basin. In addition to Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo-Brazzaville all belong to the Congo rainforest, while Cameroon, Gabon, etc. are obviously not within the Congo Basin.
The main habitable area of the Congo Basin is at the intersection of the surrounding plateaus, especially in the east and south. This is also the area with the richest mineral resources in Congo. However, the capital of Congo in the past was Kinshasa in the west, which caused internal turmoil in Congo and a clear tendency towards regional independence.
This problem obviously does not exist in East Africa, because the main economic entities in East Africa are concentrated in eastern and southern Africa, which borders eastern and southern Congo.
This further expands the advantage of the eastern part of East Africa over the western part, so the economic entities in East Africa must be dominated by the eastern part.
"Al, it's twelve o'clock now. Go to the back carriage and inspect it. Open the windows to let them get some fresh air. Don't let these people die in the carriage."
Squad leader Li Senrode put down the watch in his hand and gave instructions to Al.
An East African soldier named Al put on his helmet listlessly and prepared to inspect the rear carriage.
"Bring your gun with you. If you encounter any problems, fire a warning shot. Saving your life is the most important thing," Li Senrode instructed.
Obviously the escort work is not safe, so Li Senrod gave such an order.
There were more than a thousand black people in the last five carriages of this train, while Li Senrod had only eight men under his command. There were only more than thirty East African armed personnel on this train, almost the strength of a platoon.
It is also extremely dangerous for more than 30 people to guard more than 1,000 unarmed black people. If a riot breaks out, bloodshed will definitely occur.
"It's the squad leader." Al replied.
However, when Al stepped into the rear carriage, he was still overwhelmed by the indescribable smell that hit him in the face. Although he was wearing a mask on his face, the smell of feces mixed with sweat and fermented food residues was too overpowering.
Al began to count the number of people with disgust: "Sit down!"
Following Al's command, these black women, children, the elderly, the weak and the disabled restored order.
They huddled on both sides of the carriage, leaving a path for themselves. As for those who were not honest, they had all been whipped by the East Africans, so the black people present had no intention of resisting.
"One, two..." Alan began to count along the carriages, but it was mainly a formality. The windows on the walls of the carriages on both sides were welded shut with steel bars, making it impossible for anyone to escape.
"Clean this place up. When I come back and see the filth on the ground, I will make sure you know what pain is." Al said, pointing to a pool of unidentifiable liquid on the ground.
Although there are toilets on the bus, there are always unruly people who urinate and defecate everywhere. As there are too many people, Al can't find out who did it, so he can only resort to the joint seat method.
Many of the black people on this train were brought from Angola. They had no concept of hygiene at all and could "go to the toilet" anywhere like the Indians. It was obvious that East Africa could not correct their ideas in a short period of time.
There was no need to correct this, because East Africa had no intention of keeping them in the country, so once the train arrived at Sigmaringen, Al and the others would be able to end this terrible mission.
After inspecting the carriage, Al finally escaped from this "hell", but his suffering was far from over.
Soon the train staff began to "disinfect" and clean the five carriages, and then started distributing food.
The uneasy minds of the natives who got the food were finally comforted a little. After all, they had no idea of their own fate.
No one knew where these East Africans were going to take them. In the dark and damp carriage, in the cramped space, the fear of the unknown grew stronger as time went by.
Fortunately, three days later, the train finally arrived in Kisan City, which made the East Africans and the natives feel relieved. They could finally reconnect with the land for a short time.
But Kisan City is only a transit station, and they still have more than ten days of journey to reach Sigmaringen and the East African border.
After replenishing supplies in Kisan City, the train started moving towards the border area.
Every day on the entire East African railway, East African trains do the same thing, which is to export black people from Angola and Mozambique to West Africa.
Not all black people were "qualified" to participate in the slave trade. Slave owners in America and other regions only needed strong black people to create value.
Women, children, the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled natives were naturally not worth a ticket to America, nor could they become part of the East African "labor" army.
However, the indigenous forces in West Africa still like these immigrants. To the tribes, women represent wealth, and children can also expand the population of the tribe. As for the old, weak, sick and disabled...
Of course, even if they don’t need it, East Africa will force it on them and refuse to “return” it. This is the suffering that the indigenous people have endured under the rule of East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
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