Chapter 328 Foreign Forces
As a new city, Bulawayo, the capital of the Ndebele people, was not even established as long as many cities established by the East African Kingdom.
Lobengula and his father Zilikazi used a large number of slaves to build their capital. Although the city was small, it revealed the characteristics of the combination of Arab architecture and European architecture.
On the one hand, the Arabs have had a profound influence on the eastern coast of Africa. Even the Zulu people in the south cannot avoid it. The same is true for the Ndebele people, who are a branch of the Zulu people.
On the other hand, the Ndebele people learned it from their old rivals, the Boers. However, when the Boers captured the Transvaal, they did not have so much time and manpower to build something luxurious. The buildings are basically simple fortresses in Dutch style or German and French style.
The Ndebele people fully learned from the experience of the Boers and built shooting ports, towers and other facilities in their capital. The entire capital has turned into a small military fortress, which is similar to Hohenzollern Castle. This is also in line with the Ndebele people. Characteristics of Lai people’s militarism.
At this time, Lobengula was reviewing his army outside the castle. The visual effect of more than 6,000 Ndebele soldiers equipped with muskets was absolutely shocking.
They were dressed in traditional Zulu costumes like primitive tribes, but they were carrying muskets as tall as one person. Barbarism and "civilization" contrasted with each other.
In addition to our own people with "advanced" equipment, more than 10,000 Shona servants also participated in this military parade. Although the number of servants is far more than these, they are scattered throughout the Matabele Kingdom. Wayo cannot feed so many people.
Lobengula was quite satisfied when he saw the Ndebele warriors who were full of fighting spirit, and he felt quite happy that all the heroes in the world had fallen into his lap.
Lobengula asked the leader of the Boer advisory group beside him: "Your Excellency Wiggins, look at my subordinates, how do they compare to the East African Kingdom now?"
Wiggins is full of confidence. He laughed and said: "Hahaha, Your Majesty the King, don't worry, the Ndebele warriors are brave and militant, and now equipped with firearms, coupled with the training of our Boers, they can definitely cause heavy damage to the East African Kingdom."
< br>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, firearms were sold to the Kingdom of Matabele by the Republic of Transvaal. Naturally, one-stop service must be provided to customers. Otherwise, Ndebele warriors would use muskets as spearmen to attack those in East Africa. It would be a big joke if the colonial soldiers launched a death charge and were beaten into a sieve.
Lobengula ordered: "The drill has officially begun!"
The Ndebele soldiers, who were divided into several square formations, began to fill their muskets with ammunition in a formal manner, then raised them flat and took turns shooting at the row of wooden stakes that had been set up.
"Bang...bang...bang..."
The fragile wooden stake was directly beaten to pieces.
“Good, good, very good!” Lobengula admired as he looked at the power of the musket in front of him.
Lobengula: "With these muskets, the East Africans will never come back."
...
A fast horse galloped on the grassland, coming towards the border troops of South Salzburg Province.
"I have an important military intelligence report."
Soon, the scout was brought to Sweet.
"Report, Chief of General Staff! We encountered troops of the Southern Route Army in the southeast, and they are converging on us."
"Which unit of the Southern Route Army are they?"
"The Second Brigade of the Southern Route Army has been operating here these days to encircle and suppress the indigenous rebellion."
Sweite said with satisfaction: "Very good. It seems that the Southern Route Army has almost finished countering the rebellion in the south and east. Let’s stop here, wait for them, and let the soldiers take a rest.”
The Southern Salzburg border troops marched all the way. The main purpose of going deep into the hinterland of the Matabele Plateau near Lake Ravi is to fight the main force of the Ndebele people, which is the base camp of the Matabele Kingdom headed by Bulawayo.
As for local counter-insurgency, I naturally have no idea. It is mainly left to the South Route Army to launch from the east and south.
About twenty minutes later, a group of troops appeared on the horizon. It was the Second Brigade of the South East African Route Army.
Second Brigade Commander Yaan Reed: "Chief of General Staff!"
Sweite: "Very good, you are coming from that direction!" "Chief of General Staff, our brigade Originally stationed on the north bank of the Limpopo River, they came from the southeast to the northwest according to the king's order. "
"That means that the indigenous rebellion in the southeast has been almost suppressed? "
"Yes, Chief of General Staff, but some remnants of the Ndebele people escaped, so we pursued them all the way here."
"You guys did a good job!" Sweet praised.
Yan Reed: "By the way, Chief of General Staff, our army has an important military information to report to you."
Sweat: "What military information?"
"Chief of General Staff, please wait a moment." Yaan Reed turned to his subordinates and said: "Bring our prisoners and captured things over here!"
Soon, several white people were escorted up, along with an ox cart covered with a tarpaulin.
Yan Reed opened the rainproof cloth and there were boxes of goods stacked on it, but after seeing the style of the boxes, Sweet immediately guessed what was inside.
“This is arms?”
“Yes, Chief of Staff, and it is arms provided by the Boers to the Ndebele people.”
“Well, these The Boers are so courageous!”
Ya'an Reed said: "Chief of General Staff, next, you will interrogate these Boers, and I'm afraid you will know what really big things they have done."
Sweite immediately understood this matter. I'm afraid there's more to it than meets the eye.
He came to the Boer prisoners and asked: "Are you from the Transvaal Republic?"
One of the Boers replied in German: "Yes, I dare to ask. Your Excellency?”
“I am the Chief of Staff of the East African Kingdom, Sweet!”
When he heard that he was a senior official in East Africa, the Boer immediately said: "Sir, this is all a misunderstanding."
"Huh, don't be clever, we have already obtained the information from the Ndebele people. It would be nice if you cooperated well and took the initiative to confess the crime, otherwise..." Ya'an Reed interrupted from the side.
"Well, now that things have happened, 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 who saw being exposed.
Sweite: "Of course. Next, I will ask you an answer. We will absolutely guarantee your safety. The first question is, what is your purpose here?"
Boer: "We were instructed by the President to come to trade with the Ndebele people. As you can see, we are delivering arms to the Ndebele people. The main reason is that the Ndebele people use gold to trade, which in turn weakens your country. Strength.”
Sweet: "How many weapons did you deliver to the Ndebele people in total?"
"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.
Sweet: "Okay, we will keep our promise, but then we will have to wrong you to be a guest in East Africa!"
The Boer prisoners easily took away what they knew about the Trans All the information of the Republic of Va was sold to East Africa, because he knew that East Africa would not let him return to the Republic of Transvaal.
Sweet said to his subordinates: "Humph, the Republic of Transvaal is really generous. They use guns and people. They really don't take us in East Africa seriously. We will settle the accounts with them after we deal with the Ndebele people!"
(End of this chapter)