People from Afar

East African colony, Second Town.

This was the site of Luvugo, a small town in Tanzania in Ernst's previous life, while the Little Rhine River had been called the Luvugo River in that life.

The Little Rhine River ran southwest to northeast through East Africa. It rose in the Uluguru Mountains, flowed eastward before turning northeast at Kisaki, then emptied into the Zanzibar Channel of the Indian Ocean north of Bagamoyo.

Second Town stood on the eastern bank of the Little Rhine River. More than five hundred newly assigned Chinese immigrants had been settled here. At the same time, over fifty immigrants who had already lived in First Town for some time had been transferred over to guide the newcomers in production and daily life, while three Germans were responsible for local security and administration.

Ernst was not worried that these Chinese immigrants would harbor ill intentions. They had all been selected—illiterate old farmers with no real awareness of resistance.

As everyone knew, before Chinese people were driven to the point where there was no way to live, their capacity for endurance ranked second in the world. First were the Indians, who excelled at non-resistance.

As for the French, they might surrender on the battlefield, but cut their benefits and the rabble of Paris would dare besiege government buildings the very next day. (A cold joke.)

That was Ernst's view, but in this era, it was absolutely true. After all, the lowest strata of Chinese people understood the golden rule that "the common people do not fight officials."

Looking at ancient times, those who led rebellions in Chinese history, even if they had not received formal education, had read a few books. A typical example was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which had just been suppressed. Its leader, Hong Xiuquan, had taken the Imperial Examination System; in this era, he could be considered highly educated.

Going even further back, Chen Sheng, the earliest leader of a peasant uprising in Chinese history, could say something like, "How can sparrows understand the aspirations of swans?" Even if he truly had never studied, he had certainly heard some grand principles and possessed worldly knowledge. After all, as a garrison chief, he had most likely come into contact with the lower-ranking officials and local magnates of the Qin Dynasty.

Therefore, when Ernst selected immigrants, farmers—and even vagrants—were his highest priority. It was basically impossible for them to possess much education or worldly knowledge. At most, they had encountered some opera performances and storytelling.

Having been Chinese in his previous life, Ernst understood these people's thoughts better than anyone.

No wonder the British loved using Indians in their colonies. Obedience was one thing, but they were also born knowing how to borrow a tiger's might to frighten foxes, making them perfect partners for the British in suppressing their colonies.

There would be no trouble in the East African colony. The ones who truly required vigilance were the temporarily captured natives. There were too few of them now to cause trouble, but they would need watching in the future.

As for the Chinese, their status in the East African colony was not low—at least in theory. After all, both Germans and Chinese in East Africa were contracted workers employed by the Hohenzollern Conglomerate. Since both had signed contracts, they were nominally equal.

Just like the later claim that everyone was equal—yet would anyone dare say that to their superior at work? Thus, in reality, the Germans in the East African colony all belonged to the management class, while the Chinese were managed, much like a company.

The natives, on the other hand, had never been counted among the people of the East African colony from the start. At present, they were assets—assets pending sale.

Influenced by the development of the East African colony, the Sultanate of Zanzibar had even adopted a strategy of small profits and quick turnover. Native slaves sold to the Arab regions had all dropped in price.

With those natives as a comparison, the newly arrived Chinese immigrants became even more obedient and worked with all their strength. After all, the natives had already proven that the Germans were no soft targets. They had to keep the distinction between master and subordinate in their hearts at all times.

Under such circumstances, Second Town was quickly developed. With First Town's experience to draw upon, Second Town simply appeared on East African soil so long as they followed the process.

This time, there was also a new breakthrough: rice cultivation. This was Indica rice introduced from India. Tanzania and India were both tropical, so the East African colony did not directly attempt to grow subtropical rice. It was also convenient to transport it from India, since the distance was shorter. They only needed to agree on a price with British merchants passing through Dar es Salaam Port, and the merchants could bring some back with them on their return voyage.

Second Town lay close to the Little Rhine River, giving it a more reliable water supply than First Town. Therefore, rice was planted on a large scale in Second Town. In the future, the wetlands of the East African colony would most likely follow Second Town's example and choose rice as their crop.

After all, rice yielded more than wheat. In the East African colony, where both crops required labor to develop, it made sense to invest more labor costs for the time being in pursuit of better yields.

Not only that, Ernst also planned to plant higher-yielding corn in the East African colony in the future. In his previous life, Africa had been a continent where corn was widely cultivated.

Second Town's newly arrived immigrants were reclaiming newly developed paddy fields. Using waterwheels, they drew water from the Little Rhine River at the riverbank into ditches, then directed it into paddy fields whose ridges had been built up.

Li Tiezhu and the farmworkers traveling with him bent their heads over the task of digging a new irrigation channel. His lean, dark body seemed to wield the shovel without effort. He planted one foot on a Prussian-made iron shovel, and the soft red earth came up with the blade. With a lift of his hand, he turned the shovel over, piling the soil onto the field ridge beside him.

"Uncle Jiaxiang, you've been here for a few months now. Tell us, what are these Kielmans really like? Do they keep their word?" Li Tiezhu asked as he dug the channel.

Li Tiezhu was a newcomer who had just arrived in the East African colony from northern China. He did not yet know much about the Germans in the colony.

Uncle Jiaxiang dug earth ahead of him and said, "Why ask so much? Wherever you go, you're only scraping together a mouthful of food. Back in Great Qing, weren't we tenant farmers for the landlords? Now that we've come to Af... Africa, aren't we still tenant farmers for Kielman masters? What's there to fear?"

Li Tiezhu said, "But back in Great Qing, our families had farmed for those landlords generation after generation. We knew their roots and knew their bottom line. We don't know these Kielman masters. Isn't it natural to feel uneasy?"

"What are you afraid of, kid? You're young, yet could the Kielmans possibly be scarier than Old Master Zhou from your village? If there had been any way to survive, would you have run all the way to Africa to farm for Kielman masters? Stop letting your mind run wild every day. So long as the Kielman masters give us something to eat, we should thank Heaven and Earth." Uncle Jiaxiang said to Li Tiezhu.

"That's true. This year, drought struck my plot. There wasn't even water in the river. Old Master Zhou had run off to the city to live, but he still demanded every last bit of rent. There wasn't a grain of food left at home. We were starving to death. When the Kielman masters came recruiting workers, I signed up, and in the end boarded a ship at sea," Li Tiezhu recalled.

He continued, "That ship was the biggest thing I'd ever seen in my life. It was even bigger than Old Master Zhou's residence. But life aboard was rough. For the first few days, I vomited from above and had diarrhea below. The little ration we received at the dock all went to feed the fish in the sea."

"Things got better once you arrived in Africa. I was the same when I first came. Now I can eat my fill every day, three meals a day. Back in Great Qing, who would have dared dream of such good days? At the end of the month, when work is finished, if you do well, you can even get two taels of meat. These days are better than the New Year!" Uncle Jiaxiang said with feeling.

"If you work well, you can really eat meat? Uncle Jiaxiang, don't fool me." Li Tiezhu asked, his eyes shining.

"Why would I fool you? I've eaten it for three months straight. So long as you don't slack off into last place, every team can get a share."

Hearing that, Li Tiezhu said, "Then we have to work hard. I haven't tasted meat in years!"

With that, he worked even harder. The others nearby had also heard their conversation, and anticipation rose in their hearts. The progress on the irrigation channel sped up considerably.

Second Town was becoming more and more presentable in the hands of the new immigrants. Even the Germans responsible for management felt a trace of surprise at the Chinese people's diligence. In terms of their spirit of enduring hardship and laboring tirelessly alone, the Chinese were truly admirable.