Chapter 130 Invasion

In the middle of the 16th century, a kingdom had been established in Burundi, where the Tutsi people, who made their living by herding, came and established their rule over the local Hutu farmers.

In the middle of the 17th century, the Kingdom of Burundi began to expand outward. By the first half of the 19th century, King Ntar Rugaamba unified most of Burundi and occupied some areas in southern Rwanda and western Tanzania. However, the kingdom failed to establish a centralized ruling system and remained fragmented for a long time.

The central and western parts of Burundi are mainly plateau terrain, and the terrain between them and the East African colonies is basically flat.

The main forces responsible for defending the Kingdom of Burundi were the East African troops and militia stationed in the Lake Soron area, that is, the western section of the defense line from the Great Lakes to Lake Soron.

In order to command the front line more flexibly, the East African colonial government established the Northwest Wartime Command in Kasanda (place name).

Alman personally stayed here to handle frontline affairs. Based on prior intelligence analysis, Alman decided to start with Burundi and Karawi.

The power of the Kingdom of Burundi was dispersed, with many princes and warlords, while the Kingdom of Karawi was small in size and sparsely populated, and had suffered the greatest impact, especially in the previous "purge" movement, so it was in a half-dead state.

Both kingdoms were badly damaged and became even more divided due to the previous attacks by the Eastern Bantu tribes.

Therefore, Alman believed that the two countries could be taken at the same time. The main force of the East African army was also divided into two by Alman, responsible for combat missions in the two countries respectively. The two main armies finally merged at the border between the Kingdom of Igala and the Kingdom of Rwanda.

…

May 3, 1868.

The East African colonies invaded the Kingdom of Burundi and the Kingdom of Karawi without declaring war, and the East African army simply crossed the temporary border.

At first, the East African soldiers thought that a major war was about to break out. This was because the mobilization of the East African colonies was unprecedented, and coupled with the overseas operations, it should be a tough battle.

But the reality was different from what the East African government had expected. In Burundi and the southern part of the Karawi Kingdom, the East African army did not encounter any decent resistance, and even human figures were hard to see.

Invasion means nothing more than killing, burning and looting. However, the East African army is facing a situation where there is nothing left to loot in the two countries. Killing requires resistance. And plundering the population is not the goal of the East African government. Expelling the indigenous population is the established policy of East Africa.

The last "purge" campaign was so effective that the East African army was like a no-man's land throughout Burundi and southern Karawi.

In three days, the East African army on the western front advanced more than 100 kilometers. There were very few indigenous people along the way, and the villages were abandoned. Instead, there were many indigenous people fleeing the war in the dense forests and suburbs.

It was unfortunate for these natives to encounter the East African army. Among them were the East Bantu people who had been driven out of East Africa before. After seeing the East African army, they immediately ran away.

The natives of the Kingdom of Burundi had never seen the power of the East African Army and they stayed there foolishly, so they suffered the iron fist of the East African Army.

Even the militia were able to crush the natives with their weapon advantage. After a burst of shooting, the natives reacted and began to flee northward in panic.

It can be said that 99 percent of the indigenous people of Burundi and the Kingdom of Karawi have never seen any other race besides black people, let alone firearms.

The Arabs and some European explorers active in the northwest region might have carried some advanced weapons, but the groups they fundamentally dealt with were still the princes and nobles of the indigenous African kingdoms. For example, even if the Arabs participated in the slave trade, they would choose to cooperate with the indigenous forces and generally would not take part in it themselves, especially in such deep inland areas.

European explorers were not good people in this era. Most of them were funded by European capitalists and nobles. They could be said to be reconnaissance teams of invaders. They wanted to obtain first-hand information about Africa and naturally communicated with African chiefs, kings, etc.

Although the results achieved along the way were minimal, the East African army did not do nothing, such as burning abandoned villages, and the entire East African controlled area was filled with smoke.

The main reason was that the natives really didn't have anything good, and the land had been abandoned due to previous wars, so even valuable products like food were not produced. The East African soldiers didn't even look down on the bottles and jars, so they simply set them on fire, which could also prevent the spread of the plague. No one knew what these villages had experienced before, and whether they were clean or not.

Bujumbura (a city in the north of Lake Tanganyika).

"Oh, I thought that with such a large-scale mobilization, we would definitely encounter a large-scale war. It turns out that this indigenous kingdom is not as good as the tribes on the East African grasslands in my opinion! We only encountered a few birdmen in all these days." Haisheng Li and his comrades complained.

"Isn't this perfect? ​​You want to fight so badly that now you just rush around every day, set some fires, and shoot a few shots at the natives when you meet them. Why don't you enjoy such a comfortable life instead of fighting the natives to death?" John Zhang said to Lao Li.

