African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 137: Chapter 129: Invasion

By the mid-16th century, the Burundi Kingdom had been established. The pastoralist Tutsi imposed their rule over the local Hutu farmers.

By the mid-17th century, the Burundi Kingdom began to expand outward, and by the first half of the 19th century, King Otar Rugamba had unified most of Burundi and captured parts of present-day southern Rwanda and western Tanzania. However, this kingdom failed to establish a centralized ruling system and remained in a state of decentralized fragmentation for a long time.

The central and western regions of Burundi consist mainly of plateau terrain, while the terrain between them and the East African colonies is basically an unbroken plain.

The main force responsible for defending the Burundi Kingdom was the army and militia stationed at Soron Lake in East Africa, which formed the western section of the Great Lakes to Soron Lake defense line.

To more flexibly command the front lines, the East African colonial government established a northwest wartime command in Kasanda (a place name).

Arman personally sat in this location, handling front-line affairs. Based on prior intelligence analysis, Arman decided to first target the Burundi and Karavel Kingdoms.

The Burundi Kingdom was fragmented, with numerous lords and warlords, while the Karavel Kingdom was small and sparsely populated, especially having been severely impacted by the previous ”purge” movement, leaving it in a half-alive state.

Both kingdoms suffered heavy blows and became even more fragmented due to the previous impacts of the Eastern Bantu Tribes.

Hence, Arman believed that both countries could be taken simultaneously. The main force of the East African army was split into two by Arman, taking on combat tasks within the two countries, with the two main forces eventually meeting at the border between the Kingdom of Ijara and the Kingdom of Rwanda.

...

May 3, 1868.

The East African colonial forces invaded the Burundi Kingdom and the Karavel Kingdom without declaring war, directly crossing the temporary border.

Initially, East African soldiers expected a major battle, as the East African colony’s mobilization was unprecedented, and with operations outside their territory, it should have been a tough fight.

But reality was different from the East African government’s expectations. In the southern parts of Burundi and the Karavel Kingdom, the East African army encountered little resistance and hardly saw any people.

Invasion is nothing more than killing, burning, looting, and plundering, but in both countries’ territories, the East African army found nothing worth looting. Killing would require resistance, and population plundering was not the East African government’s goal; their established policy was to drive out the indigenous population.

The last ”purge” movement was so effective that the southern parts of Burundi and Karavel were like no man’s land to the East African army.

In three days, the East African army on the western line advanced over a hundred kilometers, encountering very few natives along the way. Villages were abandoned, while in the dense forests and suburbs, there were many natives avoiding the war.

Fate was unkind to the natives who encountered the East African army. Some were Eastern Bantu people previously driven out by East Africa, and upon seeing the East African forces, they promptly fled.

Meanwhile, the natives of the Burundi Kingdom, having never seen the power of the East African army, foolishly remained in place, only to face the iron fist of the East African forces.

Even the militia, armed with superior weapons, could easily crush the natives. The natives panicked and began fleeing north only after being fired upon.

The indigenous people of the Burundi and Karavel Kingdoms can be said to have ninety-nine percent never seen any race other than blacks, let alone firearms of this kind of hot weapon.

In the northwest, active Arabs and some European explorers might carry some advanced weapons, but their interactions were essentially with the royal and noble classes of African indigenous kingdoms. For example, Arabs, even when involved in the slave trade, would opt to collaborate with indigenous powers and generally wouldn’t intervene personally, especially so deep into the interior.

European explorers of this era were not much better, mostly sponsored by European capitalists and nobles, essentially acting as reconnaissance for invaders. They naturally wanted to obtain firsthand information on Africa and thus interacted with African chiefs, kings, and the like.

Though the gains along the way were minimal, the East African army didn’t accomplish nothing. For instance, burning abandoned villages, causing a temporary outbreak of smoke within the entire East African-controlled area.

The main reason was that the indigenous people had nothing of value, coupled with previous wars rendering the land fallow, leaving even valuable products like food unproduced. The East African soldiers also found no interest in mere utensils, so they set fire to them, which could also help prevent the spread of plagues. No one knew what these villages had experienced before, or whether they were clean.

Bujumbura (a northern city in Tanganyika).

”Sigh, I thought with such a large mobilization, we would surely encounter a major battle, but as far as I can see, these indigenous kingdoms aren’t even as formidable as the tribes on the East African plains! We’ve only encountered a few ’strange birds’ in so many days,” Haisheng Li complained to his comrades.

”Isn’t this just right! Are you so eager to fight? Now you just march every day, set some fires, fire a few shots when encountering natives. Why wouldn’t you enjoy such a comfortable life rather than wanting to fight tooth and nail with the natives?” John Zhang said to Old Li.

