Chapter 374 Lively South Africa
"The Zulus are coming! Assemble!"
"Woo..."
I don’t know how many times this month, General Andris of the Transvaal Republic roared angrily.
This time, the small group of troops from the Zulu Kingdom attacked again. They also held firearms and attacked the Boers like the Ndebele people.
Waiting for the Boers to gather together with great difficulty, with the sound of horns on the opposite side, the Zulu army, well-trained, began to retreat.
Andris could only watch the Zulu army retreat and pursue, but no one dared to give this order, because the Zulu people on the opposite side were a group of sinister aborigines, and they must have not held their farts well.
For the Boers, life is becoming more and more difficult. The most important thing is that the pressure on national defense is increasing, and the small Zulu Kingdom is provoking more and more. With the British on their side, it is difficult for the Boers to cause any serious damage to the Zulu Kingdom. Even playing more and more conservative.
The hatred between the Boers and the Zulus can be said to have been settled since they met. In fact, neither of them is the master of this land. The Boers are going north, while the Zulus are going south. Natal region head to head.
The original owner of the Natal area was the Ndebele people who were completely defeated by East Africa. The Ndebele people and the Zulu people have the same origin, but because of the invasion of the Zulu Kingdom, the two sides launched a **** battle in the Natal area.
Originally, the outcome was unknown, but at this time the Boers who went north dealt a fatal blow to the Ndebele people.
The Boers going north had to face the Ndebele people on the border with the Cape Colony, but a series of attacks went smoothly.
Soon after the war started, they united with the hostile tribes of the Ndebele people and carried out a bold surprise attack on its capital, plundering many old and weak women, children, livestock, cattle and horses.
The Ndebele king, who was at war with the Zulu Kingdom, was disheartened by this sudden blow. He simply led the whole family, old and young, to migrate north across the Limpopo River to avoid the Zulu and Boer attacks.
This is the reason why the Matabele Kingdom of Zimbabwe was established. Compared with the Zulus and Boers, the Ndebele people are definitely the most unlucky, and the Matabele Kingdom of the Ndebele people has just flourished, but encountered The kingdom of East Africa going south dealt the final blow to the Ndebele people, and the entire tribe became captives.
After the Ndebele people voluntarily retreated, the Boer colonists established the first Natal colony on the land left by the Ndebele people, and appointed the governor, militia commander and other positions.
The governor of Natal, Retief, also wrote to King Ding Gang of the Zulu Kingdom in the north, asking him to allow the Boers to open up farms and settle on land near the Zulu border. Ding Gang wrote back and said: If Retief can help Zulu recover the 700 cattle stolen by the nomads, he will agree to the request of the Boers.
The ready-to-go Zulu Field Army also immediately dispatched to launch a full-scale attack on the flimsy Boer colony. All Bull farms and forts were destroyed, several camps were attacked at night, and even the only port of access to the sea, Durban Port, was captured. About 500 women, children, and children were killed, leaving the remaining survivors in danger, waiting in the camp and daring not to fight.
At a critical moment, the Boer farmers wrote to Pretorius, the militia commander in the Cape Colony. He was asked to take on the important task of leading the Boers against the Zulu Kingdom, and lead the Boer militiamen who stayed in Cape to aid the Natal region.At this time, civil strife broke out in the Zulu Kingdom. Ding Gang's younger brother Mpanda led 17,000 soldiers to stand on his own because he was afraid that the other party would murder him. This made Pretorius plan to concentrate on dealing with Ding Gang, while supporting Mpanda as a war ally.
The two sides fought a decisive battle on the Encombe River. Pretorius' men carried 1 old-fashioned naval gun and 1 land battle gun, and repelled every wave of offensive by continuously firing grape bombs.
A small group of Zulus tried to bypass the Encombe River and attack the vehicle formation from behind, but they were also fired continuously by the colonists.
Because the Boers often feed black slaves with the meat obtained from hunting, almost everyone is a master of shooting. Even the servants who followed them on stage had high attainments in holding guns.
In addition, the attack range of the rifle itself is twice that of the Zulu spear, killing the black warriors in batches in the Encombe River.
The battle continued until the evening of the day, and the ammunition of the Boers was basically exhausted. The desperate Pretorius led 300 Boer cavalry to launch a countercharge against the Zulus.
Under the brave impact of the Boers under the leadership of Pretorius, the exhausted Zulu black warriors were killed all over the place, unable to organize an effective offensive again.
More Zulu warriors were driven into the Encombe River and killed, and even the entire Encombe River was stained red with blood, creating the so-called "Battle of the Blood River", a battle recorded in history.
In the end, 3,000 people fell on the battlefield, while only one Boer colonist was killed.
The Battle of Blood River also determined the ownership of the Natal region, and the once completely dominant Zulu Kingdom began to fall into a passive state.
The Boer convoy arrived at the capital of the Zulu Kingdom, and found that Ding Gang had already led the entire city's soldiers and civilians to abandon the city and flee north. They supported the Zulu prince Mpanda to become king, allowed the Boers to settle in the Natal area, and paid 10,000 kilograms of ivory to Pretorius as compensation. Then he led the army to pursue the escaped King Ding Gang, forcing the opponent to be killed by the guards after fleeing into the Swaziland area.
However, the good days of the Boers did not last long. Although they defeated the Zulu Kingdom, the British took a fancy to the Natal colony.
The British invaded the Republic of Natalia on the grounds that the Boers violated the rights and interests of the Zulu people. Transvaal Republic and Orange Free State.
The two tigers competed, and the British benefited, and the Zulu people, who had the support of the British, also began to get rid of their disadvantages and frequently launched counterattacks against the Transvaal Republic.
The Transvaal Republic is being harassed by the Zulu Kingdom almost every day, and the small battles never stop. The main army of the Transvaal Republic has to concentrate in the southeast to resist the provocation of the Zulu Kingdom.
As for the huge East African kingdom in the north, the Transvaal Republic was startled by the newly arrived Germans at first, but after getting along for such a long time, they found that the Germans had no intention of doing anything. Instead, they started a trade with themselves, and slowly They let down their vigilance, but deep down in their hearts, the Boers still fear that the Germans will be as virtuous as the English beasts, so they supported the former defeated Ndebele, and this also planted the root of their demise .
(end of this chapter)