African Nationhood

Chapter 511 Madagascar ()
Zhong Yilin was woken up at 3 o'clock in the morning. He was old and continued to catch up on his sleep after boarding the train.

Others, especially soldiers from the advance team of the army and gendarmerie, were waiting on the train to remain vigilant.

Because the train's capacity is limited and important supplies need to be carried first, the soldiers can only carry one battalion of troops first.

Considering that the French only stationed three battalions of troops on the entire island, it was enough for the advance team to lead one battalion to the capital.

The follow-up troops will follow soon. After all, the port of Tamatave is only 365 kilometers away from the capital, and half a day and night is enough to arrive.

……

Zhong Yilin slept until about 7 o'clock and woke up naturally. After the people accompanying him served him some military rations, he felt much better.

Then he began to patrol the entire carriage, and the advance personnel from various departments greeted him warmly when they saw him.

Everyone was in a good mood, talking and laughing while looking at the scenery outside the window.

Most of the island still retains its original features, with rolling hills, meandering rivers, and wild charm.

Because the train was moving too slowly, people on the car could still clearly see the indigenous people working in the mountains and forests. Most of these indigenous people had strange faces and dark skin.

They don't look much like Malays, but more like South Asian Indians.

Everyone discussed the reasons with each other and immediately popularized science if they were familiar with history.

Because this island is so close to the African continent, Bantu people, Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and French people have continuously brought black people to the coastal areas for thousands of years.

Slowly, these dark-skinned, weird-looking mixed-race natives were formed.

……

After a round of inspection, Zhong Yilin returned to his car. After sitting quietly for a while, he began to organize his thoughts.

Before Zhong Yilin came, Prime Minister Ouyang Geng had an in-depth talk with him and informed him of Chairman Shi's thoughts.

So his initial idea was to instruct the surrendered natives to clean up the black people.

Now his mind has changed. Developing the island will require a lot of manpower.

There are only more than 260 million people on the entire island, and there are not many pure-blood black people among them, only more than .

If you want to develop this giant island on a large scale, you must make use of the labor force of the indigenous people and pure-blooded black people.

In the future, the indigenous people who will move to the mainland will only be pure-blood indigenous people from the interior, while the mixed-blood people from the coast will stay here as expendables.

The first step when arriving in Antananarivo is to control the royal family of the kingdom, and then form an administrative agency.

After setting up the administrative team, you can seize the authority of different positions according to their respective positions.

After fully controlling the capital, start slowly establishing authority in the surrounding areas, and then implement the transformation plan.

Chinese immigrants will not be brought in for the time being, and will only be filled with immigrants after their advance team takes control of the place.

……

Although the train is slow, it will eventually reach the destination.

In the afterglow of six o'clock in the afternoon, a detachment of the advance team arrived at Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.

When they arrived at the station, the soldiers of the South China Army who came with the train got off the train first and took control of the train station. Then Zhong Yilin and other officials began to get off the train.

When Zhong Yilin got out of the car, the soldiers escorted a Frenchman in black uniform and an official from the kingdom to Zhong Yilin.

The Frenchman is as tall as his nose, has blue eyes, and wears a big-brimmed hat.

The kingdom official's complexion is slightly darker, his face looks a bit like a native of Borneo, and he is not tall, half a head shorter than Zhong Yilin.

When the white man saw Zhong Yilin, he immediately leaned over and saluted, "Hello, Minister Zhong, I am Jean-Pierre, the chief of the capital police who is staying here, and this is the prime minister of the kingdom, Reinier Alade Nivoli." ”

Zhong Yilin smiled and shook hands with these two people, "You must have been waiting here for a long time. Thank you for your hard work."

The white police chief smiled and shook his head, "It's not hard, I'm willing to serve you."

Hearing what the French said, Zhong Yilin chuckled, "Aren't you going back to France? There may not be a good position for you if you stay here."

The Frenchman chuckled, "There won't be a good position for me when I return to France. If I stay here, as long as I serve you loyally, you will definitely not abandon me.

After all, I can be a loyal slave, but those dark, ugly creatures cannot. "

The words of the white police chief made Lenny Lai Nivoli on the side feel unhappy, but he did not dare to show it at all.

"Haha, that's good. Director Jean-Pierre, I need your services, but you can't be the director. Do you have any objections?"

