Chapter 594 Contradiction
Ernst stayed in Bagamoyo for only one day before returning to the First Town. However, he took the water route when he went there, and the road when he came back. The road from Bagamoyo to the First Town is not more comfortable than the water route, but it is also relatively smooth.
…
Orange Free State.
For the Orange Boers, or rather the Boers of the former Orange Free State, these days are very difficult.
On the one hand, none of the British promises were fulfilled, and on the other hand, the Boers of the former Transvaal Republic had massively occupied their own resources.
"That's not what the British said at the beginning. Not only did they fail to solve Orange's financial problems, but they kept raising taxes in Orange. We were all deceived, and now the British are refusing to admit it!"
"The so-called investment and dividends have not been realized, and they continue to recruit people to work in their diamond mines, with very low wages. Those lands and minerals originally belonged to us. These damn bandits."
"And the damned Transvaal people. We were kind enough to welcome these poor bastards, but now they turn around and serve as dogs for the British to deal with us. We were really blind to accept these ungrateful people."
As the former Transvaal Boers migrated to the Orange Free State, the social structure of the local Boers changed dramatically.
Although the two countries are closely related, conflicts have arisen after a long period of contact. This is naturally due to the instigation of the British. The British were wary of the Boers and naturally did not want the Boers under their rule to be united.
At that time, the Boers in Transvaal were targets that the British could win over, while the Boers in Orange were naturally targets to be suppressed.
Because the Boers in Transvaal were driven out from the former territory of the Transvaal Republic by East Africa, and Britain was also an outsider to the Orange Free State, the Orange people had a sense of self-perception that they were the masters of this land.
Obviously, the people of Transvaal and the British did not think so, so the Transvaal Restoration Organization came together with the British.
"These Transvaal people are ungrateful. We vacated our house and lent them land to help them through the most difficult days. Now they want to take over. They really don't know what's good for them."
"It would have been fine if they had just obediently reintegrated into Orange, but they insist on asking for supplies and donations every day under the slogan of recovering lost territory and rebuilding Transvaal. They are so greedy."
"Do you think that their so-called slogan of national restoration is meant to deceive us? They are not heading to East Africa at all, but to deal with us instead?" someone boldly speculated.
"It's unlikely. I think the training of the Restoration Army is quite formal. It's obvious that they want to compare with the East African Army. For us, it's useless to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut."
"That's hard to say! East Africa is not the East Africa of the past. Before, they were able to gather tens of thousands of troops to attack Transvaal. Later, they fought against Portugal and defeated them. The two sides mobilized at least more than 200,000 troops. And think about how many talents Transvaal had in the past? There were only about 200,000. Even if children and the elderly were included, it might not be enough to fill the gaps in East Africa."
"That's right. Now the whole world knows that East Africa is the strongest country in Africa. There are at least tens of thousands of people serving in the navy alone, and the army should be at least more than 100,000. Even if all the Boers were added together, they might not be able to defeat the East African army, not to mention that the Restoration Army only has more than 3,000 people."
"As long as East Africa sends out one tenth of its troops, it can completely wipe out the Restoration Army. Compared with the East African Army in terms of numbers and equipment, the Restoration Army has no chance of winning. So I say that the so-called Restoration Army is a joint effort of the Transvaal people and the British to exploit the citizens of the former Orange Free State."
The Orangemen think that if they shout slogans too much, they will get tired of them. The Transvaal people sound good, but why don't you take action! East Africa is right there, but instead of seeking revenge on East Africa, they go to the Orangemen for alms every day. Therefore, the Orangemen are very disgusted with the Transvaal people.
Of course, the Transvaal people originally wanted to fight with East Africa to regain their land, but unfortunately neither Britain nor Orange supported them.
After all, the Orangemen had no grudges against East Africa and did not want to offend East Africa, while Britain was worried that it would fail to kill the snake and suffer from it instead. East Africa was now strong enough and ordinary attacks could not cause any harm at all, so Britain had always wanted to make a big profit, but as a result, the Afghans came to cause trouble again, so it had not been carried out for a long time.
The British have previously taken the initiative to support the Transvaal Restoration Army with money, and now they have found an excuse to allocate the funds to the Orange Free State. After all, the British have no intention of causing trouble in East Africa now, but they don't want to disband the Transvaal Restoration Army, so they can only let the Orange Free State support it for now.
This is also the reason why the Orange Free State has been increasing taxes in recent years. After all, with an additional army to support, they certainly cannot rely on the impoverished Orange treasury. However, Britain occupies the diamond mines but does not give a penny, which makes the original Orange people feel even more unbalanced.
"We in Orange have let the wolf in. I have no objection to helping the people of Transvaal, but I don't want our help to go unrewarded and be taken for granted, or even demanded in return. In the name of brotherhood, we act as the lackeys of our former enemies."
Before the emergence of East Africa, the enemies of the Boers, apart from the natives, were naturally the British. East Africa was certainly not a good thing, but the British to whom the Transvaal Restoration Army was loyal were their mortal enemies.
Moreover, the Orange people did not have much aversion to East Africa. After all, it was Transvaal that was causing trouble, not Orange.
On the contrary, the Transvaal people who migrated south were ungrateful, opposed the Orange people everywhere, and occupied a large amount of social resources.
Of course, the tax increase alone has caused the Orangemen to complain. Now with the end of the British war in Afghanistan, there are rumors that the Transvaal Restoration Army will recruit soldiers, which is naturally a good thing.
But the problem is that after several years of getting along, the Orange people have already realized that Britain is a stingy miser, and the money for recruiting soldiers for the Transvaal Restoration Army will definitely have to come from the Orange people.
However, it was quite difficult to maintain an additional army of 3,000 people, because these 3,000 troops were armed and trained according to the standards of British native soldiers.
"Coffee" alone is not a small expense, and the British are very cunning. They import cheap coffee from Zanzibar merchants and then take kickbacks, so the Transvaal Restoration Army cannot reduce its consumption.
(End of this chapter)
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