African Entrepreneurship Record

”I want to drink red wine, eat steak, not this ’garbage’, and the conditions here are too rudimentary. This bed doesn’t even have a blanket; how can anyone sleep?” A Portuguese officer named Igor shouted inside the room.

What Igor called ”garbage” was actually the standard meal of the East African Army. Additionally, two extra cans were prepared for this high official of the Allies, one of braised beef with potatoes and the other mango, paired with two bottles of beer and a pack of cigarettes. Even the ordinary East African soldiers rarely had such treatment.

”Stop shouting, Igor. This is already quite good. I can’t believe you haven’t eaten worse than this before. Although the taste is odd, the food itself is not bad,” said Igor’s roommate, British Lieutenant Mikhail.

”Even if you shout till you break your throat, the East Africans outside won’t meet your demands. You should be thankful they haven’t dragged us out to be laborers.”

Hearing Mikhail’s words, Igor impatiently sat back down at the table, but continued to complain: ”Look at this environment. It’s so dark and cramped, two people living here, it’s simply unimaginable, and there’s not even basic bedding.”

”It’s December now, the weather is as hot as an oven, what more can you want? On the contrary, living in this ’cellar’ is cooler, and East Africa not making you live in a communal dormitory is actually good. They probably don’t even have communal dormitories; other soldier prisoners might have to sleep on the ground and use the sky as their blanket,” Mikhail exaggeratedly refuted.

Though the Southern Hemisphere’s summer is the Northern Hemisphere’s winter, the southern part of Mozambique is close to subtropical, so it’s not too hot. Igor was merely complaining, while Mikhail went along with Igor’s ”whining.”

The effect was quite good, as Igor did calm down a lot. Mikhail looked down on this behavior of the Portuguese noble. Losing the battle now, East Africa not executing them directly was already merciful, let alone the decent treatment they had now.

”Look at this rice. Why not prepare bread? Do we have to eat the same as those East African grunt soldiers? And this dish looks like it came from a big pot stew, with pitifully little meat and so many wild vegetables,” Igor was still nitpicking. His mouth was stubborn, but his tongue couldn’t lie. As he complained, he ate, and soon he finished all the food.

Regarding Igor’s complaints, it wasn’t that the Guard Division was deliberately making things difficult. It’s simply that things were hard to get within Mozambique. Not to mention, East African soldiers were actually quite satisfied with these wild vegetables.

Uncultivated land in Mozambique was even more exaggerated than in East Africa. Shao Kui was inland, aside from the fields and plantations that had turned into battlefronts, there were hardly any fruits and vegetables nearby. Fortunately, East African soldiers, having stayed in Africa for long, learned many edible plants from the natives and occasionally improved their meals, which wasn’t bad.

Improving meals with wild vegetables was also an East African soldier practice, because back home, they weren’t short of resources. Though East African agriculture wasn’t advanced, its scale was large, and army supply was particularly ample.

However, during this operation across the sea, the Guard Division’s logistical supplies also had to be transferred from sea to land, making many things hard to transport over. Meat was not that difficult, but fruits, vegetables, and other non-preservable items were even harder. Thus, sourcing locally was a key course for East African cooks.

Knowing these allied officers were usually accustomed to lavish meals, many had big bellies, the cooks feared they weren’t used to it, so they intentionally included more wild vegetables.

Even if the meals were unpalatable, the taste of canned food was uniform, enough to satisfy most people’s tastes, except for ”whiners” like Igor, who could never be satisfied.

His roommate Mikhail was much more open-minded, quite content with the current environment, having endured a lot before. This demonstrates the difference between the British and Portuguese armies, with the British Army far less corrupt than the Portuguese.

While the British Army also had corruption, its military regulations were more comprehensive than the Portuguese, and British nobles had a stronger sense of ”education through hardship” than Portuguese nobles.

Mikhail, a small noble from a minor nobility family, had strict family education, not as harsh as Prussia, but military training was indispensable. One key component of this training was ”enduring hardships” in battlefield conditions.

Currently, being captured by East Africa was not mistreatment, rather preferential treatment, which made Mikhail even more satisfied.

As for Igor’s complaints, though Mikhail didn’t express it, he internally disagreed. Regarding the food, he actually found it harder to accept than Igor, who, being Portuguese, at least knew of rice. Even if it wasn’t on Portuguese nobility menus, they should have seen it.

Mikhail, in the UK, hadn’t seen such a crop. Perhaps British people accustomed to India could more easily accept it.

...

After the meal, East African soldiers took away the dishes; at that moment, Igor lay like a dead pig on the bed he was very unaccustomed to, while Mikhail applied to East African soldiers for books.

”I’m so bored here, could you find a book for us?”

Though unable to understand Mikhail’s English, the East African soldiers reported his situation to the superiors, and soon a translator arrived.

”Hello, Mr. Mikhail, what is your request?”

”I hope you can find a book for me, I’m really bored here, it’s like living each day like a year.”

Mikhail’s words put the translator in a difficult position, as who brings books to a war!

However, two hours later, Mikhail’s request was met; East Africa actually found an English book, which was quite rare.

If it were a German book, many East African officers still had some in stock, and even some soldiers might carry books, as reading was more common among East Africans who had received compulsory education.

But English books in East Africa were indeed rare, especially in military camps. East Africa didn’t universally teach English, and with its printing industry not well developed, limited resources would naturally favor German materials.

However, East Africa had many bilingual or multilingual talents. For example, Chinese immigrants knowing both Chinese and German wasn’t contradictory, though most couldn’t read or write Chinese characters, you couldn’t say they didn’t know.

Germany might even have immigrants from the UK or people who actively learned English; hence in the East African Army, there were quite a few who spoke English, French, and Russian.

Of course, the coverage wasn’t extensive in the Guard Division, but one soldier’s grandmother was British, so he knew English. When immigrating from Europe to East Africa, she brought a box of English books, and he brought an English ”Bible” to the battlefield.

So Mikhail could only cling to the Bible to read, but this fit Mikhail’s wishes. Nothing could calm his soul better in such a miserable state than a Bible.

As a product of religious culture, it inherently carries psychological insinuation. In this situation, Mikhail’s uneasy mind after being captured felt cleansed, and for him, it wasn’t unlike a test from God.

Of course, if his roommate weren’t ”Igor,” it would be perfect.