Chapter 488 Intelligence War
Tete is more than a hundred kilometers away from the nearest military stronghold in East Africa, but Portugal's troop mobilization in the Tete area has also been discovered by the East African reconnaissance cavalry.
“It seems that the Portuguese are planning to use Tete as a breakthrough point to attack us. Now let’s quickly bring this news back to Songo.”
Songo is upstream of Tete, It is a military stronghold established in East Africa on the banks of the Zambezi River, located more than 20 kilometers downstream of the former Cahora Bassa Reservoir.
There is an unequal intelligence relationship between East Africa and Mozambique. Because of East Africa's isolation, it is difficult for Mozambique to enter East Africa to survey intelligence, while it is easy for East Africa to obtain Mozambique's intelligence.
First of all, Mozambique's intelligence personnel may be intercepted by East African border military strongholds and checkpoints or border forces as soon as they arrive at the border. If they are lucky enough to enter East Africa, they will face material supply problems.
If the wild survival ability is maxed out and they can continue to go deeper, they will encounter identity embarrassment next. East Africa implements a household registration system. There is no identity certificate or relevant documents. Once they meet people from villages or East Africans, If you avoid settlements at the risk of being discovered, you have to keep company with the wild beasts of Africa.
All in all, the difficulty of entering East Africa to obtain intelligence can be said to be the most difficult of all countries in the world.
Of course, Portugal had obtained some information before, that was when East Africa initially occupied Matabele Province (Zimbabwe).
However, at that time, Matabele Province had not yet been developed in East Africa. Apart from geographical information, the Portuguese could not obtain other useful intelligence.
Moreover, going to East Africa to collect intelligence is a high-risk profession. In the early days, it was easy for the intelligence personnel sent by Portugal to act. However, after the population of East Africa increased in Matabele Province, Mozambique’s intelligence personnel suffered a loss of more than 30%. Later, Portugal did not When intelligence personnel were sent to East Africa, the loss rate was too high. No one was willing to die. East Africa still pretended not to know anything. The African continent was full of crises. Maybe the intelligence personnel in Mozambique were snatched away by wild animals.
However, Mozambique is almost translucent in the eyes of East Africa. East Africa relies on reconnaissance cavalry to enter and leave Mozambique at will. However, the Mozambique colony has no countermeasures at all, mainly due to insufficient manpower.
So over the years, East Africa has often crossed the border into Mozambique, especially the northern part of Mozambique, which has almost been penetrated into a sieve by East Africa.
When East Africa noticed the anomalies in Mozambique, cross-border reconnaissance became more frequent. Against this background, the reconnaissance cavalry from the Songo stronghold went hundreds of kilometers deep and went directly to Tete to obtain intelligence.
At this time, the Portuguese stationed in Tete had no idea that their actions had been discovered by East Africa. Tens of thousands of troops suddenly poured into the city of Tete, causing chaos. The black troops were in chaos because Tete The reason why the city was just a declining commercial stronghold was that it did not have large-scale houses and the ability to suddenly support so many troops.
All black troops could only be stationed outside the city. The outside of Tete City had completely turned into a noisy "vegetable market." The East African scout cavalry could detect abnormalities in Tete City from a distance.
"Did someone on horseback look at us just now?" A black soldier asked his companion, pointing to a small slope where the East African Scout Cavalry had just stopped.
"Oh! Maybe? I didn't pay close attention. Maybe it was the white man who came to inspect just now."
"Whatever! It has nothing to do with us anyway." Another soldier said .
In this way, the East African Scout Cavalry left in full view of the black soldiers. No black man thought that the other side might be an enemy spy, and no one thought of reporting the matter to the Portuguese in the city. people.
Yes, the Portuguese are all in Tete City now. To say Tete City is actually a bit flattering to Tete City. Tete City is more like a large fortress. Two thousand white Portuguese soldiers gathered in the city for entertainment.
