African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1212: Towards the Free World
Upper Volta Colony.

In the last century, Britain, France and Germany fought fiercely for the Upper Volta region. Eventually, the French government won the upper hand and gained control of this core inland region of West Africa, placing it directly under the leadership of the French Governor-General in West Africa.

Because it is located in 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 countries and regions such as Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Ghana, Togo, Benin, etc. In the past life, the Volta Reservoir located in Ghana was the largest artificial lake in the world, twice the size of Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in the Far East Empire. Today, most of Ghana belongs to the British Gold Coast Colony.

Britain's Gold Coast, France's Upper Volta, the Dahomey colony, or Portuguese Ouidah in the east were all neighbors of the current East (African) Togoland colony, which shows how fierce the competition for West African colonies was.

Portuguese Ouidah, this little stronghold, survived the most difficult days of the last century and is one of the few remaining colonies of Portugal in Africa.

Now that East Africa has replaced Germany as the new owner of Togoland, it is bound to give the two big brothers, Britain and France, a big eye.

In Togoland, a huge migration army is ready to go.

In the early morning, the bugle call sounded.

The black slaves in the Lomé concentration camp climbed up from the straw mats reflexively.

This was a habit they developed when they were working as laborers in East Africa. East Africa has always implemented comprehensive militarized management of black slaves, so after hearing the wakeup call from the Lomé Naval Base, these frightened black slaves climbed up from the straw mats on the ground without thinking too much.

There is still some conscience in East Africa, but it is not much. However, even the crudest 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 were not completely penniless. East Africa prepared a small cloth bag for each of them, which contained a wooden bowl, a wooden spoon, a towel, a toothbrush, and a set of clothes.

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 huge number of projects in East Africa did not allow these black slaves to stay on one construction site for a long time.

There is a strap on the cloth bag, which makes it look like a shoulder bag and can be carried at any time. It is very simple and is mainly for saving materials.

As for clothes, they should be washed every day if conditions permit. Although there is only one set of clothes, the temperature in Africa is still relatively high, and they can be dried overnight, so the East African government does not think they need extra clothes.

In the barracks of the concentration camp, the blacks got up out of inertia. After all, their past memories told them that if they had not finished getting ready shortly after the reveille, they would most likely be beaten. However, today they waited for a long time but did not see the East African supervisors who were supposed to come to check on them on time.

About half an hour later, Andel slowly led the soldiers to unlock the door of the barracks.

"Oh my God! This is really unexpected. Do these black people usually get up so early?" Looking at the black slaves who were already dressed but at a loss, Andel said in surprise.

After all, Andel was just a soldier. He had never been a supervisor on a construction site in East Africa, so he was not very clear about the daily routine of these black people in East Africa.

Originally according to his idea, this group of black people should still be sleeping in, but the fact was completely different from what he imagined. Andel even suspected that he was hallucinating.

Although he was surprised by the performance of these black slaves who had been trained by the East for many years, Andel quickly calmed down.

"Let's eat!" Andel ordered.

The black people all knew this term, but they did not act rashly. After all, according to the usual procedure, it should be the East African supervisor who would wake them up, then they would line up to wash, and finally line up for meals.

But now Andel directly announced that the meal was ready, which made them at a loss. Many black people were holding towels and toothbrushes in their hands, ready to clean themselves! East Africa 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 Andel, as a soldier rather than an overseer, does not know these measures in East Africa.

Looking at these black slaves standing there stupidly, Andel thought they didn't understand what he meant, so he had to let the soldiers take these blacks to the dining place.

Finally, a brave black man explained the situation to Andel in an indescribable German: "Sir, usually we have to wash up before eating, but we won't do that today!"

After being controlled by East Africa for so long, many black people naturally learned German.

"Oh! Is there such a requirement?" Andel asked with some confusion.

The black slaves in East Africa were managed by professionals and had no direct contact with the army, so it was normal for Andel not to know about these things.

However, since these black people are so "conscious", Andel has no objection. He decides to meet their demands. After all, cleanliness is a good thing.

He said, "Take them to where they wash and wash, and then take them to eat."

So the slaves, led by the East African soldiers, came to the washroom of the military camp. After simply cleaning their faces and mouths, they stuffed their towels and toothbrushes back into their cloth bags, took out their bowls and spoons, and went to the dining area.

Without a doubt, it was the familiar big pot meal, porridge made from all kinds of strange fruits, vegetables and grains, but the black slaves did not dislike it at all and ate it with relish.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Andel finally waited for the other troops to come and take over the batch of black slaves. A total of one thousand blacks, escorted by more than fifty East African soldiers, began their long journey to the interior of Togoland.

The total journey from Lomé to the destination is more than 500 kilometers. The East African government has set up more than 20 strongholds along the way. This group of blacks will arrive at the intersection of Togoland (East Africa), Upper Volta (France) and Gold Coast (UK) within two weeks. The daily march alone is nearly 50 kilometers.

East Africa really intends to "release" these black slaves at the borders of the East, Britain and France, so this is definitely good news for these black slaves, meaning that the black slaves who have been cruelly exploited in East Africa for nearly twenty years will regain their freedom.

And these last 500 miles of journey can be called the Long March of Freedom.

1916 1 Month 13 Day.

The first batch of black slaves arrived at the Hall border station in Togoland. After the East African officer distributed a large gift pack of dry food prepared by East Africa to each of them, he said to the group of blacks: "From today on, you are free!"

"Run to the west or north! Don't look back. I'm afraid I won't be able to resist pulling out my gun and shooting anyone who looks back. The other side is the free world. Once you reach there, you will have nothing to do with East Africa anymore."

The surprise came too suddenly, and the group of black people had no time to react. When the East African soldiers raised 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 all kinds of strange noises, and some even danced.

All the black people's faces were filled with surprise. After twenty years, twenty years of oppression, beatings and exploitation, they were finally free today!
They fled barefoot towards the British and French colonies until they could no longer see the East Africans. Everyone cheered again. Some people knelt on the ground in pain, with their heads pressed to the ground, kissing the land of freedom. This was the first time in twenty years that they were reborn.

The East African officers and soldiers were very happy to see the blacks gone, and the freed blacks were also very happy. However, Britain and France did not notice the tricks played by the East Africans for the time being. After all, it would not be an easy task to exile 800,000 blacks to the British and French colonies.

This is only the first batch, which will not alarm the colonial governments of Britain and France at all. However, when East Africa sends all the more than 800,000 black slaves to their colonies, I am afraid there will be something interesting to watch.

(End of this chapter)