Chapter 597 Military Discipline is Corrupted
The territory of East Africa is not as exaggerated as that of Tsarist Russia today, but the effect shown on the map is quite astonishing, just like cutting off half of Africa with one knife.
Fortunately, the countries in the equatorial region will appear smaller on the map due to visual effects, so that the land of more than 10 million square kilometers in East Africa looks about the same size as the United States, which is about 7 million square kilometers. Of course, this is not the same as the data measurement of this era. The method is too precise, especially within the African continent. Except for East Africa, there are almost no black people involved.
Many Europeans could only make vague guesses about the situation in the interior of Africa, and many adventure novels used mysterious techniques to describe Africa.
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When the Transvaal people were seeking to restore their country, the East African garrison in the Southern Frontier Province had done nothing in recent years.
The forward military positions built around the Fall River with Wenburg as the center are basically similar, mainly bunkers.
East Africa's defense strategy against the Orange Free State is obviously different from that against Mozambique. The conflict between Mozambique and East Africa is considered normal. Although East Africa is the winner, the Portuguese do not hate East Africa too much.
As a former colonial power, Portugal's heart is much stronger than that of other countries. In other words, it is as unmotivated as some old empires.
The colonies in Mozambique in East Africa were basically obtained through war, so the Portuguese had a somewhat shaky mentality when it came to East Africa. If it weren't for the support of the British, some people in Portugal would have wanted to sell off the two remaining African colonies. Lose.
The Transvaal is different. Although East Africa also captured the Transvaal through war, the excuse was nonsense. In other words, the Transvaal was at fault, but the crime was not worthy of death. East Africa directly destroyed it. Country, some things cannot be justified.
Moreover, East Africa has not yet exhausted its efforts to eradicate evil, allowing the Transvaal to retain their vitality, which provides conditions for the Transvaal to counterattack.
Of course, the reason why Ernst let the Transvaal go was not out of kindness. His original intention was to keep the Transvaal so that they could provoke East Africa at some point in the future. After all, there was a country north of the Orange River. , the southern part of East Africa has a sunken part of the country that is very unsightly.
Furthermore, Ernst did not want to accept the Transvaal as East African nationals. This would cause big trouble, especially the conflict between the two countries' political systems. Most of the land in East Africa was state-owned, while the Orange land was owned by large landowners. , Ernst did not intend to implement the Northern and Southern Dynasties system, so naturally he would not leave this hidden danger.
Finally, Ernst also wanted to try to divide the Boers. It seems that the effect is not bad. At least two groups, Orange and Transvaal, have appeared in the Orange Free State.
The point of conflict between the two sides is that the Orange people look down on the Transvaal people. After all, the Transvaal people are losers and have lost their own country. Moreover, the Transvaal people have poured into the Orange Free State in large numbers. , squeezing out most of the social resources of the original Orange people, acting as hawks for the British, causing the Orange people to lose a lot of rights and interests, and the Orange people opposed conflicts with East Africa.
Attitudes toward Britain and East Africa were the two greatest points of disagreement between the two brotherly peoples.
East Africa is easy to understand. Now that East Africa is powerful, the Orange people naturally do not want to offend East Africa, and there is no hatred between the two countries. However, the Transvaal people are the opposite and want to drag the Orange people down.
The attitude towards the United Kingdom is more interesting. When the Transvaal Republic still existed, the Orange Free State had a relatively good relationship with the United Kingdom and implemented a policy of appeasement. The Transvaal Republic was relatively far away from Cape Town. , separated by the Orange Free State, so it is relatively anti-British.
Now the two are reversed, the Orange people are anti-British, and the Transvaal people have friendly relations with the British, because the Transvaal people are outsiders compared to the Orange people, and their status is similar to that of the British.
Therefore, the British used this to rule the Orange Free State, just like the British used a large number of Indian servants in Africa in their previous lives. Now the Transvaal Restoration Army is a puppet army among the Boers.
The Transvaal Restoration Army is not only a thief, but also a master of evil. In just a few months since its establishment, it has completely ruined its reputation in Bloemfontein and has become a disgusting existence. The most bizarre thing is that most of them Coming from the former Transvaal Republic, they still engage in regional discrimination in Bloemfontein.
This kind of behavior can be described as a white-eyed wolf. It is a replica of the farmer and the snake. Therefore, this refugee cannot be obtained casually, even if he is from a brotherly nation.
The corruption of military discipline in the Transvaal Restoration Army was not unexpected at all in this era, and could even be said to be a matter of course. On the contrary, the East African Army was a breath of fresh air, or a heresy, in this era.
A large part of the military expenses of the Transvaal Restoration Army need to be raised by themselves, and the most important of them is taxation. With the support of the British, the Transvaal Provisional Government can collect war taxes in the Orange Free State to build the army. .
This did not exist in the former Orange Free State or the Transvaal Republic. In the past, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic implemented a system of all-people soldiers.
In other words, there is no standing armed force in peacetime, and only in wartime a large number of troops will be recruited. Since there is no standing armed force in peacetime, there is no need to consider military discipline issues.
And now that the Transvaal Restoration Army is a standing armed force, the Orange Free State can once again experience what it means to fight like a grate.
The Orange people in Bloemfontein were also increasingly dissatisfied with the Transvaal people, but the British were happy to see the results and adjusted from them, experiencing the joy of balancing power.
Although the military discipline of the Transvaal Restoration Army is corrupt, East Africa will not underestimate this reactionary armed force.
Many of the Transvaal Restoration Army are veterans of hundreds of battles. They have fought against the Zulus or East Africa. They still have courage and courage. Coupled with the systematic training and advanced weapons and equipment provided by the British Army, their combat effectiveness may be higher than expected. It's even better.
East Africa's knowledge of the existence of the Transvaal Restoration Army is related to East Africa's all-pervasive intelligence system. The East African Defense and Security Service has been infiltrating into the Orange Free State in recent years.
The Orange Free State is surrounded by East Africa on three sides, so professionally trained agents can easily sneak into the Orange Free State. Most of them enter the Orange Free State as British or Boers in Cape Town. State development.
In this era, not many countries have established professional intelligence agencies, especially countries like the Orange Free State with very rough governance.
Therefore, it is easy for East Africans to sneak into the Orange Free State and steal intelligence. However, due to the poor transportation and external contact methods of the Orange Free State, the speed of intelligence transmission is not fast.
Even so, both the Transvaal Restoration Army and the Transvaal Provisional Government were well known to East Africa. After all, the Transvaal Restoration Army was "extorting money" on the streets of Bloemfontein every day like street gangsters. "Blackmail", it is difficult not to attract attention. As for the Transvaal Provisional Government, it was also established in a very conspicuous location in Bloemfontein.
And they often hold "national salvation mobilization rallies", lobby the entire Orange Free State, or ask for "donations" from citizens on the street.
It can be said that every move of the Transvaal Provisional Government and the Nationalist Army was completely in the hands of the East African Defense and Security Service.