Chapter 244: Turning defeat into victory
East African Kingdom, first town, Kivit Palace.
"How is the reorganization of the new army going recently?" King Constantine asked the East African officials.
"Your Majesty, we have completed 80% of the progress. We have split and reorganized the original troops. Based on their military achievements, we have promoted a group of outstanding people from the previous battle to serve as generals of the new army."
"Well, after the troops are reorganized, send the information to my office." Constantine ordered.
"By the way, there is one more thing. What have the Portuguese been doing recently? Have they conquered the southern shore of Malawi?"
"I haven't heard of that. Our troops on the border of South Salzburg Province have not seen any Portuguese troops so far. The spies have not penetrated deep into the southern part of Malawi, but no Portuguese have been seen within more than 200 miles south of South Salzburg Province." Merk said.
"Could it be that they haven't sent troops yet?" von der Leyen guessed.
"It should be unlikely. It has been several months. It didn't take us long to occupy such a large area in the southwest," Merk said.
"I do remember this. The Portuguese should have set off. Two months ago, our intelligence personnel in Maputo told us that the Portuguese organized a team to head inland, but the number of people was not large, probably only a few hundred. We did not pay attention to this intelligence at the time, but judging from the time, it is very likely that it was the army of the Mozambique colony to conquer the Kingdom of Malawi." Felix said.
"A few hundred people should be enough to defeat an indigenous kingdom, but it should not be easy to achieve effective occupation, unless the indigenous people all become fools and are willing to be slaves to the Portuguese." Siwei Te joked.
"Perhaps, this Portuguese army encountered some force majeure factors that led to the annihilation of the entire army. Hundreds of people were killed in a mountain flood. After all, Mozambique has a lot of rainfall and rivers often flood," said von der Leyen.
"Forget it, let's not talk about these Portuguese people. It has nothing to do with us if we fail to take Malawi. We should reorganize the troops before July. Then we can expand rapidly into the inland areas." Constantine set the tone.
…
In the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi, in the Chipoka area, a small group of Portuguese were resting. Suddenly, a shadow flew out from the dense forest next to them.
"Be careful, Ross." Team leader Anthony threw the soldier named Ross to the ground.
At the same time, the shadow in the dense forest revealed its true form. It was an arrow that flew over Anthony and Ross with a sound of breaking through the air, and finally fell into the soil in an open space in the distance.
"Damn it, what are you still standing there for? Shoot!" Anthony dealt with.
The Portuguese soldiers, who realized it later, began to shoot indiscriminately towards the place where the arrows flew from, and the leaves in the dense forest were knocked to the ground.
Same as the previous few days, nothing gained?
"Damn it, these guys let them run away again. If they fall into my hands, I will definitely skin them alive." Anthony said indignantly.
Just as Anthony was complaining and reloading the ammunition with the Portuguese soldiers, a green "grass monkey" suddenly jumped up from the ground where the random shooting had just taken place and instantly ran towards the dense forest.
"Oh no! Were you fooled?"
Anthony was annoyed when he noticed the noise. Although the "grass monkey" was covered with green leaves as a cover, his dark skin exposed when he escaped said it all.
"Captain! Are you still chasing?" a soldier asked in a low voice.
"Chase? What the hell, you can't see him and he's fooling you around! And don't go into the deep forest, how do you know if there is a trap set by the natives behind? If it weren't for my strong observation ability, Ross would have gone to see God just now! So listen to me, you new recruits, I don't care what you did before, you have to follow my command from now on, otherwise no one will go back alive!" Anthony taught his subordinates angrily.
Anthony was actually quite speechless. This team that was assembled at zero hour was really difficult to lead. They did not have the necessary alertness on the battlefield and their discipline was also very poor.
However, we can't blame them. They are just a group of sailors and rarely operate in the unfamiliar environment of grasslands and rainforests in inland Africa. Although this is land, it is not necessarily safer than being pirates on the sea.
…
rear.
"Assholes, you can't even take down a bunch of natives, what are you doing? Do you want to let the Prussian barbarians next door laugh at our great Kingdom of Portugal?"
Bullred, the commander-in-chief of the Portuguese expeditionary force in Malawi, screamed.
It was impossible not to be angry. This time, the Portuguese Mozambique colony dispatched more than 500 people and more than 3,000 Mozambique native vassal troops to attack the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi.
As a result, it took three months of fighting to push the front line to the Chipoka area. The worst thing was that the ammunition was almost exhausted, and there was no sign of taking over the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi.
"Commander-in-chief, we can't blame the soldiers for not trying their best! It's because the natives on the shores of Lake Malawi are too cunning. They saw us from afar and started to run away. As a result, as soon as we passed by, they came out from the forest and bushes. Our manpower is not enough to deal with them. In addition, because of the existence of Lake Malawi, the climate here is too humid and hot. Even if the troops march normally, the casualties are very serious."
"Captain Charvez, I don't want to hear any excuses now. We are Europeans as well. We came to Mozambique earlier than the Prussian barbarians. Why didn't they encounter the above problems?"
"Commander-in-Chief, although Prussia is barbaric, they are good at land warfare, while we Portuguese are a traditional maritime nation. So, to put it bluntly, we are probably not as good as the Prussians in fighting in inland areas."
Charvez's excuse was perfect. Prussia was a land power, so it thrived on the African continent. Portugal is a maritime country, so of course it had advantages over islands and coastal areas.
Bullard still wanted to find a reason to scold him, but after thinking about it, he suddenly felt that what Charles said made sense.
"Moreover, our Mozambique team was also put together at short notice. To be honest, the Mozambique colony has been at peace for a long time in recent years, so it cannot exert its combat effectiveness." Chalves struck while the iron was hot.
"Although there is some truth in what you said, what should we do now that we cannot complete the mission? Moreover, the ammunition issue is also a problem. If we continue to fight, with such heavy casualties, the colonial government will definitely hold you accountable." Bullred said.
Although Bullard was the commander-in-chief of this expedition, he was actually just a figurehead, meaning he had connections above him, so the mistakes of the war were mainly the responsibility of Charles.
Chalveys was sweating profusely. He thought about it carefully, and suddenly an idea came to his mind. He said to Bullred, "Commander-in-Chief, do you still remember the heavy rain a few days ago?"
"Ah! Of course, my coffee-maker was soaked, and I couldn't light it, so I didn't have any hot coffee that day."
A dandy boy! In his heart, Chalvey despised Bullred, but he said, "Commander-in-Chief, it is most likely to cause river flooding and mountain torrents when it rains, and the terrain near Lake Malawi is quite undulating. We might as well polish the battle and report it."
"How to polish it? It's already like this!" Bullred asked curiously.
"Commander-in-Chief, we said that under your heroic leadership, our troops have made rapid progress, but man proposes, God disposes. Just when we were about to take over the entire southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi, the main force was suddenly hit by a mountain flood, so..."
"This is a good idea, but how can you ensure that you won't be exposed?"
"It's easy to deal with our own people. There aren't many of us left anyway, so we just need to keep a unified story. The main thing is that group of natives. Excluding those who ran away and those who died, there are still more than a thousand people. We might as well just kill them here. When the colonial government asks about it, we can say that they ran away due to a mountain torrent, and the brave Portuguese soldiers did not get separated because of your inspiration..."
(End of this chapter)
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