Chapter 386 The troops are approaching the city
There is a river less than 60 kilometers away from Pretoria, which the Boers call the Murray Taylor River. The East African Army's 111th Division, 123rd Division, and 514th Division are located in Murray Taylor. Set up camp and rest on the north bank of the river.
After more than ten days of continuous high-intensity marching, the East African soldiers were generally exhausted. Even Ernst, who was riding a horse, couldn't stand it. In addition, the small group of Boers who had fought in Petersburg before The troops were engaged in a battle, so the East African Army needed to take a rest and wait for the troops transporting food and grass.
The battle of Petersburg was not even an appetizer for the East African Army. The Boer army did not have 500 people in total, and the weapons they used were lagging behind those of the East African Army. East Africa dispatched a cavalry battalion. Crushed these Boers.
At night, the breeze blows slowly, bringing a bit of coolness to people, and bursts of singing come from the military camp on the bank of the Murray Taylor River:
"Beside the river in the Rhine village,
in the golden wheat field,
the eaglets soared freely.
Who will pack this bag for me?
Who will do it for me? I put on this military uniform,
A gentle girl who never forgets her hometown.
The Rhine is my beautiful hometown,
Who can forget my lovely hometown..."
East African soldiers played the zither (a traditional Austrian musical instrument) ) beat the music, and they sang together around the campfire. Everyone had a smile on their face during the rare leisure time. This was a party organized by the East African soldiers to relieve their boredom.
Ernst heard it. As the East African soldiers sang, they inadvertently relaxed their brows and raised the corners of their mouths. It’s been a long time since I heard such a simple song!
Ernst rarely went to rural areas in Germany except Hechingen. He listened to a lot of high-end concerts. After all, this was an integral part of aristocratic life. Songs like this with German rural and military styles, Ernst I have never experienced this in two lifetimes.
Seeing that His Highness was interested in this, Sweet explained: "East African soldiers created a lot of military music. This tradition has existed since the establishment of the First Town Colony, and it can be traced back further. When arriving in the German states, most members of the first mercenary team came from the armies of various German states, and each German state has military bands, so we in East Africa are inevitably affected by this. At the same time, in military camps that lack entertainment , songs from all over Germany quickly became popular, and some people with a little musical literacy began to try to compose music, and they could write many popular songs in the military with simple vocabulary. "
Well. Sturt said: "These are precious cultural treasures of the East African kingdom. When the war is over, the court musicians will collect these music."
As the chorus ended, the next program was very surprising, at least. This surprised Ernst.
“The performers of the next show will invite artists from the East to bring us an Oriental opera - "The Story of Three Countries"."
There was a round of applause. It seemed that the audience was quite wide, and many soldiers from Germany seemed to be looking forward to it. This made Ernst a little curious. Can the Germans understand?
Then a burst of familiar music sounded that made Ernst's scalp feel numb. It was a piece of music played on a native pipa (willow leaf harp), which clearly had the characteristics of Eastern opera.
Ernst had no contact with opera, but he had heard of Yu Opera, Huangmei Opera and Qu Opera. This was not because Ernst liked it, but because his grandmother liked to listen to opera when he was a child, so he followed suit, especially Yang The stories of generals are most often heard.
What happened next was even more unexpected than Ernst expected. As the prelude ended, the man holding the lute began to sing, but he actually sang in German?
Because it was in German, Ernst also understood it. This is the story of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the three heroes fighting Lu Bu, what a guy! The most exaggerated thing is that he even rhymes with it! Rhymes in German! So much so that Ernst directly exclaimed: "Talent! No, genius!"
Ernst had never thought about someone singing in a "foreign" language, and it sounded good. Compared to Ernst's overreaction, the soldiers sitting around the campfire listened with gusto. I don't know if it was because of the Far East of the Three Kingdoms. The exotic story is fascinating, but the unique oriental singing is even more attractive. Ernst: "Sweeter, wait until the party is over and give me the information about the person who knows Eastern opera."
"Yes, principal." Sweet responded.
Sweite had already guessed why the principal was so surprised just now. To be honest, it was the same for the first time he saw an Oriental opera sung in German. It was very strange, but he didn't think much about it at the time because of the diversity of East African immigrants. It’s not unusual for some weird things to happen; This is not an isolated case in East Africa, but a large number of examples piled together. Although East Africa can make the whole of East Africa the same as Germany in terms of hardware, culture is not something that the East African government can control. At most, it can only play a guiding role. , for example, the promotion of German is very successful.
……
After resting, the East African army continued to advance, and two days later, Pretoria appeared in front of Ernst.
Ernst sat on his horse, took out the telescope on his waist, and carefully observed the urban construction of Pretoria, thinking in his mind.
Ernst: "As the capital of the Transvaal Republic, Pretoria is basically the same size as our first town, and it can be considered a well-developed city in Africa. "
Sweet: "Principal, there are not many people in the Transvaal Republic, even less than the population of our Central Province. This is even if we have not fully developed the Central Province. "
The current population of the Transvaal Republic is estimated to be only a few hundred thousand. After all, there is no demographic data like that of East Africa, so it is not easy to evaluate. However, during the second Boer War in history, the Transvaal Republic added The population of the Upper Orange Free State was only about 440,000, and that was in 1899, so the current population of the Transvaal Republic would definitely not exceed 200,000, and it would be more likely to be over a hundred thousand.
If the population of the Boers now exceeds 200,000, then based on the level of all their people being soldiers, they will not be bullied into that by the small Zulu Kingdom.
From a distance, the size of Pretoria is similar to that of the First Town, which should not exceed 30,000 people. The total number of the three divisions under Ernst reached more than 23,000, which meant that it was very easy to capture Pretoria.
So Ernst said: "Start preparing for combat, and let the 514th Division launch a tentative attack on Pretoria first!"
The 514th Division belongs to the second-line troops in East Africa, but it is currently not It belongs to the standing army and is one level higher than the militia. The 123rd Division is a cavalry mobile unit, mainly responsible for mobile field operations. Siege is not its strong point. It is mainly used to deal with the Boer cavalry. The lower-level units of the 123rd Division were dispatched from Petersburg before.
As for the 111th Division, like the 123rd Division, it is an elite force in East Africa. However, the 111th Division is an all-rounder and is the second infantry division in East Africa. The first is the 101st Division, which is the Royal Guards Division. , although the Royal Guards Division is called a division, it should actually be called a military division more accurately. Its total strength reaches 30,000 people and is responsible for the defense of the entire Central Province, including the cities of Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam. The gateways of these two first towns and cities are the focus of their defense.
To deal with Pretoria, Ernst planned to test the waters with the 514th Division first. The 514th Division was one of the old foundations of the Southern Route Army and the one with the worst combat effectiveness. As for other units of the Southern Route Army, they would be responsible for strategies in other directions. .
For example, the two troops of the 511th Division and the 513th Division attacked the Transvaal from Botswana on the west bank of the Limpopo River, while the three troops led by Ernst personally attacked from Zimbabwe on the north bank of the Limpopo River. Attack on the Transvaal.
The middle and upper reaches of the Limpopo River present a large, horseshoe-shaped bend, surrounding the western and northern parts of the Transvaal Republic. This is also the posture of the East African troops attacking the Transvaal. In fact, There are also two divisions led by Felix in the east. Although Felix's troops also passed through the Republic of Transvaal, Felix's troops were mainly heading towards the Kingdom of Swaziland. Swaziland The Kingdom of Lan is built on the eastern slope of the Drakensberg Mountains and has needs for mountain operations, so the 331st Division, the only mountain division in East Africa, is also in Felix's hands.
(End of this chapter)