As the East African army approached, the distance between the two armies remained about 500 meters.

Wiggins was still waiting for East Africa to come into range, but the East African army wouldn't give him that chance, as it was within the range of the Dreiser rifle.

The maximum range of the Dreiser's rifle is about 600 meters, while the Ndebele rifles are equipped with rifles that can only reach the maximum range of 300 meters. At a distance of 500 meters, it can already exert about sixty percent of the power of the Dreiser, which is enough.

"Fire!" With the East African commanders giving the order.

The East African Army suddenly attacked, and the sound of Dreiser rifle gunfire shattered the oppressive silence between the two sides.

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

Wiggins was caught off guard by the sudden fire of East Africa, "What's the matter, these East African ......"

Before the words could be spoken, some of the Ndebele soldiers in the front row had already been shot and fell to a large area, at this time the Ndebele soldiers were also stunned by the sudden fire of East Africa, and some of them began to fire at the East African army by instinct without orders, which was a stress response that erupted in the face of danger warning.

However, the East African army's preemptive fire and the fall of their teammates made the Ndebele fighters, who had been trained by the Boers for a short time, a little flustered, and made frequent mistakes, and even the soldiers in the second row were nervous and fired directly at the surviving comrades in front.

"You ......"

The Ndebele warriors, who had been shot black by their own people, fell unwillingly in a pool of blood, their eyes wide open.

The entire Ndebele camp was thrown into chaos, mingling with shouting, wailing, and gunfire.

Wiggins froze for a moment, then immediately reacted, "Bastard, who told you to shoot, stop shooting!" ”

The Ndebele people are shooting now, and they can't hurt a single hair of the East Africans, at most the East African Army will hear it.

In the face of gunfire, Wiggins shouted to Lobengula: "Your Majesty, there is something wrong with the equipment of the East Africans!" Their rifles have a longer range, and we have to change tactics immediately. ”

Lobengula's face was already blue with anger at this time, and he scolded angrily: "Didn't you say that as long as we wait for the East Africans to send them to the door, we can defeat them with muskets? Why did they fire ahead of time and still cause us damage before they got to the predetermined area? ”

Wiggins: "Your Majesty, the East Africans have a problem with their equipment, they must have ordered more advanced weapons from Europe, I don't know this, the responsibility lies with me, but now is not the time to hold accountable, we must deal with the enemy's attack." ”

Lobengula said in a bit of a panic: "What now? Retreat? ”

Lobengula is really desperate, even a fool knows that the weapons of the East Africans are not the same as the "scrap iron" they bought with gold, and they can't even reach the corners of the enemy's clothes, how can they fight.

Wiggins: "No, Your Majesty, let our men, rush forward with muskets, we must have more people than the East Africans, it doesn't matter if we die, as long as we rush to half the distance, the muskets in our hands can fight back against East Africans, we will fight close combat with East Africans!" ”

It is impossible to retreat, once retreated, the military spirit will not be stable, and when the time comes, it will not be a retreat, but a rout, Wiggins is sure that as long as the retreat is ordered, these natives will run faster than anyone else, and even the command will collapse at that time, now try to break through to the East Africans, maybe they can rely on the numerical advantage to turn defeat into victory.

It doesn't matter what it means to die some! Although he was very angry, Lobengula had no good way, so he could only try it according to Wiggins's method, "Attack with all the army!" Warriors of the kingdom, follow in my footsteps and defeat these East Africans. ”

Lobengula took the lead in the charge, boosting morale and temporarily stabilizing the morale of the Ndebele people, who now had to fight on their backs.

"Kill!"

Lobengula raised his Arab scimitar and led the way towards the East African army, followed by the Ndebele warriors.

But the East African army has already seen the intentions of the Ndebele people.

"Artillery ready! Put! ”

"Boom...... Rumble...... Boom ......"

The shells bombarded the Ndebele camp, which greatly weakened the Ndebele people's desire to fight, but the Ndebele people, as a "fighting" people among the natives, still did not disperse, and Lobengula led the charge by example, which still had an effect on morale, and the king did not spare his life, so why not die.

