Several days in a row

More than a dozen battles of varying sizes broke out in the estuary area of ​​the Zambezi River Basin. The advance team of the African Expeditionary Force showed its hideous fangs, pulled out hundreds of Portuguese farms and pastures, occupied several towns in the area, causing about 9,000 white people to embark on the road to exile in panic.

The originally tense confrontation in Mozambique was completely broken, causing great uneasiness to the Portuguese descendants in other regions.

The entire Mozambique region is centered on the estuary of the Zambési River. In the Queensland administrative sequence, the region is named Zambési Province. On the east side of Zambési Province is the Mozambique Strait, which is more than 1,600 kilometers long, which is across the sea from the Kingdom of Madagascar. From here, you can cross the vast Indian Ocean with more than 6,000 kilometers eastward to the east, and you can reach Pas, the capital of Western Australia.

The southern region of Zambesi Province is named the southern province, the southwest region of Zambesi Province is named the southwest region, the northwest region is named the northwest region, and the northern region is named the northern province. In addition, the vast coastal area of ​​the Malawi Lake District on the west side of the northern province is named the Malawi Province.

There are 6 provincial administrative divisions with a total area of ​​more than one million square kilometers (the range is much larger than later Mozambique). The larger provinces, such as the northern province and Zambési, both have more than 200,000 square kilometers, of which the largest northern province has reached 276,000 square kilometers.

The military operations of the African Expeditionary Force advance team are concentrated at the estuary of the lower reaches of Zambési Province. Here, river networks are intertwined and rainfall is abundant. It is a rolling hills and plains with many white pastures and plantations.

The Portuguese Governor's Office is located on the Mozambique Island in the northern province.

Mozambique Island is located on the coast of the northern province, between the Mozambique Strait and the Bay of Mosuril, about 4 kilometers away from the mainland.

Historically, the Mozambique city on the island was an important transit station for the Portuguese to India. Its construction has solid castles, marinas, streets and churches containing Portugal, Indian and Arabic styles, and is known as an insurmountable city.

Since the 15th century, the island has been the core of the Portuguese rule over Mozambique.

The island has a population of about 27,000, Portugal has about 1,400 troops, and a small fleet of small size. Such forces and armed civilians are enough to defend the city.

Mozambique Island has abundant natural resources, pleasant climate, abundant fish and seafood, and beautiful beaches. The city has always been a commercial and fishery center, but there is no trace of industrial activity.

From the 10th to the late 15th century, Mozambique Island and its natural port were used as a maritime trade center by Arab merchants. In 1498, the Portuguese explorer Da Gama landed on the island, claiming it to be Portuguese territory.

Four years later he returned here with the Portuguese immigrants and established the first fortress San Gabriel).

From 1507 to 1886, Mozambique has been the location of Portugal's colonial center and the Governor's Office, and enjoyed an irreplaceable important position.

One day in early May

In the castle of the Governor's Mansion with Italian Renaissance architectural style, Portugal Governor Bernardo Fernandez looked worriedly at a secret letter from Lisbon. In front of him was General Silva in full military uniform, he was the friend and right-hand man of the Governor.

"Governor General, when will we be able to send reinforcements in Lisbon?"

"Dear General Silva, the reinforcements you long for may never come. We can only compete with the greedy British by our own strength, and by the way, their thugs Queenslanders, all this is terrible."

"Oh, God! Why is this happening?"

"This is because... the British firmly control the world's oceans. We cannot send reinforcements to Eastern Africa under their noses. The only possibility is to arm the people on the spot, resist step by step, and stop automatically after suffering heavy losses."

"No... this is the despicable surrender argument of Lisbon." General Sylva waved his hand angrily and pointed his finger at the direction of the Western African continent. "We have been here for more than 380 years, with the most fertile forests and alluvial plains in Eastern Africa. The middle reaches of the Mississippi River are rich in gold. More than 110,000 ounces are shipped to Lisbon every year. There are abundant aquatic plants to graz, fertile land to cultivate, and suitable climate to survive. In terms of natural conditions, we are not inferior to Brazil, so do we have to give up all this?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. General, the Portuguese Kingdom has a difficult financial situation and cannot support a large-scale overseas war. The Spaniards have never given up their attempt to annex Lisbon. In addition, Shanghai's upper throat is controlled by the British. In view of this, it is impossible for the local government to draw a large number of military reinforcements."

"I can't believe it... This is the argument of the surrenderists. Those Lisbon officials who want to kneel down and lick the British toes are ruining the future of Portugal. They all deserve to go to hell. We are not facing British people, but Queenslanders or Australians from the East. No matter who they are, they are not British people anyway, why are they afraid of these Eastern people?"

"Hey...you can read this letter yourself. Orientals are not as weak as you think."

Governor Bernardo Fernandez reached out to hand over the letter. The indignant General Silva took the letter and browsed it quickly. After that, his face became extremely heavy and he remained silent for a long time.

