African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 792 Conditions

"this…"

 Laderne's purpose caught Earl Roberts off guard, and he felt embarrassed, even annoyed. According to his psychological expectations, the main force in the west should have been wiped out by the East Africans.

After all, from the very beginning, Earl Roberts determined that East Africa would first eliminate the main force of the British army in the west, and then continue to move eastward to besiege Sauquet.

This is not unfounded, because from the beginning, Earl Roberts believed that East Africa has a large number of troops, but the specific number is not too clear. Intelligence in the country of East Africa is too difficult to obtain, and the lack of intelligence is also the reason why the British army has repeatedly failed. important reason.

Moreover, the main force in the west has lost contact with the Shaokui General Headquarters for a long time. This is also an important basis for Count Roberts to determine that the main force in the west has been eliminated by East Africa.

In fact, the main force of the coalition forces in the west is besieged by East Africa, and there are cavalry troops patrolling the periphery in East Africa to prevent the main force of the British army in the west from escaping eastward. Even if they escape the many obstacles, they will not be able to contact Earl Roberts when they arrive in Shaokui. Before the war started, Shaokui was also surrounded by East African troops. It was almost impossible to enter Shaokui city from such a large number of troops.

Seeing that Earl Roberts was in a dilemma, Laidern said: "Your Excellency, there is no need to feel guilty, because although your troops in the west were not completely wiped out by our army, they were trapped by our army with equal strength, and as long as we When Shaokui's troops advance westward, it will be easy to eliminate them, and we don't even need to do anything. In a short time, they will be forced to surrender due to insufficient supplies. We just want to end this war as soon as possible."

Lederne directly revealed the flaw in contacting the main force in the west. As East Africa moved westward, the coalition's Western Military District lost the city and fell into the ground. A large amount of material supplies could not be brought to São Jorge due to time issues, and they were cut off by East Africa and obtained by the east. The passage of supplies, so in the end it was impossible to escape from the clutches of East Africa.

 After listening to Laidun's words, Earl Roberts said helplessly: "Okay, your reasons have convinced me, but I would like to know if there are other places where our army has strength besides the west?"

Although it is unlikely, Earl Roberts still hopes from the bottom of his heart to have more staunch "patriotic" troops like the main force of the Western Allied Forces.

Laideen said regretfully: "No, your western troops were not annihilated by our army immediately due to special reasons, because they had too many people and strong combat effectiveness, and Saint Jorge was far less important than Shaogui in the rear. and Maputo, so I just left enough troops to trap them.”

It is also the coalition force that Lederne hates the most. It initially put great pressure on the eastern defense line in East Africa. Later, with the support of the rear troops, it switched from offense to defense.

At the same time, the Western Coalition Army has been fighting with the Western Military Region in the Matabele and Hechingen provinces of East Africa on the border with Mozambique since the beginning of the war.

 I knew this was the result! Earl Roberts thought in his heart that the main force of the coalition forces in the west was Roberts' effort. From the beginning, the west was the main offensive direction formulated by Earl Roberts, so Earl Roberts deployed a large number of troops and elite coalition forces in the west.

After a pause, Laedern continued: "As for the coalition forces in other directions, to put it bluntly, they did not pose much of a threat to East Africa, so they were either completely wiped out or surrendered voluntarily."

 So the person in East Africa who knows the Western Allied Forces best happens to be Lederne, the top military commander of the Western East African Military Region.

The other directions, especially the northern coalition forces, are completely secondary forces of the coalition forces. The purpose from the beginning was to slow down the offensive launched from the north in East Africa. Facts have proved that this is also the case. When the two cavalry divisions of the Eastern Military District and the Northern Military District appeared in On the banks of the Limpopo River in the north of Shaokwe City, it meant that the northern coalition forces had been completely lost.

The southern coalition army was slightly better, and could initially evacuate to Maputo or the Natal colony. It was second only to the main force of the western coalition, and its strength was almost the same as that of the Chaukwe garrison. Therefore, many fled to Cape Town for temporary refuge in the later stages of the war. Edge. As for those who ran towards Maputo, they had already been dealt with by the East African National Defense Force together with the city of Maputo.

After completely losing confidence in the war, Earl Roberts said to Laidean dejectedly: "I can write a letter to ask the western army to surrender to your army, but you must also ensure their safety, and it is best to provide sufficient food and medicine. , Malaria is rampant within the coalition forces now, I hope it won’t cause you any trouble.”

During his time in South Africa, Roberts was very uncomfortable. Disease was one of his biggest problems. Of course, when dealing with malaria, the British army was not too panicked.

 Especially British people like Earl Roberts, who had been in India for a long time, were very familiar with malaria. This was the main reason why the British focused on transferring troops from India to the South African battlefield.

Of course, the value of Africa cannot be compared with that of India. Although they are both malaria-stricken areas, India is a mature land that has been developed for thousands of years and gave birth to ancient Indian civilization. As for other parts of the African continent except the Gold Coast, it was really It is difficult to attract the attention of other countries.

In response to Earl Roberts' request, Lederne fully agreed: "This is natural. We in East Africa still value the lives of your soldiers, and naturally we will not let them die in vain on the battlefield."

Every British soldier in Mozambique is now an important hostage in East Africa's future "blackmail" of the British government, so East Africa attaches great importance to the safety of British troops.

Although the cost is much higher, it is still affordable in East Africa. However, Lederne also emphasized: "Of course you'd better seek help from China at the same time. After all, we can't guarantee whether the medicines in East Africa will be effective." .”

East Africa is definitely not someone who is easily taken advantage of. Although the output of quinine is not small, it can basically only meet the domestic demand in East Africa. After all, East Africa did not consider the possibility of capturing a large number of coalition soldiers at the beginning. As for other drugs, the effect is far better than that of other drugs. Quinine is better, but the advantage is that it is cheap and has a large output.

In fact, malaria within the coalition forces is no longer too serious. The coalition soldiers who have been able to stay in Africa until now may have already developed resistance.

Therefore, some drugs in traditional Chinese medicine that can improve immunity can solve most of the problems of the British army. The most important ones are hygiene and environment. There is no need to correct this in East Africa. Anyway, the prisoner of war camps have strict rules and regulations, which can help the coalition capture prisoners. Let us quit our bad habits.

Of course, these conditions almost only apply to British troops and some Portuguese prisoners, such as Indians and mixed-race Portuguese. Blacks certainly do not have this treatment, otherwise the cost in East Africa would be too high.

The British and Portuguese governments will not pay for these "waste", so for the disposal of these people, East Africa mainly "treats" them with the same treatment as the native black people. Simply put, they have no human rights.

 Earl Roberts has no control over Lederne's little ninety-nine. He only needs to be responsible for the safety of his own people, and that is enough. Even the mistreatment of British soldiers is not a problem. As long as he can return to the country alive, he can feel more "peaceful".

As for the Indian troops brought here this time, to be honest, he wouldn’t feel bad even if they all died. Of course, he certainly cannot ignore some Indians.

 (End of this chapter)