Chapter 60 Marching to the Port of Dar es Salaam
Dürer put on an Arab robe, rode a horse, and appeared on the streets of Dar es Salaam, looking really unremarkable.
Dürer himself is a German. With his white skin and Arab clothing, he does look like a local Arab if you don’t look carefully.
Without attracting the attention of the soldiers of the Zanzibar Sultanate, Dürer drove his horse quickly towards the border area.
At first, the East African colonies promised Majid Sultan not to station troops in Dar es Salaam. The East African colonies turned to the next best thing and left two hundred people on the border some distance from Dar es Salaam. army.
It is used to prevent changes in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, or to ensure the smooth passage from Dar es Salaam Port to the East African colonies.
After all, for a country with a standing army of only a few thousand people all year round, a two hundred well-equipped army already has a certain threat capability.
The current armed force of the East African colonies is about 8,000 people, of which except for 2,000 Germans and more than 300 Austro-Hungarian immigrants, the rest are Chinese immigrants.
These more than 8,000 troops are distributed over nearly 700,000 square kilometers of land in the East African colonies.
Among them, there are about 3,000 colonial troops in the three eastern coastal areas. After deducting the necessary local guards, the number of people that can be quickly mobilized by the East African colonies is about 1,500.
These 1,500 include 200 people in the direction of Dar es Salaam, 300 people in Tanga Port, more than 500 people in the first town, and the number of troops that can be flexibly mobilized in the rest of the three coastal areas.
......
"Stop! Who is that?" The East African colonial soldiers stationed in the Kibaha area (about forty miles away from the port of Dar es Salaam.) stopped an Arab Dürer dressed up.
"One of our own, take me to see your commander quickly. I have important military information to report." Dürer said breathlessly.
As soon as they heard that it was military information, the soldiers did not dare to neglect and immediately reported it to the commander in the camp.
After verifying the identity of the visitor, Felix, the military commander stationed in the Kibach area, met with Dürer.
"Sir, this is a letter written by Mr. Barzel!" Dürer handed the letter to Felix.
Felix took the letter, opened it, and read it.
For a moment, Felix frowned and asked: "Mr. Dürer! Did you see anything strange about the Arabs on the way here?"
"Sir, I am in Dar es. I did see a lot of soldiers on the streets of Salam. They seemed to be conducting some kind of military operation, especially in the direction of the palace. People were not allowed to pass. I bypassed them and came out from the south of the block."
"Are you sure it's a military operation? That's right!" Felix asked.
“Sir, on weekdays in Dar es Salaam, only the royal guards of the Sultanate of Zanzibar appear in the streets, while the army is stationed outside Dar es Salaam and at the docks.”< br>
Dürer continued: "This morning, our people saw an unusual dispatch of the Zanzibar garrison at the dock, but no one noticed at the time. At about eight o'clock, the number of soldiers on the streets of Dar es Salaam increased. However, there are not that many Zanzibar troops at the dock, which means that the Zanzibar troops outside the city have entered the city. Moreover, Mr. Bazel observed that most of the soldiers entering the city were armed with live ammunition, and there was no trace of the Zanzibar Sultan Majid Royal Guard. , Mr. Bazel expected that there must be a big problem in the Sultanate of Zanzibar. However, we did not hear any gunshots, so we did not dare to jump to conclusions, but we could not leave the situation alone, so we came to report it. "
After hearing what Dürer said, Felix looked at his staff officer Hans Zhang and asked, "Zhang, what do you think?"
Hans Zhang He is a student who graduated from the Hechingen Military Academy. His original name was Zhang Yuzhu. After enrolling, all students were given German names. At that time, they were given a list and asked to choose a name that they felt comfortable with.
At that time, Zhang Yuzhu felt that the name Hans was easy and easy to remember, so he changed his name to Hans. The surname was translated into German. The German instructors could not distinguish between hundreds of family surnames. The German instructors classified all surnames with similar pronunciation. Be grouped into one category. So "Zhang, Zhao, Jiang..." is very difficult to pronounce for Germans. It sounds like "Zhang" in Chinese, so they simply write it as "zhang" in German transliteration.
