Chapter 492: Sit-down War
Kerry has no way to deal with the Songo Fortress, because the entire Songo Fortress is like a turtle shell, and the East African Army is like a shrunken turtle, not coming out to fight, and the two sides are deadlocked here.
This made Kerry, who had only fought rich wars in the French army, very angry. He had never been so angry before, but he resented the Portuguese in Mozambique even more. A colony was just a colony and could not be put on the stage.
The fledgling Kerry finally understood why colonial countries and regions were so vulnerable to Westerners. It was not just a problem of equipment, but also a huge problem of people and systems.
The Portuguese have become like this, and they can still firmly control such a large area of land. One can imagine how unbearable the original local indigenous government was.
However, the performance of the East African Army is indeed very impressive, especially the level of fortresses and armaments. They are also colonies, but they are much higher than Portugal in front of them.
So Kerry muttered in his heart: These colonies are also divided into three, six, and nine grades. The United States, which has become independent and has developed rapidly, should belong to the first grade. After all, a world power with adequate size and economy, India should belong to the second grade. There is no such thing as India. The British cannot overpower France. Similarly, Brazil also belongs to this level. Portugal, which has not lost Brazil, is no longer considered a powerful country in Kerry's eyes. Australia and Canada, including France's own Algeria, should be in the third tier, and East Africa should be in the third tier. It also belongs to this level. As for the death-waiting colony, Cape Town should be considered barely. However, Cape Town is suppressed by East Africa, so it cannot exert its full strength.
Kerry's classification standard is very interesting, because the United States, Brazil and East Africa are all independent countries, so in Kerry's eyes, regions other than Europe are equated with colonies. This is the arrogance of old Europe.
Of course, if Ernst knew Kerry's thoughts, he would agree with them. Although the three countries have become independent, they are not actually economically independent. They still rely on old Europe to live. Of these three countries, only the United States and East Africa can watch. You can develop yourself, but once you are expelled from the old Europe, your development will be very unsatisfactory.
After two consecutive days of attacks with no effect, Kerry was very depressed, but Rhodes watched the show indifferently.
Kerry: "Captain, I'm afraid there's no way I can break through the Songo stronghold alone. Do you have any good ideas?"
Rhodes: "This? Shouldn't we not fight! If you ask me, we must just let these **** keep charging. We and the Germans will keep consuming. Anyway, the **** will not feel bad if they lose."
Kerry was speechless: "If our military strength is ten times that of the opponent, it will be enough to play like this, and although black people have cheap lives, they cannot be wasted at will. You must know that it is not easy for us to train these black people with all our efforts. We will give them a simple gift when they come up. I will think about it later. It will be difficult to replenish them, we don’t have that much time to train another group of black people.”
In the eyes of the Portuguese, the black soldiers they had trained so hard were cannon fodder, which made Kerry a little discouraged.
Although there is no problem in saying this, in Kerry's view, black people who have been trained in France are also high-level cannon fodder and cannot be compared with those who have not been trained. Doesn't this also deny French training?
Rhode's rhetoric is obviously to show off, but if you think about it carefully, Rhodes, a Portuguese, seems to have never failed to show off since the outbreak of the war.
Kerry asked curiously: "Captain Rhodes, you are a Portuguese, and this Mozambique is also a colony of our Portuguese. If this war fails and you lose Mozambique, won't you be sad?" Rhodes looked at it with disbelief. Kerry, who was in love with him, suddenly asked honestly. He waved his hands and said, "What does that have to do with me? I used to be a small security guard in Maputo. I usually only did the job of a policeman. Suddenly I was promoted to an officer. Naturally, I am not a professional soldier like you, Mr. Kerry. Furthermore, being a soldier in Portugal is just a profession for me. Since it is a profession, it can be replaced. If I lose it in Mozambique, I will lose it. At worst, I will continue to look for it elsewhere. I used to be a local shoemaker, and I could never starve to death with my craftsmanship. I have been working hard in Mozambique for these years, but I actually didn’t make much money compared to when I was a shoemaker before. I was just deceived into going to Mozambique.”
Rhodes: "You should be able to be a landlord in Mozambique! Your land was snatched from black people. Even if you can't be a big landowner, you should be able to be a small landowner."
Rod: "What's the use of that? As I said before, my family has been a shoemaker for generations, and I don't know how to farm. Besides, can the land in Mozambique be compared with Europe? Where will the food grown be sold?" And I don’t have the capital or the skills to develop the land.”
Much of the land in Europe is developed mature soil, while most of the land in Mozambique is raw soil. The harvest in the first two years is good based on the fertility of the land that has been naturally formed for thousands of years, but it will not work after that. However, it is difficult to develop new land.
Moreover, Mozambique has a characteristic, that is, it has a long history. It is almost one of the earliest African colonies. Therefore, most of the land in Mozambique is owned by owners, especially after East Africa cut off Mozambique’s expansion path, new immigrants have come to Mozambique in recent years. There was no chance to have a sip of soup.
Kelly: "I heard that wages in the colonies are relatively high, so you won't be living in such a miserable state, right?"
Rhodes: "Whether it's miserable or not is not decided by you, but by the senior management of the colony. Although our income is higher, it's not much higher than that of European factories, and you don't spend money? The prices here are comparable. Europe is much more expensive, and to make money in the colonies is to pay for your life.”
Although Rhodes's salary is three melons and two dates, the salary of more than 100,000 Rhodes is very considerable. This money is also a major expense for the colonial government of Mozambique, so going to the colony is to make money, but some people are thinking of ways to make money for Rhodes. De's wallet was empty.
Of course, not all people like Rhodes are waiting to die, but there are also many people who are similar to Rhodes, especially sailors, who are the most willing to spend money. Dar es Salaam and Mombasa are open to the outside world. The economic prosperity of the area depends on the consumption of passing merchant ships and sailors. If the money is not spent, there may be no place to spend it. The sea is a dangerous place after all, and the sailors have a wider vision and more knowledge, so they can see more. It is relatively open, and money is still affordable to spend on external things.
After hearing Rhode’s personal experience, Kerry suddenly didn’t feel so disgusted with the Portuguese who had deceived him all the way.
John Kerry: "You are right. Anyway, we have enough reasons to shirk the responsibility. Then we will not do useless work, and we will slowly consume East Africa."
Rhodes was very pleased that he had brought a young man to the right path. What good was there in fighting and killing?
So Portugal and East Africa started garbage time in Songo. The two sides made a tacit agreement to fire two shots. If they really did, they would just fire two shots and listen to the sound. Later, when the Portuguese saw that East Africa was really sitting still, they just huddled in the Songo Fortress and even fired. When they stopped talking, they looked at each other with big eyes and small eyes, and started a sit-down war.
However, the East African Army is not imitating the Portuguese to show off, but is holding fire in its heart. If the commander hadn't suppressed it, it would have rushed out to wipe out the other side.
(End of this chapter)