African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 502: Chapter 180: War is War, Trade is Trade

If the Portuguese really manage to occupy the land passage between Soron Lake (Lake Tanganyika) and Lake Malawi, it would indeed have an impact on East Africa because it is a necessary route for the East African Central Railway to enter the interior.

However, the difficulty of occupying this place is quite high. There is the heavy industrial base city of Mbeya in East Africa, three large armament factories, and it’s the station of the 111th Division. Lake Malawi is also one of the three major bases of East Africa’s River and Lake Team, and the Black Corps in East Africa trains on the eastern shore of Lake Malawi.

All the advantages of water and land transportation are in the hands of East Africa, and logistical supplies are quite convenient. If the Portuguese manage to break through the East African army from Lake Malawi and the coastal areas, then there is no need for East Africa to exist.

...

Clement has the idea to raid the Songgo stronghold, but realistic factors prevent his idea from being immediately implemented.

”Why haven’t your Portuguese supplies been sent to the front? Isn’t the river segment from the Zambezi River estuary to Tete navigable?”

Having made a fool of themselves in front of international friends, the Portuguese general Kevin Dack was also embarrassed. He comforted Clement: ”We didn’t have experience with such large-scale warfare before, so Mozambique’s logistical system basically lacks experience in supplying large-scale material transfers. We are currently requisitioning ships from all over Mozambique, and we believe the supplies should be timely transported to Tete within half a month.”

The Mozambique colony has been at peace for a long time, and a thousand-man scale war in the Mozambique colony is considered a big war. The last one of such scale was when annexing the southern part of the Malawi Kingdom, which was essentially bullying aboriginal tribes with firearms against their simple cold weapons.

At other times, the main threat the Portuguese faced came from the sea, so sea battles were actually more frequent than land wars, and the experience was relatively sufficient.

Therefore, this war against the East African Kingdom exceeded the expectations of the Mozambique government. They had no experience in responding to such ten-thousand-level military mobilizations, coupled with the relatively hasty preparations, the logistics naturally couldn’t keep up.

It’s better not to comfort him, as Clement was furious after being comforted: ”Half a month? The supplies we brought ourselves can only last a week, and that’s not even counting ammunition reserves. Do you plan to let our soldiers attack East Africa on empty stomachs?”

Kevin Dack: ”This... isn’t impossible. We can start the inland advance now. The supplies should be sent soon afterward.”

Clement: ”Where are the troop transport ships that we used when we came here? Can’t they deliver the supplies?”

Kevin Dack was embarrassed: ”Those ships were rented from passing merchants temporarily. After settling the payment, they dispersed, and the time and money needed to regroup them are beyond what our Mozambique colony can afford.”

To send thirty thousand people at once to Tete City, the Mozambique colony could only temporarily rent merchant ships to transport these thirty thousand people from the southern part of Mozambique to the center.

This kind of temporary rented ship is not cheap, and we had to plead with passing ships; only certain empty vessels were willing to accept. As for where these empty ships come from, they are generally ships unloading goods in Mozambique, mostly Arab merchant ships.

Many of these Arab merchant ships belong to Arabs from the Zanzibar Province, who mainly conduct business by moving East African consumer goods to Mozambique for profit.

Since Mozambique has no manufacturing industry, everything needs to be imported, and East Africa’s cheap goods are the primary choice for local Portuguese people and tribal chiefs. In addition to Arabs actively selling, local Portuguese people in Mozambique would also directly go to the port or Dar es Salaam to purchase goods.

Kevin Dack continued: ”The rental fee for ships is more than three times higher than normal, and there may still be no one willing to do it. So we can only requisition local ships to lower the costs, but organizing these local ships in Mozambique’s rivers requires time, and we also need them to transport food from the Mozambique inland.”

Of course, one point Kevin Dack didn’t mention is that Mozambique also imports grain from East Africa, mainly because Portuguese white soldiers need flour to make bread and biscuits as staple food, and East Africa is the closest source of flour to Mozambique.

The Mozambique colony mainly relied on plantation agriculture, and there was not much enthusiasm for growing grain crops. The grain most suitable for planting in Mozambique is rice, which obviously does not match the Portuguese taste, nor do the Portuguese have experience in rice cultivation.

Fortunately, the population of Mozambique is mainly Black people, and they can eat anything like cassava, bananas, etc., but White people cannot rely on these foods as staples.

Occasional consumption is acceptable, but the staple foods still need to be imported, especially since East Africa’s grain prices are very cheap, giving Mozambique businessmen and plantation owners even less motivation to grow grain crops.

Clement: ”Alright, your local government is too useless. Since you can’t gather ships, use Black people to deliver food and ammunition to the front line. I need to see sufficient supplies within a week.”

Kevin Dack: ”General Clement, rest assured, I will report this to Maputo.”

Clement said sternly: ”General Kevin Dack, what I’m saying is a demand, and it’s something you must fulfill, not just report to Maputo. No matter what method Maputo uses, I only need military supplies, and they must be delivered to Tete within a week.”

Clement understood that the Mozambique colonial government was unreliable, their efficiency was so low, no wonder they were beaten by East Africa. And Clement also realized through this matter that without putting pressure on the Mozambique colonial government, not only was their efficiency low, but they also might resort to corruption.

Even the French military has considerable efficiency yet cannot avoid corruption, the Mozambique colonial bureaucrats are probably no different, so Clement continued: ”When you write to Maputo, specifically order in my name, the supplies I need, even one gram less and I won’t agree.”

Kevin Dack nodded hurriedly: ”No problem!”

Kevin Dack also knew the nature of the bureaucrats in the rear, anyway, this time it’s Clement, a Frenchman, demanding the rear government to restrain itself, and it has nothing to do with him, so he wasn’t afraid of offending people.

After speaking, Clement reclined in his chair and leisurely lit a cigar, smoking it with serenity.

Kevin Dack saw this and asked: ”General Clement, do we really have to wait for the supplies to arrive before attacking East Africa?”

Clement: ”What’s the rush? Here’s the plan: we’ll send a small unit to capture East Africa’s Songgo military stronghold first. The main forces will wait behind, and once the supplies are delivered to Tete, we will launch a large-scale offensive.”

Without sufficient military supplies, Clement wouldn’t initiate an attack. After all, his side was unfamiliar with the specific conditions of the East African interior. Using the simple Portuguese map, getting lost was even possible, and what if they stumbled into the enemy’s trap?

Moreover, he’s not confident in his Black soldiers, as desertion has consistently been an issue. Although only a few ran away each day, in such a state, Clement dared not make too many demands, preferring stability above all.

Kevin Dack: ”How many people should we send to occupy Songgo?”

Clement: ”Just a thousand. The Songgo stronghold has only two to three hundred people, three to four times the troops should be able to capture it.”

In Clement’s view, the East African border troops, especially at a small military stronghold like Songgo, should not have high combat capability.

While the combat effectiveness of the Black soldiers is questionable, having undergone training by French instructors, they should be able to hold their own against the troops of a colonial country like East Africa.

Moreover, they also have the advantage of superior numbers, over three times larger, so it’s unlikely they’d fail to take such a small border stronghold.