Chapter 381 National ceremony
The north bank of the Limpopo River.
"Mr. Wiggins! We have worked hard for you these past few months. We have prepared a boat for you. After crossing the river, you can return to the Republic of Transvaal. This is a letter that I hope you can bring to the president of your country." The East African fighter handed a letter to Wiggins and said.
Wiggins, who was in a somewhat sluggish state, said in disbelief: "You really want to let me go!"
Escorted by two East African soldiers to the Limpopo River, Wiggins thought that the East African Kingdom was going to execute him. For so many days, he had been under house arrest in East Africa, and no one spoke. Wiggins knew what he was doing, even if the East African Kingdom shot him a hundred times, it would not be an exaggeration.
"Of course, Mr. Wiggins, although we don't like your behavior very much, but your sentence has expired, and you do have some functions. Isn't this a messenger between our two countries? I hope you can pass on our friendship. Pass it on to your government."
Regaining freedom Wiggins quickly responded: "No problem! I will definitely send the letter to the president!"
The East African soldier waved his hand and said, "Then please go back quickly! Remember not to do such shameful things in the future!"
Wiggins put the letter in his arms and saw that the East African soldiers were indeed going to let him go, so he nodded fiercely and said: "Today, I swear to the Lord that I will never step into the land of the East African Kingdom from now on."
Under the watchful eyes of the East African soldiers, Wiggins boarded the boat and paddled to the other side of the river. When Wiggins crossed the river, he was sure that the East Africans kept their promise and did not shoot him in the back. But I have to find a Boer farm nearby and send myself back to Pretoria.
In this way, without knowing it at all, Wiggins headed towards Pretoria with the "Declaration of War" in his arms. This is a national gift from the Kingdom of East Africa to the Republic of Transvaal.
The "Declaration of War" declares that East Africa has entered a state of war against the Transvaal Republic on the grounds that the Republic of Transvaal supports the Ndebele people to launch a conspiratorial rebellion in East Africa and subvert the politics of the Kingdom of East Africa.
Wiggins died without thinking that he was carrying such a thing in his arms, so that when the East African army invaded the territory of the Transvaal Republic, he was still on the way to the Transvaal.
…
Bulawayo.
The Crown Prince Ernst of the East African Kingdom personally inspected the East African combat troops trained here. After more than ten days of rapid march and exposure to the wind and sun, Ernst's fair skin turned completely bronze when he first arrived in East Africa from Europe. The sun nourishes people! Ernst thought so in his heart.
"Your Highness, the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Brigade of the 331st Division of the East African Mountain Army invites you to review!" A short man who looked very strong saluted Ernst.
Ernst returned a military salute.
The Boers did not take advantage of the victory to wipe out the Zulus. A large part of the reason was the existence of the Drakens Mountains, and it was difficult for the Boers' cavalry to deploy in mountainous terrain.
So as early as after the Azande Plateau was occupied in East Africa, a mountain force was formed on the Azande Plateau with complex terrain to deal with warfare in mountainous terrain.When choosing mountain troops, Ernst specifically selected Guangxi soldiers as the focus. First of all, the people in Guangxi are more bloody. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, and the performance of the Guangxi warlords and the Anti-Japanese War later proved that Guangxi people are more capable of fighting.
Guangxi wolf soldiers have been famous since the Ming Dynasty. First, the folk customs are sturdy. Guangxi is far away from the political center at any time, and belongs to the area where the influence of Confucianism is weak. Ernst did not belittle Confucianism. The castration of thought is really outrageous.
The Han Dynasty also respected Confucianism, but the scholar-bureaucrat class could say: "The sun and the moon shine, all are Han soil, and the rivers and rivers are all Han officials." Such words are extremely shameless in the eyes of foreigners. In Ernst's view, this is the pinnacle of national spirit.
Especially in the world in the 19th century, the so-called benevolence and morality are useless at all, and the great powers don’t talk about benevolence and morality. European colonists, starting from Portugal, are a group of swindlers with weapons. Not left.
As a descendant of the East African kingdom, it is actually the successor of colonialism. Its attitude towards the aborigines is unswervingly centered on interests, and the land, resources, and aboriginals are guilty.
It’s just that Ernst, as a person who has lived for two lifetimes, has a longer-term perspective. He knows that things like colonization will be backlashed, so he has done more to prevent East Africa from going down the evil path of being backlashed by colonization in the future. Unavoidable, but East Africa just needs to keep a little bit of it.
The special geographical environment of Guangxi has shaped the spirit of Guangxi people who are not afraid of hard work and tenacity. There is nothing to say about this kind of thing. Before the level of productivity develops to a certain level and the plain area becomes a green desert, the life of the mountainous area will never be worse than that of the plain. The uprisings in the Far East were also mostly initiated from the mountains.
The last and most important point is that the climate of Guangxi is the most similar to that of East Africa. The latitude of Guangxi has been exposed to the tropics, and the population is also large. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom originated here, Guangxi was not particularly affected. The main impact of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement The areas are Jiangxi, southern Anhui and Huijing, which have almost become white land, and they have not slowed down now.
So Ernst has no psychological burden in recruiting immigrants from Guangxi. According to the current standard of living in East Africa, coming from Guangxi to East Africa can be regarded as making a fortune.
After the mountain troops passed, it was the East African artillery unit. The East African artillery liked small-caliber artillery the most. This kind of thing is used in Africa as a cannon to fight mosquitoes. This time, Ernst concentrated 30% of East Africa’s artillery in Brae in order to deal with the Boers. Wayo.
The most famous tactic of the Boers is to use bullock carts to form a circle as a cover to deal with the enemy. In addition, they have hot weapons in their hands. Therefore, artillery is essential to deal with this formation. A shell passes by , The Boers' cattle and horse formations couldn't resist it at all.
The last thing to be reviewed was the cavalry unit in East Africa. This is the first time that cavalry has been used on a large scale in East Africa. The Boers are a horse nation. The best way to deal with cavalry is cavalry. There are samples.
In addition, the East African troops attacking the Transvaal Republic are still dominated by infantry, but this time the East African infantry is also different from the past, that is, the first time to use machine guns.
Such things as machine guns appeared as early as the American Civil War, and East Africa also had equipment, but they were not conspicuous in the previous wars in East Africa. Thinking about it, this is also the reason. The former enemies in East Africa were all natives, and they did not use machine guns at all. Advanced weapons, what a waste of bullets! The East African infantry used machine guns on a large scale this time, mainly to deal with the Boer cavalry.
In order to deal with the Boers, Ernst can be said to have been planning for a long time. From the day he started attacking Zimbabwe, Ernst knew that there would be a war in East Germany (East Africa and the Republic of Transvaal). After all, he was an irresistible temptation. people.
The reason for this review was at Bulawayo instead of the Limpopo River, to avoid arousing the suspicion of the Boers. Before Ernst arrived here, the East African Army had conducted many military exercises with the Transvaal Republic as its imaginary enemy. , including the release of Wiggins, are all on the banks of the Limpopo River in selected sections of the river to prevent him from spying on the ambitions of the East African kingdom.
After the review, Ernst ordered: "Let's go! Target the Transvaal Republic!"
(end of this chapter)