Chapter 126： border patrol

Chapter 126 Border Patrol

Ernst tried his best to change Rudolph's fate. He was really curious about the future. Anyway, how Rudolph changed would not have much impact on his plan to develop East Africa. The specific effect would not be apparent until after World War I. .

Someone said in the previous life that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the empire of Franz alone, which is very reasonable. The establishment and demise of this empire are closely related to Franz.

Anyway, it is impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to have a future. As far as the dual system is concerned, Franz can control it.

…

Camel bells came from afar, and a caravan of camels appeared on the horizon of Kenya. The number was not too many, about twenty.

The camel leading the way walked gracefully on the sandy land, and the person sitting on it swayed back and forth rhythmically with the camel step by step.

Wearing a Mexican-style straw hat, wearing a special light yellow Prussian military uniform, and carrying a Prussian Dreiser rifle behind his back.

The soldiers on the camels following the second position are also carrying a lion flag of the royal family of Hechingen. These features indicate that this is a regular armed force in the East African colony.

The militia cannot get the most advanced Derby rifle, and they still use the front-loading flintlock that needs to be loaded with gunpowder from the front.

Light yellow military uniforms are also rare in Africa. This was specially tendered by Ernst’s factory in Germany. The Prussian army has been active in Europe and has not been equipped with such clothing for tropical desert environments.

Africa is inherently hot, and because of the plateau terrain, most areas are very sunny, especially in the desert areas in northern Kenya.

Therefore, more and more straw hats are being purchased by East Africa. This is also a feature of East Africa. There are many people wearing straw hats in fields, villages and cities, military government agencies.

Currently, straw hats in East Africa are mainly ordered from the Far East. Straw hats are difficult to produce mechanically, and labor is time-consuming.

So East Africa’s straw hats are mainly imported. Originally, Mexico is also possible, where human resources are also abundant, but it can’t compare with the Far East, so the price of straw hats in the Far East is cheaper.

But the style of the Far East straw hat is too monotonous, and Ernst personally doesn't like this style, so Ernst asked people to provide the style of the Mexican straw hat to Far East merchants and let them buy according to the style.

Of course, some immigrants from East Africa and the Far East know how to weave straw hats, but at most they make them for their own use during the slack time of farming. The immigrants didn't care about the scorching sun in Africa. After all, they used to face the loess and their backs to the sky, and they were used to the feeling of the scorching sun.

It is the blessing of the color of the clothes and straw hats. From a distance, this camel team in East Africa has a taste of the American West. The difference is that the western part of North America is cowboys riding horses, while this team is riding camels.

There are Germans in the camel team, as well as Austro-Hungarians (overlapping with Germans) and Chinese, which is very in line with the current population composition of the East African colonies.

The place they are wandering is the border between Somalia and Kenya, that is, the border guards.

Of course, Somalia and Kenya do not have a clear border now, because the East African colonies are patrolled around deserts and grasslands, and there are basically not many people living there, let alone national power.

Currently, Somalia is a hodgepodge, with a large number of indigenous tribes and Arabs. In the previous life, Somalia’s colonists were mainly Britain, France and Italy.

Only the British are really active in Somalia, and the British are mainly active in the Somaliland region (along the coast of the Gulf of Aden) in northwestern Somalia.

And France only occupies a small area, and it is still next to the British. (mainly Djibouti 1859)

The Italians have not yet arrived (1889), so the vast areas of central and southern Somalia are actually no-man's land in the eyes of Europeans (ignoring the natives).

If it weren't for the energy of East Africa mainly in northern Kenya and the northwest region of East Africa, Ernst would not mind taking a large piece of Somalia's land.

However, Somalia cannot be taken lightly, especially Mogadishu, as an important port city on the coast of the Indian Ocean, has a long history, and Zheng He once arrived there (known as Mugudushu).

So unlike those natives in inland Africa who have never seen the world, Somalia is deeply influenced by Arab civilization, and its strength is at least at the same level as Zanzibar.

Last time, the battle in Zanzibar was dramatic, and the coastal area was not far from Dar es Salaam at that time, and it could support the battle at any time, which also gave the army confidence.

Northern Kenya bordering Somalia, the East African colony has not yet been developed, and there are not many people. Naturally, Ernst will not take the risk to attack Somalia.

Don't steal chickens and lose rice by then, it would be embarrassing to make it as embarrassing as the Italians were to Ethiopia.

And unlike the Italians who just want to colonize East Africa, the Italians need the local aboriginal labor force to create value for Italy.

East Africa will clean up the local population for the stability of future rule, so the resistance in Somalia will be stronger.

In his previous life, Mogadishu was the place where all the Americans fell into the sand. Ernst did not plan to attack Somalia without gathering a few thousand troops.

