Chapter 396 Speculation
Realizing this, Johnson no longer bothered about the trivial matter of invading Grigwaland in East Africa. Grigwaland was just a tiny place with a poor economy. When he was sent here by the Cape Town colonial government, he felt like he was exiled. Now he happened to return to Cape Town.
"Mr. Merk, let's put this matter aside for now. I have to go back to Cape Town to report on the situation. The final decision on how to deal with the ownership of Grigoraland will depend on the decision made by the bigwigs of the Cape Town government, so I will not engage in useless arguments with you here." Johnson said to Merk.
Merkel: "Of course, nothing is absolute. Sometimes a misunderstanding only requires both parties to sit down and have a frank talk, and perhaps the crisis can be resolved invisibly."
"Yes, there is nothing that cannot be discussed. This is beneficial to both sides, so I hope that Your Excellency can give us some convenience next and not make things difficult for us on the way back," Johnson responded.
"Of course," Merk said to his adjutant, "Arrange a team of people for Mr. Johnson and escort them to the other side of the Orange River."
"Yes, Commander."
Then Merk said to Johnson: "By the way, Mr. Johnson, I want to make it clear in advance that our people can only escort you and your team to the Orange River. The territory beyond the Orange River is no longer under our management."
"Haha, thank you for your reminder, General. However, the other side of the Orange River is definitely a safer place. I still trust my own people."
Johnson gave Merkel a heads-up in advance, all for his own safety. Merkel certainly wouldn't do anything to Johnson, after all, he was an official of the British Empire. If something really happened to him in East Africa, it would be a real provocation to the reputation of the British Empire, which was in its heyday.
Johnson was eager to return to Cape Town to report the news. In fact, the Cape Town Colony knew the situation better than Johnson. Even a blind man could hear the large-scale military operations launched by the East African Kingdom in South Africa.
Even more nervous than the British were the Portuguese. Among the white forces, Portugal's Mozambique colony knew the East African kingdom best.
The sudden appearance of the army led by Felix in the Kingdom of Swaziland really scared the Mozambique colony.
Maputo, the capital of the Mozambique colony, is right next to the Kingdom of Swaziland. Any movement in the Kingdom of Swaziland would naturally not be hidden from the Mozambique colony.
The colonial government of Mozambique also knew that East Africa had been causing trouble in the interior, but after all, there were several indigenous countries in between, so they only knew the general situation, such as major events such as the destruction of the Matabele Kingdom by East Africa.
However, the Matabele Kingdom was still some distance away from the Mozambique colony, especially the several countries formed after the split of the Monomotapa Kingdom, which served as a buffer zone between East Africa and Mozambique, which made Mozambique feel somewhat safe.
However, after the East African Kingdom occupied Swaziland, it meant that Mozambique in the south was directly bordering East Africa, and the East African Kingdom surrounded the Mozambique colony on three sides.
However, the Governor of Mozambique, who had some understanding of the military strength of East Africa during this period, already knew that the military strength of the East African Kingdom was not something Mozambique could challenge, and even Portugal itself might not be able to do much about the Germans, so he chose to lie down. As long as the East African Kingdom did not attack Mozambique, he would pretend not to see it.
The military strength of East Africa has always been a mystery to Mozambique, but it is very strong. Mozambique can roughly infer the war strength of the East African Kingdom through the military bases established by the East African Kingdom on the border between the two sides. Northern East Africa alone has deployed approximately several thousand to tens of thousands of troops on the East Mozambique border, and this is only a part of the troops set up by the East African Kingdom to guard against Mozambique, so how many troops East Africa actually has is completely unknown.
…
Cape Town.
"According to the feedback from our merchants in Transvaal, the number of troops dispatched by the East African Kingdom this time should be over 10,000. Not only that, the Natal Colony also sent news that a new force is fighting the Zulu Kingdom. It is not the Boers from before. Judging from their attire, they are very similar to the armies of the German countries, so their size should be quite large. If nothing unexpected happens, the enemy the Zulus are facing is also the army of the East African Kingdom. If all is taken into account, the number of troops dispatched by the East African Kingdom this time is likely to be around 20,000 to 30,000."
After listening to his subordinates' report, Henry Barclay, Governor of the Cape Town Colony, said solemnly: "As far as I know, this East African Kingdom should be in the Tanganyika region north of the Portuguese Mozambique colony. Its territory covers the Zanzibar Sultanate and part of the inland area. But now it seems that we know too little about the East African Kingdom."
Henry Buckley walked to a very abstract map of Africa and said, "Look, this is Tanganyika, and this is Mozambique. This time, the army of the East African Kingdom arrived in South Africa from the inland area, which means that they have bypassed Mozambique and at least occupied a lot of land in the heart of Africa. This is how they can go directly from East Africa to South Africa by land."
The panoramic map of Africa in the hands of the Cape Colony was very rough, with only the general outline of Africa and detailed information on the coastal areas, with a large blank area in the middle.
According to the normal historical trajectory, there should have been many European explorers in this era who went deep into the interior of Africa to explore the mountains and rivers of Africa to fill the empty parts in the middle, but this process was interrupted by the East African Kingdom.
The East African Kingdom had banned explorers from Europe from entering since the colonial period. As for those who were fearless and daring enough, East Africa satisfied them and let them disappear passively. After all, Africa was a dangerous place, and it was not surprising that some small accidents happened.
Therefore, the map in Henry Barclay's hand could hardly provide him with any useful information. He could only speculate that the East African Kingdom had occupied a lot of land adjacent to the Mozambique colony.
Although Henry Barclay had no idea how much land East Africa occupied or how they conquered it, he knew how long Mozambique was.
Mozambique's coastline is about 2,600 kilometers long, and the distance that East Africa needs to travel to reach South Africa by bypassing Mozambique should be about the same.
However, Henry Barclay is more inclined to believe that the East African Kingdom was able to expand from East Africa to South Africa with the help of water routes.
"There is most likely a north-south river between East Africa and South Africa, which allowed the Germans to use ships to quickly mobilize their military forces and replenish supplies. Otherwise, I don't believe they could quickly expand from the coastal areas of East Africa to South Africa."
What Henry Buckley said was not entirely wrong. There is indeed a river in East Africa that meets Henry Buckley's speculation, and that is the Luangwa River. However, the Luangwa River is only a tributary of the Zambezi River. At most, it reaches the Zambezi River, but cannot reach South Africa directly. Moreover, although East Africa also engages in shipping on the Luangwa River, the route on the Luangwa River is not continuous, but exists independently in sections.
(End of this chapter)
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