Chapter 381 National Ceremony
North bank of Limpopo River.
"Mr. Wiggins! We have worked hard for you these past few months. We have prepared a boat for you. After crossing the river, you can return to the Transvaal Republic. This is a letter. I hope you can take it with you. To the president of your country,” the East African warrior said, handing a letter to Wiggins.
Wiggins, who was originally in a depressed state of mind, said incredulously: "You really have to let me go!"
Being escorted to the Limpopo River by two East African soldiers, Wiggins He thought that the East African Kingdom was going to execute him. He had been under house arrest in East Africa for so many days and no one spoke. No matter how good-hearted he was, he couldn't bear this kind of torture. Wiggins knew what he was doing. The East African Kingdom was going to shoot him. A hundred times to myself is not an exaggeration.
"Of course, Mr. Wiggins, although we don't like your behavior very much, but your sentence is over, and you do have some effect, can't you serve as a messenger between our two countries? I hope you can extend our friendship Pass it to your government."
Regaining freedom, Wiggins quickly responded: "No problem! I will definitely deliver the letter to the president!"
The East African soldier waved: " Then please go back quickly! Remember not to do such shameful things in the future!"
Wiggins put the letter in his arms and saw that the East African soldier was really going to let him go, so he was very angry. He nodded fiercely and said: "Today I swear to the Lord that I will never set foot on the land of the East African Kingdom from now on."
Under the gaze of the East African soldiers, Wiggins boarded the boat and paddled towards the river. Going to the other side, when Wiggins crossed the river, he was sure that the East African had kept his promise and did not shoot him in the back. But he had to find a Boer farm nearby and take him back to Pretoria.
In this way, without any knowledge, Wiggins headed towards Pretoria with the "Declaration of War" in his arms, which was a national gift from the East African Kingdom to the Republic of Transvaal.
The "Declaration of War" declared East Africa to be in a state of war against the Transvaal Republic on the grounds that the Transvaal Republic supported the Ndebele people to launch a conspiracy to rebel in East Africa and subvert the politics of the East African Kingdom.
Wiggins never imagined that he was carrying such a thing in his arms, so when the East African army invaded the territory of the Transvaal Republic, he was still on the way to the Transvaal.
…
Bulawayo.
The Crown Prince of the East African Kingdom, Ernst, personally inspected the East African combat troops training here. After more than ten days of forced marches and exposure to wind and sun, Ernst's fair skin when he first arrived in East Africa from Europe completely turned into a bronze color. He was still East African. The sun nourishes people! Ernst thought so in his mind.
"Your Highness, the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Brigade of the 331st Division of the East African Mountain Forces would like to review you!" A short man who looked very strong saluted Ernst.
Ernst returned a military salute.
The East African Mountain Force is a force specially prepared by Ernst for the Zulu people. Most of its members come from Germany in the Alps and immigrants from Guangxi and the Yimeng Mountains in Shandong in the Far East.
The Boers did not take advantage of the victory to eliminate the Zulu. A large part of the reason was the existence of the Drakensberg Mountains, which made it difficult for the Boer cavalry to deploy in mountainous terrain.
Therefore, as early as after the occupation of the Azande Plateau in East Africa, a mountain force was formed on the Azande Plateau with complex terrain to deal with wars in mountainous terrain. When choosing the mountain troops, Ernst specially selected Guangxi soldiers as the focus. First of all, the people in Guangxi were more bloody. The Taiping Rebellion, as well as the performance of the Guangxi warlords and the Anti-Japanese War later, all proved that the Guangxi people were more capable of fighting.
Guangxi Wolf Soldiers have been famous since the Ming Dynasty. First, the folk customs are strong. Guangxi is far away from the political center at any time and is an area with weak influence of Confucianism. Ernst does not disparage it. Confucianism, but after the Song Dynasty, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism castrated the Far Eastern national thoughts.
The Han Dynasty also respected Confucianism, but the scholar-bureaucrat class could say: "Everything the sun and moon shine on is Han soil, and everything the rivers reach are Han subjects." Such words are extremely shameless in the eyes of foreigners. In Ernst's view, this was the pinnacle of national spirit.
Especially in the world of the 19th century, the so-called benevolence, justice and morality are of no use at all. The great powers did not talk about benevolence, justice and morality. The European colonists, starting from Portugal, were a group of armed fraudsters who took the Indians He was so deceived that he even lost his underwear.
As a descendant of the East African Kingdom, it is actually the successor of colonialism. In its attitude towards the indigenous people, it is unswervingly profit-centered. The indigenous people cherish the land and resources.
It’s just that as a man who lived two lives, Ernst had a longer-term perspective and knew that colonization would backfire, so he did more to eradicate the roots to prevent East Africa from embarking on the evil path of colonization in the future. Although this matter cannot be avoided, East Africa must be more conservative.
The special geographical environment of Guangxi has shaped the spirit of Guangxi people who are not afraid of hard work and perseverance. There is nothing to say about this. Before the productivity level develops to a certain level and the plain areas become green deserts, the mountainous areas will live forever. Not as bad as the plains, most uprisings in the Far East were initiated from the mountainous areas.
Last and most important, Guangxi’s climate is most similar to that of East Africa. Guangxi’s latitude has reached the tropics and its population is large. Although the Taiping Rebellion originated here, Guangxi was not particularly affected. , the areas mainly affected by the Taiping Rebellion were Jiangxi, southern Anhui, and Huijing. They were almost turned into a white land, and they have not yet recovered.
So Ernst had no psychological burden in recruiting immigrants from Guangxi. According to the current living standards in East Africa, coming from Guangxi to East Africa would be regarded as making a fortune.
After the mountain troops passed, it was time for the artillery troops in East Africa. East African artillery liked small-caliber artillery the most. When used in Africa, this kind of thing was regarded as a cannon to fight mosquitoes. This time Ernst concentrated 30% of the artillery in East Africa in Bura in order to deal with the Boers. Wayo.
The most famous tactic of the Boers is to form a circle with oxcarts as a bunker to deal with the enemy. In addition, they have hot weapons in their hands, so artillery is essential to deal with this formation. Yes, a cannonball passed by, and the Boer's cattle and horse array could not resist it at all.
The last one to be reviewed was the cavalry troops in East Africa. This was also the first time that cavalry was used on a large scale in East Africa. The Boers are a nation of horses. The best way to deal with cavalry is cavalry. After such a long time, the cavalry in East Africa The development is quite impressive.
In addition, the East African troops attacking the Transvaal Republic were still mainly infantry, but this time the East African infantry was also different from the past, that is, it used machine guns for the first time.
Machine guns appeared as early as the American Civil War. East Africa also had equipment, but it was not conspicuous in the previous wars in East Africa. Think about it for the same reason. The previous enemies in East Africa were all indigenous. If you can't use advanced weapons like machine guns, what a waste of bullets! The East African infantry used machine guns on a large scale this time, mainly to deal with the Boer cavalry.
In order to deal with the Boers, Ernst could be said to have been planning for a long time. From the day he attacked Zimbabwe, Ernst knew that there would be a war in East Germany (East Africa and the Transvaal Republic). After all, he could not resist the temptation. people.
The reason why this review was held in Bulawayo instead of on the banks of the Limpopo River was to avoid arousing the suspicion of the Boers. Before Ernst arrived here, the East African Army had already regarded the Transvaal Republic as a false enemy. Numerous military exercises were conducted, including the release of Wiggins, on selected stretches of the Limpopo River to prevent him from spying on the East African kingdom's ambitions.
After the review, Ernst ordered: "Search! Target the Transvaal Republic!"
(End of this chapter)