African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1551 Negotiation
This infuriated Abyad. Not only could they not take Jalu, but they couldn't even take a small outpost of a dozen men in East Africa.

Zaigut was also panicked: "Chief, the enemy's firepower is too strong. They have one more machine gun than the Italians, two of which are heavy machine guns. We are now in a dilemma."

Abyad shouted, "Don't I know the enemy's firepower is fierce? Now we need to figure out how to pry open their turtle shell, instead of complaining. We have no way out!"

Borma said, "Chief, the two armies are currently locked in a stalemate. The enemy has advantages in firepower and terrain, while we only have a numerical advantage. Even if we manage to capture this stronghold using conventional methods, we will suffer heavy losses. Therefore, I suggest we retreat first..."

Before Borma could finish speaking, Zaigut interrupted, "Withdraw? Where to withdraw? If we leave here, where will we get drinking water and food? If we don't remove this thorn in our side, our only fate will be to die of thirst and starvation in the desert."

Abyad also said, "Zaigut is right. We have no possibility of retreating. Borma, there is only one way to take this stronghold now, and that is to find a way to get close to the enemy's bunker."

“Previously, it was your squad’s unauthorized retreat that caused us to lose a good opportunity to fight. Otherwise, we could have easily taken this stronghold.”

Borma's expression darkened at Abyad's words. He retorted, "It's not my fault. Who knows what got into the East Africans and they drove us out? If you had arrived earlier, things wouldn't have turned out this way."

The team had been suffering a series of defeats recently, and now internal conflicts have surfaced, with everyone shifting blame to each other.

After being refuted by Borma, Abyad knew he was in the wrong and could only force himself to say, "Now is not the time to settle accounts. Once we take this stronghold, we can then determine whose responsibility it is."

"Borma, you lead your men forward. Zaigut, you two are responsible for drawing enemy machine gun fire, the rest of you will provide cover. That's all for now! At this point, no one can afford to be cowardly, because if we don't win this battle, none of us will survive."

Although Abyad's troops were indeed demoralized, everyone was united in their determination to fight to the death, with a sense of desperation.

At the Kalanshu outpost.

"Squad leader, the enemy's offensive has intensified." The East African soldiers had already noticed the changes in Abyad's troops.

Trinley ordered, "This group has no heavy firepower, and even their basic firepower is very weak, so don't worry, we just need to wear them down."

Abyad and his men had already fought a battle in Jalu Town, and had used up a lot of ammunition without being able to replenish it, so they naturally had to use it sparingly.

The situation is completely different for the East African troops stationed at the Kalanshu outpost. The Kalanshu outpost rarely encounters war and has an ample supply of ammunition.

To put it bluntly, the ammunition stored at the Kalanshu outpost was enough for Abyad to have all the ammunition he had before he reached Jalu.

This is understandable. In Italian Libya, the resistance organizations did not have their own arsenals and military industry. If they wanted to obtain weapons and ammunition, they could only rely on external funding or capture.

The weapons and equipment of the resistance forces in Italian Libya were largely funded by Arab forces in other parts of North Africa, such as French Libya or Egypt.

Of course, local resistance forces could also purchase weapons. Italian Libya is close to the Mediterranean Sea, and with the presence of its former colonial power, the Ottoman Empire, it was not difficult to obtain weapons through smuggling.

However, purchasing weapons costs money, but in Italy, Libya is not wealthy. In the 21st century, Libya possessed abundant oil resources, but now, Libya's oil resources have not been developed at all.

In fact, Ernst was very interested in developing Libya's oil resources, but East Africa could not do so before the North African railway was built.

The Libyan section of the North African Railway passes through the region that was once the richest in Libya's oil reserves. Subsequently, the oil resources from this region can be transported to northern East Africa via the North African Railway.

Therefore, the North African Railway is not only a strategic railway connecting East Africa to the Mediterranean market, but also a vital transportation route concerning the energy strategy of East African countries.

Returning to the topic, the resistance organizations in Italian Libya currently have military-industrial capabilities that are even inferior to those of the Far Eastern Imperial Labour Party's strongholds; they are essentially a bunch of scattered, disorganized troops.

