African Nationhood

Chapter 315 Spring Festival Offensive (Part )

In the 17th century, some ruling families of the Owindu people moved into the Biye Plateau from the northeast and conquered various indigenous peoples engaged in cattle breeding.

They are divided into 22 chiefdoms. Before the actual occupation by the Portuguese in the early 20th century, about half of the chiefdoms were subordinate to a large chief.

The Obundu people are accustomed to nomadic herding and are famous merchants. In the 19th century, they monopolized the trade from Benguela Port to the Upper Zambezi region, mainly engaged in the trading of ivory, beeswax, rubber and slaves.

During the Middle Ages, the Ofindu people and their various ethnic groups established 22 large and small kingdoms in central and southern Angola, but they were never unified.

In the original time and space, between 1890 and 1902, most of the indigenous kingdoms were conquered by Portuguese colonists, and the kings became puppets.

But the Ofindu people did not submit to the Portuguese, they actively resisted the Portuguese.

The most famous is the 1902 riot against slavery in the Byrondo region of central Angola, dominated by the Ofundu people.

After World War II, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, a political party during the Angolan Liberation War, was mainly formed by the Ofindu people. Together with other ethnic groups in the country, they gained independence in 1975.

……

In this time and space, due to the emergence of Shi Jintang and the Nanhua Company, and the Nanhua Company placing more than 30 Lunda and Ngoni bandit natives into Portuguese West Africa.

In order to protect their property, the Ofindu people were hostile to the Portuguese and gangster natives.

In order to protect the trade routes, they often fought with indigenous bandits.

In order to resist taxes, they often attacked and killed lone Portuguese.

The Portuguese were both afraid of the unity and strength of the Ovendu people and coveted their wealth, so the Nanhua Company's proposal directly tickled the Portuguese.

The two sides hit it off immediately, and they agreed to jointly send troops at the end of January to directly attack the Huambo area of ​​the Bié Plateau (today's Huambo City, Huambo Province, Angola) where the Ofindu people were concentrated.

The two sides gathered at the coastal port of Benguela (today's Port of Benguela, Benguela Province, Angola), and then followed the land traffic to eliminate the Ovendu people head-on.

The two parties agreed that the items captured in this battle would belong to each party.

……

The reason why Nanhua Company is so enthusiastic is for three reasons:

One is to obtain war seizures. The Obindu people are indeed rich, and looting can solve many problems.

The second reason is to train troops. The courses at the Infantry Academy are basically over. It is just a good time to test the effectiveness of infantry officers.

The third is to eliminate as many natives as possible and consume more while this territory is still in the hands of the Portuguese.

The indigenous people living on this land are not a small number, and they will be less burdened when they grab it in the future.

The plan was finalized, and Nanhua Company ordered the Ye Shilong Department of the Namib garrison brigade to attack.

All the natives encountered during this march were slaughtered without leaving any survivors, and Ye Shilong's tribe naturally had no objections.

The predecessor of the Namib Garrison Brigade was the Fourth Advance Battalion. Since its establishment, this unit has basically experienced no other battles except for participating in the battle of Lanfang Company and the subsequent recovery of Jinshan Town.

It was just time for them to practice their skills. At the same time, senior officer Ye Shilong had not been with the army for a long time. This time it was a baptism battle for the Namib Garrison Brigade.

From the brigade commander Ye Shilong to the grassroots officers and soldiers, everyone is eager to try and gear up.

On January 1, Ye Shilong led a group of 28 people by boat to Benguela Port. After getting off the boat, they lined up.

The Portuguese had already arrived, and when they saw the Nanhua Company's team, they were full of curiosity.

Although these soldiers are all wearing civilian clothes, their uniform blue pullovers are very eye-catching.

Moreover, the standard rifles of the Nanhua Company are different from those of the Portuguese soldiers. The rifles of the Nanhua Company are shorter and are multi-shot rifles.

The Portuguese soldiers still used single-shot rifles such as Martini-Henry rifles.

There is a generation difference in the weapons between the two sides, and Nanhua Company's secret weapon grenades were not shown.

……

Of the 1500 people brought by Ye Shilong, 300 will serve as garrison troops at the connection points along the way, and only 1200 will actually go into battle.

This is done firstly to prevent one's own retreat from being cut off, and secondly to transport looted materials better and faster.

