African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 845 - 149: Escort
"Woo..."
The roaring steel beast traversing the forests of the Congo Basin, the cast iron wheels grinding out sharp screeches on the tracks.
On both sides of the railway, the lush primordial rainforest forms a stark contrast with the stone-strewn tracks, a wild beauty entwined with civilization spills over in the Congo Basin.
"The Hessen Railway was a great East African engineering achievement of the eighties, taking four years to complete, stretching nearly two thousand kilometers, establishing a connection between the Katanga Plateau and the lower reaches of the Congo River, becoming a major transportation artery for minerals, timber, rubber, and other materials in East Africa. It is the busiest tropical rainforest railway in the world, and the longest railway across a tropical rainforest region globally."
On the train, the soldiers escorting goods and Black people, gazed through the carriage at the boundless green "ocean" and expressed their heartfelt admiration.
Anyone in such an environment would feel amazed; after days of seeing nothing but this green primordial forest, loneliness and depression inevitably set in.
There are very few towns along the Black people railway line, with the monotonous scenery and the stifling heat inside the carriages posing severe challenges to those on the train.
East Africa's development of the Congo Basin is concentrated on its outskirts, where the basin meets the plateau.
This aligns closely with the population and city distribution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a past world, enabling it to become the fourth most populous nation in Africa, closely tied to these regions.
In a past world, four African countries had populations exceeding one hundred million: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The fifth was Tanzania with a population of just over sixty-five million, but with Africa's population growth trend, more countries will surpass one hundred million in the future.
Of course, under East African rule, the term Tanzania does not exist and is classified into the East African Plateau and Eastern Coastal Plains as geographical units.
In a past world, the East African Plateau included former Uganda, Rwanda, and other countries with a population exceeding one hundred million, while the Eastern Coastal Plains stretch wider, initially only covering Tanzania's coast, but now extending from the northern Somali Plains to the southern Tugela River Plains, covering over a million square kilometers.
However, the Eastern Coastal Plains alone appear even narrower than Chile, though the northern Somali Plains are large desert areas, rendering many places agriculturally valueless.
Other plains are mostly formed by river sedimentation, comprising the main body of the Eastern Coastal Plains.
In a past world, East African countries could generally achieve food self-sufficiency, something the Congo clearly could not, highlighting the environmental carrying capacity differences.
However, the Congo Basin's regions unsuitable for habitation are mainly the rainforest areas, though the Congo Rainforest does not entirely overlap with the Congo Basin; apart from Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo-Brazzaville fall within the rainforest range, though Cameroon and Gabon are not within the basin.
The main habitable areas of the Congo Basin are at the surrounding plateau intersections, especially in the east and south, which are also the richest in mineral resources, but in a past world, Congo's capital was in the west at Kinshasa, leading to internal turmoil and regional tendencies for independence.
East Africa apparently does not have this problem because its economic focus is mainly concentrated in the eastern and southern parts of Africa, bordering the east and south of the Congo.
This further expanded the advantage of East Africa's east over the west, ensuring that East Africa's economic center naturally focused on the east.
"El, it's twelve o'clock now, go check the rear carriages and open the windows to let them breathe; don't let these people die in the carriages."
Squad Leader Li Senluo put down his watch and instructed El.
The East African soldier named El lethargically donned a steel helmet, preparing to inspect the rear carriages.
"Take your gun, and if you encounter problems, fire a warning shot; preserving your life is the priority," Li Senluo advised.
Evidently, escort work is not safe, which is why Li Senluo gave such an order.
In the five rear carriages of this train, there are over a thousand Black people, while Li Senluo only commands eight men, with the total East African armed personnel on this train numbering just over thirty, about the strength of a platoon.
Guarding over a thousand unarmed Black people with just over thirty men is extremely dangerous, and any uprising would certainly lead to bloodshed.
"Yes, sir," El responded.
Nonetheless, El was engulfed by all kinds of indescribable odors as soon as he stepped into the rear carriages, despite wearing a mask, the mixture of feces, sweat, and fermenting food remnants was overwhelming.
El, repulsed, began counting heads: "Sit down!"
Following El's command, the women, children, elderly, sick, and disabled regained order.
Huddled to the sides of the carriage, they left a clear path, as those who disobeyed had been whipped by East Africans, quelling any ideas of resistance among the Black people present.
"One, two..." Allen started counting while walking through the carriage, but it was mainly a formality. The windows on the walls of both sides of the carriages were welded shut with steel bars, making escape impossible.
"Clean this up; if I see this filth on the floor when I return, I'll show you what pain means," El pointed to an indescribable liquid on the ground.
Despite having buckets on board, some people still relieved themselves indiscriminately, and with so many people, El couldn't identify the culprit, thus resorting to collective punishment.
Many of these Black people in this carriage were brought from the Angola area, having no concept of sanitation, much like Indians, could "relieve" anywhere, a mindset East Africa evidently couldn't change in a short time.
Nor was there a need to correct it, as East Africa never planned to keep them domestically; once this train reached Sigmaringen, El and his companions could end this dreadful task.
After completing a carriage inspection, El finally escaped from this "hell," though his ordeal was far from over.
Soon, the train staff started "disinfecting" and cleaning these five carriages before distributing food.
The indigenous people receiving food finally found some solace amid their uneasy minds, as their fate remained unknown.
Nobody knew where these East Africans were taking them; in the dark, damp carriage, within its confined space, the fear of the unknown deepened with time.
Fortunately, three days later, the train finally arrived at Jisan City, bringing relief to both East Africans and the indigenous people, providing a brief reconnection with the land.
Yet, Jisan City was merely a transit point, with over ten days of travel remaining before reaching Sigmaringen and the East African border.
Once resupplied in Jisan City, the train continued toward the border regions.
Congo's railwaysist East Army perform routine assignments, transporting Blacks from Angola and Mozambique to West Africa daily.
Not every Black person qualified for the slave trade; slave owners in America and other regions only sought strong and healthy Blacks for value generation.
While women, children, the elderly, sick, and disabled indigenes inherently weren't worth a ticket to America or joining East Africa's "labor" army.
However, these migrants were relatively popular among West African indigenous powers; for tribes, women symbolized wealth, and children could augment tribal numbers, concerning the elderly, sick, and disabled...
Of course, even if unnecessary, East Africa would forcibly allocate them, rejecting any "returns," illustrating the ordeal endured by indigenous people under East African rule.
