African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 60 Marching to the Port of Dar es Sala

  Dürer put on an Arabian robe and rode a horse, and appeared on the streets of Dar es Salaam, which was indeed not outstanding.

   Dürer himself is a German, with white skin and Arab clothing, he really looks like a local Arab if you don’t look carefully.

   Without attracting the attention of the soldiers of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, Dürer drove his horse and hurried to the border area.

  At the beginning, the East African colony promised Majid Sultan not to garrison troops in Dar es Salaam. The East African colony turned to the next best thing, leaving an army of 200 people on the border some distance from Dar es Salaam.

  It is used to prevent changes in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, or to ensure the smooth passage from the port of Dar es Salaam to the East African colonies.

   After all, for a country with a standing army of only a few thousand people all year round, two hundred well-equipped troops already have a certain threat capability.

  At present, there are about 8,000 armed forces in the East African colonies, of which, except for 2,000 Germans and more than 300 immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rest are Chinese immigrants.

   These more than 8,000 troops are distributed over nearly 700,000 square kilometers of land in the East African colonies.

   Among them, there are more than 3,000 colonial troops in the three coastal areas in the east. After deducting the necessary local guards, the East African colonies can quickly mobilize about 1,500 people.

  The thousand and five include 200 people in the direction of Dar es Salaam, 300 people in Tanga Port, more than 500 people in the first town, and the number of troops that can be flexibly mobilized in the rest of the three coastal areas.

  …

   "Stop! Who is it?" The East African colonial soldiers stationed in the Kibaha area (about forty miles away from the port of Dar es Salaam.) stopped Dürer, who was dressed in Arabia.

   "My own people, take me to see your commander, I have an important military report." Dürer said out of breath.

  As soon as they heard that it was a military situation, the soldiers did not dare to neglect, and immediately reported to the commander in the camp.

   After verifying the identity of the visitor, Felix, the military chief stationed in the Kibaha area, received Dürer.

   "Sir, this is a letter from Mr. Bazel!" Dürer handed the letter to Felix.

  Felix took the letter, opened it, and read it.

   After a while, Felix frowned and asked, "Mr. Dürer! Did you see any movement by the Arabs on the way here?"

"Sir, I did see a lot of soldiers on the streets of Dar es Salaam. They seemed to be conducting some kind of military operation, especially in the direction of the palace. People were forbidden to pass through. I bypassed them and came out from the south of the block. "

   "Are you sure it's a military operation? That's right!" Felix asked.

   "Sir, in Dar es Salaam on weekdays, only the royal guards of the Sultanate of Zanzibar will appear in the neighborhood, while the army is stationed outside Dar es Salaam and at the docks."

Dürer went on to say: "This morning, our people saw the Zanzibar garrison at the dock unusually dispatched, but no one paid attention at that time. At about eight o'clock, the number of soldiers on the streets of Dar es Salaam increased, and the soldiers at the dock There are not so many troops in Zanzibar, which means that the Zanzibar army outside the city has entered the city. Moreover, Mr. Bazel observed that most of the soldiers who entered the city were armed with live ammunition, and there was no trace of the Zanzibar Sultan Majid’s royal guard, Mr. Bazel We expected that there must be a big problem in the Sultanate of Zanzibar. However, we didn’t hear the gunshots, so we didn’t dare to jump to conclusions, but we couldn’t let the situation go, so we came to report.”

  After hearing what Dürer said, Felix looked at the staff officer Hans Zhang beside him, and asked, "Zhang, what do you think!"

  Hans Zhang is a student who graduated from Hechingen Military Academy. His original name was Zhang Yuzhu. After admission, all students were required to have German names. At that time, they were given a list and asked the students to choose the name they felt comfortable with.

At that time, Zhang Yuzhu felt that the name Hans was simple and easy to remember, so he changed the name Hans, and the surname was transliterated from German. The German instructors could not tell the names of hundreds of families. The German instructors put all the surnames that sound similar are classified into one category.

