Chapter 40 The Immigration Army Returns to China

The Battle of Lisa was over, but it had no impact on Ernst.

Now, in addition to stepping up the supply of supplies to the warring parties, Ernst's biggest concern is to speed up immigration from the Far East and Europe.

Although the Binhai District has cleared land, there are not enough manpower to develop such a large area. Except for a few newly developed strongholds with a small population, the vast land in the middle is abandoned.

In order to absorb more immigrants, Ernst sent instructions to the East African colonies. This time, they must increase the speed of immigration. Whether by cheating or robbing, they must get more people from the Far East.

…

July 4, 1866. Jiaozhou Bay.

A Dutch fleet passing through East Africa docked in Jiaozhou Bay. Different from the past, this time there were also some Chinese who had lived in the East African colonies for a long time with the staff responsible for the immigration affairs of the Hechingen Consortium.

They were the first batch of Chinese immigrants to the East African colonies.

Before going to the East African colonies, most of them were sallow and thin, could not even eat, and were almost starving to death. After the Germans recruited workers, they went to sea without much concern.

Now, after nearly a year of recuperation in East Africa, he is no longer as thin as before. His face is red, his body is strong, and his eyes especially reveal an indescribable sense of pride.

They set foot on the land of the motherland again, but they are no longer natives of the motherland. Now they are all registered Germans with household registrations in the East African colonies.

It was different from before. Maybe they were afraid of the local dignitaries before, but now they had the support of the Germans, and they had the confidence.

At this moment, they carried their guns and followed the Germans and Qing officials to negotiate.

Now that Germany has not yet been unified, the Hechingen Consortium cannot use the banner of the German Empire, so in order to deter these Qing officials who bully the weak and fear the strong, this group of East African Chinese immigrants with a mission are armed.

The Chinese immigrant troops, who had received training from German instructors and were responsible for negotiating with foreigners in Jiaozhou Bay, looked impressive.

Although the guns are all outdated front-loading flintlock guns, only the Prussian army in the world has replaced them with breech-loading flintlock guns on a large scale, and these guns are not second-hand goods retired by Prussia, but New guns produced by the Hechingen Arsenal.

Paired with the colorful custom-made Prussian military uniforms, he looked like a Prussian East African soldier. There was something in the eyes of the Manchu and Qing diplomats who came to negotiate. Compared with the Qing army at this time, it was simply disciplined and a king's standard.

This Manchu Qing official was the port manager of Jiaozhou Bay and had previously known that a so-called "German caravan" came here to conduct trade.

Because of the troubles put in by the British and French and even the Dutch and Portuguese in recent years, European businessmen and even ordinary Qing officials did not dare to offend too much.

If a diplomatic incident occurs and these foreign barbarians find an excuse to declare war, will your Majesty spare us?

A few years ago, foreigners invaded the Forbidden City from the sea. This Jiaozhou Bay was even less safe than the palace where the emperor lived. The cannons of the foreign ships were enough to drink a pot.

Therefore, in the past, Qing officials turned a blind eye to the behavior of the companies of the Hechingen Consortium, for fear of causing trouble.

The way to be an official is to be flexible, not seeking merit, but seeking no faults. Usually, Qing officials would help the staff of the Heixinggen Consortium, for fear that foreigners would cause trouble.

But today is different. No matter how incompetent or weak we are, we can no longer turn a blind eye. The foreigners who came ashore today brought an army of a hundred or ten people. What are they doing?

After receiving the report from the terminal's informant, the terminal management did not dare to neglect and reported it directly to the government. However, the top official of Jiaozhou Port did not dare to come forward, so he sent his deputy "Wang Qiangui" to inquire about the information.

Wang Qiangui cursed in his heart and did not dare to object to Shangguan. After greeting several officials, he went to the dock to understand the situation.

"Mr. Anthony! What is your company doing?" Wang Qiangui probed cautiously.

