Chapter 1291: The Fall of Diamond City (First update, please subscribe)

On November 23, with the defeat of General Paul Methuen.

Kimberly's last hope was shattered.

In the early morning of the 24th, with an order given, the Boer army surrounding Kimberley launched an attack - artillery bombardment!

The heavy bombardment began again.

The artillery positions roared loudly, and large-caliber artillery pieces roared, pouring shells into the Kimberley Fortress.

The Boer artillery was trained by the Imperial Military Attaché Corps and was equipped with 150mm artillery in addition to medium-caliber field guns.

But the truly deadly one was the Type 64 mortar. This super-caliber mortar was designed more than 20 years ago by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang based on the Type 98 mortar in a small notebook in order to capture fortresses.

Its shells are extremely powerful. They are about 1.5 meters long, 330 mm in diameter, weigh 300 kg, and have a charge of 200 kg! The explosion can reach a diameter of 250 meters. On the battlefield, even the most solid fortifications can be easily blown apart with one shot!

In the past twenty years, it had destroyed the Chilean army fortresses and blew up the Turkish fortresses again and again. Now, here, of course, it could easily destroy the Kimberley fortress.

Although the Boers only had four Type 64A mortars, the heavy shells screamed down from the sky and instantly collapsed half of the fortress. The fierce bombardment did not stop. At the same time, thousands of field artillery shells and mortar shells fell on the fortress like raindrops.

The British Army, which had never fought a war with a "civilized country" since the Crimean War, had never seen such a scene. In the past, they used cannons to bombard the natives, but now they were passively bombed. They had never experienced this before.

The most deadly thing was the witch-like whistling sound that sounded every twenty minutes or so—that was the whistling sound of the Type 64A mortar shells flying. Every explosion was earth-shaking, and in the trembling of the earth, the seemingly solid fortress seemed like paper.

Many British people were buried alive in the fortress in despair and fear.

After the first day's bombardment, the fortress was almost reduced to ruins. More than half of the British troops guarding the fortress were killed or wounded. The most fatal blow was the blow to morale - the reality that the sturdy fortress was vulnerable to a single blow dealt a heavy blow to people's confidence.

Most of the artillery in the fort was destroyed by Boer fire.

"The fortress can no longer be defended!"

That night, after inspecting the fortress, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph looked at the ruins of the fortress and said bluntly.

"Even Kimberly couldn't hold on. Under such fierce fire, continuing to resist is simply..."

Before Randolph could even finish his words, the witch's scream rang out again - it was the Type 64A mortar that was angry.

The next moment, a ball of fierce fireworks rose up in the fortress, and Randolph felt the breath of death in the shaking of the earth.

"Damn, where did the Boers get their heavy artillery from..."

Of course he didn't know that this was a gift from the empire!

The Empire is peace-loving, and at most it will just provide some weapons...

That night, when Randolph returned to the city from the fortress, before he could calm down, he received a telegram from the south - the reinforcements led by General Paul Methuen were ambushed on the way and lost more than half of their troops. General Paul Methuen surrendered.

Kimberly's last hope was completely shattered.

Faced with this news, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph made a decision - surrender.

However, when Lieutenant Colonel Randolph made this decision, Rhodes, the diamond king, still maintained his high fighting spirit.

"Lieutenant Colonel, we must continue to fight. The whole world is watching us now. They are all watching here, Kimberley. This is related to the glory of the entire British Empire."

After hearing that Lieutenant Colonel Randolph wanted to surrender, how could Rhodes just sit back and watch all this happen? He immediately argued with reason.

"Lieutenant Colonel, although General Methuen failed, the British Empire will soon organize a more powerful expeditionary force to come here. Our reinforcements..."

"Reinforcements, where are the reinforcements?"

Randolph interrupted Rhodes before he could finish.

"Even before the reinforcements arrive, we will die in the Boer artillery fire, and everyone and the city will be completely destroyed..."

When Rhodes was still trying to fight for it, Randolph said again.

"Mr. Rhodes, if it weren't for your ambition, this damn war would never have broken out. We are not prepared for this war at all. Our people are constantly dying here. These dead British people are all because of your ambition!"

Faced with such rebuke, Rhodes still stubbornly retorted,

"Lieutenant Colonel, you can't say that. You have to know that I provided them with generous pensions!" After Rhodes arrived in Kimberley, in order to boost morale and inspire the courage of those people to protect his diamond mine, in addition to giving each soldier a bonus of 200 pounds, he also gave the wounded British soldiers a pension of 500 pounds, and the pension for the dead was as high as 1,000 pounds. If the Boer attack could be repelled, then everyone could get an additional bonus of 300 pounds.

In this era, 1,000 pounds was equivalent to the income of an ordinary British worker for more than ten years. If you put 1,000 pounds in the bank, the interest alone would be enough for a family to live a relatively comfortable life.

A big reward will always bring out the brave. Faced with such a reward, the British army burst out with unprecedented courage, but no matter how brave they were, they could not withstand the cannon. Although the money was very tempting, the fierce artillery fire still successfully destroyed their morale.

Rhodes may be a billionaire, but he was powerless to change the officers' decision. In fact, Randolph's decision to surrender was based on reality. They had been holding out here for a month, and the number of casualties had passed. If they continued to hold out, the British army would collapse in the bombardment even before the Boers attacked.

By that time, they will lose everything.

Now, while they still have the strength to defend, they can discuss the conditions of surrender with them - for example, to preserve the property of the officers and soldiers. After all, Rhodes is still very generous, and each of them has received bribes of thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds. They certainly hope to keep this money through negotiations, rather than becoming prisoners after the collapse, and their property will also become the property of the Boers.

If Rhodes knew that it was his bribe that made Randolph and other officers decide to surrender, he would probably be furious.

However, Rhodes had no choice at all. Even before surrendering, he had to negotiate with Randolph and offered a bribe of 10,000 pounds, hoping to include him in the negotiation conditions - to save him from trial by the Boers.

Of course, no one cared about his fate during the negotiations. After all, at this time, everyone was always concerned about quality assurance. Moreover, for the Boers, the famous Mr. Rhodes was a big piece of fat meat. How could they let it go easily?

The next afternoon, after receiving the promise that their property would be protected, the British troops guarding Kimberley finally raised the white flag after 33 days of holding out.

Kimberley, the "Diamond City" of the British Empire, has fallen...

(End of this chapter)