Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 496: Sincerely Making Things Difficult for Me

The Chu military was very experienced in colonial expansion. Its greatest reliance was the continuous influx of Chinese immigrants. It implemented a thorough "empty cage and replace bird" policy in the conquered areas to eliminate all possible hidden dangers.

Lieutenant General Pan Tianshou had led the Congo River Governor's Office for ten years and had extremely rich experience in this area. He took a "steady and steady" approach and gradually eroded the island.

After militarily occupying the island of Madagascar, the East African occupation forces completely controlled its major towns and the countryside around the main roads, imposed blockades on major transportation routes, mountain passes and bridges, and divided the entire colony into countless unconnected fragments.

The indigenous population is not allowed to move freely, and all suspicious persons entering towns and villages will be immediately arrested as long as they cannot use Chinese fluently.

Chinese is the only standard for proving identity and is more useful than any other document.

Under various colonial measures, the conquered local indigenous people became lambs to be slaughtered at will.

This situation has occurred countless times in Kalimantan, Sumatra, Hawaii, Central America, the Viceroyalty of Costa Rica in South America, and the Congo River Basin.

All armed resistance is like waves stirred up on the sea, which will eventually return to calm, as if nothing had happened.

As time went by, the majority of the local population became Chinese immigrants...

According to statistics from the Madagascar occupation forces in early May

A total of 37.92 people were sent to the East African company, completing 13% of the plan. Half of them were men and half were women, all of whom were young indigenous people between the ages of and .

In the war of conquest
More than a thousand battles of varying sizes broke out, and hundreds of thousands of indigenous rebels were successively annihilated, which can be said to be an outstanding achievement.

Bandits and robbers were basically eliminated in cities and villages, and the indigenous population under his rule was about 170 million, occupying the main plain farming areas.

Among them, more than 200,000 men who were enrolled in the indigenous labor camps have begun large-scale construction of bridges and roads, expansion of port terminals and storage facilities, construction of urban buildings, etc., and started comprehensive construction work.

The indigenous labor camps were divided into teams of three to four hundred people, divided into hundreds of labor camps, and guarded by Chinese armed militia to build roads and bridges in sections, working hard on the construction sites day and night.

For the remaining indigenous population, men and women are managed separately.

The villages under the control of the expeditionary force were transformed into collective farms, and large-scale agricultural production was concentrated in accordance with the advanced farming methods taught by the Chinese.

Regardless of gender, age or status, everyone must work in the fields to earn a bite to eat.

The Chu colonial army blocked the roads leading to the mountains, building earthen forts every one or two kilometers, each manned with 20 to 30 fully armed officers and soldiers.

Barbed wire fences were set up along the route, and battalion headquarters were established every ten kilometers or so based on local villages, with a large number of troops stationed there, usually about two to three hundred officers and soldiers.

Equipped with a small number of trucks and cavalry, they are capable of providing rapid reinforcements and encircling large groups of indigenous people if they are besieged by indigenous resistance forces hiding in the mountains.

The purpose was to let the 600,000 to 700,000 indigenous people who fled into the mountains starve to death in the mountains.

A dozen or a few hundred people might be able to barely survive in the mountains, but hundreds of thousands of people fleeing into the tropical forest would undoubtedly be a dead end.

as expected
After the blockade lasted for more than ten days, a large number of the indigenous people who fled into the mountains died, some in fighting with each other, some from tropical malaria, diarrhea, insect bites, falls, and other causes, or simply from starvation.

Many indigenous people escaped from the dense forest one after another. They would rather be enslaved than escape this terrible tropical jungle where danger was almost everywhere.

The Chu State's East African expeditionary force still separated these fleeing indigenous populations into separate camps for men and women, and threw all the men into hard labor, mostly in mines and quarries, and kept them under strict surveillance.

Young and healthy women were selected and sold in local markets, bringing in large sums of money to finance ongoing military operations and colonial construction.

Other women, either old or young, were sent to collective farms to take on heavy farm work such as tilling the fields and raising cattle and sheep.

With the arrival of the first batch of Chinese immigrants from East African companies, the local population market became active. Many indigenous women were bought, and some Chinese bought four or five at a time.

These indigenous Malagasy women look similar to Asians, are strong and healthy, and are good at working and raising children. It is a good business that is sure to make money.

