In East Africa in March, it is the season of the rainy season, in the rumbling thunder, the torrential rain pours down, the raindrops are dense and impactful, in the sparse vegetation, bare loess ground, the strong rainstorm washes the soil, just a short time, it becomes a dirty quagmire.

Filthy rainwater gradually collects, bypassing the meadows and high slopes, and thousands of tiny streams of water flow down the depressions and ravines into the river.

The Little Rhine is no longer as calm as it used to be, but has become choppy, with rolling water mixed with driftwood, weeds, and sediment flowing along the river by leaps and bounds.

In the paddy fields of the second town (Lufu), the overflowing rainwater poured down the drainage canals into the river, the rice was staggered by the rain and the wind, and the houses made of grass and wood mixed with brick and earth looked crumbling in the storm, roaring to lift everything that could be seen on the land of East Africa into the sky.

Such storms are common during the rainy season, when the whole of Africa is a stagnant pool of water, the entire grassland is uninhabited for thousands of miles, and occasionally explorers and hunters have observed hundreds of animals migrating across the vast yellow grasslands, and the entire continent is dead.

When the rainy season comes, the whole African continent seems to come alive, and the rain that has been stored for more than half a year violently beats the continent, but the more life is in the face of this terrible natural scene, the more vigorous it becomes, and the dry rivers of the whole grassland become twists and turns, intricately intertwined.

Yellow plants change into new green clothes, wildebeest and antelope chase the most abundant aquatic plants in herds, hippos roam in the lakes, and crocodiles roam around waiting for their time.

……

Everything is full of life and vitality.

But this is not good news for the East African advance mission, which is advancing inland.

Andrei, the captain of the fourth team, was sitting on a rock, scraping the sludge that had been sticking to the upper of his shoes with a knife in his hand.

Staff officer Zhou Wei commanded his subordinates to count the supplies: "Remember to put food and ammunition on top of the frame, and don't touch the ground and get wet." ”

"How to build this rainproof cloth, what to do if it seeps into the rain, everything must be arranged in strict accordance with the process during training! We still have a long way to go, and we have to keep food and ammunition safe. ”

The sudden rainstorm just now halted the advance group's march, and the team rested temporarily on a high ground.

"Week! Let's not go again today, just rest here for a day, we have been on the road for the past two weeks, the mental state of the team has dropped a lot, and we still need to ease the mood of the team. Andre preached to Zhou Wei.

Zhou Wei looked around, the rain was a little lighter, but it was still falling, and he didn't know when it would be a head, so he nodded and said: "Mr. Andre, you are right, the main thing is that the time is too tight, so that we chose the most unsuitable time to set off, I didn't expect the rainstorm here to be so big!" ”

Andrei said with a smile: "Seeing this rain, it reminds me of the days in the European battlefield, when I was still a new soldier, the first time I camped with the army, but it suddenly rained heavily in the middle of the night, we were in order to march quickly, the temporary rest of the station was a depression, and as a result, the shelters built were soaked in puddles, and many of the troops did not even have a dry clothes, and the next day they wore wet clothes, fighting against Napoleon's army." ”

Zhou Wei listened to the story told by Andre, Napoleon Zhou Wei had seen it in textbooks, it was indeed a generation of heroes, Andrei actually participated in the anti-French war that year, but think about Andrei's age, Andrei did not say how old he was, but Zhou Wei inferred from Andrei's appearance that he was at least fifty years old.

"Mr. Andrey, your past is indeed wonderful!"

"Thank you for the compliment, Zhou, your performance surprised me, I went to elementary school, I didn't see Qing people at that time, I only saw the appearance of Qing people in the teacher's album, our teacher said that Chinese people have big braids, male and female, and like to smoke opium, always look sluggish." Andrei recalled.

"Later, when I retired and was hired by the Hexingen company, I came to East Africa, and they paid my salary to my family's bank account, which was the first time I crossed the ocean, came to such a distant place, and it was also the first time I saw Chinese."

André continued: "When they first got off the ship, they did have braids and were malnourished, but the first rule of the colony was to cut off the braids and keep their hair short, and after removing the braids, they did look different, especially when they changed into German military uniforms, their spirits were improved, and I saw that the Chinese were more like the black-haired Italians on the Mediterranean coast after cleaning." ”

"However, soon you Chinese changed my impression again, and in the early days of the East African colonies, when I was in the first town, your hard work made me realize that the Italians are not as good as you, because the Italians are too good at enjoyment. At that time, however, I still thought that the Chinese were inferior to the Germans. ”

"Until I met you, Zhou, I completely changed my previous thinking, your cultural knowledge, rigorous spirit made me realize that the Chinese do not need to be compared, he is as good as us Germans, you know, some of my former comrades-in-arms, including the French, the British are very rude."

Andrei then expressed his thoughts: "You Chinese, like us Prussians, are born soldiers and the best peasants in the world. ”

Zhou Wei quietly listened to Andre's words and said: "Mr. Andre, I want to correct one thing first, I have obtained the citizenship certificate issued by the Hexingen government, so I am also German. And I believe that these people in front of me will also be part of the German Empire in the future, because our Rector Ernst has said that no matter where you come from, as long as you have a heart for Germany and are willing to fight for it all your life, then you are a true 'German man'. ”

When Andre heard Zhou Wei's words, he laughed and said, "You're right, Zhou, I'm narrow-minded." ”

……

It's getting late.

In the makeshift camp, the members of the advance team who had been rushing for the past few days fell asleep peacefully, even though the rain was still falling outside, it could not disturb the sleeping team members in the slightest.

Sentinels are vigilant around in the rainy night to prevent wild animals and other dangers from breaking in, Zhou Wei will come out from time to time to check the post, everyone can sleep, but Zhou Wei can't, as a person who has been educated in the Heixinggen Military Academy, the education in the school always warns himself that he must keep in mind that he must be a qualified soldier to keep in mind that he must do everything himself.

……

On the third day, the rested advance regiment was back on the road, the mud caused by the rain made the march extremely difficult, but they made a determined advance in the direction of Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika).