Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 474: Colonial Achievements of the Congo River Company
Dinghai City

Two days later, the King of Chu arrived at Dinghai City, more than 60 kilometers away from Asmara, where he boarded the Royal Mail Ship Ocean Crosser and continued the rest of his journey under the escort of the ironclad ships Manila and Shangri-La.

Under the East African Company

Asmara and Dinghai City are the first and second largest cities respectively. The former has a population of 18.62 and the latter has a population of 15.79. Both are large towns with a population of over .

The local economy mainly relies on food processing and port logistics industries as its mainstays, as well as rice mills, oil presses, cement, brick kilns, quarries, sawmills, farm implement factories, sauce and wineries, and some handicraft workshops, which can absorb a large number of jobs.

For example, leather workshops are a relatively prosperous industry in the local area.

In Asmara, relying on the local animal husbandry, there are dozens of leather workshops that make leather shoes, leather boots, belts, leather bags, saddles, horse harnesses, leather hats, leather clothes, etc. The leather products are quite famous in the surrounding areas.

Cities like Asmara and Dinghai City, with a population of over 40, are insignificant in the kingdom and are ranked outside the top .

However, in today's African continent, large towns with a population of over 100,000 are very rare, ranking only 13th or 14th, making them quite eye-catching cities.

The largest city in Africa is undoubtedly Cairo, Egypt's historic capital, with a population of approximately 70 to 80, which is a huge lead over other African cities.

If we can rely on the rich cotton resources in Egypt and Sudan to develop textile and weaving mills and further expand the scale of light industry, the future development potential of Asmara and Dinghai City will be greater, enough to push the city scale to a higher level.

September 16th, 2025

After arriving in Djibouti, the Chu King's fleet experienced a standoff in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. After patrolling the East African Company's territory for more than half a month, it set sail again from Dinghai City to continue its unfinished journey.

The fleet arrived in Suez four days later, passed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean without stopping, and then continued sailing west along the North African coast.

One of the coal ships and the "Dongting Lake" immigration ship stopped at Port Said and dropped off 573 government-sponsored students studying in Europe. They had arrived at their temporary destination.

it's here

The local Chu envoys in Port Said will arrange for these students studying in Europe to board ships to various European countries to complete the remaining leg of their journey.

There are many cruise ships from various European countries stopping at Port Said, and the flights are quite frequent. There is a return European cruise ship docking almost every three or two days, making it very convenient to travel to any country.

After staying at the port for more than 5 hours, the "Dongting Lake" replenished some fresh water and vegetables, and then set sail again, trying its best to catch up with the fleet sailing along the coast of North Africa.

Around 8:2 PM on August
The fleet of King Chu visiting Europe docked smoothly at the Grand Bay City (Note: Douala in Cameroon), which was the first Atlantic port city the fleet docked at. It was also the first time that the Congo River Company welcomed the King of Chu. This was a milestone event that will be recorded in the history of colonial development in the Congo River Basin.

At the dock

The outgoing Governor of the Congo River Company, Lieutenant General Pan Tianshou (former Commander of the First Division), and the Military Chief, Major General Guan Shiwei, organized a grand welcome ceremony, celebrating the arrival of the royal emperor from the kingdom with tears in their eyes. The scene was very touching.

Unlike the East African Company, the Congo River Company had an extremely vast territory and numerous indigenous black tribes in the colony.

Colonization is difficult, stressful, and complex, and it puts a great test on the military organization and operational capabilities of the Congo River Company's top management. It is a tough nut to crack.

Therefore, the senior management of the East African Company was mainly composed of colonial officials, while the senior management of the Congo River Company was mainly composed of senior military officers with rich combat experience, with more emphasis on military aspects.

Over the past decade
Governor General Pan Tianshou and Military Chief Major General Guan Shiwei both withstood severe tests, especially in the areas of colonial population reduction and social stability, implemented efficient methods and achieved extraordinary and remarkable results.

The population of the entire Congo River Basin colony dropped by about half, and most of the remaining people were in a controllable state of slavery. Colonial construction improved significantly and did quite well.

The King of Chu's Palace in Dahaiwan City

This is a pure Chinese garden building, nestled against the mountains and beside the water, with beautiful scenery, covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. It was built with funds from the Royal Household Department and is a royal asset.

