Realizing this, Johnson no longer bothered with the trivial matter of East Africa's invasion of Grigualand, which was just a small place with a poor economy, and when he was sent here by the colonial government of Cape Town, it felt like an exile, and now he is returning to Cape Town.

"Your Excellency Merk, this matter will be put on hold for now, and I must first return to Cape Town to report the situation, and how to deal with the question of Grigualand's ownership will depend on how the big men of the Cape Town government make decisions, so I will not make useless arguments with you here." Johnson said to Merk.

Merck: "Of course, nothing is absolute, and sometimes a misunderstanding only requires both parties to sit down and talk frankly, and maybe the crisis can be resolved. ”

"Yes, there is nothing that cannot be discussed, it is good for both of us, so I hope that Your Excellency can make it convenient in the future, and do not embarrass us on the way home." Johnson responded.

"It's nature." Merk said to his adjutant, "Arrange a group of men for Mr. Johnson and escort them across the Orange River." ”

"Yes, Commander."

Merk then said to Johnson: "By the way, Mr. Johnson, I want to make it clear in advance that our men can only escort you and your team to the Orange River, and beyond the boundaries of the Orange River will not be under our control." ”

"Hehe, thank you for the reminder, General, but the other side of the Orange River is definitely a safer place, and I am still at ease with my own people."

Johnson vaccinated Merk in advance, all for his own safety, of course Merk will not do anything to Johnson, after all, he is an official of the British Empire, if he really has an accident on East African soil, it will really be a provocation to the face of the British Empire.

Johnson was anxious to return to Cape Town to ventilate the news, in fact the Cape Town colonies knew the situation better than Johnson, and the large-scale military operation launched by the Kingdom of East Africa in South Africa could be heard even by the blind.

Even more nervous than the British were the Portuguese, whose Mozambican colony knew the kingdom of East Africa best.

The sudden appearance of Felix's army in the Kingdom of Eswatini really startled the Mozambique colony.

Maputo, the colonial capital of Mozambique, is next to the Kingdom of Eswatini, and the Kingdom of Eswatini naturally cannot hide anything from the Mozambique colony.

The colonial government of Mozambique also knew that East Africa had been doing things in the interior, but after all, there were several indigenous countries in between, so it only knew the general situation, such as the destruction of the kingdom of Matabele by East Africa.

However, the kingdom of Matabele is still a little far away from the colonies of Mozambique, especially after the division of the kingdom of Monomotapa, which is separated between East Africa and Mozambique, acting as a buffer zone, which makes Mozambique feel a little safe.

However, after the occupation of Eswatini by the Kingdom of East Africa, it also meant that Mozambique in the south and East Africa directly bordered each other, and the Kingdom of East Africa surrounded the colony of Mozambique on three sides.

However, the governor of Mozambique, who had some knowledge of the military strength of East Africa during this time, already knew that the military strength of the East African Kingdom was not something that Mozambique could touch, and that Portugal itself might not have much to do with the Germans, so he chose to lie down, as long as the East African Kingdom did not attack Mozambique, then he pretended not to see it.

The military strength of East Africa has always been a mystery for Mozambique, but it is very strong, Mozambique can probably infer the war strength of the East African Kingdom through the establishment of military bases on the border between the two sides by the East African Kingdom, and the North East Africa alone has deployed about thousands to tens of thousands of troops on the East Mozambique border, and this is only a part of the troops set up by the East African Kingdom to defend against Mozambique, so how many troops there are in East Africa is completely unknown.

……

Cape Town.

"According to the feedback from our businessmen who came back from the Transvaal, the number of troops dispatched by the East African Kingdom this time should be in the tens of thousands, not only that, but the Natal colony also sent news that there are new forces fighting against the Zulu Kingdom, not the previous Boers, looking at the outfit is very similar to the army of the German regional countries, the scale should not be small, if nothing else, the enemy faced by the Zulu people is also the army of the East African Kingdom, so if you calculate together, the army sent by the East African Kingdom this time is likely to be about twenty or thirty thousand."

After listening to the report of his subordinates, Henry Buckley, the governor of the Cape Town colony, said solemnly: "As far as I know, this East African kingdom should be in the Tanganyika region in the north of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, and its territory covers the Zanzibar Sultanate and part of the interior, but now it seems that we know too little about the East African kingdom. ”

Henry Buckley walked up to a very abstract map of Africa and said: "Look, this is Tanganyika, and this is Mozambique, and this time the army of the Kingdom of East Africa has arrived in South Africa from the inland region, which means that they have bypassed Mozambique and occupied at least a lot of land in the heart of Africa, so that they can go from East Africa to South Africa by land." ”

The Panorama of Africa in the hands of the Cape Town colony was rough, with only a rough outline of Africa and detailed information about the coastal areas, with a large blank area in between.

Originally, according to the normal historical trajectory, many European explorers in this era should have penetrated deep into the interior of Africa, exploring African mountains and rivers to fill the empty part in the middle, but this process was interrupted by the Kingdom of East Africa.

The Kingdom of East Africa has forbidden explorers from Europe to enter since colonial times, and as for those who are not afraid of death, East Africa satisfies them and makes them passively disappear, after all, Africa is a dangerous place, and it is not surprising that there is a small accident.

Therefore, the map in Henry Buckley's hand did not provide him with any useful information, and he could only speculate that the Kingdom of East Africa had occupied a lot of land next to the colony of Mozambique.

Although Henry Barkley did not know how much land East Africa occupied and how they conquered it, he knew how long Mozambique was.

Mozambique has about 2,600 kilometres of coastline, and it would take East Africa about the same amount to get around Mozambique to South Africa.

Henry Buckley, however, preferred that the Kingdom of East Africa had been able to expand from East Africa to South Africa by water.

"There is a very good possibility that there will be a north-south river between East Africa and South Africa, which will allow the Germans to move quickly by boat, as well as to replenish their supplies, otherwise I do not believe that they would have been able to expand rapidly from the coast of East Africa to South Africa."

What Henry Barkley said is not entirely wrong, there is indeed a river in East Africa that satisfies Henry Buckley's speculation, that is, the Luangwa River, but the Luangwa River is only a tributary of the Zambezi River, at most it reaches the Zambezi River, and cannot reach South Africa directly, and although East Africa also engages in shipping on the Luangwa River, the route on the Luangwa River is not continuous, but an independent existence.

(End of chapter)