African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 135: Chapter 127: Inquiry

Ras Canpoli Trading Market is primarily used to expand the sales of East African goods, such as grain. Although grain is a hard currency, it has a shelf life; if it cannot be sold in time, it risks expiring and deteriorating.

There are also sisal fabrics, which East African colonies produced in large quantities at first, but have extremely limited sales in the European market. European merchants mostly prefer to buy sisal ropes directly, or purchase sisal fibers for their own processing.

The Ras Canpoli Trading Market is also an experiment in East African land trade. Perhaps, in the future, a caravan might even be formed to try the route from East Africa all the way to Egypt.

Egypt is located along the Mediterranean coast, and European ships can directly reach Alexandria Port. Additionally, Egypt serves as a land connection between Africa and Asia, allowing Asian goods to reach Egypt over land.

East Africa’s land trade routes to Egypt mainly have two lines worth considering: one is the eastern route, heading north from Somali or eastern Ethiopia, passing through the Sultanate to reach Egypt; the other is the western route, heading north from the former South Sudan, through Sudan to reach Egypt.

Although land trade is not very efficient and costs much more than maritime routes, it provides an additional option for East Africa.

Currently, East Africa’s coastal areas are relatively easy to blockade, posing potential dangers of being cut off from international maritime connections by other countries.

...

On the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), several small boats were speeding across the water, the propellers at the stern rapidly oscillating beneath the surface, providing power to the boats. Engines belched black smoke, roaring loudly and spreading across the water.

The first batch of engines had just arrived and were eagerly installed by the newly formed East African inland navy onto their crafts.

After a few days of training, the sailors began their first long-distance mission: to explore the west coast of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), armed with weapons, provisions, and fuel tanks, the inland navy set off.

The initial inland navy consisted of 153 people and five boats. To prevent any accidents, all boats were dispatched for the first mission.

All were speedboats equipped with engines and propellers. The inland navy’s commander was Werner Juri, a Trieste native from Austria-Hungary, who grew up in a seaport environment, with a father who once served as a sailor.

Therefore, Werner Juri was quite familiar with ship operations, possessing some basic knowledge. Most East African inland navy sailors were skilled swimmers, having primarily lived in coastal areas,

like immigrant sailors from Austria-Hungary, mainly from Trieste. Trieste served as the first embarkation point for Austria-Hungary immigrants heading to East Africa, leading to a significant number of Trieste immigrants in East Africa.

Similar to the Trieste immigrants were those from the Jiaozhou Bay area in the Far East. They also used Jiaozhou as a departure port for Far East immigrants, resulting in a considerable presence in East Africa.

Most East African sailors came from these two coastal port cities. Of course, living by the sea doesn’t necessarily mean one can swim, so some inland immigrants who were good swimmers were selected as sailors, though their numbers were few.

”Land ahead!” a sailor shouted, pointing.

Werner Juri looked forward and indeed, the silhouette of land gradually became clear. He said, ”Let’s move the boat closer.”

Under the sailors’ maneuvering, the small boats slowly approached the shore, arriving at the west coast of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

”Leave thirty people to watch the boats, the rest follow me ashore to check the situation.”

Soon, Werner Juri selected six individuals from each boat to stay behind. He told them, ”Do not leave until we return. If you still haven’t seen us before dark, report back to the government!”

Excluding those remaining at the Mwanza headquarters and those guarding the boats, Werner Juri had only seventy-plus usable personnel.

Leaving thirty personnel to watch the boats was actually quite a lot, but to prevent any accidents, Werner Juri did this. Thirty soldiers armed with hot weapons would be enough to clash with a small tribe.

After organizing personnel tasks, Werner Juri led the main forces inland.

Werner Juri and his group landed in the territory of the Buganda Kingdom, known locally as Balai, though Werner Juri and his men were unaware.

Just after landing, they found a stretch of muddy lakeshore, and dozens of meters away lay a stretch of primeval forest, with towering trees extending along the lakeshore in both northern and southern directions, reaching as far as the eye could see.

Werner Juri told the team members, ”Once we enter the primeval forest, no one should wander around. Stay close to the group and make frequent markers along the way; otherwise, if we can’t find our way back, we’re doomed. Understood?”

”Yes, Captain!”

Werner Juri took out a compass from his pocket, aimed at the western direction, and led the team toward the forest.

In the primeval forest, towering and thick trees with dense foliage blocked out the sunlight, revealing the seclusion of the place, though Werner Juri was used to such surroundings.

