Chapter 287 Escape to the West
Matala, Angola.
To the west of Matala is the Rwanda Kingdom. The Rwanda Kingdom was not completely wiped out by East Africa, because the Rwanda Kingdom itself spans both sides of the Kuango River, and East Africa only took away the land on the east bank.
The main body of the Luenda Kingdom was originally on the west bank of the Kuango River, so most of the Luenda people fled directly to the west bank of the Kuango River after encountering the East African army. The Luenda Kingdom suffered little losses this time.
On the west side of the Kingdom of Luenda, Matara is one of the most inland Portuguese colonies in Angola.
As a colonial stronghold of the Portuguese, there are no special mineral resources here. The land is mainly flat and the rainfall is abundant. Therefore, the Portuguese built large plantations in Matala. The main crops grown are palm trees and coffee.
Matala's plantation is mainly composed of two families, one is the northern plantation, whose owner is Oliveira, and the other is the southern plantation, whose owner is named Adros. At this moment, two people are riding horses, Touring the plantation together.
On the plantation, the indigenous slaves worked hard in the fields. They were branded and wore anklets, and every forty or fifty of them were monitored by a white overseer.
Under the scorching sun, white overseers would whip the hard-working native slaves with long whips at any time to cheer them up. If someone cheated on them, the consequences would be even more disastrous.
On both sides of the road, there are simple wooden crosses, about two meters high, with hemp ropes wrapped on both sides of the cross. The weathered cross is completely black, as if it is stained with oil, but when you get closer, you can vaguely see that it is not purely a cross. The black wooden cross can be guessed by the true color of the cross on the back of the cross. The cross was originally a yellow wooden stake.
The black oil stain is actually the result of the indigenous blood dyeing red again and again, and then being exposed to wind and sun all year round.
The cross was a torture device on the plantation, used to deal with lazy and disobedient slaves, and was occasionally used to establish authority.
The people of the Matala plantation would tie the slaves to be punished to a cross and beat them with whips. Those who committed serious crimes would hang on them for two or three days.
Oliveira rode on the horse and asked Adros: "Adros, have you felt it recently? Has the number of indigenous people increased? There are often indigenous people passing by our plantation these days. Yesterday I Three batches have been driven away.”
"That's true. I wonder what the Luenda Kingdom is doing. Is there a turmoil in their country?"
"It's very possible that the native tribes of Luenda often attack each other, and it might be another drama like tribal war."
"I don't feel like it. Even if the Luenda Kingdom is in turmoil, they shouldn't come west! They know Angola well, and they really regard it as paradise!"
"That's right. In the past, the natives could only escape from our side to the east, but these days they are running from Luenda to this side. It's so abnormal! Is there anything more terrifying than us?"
"It must be an extremely scary thing to come from the east to Matara to make the indigenous people not even afraid of us."
At this time, Adros guessed: "Why are these natives crazy and coming here from the west? It can't be that there is a plague in the west!"
Thinking of this, Oliveira and Adros suddenly felt a shudder. Plague was not a rare thing for the Angolan colony. If this was the case, then everyone would be in danger.
"It's better for us to be more cautious about this matter. It's better to have someone go capture a few natives among those people and find out more about the situation."
…
Following the orders of the two slave owners, soon the plantation armed forces went to the areas around the plantation to capture suspicious natives. Soon, a few healthy looking natives were captured from the exiled natives.
"Why are you running in large numbers from the east to this side?" the plantation interpreter asked.
"Gulu gulu gulu..."
After listening for a long time, the translator said: "Mr. Oliveira, the accents of these natives are different from those of the natives of the Rwanda Kingdom. What he said is not easy to translate! But some of the words are still the same."
Oliveira said: "They are not from the Kingdom of Luenda! Do you know where they come from?"
"He said that they were driven by a group of strangers from the west and passed through the land of the Luenda Kingdom, but the Luenda people did not take them in, so they crossed the Luenda Kingdom and arrived here, but the group that originally drove them People are dressed the way we are, so they go around our plantations.”
"Dress up like us, we haven't done anything big recently, right?" Oliveira said to Adros.
"Of course not, and the Governor-General's Office has not given any orders. Moreover, even if the colonial government makes any big moves, it is impossible to bypass us. This is the westernmost part of Angola!" Adros said: "That's why it must be someone else, but Making such a big noise must not be an ordinary force, which makes me guess a suspicious target."
"Um!"
"Do you think it could be the Mozambique colony that caused the problem? They are dressed like us, and they are in the east. There is a high probability that it is the Mozambique colony." Yadros analyzed.
Oliveira said: "This is impossible, the Mozambique colony is on the east coast, it is too far away."
"Remember what the passing caravan said last year? A German force appeared in the east. They occupied the Kingdom of Kazembe. Do you think it could be them?"
"But how do you explain the fact that we dress the same?"
"Maybe the natives can't tell the difference between us and the Germans. They probably can't tell the difference between us Europeans and us the natives."
Oliveira didn't want to guess. He said to the translator: "Let these natives describe carefully whether there are any distinguishing features of the group of people they met."
The translator started working again, and soon all the captured natives were questioned.
The translator shook his head and said to Oliveira: "Mr. Oliveira, in fact, these people have never seen what that group of people looks like. They just followed the tribe. They only heard that a group of people came from the west. Monsters with white faces and can eat people. According to their meaning, many tribes were brutally murdered, so they escaped from the west under the leadership of their chiefs."
"Where is their chief?"
"Well, it is said that among the few people who were shot to death by our people was their chief." The translator said.
After asking for a long time, he still didn't get the answer he wanted. Oliveira said angrily: "Pull them out and condemn them to death on the cross."
He dared to say that he was a "white-faced monster that eats people." Although Oliveira knew that these indigenous people were referring to people from other forces, he did not take it into consideration.
At this time, Adros said: "It seems that if you want to get accurate information, you should start from the Luenda Kingdom. You might as well send someone to the Luenda Kingdom to ask their king."
"That's all we have to do," Oliveira said.