Chapter 402: A Compromise
"Shell loaded!"
"Aim at the target, ready, fire!"
Boom—with a thunderous roar, thick black smoke spewed from the cannon's barrel. The massive recoil made the gun jump right off the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. In that instant, the makeshift target—made of piled dirt on the banks of the Vaal River—was blown apart.
But it didn't stop there. The 3rd Brigade was equipped with eleven cannons in total—this was the entire artillery of the 511th Division. Once the first cannon fired, the others followed suit, blasting the obliterated target. They pummeled the same spot, and when the dust finally settled, the pile of dirt and rocks that had stood over a meter high was turned into a deep crater.
"Third Cavalry Company, attack!"
Over two hundred warhorses galloped across the open plain, gaining speed. The cavalrymen drew their Dreyse carbines, swiftly loading rounds while on horseback. They then reined their mounts to an abrupt halt, aimed, and fired toward the Vaal River. The movements were performed in one fluid sequence without a moment's pause.
Next, each unit of the 3rd Brigade carried out a series of tactical exercises in line with the "imagined enemy" assigned by headquarters before the maneuver. They advanced, retreated, and counterattacked, coordinating with one another—demonstrating how the brigade's units could work as a team. The exercise lasted four hours, finishing at midday when the call for lunch sounded.
On the opposite bank of the river, British, Boer, and native onlookers watched the spectacle the East African Kingdom had prepared for them.
Some British mine owners stood at a distance with binoculars, discussing the meaning of this East African Kingdom military exercise.
"Oh, my God! The Germans are putting on a show of force against us!"
"But you must admit, on the surface, they do look like a well-trained army. No wonder these Germans could so quickly overrun many parts of South Africa and ultimately come out on top."
"If not for the fact that they have those yellow-skinned soldiers, I'd suspect these Germans are actually the Prussian army disguised as the East African Kingdom troops, fighting the Boers and the Zulu."
"Gentlemen, what should we do? Do you think the East African Kingdom really plans to march on Kimberley?"
"We definitely can't allow the Germans to cross the river. But who can stop them? Their military might is no joke. Even if we sent the Royal Navy from Cape Town all the way inland, it'd hardly affect those Germans."
"In that case, we can only force Cape Town to negotiate with the Germans. Leaving aside how a war might turn out, my mines cannot afford to close for even a single day. That'd cost me a lot of money, and if things go really badly, we might lose everything. If war broke out, who knows who'd end up holding Kimberley in the end?"
"Were this India, I believe the Empire wouldn't fear any challenge. But the Cape Colony is not India—nor is it on the level of Canada or Australia. We just don't have the population."
"And Cape Town's terrain doesn't favor our defenses. The east would be simpler—troops could land through a port—but Kimberley is in the heart of the South African highlands. Even if we had forces come in from the east, by the time they arrived it'd be too late."
Indeed, the geography of the Cape Colony is quite unfriendly, especially for the British. The edge of the South African highlands is a massive escarpment stretching two thousand kilometers.
This special geological structure is something like the Brazilian Shield, though a bit less extreme because the South African highlands are older. Over hundreds of millions of years, certain coastal areas were eroded by ocean tides, rivers, rainfall, and wind, creating narrow plains—on one of which Cape Town is built.
To the east lies the Drakensberg, part of this great escarpment, but it has many passes and several good ports, so transport there is more feasible.
The inland route from Cape Town (the city) is a different story. Apart from geographic obstacles, the arid Great Karoo Basin lies to the north where it meets the South African highlands. It's a semi-desert climate zone, getting 100 to 400 millimeters of rainfall annually, highly unpredictable. In a dry year, it can be even more barren than the Kalahari Desert, with almost no population—only enough for goats or sheep on pasture. But due to the presence of the Great Escarpment, the rivers here do receive water from the highlands, making a bit of irrigated agriculture possible along the riverbanks.
All in all, it's extremely difficult for the Cape Colony to expand inland. East Africa, however, is the opposite. It expanded outward from the interior to the coast, with the East African highlands almost adjoining the South African highlands and few topographic barriers. So the Cape can only watch East Africa unrestrainedly extend into the interior with no way to stop it. Ultimately, the fundamental reason is that the Cape's population is too small to support a bigger army and explore inland.
"Now the worst thing is that these Germans are just across a river from us, while the Kimberley mining region is by far the most valuable slice of South Africa. We absolutely can't afford to lose Kimberley."
"We must unite and have Cape Town reach an agreement with East Africa. Surrendering a bit of worthless land isn't a big deal. Griqualand may be large, but it's effectively useless land with hardly any population and bad climate. Letting the East African Kingdom have it doesn't matter as long as they promise never to covet Kimberley. For our mutual benefit, that's understandable."
His words gained the Kimberley mine owners' approval. As of now, over thirty companies operate in the Kimberley area, producing diamonds worth around £350,000 in total, making it the Cape Colony's biggest source of tax revenue.
But that only represents the mine owners' current limits, not the full potential of the Kimberley fields. With higher investments, diamond output in Kimberley could grow exponentially. There's a fortune in the ground, and the mine owners plus the enterprises built around diamonds all desperately need more labor. Currently, the entire Kimberley area has fewer than ten thousand people, severely limiting its growth.
If the population grew, how many diamonds could Kimberley produce? A million pounds' worth, or maybe even ten million pounds.
For perspective, in the early 19th century, Britain's annual revenue was about £230 million, and the nobility's income was £3.1 million. It's clear how valuable Kimberley is; losing it is out of the question. The area's business owners and miners, for their own profit, won't choose to go to war with the East African Kingdom.
Before long, Henry Barkly, Governor of the Cape Colony, received letters from British aristocrats and big capitalists behind the Kimberley mines. They basically said: "Ensure the safety of the diamond fields. As for the Griqualand Republic, just let it go. If not, your time as governor will be finished. Hurry and make peace with the East African Kingdom, avoid any escalation of conflict."
This left Henry Barkly deeply upset. In his diary, he wrote: "For the sake of immediate gains, the politicians and capitalists in London have no notion of what abandoning the stance against East Africa means for Britain's future! If the East African Kingdom settles in South Africa, then even if Cape Town isn't swallowed whole, it can only become their vassal. In my estimation it's just a matter of time, within fifty years, the seeds they've planted will bear bitter fruit…"
After that, the Cape Colony and East Africa signed a non-aggression pact. The pact stated that the East African Kingdom must halt all military operations in South Africa and pledge never to infringe upon Cape Colony territory. Both sides set the Orange River as their boundary.
Under the pact, East Africa's border troops must withdraw, leaving only a small border presence. Cape Colony must do likewise.
Finally, on the question of the Griqualand Republic, the East African Kingdom would pay to purchase it, compensating the Cape Colony. The purchase was merely a face-saving gesture—East Africa symbolically paid £3,000. Meanwhile, Griqualand's inhabitants were "handed over" to the Cape Colony, conveniently providing Kimberley with labor.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 40 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Canserbero10