Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 462: Ten Years of Hard Work
The Congo River Company colonized West Africa for more than ten years, establishing seven Chinese immigrant cities and thousands of Chinese villages and towns along the Atlantic coast, forming a continuous Chinese colonial belt from the northernmost Grand Bay City (Note: Douala in Cameroon) to the southernmost Hai'an City (Luanda in Angola).

According to the colonial policy of "first set up a point, build a line, and then expand a large area", it is currently in the stage of in-depth expansion.

In this area

There is basically no indigenous black tribal power. Even if there are a few scattered black tribes, they will be eliminated by armed expeditions sent by various Chinese immigrant cities. In principle, the existence of black tribes in the wilderness will not be tolerated.

on the other hand
Chinese settlements and towns are also being built deep in the interior along both sides of the Congo River. Most of them are located in large, flat plains on both sides of the Congo River, which is a necessary condition for establishing Chinese immigrant cities.

By the end of 1883
There are as many as 117 Chinese colonies and 31 Chinese towns deep inland along the banks of the Congo River. They are densely located within 40 kilometers on both sides of the Congo River and its tributaries, and are basically connected by fast long-distance telegraph lines.

The long-distance telegraph cable is laid in the Congo River, with six branch cable lines along the way, extending deep into the inland hinterland along the six main tributaries that flow into the Congo River. The farthest cable branch line can reach more than 6 kilometers.

This formed a long-distance telegraph network reaching the Congo River basin, which allowed for quick and simple transmission of messages, making it very useful for rapidly sending reinforcements from other colonies when the colonies were under large-scale siege by local indigenous tribes.

This happened repeatedly in the early colonial period.

The Chinese armed forces were always able to quickly reinforce along the Congo River and hunt down these black indigenous tribes without mercy.

The chiefs of these black tribes racked their brains to understand why, even though they had surrounded the Chinese settlements, the news was still leaked, attracting the terrifying armed reinforcements.

This is the dimensionality reduction attack of advanced civilization, which is impossible to resist at all.

The colonization of the Congo River Basin in West Africa was much more difficult, tortuous, and bloody than the colonization of East Africa. This was an inevitable situation.

The East African Company had jurisdiction over 12 square kilometers, with a local black tribal population of less than 40, mainly distributed in the plateau oasis areas along the Red Sea, making it relatively easy to colonize.

The Congo River Basin has a total area of ​​230 million square kilometers. The local indigenous black tribal population exceeds million. It has almost endless tropical forests and is the second largest contiguous tropical forest area in the world after the Amazon River Basin. It is known as the "green lungs of Africa."

The difficulty of colonization for the two companies is not at the same level at all. It is undoubtedly much more difficult for the Congo River Company to advance colonization.

Over the past decade

In various conflicts, expeditions and suppression operations, the number of black vassal soldiers killed was as high as 1.43, and another 2257 armed Chinese colonists died.

From this
Colonizing this region of West Africa crisscrossed by great rivers is a long and arduous task, but fortunately the Congo River Company is confident that they have found the right direction.

The demand for natural rubber and palm oil in the international market is increasing rapidly, and there is great potential for them to become bulk trading products, with almost no worries about sales.

It is based on this
A large number of natural rubber plantations and oil palm plantations are developing deep into the Congo River basin, especially in the plains and gentle hilly areas within 40 kilometers along the river. New Chinese plantations are springing up like mushrooms after a rain.

There are some farms and ranches occasionally, which mainly solve the problem of food, vegetables and meat supply for local Chinese colonists. Most of them are produced and sold locally.

The broad Gangu River and its numerous tributaries have become the main water arteries connecting numerous Chinese colonies, shouldering the heavy responsibility of transportation, and inland river transportation is becoming increasingly prosperous.

The three shipyards in Cagayan worked day and night, mainly manufacturing inland ships. The required equipment, steel and steam engines were imported from nearby Britain.

The largest shipyard employs nearly 320 workers and manufactures more than inland vessels of various tonnages every year, including inland transport ships, passenger ships, fishing boats, steamships and other types of ships. The business is quite prosperous.

It is said that shipbuilding orders have been scheduled until the year after next, and there are still many potential ship owners queuing up with cash.

The Cagayan shipyard has stopped accepting orders because it is too busy.

New factory areas are under construction, and there are more than ten newly established shipyards. They are now recruiting workers from outside and poaching people from old shipyards with high salaries. They are in a period of rapid development.

Ships on the river shuttled day and night between Chinese towns and settlements, becoming the main force in transporting goods.

