African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 325 Supporters of the Ndebele people

  There are still some differences between the Zhuhai Commercial Zone and the previous Zhuhai Special Economic Zone. The reason why the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone was established was to attract investment from the opposite Macao, Portugal and other regions.

  The East African government did not have this consideration. It just wanted to get a piece of the Far East and South markets. The reason for choosing Zhuhai was that the places with good locations in the south had long been occupied by the British and French.

   Behind Tangjiawan is Xiangshan County, and the current Xiangshan County is almost the same as Zhongshan and Zhuhai in the previous life, so the potential is still trustworthy.

This belief is Ernst's own belief. In fact, his own people don't understand it very well. The current Xiangshan County is completely inland, and the coast is basically full of tidal flats. For example, Tangjia Bay in East Africa is leased to build a port. Several small fishing villages are engaged in local trade, and all infrastructure must be built with their own funds.

However, trade in this era is like this. It has only been more than 20 years since the Qing government opened up the coastal areas, and the good places have long been occupied by Britain and France, such as Guangzhou and Shanghai. The waterway connects with the inland, where everyone is jealous, and there is no way to monopolize it.

  Looking at Germany in the previous life, it came too late, so it had to choose Jiaozhou in the north as its base. In order to get through the inland, Germany had to work hard to build a railway, but when it was completed, the Japanese took advantage of it before it was warmed up.

  …

  East Africa, Matabele Plateau.

Lobengula still has some real skills. By integrating the military leaders of all levels of the Ndebele people under him, the Ndebele people, who are almost all soldiers, forcibly formed a rebel army of 50,000 people. 100,000 servants.

They seized the inland transportation bases set up in East Africa. For a while, the material delivery channels that East Africa conveniently built during the South Expedition were cut off. If these channels cannot be opened in time, the East African troops on the border will be trapped Food shortage situation.

  Witt personally went to South Salzburg Province, organized more than 5,000 anti-rebellion troops, and went down the Luangwa River. At the same time, he sent cavalry to inform the border troops of the Matabele Plateau to cooperate with the suppression of the rebellion from three directions: east, west, and south.

   Bulawayo.

  The capital of Matabele Kingdom, the base camp of Lobengula.

  The Prime Minister of the Kingdom is reporting the uprising to Lobengula: "Your Majesty, our military leaders in various places have completed their missions, destroying a total of 78 East African strongholds and annihilating more than 10,000 enemies."

   Obviously this battle report is false news. If there are really more than 10,000 people in the interior of the Matabele Plateau in East Africa, then the Ndebele rebellion would never have a chance to start.

  The strongholds set up in Matabele in East Africa are mainly for the maintenance of grain transportation and commercial roads. Each place has a maximum of 20 to 30 people, and some even have only single digits.

   However, when Lobengula was in a good mood, he didn't delve too deeply into this data. It's human nature to falsely report military achievements. Anyway, the effect he wanted was achieved.

  Lobengula: "Very good, order them to continue their efforts. We will drive all East Africans out of the Matabele Kingdom at once."

  Lobengula has a very high spirit. In order to seize the throne, he is also the master who has been fighting in all directions for a long time.

   That is, when he had just subdued all forces and ascended the throne, the East Africans came. At that time, Lobengula still couldn't figure out the reality of the East Africans, and the kingdom was in a weak period due to turmoil, so he could only watch the East African army enter the Matabele Kingdom.

  The mighty East African South Route Army really frightened Lobengula at the time, but soon he discovered that the main force in East Africa was mainly facing Portugal and the Boers in the east and south directions.

  At the same time, the East African Kingdom sent envoys to make Lobengula submit to the East African Kingdom. Why should they share and pay tribute if they can monopolize it, which is intolerable for Lobengula.

Lobengula said to his subordinates: "The reason why these white skins can defeat the heroic Ndebele fighters is entirely by virtue of their firearms. Now we have also organized our own firearms troops. People, our Kingdom of Matabele will be able to win the final victory."

As a branch of the Zulu people, the Ndebele people are no strangers to firearms, and suffered a great loss in the hands of the Boers. Therefore, after the former king Mzilika moved to Zimbabwe with his tribe, he actively contacted the Portuguese to buy firearms , Form your own firearms unit.

   After Lobengula succeeded to the throne, this is even more so, but the supplier has changed from the Portuguese to the enemy of the Boers.

  Although the governor of Portugal and Mozambique is not too interested in East Africa, the strength of East Africa is indeed worthy of respect. Without local support, it is better not to go to war with the East Africans, which will only benefit the British in the south.

  The Boers are different. The Ndebele people who come to trade with gold are naturally very welcome. As for the East African Kingdom, you have gold!

  In the past, the Boers must be educated about Ndebele's behavior of crossing the market with gold bricks, but the arrival of the Germans made the Boers feel threatened.

  But let the Boers fight the Germans themselves, just thinking about it, the Boers feel guilty. But the Ndebele people begged, and the Boers had a way to test the power of the Germans.

  The Boers imported firearms to the Matabele Kingdom through arms smuggling, and the Boers bought firearms from British merchants. Then the Boers smuggled across the Limpopo River and traded with the Ndebele people in the dense forests on both banks.

  In just three months, the Boers imported 5,000 muskets to the Ndebele people, most of which were weapons retired by the British Army after the Crimean War.

   In the past, the Boers certainly would not have supported the Ndebele people so much. After all, they coveted the land on the north bank of the Limpopo River.

However, now that the north bank of the Limpopo River has become the territory of the Kingdom of East Africa, the expansion direction of the Boers has been cut off, and the Ndebele people have changed from an enemy to a chess piece that can be used. Anyway, the Ndebele people are the scourge of the East African Kingdom. I can still fish gold from him, killing two birds with one stone, why not do it.

Five thousand firearms is where Lobengula's confidence lies. With the addition of the original more than one thousand firearms troops, he can organize a firearms army of six thousand people, plus the remaining hundreds of thousands of troops. No matter how you look at it, he will win bigger.

   Lobengula was obviously misled by the Boers. He thought that the East African Kingdom, like the Boers, was the kind of white people who relied on the advantage of firearms to enclose land in Africa but had a small number.

   But this situation only exists in Zimbabwe. The immigrant population of East Africa in Zambia is much larger than that of the Ndebele people in Zimbabwe.

   It's just that because of the distance, the development of Zimbabwe is relatively lagging behind, so there are few manpower, which gave Lobengula an illusion.

  Although there are a large number of East African troops in Zimbabwe, they do not cultivate their own land. As long as they cut off their food supply, they will not last for a month, and they will surrender because of lack of food.

  (end of this chapter)