At the same time, the Navy's "Guan Yu" and several thousand-ton transport ships will be berthed at Benguela Port, which can not only prevent surprise attacks by the Portuguese, but also be able to receive the supplies they looted at any time.

……

It was nearly 300 kilometers from Benguela Port to Huambo. All the indigenous people encountered by both sides along the way were slaughtered to prevent the news from leaking.     Because the Nanhua Company left personnel at the reception point along the way, the leading Portuguese officer was very confused.

These Nanhua people are very courageous. With this, they dare to divide their troops and force their way into the home of the Ovendu people?

Ye Shilong naturally ignored the Portuguese's doubts. The soldiers he brought over this time were all pacesetters who had learned new infantry tactics, just to try out the specific effects.

After nearly ten days of marching, their coalition forces finally arrived at their destination, the town of Byrondo (a town under the jurisdiction of Huambo City, Huambo Province, Angola today, Huambo City has not yet been established).

Because it was already evening, the two sides agreed to attack the city at dawn tomorrow morning.

The Portuguese had some objections to this, but in order to act in unison, they agreed.

The two sides agreed to attack the city simultaneously from the south and the north at dawn tomorrow morning, and the Portuguese agreed. At this point, both sides found places to camp and rest.

During this march, the Nanhua Army was very angry. The Portuguese were too procrastinating.

They and the indigenous soldiers under them could only walk more than ten kilometers a day, and they would feel tired if they took any more steps.

Ye Shilong was so angry that he wanted to leave them alone and march alone, but when he thought of the military command, he could only patiently accompany the Portuguese and walk slowly.

……

The soldiers under his command have finished camping and the reconnaissance soldiers have returned. Ye Shilong called his officers to have a meeting to discuss tomorrow's attack on the city.

“The town of Byrondo is not that big, covering an area of ​​about 10 square kilometers, about 3.5 kilometers long from north to south, and about 3 kilometers wide from east to west.

The city is similar to the capital of the Kingdom of Matabeleland, both made of stone. There are more than 4 Owendu people living in the city. "

After everyone listened to the report of the reconnaissance soldiers, Ye Shilong pondered for a moment and said: "I checked the information before coming here. Most of the men and boys in Obindu went out hunting, but there were also some professional hunters.

Their weapons are very primitive, and bows, arrows, javelins and blow darts are their common weapons.

In addition, wealthy families also have flintlock guns, so we cannot take it lightly when facing any enemy when attacking the city.

When you go back later, you must make it clear to your soldiers that being kind to the enemy in a life-or-death situation is irresponsible for your own life.

Also ask them to think about their wives and children at home.

We cannot abandon them and let them become orphans and widows just because of a single thought! "

After everyone heard Ye Shilong's words, their hearts trembled, and they all nodded and said, "Yes."

A battalion commander asked Ye Shilong, "Brigade commander, how will we attack the city tomorrow?"

Ye Shilong thought for a while, "I took a look and found that the city wall in this town is not high, and I don't think it is too thick.

So instead of attacking the city gate directly, we use explosive packs to blow up the city wall. "

The officers thought it was okay, after all, no matter how smart the indigenous people were, they were not that smart.

Their explosive packs are the most advanced in the world, using a mixture of picric acid and TNT to create high-explosive and powerful explosive packs.

This kind of explosive bag is very safe and has low risk, unlike iron shells, which have to be handled with extreme caution.

……

After finishing the "Hai Zi Series" dried seaweed soup mixed with dehydrated noodles that they carried, the soldiers took the time to rest.

Ye Shilong stayed up all night. Looking at his pocket watch, the time came to 3 o'clock. He woke up his soldiers and ordered everyone to eat quickly.

After breakfast, it was almost 4 o'clock, and the soldiers who went to investigate had returned and reported that there was no abnormality in the town.

Ye Shilong nodded, ordered the troops to break camp and rush to the attack position.

The location they chose to attack was a section of the city wall in the south of the city that was only over three meters high. No patrols were found during visual inspection of the city wall, so it was certain that the stone wall would not be too thick.

So Ye Shilong gave the order to the blaster behind him, "Go and plant the explosive packs, hurry up."

The Demoman acted quickly after receiving the order, and everything was ready.

Seeing the sky turning white, Ye Shilong ordered: "Light the fire!"

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  (End of this chapter)