Chapter 74: "Cleansing" Campaign
To respond to Ernst's orders, beginning on April 3, 1867, the upper levels of the East African colonial government held several meetings and decided to launch a year-long "cleansing" campaign.
From the name alone, it was clear that this "cleansing" was aimed at the indigenous people within the colony—to eliminate instability within East Africa.
That instability referred specifically to the local natives and tribal groups.
To mobilize manpower across the colony, the government assigned tasks to each settlement according to their region.
Each settlement would carry its own rations and organize raids on the native tribes and villages nearby.
...
Kagongo Town, located in the Lake Soren (Lake Tanganyika) region, under Kigoma jurisdiction.
Today, the town's government posted the colonial administration's notice about the "cleansing" campaign on the village bulletin board.
Settlers knew that the bulletin board was the place for big announcements—any important new policy or directive would be posted there.
All official documents in the colony were written in German. Among the highest-educated group in the colony, German mercenaries—most with only elementary education—held unquestionable authority.
Only students from the Hohenzollern Military Academy and Hohenzollern Consortium's African staff had slightly higher education levels.
Still, they considered themselves part of the German group, aligning mentally and socially with the mercenary teams.
In short, in the East African colony, German speakers formed a unified and ruling class.
Even Chinese and Austrian immigrants who knew German would be placed in important roles and considered part of the inner circle.
The colony's simple economic structure meant that government roles didn't require high-level skills.
The simplistic economy, combined with a crude and forceful collectivist management style, resulted in only a rudimentary legal system.
Aside from agriculture, the colony had few other industries. Everyone worked according to quotas—working from sunrise to sunset—without any entertainment.
In such a basic lifestyle, there was no room for economic crime. Immigrants were mostly honest farmers and strict, disciplined ex-soldiers—no fertile ground for anti-intellectualism.
At Kagongo Town Hall, in the early morning, government staff posted a fresh German-language notice on the wooden board.
Unlike usual, no official appeared to explain the new policy.
Several immigrants gathered beneath the board, discussing its contents.
"Old Liu, what does this say?"
"You ask me, who can I ask? I only recognize the words 'village,' 'gun,' and 'expel.' I bet it's about fighting—almost certainly."
Old Liu knew those words because they were frequently used in East Africa, especially during the military training all new immigrants went through.
While they were still guessing what the notice said, a soldier in colonial uniform walked over, pulled the bugle from his waist, and started to blow it.
"Wooo… wooo… wooo…"
Other residents followed the bugle's signal and began to gather near the bulletin board. The crowd grew quickly, and voices filled the air.
Soon, the town mayor and Kagongo's top officials arrived, and soldiers set up a meeting area.
A small wooden platform was quickly assembled, and the mayor and others were invited to speak.
Mayor Ge Xin Kusi, his belly protruding, stepped onto the stage to explain the latest colonial directive.
Military officer Carson Block, a student of the Hohenzollern Military Academy, held a megaphone to translate.
"Residents, just yesterday, we received new orders from the higher-ups of the East African colonial government."
The crowd fell silent, all ears on the mayor. Notices from the government always had something to do with their lives.
"To improve security and prevent the savages"—the official term for natives used by the colonial government—"from disrupting life and production in the colony,"
"Every village and town under the colonial government must conduct a cleansing campaign—arresting, raiding, and eliminating the savages and their tribes within their territories."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"So, they're about to strike hard against the natives again!"
"Of course. Where do you think we got our land from? We took it."
"Took it? Those natives didn't even farm. It was all wasteland. We came to clear and cultivate. There were no names on the land. It belongs to whoever farms it."
"Exactly. What would the natives even do with this land? They can hunt anywhere. Land that should grow grain shouldn't be used to raise lions and leopards."
To the settlers, there was no guilt—debating right and wrong was pointless when survival was at stake. Filling their bellies came before all ideals.
They came from feudal or semi-industrialized states, and their thinking remained rooted in feudal peasant logic.
Although the land originally belonged to the Africans, the first actual government in East Africa was that of the colonial administration.
And only a government could grant land ownership. Natives might live off the land, but their understanding was limited to where they could hunt or gather fruit.
Immigrants, on the other hand, had a clear concept of land ownership. In East Africa, all land was private property of the Hohenzollern Consortium.
Immigrants held a status between serfs and industrial workers. They had no freedom to choose, but basic human rights were protected by law.
Although the colony had no formal courts or justice system, Prussian law was the default—just not fully enforced.
The rule of law and rule by man coexisted here—similar to Liu Bang's "Three Laws" with the people, or Rome's Twelve Tables.
There was a clear but vague boundary.
...
The mayor continued, "To follow the government's directive, Kagongo Town will organize its people to raid the tribal areas within and around our jurisdiction."
With the command issued, Kagongo Town and its surrounding villages drafted more than 1,000 temporary soldiers, armed them, and began joint operations with Kigoma City and nearby settlements to carry out the cleansing across the Lake Soren region.
Soon, gunfire echoed throughout the region and across the East African colony, which now resembled a massive battlefield.
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