The pier of the port of Venice is crowded with people.

"Don't crowd, don't crowd, everyone line up, register the information first, and then you can get the number plate to board the ship, don't cut the queue behind the people, don't add stoppers, we will be here these days, so don't worry!" East African Migration staff stood on top of wooden boxes with bullhorns and shouted at the crowd.

With the Austro-Hungarian Empire declaring war on Italy, the fools in the Venetian area who have not yet boarded the ship have just woken up from their dreams - war is coming!

In fact, the wise men had already found a way to escape from Venice and Lombardy after discovering that the Kingdom of Italy had increased its troops.

Based on the experience of previous years, most people who had access chose to flee the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Italian hinterland, or simply to France or Switzerland.

This year, unlike previous years, the Kingdom of East Africa and the Hexingen Consortium have laid out ahead of schedule, and many Italian ports have long been docked with ships destined for East Africa.

Ordinary people fleeing the war meant losing their jobs and trying to survive this time by either seeking refuge with friends and relatives or finding another job in a peaceful place.

Among these people, the workers in the Venetian area are good to say, after all, there is a skill, and now the industrialization of Europe is accelerating, there is a shortage of workers in many places, and the unlucky ones are those peasants, many of whom will only farm for the rest of their lives, and a few people who have some relatives abroad can still defect after the outbreak of war, and most of them can only stay where they are, screened out by the war.

East Africa has been recruiting immigrants in Italy for some time, and the effect is average in normal times, because there are more places for Italian people to go, there are a large number of Italian immigrants in North and South America, and now that the war has broken out, the people in the Venice area, regardless of the 3721 brainless choice to go to East Africa, in addition to free, the most important thing is that there are the most migrant ships in Heixingen.

"What's your name, where do you come from in Venice, do you have any relatives to follow you, what kind of occupation do you have?"

"Sir, my name is Thomas, and I am from the village of Timosto, east of Venice, and I am accompanied by my wife and two daughters. I'm just a farmer, if I know how to fish, is it counted? ”

"Of course!" The staff replied.

Then it was written in the occupation column: Farmer and part-time fisherman.

"This is your number plate, take it and bring your family with you, and come back here in a moment, do you see that yellow sign? Meet there, someone will take you aboard! The staff handed Thomas a yellow sign that read 3303.

"Sir! Excuse me......"

"Don't ask! If there is anything to do, I will go and tell the person who leads the team, I am only responsible for registration here, so let's go quickly! There are still a lot of people in the queue at the back! The staff urged.

"Yes, sir, I'm sorry!" Thomas apologized, but turned around and took the number plate to pick up his family first.

Thomas struggled through the crowd, turned a few corners, and finally saw his wife and daughter under a street lamp.

"Jenny, I'm back, I've got the ship license, look!"

"Honey, there's only one brand, don't you use it with my child?"

"The person who recruited immigrants told me that I could go to the assembly with my family with this sign, so one sign should be enough."

The wife took the sign to see if there was any sign on it, but it turned out that there was only a bunch of German on it, and she couldn't read it.

"Maybe it's a family sign, and I've seen many people get a different color than ours, but as long as they bring their families, it's yellow."

Thomas scratched his head and said, "Maybe so! I wanted to ask, but there were too many people, and the staff member was a little impatient, and he said that we could just ask the team leader after we met at the designated place. ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the yellow sign more than three meters high erected on the pier, and there were signs of other colors not far away.

"Mom and Dad, where are we going? There are a lot of people here. Thomas's youngest daughter, little Jenny, asked.

Thomas crouched down and said to little Jenny, "We're going to a far away place, and we're going to take a big boat, and we're going to go through the sea, which is called East Africa, and that's where our home will be." ”

"And what about our former home!"

"The old home is gone."

"Why?"

"Because there......" Thomas didn't know how to describe to his daughter for a moment, the war was so cruel.

His wife, Jenny, then said, "Because our previous home has broken into two big bad guys, it is not suitable for us to live in, and we have to live in a new place." ”

"Then why doesn't Dad defeat them, we don't have to change homes!"

Both husband and wife fell silent.

……

"Don't squeeze, be quiet!" Mars, an employee of the Venetian shipyard, began to maintain order among the boarding personnel.

"Before boarding the ship, let me introduce myself, I am the person in charge of the immigration on this ship, you can call me Mars, and you can ask me any questions about the next voyage." Mars said aloud in broken Italian.

"Before I want to warn you, the place you are about to go to is East Africa, a country with an orderly rule of law, so some casual and idle people can get off the ship now, don't regret it when you go to East Africa, the security in that place is honestly stricter than in Europe, and there is a lack of entertainment venues, no casinos, taverns, so gamblers, drunkards can get off the ship now, and at the same time, East Africa is not a free market at present, there is no cash transaction, so thieves and robbers can get off the ship in advance, there is no room for you to play."

Mars's words worked, several families withdrew, and they were all childless couples, it seems that they planned to go to East Africa to "start a business" again, but Mars's words blocked their expectations for East Africa, so let's go to the United States and Argentina!

After these people quit, no one quit.

Then a man in the crowd asked, "Mr. Mars, why does the East Africa you describe feel like a prison?" ”

Mars said indifferently: "East Africa is a country governed by the rule of law, and the service serves the interests of the majority, and the law in East Africa is much stricter than in Europe, such an environment is of course a good place for ordinary people, as long as you abide by the law, honest and at the same time more industrious and naturally live a very comfortable life, we just don't welcome those who are idle, have poor control, or like to take 'shortcuts'." ”

"I don't care about that, I just want to know if we and our families can get enough to eat when we get to East Africa, and it doesn't matter if it's hard or tired." Someone asked the question that was most important to them.

"As long as you are willing to work and you can eat wherever you go, I can tell you clearly that there is a shortage of people in East Africa, so there is no need to worry about work, just see if you can accept it."

"I want to know what the main job in East Africa is, can I?"

"Generally speaking, it is farming, which is similar to what many of you have done for generations, of course, you can also sign up to join the army, the army will be treated better, and if you have the skills that East Africa needs, you can also apply for a job with the government."

"Sir, you said before that there is no currency in East Africa, how can we solve the problem with the cash we brought from Europe."

"There are also banks in East Africa, so you can deposit money in them or exchange them for shopping vouchers that are unique to East Africa and use them to buy some daily necessities."

……

Mars answered some questions about the immigrants in detail, and finally Mars gave these people one last choice, if they feel that East Africa is not suitable for their families, they can get off the boat.

The most important thing is that the quality of life of most people who go to East Africa has not changed much from Europe, that is, compared to Europe, life is more monotonous, but they don't care, the prosperity of Europe has nothing to do with these people at the bottom of the countryside.

After the second screening, the immigrants were absorbed by the Kingdom of East Africa, and later statistics showed that the Italian-Austrian war caused an outflow of about 300,000 people from Italy than in previous years, of which ninety percent went to East Africa, of which Venice was the largest.

(End of chapter)