The road construction teams, mainly composed of indigenous blacks, are mostly affiliated with local Chinese cities. They adhere to the principle of "building roads wherever Chinese colonies are established" and have been building bridges and roads over the years.

The local roads are mainly gravel roads. After being attacked and soaked by continuous heavy rains, large and small puddles often form, making the road conditions worse.

This is not a big problem, it just takes time to settle.

Repeated repairs and years of heavy-loaded carriages have gradually solidified the roadbed, and the subsidence, collapse, and landslides have gradually decreased, and eventually stabilized.

It will take three to five years for a roadbed in good condition, and seven to eight years or even more than ten years for a roadbed in poor condition. There is no time to rush.

Over more than ten years

Road construction teams spread across the country built tens of thousands of kilometers of roads and thousands of bridges of all sizes, not including the small paths and footpaths leading to remote settlements, forming a relatively complete road network.

A large number of black slaves worked hard to build a relatively complete infrastructure in the Congo River Basin, making an indelible and significant contribution.

Over the past ten years

The Chu royal family and government did not require the Congo River Company to pay a single silver dollar in dividends. All profits from taxes, human trafficking and export of mass commodities remained in the colony and were used to develop colonial infrastructure and cities and expand the capacity to accommodate Chinese immigrants.

This preferential policy has given wings to the development of the Congo River Company.

compare with

The Dutch East India Company paid a large amount of profits every year, which accounted for two-fifths of the fiscal expenditure of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for many years. It was an indispensable financial pillar of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the difference between the two sides was obvious.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands adopted an exploitative colonial method of draining the pond to catch all the fish, colonizing the East Indies for more than 260 years, with almost no investment in infrastructure.

The colonial roads and bridges are still the same as they were hundreds of years ago, only they have become more dilapidated.

The Chu State adopted a colonial policy of "letting water flow to raise fish". The Colonial Ministry and the Ministry of Finance would allocate special funds to support some important construction projects of the Gangu River Company, generally accounting for 1/4 to 1/5 of the project amount.

For example, the planned steel mill project in Dongsang City would import British steelmaking equipment and utilize local iron ore and coal resources to develop a steel enterprise to meet the needs of the Congo River Company's towns. The total investment was estimated at 260 million silver dollars. Following government approval, the Colonial Office allocated 30 silver dollars and the Ministry of Finance 16 silver dollars for special support, forming part of the "Guyuan Plan."

The so-called "Guyuan Plan" is a plan to strengthen rule over remote frontiers and colonies far away from the mainland, including economic, military and cultural aspects.

Given that West Africa is too far away and beyond the reach of the mainland, the proper development of some industrial facilities will help meet local demand and replace large amounts of imports.

Under the Congo River Company alone, the amount of imported steel has rapidly increased from an annual demand of 30,000 to 50,000 tons in the early years to 70,000 to 80,000 tons, and even to more than 100,000 tons in recent years.

In 1883, the total amount of various steels, plates and wires imported from Britain reached 17.9 tons, just one step away from 20 tons.

In this case

It is very necessary to develop the local steel industry. After all, the Congo River Company itself feels very painful about spending a large amount of hard currency to import steel. That is all hard-earned money.

If we can produce by ourselves, we can not only create a large number of jobs, but also generate tax revenue, meet our own needs, and make independent decisions to expand production. It is simply perfect.

With the booming development of the inland shipbuilding industry, more and more Chinese immigrants are pouring into the Congo River basin in search of development. The demand for urban and bridge construction will only grow, and the appetite for steel will only grow.

In this historical context

It is no surprise that the Dongsangcheng Steel Plant project was approved.

After a week of work inspection, Li Jingxi and his entourage boarded the intercity liner to the next stop, Cité du Mer (Note: Libreville, Gabon). Standing on the side of the ship outside the first-class cabin on the third floor, they looked back at this beautiful colonial city on the Atlantic coast.

Li Jingxi was filled with emotion at the moment, with so many words in his heart that he wanted to express, but years of steady grassroots experience made him keep his mouth shut, and he just looked at the city with eyes full of emotion.

From afar
Under the sunlight, countless buildings in Dongsang City are connected into a piece, extending to the end of the sight, showing the vitality of a new and prosperous town. Those Han and Tang style buildings with white walls and black tiles evoke ripples in the heart.

Goodbye, Dongsang City. I hope I can see your majestic and heroic figure again one day.

Li Jingxi was full of affection for this city. His youth and passion were left here. He traveled to every place within a radius of two or three hundred kilometers, planned colonies and roads, and led armed expeditions to encircle and suppress indigenous black tribes time and time again. He had countless memories of the joy of success and the frustration of failure.

All of these things have come together to form the precious wealth of life.

The long whistle of the intercity liner was heard in my ears. Soon the ropes were untied, thick black smoke came out of the ship's tall chimney, and a large amount of steam leaked out of the high-pressure steam pipe, shrouding the figure standing by the ship's side in a hazy state.

The ship slowly left the dock and headed towards the depths of the azure Atlantic Ocean. Dongsang City became smaller and smaller in sight.

With strong emotions in his heart, Li Jingxi closed his mouth tightly and just looked at Dongsang City with a last affectionate look.

In the sight, the appearance of Dongsang City could no longer be seen, and it turned into a long and endless coastline.

After leaving Dongsang City, the next stop for the inspection was Binhai City (Libreville, Gabon), the next stop was Huangshi City (Makanda, Equatorial Guinea), and finally arrived at Grand Bay City (Note: Douala, Cameroon), which took one and a half months.

After completing this inspection, Li Jingxi will board a cruise ship to Europe, leaving this colonial land that he is reluctant to leave and embark on a new journey in his life.

The cruise ship heading to Europe is a British cruise ship, which departs from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, passes through Cape Town, Alexandria Bay, Walvis Bay, Hai'an, Cabinda, Dongsang and Grand Bay City all the way north, stops at many important ports along the way, and finally arrives at Portsmouth Port in southern England.

As can be seen
British cruise ships stop at several important city ports under the jurisdiction of the Congo River Company along the way, which means that the above-mentioned cities have an important position on the coast of West Africa and are worthy of British cruise ships to stop.

Many Chinese immigrants who have made a fortune in Congo are full of yearning for the European continent and will eventually go to Europe with a lot of wealth to settle down or do business. This situation is inevitable.

The policy of the Chu State Colonial Department on this matter was that people could come and go freely without any strict restrictions, but they had to pay taxes according to regulations and were not allowed to abscond with the money.

Under this enlightened policy, there are quite a few Chinese tourists traveling between Europe and Congo in West Africa, which is an important port of call along the British cruise line.

more than a month later
During the Chinese New Year of 1884, the inspection team led by Li Jingxi arrived at Grand Bay City (Note: Douala in Cameroon), a Chinese colonial city located on the Gulf of Central Africa and the northernmost city of the Congo River Company.

The scene here is different from the lush green of Cabinda, Dongsang City, and Binhai City. The entire city is located in the middle of an oasis, and the far suburbs are next to large areas of ochre desert, which is a semi-arid area.

There is a river here that flows into the Atlantic Ocean, called the Buri River. The Great Bay City is built 24 kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Buri River. It is the center of a large oasis and has convenient water transportation conditions.

The local climatic conditions are not suitable for growing natural rubber and oil palm, but are suitable for growing coffee, cocoa, wheat, soybeans and corn. Its vast area is also suitable for grazing, so there are many pastures here.

Continuing north for more than a hundred kilometers from here is the southern border of the French colony.

The Chu State and France divided the Cameroon region into two parts, each occupying almost half. The Chu State occupied mostly the prime areas of the Cameroon region, which were mainly flat hilly areas and arid forest-steppe pastures.

The north occupied by France is mostly desert and Gobi, with occasional oases of varying sizes dotted around, forming villages and towns of local traditional black nomadic tribes, which are generally small in scale.

In this relatively barren land, the population carrying capacity is limited.

Li Jingxi and his party were warmly welcomed by the prefect of Dahaiwan City, senior colonial commissioners and other officials. A local roasted camel banquet was immediately held to entertain the guests. After all, this was an inspection team from the Governor's Office and they were superiors.

During the banquet, everyone was toasting each other, and there were unique Arab dancers to entertain them, so they had a great time drinking.

The arrival of Chinese colonists not only brought rich Chinese culture and advanced agricultural farming methods, but also brought a unique winemaking culture.

Sorghum can be used to make wine, rice can be used to make wine, sugarcane can be used to make wine, and coconut can be used to make wine. The flavors and alcohol content are different, and there are even more things that can be used to make wine.

Lion bones, giraffe whips, dog whips, centipedes, scorpions, poisonous snakes, etc., made the white people dizzy and exclaimed in disbelief.

African black tribal chiefs love these wines very much. They can make them feel intoxicated and enter a world of ecstasy.

These drinks are also one of the best trading items, second only to cold weapons such as swords and guns.

(End of this chapter)