In this way, the East African Army in the military stronghold of Songo watched while the Portuguese were busy working outside the city, while the Mozambican army itself was bound by the blacks, because the French might have taught them how to make siege engines when they trained them!

Africans can't even make ladders, but this craft depends on the region, for example, the natives in the tropical rainforest area will build their nests on trees, wooden ladders are indispensable tools, and some indigenous kingdoms with a higher level of development also have similar needs, and some simple wooden ladders can be made.

And these wooden ladders are generally made of a single log dug out of the concave surface, or made of straw rope binding, mortise and tenon structure or wooden ladders fixed with iron nails are almost none, so the ladders made by Africans are not suitable for siege, and the violent behavior of siege using this kind of wooden ladder is afraid that their own people will fall first and eat, and the East African Army is afraid that they will laugh off their big teeth.

The indigenous people of East Africa are even more not, most of them live in the savanna area, and build their dwellings with plant fibers and weaving strips or mud, often less than two meters high round shacks or square earthen houses, and there is no need to climb up and down, so the simplest climbing tools such as ladders have no application scenarios.

Kerry could only scold and take someone to personally guide the production, so it took a lot of effort in vain, and it took half a day to make more than 20 planes.

Looking at the already dark sky, Rhodes proposed, "Ensign Kerry, why don't you toss it again tomorrow!" We might have to spend the night here today. ”

Kerry was quite dissatisfied: "No matter what, we must get the ladder right tonight, and launch an attack early tomorrow morning!" ”

As for the East African Army, it was completely watching the excitement and did not disturb the Portuguese at all, because of intelligence, the Songo military stronghold had long known that this could become the front line of the battle.

After the scouts received information from outside the city of Tete, it took only two days for them to send the information to the Songo stronghold, which was not small in size, but also installed a telegram, and then sent the news to Harare, the capital of Matabele province.

The defense of Matabele province was mainly under the jurisdiction of the 512th Division, so the headquarters of the 512th Division immediately ordered a company of reinforcements to the Songo stronghold, and the day before the Portuguese finally arrived in Songo, the first reinforcements from Songo arrived.

Therefore, the current number of troops in the Songo stronghold has actually reached more than five hundred, which is not comparable

Commander of the 512th Division: "Drag the enemy first, let go of the weapons and ammunition, and the large army will arrive in three days, you don't take the initiative to attack, it's better to drag the Portuguese somewhere." ”

The order given by the 512th Division to the defenders of Songo was to delay the Portuguese, even if the current East African Army was fully capable of destroying the Portuguese vanguard outside the city, but East Africa would still not move.

As for the so-called large forces, they are being moved by the Central Railway from the province of South Salzburg towards the Zambezi railway bridge, and are expected to reach the Songo stronghold in three or four days, which is an opponent carefully selected for the Portuguese army in East Africa.

The black legion formed in East Africa can come in handy, but the direction of Mozambique's offensive was not determined before, so the black legion has been staying in the province of South Salzburg, and if war breaks out suddenly, East Africa can also be quickly delivered to various sections with the help of the central railway.

So more than 30,000 Black Uncle was stuffed into the train cars of the East African Army to support the inland areas like pigs, sent to the Zambezi River Central Railway Bridge, and then along the Zambezi River all the way to the downstream Songo region.

The rest of the black forces stood guard on the shores of Lake Malawi and waited for Mozambican soldiers to throw themselves into the net.

The Songo defenders looked at the Portuguese who were still busy and mocked: "It's getting dark, why don't the Portuguese attack?" ”

"Are the so-called armies of the Kingdom of Portugal all of them virtuous? They didn't even prepare anything, so they planned to eat some Songgo strongholds, relying on their minds? ”

It's really that the vanguard of Mozambique is too shabby, there are no heavy weapons, and even siege equipment is not prepared, and it has to wait until Songo to start making, which makes the Songgo defenders who have been preparing for several days feel very different.

"Company commander, why don't we open the door now and kill it, right? The black soldiers in Portugal seemed to be even more inexperienced, what was the fighting power of such an army? And there are too few of them. ”

"I also want to solve these Portuguese in front of me immediately, the problem is that the higher authorities have issued an order that we are only allowed to defend and not attack."

"Then we'll just wait for the Portuguese to attack, that's too passive."

"Passive what? Now we have bunkers and fortifications, as long as Songo Fort is not lost, then the initiative in the war is all ours, are you afraid that such a little Portuguese army will not be able to turn the sky upside down? ”

"Company commander, our four machine guns can deliver a head-on blow to the Portuguese, and make them aware that times have changed." Said the heavy.

There were already two machine guns in the Songgo stronghold, but with the arrival of a company of the 512th Division, there were two more machine guns.

"Put away all the machine guns and don't let the Portuguese see it! What if it scares the Portuguese? Never use it unless absolutely necessary. ”

Machine guns in East Africa preceded heavy artillery and spread to subordinate units, so much so that the companies of the 512th Division used machine guns, and if these four machine guns were combined and powerful, then the Mozambican vanguard would not be enough to consume.

So in order to prevent the Portuguese from being too frightened to raise the bet, the Songo stronghold had already removed the machine guns from the city before the Portuguese arrived.

"Our stage is for the blacks in the back, and if the Portuguese are scared away, there will be no fighting."

The machine guns were used against the infantry, especially the infantry without countermeasures, and it was almost indistinguishable from cutting leeks, so the Portuguese had to be given the illusion that the East African Army was about the same equipment as them.

In fact, the two are still very far apart, first of all, East Africa belongs to the defensive counteroffensive play, so it has an advantage in terms of geographical advantages, and secondly, the East African Army is equipped with Mauser and Dreiser rifles, for the Mozambican colonial army, so even if East Africa does not use heavy weapons and the colonial army is still a dimensionality reduction strike.

After waiting all night, the Portuguese finally began to attack like the Songo stronghold, and like the defenders, the Portuguese army was equipped with relatively backward weapons, so it was barely able to shoot four or six Dreiser rifles, which were completely suppressed by Mauser rifles.

With the help of the city of Songo's stronghold, the condescending position, coupled with the advantage of range, the Songo defenders completely suppressed the Portuguese army that tried to charge.

Kerry: "Three-link charge, give me a run towards the Songo stronghold." ”

But because of the lessons of the past, the black people who were driven forward carried the ladder as soon as they set off, lying on the ground motionless, and the continuous gunfire in East Africa made Kerry think they were dead, but the gunfire in East Africa weakened slightly, and these black people lying on the ground jumped up and down again, which really made them move forward a lot.

So much so that the East African commander ordered: "When you see the enemy who has just fallen down, don't hesitate to give me two or three more shots." ”

These tricks only worked the first time, and the corpses lying on the ground could be refilled, which allowed the Portuguese blacks to try to retreat.

Kerry held a rifle in the rear and said: "Don't stop, rush forward for me, and those who retreat will die!" ”

Saying that, he picked up his rifle and shot directly at the black man who was trying to sneak away, and in a stronghold like Songo, he had to work hard to succeed, so he couldn't let the fear of war expand.

But the black soldiers were very reluctant to give Krein, the rhythm was disrupted, and the rear became cringe, and several tentative attacks did not work, but had already lost nearly a hundred men.

Kerry had to give the order to stop the attack, and he said to Rhodes: "We need heavy firepower, or the East Africans take the initiative to go out of the city to fight, otherwise there is no chance to break through Songo, and even if we can get away with it, I am afraid that our men will be wiped out." ”

(End of chapter)