Chapter 489 War is war, trade rules trade
If the Portuguese can really occupy the land passage between Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) and Lake Malawi, it will indeed have an impact on East Africa, because It is the only place where the East African Central Railway must pass when entering the interior.
However, it is quite difficult to occupy this place. It has the heavy industrial base city of Mbeya in East Africa, three large arsenals, and the headquarters of the 111th Division. Lake Malawi is also the three major bases for the East African River and Lake Troops. One, and the black regiments formed in East Africa were also trained on the east shore of Lake Malawi.
All the advantages of water and land transportation are in the hands of East Africa, and logistical supplies are also quite convenient. If Portugal can break through the East African Army from Lake Malawi and its coastal areas, there will be no need for East Africa to exist.
……
Clement had the idea to raid Songo's stronghold, but practical factors prevented him from implementing his idea immediately.
“Why haven’t your Portuguese supplies been sent to the front line yet? Isn’t the section from the mouth of the Zambezi River to Tete navigable?”
After being laughed at by international friends, the Portuguese general Kevin Duck was also disgraced. He comforted Clément and said: "We have no experience in such large-scale wars before, so Mozambique's logistics system has basically no experience in supplying large-scale material transfers. Currently, we are transferring goods from Mozambique to Ships have been mobilized from various places, and I believe that the supplies should be transported to Tete in time within half a month.”
The Mozambique colony has enjoyed peace for a long time. Even if a war involving thousands of people occurred in the Mozambique colony, the last time was the annexation of Malawi. There is a war of this scale in the southern part of the kingdom. It is actually using firearms to bully the indigenous tribes who have rudimentary cold weapons.
At other times, the main threats faced by the Portuguese came from the sea, so naval battles were more frequent than land wars and they had more experience.
Therefore, this war against the East African Kingdom did exceed the expectations of the Mozambican government. They have no experience in dealing with such military mobilization of tens of thousands of people. In addition, the preparation time is relatively hasty, and the logistics supply is naturally insufficient.
It was okay not to comfort him. After comforting him, Clementine became furious: "Half a month? The supplies we carry are only enough to last for a week. This does not include the ammunition reserve. Are you planning to let us The soldiers are hungry and launch an attack on East Africa."
Kevin Duck: "This... is not impossible. Anyway, we can attack inland first, and the supplies should be available soon! "
Clement: "Where were those troop transports when we came here?"
Kevin Duck said with shame. We temporarily rented the ships from passing merchants. After paying the money, they dispersed. The time and money spent on reuniting are not something our colony in Mozambique can afford.”
In order to transport 30,000 people to Tete City in one go, the Mozambique colony could only temporarily rent merchant ships to transport these 30,000 people from southern Mozambique to the center.
The cost of temporarily renting a ship like this is not cheap, and you have to ask for a passing ship. Only some empty ships are willing to accept it. As for where the empty ships come from, they are usually ships unloading in Mozambique. Mainly merchant ships.
Many of these Arab merchant ships are owned by Arabs from Zanzibar Province. Their main business is to bring consumer goods from East Africa to Mozambique to earn the price difference.
Mozambique has no manufacturing industry and everything needs to be imported. The cheap goods from East Africa are the first choice of the local Portuguese and tribal chiefs. In addition to the Arabs taking the initiative to sell, the local Portuguese in Mozambique will also go directly to the port or reach the destination. Les Salaam stocked.
Kevin Duck continued: "The cost of renting a boat is three times higher than usual, and no one is necessarily willing to do it, so we can only requisition local boats to reduce costs, but local boats can be used on Mozambique's large and small rivers. , it will take time to organize them, and our food must be transported from the interior of Mozambique through them.”
Of course, one thing Kevin Duck did not mention is that Mozambique also imports food from East Africa, mainly because white Portuguese soldiers need flour to make staple foods such as bread and cakes, and East Africa is the closest flour producer to Mozambique.
The colony of Mozambique is mainly based on plantations, and the cultivation of food crops is not active. The most suitable food crop for planting in Mozambique is rice, which is obviously not in line with the taste of the Portuguese, and the Portuguese have no experience in rice cultivation. . Fortunately, Mozambique's population is dominated by black people. It doesn't matter what black people eat, including cassava, bananas, etc. White people cannot eat these.
It’s okay to eat occasionally, but staple foods still have to be imported, especially since food prices in East Africa are very cheap, and Mozambique’s businessmen and plantation owners have even less incentive to grow food crops.
Clément: "Okay, your local government is such a waste. Since there are still not enough ships, use black people to send food and ammunition to the front line. I will see a full supply within a week." Supplies.”
Kevin Duck: "General Clement, don't worry, I will respond to Maputo."
Clement said seriously: "General Kevin Duck, I said it was a request, and This is a requirement that you must fulfill. It is not as simple as reacting to Maputo. No matter what method Maputo uses, I only want military supplies, and It must be delivered to Tete within a week.”
Clément has understood clearly that the Mozambique colonial government is unreliable and inefficient. It deserves to be beaten by East Africa, and Clemente has made it clear through his actions. Knowing this, if we do not put pressure on the colonial government of Mozambique, they will not only be inefficient, but may also become corrupt.
The French army is efficient enough to avoid corruption, and this is probably even more true for the bureaucrats in the Mozambique colony, so Clement continued: "When you write a letter to Maputo, you must give a special order, In my name, I won’t accept even one gram less of the supplies I want.”
Kevin Duck nodded quickly: “No problem!”
Kevin Duck also knew the virtues of the rear-area bureaucrats. Anyway, this time it was Clement, a Frenchman, who asked the rear-area government to restrain itself. He had nothing to do with him and was not afraid of offending others.
After Clément said that, he lay on the chair and lit a cigar calmly, then started smoking leisurely.
Kevin Duck saw this and asked: "General Clement, do we really have to wait until the supplies are delivered before launching an attack on East Africa?"
Clement: "What's the hurry? Okay, let’s first send a small force to capture the Songo military stronghold in East Africa. The large force will wait behind us. Once the supplies are delivered to Tete, we will launch a large-scale offensive.”
The troops and horses. Before moving, food and grass go first. Clement would not launch an attack first if he did not have sufficient military supplies. After all, he was not familiar with the specific conditions in the interior of East Africa. Even relying on the Portuguese's crude map, it was possible to get lost. What if he ran into the enemy's trap? manage.
Moreover, Clement was worried about the black soldiers under his command. There was always desertion, but fortunately there were only a few running away every day. For an army in this state, Clement did not dare to ask too much, and everything was focused on stability.
Kevin Duck: "How many people should we send to occupy Songo?"
Clément: "Just a thousand people! There are only two to three hundred people in the Songo stronghold, three or four times The strength of the troops should be able to capture the Songo stronghold. "
In Clement's view, the combat effectiveness of the border troops in East Africa, especially the small military strongholds like Songo, should not be very high.
Although the combat effectiveness of black soldiers is questionable, after training by French instructors, they should be able to fight compared with the armies of colonial countries such as East Africa.
And this time, with more troops and fewer troops, with more than three times the superior force, it was impossible to capture even a small border stronghold.
(End of this chapter)