Chapter 390 Persuasion

The fall of Pretoria also meant that the Transvaal Republic had basically perished, and Pretorius Jr. and the Transvaal Republic government personnel fled to the Orange Free State. The only uncertainty at present is where the main force of the Boers fighting the Zulu Kingdom is?

This reminded Ernst of King Wu's conquest of King Zhou. The Shang Dynasty was destroyed because the main force of the Shang people was attacking the Dongyi and could not return to support in time. The hastily assembled slave army turned against them, making the Shang king unable to save the situation and could only burn himself.

Therefore, it is very important to ensure the existence of a military force loyal to the royal family in the capital, which can respond to sudden crises at any time. This is also the original intention of the establishment of the 101st Guards Division.

Of course, the slave troops in Transvaal were generally qualified. Even after their collapse, they did not take advantage of the chaos to settle accounts with the Boers, but fled everywhere.

After occupying Pretoria, the East African Army gathered the citizens of Pretoria at the Transvaal Republic Parliament and announced the disposal of the Transvaal Republic to the Boers in Pretoria.

"The Kingdom of East Africa is an absolute monarchy that yearns for order and justice. Any individual or force that opposes the monarchy, does not support the national policies of East Africa, and is unfriendly to the Kingdom of East Africa is not welcome. All races in the Kingdom of East Africa are equal before the law and will not enjoy any privileges. The land of East Africa belongs to the state..." Siewert was still speaking, but the Boers below were already furious.

There is nothing wrong with the monarchy, it is acceptable, but abolishing slavery is a big problem for the Boers. Without slaves, how can they work on their own farms? Of course, it is not impossible, but the nationalization of East African land is not a way for them to survive!

Someone shouted from below: "The Transvaal Republic does not welcome you invaders, get out of our land!"

Ernst, who was listening nearby, admired his courage. He stood up from his chair and said to the Boer, "Who was the one making the loud noise just now? Are you pretending to be a hero? If you could take the initiative to stand up instead of hiding in the crowd and being furious, then I would respect you as a man."

After waiting for a while and seeing no one actively admitting it, Ernst said: "From today on, there is no longer a country called the Transvaal Republic in the world. This is the land of the East African Kingdom.

As for those who are dissatisfied with the East African Kingdom, you can choose to leave here. We will not make things difficult for those who leave on their own initiative. You can leave the land of East Africa with your assets and property. If you want revenge, you are welcome at any time. In fact, there is no conflict between East Africa and the former Transvaal Republic, and they even have a good relationship.

It was your president who caused all the consequences. He should never have supported the Ndebele rebellion. It is just like someone supporting your enemy, the Zulu Kingdom, or your slave riots. Therefore, this war in East Africa is legal, reasonable and just. As for your losses, they should be entirely attributed to the reckless actions of your democratically elected president. "

Although what Ernst said was a twisted logic, the final result would be the same regardless of whether the Boers supported the Ndebele or not, but the excuse for war was indeed provided by Pretorius the Younger himself.

After listening to Ernst's words, some Boers who were incapable of independent thinking believed that it was their president's responsibility because the example Ernst gave was just right.

The Zulus were the Boers' biggest enemy before East Africa attacked the Transvaal Republic. If there was a force supporting the Zulus, the Boers would definitely not agree if they put themselves in their shoes.

Of course, most Boers knew that this was just the East African Kingdom trying to divert conflicts. Now the Boers’ biggest enemy was the East African Kingdom, not the Zulus.

"Excuse me, sir, who are you?" a Boer asked unwillingly.

"I am the crown prince of the East African Kingdom, Ernst."

"Your Highness Ernst, supporting the Ndebele people is President Pretorius' fault. It has nothing to do with us..."

Ernst: "Since Pretorius Jr. is the president you elected, what he did naturally represents the Transvaal Republic. Pretorius Jr. lost to East Africa, and the loser will naturally pay the price."

The losers would at best cede territory and pay compensation, at worst their nation would be destroyed and their race exterminated. This was the main theme of this era. Don't think that just because we are from the European continent we are immune to this. For example, the colonists in those traditional colonial countries in West Africa were almost beaten to death.

East Africa's move to allow the Boers to take their property and move out of East Africa is only slightly less humane than the British in Cape Town, but that is not because the British have more conscience, but because there are more Boers in Cape Town, England, so some compromises must be made. East Africa does not need to be so hypocritical. Relying on military strength, these Boers cannot make any waves.

Ernst said, "Well, this matter is not worth negotiating. We welcome residents who are willing to stay in the East African Kingdom according to the East African lifestyle. Those who are not willing can leave. But I want to warn you not to make trouble, otherwise the East African Army is no joke. I am not afraid to tell you that we used more than 50,000 troops to invade Transvaal this time, so I hope some people will not ignore good advice and act on their own."

Ernst's words really worked. The Boers in Pretoria had already realized that it was impossible to do anything. The number of the East African Army alone was an insurmountable mountain. Even if the Transvaal Republic gathered all the men in the country, it would still be about the same number. The question was, after removing the elderly and children, how many would be left? There was no way they could resist the East African Kingdom.

Some large Boer planters had already fled with Pretorius the Younger, and the remaining planters were also planning to go to Orange.

The Transvaal and Orange regions practiced a large land ownership system, where a few families could own land the size of a town. After the Boer farmers moved into the new areas, the first thing they did was to enclose the land, divide the boundaries, and name the natural landmarks of the boundaries, such as streams, forests or hills.

The Boer Parliament issued certificates of land ownership, but because the enclosed land was too vast, some land was left unattended for decades after it was enclosed and was left to become barren.

Therefore, there were not many Boer farmers, and it took strength to grab land. Civilians did not have the ability to develop the land, and they also had to face threats from indigenous peoples such as the Zulus. Many Boers had to form militias. This concentrated the Boer population in Transvaal and Orange, saving the East African Army a lot of energy. If they were really scattered here and there, they would have been very busy.

After the East African Kingdom's kind persuasion, almost 100% of the Boers chose to leave, and only a small number chose to stay. Those who were unwilling to leave and chose to join East Africa were basically proletarian Germans.

Boers is just a flexible name. They call themselves Afrikaners, but there are immigrants from the Netherlands, Britain, France and various German states. After the British colonized Cape Town, some British immigrants broke away from the Boers and returned to the British embrace. The same is true for the Germans joining East Africa. This part of the Germans has been purified, so there is no need to worry about any trouble in the future if they join East Africa.

(End of this chapter)