Chapter 494: False Intelligence
"The British and French navies haven't made any sudden moves, but judging by their stance, they're clearly paying close attention to East Africa's development—they're even willing to back Portugal together."
"In that regard, there's not much our navy can do. The final outcome will still depend on how East Africa performs on land. But with Britain and France supporting Portugal, can East Africa really handle this?"
Faced with his colleague's question, Archduke Ferdinand simply smiled without answering. He said nothing—after all, East Africa's strongest asset was its army.
…
That very army, which Archduke Ferdinand considered the strongest, finally faced off with Mozambique's colonial forces at Songho. The "sit-in war" didn't last long, because East Africa's main forces arrived earlier than expected.
Just one day earlier, East Africa's large army had reached the Songho outpost ahead of Mozambique's main force. The arrival of tens of thousands of troops made quite a stir.
This startled the Portuguese vanguard, who had hoped to stall for time. Cléry had assumed his side would arrive first—only to find that East Africa had already completed its mobilization. He was deeply puzzled.
Frowning, he said, "East Africa reacted this fast? Or did they already have a large force nearby ready to support?"
Portugal had spent months preparing this campaign, hoping to launch a surprise attack in the central region. But with East Africa's forces now in place, that plan had clearly fallen apart.
Yet how East Africa's reinforcements had arrived so quickly remained a mystery to Cléry—he couldn't see the Central Railway system operating deep in the East African rear.
Watching the East African troops suddenly appear, Rodé said nervously, "The enemy reinforcements are here—we need to retreat quickly. If Colonel Clément arrives any later, he'll just be collecting our corpses!"
The situation left Cléry no choice but to change his usual demeanor and order a retreat toward Tete.
His stern face was as tight as a drum as he said, "We can't stay here. Let's regroup with the main force and see what Colonel Clément plans to do."
Rodé's men, who had moved at a snail's pace on their way in, proved surprisingly quick in retreat—covering over 40 kilometers in a single day until they ran straight into Clément's advancing main force.
"You're back? Did you capture the Songho outpost? I don't remember ordering a retreat! Cléry, explain what the hell is going on!" Clément demanded sharply.
A vanguard retreat usually meant one thing: failure. But Clément still held out some hope. Songho was supposed to be just a small outpost—surely it couldn't have been that hard to take?
Cléry looked embarrassed but forced himself to reply, "Sir, Songho isn't a small outpost at all. Its area is nearly as large as Tete, and its defenses are even more complete. Worst of all, contrary to what Portuguese merchants told us, it doesn't have just two or three hundred men—it has at least five hundred. Without heavy firepower, it's impossible to break through. We were misled by false intelligence."
Cléry was telling the truth, but Clément wasn't fully convinced. He pressed further, "And what does that have to do with your sudden retreat? Even if you couldn't take the outpost quickly, I wouldn't blame you—but you could've waited where you were. Why flee? And your forces don't even seem to have suffered many casualties."
Rodé complained, "General Clément, if we hadn't retreated, these men would all be dead at Songho!"
Clément remained skeptical. "Even if there were five hundred East African soldiers, that's still no reason to retreat."
Cléry replied, "Sir, East Africa's main force arrived at the Songho outpost ahead of us. I had no choice but to order a withdrawal."
"Reinforcements?" Clément's tone grew urgent. "How many troops? Are they all at the Songho fortress?"
Like Cléry, Clément was immediately struck by how quickly East Africa's reinforcements had arrived.
Cléry continued, "Judging by the noise, there are at least ten thousand of them—probably more than the outpost can even hold. I had no option but to pull back."
Clément, seeing that Cléry didn't seem to be lying, said, "Alright. If what you say is true, then it's understandable. I'll let your unit off the hook this time. But next time, don't make any movements without my order. Even if you're down to the last man, you're not to retreat or surrender unless I give the word."
…
While Portugal was facing trouble, the East African side was also feeling the pressure. The Songho outpost wasn't designed to support a large force—it could barely accommodate around a thousand men. But East Africa had shipped in over thirty thousand troops, vastly exceeding the outpost's capacity.
Merkel said, "Since we've just arrived, we need to be cautious. Most of the troops are Black soldiers—they may not keep pace with the situation. We need to let them acclimate first. We can't let them drag us down."
This was one reason East Africa hadn't immediately annihilated the Portuguese vanguard. After months of training, they understood the limits of the Black legions—their organizational capacity was far below that of the regular East African army. With tens of thousands of them gathered in one place, coordination was a nightmare—or more accurately, a disaster.
The battle hadn't even begun, and the Black legions were already in chaos. The entire camp had turned into a marketplace, just like what had happened outside Tete. If a fight broke out now, there would be no order at all. Some of them might even defect or flee.
Still, East Africa's Black troops were a bit more effective than Portugal's. That was because East Africa often used Black laborers in production and construction, organizing them into workforces. While they couldn't strictly follow military orders, they could at least maintain a coherent formation.
Why, then, had these somewhat-disciplined troops seemed to fall apart at Songho? The reason was the same as with Portugal's troops: they'd never experienced rapid long-distance marches. By the time they reached Songho, the Black legions were utterly exhausted—sprawled out in various poses, completely worn out.
With their energy drained, they couldn't maintain the discipline seen in lower-intensity training. This revealed that East Africa never really intended to turn them into proper soldiers. In contrast, the regular East African army, which had arrived alongside them, remained sharp and orderly—because long marches were a standard part of their training.
Merkel added, "Get the machine guns ready. If any of the Black soldiers even think about retreating during battle, show them the consequences."
Indeed, machine guns were effective weapons—but in this war, their primary purpose was not to fight Mozambique, but to control East Africa's own Black legions. Once the command was given, they were to charge forward mindlessly. Anyone retreating would be gunned down by the regular East African army. Casualties? That wasn't East Africa's concern. To them, those were just cold numbers.
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