Chapter 328 Foreign Forces
As a new city, Bulawayo, the capital of the Ndebele people, was not even as old as many cities established by the East African kingdoms.
Lobengula and his father Zilikazi mobilized a large number of slaves to build their capital. Although the city is not large, it reveals the characteristics of the combination of Arab and European architecture everywhere.
On the one hand, the Arabs had a profound influence on the east coast of Africa. Even the Zulus in the south were not immune to it, as were the Ndebele, a branch of the Zulus.
On the other hand, the Ndebele people learned it from their old rivals, the Boers. However, when the Boers captured Transvaal, they did not have enough time and manpower to build luxurious buildings. Basically, they built some simple fortresses in Dutch, German and French styles.
The Ndebele people fully absorbed the experience of the Boers and built shooting holes, towers and other facilities in their capital. The entire capital was transformed into a small military fortress, similar to Hohenzollernburg, which was also in line with the militaristic characteristics of the Ndebele people.
At this time, Lobengula was reviewing his army outside the castle. The visual effect brought by more than 6,000 Ndebele warriors equipped with muskets was absolutely shocking.
They were wearing traditional Zulu costumes like those of a primitive tribe, but carrying muskets as tall as a person, a perfect contrast between barbarism and "civilization".
In addition to their own people with "advanced" equipment, more than 10,000 Shona vassal troops also participated in the parade. Although the number of vassal troops was far more than that, they were scattered throughout the Matabele Kingdom, and Bulawayo alone could not support so many people.
Lobengula was quite satisfied as he watched the Ndebele warriors who were full of fighting spirit, and he felt a sense of pleasure that all the heroes in the world were within his grasp.
Lobengula asked the head of the Boer advisory group beside him: "Sir Wiggins, how do you think my men compare to the East African Kingdom now?"
Wiggins laughed confidently and said, "Hahaha, Your Majesty, don't worry. The Ndebele warriors are brave and warlike. Now they are equipped with firearms. With the training of us Boers, we can definitely inflict heavy damage on the East African Kingdom."
Wiggins was the chief instructor sent by the Transvaal Republic to the Matabele Kingdom to help Lobengula train Ndebele warriors in the use of firearms.
After all, the firearms were sold to the Matabele Kingdom by the Transvaal Republic, so they naturally had to provide customers with one-stop service. Otherwise, it would be a huge joke if the Ndebele warriors used their muskets as spears and launched a death charge against the colonial soldiers in East Africa and were shot to pieces.
Lobengula gave the order: "The drill officially begins!"
The Ndebele warriors, divided into several squadrons, began to load their muskets with ammunition in an orderly manner, then held them up horizontally and took turns shooting at a row of wooden stakes that had been set up long ago.
“Bang… bang… bang…”
The fragile wooden stakes were smashed to pieces.
"Good, good, very good!" Lobengula exclaimed in admiration at the power of the musket in front of him.
Lobengula: "With these muskets, the East Africans will never return."
…
A fast horse galloped across the grassland, heading towards the border troops of South Salzburg Province.
"I have important military intelligence to report."
Soon, the scout was brought before Siweit.
"Report, Chief of the General Staff! We have encountered troops from the Southern Route Army in the southeast, and they are joining us."
"Which unit of the Southern Army are they from?"
"The Second Brigade of the Southern Route Army has been active here these days, suppressing the indigenous rebellion."
Siwei Te said with satisfaction: "Very good, it seems that the Southern Route Army has almost finished suppressing the rebellion in the south and the east. We will stay here first, wait for them, and let the soldiers rest."
The South Salzburg Border Force marched quickly all the way from the vicinity of Lake Malawi into the heart of the Matabele Plateau, mainly to fight against the main force of the Ndebele people, which was the base camp of the Matabele Kingdom headed by Bulawayo.
As for suppressing the local rebellion, they naturally paid no attention to it, and it was mainly left to the Southern Army to carry out from the east and south directions.
After about twenty minutes, a troop appeared on the horizon. It was the 2nd Brigade of the East African Southern Army.
Second Brigade Commander Yanan Reed: "Chief of Staff!"
Siwei Te: "Very good, you are coming from that direction!"
"Chief of Staff, our brigade was originally stationed on the north bank of the Limpopo River. We moved from the southeast to the northwest according to the king's order."
"That means the indigenous rebellion in the southeast region has been almost suppressed?"
"Yes, Chief of Staff, but some remnants of the Ndebele fled, and we pursued them all the way here."
"You did a great job!" Siwei Te praised.
Yan Reid: "By the way, Chief of Staff, our troops have an important military intelligence to report to you."
Siwei Te: "What military intelligence?"
"Chief of Staff, please wait a moment." Yanred turned to his men and said, "Bring our prisoners and captured items up here!"
Soon, several white people were brought up, along with a bullock cart covered with a rainproof cloth.
Yaan Reed lifted the rainproof cloth, and there were boxes of goods stacked on it. However, after seeing the style of the boxes, Siwei Te immediately guessed what was inside.
"Is this munitions?"
"Yes, Chief of Staff, and it was the Boers who supplied the Ndebele with arms."
"Well, these Boers are really brave!"
However, Yanred said: "Chief of Staff, next, you should interrogate these Boers. I am afraid you will find out what really big things they have done."
Siwei Te immediately understood that this matter might be more complicated than it seemed.
He came up to the Boer captives and asked: "Are you from the Transvaal Republic?"
One of the Boers replied in German: "Yes, sir?"
"I am the Chief of Staff of the East African Kingdom Army, Siweite!"
When the Boer heard that it was a high-ranking official from East Africa, he immediately said, "Sir, this is all a misunderstanding."
"Hmph, don't try to be clever. We have already obtained information from Ndebele's people. It would be fine if you cooperate well and confess your crimes voluntarily. Otherwise..." Yanred interrupted.
"Well, now that things have come to this, we can tell you everything you want to know, but I have one request, and that is that our safety must be guaranteed." said the Boer when he saw that he was exposed.
Siwei Te: "Of course, I will ask you questions next. We will absolutely guarantee your safety. The first question is, what is the purpose of your coming here?"
The Boers: "We are here to trade with the Ndebele people at the behest of the president. As you can see, we are supplying arms to the Ndebele people. The main reason is that the Ndebele people are trading with gold, which in turn weakens your country's strength."
Siweit: "How many weapons have you sent to the Ndebele people?"
"I don't know, but the number should be quite large, at least several thousand muskets, and a large amount of gunpowder..."
Ten minutes later.
Siwei Te: "Okay, we will keep our promise, but you will have to stay in East Africa as guests from now on!"
The Boer prisoners easily sold all the intelligence they knew about the Transvaal Republic to East Africa, because they knew that East Africa would not let them return to the Transvaal Republic.
Siwei Te said to his subordinates: "Humph, the Transvaal Republic is really generous. They sent guns and men. They really don't take us East Africans seriously. We will settle the score with them after we have dealt with the Ndebele people!"
(End of this chapter)
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