”Tooth and nail? I think it’s only ’I’ll live, they’ll die’. With this gun in hand, Old Li has never been afraid. Which time didn’t I easily deal with the other side?” Haisheng Li proudly stroked his gun and said.

”That’s because you haven’t encountered any tough folks. The weapons the indigenous people have are nothing; even the shovel in my house is better than their spears,” said John Zhang.

”It’s not that they don’t have them. If they had guns, I’d naturally have to reconsider. It’s just that they don’t have such things,” said Old Li.

”It’s just bullying the backward indigenous people. Didn’t the Qing Country get bullied by foreigners the same way?” John Zhang said.

”Ah, don’t talk to me about the Qing Country. From the top down, the emperor and the local landlords are all no good. In hindsight, being reincarnated into the Qing Country was probably a misfortune from a past life. It would have been better to be born directly in Germany!” Old Li remarked.

”Ha, being born in Germany in this era might not be that good either. Look at those Austria-Hungary immigrants in our team. Weren’t their days tough before too? Only slightly better than the Far East,” John Zhang said.

”You can’t say that. They may be poor, but they have strong backs! They’ve got Germany and Austria-Hungary backing them up, so they speak with more confidence than us,” Old Li countered.

”What’s there to be afraid of? We’re also German now. Folks recruiting in the Far East say, wearing this uniform, we’re considered people there too. Those landlords, town mayors, and county chiefs would have to greet us politely,” John Zhang said.

”Besides, Prince Constantine and Prince Ernst have repeatedly stated that in East Africa, there should be no divisions among ethnic groups. As long as you recognize the German badge, you’re considered German...”

(This dialogue is fictional and set against the backdrop of that era, mainly to reflect the change in the immigrants’ mindset. Please do not substitute modern-day views.)

...

Oruch Res looked despondently at yet another abandoned village. Judging by the size of this village, it was very likely an important city of a native kingdom.

Because it was several times larger than other villages, and although by Oruch Res’s standards and those of his team, this city would at most be a large village in the Far East or Europe,

it was very likely the central city of the region in backward Africa, possibly even the fief of nobility and aristocracy.

This unimpressive large village was the capital, Bujumbura, in the past life. Bujumbura is not currently special in Burundi, but it was originally a German colonial center used to control the Burundi region. After Burundi’s independence, Bujumbura inherited its capital status.

The team led by Oruch Res, comprising over three hundred people, continued to move north along the eastern shore of Soron Lake (Lake Tanganyika).

The area along Soron Lake was once undoubtedly a densely populated region of the Burundi Kingdom, yet Oruch Res had encountered few people along the way.

And at the pace of Oruch Res’s team, if they didn’t encounter some stronger natives, they’d reach the border of the Rwandan Kingdom in a few days.

The entire Burundi combat area extended forward about a hundred miles and had connected with the Great Lakes Region of the East African colony (Burundi is south of the Karavel Kingdom).

It was precisely the southern region of the connecting line from the northern tip of Soron Lake (Lake Tanganyika) to the southwestern corner of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

The East African military in the Karavel Kingdom had two main attack directions: one was directly north to the border with Buganda and the Karavel Kingdom.

Another route advanced northwest towards the Ijara Kingdom, which was the main force of the Karavel Kingdom war zone. Meanwhile, the northern troops primarily aimed to prevent the Buganda Kingdom from intervening from the south, focusing on defense.

From the westernmost point in Bujumbura to the junction of the Karavel Kingdom and the Buganda Kingdom at the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

The East African military formed a northeast-southwest line, slowly eroding the four northwestern countries from southeast to northwest.

The team led by Oruch Res was the westernmost unit of the East African army on the entire front line, currently resting in Bujumbura, with Old Li and John Zhang being Chinese immigrant soldiers in this team.

The unit of Oruch Res was temporarily assembled from regular army and militia, with over forty regular soldiers, mostly Chinese. Since Austria-Hungary and German immigrants arrived relatively late, their numbers in the army were smaller, especially among German area immigrants (primarily within Germany) who were introduced into the colonies in large numbers only recent months, resulting in fewer joining the military development.

Newly introduced German immigrants were mainly used to dilute the population ratio in each settlement and strengthen the spread of German culture.

Currently, along with Austria-Hungary immigrants, the Pan-Germanic nationality has actually gained an advantage (Europeans were collectively referred to as Pan-Germanic, and mixed-blood Chinese, through intermarriage with whites, were used to divide the Chinese community. Of course, these are statistical data references and not East African government official documents.), combined with guidance in education and administration, East Africa is accelerating its Germanization process.

As for the earliest German mercenaries, apart from non-combat attrition (unacclimatized) and a few unfortunate ones, most are now serving in the East African colonial military and government agencies.

Oruch Res was one of those original German mercenaries who followed Arman in landing in the East African colony.