Abyad's forces were among the larger of these scattered troops. Before the Battle of Jalu, his army numbered nearly three hundred men. While this may seem small, in sparsely populated Italian Libya, an army of three hundred men equipped with firearms was the largest among the entire Italian Libyan resistance.

This "strong and well-equipped" resistance organization was only armed with rifles, and the variety of rifles was quite diverse, including flintlock muskets left over from the Ottoman Empire, which could be placed in a museum in East Africa.

It was precisely because their equipment was so outdated and their ammunition so scarce that the squad leader of the Kalanshu outpost, Treney, was able to sit back and relax.

In fact, when the battle had just begun, Trinley was also quite flustered. After all, the number and firepower of the enemy were unknown, and the Kalanshu outpost did not have enough combat experience. Everyone was a little uneasy, and many of them were even experiencing war for the first time.

After all, the Kalanshu outpost was just a small outpost in the border area, and the surrounding area within a hundred kilometers was all desert, so desolate that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was a desolate place.

The East African side never expected that the Kalanshu outpost would be involved in war. Taking the Kalanshu outpost would not bring any economic benefits. Not to mention the Kalanshu outpost, even the town of Jowf in the rear would have almost no economic value, as it would require a lot of investment in the early stages and high maintenance costs in the later stages.

Even if the North African railway is included, it may not bring much actual benefit to East Africa, not to mention that the North African railway will still take several years to complete.

East Africa could never have imagined that anyone would covet a border post deep in the desert in such a region. If this place were so desirable, the Italians would have occupied it long ago.

Bang...bang...bang...

Ta da da...ta da da...

Every stray shot fired by Abyad's men was met with a response from East African machine guns.

Abyad's troops tried to sneak up to the bunker several times, but were repelled each time. After all, many factors were considered when building this bunker in East Africa, and the area was open with no blind spots.

Half an hour later, Abyad's men had more than thirty more corpses.

At this point, Zagut had become extremely dejected. His eyes were bloodshot, and he reported to Abyad with bloodshot eyes, "Chief, we can't fight anymore! We only have about seventy men left. More than forty of our brothers have died. If we continue, we will all perish here."

Before attacking the Kalanshu outpost, Abyad had 124 men under his command. After two assaults, 48 ​​soldiers were killed, leaving only 76 men, and this does not even include the wounded.

Although Abyad's troops displayed remarkable fighting spirit, with such staggering losses, even Allah himself would likely be unable to sustain the fight. Abyad said with deep resentment, "Over a hundred of us, for this small outpost, have lost so many men. I'm not reconciled!"

Zaigut advised, "Chief, we have seriously underestimated the firepower of East Africa. There is no other way. If we do not retreat now, it will be like an egg hitting a rock, which is just overestimating our strength."

"And we absolutely cannot all die here, after all, we still need to reclaim Cyrenaica and drive the Italians out of our land."

"It's just a setback. We've been through this before. One day, we'll come back strong and avenge our brothers!"

From the moment Abyad raised his army to fight against the Italians, his forces did not have a smooth journey and suffered many defeats. However, the Italians also found it difficult to completely annihilate them.

Therefore, in Zagut's view, as long as we survive, we can always fight again. He continued to advise, "After this defeat, we can only continue to run northwest. We can kill our warhorses along the way to replenish our supplies. As long as we can reach the area controlled by the French, we will fight back one day and then settle accounts with the Italians and the East Africans."

After listening to Zaigut's advice, Abyad could only grit his teeth and say, "Withdraw..."

Without time to deal with the bodies of their comrades and horses on the ground, Abyad's troops, with a dozen or so wounded, hastily withdrew from the battlefield and disappeared into the northern desert.

After a while, the East African soldiers at the outpost heard the gunfire completely cease, and Abyad's forces had completely disappeared.

Sergeant Treney glanced at his watch and said, "Let's wait half an hour to avoid the enemy launching a counterattack."

Half an hour later, the soldiers at the Kalanshu outpost came out of the bunker to clean up the battlefield. In the surrounding open space, more than forty corpses and more than thirty warhorses lay on the yellow sand.

The soldiers at the Kalanshu outpost spent a considerable amount of time clearing away the bodies, finally pouring gasoline on them and setting them on fire. As for burying them, that would be too much work; digging a pit in the desert was not a good option.

