Chapter 325 Ndebele Supporters

There are some differences between Zhuhai Trade Zone and the previous Zhuhai Special Economic Zone. The reason for establishing Zhuhai Special Economic Zone was that the inland wanted to attract investment from the Portuguese Macau and other regions.

The East African government did not have this consideration. It just wanted to get a share of the Far Eastern southern market. The reason for choosing Zhuhai was that the well-located places in the south had long been occupied by the British and French.

Behind Tangjia Bay is Xiangshan County. The current Xiangshan County is almost the same as Zhongshan and Zhuhai in the past, so its potential is still trustworthy.

Only Ernst himself believes this. In fact, his own people do not quite understand it. Xiangshan is now completely an inland county town, and the coast is basically all mudflats. For example, Tangjia Bay, which was leased from East Africa to build a port, has only a few small fishing villages on the coast. To engage in local trade, all infrastructure has to be built at their own expense.

However, this was how trade was in that era. It had only been more than 20 years since the Qing government opened up the coastal areas, and the good places had long been occupied by Britain and France. Only Guangzhou and Shanghai had too advantageous geographical locations and could be connected to the inland through the Pearl River and Yangtze River waterways. They were places that everyone was jealous of, but could not be monopolized.

Looking at Germany in the past, it arrived late and could only choose Jiaozhou in the north as its base. In order to open up the inland, Germany had to work hard to build railways. As a result, when the railway was completed, the Japanese took advantage of it before it was even warm enough.

…

Matabele Plateau, East Africa.

Lobengula did have some real skills. By integrating the military leaders of the Ndebele people at all levels under his command, the Ndebele people, who were almost all soldiers, formed a rebel army of 50,000 people, and also had a vassal army of 100,000 composed of the Shona people.

They seized the transportation strongholds set up inland by East Africa. For a while, the material transportation channels that East Africa had built during the southern expedition were cut off. If these channels could not be opened in time, the East African troops on the border would fall into a food shortage over time.

Witt personally went to the South Salzburg Province and organized an army of more than 5,000 people to suppress the rebellion. He marched south along the Luangwa River and at the same time sent cavalry to notify the border troops on the Matabele Plateau to cooperate in suppressing the rebellion from the east, west and south.

Bulawayo.

The capital of the Matabele Kingdom and the base of Lobengula.

The prime minister of the kingdom was reporting the uprising to Lobengula: "Your Majesty, our military leaders in various places have completed their tasks. A total of 78 East African strongholds have been destroyed, and more than 10,000 enemies have been killed."

It is obvious that this war report is false news. If there really were more than 10,000 East Africans in the interior of the Matabele Plateau, the Ndebele people's rebellion would never have had a chance to launch.

The outposts set up by East Africa in Matabele were mainly used to maintain grain transportation and commercial roads. Each outpost had a maximum of 20 to 30 people, and some even had only a single-digit number.

However, Lobengula was in a good mood and did not delve too deeply into the data. It was human nature to falsely report military achievements. Anyway, the effect he wanted was achieved.

Lobengula: "Very good. Order them to keep up the good work. We are going to drive all the East Africans out of the Matabele Kingdom at once."

Lobengula was extremely ambitious. In order to seize the throne, he fought wars all over the country to suppress his enemies for a long time.

Just when he had just subdued all the forces and ascended the throne, the East Africans came. At that time, Lobengula was still unsure of the strength of the East Africans, and the kingdom was in a weak period due to the turmoil, so he could only watch the East African army enter the Matabele Kingdom.

The mighty East African Southern Army did frighten Lobengula at the time, but he soon discovered that the main forces of East Africa were mainly in the east and south directions, confronting Portugal and the Boers.

At the same time, the East African Kingdom sent envoys to ask Lobengula to submit to the East African Kingdom. Why should he share when he could have it exclusively? Moreover, he had to pay tribute, which was intolerable to Lobengula.

Lobengula said to his subordinates: "The reason why these white people were able to defeat the brave Ndebele warriors was entirely due to the advantage of firearms. Now we have also organized our own firearms troops. As long as we defeat the East Africans entrenched in the south, our Matabele Kingdom will be able to achieve the final victory."

As a branch of the Zulu people, the Ndebele people were no strangers to firearms and had suffered great losses at the hands of the Boers. Therefore, after the former King Mzilika and his people moved to Zimbabwe, they actively contacted the Portuguese, purchased firearms, and formed their own firearms unit.

This was even more so after Lobengula ascended the throne, but the supplier changed from the Portuguese to the Boers, their enemy.

Although the Portuguese Governor of Mozambique is not very fond of East Africa, the strength of East Africa is indeed worthy of respect. Without local support, it is better not to go to war with the East Africans, as that will only benefit the British in the south.

But the Boers were different. They naturally welcomed the Ndebele people who came to trade with gold. As for the East African Kingdom, your gold is more important!

Before, the Boers would definitely teach the Ndebele a lesson for their behavior of carrying gold bricks through the market, but the arrival of the Germans made the Boers feel threatened.

But the thought of asking the Boers to fight the Germans alone made them feel guilty. But if the Ndebele came to them, the Boers would have a way to test the power of the Germans.

The Boers imported firearms into the Matabele Kingdom through arms smuggling, and the Boers' firearms were purchased from British merchants. Then the Boers sneaked across the Limpopo River and traded with the Ndebele people in the dense forests on both sides of the river.

In just three months, the Boers imported 5,000 muskets into the Ndebele, most of which were weapons retired by the British Army after the Crimean War.

In the past, the Boers would certainly not have been so supportive of the Ndebele people. After all, they themselves coveted the land on the north bank of the Limpopo River.

However, now that the northern bank of the Limpopo River has become the territory of the East African Kingdom, the Boers' expansion direction has been cut off, and the Ndebele people have changed from enemies to pawns that can be used. Anyway, the Ndebele people are harming the East African Kingdom, and they can also get gold from them. It's killing two birds with one stone, so why not do it?

Five thousand firearms are the source of Lobengula's confidence. Together with the original firearms troops of more than one thousand, he can organize a firearms force of six thousand people. Together with the remaining hundreds of thousands of troops, he has a greater chance of winning no matter how you look at it.

It was obvious that Lobengula was misled by the Boers and thought that the East African Kingdom was the same as the Boers, a group of white people who relied on their advantage in firearms to occupy land all over Africa but were small in number.

But this situation only exists in Zimbabwe. The number of East African immigrants in Zambia is much larger than the entire Ndebele people in Zimbabwe.

It’s just that due to the distance, the development of Zimbabwe is lagging behind, so there are few people, which gave Lobengula an illusion.

Although Zimbabwe has a large number of East African troops, they do not farm their own land. If their food supply is cut off, they will not be able to hold out for more than a month and will surrender due to lack of food.

(End of this chapter)