"Fight to the death? I think it's a fight to the death. With the gun in my hand, I, Old Li, have never been scared. Every time I have easily dealt with the opponent." Haisheng Li said proudly while touching the gun in his hand.

"That's because you haven't met any tough guys. What kind of weapons do these natives have? The shovel in my house is better than the natives' spears." John Zhang said.

"Don't they have it? If they also have muskets, then I would naturally think twice, because they don't have this thing." said Lao Li.

"They are just bullying the backward natives. Wasn't the Qing Dynasty also bullied by foreigners in this way?" said John Zhang.

"Hey, don't mention the Qing Dynasty to me. From top to bottom, the emperor and the local landlords, none of them are good. It must be the sins they committed in their previous life that made them reincarnate there. They might as well have been born in Germany after all these twists and turns!" said Lao Li.

"Heh, it may not be so good to be born in Germany in this era. Look at those Austro-Hungarian immigrants in our team. They also lived a hard life before, which was only slightly better than that in the Far East." John Zhang said.

"You can't say that. Although they are poor, they are very strong! They have the support of Germany and Austria-Hungary, so they can speak more confidently than us." Old Li retorted.

"What is there to be afraid of? We are Germans now. I heard from the recruiters in the Far East that if we wear this uniform, we will be recognized as human beings in the Far East. Those landlords, rich people, town mayors and county governors will have to greet us with courtesy when they see us." John Zhang said.

"Besides, Prince Constantine and Prince Ernst have repeatedly stressed that there is no ethnic distinction in East Africa. As long as you recognize the German label, you are a German..."

(This is a dialogue based on the background of the time, mainly to reflect the changes in the mentality of immigrants. Please do not apply it to the modern era.)

…

Oruchi Reis looked at another abandoned village with depression. Judging from the size of the village, it was most likely an important city of the indigenous kingdom.

Because this place is several times larger than other villages, although according to the standards of Oruchi Reis and others in the team, this city is at most a larger village whether in the Far East or Europe.

But in backward Africa, this place is very likely to be the central city of the region, or even the fiefdom of princes and nobles.

This large and unremarkable village is Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi in its previous life. Bujumbura is not special in Burundi now. In its previous life, it was colonized by Germans and they used this place as the center to rule the Burundi region. After Burundi’s independence, it inherited Bujumbura’s status as the capital.

A team of more than 300 people led by Oruchi Reis marched northward along the eastern shore of Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika).

The shores of Lake Solon were definitely a more densely populated area in the Kingdom of Burundi in the past, but Oruchi Reis didn't see many people along the way.

And at the speed of the team led by Oruchi Reis, if they don't encounter any powerful natives, they will reach the border of the Kingdom of Rwanda in a few days.

The entire Burundi combat area extended forward for about a hundred miles and was connected to the Great Lakes region of East African colonies (Burundi was further south than the Kingdom of Karawi).

It is the area south of the straight line connecting the northernmost tip of Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) and the southwestern corner of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

The East African army in the Karawi Kingdom had two main attack directions. One was directly north to the border between Buganda and the Karawi Kingdom.

One route was heading northwest, heading towards the Igala Kingdom. This route was the main force in the Karawi Kingdom's war zone, while the army heading north was mainly aimed at preventing the Buganda Kingdom from interfering from the south, with defense as its goal.

From Bujumbura in the far west, all the way to the border of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) at the Karawi Kingdom to the Buganda Kingdom.

The East African army formed a straight line running from northeast to southwest, slowly eroding the four northwestern countries from southeast to northwest.

The team led by Oruchi Reis is the westernmost East African army on the entire front line. It is currently resting in Bujumbura. Lao Li and John Zhang are the Chinese immigrant soldiers in this team.

Oruç Reis's team was a temporary combination of regular army and militia, with more than 40 regular soldiers, mostly Chinese. Because immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany arrived relatively late, there were relatively few of them in the army, especially immigrants from the German region (mainly referring to Germany), who were only introduced into the colonies in large numbers in recent months, so even fewer of them entered the army for development.

The newly introduced German immigrants were mainly used to dilute the population ratio in each settlement and strengthen the spread of German culture.

At present, with the help of immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Pan-German nation has actually gained the upper hand (Europeans are collectively referred to as the Pan-German nation, and Chinese who marry white people are classified as mixed-race, which is used to divide the Chinese community. Of course, these are concepts cited in statistical data and are not official documents of the East African government.), coupled with guidance in education and administration, East Africa is accelerating its Germanization.

The earliest German mercenaries, except for non-combat casualties (due to acclimatization) and some unlucky ones, were mostly serving in the East African colonial army and government agencies.

Oruchi Reis was one of the German mercenaries who followed Alman to land in the East African colony.

(End of this chapter)