Similar primeval forests surrounded Mwanza, distributed on both sides. According to Werner Juri’s speculations, the conditions here should be similar to those on the east coast; if so, the forest’s width shouldn’t be vast.

As Werner Juri predicted, after traveling about two to three kilometers, the forest ceased, and the view opened up.

At this point, dispersing the team would make it easier to gather information, yet for safety, Werner Juri opted for the safer approach.

The group continued advancing westward, and soon the observant Werner Juri suddenly knelt down to study the ground closely.

”Look, doesn’t this look like a dirt road?” Werner Juri said.

”Although there is grass growing on it, it’s clearly shorter and sparser than the surroundings.” As he spoke, Werner Juri pressed his hands around the ground.

He then moved to several other places and repeated the action, further confirming his thoughts. He said to the team, ”The soil of this supposed road is indeed harder than the surroundings, it definitely looks like a road!”

”Captain, could it be a path made by animals?” someone questioned.

”I’ve been in East Africa for quite some time, and I’ve seen paths made by animals, they are far from this well-defined,” Werner Juri refuted.

”Look carefully, this path is about a meter wide, more like a trail trodden by natives. I don’t know why there’s so much grass growing, it could be abandoned by the locals. So, if we follow this path, there’s a high chance we’ll find a village or traces of native life.” Werner Juri analyzed.

”Whether it’s true or not, talking about it doesn’t convince anyone. We’ll know if I’m right once we personally explore. Let’s follow this path and see.”

So, Werner Juri led the team forward. The path went east-west, and the east was where Werner Juri came from, so he and his team continued westward.

”Look, that’s a native village!” Werner Juri said excitedly after walking for a short while.

Indeed, a village appeared in the distance. The conical roofs, gray-black branches, and mud-plastered walls all highlighted this as a primitive village.

”Prepare your weapons, let’s go check out the situation,” Werner Juri commanded.

The group readied for battle, nervously approaching the native village.

”Captain, it seems like no one’s here! No sight of natives.”

”Hmm, it’s indeed different from the native villages we’ve seen before. It shouldn’t be so quiet; at least someone should be guarding it,” Werner Juri said at the village entrance.

”It looks like this is an abandoned village. Let’s go inside and take a look.”

Werner Juri walked into the native village. The wooden structures, unmanaged, had begun to grow moss.

The small huts over a meter high mostly had open doors. Werner Juri headed towards the largest building in the village, typically where the chief would reside.

Crouching, Werner Juri entered the chief’s house, finding the living facilities in disarray. Many earthen pots were carelessly knocked over on the ground, not suggesting a normal evacuation.

There was a totem on the wall, but it was unclear what materials were used to draw it. However, there were several man-made holes in it, as if punctured by sharp objects.

This must have been done by enemies, as totems are sacred and inviolable for some tribes.

”Captain, there’s something here!” a team member shouted from outside.

”What happened?” Werner Juri asked, coming out of the chief’s house.

”Captain, you’d better come and see for yourself!”

The team member led Werner Juri to a house, where there were ashes left by a bonfire, and next to the fire, some ghastly white bones were casually discarded around.

”Retreat immediately!” Werner Juri commanded.

Outside the house, Werner Juri gathered everyone and said, ”Clearly, this village has been wiped out. The totem has been destroyed by the enemy, and the pots and jars weren’t taken. I’ve never seen natives being this extravagant. The natives we drove away before were eager to take even their houses with them. This place was obviously deliberately destroyed, and the enemy even lingered here...”

In Africa, cannibal tribes are not uncommon. There’s an old joke: a European told a native chief that millions died in World War I, to which the native chief asked, ”You killed so many people, could you eat them all?”

Different worldviews yield different conclusions, so in many very primitive African tribes, cannibalism might be as trivial to them as slaughtering cattle and sheep.

Werner Juri had only heard of it, but it didn’t prevent him from speculating on the tragedy that occurred in this village based on the situation at hand.

”Alright, no more thinking about it. Go find some dry grass and withered wood,” Werner Juri instructed.

Quickly, everyone brought back a lot of ignitable materials from outside the village, and Werner Juri had the team place these around all the houses.

”Set it on fire!” With Werner Juri’s command, the village disappeared forever in the raging flames.

After setting the fire, Werner Juri and his men turned and left, heading back the way they came. Behind them, it was unknown when the great fire would extinguish...