In the main hall
The main entourage of the King of Chu's delegation and senior executives of Congo and the company were on the left and right, with the King of Chu sitting above them, holding an important imperial meeting.

First, the Chief of Military, Major General Guan Shiwei, introduced the situation of colonial security, settlements, and the conquest and enslavement of local black tribes. He said:
"...

In summary

Over the past decade, the Congo River Company has initiated 22.6 human transactions, using money and material inducements to promote widespread and frequent tribal wars among local black tribes.

This move has achieved a population reduction effect of at least 550 to 600 million. The local tribal chiefs are ignorant, stupid, and short-sighted, and they always fall into the same trap again and again.

They speak of hatred, but when they see fine wine, silks, gold, silver, jewelry, swords, guns and weapons, their hearts are blinded by greed and they always start new tribal wars.

One trick is fresh, eat all over the sky.

The company obtained strong black slaves through trade and trafficked them to Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, southern North American plantations and North Africa over the years, earning a total of 3.1 million silver dollars in revenue.

These riches have laid the foundation for the great development and exploitation of the Congo River Basin and have also become a strong guarantee for infrastructure construction.

on the basis of

The company built 38 cities, 172 settlements and 3282 Chinese villages, as well as countless Chinese ranches, plantations and farms, achieving self-sufficiency in grain, livestock, meat and eggs, and having the capacity to export part of the goods.

We have built a total of 6.5 kilometers of roads, 3329 bridges of various sizes, and 119 ports, including 26 Atlantic coastal ports and the rest are inland ports.

As of the end of June 1884
The Congo River Company has resettled more than one million Chinese immigrants, forming 49.77 Chinese families and more than one million newborn children under the age of seven, totaling 7 million.

Over the past decade

The Congo River Company carried out 3063 military suppression operations of varying sizes, eliminating 755 indigenous tribes, annihilating more than 41 resisting indigenous people, and capturing more than 230 million. This effectively deterred the black indigenous tribes throughout the basin and stabilized the regional security situation.

Today
The Congo River Company penetrated deep into the upper reaches of the river and the main tributaries that flow into the Congo River. Chinese settlements covered 67% of the entire area, realizing the simple desire for in-depth colonization.

on the basis of

In the next decade, the Congo River Company will have the capacity to accommodate two million Chinese immigrants, and coupled with the natural growth of the local population, the prospects are bright.

Looking ahead to the end of the century, the Chinese population in the Congo River Basin colonies is expected to exceed seven million, reducing the corresponding black indigenous population to no more than three million, and realizing mechanized farmland and plantation operations using agricultural machinery instead of manual labor.

By then, the Congo River Company will have a firm grip on this West African land..."

Major General Fang Shiwei spoke eloquently, and the series of figures he listed were all about the difficult journey of the countless Congo River Company during the colonization process, conquering this West African land with swords and guns.

These detailed figures bear witness to the blood and tears of the colonial process.

The King of Chu and the government officials present nodded frequently, feeling more deeply the glorious achievements of colonization in West Africa, and making solid progress towards the goal of completely controlling the entire river basin.

The population in the colonial areas has both decreased and increased significantly, and it is impossible to completely prevent the reproduction of the black tribal population.

But everything is under control, we just need to proceed step by step.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu was particularly satisfied with such colonial achievements. It was definitely a good thing that he achieved a huge change in the social demographic structure of the Congo River Basin without incurring any bad reputation.

There are three main factors that have led to the sharp decline in the local black tribal population.

The first is the frequent tribal wars among black people, the second is the organized human trafficking, and the third is the strict prohibition of marriage and reproduction among black slaves on plantations. These are not big deals.

That's much more merciful than the Americans directly raising their butcher knives.

The current level of social development in West Africa is relatively low, and the life expectancy of the black tribal population is generally around 30 years old. If the population reproduction is slightly hindered, the life expectancy will immediately plummet.

There are still 16 years until the end of this century, so the policy of strictly prohibiting black marriage and reproduction has been continuously implemented for 26 years, which is almost an entire generation.

In the Congo River
Black slaves were basically divided into male and female camps, and special labor camps were set up in every village and town. Healthy and beautiful black female slaves were selected to fill the camps to solve gender issues.

The Lao Chun Institute distributed a certain number of Lao Chun rolls to local Chinese ranches, plantations and farms. Each roll could be used by one person once and would become invalid after use.

