Chapter 222 Decent
1870, January 20.
Gradi Sultanate, Mogadishu.
Mogadishu is called this by the East African government. This name originates from ancient Persian. The locals call it Hama. In the Eastern Ming Dynasty, it was called Mugudushu. The three names show this The city has a long history and prosperous cultural exchanges.
Now this ancient city was completely destroyed by the East Africans. Sweet brought more than 30 artillery pieces to bombard the place. Finally, under the attack of more than 3,000 East African soldiers, the Sultan of Grady The country's strongest fortress was completely turned into a pile of ruins.
After the Battle of Mogadishu, the Goledi Sultanate basically declared its demise. This is already the most populous area of the Goledi Sultanate.
From ancient times to the present, the Sultanate of Gradi has not been able to support a large population. Even Mogadishu has mainly been based on animal husbandry, making it difficult to develop planting.
The city of Mogadishu is located on the east bank of the Shabelle River. Although the Shabelle River is the largest river in Somalia, its water volume is very small.
(Picture)
From February to March, the entire river will dry up directly. If it did not originate from the Ethiopian plateau, I am afraid that there will not be too much water in other seasons, so that the entire river will dry up. The river has little shipping and water energy value.
Although the rivers in East Africa have low shipping value, they are rich in water energy resources. The Shabelle River is not sticky at all. Moreover, the Shabelle River, like the Yellow River, is very easy to change its course. Even in the 21st century, the river bed in its downstream will be higher than the two banks. Wonderful sight, no wonder Ernst said that the Gradi Sultanate had no important value.
"Report to the Chief of General Staff, here is a letter sent from the Central Committee."
Sweite, who was about to lead his army upstream along the Shabelle River, was stopped by an intelligence officer.
He opened the letter and read the contents.
"Lavis?"
"Here, Chief of General Staff!"
"Your department will stay and be responsible for guarding the residents of Mogadishu. From now on, no one will be allowed to leave the city. The government will send people to take over the population later. You must cooperate when the time comes. Government work has taken care of the whole city."
"Yes, Chief of General Staff!" Lavis replied forcefully.
"But Chief of General Staff, what is actually written in the letter?"
"It's not a big deal. It doesn't hurt to tell you. Now East Africa needs more indigenous people to serve as labor force, just So simple.”
"By the way, let me emphasize to you that the royal family and nobles of the Sultan of Geledi are detained separately. These people have other uses."
"Yes, Chief of General Staff!"
This Lavis has nothing to be curious about anymore, the indigenous royal family! In the eyes of Lavis, this thing is no different from those chiefs. It just has a nicer name. The number of indigenous chiefs wiped out in East Africa is not thousands, but hundreds. It is too common.
……
The territory of the Goledi Sultanate is still very large, mainly in the Shabelle and Juba river basins. Next, Siweite will sweep across the entire Shabelle River Basin and will the Goledi Sultanate The remaining forces of the country have been wiped out, so just go up the Shabelle River.
The Juba River is in the southern part of the Gradi Sultanate, and East Africa was attacked when it went north. Now it can be done by the military police who used to patrol the border in East Africa. The scope of Sweite's operations this time is not limited to the territory of the Geledi Sultanate, but also includes the territory of the Cushitic people in the west. By eating up the land of the southern Cushitic people, the newly occupied Somali region in East Africa can be connected with the Omo River. The watersheds are connected together.
In other words, historically, Ethiopia and the southern regions of Somalia were merged into the territory of East Africa, with the Ethiopian plateau mountains and the desert areas of Somalia as the boundary, forming a natural geographical barrier.
Once East Africa completes this goal, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia in its previous life, will directly become the border area between East Africa and the Abyssinian Empire. (Historically, Menelik II officially moved the capital to Addis Ababa in 1887. This is a plateau in the mountains. It was a complete wilderness before it became the capital of Ethiopia.)
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"The advantage of fighting in the desert area is that we don't have to play hide-and-seek with the indigenous tribes like on the grassland. These tribes of the Gradi Sultanate live in pursuit of water and grass. We only need to follow the river or look for oases to clear out these indigenous tribes." Sweet said.
Not long after leaving Mogadishu, Sweet wiped out another village in the Gradi Sultanate, with dozens of people who were raising camels.
“Keep going, this time we have to fight all the way to the source of the Shabelle River!”
……
“Mr. Platini, if we only go from Darei Looking at Ssalaam Port, what do you think of East Africa’s strength?”
The Portuguese mission to Mozambique is discussing with the East African government the division of the two sides of the Kingdom of Malawi. Although East Africa has actually occupied the northern part of the Kingdom of Malawi, this meeting only needs to condone the Portuguese invasion of the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi.
However, in order to show that East Africa attaches great importance to this matter, the Dar es Salaam Municipal Government actively engaged in an unnecessary tug of war with the Portuguese mission.
In their free time during the meeting, the Portuguese would also do official business and evaluate the strength of East Africa. However, the East African government rejected their application for free movement and only allowed them to move within the port area.
“In terms of urban construction, Dar es Salaam can already be compared with Maputo, but this is of little value. After all, no matter how many houses are built, it cannot increase its strength. But the Germans are The construction of offshore defense projects is still good. Mozambique does not have such large-caliber coastal defense guns."
"Mr. Platini, that's for sure. Just think about the pity of Prussia and Austria. If you have a navy, you will understand why the Germans attach great importance to coastal defense guns, hahaha!" Everton said with a hearty laugh.
Platini was also amused by Everton's words. He said: "Mr. Everton, you are right. Without a strong navy, if the Germans don't even build a few shore defense guns, they will be completely ruined." ”
In fact, the strength of the Portuguese navy may not be as good as that of Prussia and Austria, but as land powers, their armies are too powerful, and the navy is limited by the terrain. The fleet can easily create the illusion that the two navies are weak.
Although the Portuguese have many ships, with those old ships, it is estimated that the East African Navy can compete with them in a duel.
The great earthquake and tsunami in 1755 interrupted Portugal's national destiny. Since then, Portugal's national power has been steadily declining.
Although there are many ships, after all, they are the livelihood of many Portuguese people, but the Kingdom of Portugal is unable to support new shipbuilding plans. The current situation of the Portuguese Navy is extremely bleak.
Historically, it was not until 1876 that the first ironclad ship Vasco da Gama was launched. This old ship, which is not even as good as the Dingyuan, actually participated in Queen Victoria's Diamond Celebration, which shows the decline of Portugal.
But this does not prevent the Portuguese from laughing at the maritime power of East Africa. Except for those big countries, the naval power of small countries is very flexible. The two warships of the East African Navy that were taken over from the Austro-Hungarian Navy are actually very practical and useful. There is not much difference between the ocean-going trading ships of the Gen Consortium, except that they are equipped with more artillery. In terms of power and size, most of the ocean-going trading ships of the Hechingen Consortium are newly built and are more advanced.
Similarly, the merchant ships of the Kingdom of Portugal can also serve as warships. This is the confidence of the Portuguese. Occasionally they act as pirates, and they can even serve as guest stars in the Portuguese navy. The army, civilians and thieves are integrated to maintain the dignity of Portugal, an old colonial kingdom. .
(End of this chapter)