African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 398: Chapter 75 Instigation

Immediately, Pillotolius appointed Wiggins as the chief officer for the defense of Pretoria, but Wiggins needed to recruit the soldiers himself because Pillotolius did not have many troops responding to the call to resist the East African invasion.

Pillotolius, facing the solitary commander Wiggins, said, ”In this critical moment of life and death for our nation, many citizens still don’t fully understand the ways of the Germans. In reality, from the moment they invaded the Transvaal Republic, I knew they were not benevolent. The Germans attack the Transvaal for land, yet some citizens naïvely think it’s just a change of ruler and choose not to resist, allowing the Germans to invade. In the future, they will undoubtedly regret today’s decision intensely.”

In fact, some Boers are not very concerned about what is called the East African invasion. Isn’t East Africa just Germany? So what is there to fear? Most Boers don’t actually resent German rule; Boers mainly consist of white Dutch, German, and French immigrants who feel a certain affinity with Germany.

Of course, if Boer farmers knew the policies of the East African kingdom, they would surely echo Pillotolius and curse those damn Prussian barbarians!

Currently, East Africa aims to control the entire Transvaal Republic as a combat objective but has not yet shown Boer farmers the governing model and means of the East African kingdom. Therefore, many uninformed Boers have even welcomed the ”Royal Army,” but soon they will become the most steadfast opponents of East Africa.

Wiggins: ”Mr. President, since you’ve entrusted Pretoria to me, I promise to defend it until the last moment. However, I need manpower, even if it’s not much, to ensure initial recruitment and mobilization, using all of Pretoria’s strength to fight against the East African bandits!”

Pillotolius nodded and said, ”Okay, but I can only leave you with one squad.”

Wiggins: ”That’s enough!”

Wiggins shares the same view as Pillotolius; East Africa is not here to aid the Boers’ poverty alleviation. If they merely wanted to rule the Transvaal Republic, they wouldn’t need to start a war; they could easily negotiate first and fight later.

If Ernst knew Wiggins’ thoughts, he would surely scoff. Talk first and fight later sounds nice, but it’s unclear whether the Boers are negotiating with the British or East Africa. The East African kingdom doesn’t have such prestige to subdue the Boers through negotiation; they can entirely negotiate between the British and East Africa, or even not choose either, continuing self-governance. Ernst’s attack on the Transvaal Republic is to make the Boers react without any choice. That’s how war works: the winner takes all.

After handing over management authority of Pretoria, Pillotolius took many of his supporters south to the Orange Free State while Wiggins, who took on the crisis, prepared a general mobilization in Pretoria to resist the East African army there.

As Wiggins took full military control in Pretoria, he faced the issue of recruitment first, so he launched a propaganda offensive at the citizens of Pretoria. Now with the townspeople in Pretoria on edge, facing war—though familiar—no one knows how the opposing military discipline or their attitude toward civilians will be. Therefore, Wiggins used rumors to have the Pretoria citizens re-evaluate the East African Kingdom.

”Citizens of Pretoria, you may not be familiar with the so-called East African Kingdom, but I believe some of you know Prussia well, and the East African Kingdom is a soldier’s kingdom that practices a more barbaric and terroristic rule than Prussia. As a Boer who once served prison time in the East African kingdom, I can ’truthfully’ reveal some situations of the East African kingdom to you.”

Surely, Wiggins’ words sparked intense discussion among Pretoria citizens.

”Harred! Your ancestors were Prussians; you should know what Prussia is like, right?” Dutch descendant, Willit, asked his neighbor.

”Willit, you’ve asked the right person. My grandfather fled from Prussia to Africa. He told me under Prussian rule, people indeed counted for nothing; every year, they raised armies, enlisted troops from ordinary people, and the military discipline was extremely poor. Noble officers frequently embezzled rations and educated soldiers with sticks...”

Harred revealed all the crimes of Prussia, which were indeed truths. Back in Harred’s grandfather’s time, Prussian rule was like this; it was neither the present German nor reformed Prussia. In Harred’s grandfather’s era, many German immigrants left for various reasons; those old German regions were indeed uninhabitable—endless wars and taxes one couldn’t withstand.

Willit: ”Oh my! How terrible! We absolutely cannot allow the Transvaal to become such a nation!”

At this moment, Wiggins continued his speech: ”While I was caught by the vicious East Africans, I noticed their composition and lifestyle. The East African Kingdom is a large army camp, with no so-called free citizens. Everyone must endure strict laws, receiving the rule of the East African Kingdom as sheep, and the king of East African Kingdom is a member of the Prussian Hohenzollern family...”

Wiggins spoke convincingly, although he had never interacted with East African civilians, and to prevent him from extracting information, the East African Kingdom held him in Bulawayo’s royal palace, isolating him from everyone. Therefore, Wiggins’ depiction of East African rule was purely guessing, exaggerating, and slandering.

Nevertheless, the Boers below believed Wiggins must be right, as there were indeed several Boers whose ancestors came from Prussia; Wiggins’ portrayal matched the image of Prussia passed down from their grandparents.

Seeing the crowd’s emotions stirred, Wiggins said: ”Can everyone accept the East African tyrant forcing their backward monarchic despotism upon us?”

”Absolutely not!”

”Can you allow the East African Kingdom to turn beautiful Pretoria into a grim and terrifying military camp?”

”Not allowed! Down with the East African invaders, long live the Transvaal Republic!”

...

Through stirring the public sentiment, Wiggins realized his recruitment goal. As of now, Pretoria citizens enthusiastically enlisted, allowing Vigins to assemble an army of over two thousand.

Next, Wiggins was troubled with defeating the East Africans. Pretoria is essentially a town built for defense, making it easy to defend but hard to attack, so the defense difficulty is low. If Pretoria’s terrain and structures are utilized well, holding out until reinforcements arrive is not a difficult task.

Based on the situation during the previous Ndebele uprising, where East African forces were involved, Wiggins started educating his officers accordingly, diminishing the perception of the East African army. ”Though the East African army mimics Prussian ways in every aspect, it fails to learn the essence; they are mere shells. During Ndebele and German conflicts, the East African troops’ performance would disappoint any European trainer—full of holes. The reason they succeeded was entirely due to advanced weapons paired with Ndebele’s lack of training. Many didn’t know how to operate firearms; the weapons we provided turned into sticks in their hands, which is why the Ndebele failed.”

In Vigins’ view, the East African army was vulnerable, collapsing at the slightest encounter with somewhat experienced troops. While the Boers may not be a veteran force, frequent skirmishes with the eastern Zulu Kingdom were inevitable, so we have the upper hand. Utilizing Pretoria’s terrain and buildings, we will deliver a decisive blow to East Africa.