Chapter 275 Southern Limit
Hearing what Barkhausen said, Vincent had to calm down. Now that he thought about it, it was a real loss. He should have added the land on the other side of the river to his farm. At that time, he thought that there was no one in the west anyway. Waiting for the farm to have enough manpower before developing it, the result is that this so-called "East African Kingdom" takes advantage of the loophole.
As for the Khoisan and other indigenous people living on the west bank of the Limpopo River, they are not considered "people" in the Transvaal Republic. The labor force on the Boer farms is mostly composed of black slaves. Although slaves are also used in East Africa, there are no such people in East Africa. It is expressly stipulated that in official documents in East Africa, indigenous people are workers of "unknown nationality", and this is also true. Most African indigenous people have no concept of country. They only remember which tribe they once belonged to.
Slaves existed in both East Africa and the Transvaal Republic, but there were differences in their use. In order to rule, ordinary people in East Africa still had to work, but the Boers were different. With slaves, who would farm their own land! The same is true on Vincent's farm. The white man is in charge of the force and can suppress the slaves at any time.
"Well, Barkhausen, since there are Germans on the other side, they are here to attack our Transvaal Republic!" After calming down, Vincent began to worry.
"Boss, I'm afraid it's hard to say, but according to them, if we don't cross the line, that is, if we don't cross the river, they won't cause trouble for us."
"Is that so? That's okay." Vincent breathed a sigh of relief. Vincent was mainly afraid that these Germans were like the British and wanted to kill the Boers.
In fact, the Boers at this time were very afraid of the British, otherwise they would not have fled directly from the Cape Colony and crossed the Orange River and the Drakensberg Mountains to re-establish the country.
In 1834, the British promulgated regulations in Cape Town to abolish slavery, which had a great impact on the Boers whose main industry was the slave farm economy. In order to escape the high pressure of the British policy, the Boers left the Cape Colony and migrated deep into the interior of South Africa.
This is also the reason why the Boers, although they arrived later than the Portuguese in Mozambique, were able to penetrate deep into the interior of Africa. To put it bluntly, they were forced by the British.
The British only used policy pressure to make the Boers willingly leave the Cape Colony. In the end, they were still timid.
Until later, in the Battle of Bronkhorst Wadi, 77 of the 247 British troops were killed and 157 wounded, but only 2 of the Boer militia were killed and 4 wounded. This war directly caused the Boers to see After understanding the true and false intentions of the British colonists, the Boers began to dare to directly confront the British, and the Second Boer War broke out.
To be honest, if the East African Kingdom was not named like this, but was a colony of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Boers would probably be afraid as well.
In fact, the Kingdom of East Africa poses a far greater threat to the Boers than the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a great power, it is not as successful overseas as the Hechingen royal family. It even established diplomatic relations with the Far Eastern powers at almost the same time as East Africa. At the same time, and now the Austro-Hungarian Minister to the Far East also served as the Minister to Japan and the Minister to Siam, with their offices located in Tokyo, Japan.
However, the Boers did not know this. If Barkhausen was not German, Vincent might have mistaken them for the British when he saw the sudden appearance of the East African Army.
"Boss, it's better to inform the government about this matter. Don't think about those who have and have nothing if we rely on our strength alone. I am afraid that the entire Transvaal Republic will be difficult to cope with just the cavalry on the opposite side. What's more, they also said that in There are tens of thousands of troops on the other side of the river," Barkhausen reminded.
Barkhausen's words are not an exaggeration at all. Just looking at the unified uniforms and weapons of the East African Kingdom's Army, you can see that it is a standing army, while the total standing army of the Transvaal Republic only has a few thousand people.
The population of the entire Transvaal Republic is only more than 200,000, and including other Boer countries, it is only close to 400,000. The number of East African troops heading south alone has reached 30,000.
Of course, the data cannot be calculated like this. Although the Boers have a small army, ordinary people also carry guns. For example, on Vincent's farm, all white men are issued guns. These are the sources of militia during the war. As for the combat effectiveness of the militia , the British have already given the answer.
This is why Ernst does not intend to take action against the Boers. If the Boers engage in guerrilla warfare with East Africa, not only will they not be able to obtain land in South Africa, they may also disrupt Zimbabwe and Botswana under the control of East Africa.
The Transvaal Republic was vast and sparsely populated, and the Boers all had horses. In a blink of an eye, there might not even be a trace of people left. Therefore, if you want to take action against the Boers, you must learn from the British and send more people.
Of course, this person refers to armed immigrants, not the simple British army. Every stronghold opened by immigrants will encroach on their living space, and finally solving the Boers will not be a problem.
As for the 450,000 troops sent by the British during the Second Boer War, although they were large enough to outnumber the Boers, the 450,000 retired troops were playing hide-and-seek with the Boers in the interior of South Africa. , the military expenditure alone is an astronomical figure, and only the British can afford it.
"What you said makes sense. Since we can all encounter the East African Kingdom's army here, there must be more in the north. Therefore, the tens of thousands of troops mentioned by the Germans in East Africa are very likely to exist." Vincent analyzed .
The Limpopo River is more than a thousand kilometers long. Excluding the Portuguese colony, there is still nearly six to seven hundred kilometers. If the East African Kingdom deploys defenses along the Limpopo River, there should be more people deployed in the north, because it already has Very close to the source of the Limpopo River.
(Picture: Vincent Farm - red font location)
Soon, Vincent reported the news of the East African Army on the west bank of the Crocodile River (Limpopo River) to the government.
Not only Vincent, but also other Boers whose farms were close to the Limpopo River. This strange force of the East African Kingdom entered the eyes of the Transvaal Republic for the first time.
The Transvaal Republic can only analyze the information about this new force through the few words of the reporter. The conclusion is very pessimistic. The number of troops heading south from East Africa alone makes the top leaders of the Transvaal Republic dare not act rashly. The good news is that East Africa is currently facing The Transvaal Republic was not interested.
The garrison of the Limpopo River in East Africa has basically been completed. The total number of troops stationed on the Limpopo River line is more than 15,000, and more than 10,000 are on the Mozambique border.
East Africa used the army to completely block any possibility of the Portuguese and Boers continuing to expand into the interior of Africa in advance, unless they declared war on the East African Kingdom.
As for whether they will overestimate their capabilities and declare war on East Africa, it is hard to say, especially since Mozambique has no clear geographical boundaries with East Africa, and the possibility of conflict between the two sides in the future is very high.