Chapter 331 Hard to Fly With Wings
"Report to the Chief of Staff. A total of 3,000 enemies were wiped out, and over 10,000 were captured. Among them, the high-level Ndebele people, including Lobengula, seized 6,000 guns."
Lobengula was very lucky and was severely injured, but he did not die. He woke up when the East Africans cleaned up the battlefield.
Witt: "Now quickly organize people to take these corpses to cremation, don't cause a plague, and bring Lobengula here."
"Yes, Chief of the General Staff!"
Soon two East African soldiers carried a stretcher and came to Sitt, on which lay the monarch of the Matabele Kingdom-Lobengula.
Although he did not die, Lobengula broke five ribs. Considering the current medical conditions, his fate is still unknown.
Sweet: "Are you the king of Matabele Kingdom?"
Lobengula was lying on a stretcher, looking at this young white man who was much thinner than himself, and replied weakly: "Yes, I am the 'King of Kings' of the Kingdom of Matabele."
This is not because Lobengula is putting on airs. The native king is also the chief, and many chiefs submit to Lobengula and accept his rule. Isn’t that the "king of kings"!
Sitt didn’t care about this. No matter how awesome he was, he was defeated. He was a vassal state in East Africa before. He then asked, “Why did you start this rebellion?”
Lobengula chuckled and said: "Hahaha, rebellion? The Matabele Kingdom is originally two countries from East Africa, and we are just defending against invaders normally!"
Witt: "Hehe, how dare you give yourself money. As far as I know, you Ndebele people are just a foreign race that 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 skins."
Witt is not Caucasian, but from the Far East, but in the eyes of Lobengula, they are all the same, as long as they are whiter than the Zulu, they are all Caucasian.
Stewart no longer tried to correct Lobengula's stubbornness, he said: "Our East African kingdom actually didn't interfere with your administration too much, and let you keep the army, but in exchange for today's results, because you Ndebele The actions of people, and many so-called 'kings of kings' like you, will lose their power next, and all this is because you, by yourself, changed the policy of the East African kingdom towards the natives .”
Lobengula: "There can only be one 'King of Kings', and that is the great Lobengula!"
Sweet interrupted: "Okay, next I want to ask you a question, who provided your guns and gunpowder?"
Witt's question suddenly woke up Lobengula.
He said with red eyes: "It's all the fault of that **** Wiggins, you must catch him!"
In Lobengula’s view, Wiggins caused his fate today. They just sold themselves a pile of “scrap iron”. Knowing that the weapons of the East Africans are more advanced, they encouraged themselves to test the East African kingdom for them.
Sweet: "Wiggins!"
Lobengula: "Yes, it's all his fault, this despicable Boer."
Sweet said to his subordinates: "Go and find out, where is this Wiggins?"
"Yes, Chief of the General Staff!"
Soon, under the interrogation of the East African army, Wiggins and the Boer advisory group he led surfaced.
Witt: "He ran away?"
"Yes, Chief of the General Staff, the owner of the inn where they live said they left an hour ago, and fled on horseback."
Witt: "Let our scouts go after them, and we can't let them go easily."
"yes!"
…
"Finally escaped!" Wiggins said with emotion.
"Mr. Wiggins, if the East Africans know of our existence, will they send people to chase us?"
Wiggins: "What are you afraid of? Even if East Africa knows our existence, it is impossible to catch up with us. The Matabele Kingdom is so big that the possibility of us encountering the East African army is very small. Besides, we will do the opposite. Well, East Africans never expected us to go west.”
Wiggins was very smart. Before withdrawing from Bulawayo, he deliberately ran eastward for a certain distance. After running out of the sight of Ndebele civilians, he went west around Bulawayo.
East Africa was indeed recruited. They followed the clues provided by Ndebele civilians and pursued eastward. In fact, they were completely different from Wiggins and his party.
But it will be true!
In a place that Wiggins and others couldn't see, a small East African patrol team was coming in their direction.
This army does not belong to the South 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 patrols are regularly arranged to check whether there are suspicious forces in the territory. , and at the same time shoulder the task of surveying the Botswana region.
As for why it appeared in the Matabele Kingdom, it was completely an accident. The Matabele Kingdom has no clear borders, and Lobengula almost took out all the forces in the west 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 dry, and a little further west will enter the Kalahari Desert.
The Ndebele people supported Bulawayo, creating a vacuum in the west, which naturally aroused the vigilance of the Southwest Army patrol team, so they chose to come to find out this anomaly.
The Southwest Army and the South Route Army are not in the same system, so they don’t know much about the Ndebele rebellion, and they haven’t received the order from Wei Te. The number is too small, and Wei Te is too lazy to mobilize the Southwest Army.
The patrol quickly ran into Wiggins and his party.
"Mr. Wiggins! Look, those are the pursuers from East Africa. Damn they are faster than us!"
In the distance, the Southwest Army patrol was also on guard against Wiggins and his party. After all, they looked like they were not their own.
Wiggins: "Don't be afraid, there are not many of them, let's act first and kill them."
Because it is a patrol team, there are only seven people, while Wiggins and his party have thirteen people, so I have the advantage.
So Wiggins rushed towards the patrol with the Boer instructors.
"Yes, enemy! Get ready for battle!"
Seeing Wiggins and his party approaching at a sudden speed, the patrol captain immediately realized that the visitors were not good.
"Put on your saber, don't shoot at the enemy with your gun." The patrol captain immediately ordered.
The enemy is more numerous than you, so you can't be careless. If one fails, the whole army may be wiped out, so decision-making is very important. The patrol leader thinks that the accuracy of shooting on horseback will be greatly reduced. 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 melee.
This is a gamble. After all, no one knows how good the riding and archery skills of Wiggins and others are, but it will soon be known.
"Damn, these East Africans are running around and can't even aim."
"They're coming!"
"Turn around!"
Unfortunately, it was too late. Just like dealing with the natives, the East African patrol on horseback took advantage of the time when Wiggins and his party were about to turn around, and easily caught up with them.
Kicked the horse's belly hard, the spurs made the horse accelerate instantly, then raised the saber, and slashed at the already leveled enemy.
Wiggins dodged instinctively, fell directly from his horse, and was captured, while the other Boers were either hacked to death or captured.
May 28, 1871.
The Boer criminal, Wiggins was arrested, and East Africa has the ironclad evidence that the Boers support the Ndebele rebellion.
(end of this chapter)