Chapter 1212: Heading towards the free world
Upper Volta Colony.
In the last century, Britain, France and Germany launched a fierce competition for the Upper Volta region. In the end, the French government outmaneuvered and gained control of this core area of inland West Africa, and placed it directly under the direct leadership of the French Governor-General in West Africa. Down.
Because it is located on the upper reaches of the Volta River, it is called the Upper Volta region.
The Volta River is the second largest river in West Africa. It mainly flows through Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Ghana, Togo, Benin and other countries and regions in its previous life. The Volta Reservoir located in Ghana in its previous life was the largest artificial lake in the world. Equivalent to twice the size of Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in the Far Eastern Empire, most of Ghana today belongs to the British Gold Coast Colony.
The British Gold Coast, the French Upper Volta, the Dahomey Colony, or the Portuguese Ouija in the East are all neighbors of the current Togoland Colony in East (Africa), which shows the fierce competition for the West African colonies in the past.
The small powerhouse of Portuguese Vida has survived the most difficult days of the last century and is one of the few remaining Portuguese colonies in Africa.
Now, East Africa has replaced Germany as the new owner of Togoland, which is bound to open the eyes of the two elder brothers, Britain and France.
In Togoland, a mighty migratory army is ready to go.
In the early morning, with the sound of military bugles.
The black slaves in the Lome Concentration Camp reflexively got up from their straw mats.
This is a habit they developed when they were working as laborers in East Africa. The management of black slaves in East Africa has always been fully militarized. Therefore, after hearing the wake-up call from the Lomé Naval Base, these frightened black slaves had no time to stop. As soon as I thought about it, I got up from the straw mat spread on the ground.
There is still some conscience in East Africa, but not much. But even the roughest straw mat is a huge improvement for many Africans who once used the ground as their bed.
It is worth mentioning that these black slaves who were taken to the concentration camps did not have absolutely nothing. East Africa prepared a small cloth bag for each of them, which contained a wooden rice bowl, a wooden spoon, a towel and a toothbrush, and a set of Clothing.
Cloth bags and clothes were their only assets when they worked in East Africa. They carried them with them wherever they went. After all, the massive projects in East Africa did not allow these black slaves to stay on one construction site for a long time.
There is a tie on the bag, so it looks like a shoulder bag, which can be carried on the body at any time. It is very simple, mainly to save materials.
As for the clothes, they need to be washed every day if possible. Although there is only one set, the temperature in Africa is still relatively high and it only takes one night to dry, so the East African government does not think they need extra changes of clothes.
In the concentration camp barracks, the black people got up one after another because of inertia. After all, their memories told them that if they had not finished cleaning up soon after the reveille signal was sounded, they would most likely receive a severe beating. However, they waited for a long time today and did not watch. To those East African overseers who came on time to check on people.
About half an hour later, Ander slowly led the soldiers and unlocked the barracks door.
"Oh my God! What a surprise. Do these black people usually get up so early?" Andel said in surprise, looking at the black slaves who had finished dressing but were at a loss.
After all, Ander is only a soldier. He has never been a supervisor on a construction site in East Africa, so he is not very clear about the daily routine of these black people in East Africa.
Originally, according to his idea, these black people should still be sleeping in, but the reality was completely different from what he imagined. Andel even suspected that he was hallucinating before his eyes.
Although he was surprised by the performance of these black slaves who had been trained by Dongfang for many years, Andel quickly calmed down.
"Let's eat!" Ander ordered.
But now Ander directly announced that dinner was ready, which made them at a loss. Many black people still had towels and toothbrushes in their hands, ready to clean up! East Africa is a country that attaches great importance to hygiene, even for black slaves. Otherwise, it would be impossible to distribute towels and toothbrushes to them. In fact, in addition to these, East Africa also regularly provides soap and toothpaste, but as a soldier rather than an overseer, An Del was unaware of these measures in East Africa.
Looking at this group of black slaves standing still, Andel thought that they did not understand what he meant, so he had to let the soldiers take these black slaves to the dining place.
Finally, a bold black man explained the situation to Andel in indescribable German: "Sir, we usually wash up before eating, but we don't do that today!"
After being controlled by East Africa for so long, many black people naturally learned German.
"Oh! Is there such a thing?" Ander asked with some confusion.
The black slaves in East Africa were managed by professionals and did not have direct contact with the military, so it was normal for Andel not to understand these things.
But since these black people were so "aware", Andel didn't object. He decided to meet their demands. After all, cleanliness is a good thing.
He said: "Take them to a place to wash, and then take them to eat."
So the black slaves were led by the East African soldiers to the washroom of the military camp. After simply cleaning their faces and mouths, the black slaves stuffed the towels and toothbrushes back into the cloth bags, took out their rice bowls and spoons, and arrived at the eating place.
There is no doubt that it is the familiar big pot rice, porridge made from all kinds of strange fruits, vegetables and grains, but the black slaves do not dislike it at all and the food is very delicious.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Andel finally waited for other troops who came to receive this group of black slaves. A total of one thousand black people, escorted by more than fifty East African soldiers, began their long journey to the interior of Togoland.
The total journey from Lome to the destination is more than 500 kilometers. The East African government has set up more than 20 strongholds in advance along the way. This group of black people will arrive in Togoland (East Africa) and Upper Volta (France) within two weeks. , the intersection area of the Gold Coast (UK), the daily march alone is nearly fifty kilometers.
And East Africa really plans to "release" these black slaves at the borders of East Africa, Britain and France, so this is definitely good news for these black slaves, which means that the black slaves who have been brutally exploited in East Africa for nearly twenty years will Slaves will be free again.
And this last five hundred miles can be called the Long March of freedom.
January 13, 1916.
The first group of black slaves arrived at the Hall border station in Togoland. After giving each of them a gift package of dry food prepared by East Africa, the East African officer said to the group of black slaves: "From today on, you are free!"
"Escape to the west or north! Don't look back. I'm afraid I will be tempted to take out my gun and kill those who look back. Across the way is the free world. As long as you get there, you will have nothing to do with East Africa from now on."
The surprise came too suddenly, and the group of black people did not react at all. When the East African soldiers picked up their bayonets and drove them towards the British and French colonies, they finally realized, "We are free! The East Africans no longer need us!"
"Ouch..." After reacting, these black people made various strange noises, and some even started dancing.
The faces of all black people were full of surprise. After twenty years of oppression, beatings and exploitation, they were finally free today!
They ran barefoot in the direction of the British and French colonies until the East Africans could no longer be seen. Everyone cheered again, and some knelt on the ground in pain, with their heads on the ground, kissing freedom. This is the first time in twenty years that they have regained a new lease of life.
The East African officers and soldiers were happy to send away the black people, and the freed black people were also happy. However, Britain and France did not notice the small tricks of the East Africans for the time being. After all, it was not a matter of time for 800,000 black people to be exiled to the British and French colonies.
Now is only the first batch, which will not alarm the colonial governments of Britain and France at all, but when all the more than 800,000 black slaves in East Africa are sent to their colonies, there may be something good to watch.
(End of chapter)