African Entrepreneurship Record

With the fall of Maputo, the East African Christmas offensive is nearing its end, and the battle of Maputo is a highly representative campaign in this offensive.

In fact, on multiple fronts, East Africa has achieved significant breakthroughs. The eastern and northern military districts successfully crossed the Sawei River, pushing the front lines into the Funialoru Region. Only a few Portuguese strongholds remain to the south before reaching the Limpopo River basin.

The western and Nile River military districts achieved even more glorious results. Besides participating in the Maputo campaign, the western military district completed the encirclement and division of the main Portuguese forces in the west, eliminating a large number of enemy troops.

Now, only the enemies at Mapai and Saint George on the upper Limpopo River are still resisting stubbornly. However, with the encirclement by East African forces, these enemies can only passively endure attacks.

The southern military district and the Guard Division were the main forces in the Maputo campaign, achieving results that essentially eliminated the majority of Mozambique’s main forces.

Now, Count Roberts has barely more than seventy thousand troops left, concentrated in an area less than forty thousand square kilometers centered on Shao Kui, a reduction of more than two-thirds compared to before the war.

Aside from the forces trapped at Mapai and Saint George, the garrison elsewhere was considered the newest elite at Maputo. However, with the fall of Maputo, Count Roberts has no more cards to play.

The only chance for a decisive battle may be the defense of Shao Kui, but Shao Kui is quite inferior to a stronghold like Maputo, especially in terms of infrastructure and defensive fortifications, which is a critical drawback.

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Shao Kui.

The new Allied headquarters and temporary capital of Mozambique, Shao Kui’s basic city defense outline is now complete, centered around the original town of Shao Kui.

The Allies have constructed inner and outer defensive rings here. The town of Shao Kui itself is quite decent because it was originally a military stronghold on the frontline of confrontation between the original Mozambique and the indigenous African kingdom, the Gaza Empire.

The Gaza Kingdom was a very strong indigenous kingdom, reaching its peak in the 1860s, with territory covering most areas from north to south along the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers.

At that time, the Portuguese were still primarily concentrated along the coast, and they couldn’t do much about the Gaza Kingdom, just as a balance was maintained between the Boers and the Zulu people. Hence, the military fortress that the Portuguese later built at Shao Kui was quite strong.

What drove the Portuguese to accelerate the annexation of the Gaza Kingdom was the threat from East Africa. In the 1870s, the Portuguese continually strengthened their military in Mozambique, eventually destroying this indigenous kingdom completely in the 1880s.

As a result, Shao Kui became an inland town of Mozambique. The Allies reinforced the existing military fortress here, turning Shao Kui back into a modern war-ready fortress.

At the same time, outside, Count Roberts relied on the Limpopo River to construct groups of forts, trenches, and walls, and established naval combat units on the river.

In this way, Shao Kui’s defensive system is basically in shape. However, many issues trouble the Allies, such as the fact that the rainy season of the Limpopo River coincides with the summer season, from December to March, which is the opposite of the Northern Hemisphere.

During the rainy season, the Limpopo River floods, encroaching on parts of Shao Kui’s riverbank lands, causing significant trouble for the Allies.

Of course, the most troublesome is the unbeatable offensive of East Africa, leaving the Mozambique Allies at a loss for a response.

”This is the battle report from two days ago. Maputo has been lost. East Africa besieged Maputo from four directions, but we still haven’t figured out the specific reason for the loss of Maputo,” a subordinate reported to Count Roberts.

”Davis! Davis, you betrayed me!” Count Roberts roared in anger.

Although he retreated from Maputo to Shao Kui, Maputo was a crucial point of confidence for Count Roberts to act decisively.

The strength of Maputo could be said to be unmatched in Africa, comparable only to Cape Town. So, Count Roberts viewed Maputo as a crucial pin to delay East Africa’s northward advance.

Even if East Africa exhausts all efforts, Maputo should have held out for at least a few months and, at worst, facilitated a breakout towards the northwest to preserve surviving forces. Unfortunately, Davis failed to achieve this.

”East Africa deployed its navy and launched an amphibious assault, so it’s understandable that General Davis couldn’t break through from the north. However, the fall of Maputo was utterly unexpected and defied all logic,” Bugival stated, his expression grim.

The situation is increasingly dire. The territory governed by myself as the Mozambique Governor is shrinking, and the position of Mozambique Governor may soon be extinct in the Portuguese Kingdom.

”East Africa must have used some special tactic to conquer Maputo City. As for General Davis, he is still trustworthy, as he has no motive to defect,” Bugival continued.

Count Roberts understood this point, of course. As his most valued subordinate, Davis was his confidant, and he had full faith in Davis’s character.

But now is not the time to discuss Davis’s character; the fall of Maputo is a settled matter. The battlefield situation is rapidly worsening, as if there could be anything worse to come—but indeed, there is.

”We have also lost contact with the western army. East African troops have appeared in the Mashinri’Er area, less than a hundred kilometers straight-line distance from Shao Kui. The northern main forces have also been defeated by East Africa and are retreating towards the Limpopo River basin. The East African troops from Maputo might also advance north.”

The appearance of East African troops in Mashinri’Er is an extremely dangerous signal, indicating one of two situations: either the western main forces have been completely wiped out by East Africa, or they are besieged.

From before the war until now, the forces in western Mozambique have been the primary component of the Allies and also the most elite and numerous.

The East African Defense Army appearing in Mashinri’Er is actually the cavalry unit 421st Division from the western military district, while the main Portuguese forces in the west were compressed between Saint George and Mapai under the pressure of four East African divisions.

Even if the western main forces weren’t trapped, the pressure faced by the Allies has not diminished, as the threats from the north and south are also imminent, and there’s practically no natural barrier for defense in between.

Shao Kui is already in a precarious situation. Within three days, Count Roberts might hear news of East Africa’s vanguard appearing outside Shao Kui.

But Count Roberts lacks confidence in Shao Kui, as it doesn’t possess the conditions Maputo had to counter East Africa’s encirclement.

If no reinforcements arrive from Cape Town, and East Africa surrounds Shao Kui completely, within a month, Count Roberts will have no choice but to surrender.

Due to time constraints, Shao Kui’s supplies haven’t been completely replenished, especially the recruitment and grain requisition work, which requires a lot of manpower.

The Allies invested massive manpower, materials, and funds just in constructing Shao Kui’s defense system, so now they can only hope the reinforcements from Cape Town could turn the tide, especially the British troops from the Natal colony, breaking through New Hamburg Port City, thus reactivating the Mozambique campaign.

However, Count Roberts also knows that this scenario is unlikely, as it’s uncertain whether the Natal colony has fallen into East African hands, given that the initial troops from Natal were mostly second-line units with weak combat capabilities.

Breaking through the heavily defended East African lines is nearly impossible for them. Of course, Count Roberts wasn’t expecting too much from these ’odds and ends.’ Instead, he hoped for heavy reinforcements from the mainland to support the South African battlefield and change the situation.