African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 357: Chapter 36: Immigration Transition Point

Far East Relief Group?

Upon hearing that the relief group was from the Far East, the staff of the city government of Dar es Salaam looked bewildered.

The staff member spoke in German to Aryan, ”Sir! We do not know of the existence of any Far East Relief Group, there is no related information on our work schedule.”

Aryan: ”This matter is actually led by the East Africa Embassy in the Far East, but you know there is no telegraph line connecting East Africa to the Far East, so the message relayed back slowly. As a result, it caused the awkward situation where people arrived, but the message hadn’t yet. This is my work ID, which can prove what I’m saying.”

Actually, there was no need for a work ID, the city government staff already believed Aryan’s words. A Yellow race person speaking such good German, combined with his East Africa unified style work suit, all indicated he was an East African German.

East African Germans are a unique presence in the world, characterized mainly by yellow mixed with white, and someone dressed in a suit like Aryan is at least a teacher in East Africa.

All the White people in East Africa are aware of a concept, which is there’s a group of Yellow race people that are directly linked to the royal family, holding significant power in government and military, mainly the students from institutions like the Heixinggen Military Academy. They receive an education centered on loyalty to the sovereign and patriotism, greatly trusted by the Crown Prince.

This also leads to the influence and real power the Yellow race holds from the Central to the grassroots level. Although not as comparable to pure German people, they are still far above the Slavic, Italian, Paraguayan...

On the surface, it seems like a binary system similar to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the core is entirely different, because the East African Kingdom achieved what the ruling races in the Far East advocated, similar to a unified Dehua of Manchu and Han.

And even more thoroughly, mutually intermarried across ethnicities, with the number of joint families making up the majority in East Africa, from the second generation of East Africans onwards, there’s no such thing as the theory of race, to put it bluntly, they’re all mixed blood.

If looking for a historical example most similar to East Africa, it would be the Yuan Dynasty Mongols, who merged with the Chinese and some descendants of Green believers in the Far East to form the Hui people.

Only one used religious fusion, and the other relied on German cultural identity for fusion. As for what German culture is, the first is German language, everyone speaks German, which has left the Austro-Hungarian Empire, unable to unify language, far behind, plus in East Africa, everyone’s living environment is generally similar, gradually forming a unified perspective.

Staff member: ”This matter is not something I can decide, I have to report to the director first, please wait a moment.”

Aryan: ”That’s fine, but how long will it take?”

Staff member: ”It’ll be quick.”

Half an hour later.

Dar es Salaam City Immigration Office: ”Mr. Aryan, we are from the Immigration Office of Dar es Salaam City. As per instructions from above, please stay in the city for a few days. The Central Government will send someone to greet you in three days.”

Aryan: ”That’s not a problem, but how should we handle our accommodation and food?”

Immigration Office: ”We’ve cleared some transitional immigrant housing for you to stay for a short period, meals can be solved at the canteen, and if you have any needs, you can speak to our personnel, we are professionals.”

Aryan: ”Then I’ll trouble you!”

Immigration Office: ”No need to be polite, we receive tens of thousands of immigrants every year, these are small matters.”

Aryan then stepped out of the city service hall and began explaining the situation to Li Ge and others waiting outside.

Aryan: ”... So, we will probably be staying at the immigration point for a few days, but I’m not quite sure of the situation there, though we’ve already contacted the Central Government, and they will send people to meet us, showing that they do value you all.”

Li Ge: ”Mr. Aryan, I have a question that I can’t help but ask, why didn’t your country arrange for us in advance? Instead, it’s somewhat chaotic now?”

Aryan: ”This matter does indeed partly involve our embassy’s responsibility, but it’s also more of a procedural error. Moreover, we didn’t expect your government to care so much for East Africa, sending people to East Africa for aid voluntarily, so at the time, Ambassador Richard didn’t have a response plan.”

Originally, the East African Kingdom only hoped the Far East government could facilitate so that East Africa could gather prescriptions, learn medical techniques, and recruit medical personnel in the Far East.

Unexpectedly, they were overly generous, organizing an official medical team to East Africa at their own expense, Ambassador Richard naturally could not let them wait too long. Where would you find such a good thing? Suppose they wouldn’t go to East Africa due to a long wait, what to do then? You should know it takes at least half a month to convey messages to East African territories, so Richard made a decisive decision to let them set sail.

After hearing Aryan’s explanation, Li Ge and others calmed their suppressed frustration, glad it was a misunderstanding, otherwise he really would’ve thought it was the Germans intentionally neglecting the Celestial Dynasty!

Li Ge: ”I see. We were already mentally prepared before coming to East Africa, so we won’t be too demanding on living arrangements.”

Aria: ”It’s good that you understand!”

Then, under the arrangement of the immigration office, the dockworkers loaded everyone’s luggage onto the hired horse-drawn carriages, and then everyone headed to the immigration transition point.

