African Entrepreneurship Record

In addition to the impact on the textile industry, foreign trade in coastal areas has been affected to varying degrees.

Fortunately, the British did not push things to the extreme, otherwise East Africa would have been in serious trouble. Of course, the reason for this situation is naturally a reflection of East Africa’s own strength.

East Africa is concerned about the impact on its trade, and Britain shares similar anxieties, just like Egypt and Somaliland are also threatened by East Africa. Despite the East African navy being hard to defend against British naval incursions from the east and north.

Similarly, Britain’s Indian colonies have similar anxieties, especially considering the existing strength of the East African navy.

Britain can choke the external trade routes of East Africa, while East Africa also has the capability to cut off communications between Britain and India. This makes both sides cautious in their actions.

So, the Southern Africa war, all in all, remains within the controllable scope of both countries, serving as a probing ground. As for triggering larger conflicts and wars, they are not the preferred options.

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Manggu City.

As the terminal of the western section of the Central Railway, this place is an important hub for the East African offensive on Angola. Initially, Manggu City had a population of only three thousand. Now, a large number of troops gather here daily, then head to the western battlefront.

The main forces for the grand offensive in Angola are composed of reservists, with a framework made up of both retired and active service soldiers.

Such a force naturally lacks any substantive war experience, which is why East Africa chose Angola as the main battlefield for their offensive.

Compared to the British forces, the Portuguese troops are seen as a ’soft target’ by East Africa, effectively serving the purpose of military training.

”Don’t be afraid when you encounter the Portuguese. To be honest, the Portuguese have worse combat awareness than some indigenous people. Besides, their army has low educational levels, weak coordination, and poor equipment. When you see the Portuguese, just fully unleash our military’s firepower advantage.”

A retired East African veteran, now recalled to service, Helder, imparted his combat experience to these young soldiers.

”Mr. Helder, can the Portuguese really be worse in combat than indigenous people?”

”I certainly won’t deceive you. This is all based on my personal past experiences. Although Portugal was once a reputed country, strong in the past, now Portugal has completely lost the valor of their ancestors.”

”Not to mention the distant past, in the last East-Portuguese War, we routed the Portuguese with just two divisions, leaving them without any ability to resist. Even if they’ve made some progress over the years, it can’t be much.”

”Why?” someone curiously asked Helder.

”Because of a lack of money, the Portuguese Kingdom’s economy has completely collapsed. So, being a soldier is a poorly paid job. During our last battle with the Portuguese, they were still using outdated weapons, some even relics from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.”

”A country that can’t even equip its troops is naturally unable to compete with others, which is evident from the Portuguese military’s clothing.”

”At the beginning of the Age of Exploration, Portuguese military equipment was quite advanced. Now, the uniforms of the Portuguese military, especially the colonial forces, are even more primitive than our old East African uniforms.”

”I believe you have seen the old East African uniforms, which were simplified versions of German uniforms. Yet, the Portuguese can’t even achieve uniformity in such simple uniforms, and their troop organization is chaotic.”

”Based on my previous experience, a single charge can scatter the Portuguese forces. I’m not sure if they’ve made any progress over the years.”

Helder said, thinking about how the most important factor affecting the military’s combat effectiveness lies in the treatment of soldiers. The Portuguese army has been rotten to the core for a long time.

Regarding the current Angolan army, even though conditions have somewhat improved, it’s just a drop in the ocean as the war continues.

The anti-war sentiment among Portuguese soldiers keeps rising, and they’ve begun deserting.

In the early stages of the war, Portugal could barely afford the soldiers’ salaries, but the number of troops was just too great for them to sustain.

Portugal’s home population is just a few hundred thousand, whereas the armies in Angola and Mozambique amount to over a hundred thousand, not including the Black auxiliary forces. The military expenses are a heavy burden for Portugal.

Midway through the war, Portugal began delaying military payments, which the Portuguese soldiers could still endure at that time.

Now, the Portuguese government has essentially given up, issuing IOUs to soldiers, with the main instruction being to ’plunder, burn, and loot’ in East Africa.

However, while IOUs have a faint chance of realization, the aim of making war fortunes by living off the land in East Africa hasn’t been achieved.

Because East Africa proactively implemented a ’scorched earth’ policy, Portuguese soldiers found it impossible to gain extra income, and couldn’t even resolve their basic survival needs.

In such circumstances, the mentality of Portuguese low-level soldiers naturally ’exploded,’ leading Angolan colonial troops to also adopt lax attitudes by mid-stage. This is a significant reason for Portugal’s slow progress.

Now Portuguese soldiers are effectively free laborers for the Portuguese government, which unexpectedly turned out to be a boon for East Africa.

In early August 1888.

The well-prepared East African army officially began a full-scale counteroffensive against Angola, attacking from three directions: north, central, and south.

As expected by East Africa, the Portuguese army indeed represents the lower limit of Allied combat effectiveness, with the Black auxiliary forces losing composure before the battle even began.

Moreover, the continual East African bombardment further devastated the morale of the Black auxiliary forces, and the Portuguese soldiers didn’t perform much better either.

Many Portuguese soldiers resisted half-heartedly, firing at the sky, and some entire units even surrendered to East Africa en masse.

This greatly exceeded East Africa’s expectations; the reason for the Portuguese units’ surrender was funny yet pitiable - the food was too poor.

East Africa achieved significant results on all three fronts, advancing the boundary over fifty kilometers within a week.

However, the real hurdle for the East African army’s progress wasn’t the Portuguese forces, but the ’scorched earth’ policy’s aftermath.

The East African scorched earth tactic was significantly effective against the enemy, and now obstructed East Africa’s path to annexing Angola.

The East African scorched earth approach included destroying infrastructure like roads, bridges, and residential areas, and now the tables have turned.

The East African Defense Army is now forced to deal with the mines it once buried, severely delaying their march.

However, compared to East Africa’s troubles, Portugal is truly besieged on all sides, especially on East Africa’s northern front, where the East African Nile River Military District has reached the Kinshasa frontline by advancing along the Ubangi River.

Kinshasa is the closest East African heavy military town to Portuguese-held areas, and it’s only over three hundred li from here to the core region of Portuguese Angola.

Moreover, the main forces of the Angolan colony are mostly in the central and southern regions, with little troops available in the north to repel the southward advance of the Nile River Military District.

This is also a legacy of the last war, during the first East-Portuguese War, East Africa directly invaded Angola’s heartland from the central south, threatening the safety of Benguela and Luanda.

Therefore, this time Portugal deployed heavy forces in the east and west, overlooking the Congo River’s transport potential.

Of course, the Portuguese can’t be blamed for it, as the majority of the Congo River is under East African control, leaving the Portuguese without any means to gather information.