Chapter 28 "Enclosure Movement"
With Ernst's order, the new instruction documents and supplies sailed across the ocean to East Africa. After receiving Ernst's order, the East African colony began the "Enclosure Movement".
In the first town, today's immigrants with stronger bodies are selected by the sheriff to begin forming the first Chinese army in the East African colony, and those selected will be included in the files.
A long queue formed in front of the town government of the first town. These were the soldiers who had passed the preliminary selection. They were preparing for what the superior officer called "registration."
"Name?"
"Wang Tiegen."
"age?"
"twenty three."
The recorder filled in "Name: Tiegen Wang, Age: 23, Occupation: Mercenary, Number 0423" on the paper.
Then he handed Wang Tiegen a small card with the number 0423 on it.
"Take this number and go over there to Group 4 to get the equipment."
The so-called equipment is a new military uniform and a flintlock rifle produced by the Heixingen Arsenal.
This is the Prussian regular army uniform ordered from Berlin. The whole piece of clothing is light blue. Because the environment in Africa is different from that in Europe, the Prussian-specific pointed helmet is not distributed.
The soldiers wore a wide-brimmed hat similar to that of later generations, made of cotton cloth, which had good sun-shielding and breathable effects.
Also distributed was a pair of yellow-green military shoes. Because the temperature in Africa is high, military boots that have not been modified and specially made are not suitable for Africa.
Wang Tiegen followed the instructions and came to the fourth group. There were quite a few people in the front row of the fourth group. These were Chinese soldiers who were hastily organized and prepared to go deep into the interior of East Africa.
Now they are about to go to Dodoma, Mwanza and other places to establish new colonial outposts under the leadership of German officers.
Its main task was to clear the indigenous people along the way and open up a safe new road for subsequent immigrants to migrate.
After arriving at the destination, they had to clear out the wild beasts and indigenous tribes near the new base. After all, the East African lands occupied by Ernst were all relatively famous places in later generations.
So the environment must be good, and there must be indigenous tribes who choose to live here. Whether they are hunting or have already started basic agricultural planting, they need a place to carry out their activities.
This would threaten the safety of the East African colonists, so the new Chinese army was formed to clear out these indigenous tribes before the immigrants arrived.
At the same time, the new colonial outpost will also be a future immigration transit station. Combined with small checkpoints along the way, a relatively safe and mature immigration migration network can be established.
"Everyone, stand at attention!" The white-faced commander stood in front and commanded: "I am your first commander Andre. From today on, you are a member of the Fourth Squadron of the East African Advance Group!"
Next to him stood a young student from the Hechingen Military Academy, who was responsible for translation and served as the team's staff officer.
"This time, our respected Prince Ernst has decided that we should send our team to the Kigoma area on the east shore of Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) to open up new land. All of you are participants in this military operation."
"You will not only face savages and wild beasts, but also poisonous insects and diseases in Africa, as well as a harsh environment. Therefore, each of you may be threatened with death. In order to increase your chances of survival, you will receive three days of special training."
Andre gave his position to a student from the Hechingen Military Academy. The student's name was Zhou Wei. He was one of the first students of the Hechingen Military Academy. He had studied for several months and could read and write German fluently.
After receiving training from Prussian officers and enjoying the excellent and sufficient food at the Hechingen Military Academy, the sixteen-year-old was no longer as skinny as he was when he first arrived in Germany.
He now stood straight in front of these temporarily recruited immigrants. Although he was young, he had an intimidating aura.
"Hello, I'm Zhou Wei, who graduated (early) from the Prussian Hechingen Military Academy. I'm grateful to the president for letting me come to the East African colony to serve as your superior. If you have any questions in the future, you can report to me." Zhou Wei introduced himself neatly and concisely, using only his words.
"In the next three days, you will receive training from me and Commander Andre. I believe you have seen the fertility of the East African colony. This will be our home in the future, so you are all part of this home. Don't bring bad habits from the Far East into the army. Now you all have only one identity, that is, 'soldier', or what we commonly call a soldier."
Zhou Wei said seriously, "There are only two words you must always remember, 'obey', so you must abide by military discipline and regulations and follow the orders of your superiors. If I find that someone disobeys orders or violates military discipline and regulations, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Everyone in the fourth squad of the East African Advance Group listened to Zhou Wei's lecture with bated breath. Although Zhou Wei was very young, he had a German behind him and his spirit was obviously different from that of the colonial immigrants. He spoke sonorous and powerful Chinese, so these honest immigrant soldiers did not dare to act presumptuously.
"Everyone must gather here and report on time tomorrow morning. The time is within half an hour after the first bell rings. Do you remember?" Zhou Wei said.
Only the Germans in the colony had clocks to tell time, so in order to arrange production activities in the colony, several large clocks were shipped from Europe and distributed to various strongholds. Every time a time came, there would be a special bell ringer to tell the time.
Chinese immigrants arranged their daily activities according to the ringing of the bells. The first bell rang at around eight or nine o'clock every morning. Since German watches also had to be wound and adjusted, they were not very punctual.
The immigrants in the colonies had plenty of free time. After all, apart from agricultural production, there was nothing else to do. Just like in the Far East, farmers also had slack time. This was arranged by God. After all, not every time was for sowing and growing crops.
"Okay, let's disband now." After Zhou Wei announced the disbandment of the troops, he left with the German commander. Zhou Wei talked with the German mercenaries about tomorrow's training arrangements and then walked towards the newly assigned residence.
In fact, it is the backyard of the First Town Government. One room here has been converted into a temporary dormitory for students of the Heixingen Military Academy.
When we returned to the dormitory, other people had also arrived. There were a total of six people living in the dormitory, and they were all outstanding students of the Heixingen Military Academy.
"How does Zhou Wei feel?" Wang Mingdong asked.
"It's not bad! We can't tell whether it's a mule or a horse on the first day. We'll know after training tomorrow."
"I'm not asking about training. I'm asking how you feel about the conditions in the East African colony?"
"It's okay! There will be great things to do in the future, but the current conditions are indeed much worse than Heixingen, but better than the Far East." Zhou Wei said.
"Zhou Wei, do you think we are being exiled or reused?" asked Gao Youming, who shared the same dormitory.
Zhou Wei shook his head. "It's hard to say. The conditions here are indeed not as good as those in Europe, but the principal obviously likes this place very much, so I can't be sure. But I am still optimistic about your future. As long as we honestly complete the tasks assigned by the principal, no matter how the future changes, as long as we have outstanding abilities, the principal will appreciate us."
…
Five days later, the six colonial teams, ready to go, gathered on the playground. After a swearing-in ceremony, they set out on the journey to conquer East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
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