For ordinary people, the war is over and life will always go on.
But for some people, the war is not over.
When women in Buenos Aires were forced by life or because of love, they fell into the arms of South China soldiers or ordinary South China people.
In the desolate bay of the Patagonian plateau in southern South China, the captured prisoners of war are being pulled one by one onto the immigration ship.
These prisoners of war will be sent to the Congo on the other side of the ocean, where the company owns large plantations, and the rainforest there needs manpower to cultivate and plant.
Prisoners are the best human resources. After all, working in the tropical rain forest will face the threat of various diseases.
Like all prisoners, after being captured on the front line, Captain Wesley got on the train with the soldiers and went to the prisoner of war camp.
Just when he thought the prisoner-of-war camp would end, they were stuffed into the boat again. After a few days of bumping on the sea, they arrived at Madita Port at the mouth of the Congo River. A few years ago, in order to give freedom to the black slaves -
- Mr. Zhu sent thousands of black slaves he rescued from the Brazilian gold mines to the Congo. In order to settle them, he deliberately purchased a large area of land in the estuary area. The vast Congo River and its hinterland are covered with tropical rainforests, swamps and random areas.
The resulting malaria and sleeping sickness and other diseases made it difficult for Europeans to settle. Due to the lack of obvious economic benefits, Western countries in this era were unwilling to colonize the area.
This also allowed Nanhua to "pick up" a leak. From the day Madita Port was built in 1865 to house more than a thousand freed slaves, Nanhua has been carefully planning and building this colony.
However, in just a few years, a brand new city appeared on the banks of the Congo River. Of course, the price paid during the construction of the city was also extremely heavy.
When these Argentine prisoners of war came to Puerto Madita, what appeared before them was an Eastern-style city. Except for a few European-style buildings, Chinese-style brick and wooden buildings were very common in the city. And in this city full of
In the exotic city, in addition to yellow people, there are also many black people.
"Captain, do you know where this place is?"
When getting off the boat, Fernando looked at the unfamiliar city in his sight and asked a little nervously.
"We sailed at sea for eight days. There are coconut trees and tropical rain forests here. There are also many black people. I think we should be in Africa..."
Wesley was not only an officer, he was also a middle school geography teacher. Coconut trees and the edges of the city seemed to be full of plantations, and the plantations seemed to be coffee trees.
Just when he was trying to figure out the area he was in from the limited information, they were once again driven by black soldiers after getting off the ship and caught up with a train.
The whole process was so fast that there was no time for them to breathe.
"Have they all been put on the train?"
Standing on the balcony in front of the company building, Li Wende used his binoculars to look at the newly delivered prisoners from a distance, watching them being stuffed into the carriage like sardines.
"Yes, sir, when they arrive in Kinshasa, they will be put on a boat as planned and then distributed to plantations along the Congo River."
Major Ding Quan, standing next to him, smiled.
"Sir, we had a great victory in Nanhua this time. I heard that we captured almost 50,000 people. With these manpower, the area of the plantation will be at least doubled this year!"
What is most important to South China Central Africa?
Of course it is a plantation. When Li Wende first came to Madita five years ago, it was just a small fishing village. But now? It is not only a prosperous city, but also a large tropical plantation has been built nearby.
The garden is planted with rubber trees, coffee trees, oil palm, sisal and other tropical crops.
In order to expand inland, while sending expeditions up the Congo River, he even built a railway to the interior. This was because the Congo River below Kinshasa was fast-flowing and had multiple waterfalls that made it difficult to navigate by boat.
, from Madita on the Atlantic coast to Kinshasa, a railway must be built to pass.
In order to build this railway, the company recruited hundreds of thousands of local laborers from various tribes in the form of labor, and finally paid an extremely heavy price to build this railway in the tropical rain forest.
Although the price was extremely tragic for the local people, with hundreds of thousands of people dying on the railway construction site, after the railway was opened to traffic, the company finally reached into the hinterland of the Congo River.
It was also from that time that the light of modern civilization finally shone on this dark continent. For the first time, the local indigenous people felt the convenience of modern civilization such as railways, steamships and electric lights. Plantations and riverside
Established towns appeared in this wild land, bringing modern civilization to them.
"Twice the plantation... important as it is, we need more than just plantations, but through those plantations scattered along the rivers, to establish our dominion over the heart of Africa."
After a pause, Li Wende said,
"By the way, is there any news about Captain Zhao Lifeng?"
Captain Zhao Lifeng is the captain of the company's expedition team. He set out as early as the beginning of the year, but there has been no news since the departure.
"Not yet, but I imagine he's doing what he did in the past - driving the steamboat up the Congo River, doing business in every village they passed: offering glass beads, iron tools in exchange for the chiefs signing documents, legally
Transferred their land to Nanhua Company."
The so-called "expedition", that is, conquest, is actually not a conquest at all. The so-called "kingdoms" in the local area, which are tribal alliances, have long since perished. There are only a few independent indigenous tribes in the entire Congo River Basin. Adventure
The team only needed to sign contracts with chiefs along the way, half-coaxing and half-cheating, and they could easily obtain large tracts of land and labor.
Of course, they will also encounter resistance, but in the face of modern weapons, that kind of resistance is minimal and not worth mentioning.
At the same time, the expedition team will also establish many outposts and trading posts along the coast, and the company will then enter the outposts and establish plantations based on the outposts. It is thanks to the efforts of the company's expedition team that they
It has penetrated more than 600 kilometers into the hinterland along the Congo River and established many towns including Kinshasa.
"This is just our responsibility."
Standing under the umbrella, Li Wende looked at the port and said in a calm tone.
"The Europeans have carved up the entire world. It is not easy for the general to lead us to create that foundation in South China. And for the sake of future generations, we must expand as much as possible before the Europeans pay attention to Africa.
territory and lay the foundation for the future!”
When he said these words, Li Wende looked at the urban area and said.
"Why do Europeans like to colonize? You see here, even the most ordinary South Chinese can live in a spacious mansion. Not only can they live a life of fine clothing and food, but they can also have at least five or six local people.
Maid, this kind of life is something that only the colony can provide them. In fact, all this is the reward that the colony provides for their pioneers."
And this kind of reward does not come without a price. When they first arrived in Madita, the first thing they planned was the cemetery. The hot climate of the tropical rainforest and the spread of malaria and other diseases made these colonial rulers who came from afar very difficult from the beginning.
They paid a high price, and even Li Wende's wife died in childbirth after arriving at Madita Port.
But they successfully created this colony from scratch. Although they paid an extremely heavy price, everyone received generous rewards.
"Not to mention us, even the prisoners of war will enjoy a life on this land that they cannot enjoy in Argentina."
Looking at the train that had already left the train station, Li Wende's lips slightly raised as he looked at the carriages being towed by the steam locomotive.
Those people were the pioneers of colonial development in South China, and colonization would definitely lead to death.
It is better to kill others than to die yourself...