A day later, two military aircraft from East Africa arrived at the Kalanshu outpost, along with a platoon of infantry.

"Sergeant Treney, where are the enemies?" Lieutenant Corey, who came to provide support, asked.

Trinley reported, "Lieutenant, the enemy has been repelled by our squad. Our squad eliminated 48 enemy soldiers, but there are still about 100 left who fled in the northwest."

This dampened the spirits of Lieutenant Corey, who had arrived in a hurry. However, he still praised him, saying, "You killed nearly fifty enemy soldiers with the strength of a platoon. Well done! Record the results in detail, and I will recommend you for commendation."

Then, he asked seriously, "Do you know the enemy's identity?"

Trinity shook his head and said, "Lieutenant, we really don't know the enemy's exact identity. However, judging from their clothing and the weapons we captured, they may be an Arab religious force in the Italian-controlled area, or they may be bandits or tribal militias."

Lieutenant Corey asked, "Didn't you capture anyone alive?"

Trinley replied, "The enemy outnumbered us by nearly ten times. Even at the end, when the enemy retreated, they outnumbered us. Therefore, we dared not send out troops easily throughout the battle, but instead relied on our bunkers to maneuver against them."

Lieutenant Corey was disappointed that they hadn't captured any survivors, but it wasn't a big problem. He said, "This enemy force is most likely from the Italian town of Jalu. Once we inform them, we should be able to find out who the enemy is."

……

Benghazi, the Italian Governor's Palace.

“Governor Badoglio, thank you for the intelligence. However, if your country encounters this situation again, please report it to us in advance. Otherwise, if the Kalanshu outpost is not handled properly, it may cause casualties on our side.”

"Next time, if the enemy flees south from Jallu, we in East Africa will be able to prepare in advance."

Meeting with Governor Badoglio was Zhang Jin, head of the East African liaison group stationed in Benghazi. This group was originally established to discuss the joint construction of the Libyan railway by the two countries.

Governor Badoglio said, "We never expected that the bandits from Jalu would venture into your country's territory and cause you trouble."

"However, Mr. Zhang Jin, rest assured, Italy will not allow such a thing to happen again. The Kingdom has already launched a large-scale crackdown on all terrorists in Libya. We will eradicate terrorist organizations of the size of the Abyad gang and eliminate the soil in which they live."

Governor-General Badoglio was quite polite to the East Africans. On the one hand, East Africa was a major power that Italy could not afford to offend; on the other hand, Badoglio did not want to give anyone cause for criticism.

After all, the incident at the Kalanshu outpost could be a big deal or a small deal. On a small scale, East Africa could completely ignore it, but on a larger scale, it could become an excuse for East Africa to move north.

Since Italy can't control its own territory, shouldn't East Africa, for its own interests and security, send troops into Italian Libya?

Don't say that East Africa wasn't interested in Italian Libya; at least Governor Badoglio didn't think so. Since the mid-19th century, East Africans have been the most aggressive people in the world.

East Africa itself needs no introduction; such a vast territory wasn't given away for free. In fact, East Africa even fought a war with Britain and Portugal back then.

Although Portugal had declined by the end of the 19th century, it still had some resources and its status in the world at that time was similar to that of Italy today. As for now, Portugal has become a small country that can be bullied by everyone in Europe.

East Africa could overpower Portugal back then, and it can do the same to Italy today. After all, East Africa is not the East Africa of the late 19th century; it has become much stronger, making it impossible for anyone to even think of resisting.

In the last decade or so, the country with the most extravagant overseas expansion has been East Africa. This was because, at the end of the 19th century, East Africa was not yet fully developed. Otherwise, when European powers were dividing up the world, East Africa would certainly have gotten involved as well.

As for the fact that such a powerful East Africa looks down on Italian Libya, Badoglio also has something to say. In his view, the situation in Italian Libya is much better than that in East Africa, such as Darfur, the Kra Isthmus, and the Persian Gulf Territory.

The environment in Darfur was far worse than that in Italian Libya, yet East Africa still turned it into its colony.

Therefore, Badoglio was wary of East Africa and would not give it any opportunity to interfere in the affairs of Italian Libya.

(End of this chapter)