African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 338: Chapter 18: Heading South

East Africa’s geographic conditions do not provide high navigational value for rivers. One reason is the terrain; all major rivers pass through areas with significant elevation changes. Another reason is the climate; rivers experience large seasonal variations.

However, the construction of canals in the Central Province has circumvented these two issues. The terrain within the Central Province is relatively flat, and the natural waterways possess navigational value. Although the rivers in the Central Province also vary seasonally, even in the dry season, the rainfall is quite abundant.

Take, for example, the Wami River and one of the sources of the Little Rhine River, the Uluguru Mountains, where the average annual rainfall reaches an astonishing 3000mm or more. The Uluguru Mountains are essentially a southeastern extension of the East African Plateau, where the terrain suddenly rises to intercept most of the moisture from the Indian Ocean. This is also the reason for the precipitous drop in rainfall west of the Uluguru Mountains in Dodoma City.

The Rufiji River is even more exaggerated; its source comes from the mountains along the shores of Lake Malawi, flowing through a vast area, simultaneously enhancing its flow in the central region, with substantial rainfall in its downstream catchment areas.

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After half a month of marching, the army of South Salzburg Province border guards, led personally by Sivert, along with parts of the militia, formed a rebellion suppression army and used the Luangwa River to directly target the capital of the Matebele Kingdom, Bulawayo.

Along the way, the Ndebele people faced the imposing South Salzburg Province border guards but could not resist. The South Salzburg army was tasked with dealing with the Portuguese army, ensuring East Africa’s strategic corridor linking the Tanganyika region with the Katanga Plateau, and belonged to East Africa’s regular forces; its combat capability was naturally impressive. To say that killing chickens with a cow knife is not excessive.

Three months ago, graduates of the Heixinggen Military Academy, who participated in the Prussian War, were assigned to East Africa after their arrival in East Africa, joining various main force units and underwent reorganization and special training.

The South Salzburg border guards were among them. All South Salzburg Province border guards were equipped with Dreyse rifles and eighteen mobile light cannons. Just based on paper strength, in the region south of the Sahara, they were explosively dominant.

It was still the era of rifles and artillery. Although the Dreyse rifle was outdated in Europe, it was only considered outdated by Europe’s military powers. Despite the many shortcomings of the Dreyse rifle during the Prussian War, many European countries did not possess it—for example, the Kingdom of Portugal. For the East African Kingdom, equipping with Dreyse rifles was excessively advanced compared to Mozambique, a colony of the Kingdom of Portugal.

Sivert asked his guide, Casos, beside him: ”How many kilometers are left to reach Bulawayo?”

”Reporting to the Chief of Staff, after crossing the small river ahead, there are roughly forty kilometers left,” Casos replied.

Sivert: ”Are you sure the depth of this river can be crossed directly?”

Casos: ”Yes, even in the rainy season, the depth of the river does not exceed fifty centimeters; the deepest point is only about a meter. We’ve often had to wade across it in the past, so we’re very familiar with it.”

Casos was a survivor who escaped during an earlier Ndebele rebellion. Some East African strongholds, seeing the Ndebele uprising develop, recognized the gravity of the situation and evacuated early. The smaller the stronghold, the more likely this was the case. Facing hundreds of Ndebele, it was no surprise they would decide to flee.

But fleeing also required conditions. Strongholds with horses or communication facilities had it better. Those without horses could only rely on competing in leg strength against the Ndebele.

The advantage of the East African armed personnel was in endurance, whereas African natives had strong short-distance bursts. Zimbabwean natives were not like those on the East African Plateau, not good at running, because they were part of a society entering agricultural and pastoral civilization, and this was largely due to the influence of the Ndebele people.

The Ndebele, coming from the Zulu Kingdom, were quite strong, while the Shona Tribe they enslaved had a relatively high level of civilization among African natives. The Shona people lived by agriculture and pastoralism and had acquired rudimentary iron smelting and metallurgy techniques.

Under Ndebele rule, the Matebele Kingdom further strengthened the agricultural and pastoral attributes of the Zimbabwe region. The Ndebele learned from the Boers, building pastures and farms in Zimbabwe and themselves becoming landlords.

Indigenous people engaged in agriculture and pastoralism didn’t need to rely on hunting for survival like the Bantu tribes in East Africa, so they weren’t adept at running long distances.

The East African troops, including the militia, were all trained, and people in this era generally had good physical fitness, so both sides mainly competed in understanding terrain and endurance. In terms of physical strength, East African armed personnel were not at a disadvantage.

Casos, with his astounding perseverance and long-term activity in the area, understood the terrain quite well, and managed to escape from the encirclement of the Ndebele.

With Casos as a living map, Sivert’s operations were greatly facilitated.

He ordered: ”Pass the order down, prepare the entire army to cross the river.”

Fortunately, the natives didn’t understand military tactics. If they had any military concepts, they could have ambushed by the river and attacked the East African army while they were crossing. The East African troops would have suffered heavy losses. Unfortunately, many natives couldn’t even count to five with their fingers, so the East African army smoothly advanced further into the Matebele Plateau.

Of course, there were knowledgeable individuals among the Ndebele, but they were concentrated in the capital, serving Lobengula first and foremost as educated talents.

The Prime Minister appointed by Lobengula was a top-tier talent with profound knowledge reserves among the natives, able to perform the simplest mathematical calculations. His father was a Swahili merchant, so he himself learned a bit of mathematical knowledge.

Basically, the taxation work of the Matebele Kingdom was monopolized by his family. Lobengula and the leaders of the Ndebele were mostly just brutes who knew how to use violence, so meticulous state management had to be entrusted to his family.

The benefits were obvious. As long as the basic needs of the Ndebele were met, most of the remaining tax revenue ended up in the family’s coffers.

The Ndebele relied on the Shona Tribe for support, with twenty percent of the wealth created by the Shona going to the Prime Minister’s pocket through taxation, while Lobengula was completely unaware, focusing only on controlling the army to secure his rule.

So long as the Prime Minister could gather money to support army expansion and upgrade equipment, he could continue to be the ”King of Kings.” Where the money came from did not matter, making the Matebele Kingdom’s royal subjects mutually beneficial.

Bulawayo.

The East African troops advanced from the north, and Lobengula received the news. He looked at the northern military leaders who had retreated from the front and were kneeling on the ground pleading for help, feeling utterly exasperated. These old fools were just causing trouble for him.

Lobengula: ”Look at yourselves! When asked to follow central orders, you all shirked responsibility. Now, faced with white skin, you become cowardly mice, utterly losing face for our Ndebele warriors. And now, you still dare to come to see me.”

”Great ’King of Kings,’ it’s not that we didn’t try, but the enemy’s equipment was too powerful. Like the Boers, they are equipped with numerous firearms and artillery. Our warriors, no matter how brave, cannot fight against them with blood, flesh, bows, and spears.”

Lobengula: ”Enough, no more excuses. Failure is failure, don’t give me reasons. I only want results, no excuses. When my father fought the Boers with you, our weapons were equally inferior, yet we fought well. Now, you don’t even want to resist, surely indulged by wine and lust, forgetting our Ndebele military traditions.”

Facing Lobengula’s reprimands, the military leaders, close to fifty years old, remained silent, agreeing. Correct, correct! What you say is right. Anyway, we’ve already escaped. Surely, in the face of the old King’s reputation, they wouldn’t behead us all!