In the Juba River Basin in southern Somalia, the rainy season is approaching. After a rain, new green water plants grow on both sides of the river bank. A group of hundreds of antelopes poke their heads out of the narrow arbor forest and watch the movements on the river bank with vigilance.
On the border of central Somalia, south of the Haude region, the Goris Plateau gradually slopes from west to east, extending to the Indian Ocean coast in the southeast. Some low-lying plains and river valleys divide the plateau in this area. It is related to the mountainous north.
Compared to other countries, the plains and valleys here occupy a larger area. The Juba River and the Shabelle River on both sides of them provide precious water resources for this area. The area between the two rivers is filled with pleasant aquatic plants and dense forests. It is Somalia's
A very rare sight in the area.
The sound of a steam gunboat starting up came from a bend in a rapid. Eight or nine hippos lying in the water plants were frightened by the sound, and they lowered their huge heads and dived underwater.
South of the Shabelle River, the Juba River flows directly from the Ethiopian plateau to the sea near Kismayo. At this time, it forms an area from its mouth to a few miles above Bardera.
Sharp turning turbulence. The water in the sharp turning turbulence is deep and the river is wide. The widest part of the river bank is about 120 yards (about 100 meters wide). The turbulent area is close to the shore and the water can pass inland vessels. The water speed in the center of the turbulence is too fast and small boats are forced to pass through.
prone to capsizing accidents. In 1865, German explorers
The ship "Wilf" that von der Deken and his party were on was unfamiliar with the local water conservancy environment, causing the ship to capsize and sink in the waters in the center of the rapids.
"Captain, ahead is the turbulent waters of Baldera, where the German expedition originally sank."
On a gunboat with a displacement of 500 tons, the officer under his command warned.
"Every gunboat and vessel should be extra cautious, avoid the waters in the center of the turbulence, and drive along the right bank of the river."
Captain Zhao carefully observed the situation around the river bank and then issued an order.
"Attention, all ships, keep to the right!"...
Red, yellow and blue signal flags were waving, and gunboats and armed steam ships were spaced hundreds of meters apart. After receiving the semaphore command, they immediately reduced their speed and slowly drove closer to the shore...
After crossing the turbulent waters, the fleet sailed smoothly on a peaceful river. The water plants on both sides of the river were still green and lush, but a little further away from the shore, the evergreen trees became increasingly sparse, with only
A few solitary Arabian oaks dotted the shrubs and overgrown areas.
The fleet continued to move forward, and met dozens of Somali black indigenous people holding long grass and riding camels on the way. The indigenous black people had just seen the fleet moving forward in the river, and their faces were full of curiosity and surprise. Then,
More than 20 black people gathered together, chattering together, and then more than a dozen spears were thrown towards the ship.
"Uncivilized barbarians, order the fleet to ignore them and move forward at full speed!"
The officer surnamed Zhao did not take the black people's actions into consideration at all and ordered coldly.
"Yes, Captain!"
The officer under his command responded and was about to turn around to deliver the order when the sound of a gunshot stopped him in his tracks.
"Without an order, what idiot would dare to shoot without permission!"
"Sir, the gunshots did not come from the fleet."
"It was not our people who fired the shot."
Captain Zhao recalled the location where the gunshots had just sounded. He took the monocular telescope handed over by the guard and looked towards the gathering place of black people.
Scattered black people gathered on the river bank. Three or five of them were holding old muzzle-loading muskets. One of them had two feet in the water. The black man covered in black was holding a musket with a faint white smoke left, and he was so excited.
Waving his arms.
"Immediately order the fleet to sail north at full speed. The Italians should be right in front of us!"
Captain Zhao put down his monocular, thought for a moment, and made a decisive decision.
"Sir, if we encounter the Italian National Army ahead, the fleet may suffer a heavy setback. To be on the safe side, it is better to send two gunboats to conduct reconnaissance first. After determining the specific situation of the Italians ahead, it will not be too late to make a decision.
"
"Italian colonial troops are mainly concentrated in the coastal areas of Marka and Mogadishu. It has been less than a week since our departure. Even if the Italian colonial troops adjust their deployment, it is impossible to deploy troops to Juba within a few days.
Inland areas of the river.”
Based on the intelligence collected, Captain Zhao judged that "the three forces of England, France, and Italy interacted in the Somali region. It was only because of the outbreak of the war in Argentina that Italy obtained the dominance of central and southern Somalia from the English country.
People's operations in the Juba and Shabelle river basins focus on agricultural planting and livestock breeding. Our enemies here will only be the third-rate armed forces of Italian plantations and missionary organizations, and it is unlikely to fight head-on with the Italian colonial army."
After the Suez Canal was opened to navigation, the strategic status of Egypt, Somalia and other places along the Red Sea increased significantly, which led to Britain, France, Italy and even Germany to successively expand their colonial power there. However, in terms of purely economic interests, Somalia is covered with yellow sand, except for Juba in the south.
The natural environment of the Juba River and the Shabelle River is slightly better, and they can produce agricultural crops, but they have almost no natural economic benefits. Therefore, except for the Italian missionary Amor who first went deep into the Juba River Basin in 1873, he sold backward muskets to the Juba River.
The British and French colonists had no intention of expanding their colonial power in the interior of Somalia, and the British initially intervened in the situation in Somalia just to ensure the meat supply for the British troops stationed in Aden (Aden
Lack of meat and food resources), although British officials in Aden and British explorers on the Somali coast advocated occupying the Somali coast, the London government turned a deaf ear to their suggestions. In the eyes of senior London government officials, as long as they ensure that Somalia does not fall to France
, it can be in the hands of Germany and other competitors, but as for military occupation, it is completely unnecessary.
The armed forces organized by Italian missionaries and private companies may be very powerful against indigenous Africans and small countries in Southeast Asia, but there is still a big gap when facing the colonial troops organized by the central government of Han Dynasty.
In the second half of the 19th century, the second industrial revolution developed rapidly. At the same time, the weapons and equipment of mainstream countries were updated at a very fast pace. For example, it may take several years to develop, test and field a large-scale army for a standard rifle.
Within twenty years after the front-loading rifle was eliminated, a new breech-loading rifle was put on trial in less than four years.
Many breech-loading rifles cannot keep up with the upgrading of weapons and equipment, and have become outdated firearms as soon as they are deployed in the army.
Of course, the phenomenon of high update rates of weapons and equipment mainly occurs in European powers such as Britain, France, and Germany. In regions such as Africa, Southeast Asia, and mainland China, due to technological lag, even a musket invented in the 16th century is a rare hot weapon.
In 1879, the technology of breech-loaded single-shot rifles became mature, and the Han National Defense Force gradually equipped them with imitation m1871 rifles, while the weapons and equipment of the second-line guard army and colonial troops were mainly old-fashioned Dresser imitation rifles. Conditions
Those who are more difficult will also be equipped with some captured muzzle-loading rifles.
The conditions in the Kismayo stronghold are average among several strongholds. The quality of weapons and equipment is inferior to that of Congo and better than that of the Mtwara stronghold in Tanzania.
Under the command of Captain Zhao, 70% of the soldiers are equipped with imitation Dresser rifles, 10% are equipped with machine guns, small cannons and other weapons, and the remaining 20% of the auxiliary personnel use obsolete muzzle-loading guns as weapons.
Taking a slow inventory of the weapons and equipment of his troops, Captain Zhao felt a little regretful. The British, French, and American armies had begun to install breech-loading repeating guns as the standard equipment of the army, while the Han Dynasty had only implemented the M1871 rifle.
The imitation production is close to the independent production of repeating rifles, but I don’t know how long it will take.