"Fernández, Portuguese, age 27, what is your specialty? What was your original occupation in Mozambique? ”

"Sir, I don't think I have any expertise! But occupation should mean work, and it used to be counted as a farmer on a plantation, right? Fernández asked, somewhat uncertain.

In the face of the inquiry of the East African staff, Fernandez still seemed a little cramped, because the East African in front of him looked more majestic at a glance, and even made Fernandez feel a little afraid.

This East African man looked to be less than twenty years old, although he was a little immature because of his age, but his gray and dull face like dead tree bark, at first glance, he had passed through strong winds and waves, and subconsciously made people ignore his age.

But for Fernández, it's not so much that this East African feels oppressive, but that he can feel the looming murderous aura of this East African.

Coupled with his old East African Defence Forces uniform, which was still in the future, it was clear that he had "killed people", and it was very likely that he had a few Portuguese lives on his hands, which was a silent deterrent to the Portuguese present.

"That's the thug!" Proust asked.

Proust was not aware of the psychological activities of the Portuguese who had just been conscripted into the army, retired from the army, and had indeed seen blood.

In his consciousness, in the Portuguese plantations, people like Fernandez should be thugs, after all, farming is not like the Portuguese colonizers themselves, they just need to watch the black slaves.

Fernandez shook his head and said, "I've never bullied people, and although I have a higher status than the blacks, my job is mainly to patrol the plantations, observe the cotton growth, and then report back to the management." ”

"And what did you do before you came to Mozambique?"

"Before I came to Mozambique, I was born in a small fishing village in Portugal near the sea, but my family mainly farmed for the lord of Erbak, who is the noble lord of our village, and most of the land in the village belongs to his family." Fernandez patted his head and said.

"Oh, and is your family in Portugal?"

Fernandez nodded and said: "I also have an older brother and my father above me, as for my mother died when I was a child, and I haven't been married all these years, so I should be alone in Mozambique, but there are a few friends, but many of them have left Mozambique and chose to return home." ”

"Yes, congratulations, you will be a glorious German from now on." Proust stamped the mimeograph on Fernández's name.

……

After becoming a "German", Fernández and the others were assigned to various plantations and farmsteads around Maputo, but now there was one more compulsory course per day than before.

"As a German, it is natural to be able to speak German fluently, and Standard German in East Africa is modeled on Swabian language, which contains some vocabulary and content from other languages, of course, you don't need to know too much about these, the most important thing now is to be able to communicate with people, or be able to understand some words." A Portuguese translator spoke to the plantation workers.

In East Africa, Portuguese is one of the more popular foreign languages, because East Africa and Portugal had frequent business and trade exchanges, and later the two countries became enemies, so it is even more important to "know each other and know yourself", so the scale of Portuguese in East African foreign language education is not small.

"You must first forget your past Portuguese identity, because if nothing else, many people will never be able to relate to Portugal in this life, and it is not shameful to accept the reality, after all, the decline of the Kingdom of Portugal has been going on for centuries and is not caused by you."

"And the kingdom of Hexingen is the future country of you and your descendants, everyone loves this country, our life can be better, and in order to eliminate all kinds of disputes, it is necessary to master the German language first."

"Of course, you can also choose to be rotten and not take the initiative to learn, which will only be difficult to move an inch in East Africa, and there will be no room for other languages to live in the entire East Africa in the future."

The words of the East African instructors were hard to hear, but most of the former Portuguese present did not have any objections, which was the realization that came with the defeat of the war, and that the change of nationality was not unspeakable when people migrated in Europe.

The two defeats of Portugal in East Africa doomed these remnants of Mozambique to be ineffective, although there were exceptions, such as the Boers who were forcibly conquered by East Africa.

However, for the Boers, East Africa has completely adopted a different strategy from the Portuguese in Mozambique, and the Portuguese in Mozambique have not been separated by East Africa, but continue to remain in Mozambique, but the Boers have spread all over East Africa.

"Let's start the class, today we will learn fifty words first, don't be afraid to remember, someone will help you forcibly memorize in the future."

The East African instructors then began to teach the Portuguese, and the content of the lessons was very simple, that is, reciting the copied words over and over again.

In the beginning, most East African immigrants went through this process, and it was not the classroom environment that really allowed them to learn German in a short period of time, but the German environment in their daily lives.

The East African government is organizing the migration process, and it will take no more than a year for East Africans to outnumber the former Portuguese in Mozambique.

……

"Fernandez, do you understand the lesson?"

After class, it was already eight o'clock in the afternoon, and a colleague asked Fernandez in Portuguese.

Fernandez shook his head and said, "Of course not, now I feel a headache when I think about those strange symbols." ”

"Yes! I didn't expect to learn to become an East African citizen, it's hard to believe, we are not nobles or merchants, and we don't need so much knowledge to guard the plantation. ”

Fernandez said: "It's too late to say anything, after becoming an East African citizen, we can't leave if we want to, but our choice is not bad, at least the East African government has not treated us harshly, they should treat us as their own!" ”

My colleague nodded and said: "You're right, of course, the premise is to draw a clear line with the Kingdom of Portugal, and we will have nothing to do with Portugal in the future, but that's fine, anyway, there is no hope in Portugal." ”

Fernandez smiled and said: "Now we are all Germans, but fill in the form, and we become Germans, and if so many countries in Europe follow the example of East Africa, there will only be one country." ”

"Whether it's a country or a province, it's like Europe that fights every day." said his colleague.

"Portugal doesn't fight, but the economy is a mess, and there are often riots and unrest, otherwise we wouldn't have gone overseas." Fernández said.

"When the economy was rotten, most countries were like this, but Portugal was too bad, now the whole world is developing, only Portugal is constantly retreating, but these have nothing to do with us, we are now a member of the Germans, and what happens to Portugal in the future has nothing to do with us."

Fernandez nodded and said: "That's it, but the situation in East Africa is not easy to say, let's stay for a while and see!" Hopefully there are no problems with our choice. ”

There are many apprehensive people like Fernández, who are both familiar and unfamiliar with East Africa, but in the more than ten years that the Portuguese have lived together in East Africa, one thing is clear, that is, the cities of East Africa are growing very rapidly, and when the relationship between the two countries is friendly, many Portuguese people will go to the cities of East Africa to spend and have fun.

(End of chapter)

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