Whether these Chinese immigrants are running farms, ranches, or plantations, they always need manpower. This has been verified in the successful experiences of many developed Chinese colonists.

I missed the opportunity earlier, but now I can always do it by following the example.

Chinese immigrants are really smart. They can learn things by analogy.

Everyone knows
The first colonies that were developed were short of food, fruits, meat and a large amount of vegetable products. Most Chinese immigrants were not proficient in business, but they were good at farming.

As a result, with the influx of the first batch of Chinese immigrants, many of them brought certain assets, and Chinese farms of all sizes were established.

When a colony was first established, it was imperative to offer sufficiently attractive policies. Madagascar gave each person 150 acres of land upon arrival, and every person received one.

The colonial officials who arrived with the expeditionary force quickly set up colonial institutions at the prefecture and county levels, and began to promote colonial production in an orderly manner, preparing for the next wave of Chinese immigrants.

Starting from the fourth quarter of the previous year

In compliance with His Majesty's order, the Chu State's Colonial Department has already started large-scale immigration to the Congo River Basin in West Africa, and related preferential policies are being publicized everywhere.

They even made large slogans and displayed them in city streets and villages in a grand manner.

Such as "Immigrate to the Congo River, everyone is a landlord."

"Every person will be given 300 mu of land upon landing, and the baby in the wife's belly will also be counted."

"No matter how many thousands or tens of thousands of acres it is, as long as you dare to come, Congo River will give it to you and help you reach the pinnacle of life!"

"The Kingdom's preferential colonial policy is unique and unparalleled."

"As vast as the Congo River may be, its land will eventually run out. Action is worse than thought. Make up your mind now to achieve a brilliant life."

All kinds of thought-provoking slogans filled the streets and alleys, making immigration to the Congo River a hot topic among local residents. Even some wealthy small business owners couldn't help but feel jealous.

Someone complained, "What the hell is going on? I went home and did some calculations yesterday. If our family immigrated to the Congo River in West Africa, we could get 4500 acres of land for free. If the second and fourth wives also got pregnant, we could get another 600 acres. This kept me tossing and turning in bed all night, my eyes bulging like a rabbit, but I just couldn't fall asleep."

"What's the matter...are you tempted?" "Who says I'm not? With so much land, it would be foolish of me to say I'm not tempted. But I have a family and a business, we have no worries about food and drink, and we live a comfortable life, but I really can't make up my mind."

"That's just nonsense, isn't it? You're just talking nonsense. West Africa is a long way away."

"What's there to be afraid of? I just see so many fields, but I can't touch or get any of them. I feel like I'm being scratched by a cat. If I don't take advantage of them, I'll suffer a great loss."

Many local Chinese residents, greedy for the free land, moved overseas with their families, which led to a second wave of immigration to West Africa.

According to immigration flights scheduled by the Colonial Office, as many as 4 people transfer to West Africa via the Eurasian route every month. The steady and rapid growth further strengthens the policy effect of "immigration to the border".

From the fourth quarter of last year to the end of the first quarter of this year, the total number of immigrants has exceeded 25.33 and continues to this day.

Behind this wave of immigration, there are many Chu residents who have registered and are queuing for flights.

Many people's long-distance flights are booked until the end of the year, which means they cannot embark on a trip to West Africa in the short term. This makes them feel anxious and worried, while many savvy Chinese are busy getting their women pregnant.

As long as you get pregnant, you will be given an extra 300 acres of land. It’s such a great deal that you wouldn’t miss out on!
The total number of migrants per month, averaging 4, means that there are an average of nine to eleven -ton migrant ships arriving at various cities under the jurisdiction of the Congo River Governorate each month, occupying a large amount of ocean-going migration capacity.

Correspondingly, the number of immigrant ships operating on the Pacific route has decreased, and the shipping capacity has also been reduced to a certain extent.

Guided by preferential policies, many large shipping companies have invested their main capacity in West African routes.

At the same time, driven by strong market demand.

Large shipping companies are enthusiastic about investment, and new large-displacement ships ordered at shipyards have been launched and put into service one after another, leading to a continuous increase in ocean shipping capacity.

