African Nationhood

Chapter 125 The Kingdom of Matabeleland (first order requested)
  “The Kingdom of Matabeleland is an indigenous kingdom established by the Ngoni people. Their current king is called Lobengula. This king has been on the throne since 1869.

The Kingdom of Matabeleland has three classes. The Zansi class is the nobles of the kingdom, and most of its members hold important positions in the kingdom.

The Enhela class is dominated by Sutuo-Tswana people. These people can hold some unimportant official positions and belong to the civilian class.

The Hora class are the Shona people, the original indigenous people of Zimbabwe. They are the conquered people. They have the lowest status in the kingdom and belong to the slave class.

The boundaries between the three classes are clear and intermarriage is strictly prohibited. "

The person who introduced the situation was an old white man named Robert Moffat. He also had a nickname: "Lucky Moffat."

He was a Scotsman who had been a monastery gardener.

He was keen to preach to the indigenous people, and he was also willing to help the indigenous people and teach them their writing. Therefore, he had a good relationship with most of the indigenous chiefs in southern Africa.

He once translated the Bible into Tswana language to develop more Tswana people into Christianity.

He was also a diligent recorder. He wrote many collections of essays during his missionary process, mainly recording his daily missionary life in southern Africa and the conditions of the indigenous people.

But this man is an out-and-out colonialist. In the original time and space, he acted as Cecil Rhodes's assistant and deceived King Lobengula.

Eventually the Kingdom of Matabenaland became a British colony and was named Southern Rhodesia.

When the Nanhua Company found him, hoping that he could serve as a guide to the Kingdom of Matabeleland, the old white man agreed.

After setting off on an ox cart from Fort Français (today's Fort Frances in Bo), the delegation had been wandering on the road for five or six days.

The reason why they did not ride horses or carriages is because there is a fly in the southern Manasholand area, which can infect horses with plague, so they can only take an ox-cart this time.

When he was bored, Shi Jintang couldn't help singing "500miles".

If you miss the train I'm on
  You will know that I am gone
  ……

After listening to it a few times, the old white man who was traveling with me actually slowly started humming along with it.

Finally, the old white missionary gave a thumbs up to Shi Jintang and said, "This song is great. Did you write it?"

A sad look appeared on Shi Jintang's face, "Yes, this song was written when I was studying in the United States, and I just met a girl at that time.

She is a devout believer and came to college from five hundred miles away.

In order to please her, I wrote this song and gave it to her.

She was moved by my song and started dating me.

Later, she got sick and died, and I gave up on the United States and came here. "

After listening to Shi Jintang's words, the old missionary's voice became sad.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked, but the Lord will not leave the souls of His believers helpless. Your friend will definitely find rest in His kingdom of heaven.

What's her name? Can you tell me? "

The old missionary's question stunned Shi Jintang.

He originally sang this song to Kelly Smith. At that time, he had just traveled through time and was weak and frightened.

He sang this song in front of the equally young Kelly Smith.

At that time, Kelly was only twelve or thirteen years old and was moved by his singing.

She gently held his head in her arms and patted his back with her clumsy little hands.

Kelly gave him silent comfort and intimate companionship. At that moment, he felt the reality of the world and the tenderness of a white girl.

Being bored during the journey, he wanted to amuse the old missionary, so he made up a story.

Unexpectedly, the old missionary's question brought him back into his memories.

What is Kelly doing now and will she blame me?

The longing hidden in his heart suddenly burst out, and the shadow of Kelly was all in his mind, and he couldn't get rid of it.

He didn't want to speak, he just wanted to be silent.

Moffat found the young colonist gloomy and depressed.

As an old man with experience, he understood Shi Jintang's low performance. He didn't give much comfort. He just sighed and left silently.

Shi Jintang was silent for the next few days and no longer cheerful.

Moffat blamed himself very much, complaining that he shouldn't talk too much and mention the sad things of the other party.