Smoking, drinking, playing cards, there is even a brothel opened by Portuguese businessmen in the city. Swahili girls danced on the stage, and the Portuguese drunkards below cheered. Dareth, President of the Tete City Chamber of Commerce: "Hahaha, generals, you must be exhausted from the long journey this time. Our Tete is not a big place, so our ability is limited, so we can only entertain you with these simple meals. "
Clément lit an East African cigar he bought in Dar es Salaam, took a sip, tapped his leg and said, "President Dares, You are doing business here, not far from East Africa, facing the East You should know it very well, right?"
Dales said with a beer belly: "General, you have misunderstood me. Although Tete City is only a hundred miles away from East Africa, I really don't know it. Understand what the interior of East Africa is like. Since the Germans occupied the interior, they have cut off our original commercial routes, and many of the original caravans have also left. People like me also rely on the resources around Tete City to do something. Small business.”
Clement: "That's it. East Africa has obviously violated your commercial interests. Why don't you resist?"
Darres: "General, you don't know something about this. Although East Africa cut off trade routes, they developed in the north There are several commercial ports where caravans can go to the north to pick up goods and sell them all over the world, so only people like me who originally earned caravan service fees have suffered a greater loss, so not everyone hates East Africa. Besides, the German military He is very powerful, not a small businessman like me. Dare to offend."
Clement: "Oh, do you know the strength of the German army?"
Dales shook his head and said: "I don't know, I'm just referring to it. The strength and German power of those of us in Mozambique’s commercial arm Judging by comparison, they are a serious army, and commercial armed forces like ours are just a small force at best."
Clément: "How many German troops are there in the Natete area and the border with East Africa. You should have a rough idea, right?”
Dares: "This can be inferred. As far as I know, there is a German military stronghold about a hundred kilometers northwest along the Zambezi River."
Clement: "How big is the stronghold? What's the strength of the troops?"
Dares: "The scale is not big, the strength may be around two to three hundred people. This stronghold has been established for more than three years. "
The military stronghold Dares mentioned is the Songo stronghold. East Africa is also very particular about setting up strongholds in Songo. The city of Tete is actually located on a plateau with an altitude of 500 meters. To the east is the Songo stronghold. It is the Amoutize Basin and to the west is the Zambezi Basin.
The Songo stronghold in East Africa happens to be on the same small plateau as the city of Tete, but Songo is at the western end of the plateau. Songo and Tete have one thing in common, which is that they control the Zambian rivers. Passing through the plateau area, there are only two places, one in the east and one in the west. Songo is in the west and Tete is in the east. The purpose of East Africa's military stronghold in Songo was to confront Tete City and block the Portuguese's westward approach.
Dares: "General, I wonder if this information of mine is useful to you?"
"Hahaha." Clément laughed and said, "Of course, Mr. Dares, your information is useful to us." Fighting against East Africa can play a big role. When we return after victory, we will definitely take good care of your business again."
After learning that East Africa only had 200 troops in Songo, Clementine seemed very relaxed. Well, this time under his own suggestion, Portugal adopted the strategy of undeclared war, which focused on taking East Africa by surprise and catching East Africa off guard.
When they take the Songo stronghold and quickly control the south bank of the Zambezi River, the East Africans will be strategically passive. The East Africans' forces are mainly concentrated in the north and south directions. They control the Zambezi River, north and south. The main East African forces in the two places will lose contact. At that time, they can concentrate on dealing with the East African troops in the south. The German troops in the north only need to watch the Zambezi River hold them back, and this time there is a force heading towards Lake Malawi. Go, as long as the land passage between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi is cut off, East Africa will not be able to provide timely support.
Lake Tanganyika, also known as Lake Solon in East Africa, was also known to the Portuguese, but they did not know that Lake Tanganyika was also the source of the Nile River. At that time, the direction of Portuguese explorers' activities was from the south To the north, so I don’t know much about Lake Tanganyika. I only know that there is a large lake in the north of Lake Malawi, and its area is probably not smaller than that of Lake Malawi.
(End of this chapter)