"No, no, I will follow your arrangement."

Zhong Yilin was very satisfied that the French knew each other so well, "He Xiaoou, come here." He Xiaoou, who was in his early thirties, had a simple and honest face, but his eyes were a little small. He heard the words and walked over quickly.

"Minister Zhong, did you call me?"

"I have decided to appoint you as the Chief of Police of Madagascar, and this Jean Pierre will be your deputy."

He Xiaoou squinted his eyes and looked at Jean-Pierre, then stretched out his hand to the Frenchman.

The Frenchman immediately smiled and reached out to hold He Xiaoou's hand, "Hello, Director He, I am your subordinate Jean Pierre."

"Well, hello, Mr. Pierre, I hope we can cooperate well in the future."

The Frenchman's eyes almost narrowed when he smiled, "Definitely, definitely."

……

We are a little tired after riding the train all day today. Let's have dinner first and deal with official business tomorrow.

Jean-Pierre nodded immediately, respectfully led the way, and then led Zhong Yilin to the carriage waiting outside the station, driving all the way to the Governor's Mansion of Governor Gabet.

When I arrived at the Governor's Palace, I found that it was brightly lit and candles were lit everywhere.

Zhong Yilin and the heads of other departments came to the lobby of the Governor's Mansion. A long table was filled with food.

We were not in a hurry to take our seats. We first let the French people try the dishes one by one. After waiting for half an hour to make sure everything was fine, we all took our seats to eat.

After the meal, everyone took a quick break, because the Governor's Mansion was very large, so everyone could rest there.

Early the next morning, Zhong Yilin woke up early. After breakfast, the group of them started walking towards the Queen's Palace, the highest point in the city.

Jean-Pierre also arranged for police to be on duty along the way in advance, for fear that the civilians in the city would collide with the new master.

……

Antananarivo is built on a hilly area, so the city is divided into two parts, one is the upper city where the powerful live, and the other is the lower city where civilians live.

Along the way, Zhong Yilin and others did not forget to appreciate the city street scene. There were stone buildings along the way and the streets were lined with spacious houses.

At this time, Antananarivo was already a good city, with good development in industry, medical care, education and even the financial industry.

All this is attributed to the Kingdom’s former Prime Minister Reinile Yalivoni, who has been in charge of Madagascar for 30 years, actively introduced Western advanced systems and civilizational achievements, and successfully transformed the city.

The French suffered a series of defeats when they captured this island before. Because of the wise leadership and European reforms of the former prime minister, the indigenous troops were very powerful and defeated the French several times.

The French eventually occupied the island, thanks to the help of the British.

In 1895, France decided to withdraw from the struggle for the Kingdom of Zanzibar, allowing Britain to occupy the Arab kingdom.

The British reciprocated and helped the French occupy Madagascar.

After becoming the master of Madagascar, the French directly exiled the former prime minister, causing him to eventually die in a foreign country. After his death, his wife collected his remains and buried him back in his homeland.

The current prime minister is the distant nephew of the former prime minister and has no real power at all. All power is in the hands of the French.

Even the current queen is at the mercy of the French. The backbone of the royal family was removed after the death of the former prime minister. Instead, it was the common people who raised the banner of resistance to the French.

……

After the French occupied the city, they also worked hard on city construction.

They dug tunnels between two of the city's largest mountains, connecting different areas and thus promoting the expansion of the capital's urban areas.

The French ordered the natives to spread cobblestones on the streets as a foundation, and after building a sewer system, they laid stone pavements on top.

This allowed the city's roads and drainage systems to run smoothly, and the French also built reservoirs to supply water to the entire city.

……

Zhong Yilin and his party came to the gate of the Queen's Palace, the highest point in the city, like a leisurely stroll. A middle-aged woman with a dark face and a bloated body, surrounded by a group of waiters, greeted them at the gate of the palace.

"This is the Queen of the Kingdom, Her Majesty Ranavalona III."

Zhong Yilin nodded slightly, then walked up to the Queen and stretched out his hand to Her Majesty the Queen.

Queen Ranavalona III raised her eyes and glanced at the handsome middle-aged man, and then she also smiled and extended her hand.

"Welcome, distinguished sir!"

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(End of this chapter)