Over the next few days, Prince Savida helped Wickham get a lot of these "shiny" stones, which were picked up by the Xhosa tribe who fished in the Big Fish River in the riverbanks and riverbeds.

There are more than 20 of these diamonds in total, the small ones are only more than 30 carats, the large ones are hundreds of carats, and the largest one is 400 carats! When Wickham saw such a large diamond, he almost fainted happily on the ground, and the diamonds that Prince Saveda brought him, except for the largest one, were definitely worth more than 150,000 pounds! Such a windfall is almost like picking it up from the road. Especially the 400-carat diamond, it is definitely the best that can be encountered but not sought!

However, there is still a certain gap between this diamond and the largest diamond in the later generations. The world's largest diamond was the "Star of Africa" discovered in 1905 at the Premir Mine in South Africa, where the original diamond reached a staggering 3,106 carats!

The discovery of this diamond was marked with a hint of drama. The mine staff was walking around the mine when he suddenly spotted a glittering object in the setting sun, which he at first thought was an abandoned glass bottle. When he picked it up with his cane and scraped away the dirt, the staff member was stunned, and he could hardly believe that he was facing a diamond as big as a fist!

The stone was immediately sent to London as a 66th birthday present for King Edward VII. The diamond was polished by diamond cutters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, into a total of 105 diamonds, including the four largest and other smaller diamonds, which were set in the King's Scepter and the King's and Queen's Crowns, becoming the symbol of British royal power.

Although the 400-carat diamond in Wickham's hand is not as large as the "Star of South Africa", it is enough to kill all the diamond jewelry of this era! Even though the diamond processing technology in Amsterdam at this time was not as exquisite as that of later generations, it was still not a problem to process a 300-carat sized gemstone, and such a diamond could definitely be sold for a sky-high price in Europe! As long as Wickham returns to the UK, the diamond could bring him a great fortune!

However, Wickham did not plan to sell the 400-carat diamond, such a rare treasure may become a stepping stone for him to knock on St. James's Palace and brush up his presence in front of the British royal family. Dampening his excitement, Wickham placed the diamonds in a small sewn cloth bag and placed them in his carry-on suitcase. For these eye-catching wealth, Wickham decided that he would never show it if he had the ability to protect himself!

After two weeks of training, the Xhosa muskets were finally able to see a little bit of the army. Of course, it is impossible to train any strong troops in such a short period of time, and the fire and gun team of the Xhosa team of this company can only be able to form two formations and shoot salvos. As for the tactics of horizontal column change and oblique assault, there is no need to think about it, and there is also a big gap between the rate of fire and the line infantry of European countries.

Such a Xhosa fire and gun team, which is not even a third-rate army in Europe, is armed to the teeth in the southern part of the African continent! Against the armed forces of the North Xhosa tribe in the era of cold weapons, it can be completely crushed.

For the past two days, there has been an unusual smell in the Xhosa tribe. The chief's concubine, Prince Decis, took advantage of the presence of Boer cavalry on the border to transfer most of the tribe's troops, including the cavalry troops, including Yargo, Prince Savida's henchman.

In this way, only three armed forces existed in the seat of the royal court of the male Xhosa. One was a guard of about fifty chiefs, all of whom were the most famous warriors in the tribe, and this short and sturdy team was only under the orders of the chief; One is the musket team in the hands of Wickham and Prince Savida, the number of people is about 200 people, although the weapons are excellent, but it is difficult to say how strong the combat power is; The other was the direct force in the hands of Prince Descis, about 700 people, all elite hoplites, but no cavalry.

Some people with a keen sense of smell, such as the high priests of the tribe, have sensed what Prince Descis is trying to do! Decis wantonly evacuated the armed forces of the royal court in this way, just to make the old chief and Prince Savida useless when he staged a coup d'état! South Xhosa's sky is about to change!

At this time, Decis, who was full of ambition, was sitting in his tent with a solemn face. Kitty, the old chief's personal attendant, was standing in front of Desis with a flattering face, and said flatteringly: "Great prince, why do you want to transfer those cavalry, with your influence in the cavalry team, they still do not obediently obey the orders of you, the new chief. ”

Decis glanced at Kitty contemptuously and scolded mercilessly, "You idiot! Don't you know that Agore also has a lot of influence in the cavalry troops? This damn slave is the henchman of this little bastard of Savida, what if the cavalry turns back under his influence on the day we launch it? ”

After scolding Kitty, Descis's mood seemed to be a little smoother, so he slowed down his tone: "The best way is to transfer all the cavalry teams, including Gol, so that this uncertainty can be far excluded!" Anyway, I still have 700 hoplites in my hands, and I can't turn the tables just by relying on the dozens of guards who don't die! Tonight, I'm going to get back a hundredfold of the insults I've endured over the years! ”

Because of the reason of his concubine, Desis was humiliated a lot when he was a child, which also created his competitive character. He wanted to prove to those who had insulted him that he was the true chief!

Descis suddenly realized that he had said too much, so he kept silent. Desis has always regarded himself as the most heroic warrior in the tribe, and he looks down on a two-faced villain like Kitty, who he would never have looked down upon if he hadn't gotten some useful information from Kitty.

Kitty had long noticed the disdain in Descis's eyes, and there was a hint of viciousness in his eyes, but he quickly hid his emotions, and he still had to rely on the conceited man in front of him.

