Chapter 331 It’s hard to fly with wings
"Reporting to the Chief of General Staff, a total of 3,000 enemy troops were annihilated and over 10,000 prisoners were taken. Among them, senior Ndebele people, including Lobengula, seized 6,000 guns."
Lobengula was lucky enough to be severely wounded, but did not die. He woke up while the East Africans were clearing the battlefield.
Sweet: "Now quickly organize people to take these corpses for cremation. Don't cause a plague, and bring Lobengula over."
"Yes, Chief of General Staff!"
Soon, two East African soldiers carried a stretcher and came to Sweet, on which lay the monarch of the Matabele Kingdom, Lobengula.
Although he did not die, Lobengula suffered five broken ribs. Considering his current medical conditions, his fate is still unknown.
Sweet: "Are you the king of Matabele Kingdom?"
Lobengula was lying on the stretcher, looking at the white-skinned young man who was much thinner than himself, and weakly replied: "Yes, I am the 'King of Kings' of the Matabele Kingdom."
This is not because Lobengula is being arrogant, the indigenous king is also the chief, and many chiefs surrender to Lobengula and accept his rule, aren't they the "King of Kings"!
Sweet didn't care about this. No matter how awesome he was, he would still be defeated. He was a vassal state in East Africa before. He then asked: "Why did you launch this rebellion?"
Lobengula chuckled and said: "Hahaha, rebellion? The Kingdom of Matabele is originally two countries from East Africa. We are just resisting the invaders normally!"
Sweet: "Haha, how dare you give yourself a pat on the back. As far as I know, you Ndebele people are just aliens who invaded the Matabele Plateau from South Africa decades ago and enslaved the local Shona people."
Lobengula said disdainfully: "They are willing to accept the rule of the great 'King of Kings'. I was chosen by the gods to fight against you white-skinned people."
Sweet was not a Caucasian, but came from the Far East, but in Lobengula's eyes, they were all the same. As long as they were whiter than the Zulu, they were all Caucasian.
Sweet no longer tried to correct Lobengula's stubbornness. He said: "Our East African Kingdom actually did not interfere too much in your administration and allowed you to retain the army. As a result, today's results were achieved because of you Ndebele Human actions, and many so-called 'Kings of Kings' like you will lose their power next, and all this is because you, by yourself, changed the East African Kingdom's policy towards the indigenous people. .”
Lobengula: "There can only be one 'King of Kings', and that is the great Lobengula!"
Sweet interrupted: "Okay, next I want to ask you a question, who provided your guns and gunpowder?"
Sweet's question suddenly awakened Lobengula.
He said with red eyes: "It's all the fault of that bitch Wiggins, you must catch him!"
In Lobengula's view, his fate today was entirely caused by Wiggins. They just sold themselves a pile of "scrap iron". They knew that the weapons of the East Africans were more advanced, and encouraged him to test the East African Kingdom for them.
Sweet: "Wiggins!"
Lobengula: "Yes, it's all his fault, the despicable Boer."
Sweet said to his subordinates: "Hurry up and find out where this Wiggins is?"
"Yes, Chief of General Staff!"
Soon, under cross-examination by the East African army, Wiggins and the Boer advisory group he led surfaced.
Sweet: "He ran away?"
"Yes, Chief of General Staff, the owner of the hotel where they lived said they left an hour ago and escaped on horseback."
Sweet: "Let our scouts pursue them. We can't let them go easily."
"yes!"
…
At this time, Wiggins and his party had already galloped away from Bulawayo and headed west at high speed.
"Finally escaped!" Wiggins said with emotion.
"Mr. Wiggins, if the East Africans learn of our existence, will they send someone to chase us?"
Wiggins: "What are you afraid of? Even if East Africa knows our existence, it is impossible to catch up with us again. The Matabele Kingdom is so big, the possibility of us encountering the East African army is very small. Besides, we are going in the opposite direction. In fact, the East Africans would never have imagined that we would come from the west.”
Wiggins was very smart and deliberately ran a distance eastward before withdrawing from Bulawayo. After running out of sight of Ndebele civilians, he bypassed Bulawayo and headed west.
East Africa was indeed tricked. They followed the clues provided by the Ndebele civilians and pursued eastward. In fact, they were completely different from Wiggins and his party.
But it really will be so!
Where Wiggins and others couldn't see it, a small East African patrol team was coming in their direction.
This force does not belong to the Southern Route Army, but the Southwest Army operating in Botswana. The Southwest Army has a very small number of people, but it governs most of the land in Botswana. Several patrol teams are regularly arranged to check whether there are any suspicious forces in the territory. , and is also responsible for the task of surveying the Botswana region.
As for why it appeared in the Kingdom of Matabele, it was a complete accident. The Kingdom of Matabele has no clear national border, and Lobengula almost drained the western part of Bulawayo in order to fight against East Africa.
In fact, there are not many Ndebele people west of Bulawayo. After all, the climate in the west is relatively arid, and a little further west you will enter the Kalahari Desert.
The Ndebele people's support for Bulawayo caused a vacuum in the west, which naturally aroused the vigilance of the Southwest Army patrol, so they chose to come to investigate this anomaly.
The Southwest Army and the South Route Army were not in the same system, so they did not understand the Ndebele rebellion. They also did not receive orders from Sweite. Their numbers were too small, and Sweite was too lazy to mobilize the Southwest Army.
The patrol soon ran into Wiggins and his party.
"Mr. Wiggins! Look, those are the pursuers from East Africa. Damn it, they are faster than us!"
In the distance, the Southwest Army patrol was also wary of Wiggins and his party. After all, they looked different from their clothes.
Wiggins: "Don't be afraid. There are not many of them. Let's strike first and kill them."
Because it was a patrol team, there were only seven people, while Wiggins and his group had thirteen people. The advantage was mine.
So Wiggins, with the Boer instructors, rushed towards the patrol.
"Yes, enemy! Get ready for battle!"
Seeing Wiggins and his party suddenly accelerating, the patrol leader immediately realized that they were coming with bad intentions.
"Get your saber and don't shoot at the enemy with your gun." The patrol leader immediately ordered.
There are more enemies than you, so you can't be careless. If one mistake is made, the whole army may be annihilated, so decision-making is very important. The patrol leader thought that the accuracy of shooting on horseback would be greatly reduced. If the opponent does not receive military training regularly, he would like to It is very difficult to hit yourself with a gun while on horseback, so it is better to use a knife to fight the enemy in close combat.
This was an element of gambling. After all, no one knew what the riding and shooting skills of Wiggins and others were, but it soon became apparent.
"Damn, these East Africans are running left and right and can't even aim."
"They're coming!"
"Turn around!"
Unfortunately, it was too late. Just like dealing with the natives, the East African patrol on horseback caught up easily while Wiggins and his party wanted to turn around.
He kicked the horse's belly hard, and the spurs made the horse accelerate instantly. Then he raised his saber and slashed at the enemy who was already level.
Wiggins ducked instinctively, fell from his horse, and was captured, while the other Boers were either hacked to death or captured.
May 28, 1871.
Boer criminal, Wiggins was arrested, and East Africa had irrefutable evidence that the Boers supported the Ndebele rebellion.