Chapter 646 Situation in the South

At the end of the year, Ernst completed his trip to Europe and returned to East Africa. During this trip, East Africa was actually very popular, especially Germany.

This is the same as the welcoming attitude of European and American countries towards the Far Eastern Empire during the financial crisis of 2008. In the 1970s, the importance of East Africa to Germany undoubtedly increased to several levels and played an important role in stabilizing the German economy. At the same time, Germany realized some of the strength of East Africa.

In the previous life, there was Italy, which was won over by all parties. Now Italy is divided into three countries, and part of it is occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This has resulted in one less powerful country in Europe. In this way, East Africa has entered Germany's sight, but East Africa is in Africa after all. , so its importance is not as important as that of the Ottoman Empire.

East Africa does not need to take sides as soon as possible, so its wooing of Germany is relatively ambiguous, but in essence it still prefers Germany or the German camp.

After all, East Africa is also a country of the German system. It is naturally close to the German region politically, economically, culturally, and militarily. However, East Africa's geographical location and strength allow East Africa to continue to remain neutral.

"Ernst, you are finally back. Friedrich misses you so much!" Constantine said in surprise as soon as he saw his son.

"Dad, Mom!" Friedrich jumped into his arms as soon as he came up. He didn't feel strange at all after not seeing this little guy for half a year.

Ernst hugged the little guy and said to his father: "Father, now that I am back, you can leave other things to me."

Constantine said angrily: "I don't want to bother with my old bones for a long time. It's just the right time for you to come back. I still want to walk around more!"

Before Ernst went abroad, Constantine had stopped asking about government affairs and was instead wandering around East Africa. Now that Ernst is back, Constantine naturally wants to continue his retirement life. As for governing the country It is better to leave this kind of tiring work to young people like Ernst.

Karina also grabbed her son's chubby face and felt distressed. Originally, they only planned to stay in Europe for a few months, but the popularity of East Africa obviously delayed the family's trip. There were countless banquets and receptions. Karina, who was accustomed to freedom in East Africa, was a little uncomfortable.

So during the second half of the trip, Karina kept complaining that she would come to Europe as little as possible next time, mainly because she was too tired from socializing, and her facial muscles that she used to smile every day were stiff.

The family happily returned to the First Town, but after being away for a long time and accumulating a lot of responsibilities, Ernst could not afford to rest and began to return to his workaholic state.

The high degree of centralization in East Africa also meant that Ernst had greater pressure and responsibilities. So after handing over affairs with his father, Ernst began to look at the problems that had accumulated in East Africa over the past year.

The first is the Orange Free State. This issue has been a key concern in East Africa before Ernst left East Africa.

Army Chief of Staff Sweet has been responsible for keeping an eye on this matter, so he reported: "Large-scale wars broke out three times this year between the Orange and the Transvaal. The first two ended with the Orange's slight advantage. But the third time, that is, in September of this year, the Transvaal, with the assistance of the British, changed the situation in one fell swoop and severely damaged the main force of the Orange coalition at Dillsville."

Although it was known that the Transvaal would gain the upper hand, it was only a matter of time. After all, East Africa could not provide unconditional aid to the Orange people like the British did, but had to pay for it.

But Ernst still wanted to know the details of what happened, especially why the Orange won the first two times.

Sweet said: "According to the information sent back by our intelligence personnel and military advisers, the combat effectiveness of the Transvaal Restoration Army was low at the beginning. After all, the Boers did not have standing armed requirements at the beginning, so they lacked experience and were not as good as Oran." The traditional Boer armed force that governs people.

However, as time went by, the Transvaal people accumulated enough relevant experience, their combat effectiveness level improved, and with the guidance of the British, the Transvaal people made rapid progress. "

“The first of these battles took place in the northern part of the Orange Free State, with a large-scale battle between Excelsior, the Beltfontein garrison in the Transvaal, and the Lussel Department of the Orange Allied Forces. This time, the Transvaal took the initiative to attack, but Roussell used the terrain to ambush them. The Beltfontein garrison suffered heavy losses, which instantly made the entire northern situation favorable to the Orangemen, and The Transvaal could only withdraw its forces within the confines of Beltfontein."

"An important reason for the Transvaal's failure in this war was that they underestimated the enemy. Russell could be said to be the strongest in the north of the Orangemen, and the northwest was basically under his control. As a result, the Transvaal He dared to go there so arrogantly without even clearing up the information, leading to a disastrous defeat.”

Of course, because Russell is in the northwest of Orange, his troops can better contact East Africa and gain support from East Africa. There is no need to say this reason, and the Transvaal people want to take advantage of Russell. The important reason is to cut off the northern communication channel between the Orange people and East Africa.

“In May, there was a second large-scale conflict between the Orangemen and the Transvaal people. This time it mainly occurred in the southwest region. The Transvaal people have been actively compressing the living space of the Orange people, so the cloth With Longfontein as the center, fortifications and strongholds were built around it.

Therefore, in order to break the situation, the Orange people in the southwest region cleaned up the Transvaal Restoration Army in the territory. For the Orange people, this was a local operation, so it was easy to obtain victory over the Transvaal people. victory. "

"The third large-scale conflict was still initiated by the Orange. The first two major victories caused the Orange to become somewhat swollen, so they gathered a large force in the west and prepared to inflict heavy damage on the Transvaal again. We are even prepared to take back Bloemfontein in one go.”

"However, the Orangemen have obviously forgotten the advantages of their own province. Although the Transvaal Restoration Army's combat effectiveness is not high, it has clear powers and a detailed command system framework. However, the Orangemen have their own In order to fight, there is no internal unity.

Therefore, in this frontal war, the Transvaal people faced a group of scattered Orange people and achieved an unprecedented victory. The British also began to take the initiative and sent troops from near Kimberley, making the Orange people be attacked from both sides. Under the confluence of forces, the Orangemen's power in the southwest was severely damaged, and most of them are now out of control.

Although the northern forces still exist for various reasons, they also participated in the third large-scale conflict and could not make waves in a short period of time. Therefore, the Transvaal and the British took advantage of the opportunity to expand their results. The main battle zone has now been transferred. To the north, there were even several encounters between the two sides on the south bank of the Fetter River, which were observed by our troops. "

"Does that mean the Orangemen are now at the end of their tether?"

"Absolutely. Now in the Orange Free State, only the north is still resisting because of us. In other areas, the Transvaal and the British have almost cleared up the problem, especially in the southwest Orange where the strongest power was at the beginning. Many people have chosen to surrender to the new government."

"New government?"

“The Transvaal Provisional Government officially abolished the original Orange Free State government. Now the Orange Free State can be said to have only one name left, and it still belongs to the Orange people, and the others have been ignored by the Transvaal people. "