Restraining her emotions, Kitty always felt that there was something wrong in Decis's plan, so she considered her tone and said, "Prince, although the cavalry team is no longer in the royal court, Savida still has a team of about two hundred muskets. Although the soldiers of the muskets are all newly recruited herdsmen, the muskets of the British are indeed very powerful, and we Xhosas have always suffered at the hands of the Boers, and it is not because of these advanced weapons? So Prince, I think that musket team has to be guarded against! ”

Desis sneered, and then said, "Kitty, you are just a waiter, and you are not as good as an idiot when you say that you are leading troops to fight!" How long has Savida's Muskets been training? For those novices who have never been on the battlefield, I can fight ten at a time. Even if they were armed with muskets, it would be a waste of all if such a sophisticated weapon fell into their hands. Besides, I have 700 hoplites, these are the elite of the elite, what am I afraid of? ”

Desis can't wait now, he has to break his half-brother Savida to pieces in order to quench the hatred in his heart! Oh yes, and that white friend of Savida, Wickham, who's going to nail the stake himself into his ass when the time comes! Wickham, who was discussing things with Prince Savida, sneezed and shook his head amusedly, not knowing who was talking about him.

The current situation is very delicate, the camp of the fire and gun team is already the same as before the big war, and the gunpowder and lead bullet that were originally strictly controlled have been quickly distributed to every soldier. Although the people above didn't say anything, many of the soldiers still noticed a different atmosphere.

"Your Royal Highness, can't the army under Yagor be brought back? The Muskets have only been training for two weeks, and if they do, I'm a little worried! Wickham paced around the tent like an ant on a hot pan.

The 700 hoplites in Desith's hands were like a fishbone that made it difficult for Wickham to sit down. Now that he has been forced to tie up Prince Savida's chariot, if Prince Savida loses the battle for the chieftaincy, then he, the British advisor who helped Savida train the Muskets, will not be much better!

Prince Savida frowned, his hand unconsciously pressed on the hilt of the knife at his waist, and said with a wry smile: "I also want to transfer Agor back, but the cavalry units have been greatly infiltrated by the Decists over the years, and if Agor makes any changes, the people on the side will cut off his head!" Although I use the strength of the unfast cavalry troops, why is it not the case with the Decis? Now all we have to do is guard against the 700 hoplites. ”

Savida also beat a drum in his heart, because the training time of the fire and spear team was too short, if he could not mobilize the chief's direct guard, he would want to give up the chieftain's position and flee the tribe far away.

Wickham rolled his eyes and came up with a brilliant idea: "The strongest fortresses are often breached from within!" Your Royal Highness, do you think we can bribe a few of the Decis's subordinates and give him a fatal blow at a critical moment. In this way, the situation in which we are underarmed can be reversed. ”

In the Central Plains War during the melee of the Sino-** valve, Lao Chiang relied on a large amount of ocean and gold bars to tear out a hole in the anti-Chiang alliance. Otherwise, relying on Lao Chiang's hundreds of thousands of troops is not enough for a fraction of the total strength of the anti-Chiang alliance. Wickham also wanted to use this method to neutralize the enemy from within, and he didn't believe that Prince Desius's subordinates were all loyal to Desius.

Savida shook her head and said, "George, this is simply impossible! Because those hoplites have a special relationship with the Descists! On a whim, Descis bought more than 100 eleven or twelve-year-old slaves from other tribes and began training from an early age. Those boys back then have now become the backbone of the heavy infantry unit! Their loyalty to the Decis isn't ordinary, so you might as well stop buying them. ”

"There's such a thing!" Wickham suddenly felt that Kangxi Kang Mazi's tricks were also known to be played by people in Africa! The soldiers trained in this way are similar to the sons of ancient Chinese families. Since the little tricks are useless, there is only a dignified duel, and whoever has the big fist can be the chief!

When Wickham calmed down, he realized that he was intimidated by the number of seven hundred. The comparison of forces between the two sides in a war is not the only factor that determines victory or defeat.

The Spaniards, who were robbing their homes in the Americas, could destroy an Inca empire with only a few hundred medieval infantry! What's more, the civilization level of Big Brother Africa is not as high as that of the Inca Empire, and it is a scum with only five combat effectiveness, is it necessary for him to be afraid?

What's more, the fire and musket team has been trained by the modern training methods of Western European armies, and is equipped with sophisticated French-made rifles, can it not defeat a group of African turtles with only spears and wooden shields? Thinking about it like this, Wickham's heart calmed down, with more than 200 guns in his hand, as long as there were no major problems in command, the odds of victory were still quite large.

"Your Royal Highness, you'd better persuade the old chief to bring the chieftain's guard to the camp of the Muskets for a few days, I suspect that Desis guy will make a move in the next two days, so as to prevent us from being divided and surrounded by him." Wickham thought about it and decided to respond to the situation without moving.

Savida nodded: "There is no problem with this, in the current situation, it is indeed not appropriate to spread the forces too much." After discussing some details, the two began to prepare separately.

ps: I just watched the BBC short drama South and North, although the theme is love, but it depicts the conflict of interests between capitalists and workers during the Industrial Revolution, you can go and see it if you are interested. By the way, the soundtrack in this play is really beautiful.