Chapter 88: Escalating Conflict
Enzela.
A frontier outpost of the East African colony.
Its primary function was to monitor the movement of exiled native tribes and to prevent their return.
So far, the ongoing "cleansing" campaign had largely achieved what the East African colonial government had expected.
The northwest had descended into complete chaos. With war came death, and so the colony's objective to reduce the native population was being fulfilled.
Some native tribes had tried to return east, but the government had established dozens of military outposts along the border with the northwestern kingdoms.
These outposts created a one-way valve—natives could be expelled but not allowed back in.
Enzela was one such military stronghold.
The colony's defensive line stretched in a straight path from the southwestern edge of Lake Victoria to the northeastern tip of Lake Tanganyika, roughly 300 kilometers long.
Military posts were spaced every 20–30 kilometers, with patrols maintaining constant surveillance.
...
The northwestern kingdoms, suffering deeply from the havoc wrought by East Bantu tribes, began to form alliances.
Despite being caught off guard, these nations, though internally unstable, still had enough strength left—after all, even a dying camel is larger than a horse.
The central governments still retained direct control over their royal armies.
Even as some regions became isolated due to blocked roads and enemy incursions, the central states still held the largest portions of land.
Facing the aggressive East Bantu tribes, the northwestern kingdoms, who had long been rivals, set aside their differences to join forces and drive out the invaders.
Meanwhile, the East Bantu forces continued to grow as new waves of refugees arrived—some in large tribes of hundreds or thousands, others in tiny groups of a few dozen or even individuals.
These smaller tribes and scattered individuals were absorbed into the larger Bantu forces, further strengthening them.
And so the scale of the war escalated. Local nobles who had originally lived in peace now formed coalitions to push back against the Bantu onslaught.
On the other side, the Bantu, emboldened by reinforcements, refused to retreat.
Fighting erupted west of Lake Victoria.
The war disrupted social order in the northwestern kingdoms. Slaves previously used for agriculture either joined the fighting or escaped into the wilderness.
Nobles had to conscript more slaves as cannon fodder, worsening the abandonment of farmland.
Abandoned land meant reduced food production. For poor families, this was a disaster.
Resource scarcity only intensified the fighting.
The truth was, once the nobles of the northwest got serious, they had an advantage over the loosely organized Bantu tribes.
As the most advanced indigenous societies in East Africa, these kingdoms not only had superior systems and coordination, but also mastered advanced ironworking.
The Bantu tribes, by contrast, relied on brute force. The northwestern kingdoms could build, while the Bantu only knew how to raid and pillage.
Thankfully, the nobles hadn't let their martial skills decay. Due to the limited land between Lake Victoria and the East African Rift Valley, these nations often conducted "friendly wars" with one another.
Being slave-owning societies, their noble classes monopolized violence and were responsible for keeping their slaves in line—essentially functioning as military aristocrats.
The Bantu tribes had no such structure. They elected chieftains based on strength.
Their raids on the northwestern kingdoms were born of desperation.
Driven from their eastern homelands, stripped of their hunting grounds, and deprived of food sources, they had no choice but to plunder to survive.
But the iron weapons and superior organization of the nobles began to turn the tide.
As victory leaned toward the northwestern kingdoms, their nobles refused to accept surrender.
Captured Bantu were executed on sight.
Seeing that surrender meant death, the Bantu went all in.
Both sides were now fighting to the death, seeking total annihilation.
No tricks, no diplomacy—just survival for the victors, extinction for the losers.
The war lasted over three months and ended with the northwestern kingdoms emerging victorious.
The Bantu weren't exterminated, but only a few old and weak remained. These survivors were enslaved to replace the workforce lost in the war.
This brutal, largely forgotten war claimed the lives of millions.
Many areas of the northwest were reduced to ghost towns.
Even worse, the unburied corpses of both sides rotted in the open. In past smaller wars, wild animals dealt with the remains.
But the scale of this conflict, combined with intense hatred for the Bantu, led to massive exposure of bodies.
Nature couldn't decompose them fast enough, and a deadly plague began to spread across the region.
Colonial troops along the border reported the devastation.
To prevent the plague from spreading into the colony, the East African government locked down the entire border.
Even Kenya's border with Buganda was reinforced with heavy troops.
In the tropics, disease is always a terrifying force.
Even with strict hygiene practices, the colony still faced regular outbreaks.
To prevent any biological incursion, the government ordered that nothing—absolutely nothing—was to cross the border.
Even a mouse or a snake had to be shot on sight.
Disinfectants and sterilizing agents were urgently imported from Europe, and mass disinfection operations began at the border.
Thanks to these measures, the colony successfully blocked the plague.
Meanwhile, the northwest became a desolate wasteland.
The farther south the country, the worse the damage.
Only northern Buganda, Turou, and Gitarra were relatively unaffected.
And now, a side note from the author:
I honestly don't understand why some people claim the protagonist is a Qing bootlicker. Damn it, just reading these reviews makes my blood boil.
Did Ernst ever grovel before the Qing dynasty? Did he support their development?
The only reference to Qing officials was when the Hohenzollern Far East Office intimidated some local bureaucrats to avoid interference with immigration.
Some say this is a "patriotic" novel. You're damn right it is. So what if the protagonist hates the British?
As a German who knows Britain will be a rival, what's wrong with digging them a hole?
And yes, he's a nationalist. So what?
Japan was propped up by Britain, so what if the protagonist messes with them?
He's just selling them coffee through regular trade. What's the big deal?
In that era, adding additives was completely normal.
Does anyone seriously think Germans respected Japan back then?
The protagonist openly discriminates against Japan. Is that a problem?
Say the writing is filler? Fine, I'll accept that.
Say the protagonist is a bootlicker? Never!
So far, he's only had direct contact with the Austro-Hungarian and Prussian royal families.
If you say he's kissing up to them, fine—I'll admit that.
But kissing up to the Qing? That's a damn lie, and I'm fuming!!
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