Especially on the West African ocean routes, the government provides preferential subsidies for coal and heavy oil prices.
Reduce or exempt most port entry and exit fees for immigrant ships on operating routes, give preferential tariffs to goods and people (note: mainly Arab and Armenian women) brought on the return journey, and give priority to dock arrangements.

We will adopt multiple measures to support immigration ships on these routes so that they can achieve a certain degree of profitability.

These returning immigrant ships carried a large number of European goods that had been loaded at Port Said, such as British cloth, Scottish whiskey, French champagne and wine, luxury luggage, Spanish smoked ham, German high-quality cheese and machinery products, etc., all of which would enjoy certain preferential tariffs.

Although the government did not put out any real money, it did save shipping companies a lot of money and played a role in subsidizing shipping routes.

Now Madagascar has been added to the list of popular destinations in the frontier colonies.

The East African Expeditionary Force learned

After the news of victory reached the Chu mainland, the Colonial Office quickly developed a new publicity plan aimed at promoting the introduction of Chinese immigrants to Madagascar, reaching an average of 1.2 to 1.5 per month.

That is to say, at least 3 to 4 immigrant ships arrive every month.

Throughout the year, the number of immigrants is about 16 to 19, which is more in line with Madagascar's current needs.

It must not be forgotten that immigration to Madagascar also had a strong appeal for the East African colonies.

Nowadays, the preferential policy of land gift for immigrants to East Africa has been cancelled. Many local Chinese families have more than a dozen children, and the burden of feeding them is not small.

If you immigrate to Madagascar, according to the preferential policy of 150 acres of land per capita, you can immediately obtain nearly acres of land, which is the scale of a family farm.

If you have some savings, or take out a loan to buy some land, run a medium-sized farm or plantation, and live a fulfilling life as a landlord, wouldn’t it be great?

Many people are unwilling to go to the more distant West Africa, so Madagascar, which is only a seven or eight day voyage away, is a good choice, and the sea transport flights are also convenient.

In this way

Many Chinese people whose families in East African colonies were burdened with heavy financial burdens were inevitably tempted and signed up to go to Madagascar to participate in a new round of colonial development.

In the East African colonies, the Chinese population with a strong tendency to immigrate has exceeded 39,000 people, and this number is still growing.

It takes a difficult decision-making process to go from hesitation to determination to leave.

These were all happy troubles, but when the French received the official notification from the State of Chu, they felt very upset.

From the French Prime Minister's Office to the military, everyone was furious. They felt sad that their beloved woman had been taken away from them. Anger, jealousy and dissatisfaction filled their chests, and there were shouts of fighting and killing from top to bottom.

In the original historical trajectory

In late May 1885, a French task force led by Admiral Pierre set out from the port of Marseille, sailed south along the Mediterranean Sea, crossed the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, and headed towards Madagascar Island.

After the French army arrived, the escorting warships bombarded the northwest coast with heavy artillery fire and occupied Majunga. The French expeditionary force landed here continuously, marking the beginning of the expeditionary colonization to conquer Madagascar.

A French army unit issued an ultimatum to Antananarivo, the capital of the indigenous Merina Kingdom, demanding that it recognize France's rights in northeastern Madagascar, abide by French law, and unreasonably demand 150 million francs in compensation.

After the ultimatum was rejected, the French task force quickly launched a military conquest operation.

They bombarded towns along the east coast, occupied Toamasina, arrested British missionaries, and launched a massive invasion of Madagascar.

But now, the French task force has gathered in the port of Marseilles, and most of the French expeditionary force, totaling 16,700, has arrived. The cabinet members of the French Prime Minister's Office who plan to attend the departure ceremony are preparing to take a carriage to Marseille after spending a pleasant weekend.

Even an inspiring speech was written, which would "write a new chapter in France's colonial history", "once again create an exciting and great victory", "demonstrate France's unshakable leading position in the world", and so on, all of which were words that made people's blood boil.

The French gentlemen have already sat down at the table, picked up their knives and forks, and are ready to share the feast.

But in the blink of an eye
The fat sheep of Madagascar, which had been roasted to a crispy outside and tender inside, was taken away whole. The Chu State actually followed the spirit of the Berlin Conference and announced the "effective occupation" of Madagascar.

The French were so angry that they vomited blood. You can imagine how angry they were.

Damn it, are you really trying to make things difficult for me?

(End of this chapter)