Then what is the point of patrolling the border between Somalia and Kenya in the East African colonies?

This is about the policy of the East African colonies. To put it bluntly, it is a routine of closing the door and beating dogs. Since the aborigines in northern Kenya are going to be attacked, it is natural to cut off their ties with the outside world.

At the same time, it is necessary to prevent the aborigines from abroad from infiltrating into the colony of East Africa.

You must know that there are many tribes in Africa, and they don’t have any concept of territory. Wherever there are aquatic plants, they go hunting and grazing.

If the indigenous tribes from outside East Africa slipped in after cleaning up the indigenous people in East Africa, it would be a waste of work!

Especially in northern Kenya and Somalia, the climate is drier, and many tribes live on nomads.

So the task of the East African Border Patrol is to forcibly separate the Somali tribes from Kenya, and at the same time expel the Somalis from the border area.

The temporary border between Kenya and Somalia is dominated by desert and grassland, and the best means of transportation in the desert is camels.

East African colonies came into contact with camels very early, because there are many in Zanzibar, and every group of East African immigrants who landed can see camels in coastal cities such as Dar es Salaam.

So the history of the East African colonial government using camels to form cavalry is not too late. After receiving some camels from Zanzibar, it established a camel cavalry with a scale of more than 200 people.

Now this cavalry unit is all active in northern Kenya. Kenya was also a camel country in its previous life, with a number of about 3 million, second only to Sudan and Somalia.

It is of course impossible for the East African colonies to raise so many camels in Kenya. The range of camels is most suitable for deserts, and it is not very flexible in other areas (mainly because other livestock have more advantages).

East African colonies are currently only suitable for large-scale development of camel breeding in northern Kenya, but there are also many pastures in northern Kenya, and the area is far above the desert, so horses and cattle are all possible for large-scale cattle breeding.

…

Hans Barker is the leader of this camel team, a German born and raised in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and an Austrian-German with good roots.

So, why Hans Barker can be the captain of the patrol team is self-evident.

In East Africa, in fact, the most guarded against are not the Chinese at all, but Serbia and other Orthodox immigrants.

With the minds of Europeans, in this era, they believe that civilization is hierarchical, and the only one in the current world that can compete with traditional Europe is Tsarist Russia.

Heresies are often more abhorrent than heretics. The Orthodox Church is bad because it competes with European traditional churches (even Protestants) for orthodoxy.

The lack of faith of the Chinese (ancestor worship is not counted) is not the main target of the Germans in East Africa, but the main target of missions.

Although there are no churches in East Africa, many believers (especially Austrian Catholics) are keen to introduce their religion to the Chinese.

Serbia and other Orthodox churches are different. If they are not honest (after all, they are all peasants, they are all subjects who were once ruled, and they are also the lowest group in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so they are used to it), it is estimated that they can compete with Catholicism, Protestantism, etc. stand up.

Germany and other Europeans are not without complaints about the Chinese, such as those who open their mouths about God and shut up about God’s double-faced (pragmatism), which makes Europeans feel that the Chinese are not very religious.

As for those who believe in the same religion as the Arab region, it is not uncommon. The forest is big and there are all kinds of birds, especially many immigrants who fled from the Ottoman Empire to the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I have not seen anyone stand up and say that they are from the Arab church.

Of course, these are trivial details. After all, life and work are very busy, and everyone has little education and stupid mouth, so there is no time to target each other.

Hans Buck found a shady place behind the camel, put a cushion on it, took off the kettle and took a sip.

Other team members also got off their camels, taking a short break to reorganize the team.

"Heinz, how far do we have to go? To get to Divo (place name Hans Barker asked.

"It's almost there, about 13 miles away. We just passed the dry riverbed marked on the map an hour ago." Heinz replied.

"That's good, we'll take a break and set off in ten minutes!" Hans Barker took out a box of blue Cornflower cigarettes from his pocket.

Pulled out all the time, lit the fire, and smoked with a face of comfort.

The blue cornflower was the national flower of Germany in the previous life, and the hometown of the cornflower, which symbolizes happiness, is in Europe.

So Heixinggen Tobacco launched this cigarette and sold it in Germany. In France, it made iris, in Tsarist Russia it was sunflower, in Austria it was edelweiss...

This series of cigarettes, which are marked with famous flowers from various countries, is also called the national flower series.

In East Africa, cigarettes are naturally provided by tobacco factories in the German region, mainly for the army and the government. Of course, ordinary people can also spend money to buy them. In East Africa, there are local wages, which are relatively meager. However, the entertainment industry in East Africa happens to be equivalent to a desert. So many people spent that little salary on tobacco. At first, only immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire smoked, and later some Chinese also learned to smoke.

And taking one in the spare time of work and war can really relieve the mood very well.

(end of this chapter)