African Nationhood

Chapter 195 Sports Meeting ()
  The South China Company team arrived early, giving them time to visit the capital of the Orange Free State.

On the train to Bloemfontein, they also saw the treatment of black slaves by the Boers.

Through understanding, they knew that the Boer laws at this time allowed slavery, so they treated black slaves more realistically.

Most of the Boer slaves helped their masters in farming or grazing, but the Boers loved their slaves very much.

He never beats or scolds easily unless he makes a mistake.

Along the way, the white players in the sports delegation became even more confused. Who is the real slaveholder?
  The Nanhua Company, which had been attacked by blacks, had a different policy towards black slaves.

The black indigenous people in the Namib area will be treated as black slaves, and they are not cruel enough to completely trample the black slaves.

In other areas, black workers are all treated as black workers, and they are rarely beaten or beaten directly.

However, the British, who clearly enacted legislation prohibiting slave ownership and abuse of slaves, were the most cruel to black slaves in the Cape Colony and had the lowest bottom line.

Without comparison, there is no way to confirm who is the real devil.

……

A serious comparison shows that the urban construction level of Bloemfontein, the capital city, is far inferior to Anhai Town, which was founded only a few years ago.

In addition to the larger area of ​​Bloemfontein than Anhai Town, Anhai Town is much better than Bloemfontein in terms of high-rise buildings, urban planning, road paving levels and residents' living standards.

Moreover, the smell of Bloemfontein is not very good. The pungent smell of tanned fur floats over the entire city.

The food here is also a big drawback. There are only beef, mutton and dairy products, and there are very few vegetables.

It is far inferior to the balanced diet of Anhai Town Athletes Village, with a mix of meat and vegetables.

In addition, the food varieties of the Athletes Village in Anhai Town are even better than those here.

In addition, the sound insulation effect of the hotel where their representative team stayed was very poor, and the bed board was too hard.

In short, the service level of the "First Friendship Games" hosted by Bloemfontein was really poor.

……

Shi Jintang came here in advance. He entered the Natal Colony and then the Orange Free State from the Port of Mapu by sea from the Port of Durban (now Durban, South Africa).

When coming by sea, Shi Jintang also made a special trip to visit a brand-new republic established by the Boers on the edge of the Indian Ocean, called the Neway Republic.

(This country is located west of the port of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, south of Swaziland and north of the colony of Natal, within the black line)
  This country was established on August 1884, 8, with an area of ​​16 square kilometers. Most of the land is tidal flats, with very little arable land. There are only a few thousand citizens, most of whom are black. The original time and space was destroyed by the Natal colony in 1.4.

This republic was recognized only by the Transvaal Republic and the German Confederation.

Shi Jintang had established business relations with the Boer Republic in the past and agreed on mutual exchanges.

Shi Jintang also agreed with Lucas Meyer, the president of the republic, that if they were in danger in the future, they could seek help from Mapu Port. At the very least, they could avoid being attacked and destroyed by the Natal colony.

……

I stayed at the Guest House of the Orange Free State for two days and met President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal Republic.

This old Boer found Shijintang as soon as he came to Bloemfontein.

The purpose is naturally to discuss the leasing of Mapu Port. Their position is too embarrassing, and the same is true for the Orange Free State. Both countries are landlocked countries.

In the Indian Ocean controlled by the Zulu south of the Transvaal, there are no good deep-sea ports from Durban Port to the northeast to Mapu Port.

It was even more difficult for them to open a sea route. The relationship between the Zulu and the Boers had always been tense, and they would naturally not be allowed to enter or leave the Zulu territory.

Neither the Cape Colony nor the Natal Colony would open their ports to them, but only agreed to charge tolls to serve them.

As a result, the Boers' goods would be stripped by the British before they went to sea.

Naturally, Shi Jintang would not be a good person, and said to the old Boer: "This matter is a bit difficult to handle. After all, our Nanhua Company is under British leadership.

Therefore, if you want to pass through my port of Mapu, you must pay the same transit tax as the British. ” ˆ ˆ Paul Kruger could only nod his head in agreement. Who would make the Transvaal closer to the Port of Mapu?

Moreover, the secondary roads built by the Nanhua Company at a huge expense were very suitable for the Boer caravans.

Moreover, the Boers can also use the inland rivers within the territory to walk a section of the waterway, which can save a lot of freight.

The incident at the Rand Gold Mine has not yet been revealed, and the Boers in the Transvaal are still very poor, with a penny broken into several petals.

After negotiations, the two parties agreed that a 1.5% transit tax would be charged on all goods imported and exported by the Transvaal Boers.

In this way, Mapu Port will generate at least tens of thousands of pounds of transit tax revenue in a year, which is simply wonderful!

……

President Brand of the Orange Free State sent representatives to invite leaders from several parties to attend the opening ceremony of the games.

Shi Jintang, together with the four leaders Paul Kruger, Governor Robinson and Governor Tlander, rushed to the stadium on the outskirts of Bloemfontein in a carriage arranged by the Orange Free State.

This stadium can only be said to be unsatisfactory, but there were many spectators on site, more than 20,000 people.

Most people gathered at the entrance to watch the leaders of all parties enter.

Among these leaders, Shi Jintang is the youngest and the most handsome.

After all, a young Oriental with thick hair, among a group of middle-aged and elderly people with gray beards, bald heads or bald spots, is much better than them in terms of appearance.

When the four leaders were in place, President Brand loudly announced "The opening of the first Southern Africa Friendship Games!"

Then I saw a drum band starting to play music, and then a group of white teenagers started singing the national anthem of the Orange Free State.

After the singing was over, each team’s representative team came on stage.

The first to appear was the host Orange Free State team. They had 56 athletes participating in most events except football.

Then there is the Transvaal Republic team, which has 68 people and participates in all sports.

The two Boer teams each wore uniforms with the same colors as their national flags. The uniforms were short suits promoted by the Shijintang Garment Factory.

Then there is the Cape Colony team, which has a total of 88 people participating in all events.

Their uniforms were not uniform, and most of the athletes were free folk.

The Natal team has 65 people, and they will participate in most events, but there are many Indian Asans in this team.

The last one to appear was the South China team. When they entered the venue, they were uniformly dressed in red sportswear with a red top and yellow bottom, and canvas flat sneakers on their feet.

Symbolizing warmth and health, flat canvas shoes are breathable and wear-resistant without hurting your feet.

In addition, they have also made some changes in their competition equipment. For example, the bicycles are specially made by the Kohler brothers under the instructions of Shi Jintang.

It's light and easy to ride, and you're sure to win half the race before it even begins.

Seeing his team on stage, Shi Jintang stood up and waved to everyone.

When the Nanhua team below saw Boss Shi waving to them, they became excited and waved to Shi Jintang. At the same time, they did not forget to shout loudly: "Nanhua will win!"

The behavior of the Nanhua team resonated, and other teams also shouted in the same way, making it extremely noisy for a while.

The Nanhua team's behavior of showing eye bags made several other leaders a little unhappy. It was a complete mess!

　Please subscribe, collect, recommend and vote monthly.

　　I have newly experimented with the illustration function. I don’t know how it works. Is it convenient for everyone to take a look?

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)