Seeing that the Ndebele people could still attack normally, Swift ordered: "Cavalry preparation!" ”

The East African cavalry, which had been waiting for a long time, drew its saber and stepped forward to prepare for battle.

The South Salzburg Border Force is equipped with two cavalry companies, which are small in size, but the South Salzburg border is almost fully equipped with infantry, artillery, and cavalry.

The weapons of the East African cavalry are not exactly the same as those of Europe, except for the same Dreiser carbine of the same type in Prussia dedicated to cavalry, the cold weapon of the East African cavalry is the East African straight knife.

The East African straight knife is an improved version of the Han Dynasty ring head knife, and its basic function is similar to that of the Han knife, with a single-sided blade, a thick ridge, and a certain arc, but the overall visual is relatively straight, mainly used for chopping and stabbing.

The blade is 1.12 meters, the handle is wound with sisal braid, using the characteristics of sisal moisture absorption and sweat wicking, which is easy to grasp, and the diameter of the knife ring and the width of the handle are equal. At the same time, a metal clasp is added to the scabbard to facilitate hanging around the waist.

The East African straight knife was shaped entirely out of Ernst's personal preference, and he himself had a gold-inlaid cold jade Han knife specially made with a lot of money as a private collection.

Although the East African cavalry used the straight knife, which was subjectively influenced by Ernst's personal subjectivity, it was true that the straight knife was unexpectedly accepted and loved by the East African cavalry, mainly because there were almost no cavalry of the same size among the enemies faced by East Africa, and weapons such as mounted guns were not used.

More of the East African cavalry fought in the case of rushing into the fleeing natives with straight knives to capture the young and strong laborers. The Dreiser Carbine is only used when it is necessary to annihilate the enemy and to fire from medium to long range.

The East African straight knife is lightweight, easy to master, and can ensure the safety of the slave, if it is disabled, the slave will have no use value.

Swift: "Cavalry attack!" ”

The cavalry kicked the horse with a spur, and as the East African cavalry sorted, it immediately raised a cloud of dust on the battlefield, and the horse's hooves roared.

"Kill!"

The snow-bright East African straight knife glittered in the sun, and the war horse ran some distance before colliding with the Ndebele who rushed to the front.

Seven or eight hundred pounds passed directly past the Ndebele warriors, but they were followed by a bright East African straight knife.

The knife fell, and in an instant, the blood burst out from the Ndebele people's bodies, splashing all over the ground.

Lobengula was not slashed by the straight knives of the East African cavalry, but it was even more miserable, a war horse directly pushed him to the ground, and then the horse's hooves trampled him mercilessly.

Lobengula, a nearly two-hundred-pound Ndebele Hercules, didn't come up directly, felt a hot heart, and then fainted, I don't know if it was because of the impact or because of the stampede.

Two cavalry companies rushed into the camp of the Ndebele and directly and completely disrupted the Ndebele attack.

With the blessing of the war horses, the East African cavalry rose and fell in the crowd, killing and killing, the Ndebele people completely lost their command, and the outer soldiers had begun to disperse.

At this time, Witt also ordered: "Everyone, attack on all fronts!" ”

The East African Army pressed all over and joined the battlefield, which turned directly into a slaughterhouse, the smell of blood mixed with gunsmoke and dust filled the battlefield, and on the outskirts of Bulawayo, there were more and more corpses of Ndebele people.

I don't know when, Wiggins and a few Boer instructors secretly took advantage of the Ndebele people to go around the rear of the battlefield.

"It's over! It's all over! At this point, Wiggins said to a couple of Boer instructors: "We must evacuate immediately, the defeat of the Ndebele is a certainty, and we cannot fall into the hands of the East Africans." ”

"What about the people of Ndebele, do you want to call them?"

"Dead is dead, now we have to run, while they can still resist the East Africans, hurry up!" Wiggins urged.

Dead friends don't die poor, Wiggins directly chooses to betray the Ndebele people.

"Let's go and fetch our horses, go straight west, then take a detour to the southwest, and finally turn back to the Transvaal." Wiggins commanded.

So they hurried to Bulawayo's residence, where the horses they had brought from the Transvaal were kept.

(End of chapter)