  So what "Zhang, Zhao, Jiang..." Germans say is very awkward, and it reads like "Zhang" in Chinese, so it is simply written as "zhang" in German transliteration.

  When these students first arrived in Germany, they could not read a single big character before. No one could write their own names, so they changed their surnames to "zhang" with the instructor.

   After changing the name of Zhang Yuzhu, the name became "Hans·Zhang".

  …

   Staff officer Hans Zhang thought for a while, and said to Felix: "Looking at the current situation, if we report to the colonial government first, and then dispatch after the decision is made, it will definitely be too late."

"If there is a coup in Zanzibar and a new government is established, the new government's attitude towards us is likely to be different from before. At present, there are only more than 20 staff members stationed in the port of Dar es Salaam. There may be new immigrants arriving in Hong Kong this afternoon, none of these immigrants have weapons at hand, and the Zanzibar government army will definitely not be stopped by only more than 20 armed staff."

"Immigration is the most important thing in the East African colony. The principal has repeatedly emphasized the need to ensure that the immigrants arrive safely in the East African colony. If there is a real military turmoil in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, it may threaten the safety of the new immigrants arriving in Hong Kong today!" Hans · Zhang analyzed.

In fact, the current immigration of East African colonies is not limited to the port of Dar es Salaam, but can also land in the port of Tanga. The problem is that the conditions of the port of Dar es Salaam are mature, so the Dutch prefer to dock at the port of Dar es Salaam. , and immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire will give priority to the port of Dar es Salaam, which is closer, because they have to detour the Atlantic Ocean. Only the fleet of the Hechingen consortium will pull goods from the port of Tanga Set off.

  This situation will only change after the opening of the Suez Canal. But at that time, the location of Tanga Port may not be the closest to Europe... (Mombasa got it after this incident.)

   "That's right. If we act one step later, we may lose control of the situation, so the action must be carried out immediately." Felix agreed.

   "Now we should send people to report the situation to the East African colonial government and march to the port of Dar es Salaam at the same time."

   "Mr. Dürer, you should stay and rest first! The personnel in charge of immigration acceptance will pass by here at noon every day, and you can return to Dar es Salaam with them."

   When Felix said this, he didn’t take Zanzibar seriously. In fact, Felix was so conceited. As a member of the Prussian soldiers, Prussia often followed His Majesty the King to defeat the strong in Europe.

Felix believes that as long as the army is courageous, attacking the strong with the weak may not necessarily lead to defeat, and the Zanzibar army is "weak" in Felix's eyes. After all, European countries are expanding wildly around the world. Although Prussia did not participate, But Prussia is also a famous military power in Europe.

   Small countries like Zanzibar in the world are often beaten by the Dutch and Portuguese, and naturally they are not Prussia's opponents.

  Felix has a fiery temper. As the saying goes, there will be a raging nest. Only Hans Zhang, a staff officer, can reconcile Felix's temper.

This is because Hans Zhang received systematic military studies as a graduate of the Hechingen Military Academy, so he acted like a Prussian officer. Every time he came into contact with Hans Zhang, Felix felt like he had been with The dialogue with his noble chief in Prussia reminded Felix of the days when he served in Prussia, but now he misses it a little.

   But when it comes to fighting, Felix, a former Prussian leader, has a kind of **** courage. Since entering East Africa, Felix, who has often fought against natives without defeat, is quite swollen.

It’s just that Felix is ​​rough and detailed, and his control of the army is completely in accordance with the Prussian army regulations. There are no mistakes in execution every time he deploys the formation. Therefore, the staff officer Hans Zhang does not stop Felix in most cases, but supports it. Felix's behavior.

   "Pass my order, the whole army must gather immediately and march towards the port of Dar es Salaam!" Felix ordered.

  The soldiers led by the reckless Felix are naturally also vigorous and resolute. After receiving the order, they quickly sorted out their equipment and assembled.

  Felix and Hans Zhang led by example, and marched eastward with the soldiers.

  The army of only 200 people insisted on showing the momentum of a regiment, and marched towards the port of Dar es Salaam with smoke and dust flying along the way.

  (end of this chapter)