African Nationhood

Cape Town in January is warm and dry, and the strong winds from the Atlantic Ocean make people feel refreshing.

Woody Smith was a short and thin Boer man. He had no family or brothers and sisters. His family was destroyed by the British.

When they were young, three shameless Englishmen used gambling to defraud their family of land and drove the family off the farm.

Their family became proletarian. The father contracted the disease and died without money for medical treatment. The mother had no choice but to become a prostitute, and then died miserably after being infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

He is now a beggar in the Victoria dock area of ​​Cape Town, but he has to endure the oppression and exploitation of the beggar leader.

You must turn in 5 pence or the equivalent every day, otherwise you will have nothing to eat.

His beggar leader was an Englishman. He relied on his good relationship with the patrol police in the dock area to subdue all the beggars around him.

A few days earlier he had met a fellow Boer while begging.

The compatriot informed him that the Boers and the British fought and the British lost.

But the shameless British sent more reinforcements, and the British also sent a more powerful commander.

The Boer compatriots hope that he can help their Boer compatriots to defeat the shameless British.

"Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for your fellow Boers?"

Woody Smith, who had long lost hope in life, nodded, "I do."

The fellow Boer was very happy to hear what he said and gave him a few banknotes directly.

"This is for you. If you have any regrets about not finishing it, go ahead and finish it."

Woody Smith didn't expect that a stranger he had only met a few times would actually give him ten pounds.

"You gave me so much money, aren't you afraid that I will disappear and not come back?"

The Boer compatriot laughed, "So what if you run away, I have decided to sacrifice myself, and the money will be useless.

As long as the Boer compatriots can defeat the British and the Boers win the final victory, my sacrifice will be worthwhile. "

The words of compatriot Boer moved Woody Smith.

He took the money to buy a cemetery, reburied his parents, and left a place for himself.

When Woody Smith found the Boer compatriot as agreed, he found that there were other Boer compatriots here.

“Everyone has lived up to my trust and has come back.

It can be seen that everyone hates the British very much, which means that we Boers will definitely win!

Now let me talk about my plan. There are our internal contacts among the British.

We only need to create chaos when the new British commander arrives and give the insiders a chance to assassinate him, and then our plan will be successful. "

After several Boers heard this, they thought it was not difficult.

"Then how do we create chaos?"

The Boer compatriot smiled and said, "We will know when the time comes."

……

On January 1, a warship from the British mainland docked at Victoria Port.

After the warship stopped, an old white man wearing a red military uniform with a gray beard and a shriveled face stepped off the warship.

Governor Milner and military generals, who had been waiting at the port for a long time, came forward to greet them.

This old man with a gray beard and a shriveled face was none other than Lord Frederick Roberts, the future Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and Field Marshal.

Lord Roberts was born in India. He joined the artillery force stationed in Bangladesh in his early years and participated in the British invasion of Ethiopia and the second Afghan war.

He is a true professional soldier who cares for his subordinates and is tough and wise. He can always win big victories at small costs.

In 1885 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces in India, and in 1892 he was created Baron Roberts of Kandahar.

After 1895, he served as commander of the British forces in Ireland. On December 1899, 12, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the British expedition to South Africa.

……

This Lord has great military exploits and excellent command skills.

In the original time and space, he defeated the fiercely attacking Boer coalition forces in just a few months, and then returned to the British mainland to take over as Army Commander-in-Chief and Field Marshal until this position was abolished.

The British army, which was originally demoralized by the failure, became full of confidence because of the arrival of this outstanding commander.

It has to be said that famous generals have a very obvious effect on improving the army.

The fundamental reason why Shi Jintang wanted to get rid of him was that he didn't want the British to win too easily.

The arrogant British suffered a huge defeat in the face of the Boers, but the Chinese Legion killed the Boers as soon as they took action, so that he, Lord Shi, could seize the maximum benefit.

……

"Hello Lord Roberts, I am Alfred Milner..."

"Your Majesty the Governor, I prefer to be called General."

Governor Milner smiled awkwardly, "Sorry, General, please allow me to introduce you. This is Lieutenant General Methuen, Lieutenant General White...