The letter details the heavy losses suffered by the Dutch in the East Indies War that occurred more than two years ago. More than 46,000 people were killed or injured in the war, and about 1.42 million square kilometers of colonies including Shangri-La, Borneo and Sulawesi were lost. The Royal Navy fleet lost 37 ships, including the USS The Netherlands cruiser and several sail battleships.

at the same time

The letter also pointed out that the Queenslanders occupy the Great Hanish Island in the Mande Strait and have important logistics bases in Djibouti and Mogadishu, which can provide naval garrison and logistics supplies.

On the west coast of Africa

The Queenslanders obtained ownership of Guinea from Lisbon and, on this basis, developed trade routes to the United States East Coast, which can also provide logistics supplies for the Navy fleet.

Not to mention that South Africa is in the hands of the British, the Queenslanders have now gained a foothold in the mouth of the Zambezi River. Reinforcements from Europe must pass here and cannot avoid being attacked.

These deadly areas seemed harmless in normal times, but became insurmountable key areas in wartime. The Queenslanders had the ability to cut off the Portuguese maritime transportation lines. What did this mean for the Portuguese colonies hanging in East Africa?

The bombardment of Nagasaki incident in Fuso in March left an extremely deep impression on the envoys from various countries to foreign countries. Lisbon also received relevant information. The powerful combat effectiveness of the Qinglong-class heavy cruiser was fully revealed. There was no naval ship in the Kingdom of Portugal that could compete with it.

In summary

The British could not beat them anyway. As an ally, Portugal must also hold on to Britain's thighs tightly to counter the strong pressure from Spain.

Now the Queenslanders are the ones who come forward to take the lead. Britain is very clean. In fact, both of them are wearing secretly wearing pants. Portugal can only kill their teeth and swallow their blood. The weak have no say in Europe and can only let the strong ask for it. The Kingdom of Portugal is extremely down and has internal and external difficulties, and financially tight. Now even Queenslanders cannot defeat it. Any Qinglong-class heavy cruiser with a displacement of up to 8,800 tons will be a disaster to arrive on the eastern coast of Africa.

The wise choice is peace talks. Lisbon does not object to any spontaneous resistance, but is unable to provide any support. This is the current cruel reality.

After a moment

Governor Bernardo Fernandez sighed lightly and broke his silence, saying, "I have written to the governor of the Dutch East Indies Earl Hoffman, who has been dealing with these hateful Queenslanders for many years and knows very well about them, and I believe that I can make a pertinent suggestion."

"This is great. We need the help of our friends now." General Silva raised his eyebrows, and a look of hope appeared in his eyes.

Governor Bernardo Fernandez said with a wry smile: "My friend, don't give too much hope to these Dutch people. They just evacuated Borneo in early April and handed over a large area of ​​land to the Queenslanders. I think they left a deep psychological shadow under the beating of these Orientals, and I'm afraid they can't provide much help."

"Oh, God!"

The fire of hope in General Silva's eyes flashed in a few seconds and then it went out, and then it felt a headache;

Without reinforcements from Lisbon, what should we do if the building is about to collapse in Mozambique?

His family knows his own affairs, and General Sylva knows the equipment level of his soldiers, and it is difficult to compete with the Queenslanders who are dying over.

Portugal is an agricultural country that has not started the process of industrialization. Its economic development level has lagged far behind that of Tongji Europe, its military readiness level is even inferior to that of the Netherlands, and its weapons and equipment are one generation behind the world level. The mainstream of colonial military equipment is the British 1867 Enfield Snyder rifle.

At first glance, this gun looks like an old-fashioned front-mounted gun, especially the hammer uses a traditional external bird beak style.

Because this batch of Enfield Schneider rifles were modified based on Enfield P53 bore guns, the bore gun was obviously outdated in the late 1860s, and looking at a large number of old-fashioned p53 rifles, the British were reluctant to throw them away, so they simply opened a hinged shutter in the breeze and changed the p53 bore to the breeze.

The Portuguese bought a large number of cheap ones and equipped the colonial army.

This batch of guns fired 14.7mm black gunpowder bullets, with a warhead mass of 31 grams, an initial velocity of 370m/s, and a kinetic energy of 2120 joules. Because of its large diameter, the ballistics are relatively ugly and cannot be accurately driven over 100 meters.

It's okay to deal with African indigenous Black Uncle, but it's really hard to deal with Queensland soldiers equipped with new rifles.

What is particularly serious is that this gun uses a paper-shelled metal bullet-bottomed 577 Schneider bullet, which has the effect of holding the air, but it is still afraid of tide. It is particularly inconvenient to use in the rainy Mozambique area, and it often causes dull fire.

According to reliable messages received by the military;

The Queensland army landed in the Zambezi River Basin was just the vanguard, and a large force with a total of no less than 7,000 people remained in Xi'an Town in Somalia. All equipped with new weapons are quite powerful in combat and may come across the sea at any time.
Chapter completed!