Black slaves who performed well on local Chinese ranches, plantations and farms could receive one or two labor coupons as a reward from the farmers, which they could use to enjoy a trip to the village or town.

The labor agency settled accounts with Chinese farmers once a month or quarter. Other black female slaves were strictly prohibited from having any contact with male slaves and were deprived of the right to establish families and reproduce. This was roughly the process.

In recent years

As a large number of agricultural machinery from the Chu State entered the farms in West Africa, it was able to save a large amount of black slave labor and has gradually been promoted.

The fleet that King Chu used to visit Europe this time transported 1100 hand tractors and a large number of supporting agricultural tools at one time, which was considered a large amount of cargo.

This is not a gift to local Chinese farmers, but for sale. If you don’t have enough money, you can take out a loan and just repay the principal and interest on time.

In the State of Chu, nothing can be obtained for free.

Money can buy almost everything you want, except noble titles and high social status. Even if you want to join the gentry class, you have to pay a lot.

For example, they donated money to build schools, built bridges and roads in the local area, helped poor children, donated money to build ancestral halls and temples, helped the orphans and widows, and other good deeds. After being recognized by the local government, they were recommended to the next level of government as gentry.

Remote colonies were awarded plaques by the Governor-General's Office and could obtain the status of squire for three years. If they were ranked as squire for three consecutive terms, they could be awarded the title of Justice of the Peace, which was a lifelong squire status.

Gentry played a very important role at the grassroots level in the colony. They could preside over and mediate conflicts among villagers, participate in village affairs and agreements, preside over spring festivals and village sacrifices, welcome the gods and send off the kitchen god, arbitrate disputes with other villages, punish petty theft, organize militia teams to patrol and maintain stability, and maintain a relatively fair governance environment in the countryside.

In the settlement

In order to suppress the surrounding black indigenous tribes, Chinese gentry took the initiative to contribute money, manpower and personnel to participate in the armed suppression operations, and the role they played was extraordinary.

In the Congo River Company's colonial resettlement, the first step was to sort out and eliminate the black tribes in an area, and then arrange for Chinese settlements to move in and start orderly agricultural production and life.

After that, most of the surrounding issues and troubles were handled by the militia organized by the Chinese settlements, and those that could not be solved were reported.

When the county government receives reports from the settlements under its jurisdiction, it will organize the county's forces or militias from several surrounding towns to clear out and suppress the black tribes that are causing trouble in the local area.

The captured black natives were divided into male and female camps. The black slaves were either sold to Chinese farms and plantations, or concentrated in quarries, road paving teams, land reclamation teams or other labor camps to implement the orderly utilization of labor.

Generally speaking, black tribal captives who have been suppressed are never allowed to be released into the wild. This is the so-called "nibbling policy."

Take a bite today, a bite tomorrow, and another bite the day after tomorrow.

This led to a sharp decrease in the number of black indigenous tribes in the Congo River basin. After being suppressed, they were unable to recover and gradually disappeared, and would no longer continue to cause chaos.

Through this "nibbling policy", the Congo River Company continued to push Chinese settlements inland, and transportation was also very convenient along the Congo River and its tributaries.

The black slaves that could not be absorbed locally were transported out by ship, and the local county government and Chinese settlements would receive a certain amount of income, which was mainly determined by the number and health of the black slave population, and did not exceed half of the value of the black slaves.

Once the newly established Chinese settlement has established itself, it will soon be expanded, followed by the second, third, and fourth...

Just like a drop of ink falling on rice paper, it quickly spreads.

As Chinese settlements gradually expanded, local black indigenous tribes gradually disappeared and transformed into a black slave population widely distributed in Chinese plantations, farms and ranches, becoming a controllable indigenous population.

Those black indigenous tribes that are still free in the wild are the uncontrollable indigenous population.

According to a detailed survey conducted by the Congo River Company, this part of the population is less than three million, to be precise, it should be between 270 million and 280 million, most of which are scattered deep in the tropical jungle and remote areas.

This is also the reason why the Congo River Company reported that it had full control over about 67% of the region. About one-third was still outside its control, most of which were remote areas and difficult to colonize.

It is expected that by the end of this century

It is possible to complete control of the entire Congo River basin and realize the colonization of the entire basin. The total population is expected to be 700 million, of which more than 350 million are second-generation Chinese exported locally, accounting for half.

(End of this chapter)