October 3, 1867.
Mbeya, Ininya Village.
Aiguli Yahapu was preparing breakfast for herself and her husband.
Aiguli Yahapu was an Armenian woman, bought from Ottoman nobles by Arab slave traders and sold into the East African colony.
She had been awarded as a "prize" to Zhao Yizhan, a model exemplar recognized by the Colonial Government.
Zhao Yizhan was a Chinese immigrant, one of the first group to reach Mbeya—the very Chinese immigrant army first organized by the colony.
Back then, Zhao Yizhan's group had numbered a hundred. Only ninety-seven reached Mbeya alive; three comrades had fallen on the harsh march.
Later, Mbeya became the capital of the Upper Lake Malawi Region, and the East African Colonial Government began establishing villages and developing land throughout the East African colony.
Ininya Village thus appeared near Mbeya, and as an old member of the force, Zhao Yizhan was assigned there and became a member of its security patrol.
Zhao Yizhan had originally come from Shandong. He was not short, standing 1.78 meters tall—at the start of the twentieth century, the average height in many European and American countries was still under 1.7 meters. But back in the Far East, he had not had enough to eat and had been little more than skin and bones, making him look like an oversized hemp stalk.
Although Zhao Yizhan had still been malnourished when he first arrived in the East African colony, once he had his fill of food and drink, he worked with the fierce vigor of a tiger.
He was in excellent spirits and had been selected in First Town as one of the first Chinese soldiers, eventually setting out on the journey to conquer Mbeya.
During his year as a soldier in Mbeya, Zhao Yizhan's obedience and resilience also caught his superiors' attention.