As a new city, Bulawayo, the capital of the Ndebele people, has a long history of being founded not even as many cities as the Kingdom of East Africa.

Lobengula and his father, Zilikazi, used a large number of slaves to build their capital, which is small in size but has a combination of Arabic and European architecture.

On the one hand, the influence of the Arabs on the east coast of Africa was profound, even by the Zulus at the southern tip, as well as by the Ndebele people, who were a branch of the Zulus.

On the other hand, the Ndebele learned from their old rivals, the Boers, but when the Boers captured the Transvaal, they did not have as much effort and manpower to build some luxurious buildings, and were basically simple fortresses in the Dutch or German-French style.

The Ndebele people fully absorbed the experience of the Boers and built firing ports, towers and other facilities in their own capital, and the whole capital became a small military fortress, which is similar to Hohenzollernburg, which is also in line with the militaristic characteristics of the Ndebele people.

At this time, Lobengula was inspecting his army outside the castle, and the visuals of more than 6,000 Ndebele warriors armed with muskets were absolutely stunning.

They wore the traditional Zulu costume of a primitive tribe, but carried a man-high musket, and the barbarism and "civilization" complemented each other.

In addition to the "advanced" people, more than 10,000 Sauna servant troops also participated in this parade, although the number of servant troops was far more than that, but they were scattered all over the kingdom of Matabele, and Bulawayo alone could not feed so many people.

Lobengula looked at the high-spirited Ndebele warriors with great satisfaction, and felt the pleasure of being a hero in the world.

Lobengula asked the head of the Boer Advisory Group beside him, "Your Excellency, look at my subordinates, how are they compared to the East African Kingdom now?" ”

Wiggins laughed confidently and said, "Hahaha, Your Majesty, don't worry, the Ndebele warriors are brave and warlike, and now they are equipped with firearms, and with the training of our Boers, they can definitely inflict heavy damage on the East African Kingdom." ”

Wiggins was the chief instructor sent by the Transvaal Republic to the Kingdom of Matabele to help Lobengula train the Ndebele warriors in the use of firearms.

After all, the firearms were sold by the Transvaal Republic to the Kingdom of Matabele, so it was natural to provide one-stop service to customers, otherwise the Ndebele soldiers would use muskets as spearmen to launch a death charge against the group of colonial soldiers in East Africa and be beaten into a sieve, and the joke would be big.

Lobengula ordered: "The drill has officially begun!" ”

The Ndebele warriors, who had divided into several squares, began to refill their muskets with ammunition in style, and then raised them flat, taking turns firing at a row of wooden stakes that had been set up long ago.

"Bang...... Bang...... Bang......"

The fragile stakes were directly beaten to pieces.

"Good, good, very good!" Lobengula looked at the power of the musket in front of him and exclaimed.

Lobengula: "With these muskets, there will be no return for East Africans." ”

……

A fast horse galloped across the steppe in the direction of the border troops of the province of South Salzburg.

"I have an important military briefing."

Soon, the Scout was brought to Side.

"Report, Chief of the General Staff! We met the troops of the Southern Route Army in the southeast, and they were converging on us. ”

"Which unit of the Southern Route Army are they?"

"The Second Brigade of the Southern Route Army has been active here these days, encircling and suppressing the indigenous rebellion."

Si Te said with satisfaction: "Very good, it seems that the Southern Route Army has almost counterinsurgency in the south and east, let's stay here first, wait for them, and let the soldiers rest by the way." ”

The South Salzburg Frontier Force marched from near Lake Malawi into the hinterland of the Matabele Plateau, mainly to fight against the main force of the Ndebele people, the base camp of the Matabele Kingdom led by Bulawayo.

As for the local counterinsurgency, naturally there is no psychological understanding, and it is mainly handed over to the Southern Route Army to carry out from the east and south directions.

Almost twenty minutes later, a force appeared on the horizon, which was the 2nd Brigade of the South Route Army in East Africa.

Second Brigade Commander Yaan Reid: "Chief of the General Staff! ”

Swift: "Good, you're coming from that direction!" ”

"Chief of the General Staff, our brigade was originally stationed on the north bank of the Limpopo River, and came from the southeast all the way to the northwest according to the king's order."

"That means that the indigenous rebellion in the southeast has almost been suppressed now?"

"Yes, Chief of the General Staff, but some of the remnants of the Ndebele escaped, and we pursued them all the way here."

"You guys did a great job!" Si Te praised.

Ya'an Reed: "By the way, Chief of the General Staff, our troops have an important military situation to report to you. ”

Thinker: "What military intelligence?" ”

"Chief of the General Staff, please wait a moment." Ya'an Reed turned to his subordinates and said, "Bring our prisoners and captured things and bring them up!" ”

Soon, several white men were escorted up, along with an ox cart draped in a raincloth.

Ya'an Reed lifted the rain cloth, and boxes of goods were stacked on it, but when he saw the shape of the box, Witt immediately guessed what it contained.

"Is this an ordnance?"

"Yes, Chief of the General Staff, and it was the Boers who supplied the Ndebele with arms."

"Well, these Boers are quite bold!"

Ya'an Reed said: "Chief of the General Staff, next, you interrogate these Boers, I'm afraid you will know what really big things they have done." ”

Swift immediately understood that this matter was probably more than just what was in front of him.

He came to the Boer captives and asked, "Are you from the Transvaal Republic?" ”

One of the Boers replied in German: "Yes, dare you ask your Excellency?" ”

"I'm the Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Army of East Africa, Situ!"

As soon as he heard that it was a high-ranking official in East Africa, the Boer man immediately said: "Sir, all this is a misunderstanding. ”

"Hmph, don't be clever, we've already got information from Ndebele, if you cooperate well, take the initiative to confess the crime, or ......," Ya'an Reed interrupted from the side.

"Well, now we can tell you everything you want to know, but I have one request, and that is that we must be kept safe." Seeing that it was exposed, the Boer said.

Thinker: "Of course, I'll ask you next, we absolutely guarantee your safety, first question, what is the purpose of your here?" ”

Boer: "We have been instructed by the President to trade with the Ndebele people, and as you can see, to send arms to the Ndebele people, and the main reason is that the Ndebele people trade in gold, which incidentally weakens your country. ”

Witt: "How many weapons did you send to the Ndebele in total?" ”

"I don't know, but there should be a lot of them, at least a few thousand muskets, and a lot of gunpowder......"

Ten minutes later.

Witt: "Okay, we'll keep our promise, but now we're going to grieve you in East Africa!" ”

The Boer captives easily betrayed all the information they knew about the Transvaal to East Africa, knowing that East Africa would not let them go back to the Transvaal.

said to his subordinates: "Hmph, the Transvaal Republic is really generous, and it shoots and kills, it really doesn't take us East Africa seriously, and we will settle accounts with them when we solve the Ndebele people!" ”

(End of chapter)