When these students first arrived in Germany, they could not read a single Chinese character before. No one could write their own names, so they followed the instructor and changed their last name to "zhang".
After changing his name, Zhang Yuzhu’s name became “Hans·Zhang”.
……
Staff officer Hans Zhang thought for a moment and said to Felix: "Judging from the current situation, if we report to the colonial government first and wait for a decision from above before dispatching, it will be too late."
< br>"If there is a coup in Zanzibar and a new government is established, then the new government's attitude towards us is likely to be different from before. Currently, we only have more than 20 staff stationed at the Port of Dar es Salaam. People, there may be new immigrants arriving in Hong Kong this afternoon. These immigrants are unarmed, and more than 20 armed staff will definitely not be able to stop the Zanzibar government troops."
"Immigration. It is a top priority in the East African colonies. The principal has repeatedly emphasized the need to ensure the safe arrival of immigrants in the East African colonies. If there is a military turmoil in the Zanzibar Sultanate, it may threaten the safety of new immigrants arriving in Hong Kong today. " Hans Zhang analyzed! road.
In fact, the current immigrants from the East African colonies are not only limited to the Port of Dar es Salaam, but can also land at the Port of Tanga. The problem is that the conditions at the Port of Dar es Salaam are mature, so the Dutch are more willing to dock in Dar es Salaam. Es Salaam Port, and immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire will also give priority to the closer Dar es Salaam Port because they have to detour through the Atlantic Ocean. Only the Hechingen Consortium’s own fleet pulls cargo. It will depart from Tanga Port.
This situation will only change after the opening of the Suez Canal. But at that time, the location of Tanga Port may not be the closest to Europe... (Mombasa acquired it after this incident.)
"That's right. If we act a step too late, we may not be able to control the situation, so we must take action immediately." Felix agreed.
“Now we should send people to report the situation to the East African colonial government and march towards the port of Dar es Salaam.”
“Mr. Dürer, please stay and rest first! Every day The people responsible for immigration reception will pass by here at noon, and you can return to Dar es Salaam with them.”
Felix said this with little regard for Zanzibar. In fact, Felix was so conceited. As a former Prussian soldier, Prussia often followed His Majesty the King to fight the weak against the strong in Europe.
Felix believes that as long as the army is courageous, the weak may not necessarily defeat the strong, and Zanzibar's army is a "weak chicken" in Felix's eyes. After all, European countries are expanding crazily around the world. , although Prussia did not participate, it was also a well-known military power on the European continent.
Small countries in the world like Zanzibar are often beaten by the Dutch and Portuguese, so naturally they are no match for Prussia.
Felix has a hot temper. As the saying goes, there will be a raging fire in the nest. Only Hans Zhang, the staff officer, can temper Felix's temper.
This is because Hans Zhang received systematic military study as a graduate of the Hechingen Military Academy, so his behavior style is quite like a Prussian officer. Every time he comes into contact with Hans Zhang, Felix It all felt like talking to a noble officer from his own Prussia. This reminded Felix of the days when he served in Prussia, and now he felt nostalgic for it.
But when it comes to fighting, Felix, who was once the leading soldier of Prussia, has a kind of bloody courage. Since entering East Africa, Felix, who often fought against the natives without losing, has been quite swollen.
It’s just that Felix is rough in details and controls the army completely in accordance with Prussian army regulations. There are no execution errors in every battle formation, so Staff Officer Hans Zhang does not stop him in most cases. Felix, on the contrary, supported Felix's behavior.
"Pass my order and the entire army will gather immediately and march towards the port of Dar es Salaam!" Felix ordered.
The soldiers led by Felix the Reckless were naturally very resolute. After receiving the order, they quickly organized their equipment and assembled them.
Felix and Hans Zhang led by example, walking in front and marching eastward with the soldiers.
The army of only two hundred people showed the momentum of a regiment, advancing towards the port of Dar es Salaam with smoke and dust flying all the way.
(End of this chapter)