African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 341: Chapter 21: Running Away

As the East African army steadily approached, the distance between the two armies was only about five hundred meters.

Wiggins was still waiting for East Africa to enter the shooting range, but the East African army wouldn’t give him that chance because this distance was already within the range of the Dreyse rifle.

The maximum range of the Dreyse rifle is about six hundred meters, while the maximum range for the rifles equipped by the Debelle people can only reach three hundred meters. Five hundred meters is enough for the Dreyse rifle to exert about sixty percent of its power, and that’s sufficient.

”Fire!” Ordered the commanders of East Africa.

The East African army suddenly attacked, breaking the oppressive silence between the two sides with the sound of Dreyse rifles.

”Bang... Bang... Bang...”

Wiggins was caught off guard by the sudden fire from East Africa, ”What the heck, these East Africans...”

Before he could finish speaking, soldiers in the front row of Debelle people were already hit, falling in droves. At this time, the warriors of the Debelle people were startled by the sudden gunfire from East Africa, with some instinctively firing back without orders, reacting defensively to the danger.

However, East Africa’s preemptive firing and the fall of their comrades caused the Debelle warriors, who were briefly trained by Boers, to become panicked, resulting in numerous mistakes, with even soldiers from the second row accidentally shooting survivors in the front.

”You...”

The Debelle warrior, shot by his own comrade, fell unwillingly into a pool of blood, his eyes wide open.

The entire Debelle camp fell into chaos, with curses, wails, and gunfire mixed together.

Wiggins was momentarily stunned, then quickly reacted, ”Damn it, who told you to fire, stop shooting!”

The Debelle people’s shooting now could not even scratch the East Africans, at most letting the East African army hear the sound.

Over the gunfire, Wiggins shouted to Lobengula, ”Your Majesty, the equipment of the East Africans has a problem! Their rifles have longer range, we must immediately change our tactics.”

Lobengula was so angry that his face turned blue, he shouted, ”Didn’t you say we could use our muskets to defeat them as long as we waited for the East Africans to come to us? Why did they fire before reaching the predetermined area and still cause us harm?”

Wiggins: ”Your Majesty, the East Africans’ equipment has a problem, they must have ordered more advanced weapons from Europe, which I didn’t clarify, the responsibility is mine, but now is not the time to pursue blame, we must respond to the enemy’s attack.”

Lobengula asked in panic, ”What should we do now? Retreat?”

Lobengula was indeed desperate, even a fool would know the East Africans’ weapons were different from the ”scrap iron” bought with gold, unable to even reach the enemy’s coat hem, how could we fight.

Wiggins: ”No, Your Majesty, let’s have our men charge forward with their guns, we certainly have more numbers than the East Africans, it doesn’t matter if some die, as long as we reach halfway, the muskets in our hands can retaliate against East Africa, we’ll fight them in close combat!”

Retreat was impossible, once the order to retreat was given, morale couldn’t be stabilized, then it wouldn’t be simply a retreat, but a rout, Wiggins was sure, if the order was given to retreat, these natives would flee faster than anyone, leading to the collapse of command. Now trying to make a breakthrough towards the East Africans might still turn the tide with our superior numbers.

What do you mean it doesn’t matter if some die! Although very angry, Lobengula had no better plan and could only try Wiggins’ method, ”All forces attack! Warriors of the Kingdom, follow in my steps and defeat these East Africans.”

Lobengula led the charge, boosting morale and temporarily stabilizing the Debelle people’s morale, now it was a battle with no retreat.

”Charge!”

Lobengula raised the Arabic curved sword in his hand and led the charge towards the East African army, followed closely by the Debelle warriors.

But the East African army had already anticipated the Debelle people’s plan.

”Prepare artillery! Fire!”

”Boom... Boom... Boom...”

The shells exploded within the Debelle camp, greatly weakening the Debelle people’s fighting spirit, but as a ”martial” tribe among the natives, they still didn’t collapse. Lobengula’s personal example was effective in boosting morale, as the king himself was fearless, why not fight to the death.