……

After wandering around, they finally arrived at their destination - Bulawayo, the capital of the Kingdom of Matabeleland (today's Bulawayo City, Zimbabwe).

Because of "Lucky Moffat's" reputation, the Ngoni people did not block their entry.

After some communication procedures, Shi Jintang and his party finally entered the city of Bulawayo. Most of the tribal settlements in the Kingdom of Matabeleland are built in straw huts, but the city of Bulawayo is already the size of a small or medium-sized town.

Although straw huts can still be seen, the number of stone buildings in the city has increased significantly.

Among the residents in the city, only the warriors of the kingdom are uniformly decorated. Most of the rest of the people wear little clothes, with only some furs covering their private parts.

People in the city live in poverty, basically just maintaining food and clothing.

Fortunately, it's the dry season now. If it comes in the rainy season, everything in the city will be muddy, and there won't even be a place to stand.

However, the indigenous people are accustomed to going barefoot, so they probably don’t care whether their feet are dirty or not.

After passing the residential area, they came to the palace of King Lobengula.

Because the natives here did not fully master the skills of building large stone buildings.

So what he saw was only a low stone palace with no momentum at all.

But the interior of King Lobengula's palace is still extremely luxurious, and pure gold palace utensils can be seen everywhere.

The king himself carried many pure gold ornaments.

For example, he holds the scepter in his hand, the gold collar around his neck, and the gemstone rings on all ten fingers, etc.
  And his shoes were inlaid with diamonds and gold.

Shi Jintang couldn't help but curse when he saw it. If the king accidentally cut his foot with a diamond, would he change his habit of inlaying diamonds on his shoes?

The king has two concubines, one is the queen and the other is the princess.

These two black elder sisters also wear a lot of gold jewelry and diamond jewelry.

These diamond necklaces and bracelets shine very brightly in the incoming sunlight, and it can easily hurt your eyes if you are not careful.

There are gold and diamond mines in Zimbabwe. It seems that this indigenous king has found the mine, otherwise he would not be so extravagant and showy.

……

When King Lobengula of the original time and space found that he could not resist the British colonial army, he burned the capital and fled with his concubines and ministers.

He contracted cholera and died on the banks of the Zambezi River. His wizard buried him with gold and gems said to be worth 300 million pounds.

Therefore, the treasures in his tomb became a legend and caused great excitement in Europe.

But until Shi Jintang traveled through, the king's tomb treasures had not been found, and it was said that his tomb treasures contained a curse.

This legend spread more and more widely, and eventually became a mystery.

……

Now that he saw a real person, Shi Jintang became more interested in this indigenous king.

Lobengula was of medium height and strong. Due to customs, he did not wear a shirt and only wore a leather skirt.

His body shape is very similar to those of ancient Chinese generals, with a fat body and a big belly.

And his chest was a bit protruding due to obesity.

According to Shi Jintang's visual inspection, if this guy is squeezed, he must be at least a B cup.

His face is ferocious, somewhat long, and overall very square.

Moffat bowed his head and saluted the king, "Hello, respected King Lobengula, we meet again."

After hearing what the translator said, Lobengula nodded, "Welcome, Missionary Moffat."

Moffat nodded, then pointed at Shi Jintang and said: "This is Henry Shi, the general manager of Nanhua Company. He is here to cooperate with you this time."

When Lobengula looked at Shi Jintang, there was no expression on his face and he said something.

The translator told Shi Jintang, "Young man, you are very special. You are not like the white people I often see."

Shi Jintang followed Moffat's example and bowed his head in salute.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I am a Qing man from the far East, but I now serve Her Majesty the Queen of England.

I came here this time to bring products produced by my company, hoping to conduct trade with your kingdom and sign a friendly contract. "

King Lobengula was already accustomed to trade requirements, but he was very curious about the East.

"Oh, you come from the east. Are there kings in the far east? What are they like?"

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  (End of this chapter)