Chapter 716 Surprise Inspection
In the eastern part of Matabele Province, East Africa is actively building a new eastern defense line to protect the strategic security of the entire Matabele Province.
As the most important industrial province in East Africa, Matabele Province is second only to Central Province in East Africa, and its status is one level higher than Eastern Province, which has only one city (Mombasa).
The Eastern Defense Line is based on the border between Matabele Province and Hechingen Province and is a military defense line designed to guard against Mozambique.
The entire defense line is more than 1,300 kilometers long, extending from the city of Tete in Mozambique to the Republic of Swaziland.
With such a long border, it is naturally impossible for East Africa to set up defenses everywhere, but many fortifications have been built on important military roads and important transportation nodes.
Taking full advantage of East Africa's terrain, a certain number of troops were deployed in river valleys, mountain passes, and the intersection of plateaus and plains.
At this time, the East African military's special envoy, Glade, was leading his men to inspect the construction of the entire eastern defense line to prevent anyone from messing around.
At present, Glade has arrived at the Chipinga Fortress, which was an important commercial route for Portuguese merchants in Mozambique to reach the interior of Africa and complete transactions with indigenous people. Originally there was a commercial base, but later East Africa expelled the local Portuguese merchants and took over their position. Later, it gradually evolved into a military fortress.
To this day, it is still an important commercial port. Merchants are profit-oriented. Although East Africa has offended them before, East Africa can bring them greater benefits. Especially under the construction of East Africa, the productivity of inland Africa has been further improved, which saves their commercial colonization costs.
By using cheap goods from East Africa, the upper echelons of indigenous people in Mozambique can be bribed, and further economic benefits can be obtained by exploiting the lower-level indigenous people. This is a model for plantation development in Mozambique.
At the same time, some of the products that East Africa produces in abundance, especially tobacco, wine, leather, etc. in Matabele Province, can also be transported to all parts of the world through Portuguese merchants.
Currently, the place where Portuguese merchants conduct transactions with East Africa is less than three kilometers east of Fort Chipinga, forming a large-scale trading market.
Driven by business, a new commercial route has been formed between Mozambique and Matabele Province.
Under normal circumstances, this trade route is naturally not dangerous, but once the relationship between East Africa and Portugal deteriorates, this trade route may become a strategic channel for competition between the two. Therefore, Fort Chipinga is an important military stronghold for controlling this trade route.
However, East Africa had the ability to build a fortress to control the first half of the trade route, but the Portuguese did not have the ability or the idea to build a tit-for-tat military stronghold to compete with East Africa.
After all, Mozambique borders East Africa in too many places, and the population of Mozambique is far less than that of East Africa, so except for places that cannot be ignored, Mozambique does not attach importance to the construction of defense lines.
Glade has a typical Austrian appearance, with a high nose bridge and deep eye sockets. His eyes carry the murderous aura of a veteran in the battlefield, and he is intimidating without even being angry. The air around him seems to have cooled by several degrees, giving people a chill in the warm weather in East Africa.
“Let’s start the test!”
As the low voice came, the soldiers stationed in the Chippinga Fortress Company felt a little uneasy, and they turned their eyes to the company commander Eugene.
"Why are you looking at me? Why don't you take the superiors on a tour?" Eugene shouted loudly, feeling somewhat guilty.
Eugene really didn't expect that the "inspection team" would come to Chippinga Fortress for inspection today, so he was not prepared at all to deal with this surprise inspection.
The detection process was very simple and meticulous. Several gendarmes began to measure parameters using various professional instruments. At the same time, they checked the layout of various facilities to find loopholes and non-compliance.
Time passed little by little. Glade looked at his watch and realized that more than ten minutes had passed without him noticing. Eugene, who was standing next to him, was already sweating profusely due to the stress.
"Captain Eugene, are you worried?" Glade's devilish voice came from Eugene's ears.
This made Eugene shudder, and then he pretended to be calm and said: "Report to the commander, it's okay, it's okay!"
But his tone betrayed him, and now Eugene could already imagine himself being scolded.
Glade added: "Don't worry, if you follow the orders of the division headquarters and do your usual work well, I will report it truthfully, and your contribution will be indispensable."
Haha! Eugene thought disdainfully, if he really did his job according to the rules, would he still be so scared?
Family members know their own business. Since the Chippinga Fortress was seldom inspected and usually only the logistics department came to deliver some supplies regularly, Eugene's company was a bit slack. They did not expect that their superiors would suddenly airdrop for inspection.
So this examination was likely to be fatal, and just as Eugene expected, the examination results came out soon.
"Reporting to Colonel Glade, we have found a total of seven violations, including blocked trenches, problems with the fortress's drainage system, gun maintenance, ammunition storage, etc. There are major loopholes."
Colonel Glade said coldly: "Captain Eugene, do you want to explain?"
Eugene lowered his head and did not argue.
Glade criticized him angrily, "Look at what you have become now? Can you escape by not speaking? Then what is the use of military law and discipline! We are all soldiers, supported by the country and the people. You should reflect on yourself now. With such shoddy construction and laziness, how can our army defend our country?"
Eugene could only say: "It's all my fault. I didn't strictly follow the requirements of the army."
Glade stressed: "This is not a requirement of the troops, but a requirement of the country and the people. The army is a sacred place, and our East African National Defense Force is the umbrella of the people, so no details can be ignored. Any army that does not pay attention to details is doomed to fail."
"It's only a few months until the rainy season, and I have to pay off all the debts I owe. I will also report the problems you have with me to you guys."
"By the way, the new instructor should take up his post immediately. I remember that your company's instructor position has been vacant for a variety of reasons. Now it seems that not having an instructor to supervise is indeed a big problem. This situation has not occurred in other companies."
Eugene said ashamedly: "I will definitely correct my mistakes actively next time."
Glade said, "It's no use promising me. We don't know what punishment you will receive. Temporary demotion is not impossible, but you must clean up your mess before the new instructor arrives. At the same time, don't forget to guard the border. This is the border and it may become the front line at any time. We have a big conflict with the Portuguese merchants, so you frontline troops must be prepared at any time."
After inspecting Fort Chippinga, Glade continued his patrol southward to check the combat troops and units in the entire 411th Division area.
The Chipinga Fortress was also reorganized after the new instructor took office, especially to correct the unhealthy tendencies in the company and establish the "correct" political concepts of the East African countries. This is one of the important characteristics of the professionalization of the East African army.
As for Eugene, he received a warning from the battalion headquarters and was reprimanded, but was not demoted. He was also required to review the incident.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
