African Nationhood

Chapter 194 Sports Meeting ()
  Time flies by and the day of departure is here in a blink of an eye.

Li Siming is 18 years old this year. He was a Dan citizen in the Qing Dynasty who could not go ashore. After being recruited by his fellow villagers, he came to Southwest Africa.

When he entered the country, he was selected into the Marine Corps Reserve, but was rejected during the study period.

In desperation, he could only be returned to the fleet transporting guano and continue to work as a crew member.

But the turning point in his life came in the new sport table tennis. He was very talented at hitting this small rubber ball.

As his playing talent was discovered, he gradually became a regional celebrity.

Many people know that "Little Plum" who transports bird droppings is very good at playing golf, and he has also achieved some rankings in regional competitions.

When Commissioner Ouyang held the regional competition, Li Siming won the first prize on behalf of the Namib region.

His life has completely changed. Commissioner Ouyang regarded him as a model, asked him to sum up his experience, and then held a seminar to teach his playing experience.

Now Li Siming's fame has become even greater, and he has gained a lot of attention.

People began to write to him. In addition to asking him for advice on golf skills, young girls also expressed their love to him.

Now he couldn't sit still at all and took the initiative to find Commissioner Ouyang and describe his troubles. Commissioner Ouyang said it was nothing and told him not to worry and just concentrate on playing ball.

Now he has been selected into the company's representative team to compete with people from other regions. Table tennis has not been promoted on a large scale in other regions, so their competition in Bloemfontein this time is not difficult.

The pressure is also the lightest. This competition is more about enjoying the scenery outside.

……

For Li Siming, who was relatively relaxed, Xiao Mang of the track and field team was not.

Xiao Mang grew up in Baosheng, Vietnam (today's Lao Cai, Vietnam). He is a typical Mingxiang native and a child who grew up eating hundreds of meals.

After the arrival of the Black Flag Army, his life did not change much, but instead became more difficult.

Because the Black Flag Army is very xenophobic, Mingxiang people like them are treated as slaves by the families of the Black Flag Army.

Last year, due to debts owed by the Black Flag Army, he was arrested by Liu Chengzhang and transported to Mapu Port as a debt-paying port.

When he arrived at Mapu Port, he was selected as a postman, responsible for transporting mail from Mapu Port to the mainland.

When the roads were first built, they, the postmen, had to travel across mountains and ridges to deliver mail. Because he was the most efficient in delivering mail, he was selected to participate in the team selection.

After the test, he stood out and became teammates with a group of white people.

But in his track and field event, he was the only one, and the others were all white athletes.

He is not good at communicating with outsiders, let alone white people.

The Chinese manager of the track and field team thought this was not possible, so he asked Xiao Mengduo to communicate with his teammates. So now he can only recognize each teammate and know their name, that's all.

"Xiao, have you packed your luggage?"

This is his teammate Hans Verscher, a young and handsome white guy.

Although he spoke English very slowly, Xiao Mang still couldn't understand him well.

"Oh, Hans, ok, ok..."

He only knew this one English word, and the two of them stared at each other for a while. The Chinese steward came over and helped them translate, and Xiao Mang finally understood what the other person meant.

After they were all packed up, the athletes boarded the carriages one after another, and a long convoy headed towards the capital of Lihara District in the Orange Grove area.

The first half of this journey will be very boring, because most of the places they pass by land are the desert areas of the Namib region. In addition to the endless wasteland, there are only cattle and sheep grazing by herders to enjoy.

On the way, the white players would sing happily and even tell jokes wildly.

When they see the black natives under supervision, the white players will curse them exaggeratedly and loudly, say vulgar words, and even expose their white buttocks to them to mock them.

Most of the Chinese stewards on the bus will ignore such behavior, as long as these white people do not do such things to the Chinese, they will not care.

The Chinese players are silent most of the time, and if they occasionally say a few words, they won't last too long.

When they see white teammates showing their butts, they just think these guys are too childish. However, after passing through the desert area and entering the orange forest area, the players gradually felt the important role of water resources on the land.

There is obviously no physical separation, but areas where the water conservancy project reaches will be full of fertile farmland and busy with people.

Busy people can be seen everywhere along the way, either weeding or building ditches.

You can even see a large number of black laborers renovating the fields under the leadership of Chinese.

The Chinese leaders I met here rarely punished the black workers and spent most of their time teaching them patiently.

The white supervisors I met in the Namib region before were basically not so patient, and most of them treated black laborers roughly.

Comparing the two phases, the work efficiency of both parties is not proportional.

The white players also calmed down a lot after arriving in the Orange Grove area. They were a little uncomfortable with the large acres in front of them and the harmonious scene between black workers and Chinese leaders.

The Chinese contestants began to constantly comment on the fields they encountered on the road, which ones were well maintained and which ones still had room for improvement.

By the time the convoy arrived at the capital of Liyuan District, it was already the end of December.

Along the way, the athletes were deeply touched.

One is the inconsistent development progress in various areas of the Nanhua Company, and the other is the difference in the living conditions of the black indigenous people in the two areas.

The more backward the area, the worse the attitude towards black workers.

The greater the degree of intensification and rapid industrial development in an area, the better the attitude towards black workers.

The reason for this is very profound. These sports players may not be able to see it, but Ouyang Geng understands it deeply.

But now is not the time to express his feelings. Ouyang Geng took his sports players across the river (Orange River) from the Fourteenth Creek Ferry between East and West Griqualand.

Before the Orange Grove area was established, Fourteen Creek Ferry was just an ordinary ferry.

However, after Nanhua Company set up a garment factory in Xinju Town (now Kuruman Town, South Africa), business in several places boomed, which also indirectly led to the development of the Fourteenth Creek Ferry.

Nanhua Company set up a barge of more than 30 meters on the north side of the river to serve as a loading dock and a dock for passengers to board and disembark.

Under this barge, there are usually many small boats coming to deliver the goods, which can save a lot of time by not having to cross the border.

After Ouyang Geng and his sports delegation boarded the barge, a wooden ferry quickly arrived from the other side.

After crossing the river, they entered the Cape Colony, and in front of them was the town of Kimberley.

The environment here is much worse than that in the Orange Grove area, and the black workers here are truly in hell.

You can see shackled black laborers everywhere, and of course brutal white overseers.

Comparing it again, the white players fell silent.

Although Nanhua Company does not attach much importance to the human rights of black workers, compared to the black workers in Kimberley Town, the black workers under the control of Nanhua Company are living in paradise.

Ouyang Geng originally planned to let the players relax in Kimberley Town for a day and leave the next day.

But these sports players all said that they could not stay any longer. There was really nothing to see here except for the mines everywhere.

And they felt uncomfortable after seeing the miserable experiences of black workers.

Therefore, the Nanhua Company sports team arrived in Bloemfontein by train one day earlier than planned.

The sports meeting will begin in two days, and the athletes are looking forward to it!

ps: Some book friends reported that the last few chapters have been watered down, and Puppet is a bit panicked.

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  (End of this chapter)