Chapter 331: It’s hard to fly
“Report to the Chief of General Staff that a total of 3,000 enemies were annihilated and over 10,000 were captured. Among them, senior Ndebele people, including Lobengula, seized 6,000 guns.”
Lobengula was very lucky and was severely wounded, but he did not die. He woke up when the East Africans were clearing the battlefield.
Sweite: "Now quickly organize people to take these corpses for cremation, do not cause a plague, and bring Lobengula here."
"Yes, Chief of General Staff! ”
Soon, two East African soldiers carried a stretcher and came to Sweet, on which lay the monarch of the Matabele Kingdom, Lobengula.
Although he did not die, Lobengula suffered five broken ribs. Considering the current medical conditions, his fate is still unknown.
Sweite: "Are you the King of Matabele Kingdom?"
Lobengula was lying on the stretcher, looking at this white-skinned young man who was much thinner than himself, and answered weakly To: "Yes, I am the 'King of Kings' of the Matabele Kingdom."
This is not because Lobengula is showing off. The indigenous king is also the chief, and many chiefs surrender to Lobengula. Benguela and accepting his rule, isn't he the "King of Kings"!
Sweet didn't care about this. No matter how awesome he was, he was still defeated. He was a vassal state in East Africa before. He then asked: "Why did you launch this rebellion?"
Lobengula lightly He smiled and said: "Hahaha, rebellion? The Kingdom of Matabele is originally two countries from East Africa. We are just resisting the invaders normally!"
Sweite: "Haha, how dare you label yourself Jin, as far as I know, you Ndebele people are just aliens who invaded the Matabele Plateau from South Africa decades ago and enslaved the local Shona people."
Lobengula said disdainfully. : "They are willing to accept the rule of the great 'King of Kings'. I was chosen by the gods to fight against you white-skinned people."
Sweite is not a white man, but from the Far East, but In Lobengula's eyes, it's all the same. As long as they are whiter than the Zulu, they are all white.
Sweet no longer tried to correct Lobengula's stubbornness. He said: "Our East African Kingdom actually did not interfere too much in your administration and allowed you to retain the army. As a result, today's results were achieved because of you Ndebele Human actions, and many so-called 'Kings of Kings' like you will lose their power next, and all this is because you, by yourself, changed the East African Kingdom's policy towards the indigenous people. "
Lobengula: "There can only be one 'King of Kings', and that is the great Lobengula!"
Sweite interrupted: "Okay. , Next I want to ask you a question, who provided your guns and gunpowder? "
Sweite's question suddenly awakened Lobengula.
He said with red eyes: "It's all the fault of that bitch Wiggins, you must catch him!"
In Lobengula's view, his fate today was entirely caused by Wiggins. They just sold themselves a pile of "scrap iron". They knew that the weapons of the East Africans were more advanced, and encouraged him to test the East African Kingdom for them.
Thought: "Wiggins!"
Lobengula: "Yes, it's all his fault, this despicable Boer."
Thinking Special said to his subordinates: "Hurry up and find out, where is this Wiggins?"
"Yes, Chief of General Staff!"
Soon, under cross-examination by the East African army, Wiggins and the Boer advisory group he led surfaced.
Sweat: "He ran away?"
"Yes, Chief of General Staff, the owner of the hotel where they lived said they left an hour ago and escaped on horseback. "
Sweite: "Let our scouts pursue them. We can't let them go easily."
"Yes!"
...
At this time, Wiggins and his party had already galloped away from Bulawayo and headed west at high speed.
"Finally escaped!" Wiggins said with emotion.
"Mr. Wiggins, if the East Africans know about our existence, will they send someone to chase us?" Wiggins: "What are you afraid of? Even if the East Africans know our existence, they will not be able to catch up with us." As for us, the Matabele Kingdom is so big, the possibility of us encountering the East African army is very small. Besides, we are going in the opposite direction. The East Africans would not think that we would go from the west.”
Wiggins was very smart and deliberately ran a distance eastward before withdrawing from Bulawayo. After running out of sight of Ndebele civilians, he bypassed Bulawayo and headed west.
East Africa was indeed tricked. They followed the clues provided by the Ndebele civilians and pursued eastward. In fact, they were completely different from Wiggins and his group.
But it really is so!
Where Wiggins and others cannot see, a small East African patrol team is coming in their direction.
This unit does not belong to the Southern Route Army, but the Southwest Army operating in Botswana. The Southwest Army has a very small number of people, but it governs most of the land in Botswana. Several patrol teams are regularly arranged to check. Whether there are any suspicious forces in the territory, and at the same time shoulder the task of investigating the Botswana region.
As for why it appeared in the Kingdom of Matabele, it was a complete accident. The Kingdom of Matabele has no clear national border, and Lobengula almost drained the western part of Bulawayo in order to fight against East Africa.
In fact, there are not many Ndebele people west of Bulawayo. After all, the climate in the west is relatively arid, and a little further west you will enter the Kalahari Desert.
The support of the Ndebele people to Bulawayo caused a vacuum zone in the west, which naturally aroused the vigilance of the Southwest Army patrol, so they chose to come to detect this anomaly.
The Southwest Army and the South Route Army are not the same system, so they do not understand the Ndebele rebellion. They did not receive orders from Sweat. The number was too small, and Sweat was too lazy to mobilize the Southwest Army.
The patrol soon ran into Wiggins and his party.
"Mr. Wiggins! Look, those are the pursuers from East Africa. Damn it, they are faster than us!"
In the distance, the Southwest Army patrol was also wary of Wiggins and his party. After all, The way they dress makes it clear they are not one of their own.
Wiggins: "Don't be afraid, there are not many of them. Let's strike first and kill them."
Because it is a patrol, there are only seven people, and Wiggins and his party There are thirteen people, so I have the advantage.
So Wiggins, with the Boer instructors, rushed towards the patrol.
"Yes, the enemy! Get ready to fight!"
Seeing Wiggins and his party suddenly speeding up, the patrol leader immediately realized that the incoming party was evil.
"Get your saber and don't shoot at the enemy with your gun." The patrol leader immediately ordered.
The enemy is more numerous than you, so you can’t be careless. If you fail one mistake, the entire army may be annihilated, so decision-making is very important. The patrol leader thought that the accuracy of shooting from horseback would be greatly reduced. If the opponent does not often accept In terms of military training, it is very difficult to hit yourself with a gun on horseback, so it is better to use a knife to fight the enemy in close combat.
This was a gamble. After all, no one knew how good Wiggins and others were at riding and shooting, but it soon became clear.
"Damn it, these East Africans are running left and right and can't aim at all."
"They're coming!"
"Turn around!"
Unfortunately, it's too late. Just like dealing with the natives, the East African patrol on horseback took advantage of the gap when Wiggins and his party wanted to turn around, and easily caught up with them.
Kicked the horse's belly hard, and the spurs made the horse accelerate instantly. Then he raised his saber and slashed at the enemy who was already level.
Wiggins ducked instinctively, fell from his horse, and was captured, while the other Boers were either hacked to death or captured.
May 28, 1871.
Boer criminal, Wiggins was arrested, and East Africa had ironclad evidence that the Boers supported the Ndebele rebellion.
(End of this chapter)