A staff member of the Hechingen Consortium named Anthony pulled Wang Qiangui, who looked disgusted but pretended to be flattered, and said: "Hahaha, Wang, you came just in time. This is our company's private armed force. Come here this time." Mainly to assist our company’s recruitment work throughout North China!”

"Mr. Anthony, although we are all 'friendly', we have our own difficulties. After all, your country's military will make things difficult for the top brass of our government!"

Wang Qiangui identified the "conspiracy" of these Prussian barbarians at a glance. It's obviously an army, but is it a private armed force? This military uniform, this posture, this energy can be displayed by a bunch of servants?

Wang Qiangui was right about the vitality aspect. Many immigrants in the East African colonies had seen blood. After all, the natives could not just obey and had to take the initiative.

When a colony selects Chinese immigrant troops, priority will be given to those immigrants who have lived in the colony for a period of time.

In addition to the fact that the body becomes stronger after a period of self-cultivation, the main reason is that the colonial high-level officials are more cautious about new immigrants, and these old immigrants are all "ones of their own" who have passed the test of time.

Although the Chinese immigrant troops did not speak and were all lined up neatly behind Anthony, Wang Qiangui still felt a looming murderous aura.

Anthony explained: "King, I know your concerns, but we in Germany come with good intentions. I heard that your country has a lot of people, especially idle people, so we are here to recruit workers as usual! After all, you don't need these, don't you? We need people who are capable of employment, and we need people to develop land. If you send your excess population to Germany, then you will have fewer hidden dangers, right?"

Wang Qiangui is not worried about this. He knows about employment and overpopulation? I just work in the government to earn a living. I can only read the Four Books and Five Classics and read the newspaper.

"Mr. Anthony, it's not that I'm embarrassing your country, but that this army is difficult to manage! If your army is misled by our unruly people, I won't be able to keep my hat! My whole family can count on it for food. Ah! You always measure your body, don’t we?"

Seeing that Wang Qiangui refused to give in, Anthony got angry and gave you face, didn't he?

"King, now I solemnly warn you, if you can't agree to our request, then prepare for war!" Anthony threatened war when he spoke, but in fact it was just to scare Wang Qiangui. In fact, apart from the Chinese immigrants in front of him, Anthony The soldiers formed cannot be mobilized by a single person.

But even so, Wang Qiangui was still scared and said quickly: "Mr. Anthony! Don't be excited, don't be excited. The matter is not that serious. I am really a low-ranking official and cannot make decisions. Please wait a moment. I will inform you soon." Shangguan, I will never keep you waiting!"

With that said, Wang Qiangui ordered his men to stay here and quickly ran towards the government office.

…

"My lord, my lord, you'd better make up your mind! Otherwise, if the Prussian barbarians really start to make trouble, will the emperor spare us?"

"Please tell me the details about Prussia, and I will think of a solution!" said the fat official.

Despising this incompetent Shangguan in his heart, Wang Qiangui said: "Sir, this Prussian barbarian is also considered a powerful country in Europe, second only to Britain, France, Russia and Austria. I heard that Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and Prussia belong to the same echelon..."

After listening for a long time, the Shangguan understood that he couldn't beat him.

"Then what is the purpose of their visit?"

Well……

Wang Qiangui still said: "Same as before, they said they were recruiting workers to work overseas."

"Well, then what are you afraid of! A few unruly people are worth a lot of money. Send them away first. Remember to send people to keep an eye on them and don't let them come to the government. If they are really recruiting workers, they should be sent to other local officials. Worry, if you are not recruiting workers but paying attention to something else, as long as it is not serious, stay out of your own business. If they come to the government... you have to report it in time, and I will go back to Beijing to ask for some help. Take charge of affairs for me."

In this way, the colonial immigration army and the staff of the liaison office responsible for recruiting workers headed inland in a swaggering manner. The government officials along the way did not dare to stop them, and even assisted them in recruiting workers in the interior.

After all, what you want are mud legs and not worth much money.