Seeing the Debelle people still attacking normally, Sivert ordered, ”Cavalry ready!”

The East African cavalry, long in waiting, drew their sabers and prepared to battle.

The South Salzburg border troops were equipped with two cavalry companies, not large in scale, but allowing South Salzburg’s border to almost fully equip infantry, artillery, and cavalry three army branches.

The weapons of the East African cavalry were not entirely the same as Europe, besides the Dreyse carbines for cavalry supplied from Prussia, the East African cavalry were equipped with the East African straight swords as their cold weapons.

The East African straight sword was a modified version of the Han Dynasty ring-headed knife, its basic functions similar to the Han saber, single sharp edge, thick spine, with a certain curvature, but visually straighter overall, mainly used for chopping and stabbing.

The blade was 1.12 meters long, the handle wrapped with agave fiber material, utilizing agave’s moisture-wicking properties for an easy grip, the diameter of the knife ring equal to the width of the handle. It also had metal clips on the scabbard for easy waist attachment.

The design of the East African straight sword was entirely due to Ernst’s personal preference, he had a custom-made gold inlaid cold jade Han saber for personal collection.

Although the East African cavalry’s use of straight swords was influenced by Ernst’s personal preferences, the straight swords were surprisingly accepted and loved by the East African cavalry. Mainly, the East Africans were facing almost no equally-sized cavalry among their enemies, so there was no need for lances and other weapons.

The majority of practical cases for the East African cavalry involved charging with straight swords into the fleeing natives, capturing able-bodied labor. Only when annihilating enemies and doing mid-range shooting was the Dreyse carbine used.

The East African straight sword was light, easy to control, ensuring safety of slaves, since if maimed, slaves would lose their use value.

Sivert: ”Cavalry charge!”

The cavalry spurred their horses, and with the East African cavalry mobilizing, the battlefield immediately raised a cloud of dust, hoofbeats thundered.

”Kill!”

The shining East African straight swords glimmered in the sunlight, the warhorses ran a distance then collided with the frontmost Debelle people.

Seven or eight hundred pounds brushed past the Debelle warriors, but the shining East African straight swords followed closely.

With a swing of the sword, blood spurted instantly from the Debelle men, drenching the ground.

Lobengula wasn’t hit by the East African cavalry’s straight swords, but suffered even worse. A warhorse directly knocked him to the ground and then trampled mercilessly over him.

Lobengula, a nearly two hundred-pound Debelle strongman, felt heat in his chest and then fainted instantly, unclear if from the collision or trampling.

The two cavalry companies charged into the Debelle camp, completely disrupting the Debelle offensive.

With the power of the horses, East African cavalry cut down savagely within the crowd, the Debelle lost command entirely, and soldiers on the outskirts began to scatter.

Sivert also ordered at this time, ”Everyone, full-scale attack!”

The entire East African army pressed forward into the battlefield, turning it directly into a slaughterhouse, the smell of blood mixed with gunpowder and dust pervaded the battlefield, and the bodies of Debelle people on the Bulawayo outskirts grew ever more numerous.

At some point, Wiggins and several Boer instructors sneakily circled unnoticed to the back of the battlefield.

”It’s over! It’s all over!” At this time, Wiggins said to several Boer instructors, ”We must leave immediately, the defeat of Debelle people is settled, we cannot fall into the hands of East Africans.”

”What about the Debelle people, should we call them?”

”Let them die, now we must flee, while they can still hold off the East Africans for a bit, hurry and leave!” urged Wiggins.

Death to others, saving oneself first, Wiggins chose to betray the Debelle people directly.

”Let’s go get the horses first, directly head west, then detour south-west and finally go back to Transvaal,” Wiggins instructed.

So the few of them hurried to their residence in Bulawayo, where the horses they brought from Transvaal were housed.