Li Ge and others curiously looked at the carriage they were riding. This Western-style carriage was very peculiar, something unseen in the Far East. However, it felt quite comfortable to sit in, without much bumpiness, better than an Oriental carriage, but slightly inferior to a sedan chair.

The carriage had windows, allowing them to see outside. The houses and streets, as well as pedestrians on the road, all receded. Even though they had already seen the street scenes of Dar es Salaam before, there was still a sense of novelty, especially the three to five-story ”tall” buildings, ancient and dignified, in varied styles. Also, there were poles (gas street lamps) everywhere on the street whose purpose was unknown, surprisingly adorned with glazed tiles, square and somewhat like lanterns.

It was unclear how long they traveled when suddenly the carriage was stopped, as they encountered another checkpoint, just like the one that blocked their group earlier. Several East African police officers were here, armed with guns, standing guard, but ahead there seemed to be no buildings present, just a road laid out in the countryside, leading to an unknown place.

Dar es Salaam city seemed to abruptly end here, with a bustling scene to the north, while to the south, all the buildings suddenly disappeared, returning to the wilderness.

”Brother Shiyan! Why have we suddenly come to the barren wilderness? These Germans wouldn’t...” Ande said.

”Don’t overthink it. If the Westerners really wanted to make a move, they wouldn’t care about any notions of courtesy and shame. There are people stationed here, so ahead should be some important place!” Li Ge comforted himself.

At this point, the police had already checked the documents from the immigration office, ”Proceed!”

The carriage began to head towards the unknown place, the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, deserted, with weeds and trees everywhere, the vegetation very different from the Far East. After some unknown amount of time, the carriage stopped again.

Aria came over to notify them: ”We have arrived!”

Li Ge and the others alighted from the carriage and looked ahead, clearly seeing a large camp, rows of houses neatly aligned, completely different from the houses in Dar es Salaam city.

If viewed by Li Ge and others, this place was similar to the courtyard houses in the Capital, arranged in an orderly manner, but even more organized, and mostly in rows.

The immigration office personnel explained: ”This is the immigration transition point, where those houses are dormitories for immigrants to reside. It can accommodate more than two thousand people simultaneously. We are in District 23, where dormitories have been prepared for you, along with separate public bathhouses and toilets for your use. Dining will be with the management canteen along with our staff.”

Then, the immigration office employees led Li Ge’s group to look at their rooms.

”Each of these rooms accommodates eight people, but considering you are honored guests, only four people will stay in one room, and you can freely choose the upper or lower bunks. Although the environment is simple, it is very clean, and we will send someone to help you clean it daily.”

This was considered preferential treatment. In fact, the cleanliness of the immigration transition point generally had to be handled by the immigrants themselves, with the immigration office only responsible for daily routine checks, but Li Ge and the others were guests, so the treatment was different.

”There are quite a few mosquitoes in East Africa, so we will provide you with mosquito coils and nets, but the nets need to be dispatched, so tonight you have to settle for using mosquito coils only. Each room is equipped with tables and chairs, which you can use if you need to organize documents.”

”Also, the temperature might drop quickly at night, so we’ve prepared clean bedding for you. The logistics warehouse will send them over later. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me.”

”Nothing else!” Li Ge and the others replied.

This condition was much better than they had imagined. According to some people in the Far Eastern government, Africa was almost depicted as hell on earth, but now it seems that ’hearing is deceiving; seeing is believing; the ancients did not deceive me!’

However, this East African kingdom now appears to be much better than most places in the Far East. How could they have the nerve to seek assistance from the court?

Throughout this journey, Li Ge and the others found that East Africa was not only prosperous and bustling but also saw no trace of any ruin, with people living in peace and contentment, not at all what one would expect from rampant epidemic scenarios. If that were really the case, not saying that nine out of ten houses would be empty, but there should at least be panic among people.

However, this also reassured Li Ge and Ande. As the deputy and envoy of the aid delegation, the two were actually pushed out by the Far Eastern government as ”scapegoats”, even hastily promoted.

The medical team they led was actually temporarily assembled from local doctors in the Zhili region, who were kept in the dark, unlike Li Ge and Ande, who at least had some insider ”gossip” about East Africa’s ”real face”.

Although the East African kingdom was seen by the Far Eastern government as a ”barbaric country” initiated by German warriors, the East African kingdom was somewhat special among Western countries, being the only one that ”admired” the Celestial Dynasty’s medicine, greatly satisfying the vanity of the Far Eastern government. Therefore, reciprocation was necessary.

But to actually have prominent figures come to East Africa, they were highly unwilling. After all, even the British minister said Africa was a place rampant with malaria, surely a no-go zone. Who would want to go to East Africa to die?

Therefore, Li Ge and Ande, who were low in status and had no background, were arranged to be sent to the East African kingdom. Even so, Li Ge and Ande were not inferior by themselves; both were northern low-born scholars.