Chapter 492 Sit-in War
Kerry had no way to deal with the Songo Fortress because the entire Songo Fortress was like a turtle shell, and the East African Army was like a turtle that had huddled in its shell and did not come out to fight, so the two sides were deadlocked here.
This made Kerry, who had only fought wealthy wars in the French army before, very angry. He had never been treated like this before. However, he hated the Portuguese in Mozambique even more. A colony is a colony and should not be brought to the table.
The fledgling Kerry finally understood why colonial countries and regions were so vulnerable to Westerners. It was not just a problem of equipment, but also a problem of people and systems.
The Portuguese were so weak, yet they were still able to firmly control such a large area of land. You can imagine how weak the local indigenous regime was.
However, the performance of the East African Army was indeed impressive, especially the level of fortresses and armaments. Although it was also a colony, it was much higher than Portugal.
So Kerry muttered in his heart: These colonies are also divided into different levels. The independent and rapidly developing United States should belong to the first level. After all, it is a world power in terms of size and economy. India should belong to the second level. Without India, the British would not be able to suppress France. Similarly, Brazil also belongs to this level. In Kerry's eyes, Portugal, which did not lose Brazil, is no longer a powerful country. Australia, Canada, and France's own Algeria should belong to the third level. East Africa should also belong to this level. As for the waiting colonies, Cape Town should barely be counted, but Cape Town is suppressed by East Africa, so it cannot exert its full strength.
Kerry's classification criteria are very interesting, because the United States, Brazil and East Africa are already independent countries, so in Kerry's eyes, all regions except Europe are equated with colonies. This is the arrogance of old Europe.
Of course, if Ernst knew Kerry's idea, he would agree with it. Although the three countries have become independent, they are not actually economically independent and still rely on old Europe for their survival. Only the United States and East Africa can watch these three countries develop on their own, but once they are expelled from the game by old Europe, their development will be very unsatisfactory.
After two days of ineffective attacks, Kerry was very depressed, but Rhodes just watched the show without caring.
Kerry: "Captain, I'm afraid I can't break through Songo's stronghold by myself. Do you have any good ideas?"
Rod: "This? Are we not going to fight anymore? If you ask me, then we should just let these black guys keep charging, and we will keep consuming the Germans. Anyway, we won't feel bad if the black guys lose."
Kerry was speechless. "If our troops were ten times the enemy's, it would be fine to play like this. And although black people are cheap, we can't waste them at will. You know, it's not easy for us to train these black people with all our heart and soul. It's easy to kill them at the beginning, but it's difficult to replenish them later. We don't have that much time to train another batch of black people."
It seemed that in the eyes of the Portuguese, the black soldiers they had trained so hard were just cannon fodder, which made Kerry a little discouraged.
Although there is nothing wrong with saying this, but in Kerry's view, the blacks trained by France are just high-level cannon fodder and cannot be compared with those untrained blacks. Doesn't this mean that the French training is also denied?
Rhode didn't care. "Anyway, we have enough reasons. It's difficult to take down Songo Fortress without heavy weapons. Who knew that East Africa would build a turtle shell in such a barren land? Without heavy weapons, we can only rely on human lives. Black people are an inferior race. They can't learn the skills of European soldiers. After all, there are many white people on the opposite side of the Germans. So it's understandable that the war has been dragged on to this point, and it's also understandable that we can't show any results."
It's obvious from Rhodes' words that he wants to give up, but if you think about it carefully, it seems that this Portuguese Rhodes has never stopped giving up since the outbreak of the war.
Kerry asked curiously: "Captain Rhodes, you are Portuguese, and Mozambique is also a colony of you Portuguese. If you lose this war and lose Mozambique, won't you be sad?"
Seeing Kerry, who had always looked down on him, suddenly asked him honestly, Rhodes waved his hand and said, "What does that have to do with me? I was a small security officer in Maputo before, and I usually did the work of a policeman. Suddenly I was promoted to an officer. Naturally, I am not as professional as a professional soldier like you, Mr. Kerry. Besides, serving in the army in Portugal is just a profession for me. Since it is a profession, it can be replaced. If Mozambique is lost, it is lost. At worst, I can go to other places to find another job. I used to be a local shoemaker. I can live a good life with my skills. I have worked hard in Mozambique for many years, but I didn't make much money compared to when I was a shoemaker before. I was just fooled to go to Mozambique before."
Rod: "You should be able to be a landlord in Mozambique! Your land was taken from the blacks. Even if you can't be a big landlord, you should be able to be a small landlord."
Rod: "What's the use? As I said before, my family has been shoemakers for generations, and I don't know how to farm. Besides, can the land in Mozambique be compared with that in Europe? Where can I sell the crops I grow? And I don't have the capital or the technology to develop the land."
Much of the land in Europe is developed cultivated soil, while most of the land in Mozambique is raw soil. In the first two years, the harvest was good thanks to the fertility of the soil that had been naturally formed over thousands of years, but it was not so good afterwards. However, developing new land is quite difficult.
Moreover, Mozambique has a special feature, that is, it has a long history and is almost one of the earliest African colonies, so most of the land in Mozambique has owners. Especially after East Africa cut off Mozambique's expansion path, new immigrants to Mozambique in recent years have had no chance to get a piece of the pie.
Kerry: "I heard that the wages in the colonies are higher. You shouldn't be living such a miserable life, right?"
Rhodes: "Whether it's miserable or not is not up to you to decide, but the colonial leaders. Although our income is higher, it's not much higher than working in a factory in Europe. Besides, don't you spend money? The prices here are much more expensive than in Europe. Besides, making money in the colonies costs your life."
Although Rhodes' salary was not much, more than 100,000 Rhodes was a considerable amount of money. This money was also a major expense of the Mozambique colonial government. So going to the colony was to make money, but there were also people who were thinking of ways to empty Rhodes' wallet.
Of course, not all people were like Rhodes who just lived a life of idleness and waiting to die, but there were many who were similar to Rhodes, especially sailors, who were the ones who were most willing to spend money. The economic prosperity of the open areas of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa relied on the consumption of passing merchant ships and sailors. If the money was not spent, there might be no place to spend it. After all, the sea was a dangerous place, and the sailors had a broader vision and more experience, so they were more open-minded. It was more cost-effective to spend money, which was something outside of the body.
After hearing about Rod's personal experience, Kerry suddenly didn't hate this Portuguese man who had tricked him all the way.
Kerry: "You are right. Anyway, we have enough reasons to push the responsibility away. Let's not waste our efforts. We can slowly consume the enemy in East Africa."
Rhodes was very pleased that he had led a young man onto the right path. What was the point of fighting and killing?
So Portugal and East Africa started garbage time in Songo. Both sides tacitly fired a few shots when nothing happened, and they really fired a few shots to make a noise. Later, when the Portuguese saw that East Africa could really sit still and hide in the Songo fortress, they simply stopped firing and just stared at each other, playing a sit-in war.
However, the East African Army did not learn from the Portuguese to give up, but was holding back their anger. If it were not for the pressure from their commander, they would have rushed out to wipe out the enemy long ago.
(End of this chapter)
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