Chapter 327 Heading South
The geographical conditions in East Africa do not allow for rivers with high shipping value. One reason is the topography, as all large rivers pass through areas with large elevation differences. Another reason is the climate, as rivers have large seasonal differences.
The construction of a canal in the Central Province avoided the above two problems. The terrain in the Central Province is relatively flat, and the natural rivers have navigation value. Although the rivers in the Central Province are seasonal, the precipitation is sufficient even in the dry season.
For example, the Uluguru Mountains, one of the sources of the Wami River and the Little Rhine River, has an astonishing annual average rainfall of over 3,000 mm. The Uluguru Mountains are actually the eastern extension of the East African Plateau. The sudden uplift of the terrain intercepts most of the water vapor from the Indian Ocean. This is also the reason why the precipitation in Dodoma City west of the Uluguru Mountains has dropped sharply.
The Rufiji River is even more exaggerated. Its source comes from the mountains along the shore of Lake Malawi. It flows through a large area and is strengthened again in the middle. The precipitation in the downstream catchment area is also very large.
…
After half a month's march, the anti-insurgency army led by Stuart himself, consisting of the border guards of South Salzburg Province and some militia forces, took advantage of the Luangwa River to attack Bulawayo, the capital of the Matabele Kingdom.
The Ndebele people along the way were simply unable to resist the aggressive South Salzburg Province border guards. The South Salzburg Army was a strategic force used to deal with the Portuguese army and ensure the corridor connecting Tanganyika region and Katanga Plateau in East Africa. It was a regular force in East Africa and its combat effectiveness was naturally not bad. It is no exaggeration to say that it was a case of using a sledgehammer to kill a chicken.
Three months ago, the graduates of the Hechingen Military Academy, who had participated in the Franco-Prussian War, were incorporated into the main forces in East Africa after arriving in East Africa, and received special reorganization training for the main forces in East Africa.
The South Salzburg Border Guard is one of them. All the border guards of the South Salzburg Province are equipped with Dreiser rifles and 18 light movable artillery pieces. Their strength on paper alone is quite impressive in the sub-Saharan region.
This era was still the era of rifles and artillery. Although the Dreiser rifle was already outdated in Europe, it was only used by the military powers in Europe. Even though the Dreiser rifle had many shortcomings in the Franco-Prussian War, many European countries did not have it, such as the Kingdom of Portugal. The East African Kingdom was equipped with Dreiser rifles, which was simply excessive for Mozambique, a colony of the Kingdom of Portugal.
Siweit asked his guide, Kasos, "How many kilometers are left to reach Bulawayo?"
"Reporting to the Chief of General Staff, after crossing the small river ahead, there are about 40 kilometers left to go," Cassos replied.
Siwei Te: "Are you sure this river is deep enough to wade across?"
Cassos: "Yes, even in the rainy season, the depth of this river is no more than 50 centimeters, and the deepest is only about one meter. We often had to wade across the river before, so we are very familiar with it."
Cassos is a survivor who escaped from the previous Ndebele rebellion. When the Ndebele riots began, some East African strongholds knew that things were going to get bad and fled in advance. The smaller the population of the stronghold, the more so. Faced with hundreds or thousands of Ndebele people, it would be strange if they didn't run away.
However, there are conditions for escaping. It is okay for a communication base with horses, but for armed personnel in a base without horses, they can only choose to compete with the Ndebele people in leg strength.
The advantage of East African armed personnel lies in their endurance, while the African natives have strong short-distance explosiveness. The natives of Zimbabwe are different from the natives of the East African plateau. They are not good at running because they have one foot in the agricultural and pastoral civilization. All of this is to blame because of the Ndebele people.
The Ndebele people came from the Zulu Kingdom and were relatively knowledgeable, while the Shona people whom they enslaved were relatively civilized among the indigenous peoples of Africa. The Shona people made their livings on farming and animal husbandry, and had mastered crude iron smelting and alchemy techniques.
The Matabele Kingdom under the rule of the Ndebele people further strengthened the agricultural and pastoral attributes of the Zimbabwe region. The Ndebele people learned from the Boers, built grasslands and farmlands in Zimbabwe, and became landlords themselves.
The indigenous people engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry do not need to rely on hunting for their livelihood like the Bantu tribes in East Africa. They do not need to chase prey all day long, so their long-distance running ability is not strong.
The East African troops, including the militia, have all been trained. In addition, in this era, everyone has good physical fitness, so the two sides mainly compete with each other in terms of understanding of the terrain and endurance. The East African armed personnel are not at a disadvantage in terms of physical strength.
It was thanks to his amazing perseverance, long time in the area and familiarity with the terrain that Cassos managed to escape from the Ndebele encirclement.
With Cassos as a living map, it is much easier for Siwei Te to carry out operations.
He ordered: "Pass the order down, the whole army is ready to cross the river."
Fortunately, the natives did not understand the art of war, but if they had some military ideas, they would have ambushed the East African army by the river and attacked them when they were halfway across the river. The East African army would have suffered heavy losses, but unfortunately many of the natives could not even count on their five fingers, so the East African army easily penetrated into the Matabele Plateau again.
There are certainly some knowledgeable people among the Ndebele people, but they are all concentrated in the royal capital. After all, knowledgeable people must serve Lobengula first.
The prime minister appointed by Lobengula was a top talent among the indigenous people with rich knowledge reserves. He was able to perform the simplest mathematical operations. His father was a Swahili businessman, so he also learned some basic knowledge of mathematics.
Basically, the tax work of the Matabele Kingdom was monopolized by his family. Most of the leaders of Lobengula and the Ndebele people were warriors who only knew how to use violence, so the delicate work of managing the country had to be done by his own family.
The benefits are also obvious. As long as the basic needs of the Ndebele people are met, most of the remaining taxes will go into the pockets of the prime minister's family.
The Ndebele people rely on the Shona for support, and 20% of the wealth created by the Shona goes into the prime minister's pocket through taxation. However, Lobengula does not understand this at all. He only knows that if he controls the army, his rule will be as solid as a rock.
Therefore, as long as the prime minister can get money to support himself in expanding his army and upgrading his equipment, he can continue to be the "King of Kings". As for who the prime minister takes the money from, it doesn't matter. Therefore, the monarch and his ministers of the Matabele Kingdom are working in both directions.
Bulawayo.
The East African army was coming from the north, and Lobengula also got the news. Looking at the northern military leaders who had retreated from the front line and were kneeling on the ground begging for help, Lobengula was furious. These old guys would only cause trouble for him.
Lobengula: "Look at you! In the past, I asked you to obey the central government's orders, but you all shirked the responsibility. When you met the white people, you were as cowardly as mice. You simply brought shame to us Ndebele warriors. Now you dare to come to see me."
"Great 'King of Kings', it's not that we didn't try hard, but the enemy's equipment was too strong. Like the Boers, they were equipped with many firearms and artillery. No matter how brave our soldiers were, they could not fight with flesh and blood, bows and spears."
Lobengula: "Okay, stop talking. Failure is failure. Don't look for excuses. I only look at the results, not excuses. When my father led you to fight the Boers, our weapons were also inferior, but we still fought well. Now you don't even want to resist. You must have been drained of your bodies by alcohol and sex and forgotten our Ndebele military traditions."
Facing Lobengula's accusation, the military leaders who were nearly fifty years old were silent. Ah, that's right! You are right. Anyway, we have escaped now. You can't just chop us all off for the sake of the old king!
(End of this chapter)
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