Admiral Buller didn't come because he felt too embarrassed to see you. Lord Roberts sighed, "Let's go and see that guy Buller."

It is indeed a disgrace to our British Army that he fought the battle like this, but this is not a reason for him to evade responsibility.

Soldiers must learn to accept failure and taste failure before they can win success! "

"General Roberts, you are right. Please come with me. Let's talk about it back to the Governor's Mansion."

……

Before the group of people could walk out of the pier, they suddenly heard a burst of gunshots outside.

The colonial guards guarding the dock immediately took action and surrounded Roberts, Methuen, White and other military generals as well as Governor Milner.

Governor Milner asked anxiously, "What's going on?"

The guards surrounding them were at a loss, and soon they saw a British officer running from outside.

He ran over and reported to Governor Milner, "There was a gun battle outside the port. A group of masked thugs attacked us with pistols."

Governor Milner was relieved to hear that the attack was by masked gangsters.

He looked at General Roberts who was surrounded by the crowd and smiled, "The attack outside shouldn't be too serious."

Lord Roberts nodded. When the gunfire came from just now, a group of guards surrounded him. He suddenly felt a slight sting in his arm. When he reacted, he found nothing unusual.

He looked at Governor Milner, "Does this happen often?"

"No, today is the first time. It is most likely a retaliatory action planned by the Boers to try to cause panic in Cape Town."

The gunfire soon subsided, and another British officer came to report that the attack outside had subsided.

The attackers were a group of Boers intent on causing rebellion, and they were all shot.

Governor Milner and the generals got in the car and returned to the Governor's Mansion. When they returned to the Governor's Mansion, everyone first held a welcoming banquet with a gloomy atmosphere.

Governor Milner delivered an enthusiastic welcome speech, which did not inspire enthusiasm among the attendees.

Lord Roberts was different. He had a strong appeal to the soldiers. In just a few words, he stimulated the excitement of the soldiers present.

Governor Milner felt much relieved when he saw that the old general was eloquent.

After the welcome banquet, Lord Roberts took a nap.

He woke up from his nap in the middle of the afternoon and found that his head was a little drowsy and his arms were tingling. He rubbed his arms and then found that his head was still drowsy. He thought it was the sequelae of drinking at noon.

He lamented that he was getting old and called his attendants.

Ask the attendant to inform all senior officers in Cape Town that he will hold a military meeting before dinner to discuss the next military deployment.

The attendant obeyed the order and left. Lord Roberts went to the bathroom to wash up and finally felt a little more energetic.

Seeing that the time was almost up, he took a car to the military camp in the city.

He planned to chat with General Buller first to learn about the tactics of the Boer coalition, and then hold a meeting with the officers.

When he arrived at the military camp and sat down, General Buller was already waiting for him.

Before the two could say a few words, Lord Roberts felt nauseated, then he began to vomit violently, and then he passed out.

General Buller, who was sitting next to him, was startled. When he reacted, he found that the old general was breathing heavily and his whole body was burning hot.

He didn't waste any time and called a doctor urgently.

Although the doctors gave him some treatment, they didn't even figure out how the old general got sick, and the old general died immediately.

……

No reason can be found, but the death of the old general must be related to the pistol attack at the port today.

So Governor Milner reported to the cabinet and ordered the entire city to hunt down the Boers.

Orders to hunt down the Boers were then spread throughout the Cape Natal colony.

Because many Boers originally settled in the two colonies, but now they were hunted down and they rose up to resist.

Such turmoil further aggravated the hostile relationship between the British and the Boers.

……

In early February, Joseph Chamberlain, the colonial secretary in London, angrily accused the Boers of using despicable means to assassinate senior British generals.

The British government will never let this matter go unnoticed. The UK will definitely find out the whole story of this assassination and hold the assassin accountable.

The Boer government immediately refuted the British's shameless blackmail. They had never assassinated British generals.

They also ridiculed the British for being unable to defeat the heroic and righteous Boers, so they resorted to various means to frame them.

For a while, the war of words between Europe and southern Africa was going back and forth.

……

Shi Jintang, who was hiding in Jinling and watching the theater, secretly snickered: You guys should investigate, since everyone involved in this matter has been silenced anyway, so there is no fear of investigation. (End of chapter)