Chapter 222 Decent
1870, January 20.
Sultanate of Gradi, Mogadishu.
Mogadishu is what the East African government calls it. This name originates from ancient Persian. The locals call it Hama. In the Eastern Ming Dynasty, it was called Mugudushu. The three names show the long history of this city. and the prosperity of cultural exchanges.
Now this ancient city was completely destroyed by the East Africans. Siweite carried out a bombardment with more than 30 artillery pieces. Finally, under the attack of more than 3,000 East African soldiers, the strongest fortress of the Gradi Sultanate was completely destroyed. Turned into a pile of ruins.
After the Battle of Mogadishu, the Goledi Sultanate basically declared its demise. This is already the most populous area of the Goledi Sultanate.
From ancient times to the present, the Goledi Sultanate has been unable to support a large population. Even Mogadishu is dominated by animal husbandry, making it difficult to develop planting.
The city of Mogadishu is located on the east bank of the Shabelle River. Although the Shabelle River is the largest river in Somalia, its water volume is very small.
(picture)
From February to March, the entire river will dry up directly. If it does not originate from the Ethiopian plateau, there may not be much water in other seasons, so that the shipping and water energy value of the entire river will be almost zero.
Although the rivers in East Africa have low shipping value, they are rich in water energy resources. The Shabelle River is not sticky at all. Moreover, the Shabelle River, like the Yellow River, is very easy to change its course. Even in the 21st century, the river bed in its downstream will be higher than both sides. Wonderful sight, no wonder Ernst said that the Gradi Sultanate had no important value.
"Report to the Chief of General Staff, here is a letter from the Central Committee."
Sweet, who was about to lead his army upstream along the Shabelle River, was stopped by an intelligence officer.
He opened the letter and read the contents.
"Lavis?"
"Here, Chief of General Staff!"
"Your department will stay and be responsible for guarding the residents of Mogadishu. From now on, no one will be allowed to leave the city. The government will send people to take over the population later. At that time, you must cooperate with the government and keep an eye on the entire city."
"Yes, Chief of General Staff!" Lavis replied sonorously.
"But Chief of General Staff, what exactly is written in the letter?"
"It's not a big deal. It doesn't hurt to tell you. Now East Africa needs more indigenous people to serve as labor force. It's that simple."
"By the way, let me emphasize to you that the royal family and nobles of the Sultan of Geledi are detained separately. These people have other uses."
"Yes, Chief of General Staff!"
Lavis has nothing to be curious about this time, the indigenous royal family! In the eyes of Lavis, this thing is no different from those chiefs. It just has a nicer name. The number of indigenous chiefs wiped out in East Africa is not thousands, but hundreds. It is too common.
…
The territory of the Goledi Sultanate is still very large, mainly in the Shabelle River and Juba River basins. Next, Sweat will sweep across the entire Shabelle River Basin and wipe out the remaining forces of the Goledi Sultanate, so go up the Shabelle River. Can.
The Juba River is in the southern part of the Gradi Sultanate, and East Africa was attacked when it went north. Now it can be done by the military police who used to patrol the border in East Africa.
The scope of Sweite's operations this time is not limited to the territory of the Geledi Sultanate, but also includes the territory of the Cushitic people in the west. By eating up the land of the southern Cushitic people, the newly occupied Somali region in East Africa can be connected with the Omo River. The watersheds are connected together.
That is to say, in the original history, Ethiopia and the southern region of Somalia were merged into the territory of East Africa, with the Ethiopian plateau mountains and the desert area of Somalia as the boundary, forming a natural geographical barrier.
Once East Africa completes this goal, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia in its previous life, will directly become the border area between East Africa and the Abyssinian Empire. (Historically, Menelik II officially moved the capital to Addis Ababa in 1887. This is a plateau in the mountains. Before it became the capital of Ethiopia, it was a complete wilderness.)
(picture)
"The advantage of fighting in the desert area is that we don't have to play hide-and-seek with the indigenous tribes like on the grassland. These tribes of the Gradi Sultanate live in pursuit of water and grass. We only need to follow the river or look for oases to clear out these indigenous tribes." Sweet said.
Not long after leaving Mogadishu, Sweet wiped out another village in the Gradi Sultanate, with dozens of people who were raising camels.
"Keep going, this time we will fight all the way to the source of the Shabelle River!"
…
"Mr. Platini, if you look at the port of Dar es Salaam alone, what do you think of East Africa's strength?"
The Portuguese mission to Mozambique is discussing with the East African government the division of the two sides of the Kingdom of Malawi. Although East Africa has actually occupied the northern part of the Kingdom of Malawi, this meeting only needs to condone the Portuguese invasion of the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi.
However, in order to show that East Africa attaches great importance to this matter, the Dar es Salaam municipal government actively engaged in an unnecessary tug of war with the Portuguese mission.
During the leisure time of the meeting, the Portuguese would also do business and evaluate the strength of East Africa. However, the East African government rejected their application for free movement and only allowed them to move within the port area.
"In terms of urban construction, Dar es Salaam can already be compared with Maputo, but this is of little value. After all, no matter how many houses are built, it cannot increase its strength. However, the Germans are still building offshore defense projects. Yes, Mozambique doesn’t even have such a large-caliber coastal defense gun.”
"Mr. Platini, that's for sure. You only need to think about the poor navies of Prussia and Austria, and you will understand why the Germans attach great importance to coastal defense guns, hahaha!" Everton laughed heartily.
Platini was also amused by Everton's words. He said: "Mr. Everton, you are right. Without a strong navy, if the Germans don't even build a few shore defense guns, they will be completely ruined." ”
In fact, the Portuguese navy may not be as powerful as the navies of Prussia and Austria, but as land powers, the armies of Prussia and Austria are too powerful. At the same time, due to the limited terrain of the navy, they have become coastal fleets, which can easily affect the strength of the two navies. The illusion of weakness.
Although the Portuguese have many ships, with those old ships, it is estimated that the East African Navy can compete with them in a duel.
The great earthquake and tsunami in 1755 interrupted Portugal's national destiny. Since then, Portugal's national power has been steadily declining.
Although there are many ships, after all, this is the livelihood of many Portuguese people, but the Kingdom of Portugal is unable to support new shipbuilding plans, and the current situation of the Portuguese Navy is extremely bleak.
Historically, it was not until 1876 that the first ironclad Vasco da Gama was launched. This old ship, which is not even as good as the Dingyuan, actually participated in Queen Victoria's Diamond Celebration, which shows the decline of Portugal.
But this does not prevent the Portuguese from laughing at the maritime power of East Africa. Except for those big countries, the naval power of small countries is very flexible. The two warships of the East African Navy taken over from the Austro-Hungarian Navy are actually used with the ocean-going trade merchant ships of the Hechingen Consortium. The difference is not big, it's just that they have more artillery, and in terms of power and size, most of the Hechingen Consortium's ocean-going trading ships are newly built, and are actually more advanced.
In the same way, the merchant ships of the Kingdom of Portugal can also serve as warships. This is the confidence of the Portuguese. Occasionally they act as pirates, and they can even serve as guest stars in the Portuguese navy, integrating soldiers, civilians and thieves to maintain the dignity of Portugal, an old colonial kingdom.